Top 5 Career Hall of Fame – Gameweek 29 Review

Gameweek 29 was an excellent set of fixtures for the top five managers in the career Hall of Fame, especially the  four who captained Everton’s in-form Belgian Romelu Lukaku.

Ville Ronka and Peter Kouwenberg achieved season-high FPL ranks for the fourth Gameweek in a row as their fine run of form continues. They both have nine green arrows in the past ten Gameweeks.

Ville broke into the top 10,000 for the first time this season, a considerable reversal of fortune given that the career HoF number one was outside the top 100K as recently as Gameweek 20.

Peter’s surge up the rankings means he is now only 11 points off the top 1,000 with an overall rank of 1,611. After finishes of 289 and 129 in the past two seasons, a hat-trick of three digit finishes would be a magnificent feat. Something not even the great Ville has achieved.

Steve Poulsom attained his best rank since Gameweek 5, as he edges ever closer to the top 100K. Languishing as low as 845,911 in Gameweek 17, entry into the top 100,000 would represent an impressive turnaround. Following overall ranks of 121 and 49 in the past two seasons, this year has undoubtedly been a huge disappointment. Yet with a total squad value of £106 and £7.3 in the bank, a respectable five digit rank is the very least this consummate FPL manager will be aiming for.

This article focuses on the moves and strategies employed by the five elite managers who grace the upper echelons of this site’s Career Hall of Fame. Members can see the latest top five via our Live Hall of Fame update.

To help out I have also deployed Fusen’s FPL Statistico tool to gain an extra insight into their thinking.

Before we look at their teams in more detail, here’s why they are the best FPL managers:

POINTS & RANK

*from GW6 onwards

Only one of this quintet qualified for the cup (David #5), he went out in GW19.

They all still have their wildcards, all apart from David Meechan have played their Triple Captain chip, and three have also played their AOA chip.

With a joint highest Gameweek score of 88, David  is now only 12 points off the top 10,000. It has been a remarkably consistent season, his lowest rank since Gameweek 6 is only 73,858. Should he finish inside the top 10,000 it would be the seventh time he has done so in seven seasons. Only Ville has more consecutive top 10,000 finishes.

CAPTAIN

Marlen Rattiner was the only manager not to captain Lukaku. This no doubt seemed like a good decision with a quarter of an hour to go in Everton’s match against Hull. Yet Everton’s talisman has turned a corner this season and has well and truly cast off his Trollkaku moniker.

So it ended up being a good week but not a great week for Marlen. The number two in the career HoF must have been pulling his hair out as both his City players, Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling, missed very presentable chances in their pulsating encounter with Liverpool. He was also left to rue the injury to his captain Alexis Sanchez. The Chilean may well have gone on to inflict more damage on the Baggies had he stayed at 100%.

Over the season Sanchez has been picked as captain 31% of the time, averaging 15pts when chosen. Aguero follows in popularity having been handed the armband 27% of the time, averaging 15.9pts as captain or triple captain, with Lukaku chosen 12% of the time averaging a mighty 21.8pts.

CAPTAIN POINTS

One reason Peter is currently the best performing manager out of the Top Five is his ability to pick the right captain. Peter also leads the way in immediate transfer success however the difference is less pronounced (see below).

While you need to own the right players in order to captain them, if one metric alone determins Fantasy success it would be this one. Make sure you read YMA’s Form and Fixtures analysis together with the Captain Sensible articles.

TRANSFERS – Gameweek 29

A calm week in transfer market compared to the previous two. Chelsea’s Diego Costa came into both Ville’s and Peter’s teams, while David swapped Cherries with Josh King ousting Junior Stanislas in his side. A move he must wish he’d made a week earlier as in Gameweek 28 the Norwegian midfielder racked up an 18 point haul.

Although Chelsea’s combative frontman disappointed against Stoke, both his new suitors will be hoping he gets the better of an improved Crystal Palace defence when they travel to Stamford Bridge in Gameweek 30. A consistent rather than explosive option, he must be considered the most reliable attacker the Blues have as they march towards the title.

