Hi everyone. I wrote up a little ranking and write-up for each team post-bidding (before contract signees). I meant to post this yesterday but I was a wee bit hung over. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy and/or get pissed off by my assessments! Top 10 Signings By Dollar 1) Mayor - $25,500,000 - RB Leipzig 2) BenificaFan - $16,250,000 - Borussia Dortmund 3) Knifey - $12,250,000 - Schalke 4) NySports - $12,250,000 - Borussia Dortmund 5) Talia - $12,000,000 - Koln 5) Z - $12,000,000 - Koln 7) Ramsam - $10,500,000 - Hertha 8) Ash - $10,000,000 - Wolfs 9) Optimus Primus - $9,750,000 - Bayern 10) Hazey - $8,000,000 - Frankfurt Power Rankings 1) Borussia Dortmund: Roster A+, Bidding A, Long Term A 2) Frankfurt: Roster A, Bidding A, Long Term B+ 3) Koln: Roster B+, Bidding A, Long Term C+ 4) Bayern Munich: Roster B+, Bidding A, Long Term B+ 5) RB Leipzig: Roster A-, Bidding C+, Long Term B- 6) Wolfsburg: Roster B+, Bidding B+, Long Term B 7) Schalke: Roster B+, Bidding B+, Long Term A- 8) Hertha: Roster B, Bidding B, Long Term B 1) Borussia Dortmund 2x Champions are returning for a run at a Threepeat and they're looking strong as ever. They returned their core roster players with Vivaelchelsea being the most noticeable loss from last season. Dortmund managed to sign Single back at a major discount while adding Bayern, NySports, Blind_Ref and several others to round out a solid roster. Their only weakness might be the need to juggle defensive players but with a proven midfield + attack it’s hard to move Respec, Yousef, and Gosling's squad from the #1 spot until someone takes it from them. • Best Signing: NySports - $12,500,000 • Value Signing: BlindRef - $500,000 • Sleeper Pick: Single - $500,000 2) Eintracht Frankfurt The margins between teams this season is razor thin but if I have to choose I’m picking Erintracht Frankfurt for my #2 spot. I like Frankfurt’s depth; their mix of up-and-comers alongside established veterans looks like a potential winning combination. Hazey, RickyBobby, Nick, and Paraguay round out a solid bid-class with very team-friendly deals. If they can get some long term contracts confirmed and save some money they could be setup for seasons to come. Anything can happen in LGFA but Frankfurt’s potential is intriguing. A lot of talent and strong personalities means this team has a shot to win it all but they're also my pick for one of the teams most likely to collapse to bottom of the table. • Best Signing: Hazey - $8,000,000 • Value Signing: Paraguay - $1,750,000 • Sleeper Pick: Paraguay - $1,750,000 3) FC Koln My rankings for places 2-4 could easily be a 3-way tie but I am giving Koln the 3rd spot because of a few key signings. Talia & Z are two great players; Koln could easily be ahead of Frankfurt on talent alone but I held Koln back because of the price tags. If Koln is in win-now mode I think they’ve got a chance; however they didn’t hang on to much money for the future if they’re thinking dynasty. The new management team looks great and I always love a team with a solid GK-manager. Mikey at GK, Matty at CB, and Berto in the midfield is a great start. Adding Z, Talia, Zay, Sheik, Stun Gun, Jacko and others rounds out a solid team that can make a run if they can keep their team focused. I’ll be interested to see how they assign contracts and what their long-term plan looks like. • Best Signing: Z & Talia - $12,000,000/ea • Value Signing: Zaytzev - $2,000,000 • Sleeper Pick: Sheik - $500,000 4) Bayern Munich I played with most of these guys in the offseason tournament and I am very impressed with their potential for Season 9. The management team is new but they’re proven players who also drafted talent well. I like the additions of Optimus, Patrick, Troy, and Tjay at team-friendly prices. Another team with a GK-Manager, this attribute always adds stability. The roster looks a little thin on defense yet I am confident enough in this management team that they’ll lead Bayern to a top half finish. I like their long term future because of the established management group and if they lay out their contracts properly they’ll be competing for seasons to come. If I had to bet money on a team to upset Respec's crew this season it would be Bayern. • Best Signing: Patrick - $6,000,000 • Value Signing: Troy - $1,500,000 • Sleeper Pick: Troy - $1,500,000 5) RB Leipzig Leipzig’s situation is still a curiosity to me… I like enough about their team to rank them 5th yet I still wonder if their bid plan was to get a bunch of solid players as cheap as possible and then make a run for Mayor… OR… Did they get lucky on a bunch of players they wanted early and then decided to go after Mayor because they could afford it? I thought they were shooting for a low-cost team that could compete for seasons to come if they kept their team-friendly contracts into future seasons and carried $20-30M into Season 10. Instead they signed Mayor for $25M which indicates they want to win now, or they hope they can sign Mayor long term? It’s a new management team with a lot of players on “Prove-it” contracts of less than $1M… I see a lot of potential here and any team that signs Mayor can’t get worse for doing so. I liked the SoCalmAssassin signing and I assume at least a handful of the $500k signings will work out. • Best/Worst Signing: Mayor - $25,500,000 • Value Signing: SoCalmAssassin $1,000,000 • Sleeper Pick: Pick any of their $500k signings 6) VfL Wolfsburg Wolf's management team has 3 veterans and looks like it has plenty of fire power… I like this team and they probably deserve more respect than 6th. With Sizzlak, Semple, Ash, Alonzi, J_Carlos, and N8; Wolfsburg should have little trouble scoring goals. What concerns me; GK depth if Sheppy isn’t 6/6, they didn’t save much money for future, and their defense looks decent but depth could be a problem unless they juggle their roster (Alonzi to CB?). They have the attacking pieces to make a run now and I think this team will be a lot of fun to watch this season. Overall I think they’re a high risk team that could finish 1st as easily as they could finish 6th. I’m also a little jealous they didn’t sign me so that may be influencing their ranking… • Best Signing: Sheppy - $500,000 • Value Signing: N8 - $2,500,000 • Sleeper Pick: ToastSticks - $2,250,000 7) Schalke The team finished strong the past two seasons but hasn’t been able to knock off Respec’s group. Schalke returned most of their core roster but in doing so they spent a majority of bidding securing re-signings of players from last season’s campaign. I like the new signings of Jon, Ethan, and Semik to go with an established returning core that includes Cosmin, Fink, Gireud, Blues, Cupid, Jimbo, Danky and others. This team could legitimately make a run this season and they’ll always have long term stability with Cosmin at the helm and plenty of surplus cash in the coffers. Why the low ranking? The fans expected splashier signings from the team with a bloated budget and they'll have to wait another season for that big-name free agent signing. I also docked them points for signing me at an amount I believe is way too high. I think we all know that 7th is purposely low and I expect Shalke to exceed my initial post bid rankings. • Best Signing: Javier - $3,500,000 • Value Signing: Semik - $500,000 • Sleeper Pick: Kevin Ji - $500,000 8) Hertha Hertha has a strong roster but they’re mostly newcomers who will have to prove themselves. I admit this is the team I probably have the least information about which affected their grade but is in no way meant to be a slight at team management. They were able to sign Vivaelchelsea away from his old team and I also love the Jhawks signing. There are possible depth issues at Defense and GK which are concerning but some roster juggling could solve that problem internally. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re able to finish in the top half of the table because LGFA Season 9 teams are looking well balanced. Don't sleep on Hertha! • Best Signing: Vivachelsea - $5,250,000 • Value Signing: Jhawks - $500,000 • Sleeper Pick: AntiSOLEcial - $500,000