Only Marlen owns Sanchez and it was notable that the other four managers decided an appealing fixture against West Brom wasn’t worth transferring him in for. The uncertainty surrounding Arsenal clearly affecting their decision to invest in such a premium asset. A fixture against Manchester City following a trip to South America perhaps contributing to their decision to overlook the Chilean.

TRANSFER SUCCESS

Torn between saving his transfer and splashing out Costa, Peter would have earned an extra point had he held back. Ashley Barnes’s two points narrowly bettering the Blues striker’s solitary point.

As ever Peter was kind enough to share his transfer plans ahead of the deadline. If you’d followed his advice since I started tracking this elite quintet you’d be in pretty good shape. Even taking hits into account, Peter has mustered more immediate transfer points than any of his fellow bosses at the HoF’s top table.

The contrasting way the game can be played is highlighted in the table above. Perhaps surprisingly the number of transfers made does not appear to be a significant factor in determining success. Peter and Ville are currently the best performing managers overall and yet Peter has taken 80 points in hits compared to Ville’s paltry 8 points.

FORMATION

This week saw three teams going with the standard 3-4-3 formation. Over the course of the season 3-4-3 has been favoured 59% of the time by the career HoF Top Five, with 3-5-2 second with 21%. 4-4-2 is the third most popular on 10%.

The only player to truly buck this trend is David, who has favoured 3-5-2. David has averaged 62 points on the 14 occasions he’s used this formation. When comparing average points for each manager’s favoured formation, David comes out on top.

David’s decision to deviate from the standard 3-4-3 and have such a consistently good season, reflects how well “false nine” and attacking midfielders have done. Especially early on when forwards such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Harry Kane took a while to get going.

It remains to be seen if it will continue to be such a profitable formation as we head into the final gameweeks. With injuries and suspensions to key assets in both areas raising more questions than answers. Sanchez, Hazard, Ibrahimovic, Kane, Gabbiadini too perhaps – who will we have to find room for in our starting eleven?

PLAYERS – GW29

Josh King is now the popular option in the sub 6.0 category. Robert Snodgrass remains in Ville and Marlen’s teams; they purchased him back in Gameweek 25 when it appeared he was about to assume the role of West Ham’s talisman from the departed Dimitry Payet. It hasn’t worked out that way for him so far and it will be interesting to see how long he remains in their teams.

TEMPLATE – GW29

Goalkeepers – Foster / Heaton / Pickford

Defenders – Alonso, Coleman, Brunt, McAuley, (Chambers)

Midfielders – Mané, Eriksen, Sigurdsson, King, (Coutinho/Snodgrass)

Forwards – Lukaku, Llorente, (Aguero/Costa)

The Double Gameweek will surely alter the template over the coming weeks, and the question of when to wildcard will also be on the minds our elite quintet. However with two managers saving a transfer last week it is unlikely to happen over the international break.

An upcoming Gameweek 34 blank for popular West Brom pair Chris Brunt and Gareth McAuley, puts their place in the template under threat. Their cause not helped by a tricky set of fixtures.

Manchester United’s Antonio Valencia, already in Peter’s team, would appear an attractive replacement with appealing fixtures and a double gameweek ahead.

For now the form of Romelu Lukaku should keep him in the template. Though expectations won’t be too high with away matches at Anfield and Old Trafford in the next two.

With decent fixtures despite not having a Double Gameweek 34, Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen seems certain to hold onto a midfield slot, perhaps until the end of the season.

Leicester’s assets must also be knocking on the door; Messrs Vardy and Mahrez emerging as potential captain choices for Gameweek 30.

I hope these articles are useful in helping you make decisions. One thing I’ve noticed is how quickly fortunes can change for better or worse. With nine Gameweeks to go, including a possible three Double Gameweeks, Bench Boost and Wildcards to play, there’s every chance this quintet will finish the season very strongly.