The Top Five enjoyed their best gameweek of the season so far with green arrows all round.
Current Live Hall of Fame leader Jay Egersdorff played his wildcard – I’ll take a detailed look at that later on, and Graeme Sumner (aka Gregor) moved back into the top 2m for the first time since Gameweek 1 and is now up to 1,840,583. Gameweek 6’s highest scorer was Matthew Jones (aka Numb) but after a disastrous start to his campaign he is still the only Top Five manager to currently languish outside the top 2m, at 2,137,659.
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. Between them these managers have achieved nine top 1,000 finishes in the past three seasons and have ended up in the top 10,000 a whopping 37 times over the course of their FPL careers.
To help out I have also deployed Fusen’s FPL Statistico tool to gain an extra insight into their thinking.
POINTS AND RANK
| Manager | Peter | Graeme | Jay | Matthew | Mark |
| GW6 points | 75 | 76 | 67 | 80 | 72 |
| Total points | 330 | 311 | 361 | 304 | 326 |
| FPL rank | 1,031,558 | 1,840,583 | 203,770 | 2,137,659 | 1,181,568 |
| FPL ID | 36298 | 345 | 175574 | 97282 | 370 |
Matthew achieved his first top 1m Gameweek rank of the season (399,202). He played a 4-3-3 formation with only Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino failing to deliver any attacking returns from his front 6. At the back Manchester United’s Phil Jones and Brighton’s Lewis Dunk contributed clean sheets to his Gameweek score of 80.
Career HoF number one Peter Kouwenberg (aka My Pretty Pony) and number five Mark Sutherns (aka Mark) edged towards the top 1m. Both managers fielded Tottenham’s Dele Alli and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah in their starting line-ups. The duo weighed in with two assists and a goal between them helping Peter and Mark to scores of over 70 points in Gameweek 6.
Alli is currently the preferred Spurs midfield asset. His Champions League ban should mean he is guaranteed Premier League pitch time as he won’t be available in Europe until the visit of Real Madrid on 1 November.
CAPTAIN
The armband decision was split between Tottenham’s Harry Kane and Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero. The Argentine’s Gameweek 5 hat-trick and an enticing Gameweek 6 home match against Crystal Palace proved too much to resist for managers Peter, Graeme and Jay.
| Manager | Peter | Graeme | Jay | Matthew | Mark | Ave. (c) points | As % of score |
| GW (c) Points | 22 | 22 | 22 | 26 | 26 | 24 | 32 |
| Total (c) Points | 80 | 76 | 80 | 84 | 84 | 81 | 25 |
Yet it was the England man who was the highest scorer in Gameweek 6. With his August drought firmly behind him, two goals and three bonus points against The Hammers narrowly pipped Aguero’s 11 point return.
So far this season four different players have been handed the armband by our Top Five. Manchester United’s Romelu Lukaku is the most popular, having been chosen 43% of the time, followed by Kane on 37%.
Lukaku has proved the more reliable choice averaging 16.7 points when chosen as captain compared to Kane’s 6.9 points.
Aguero and Arsenal’s Alexandre Lacazette have both been chosen 10% of the time, averaging 22 and 12 points respectively. This information is displayed in the graphic below:
I’ve mentioned this before but the pattern of Lukaku returning more points than Kane when chosen as captain is a similar story to last season. Chosen 9% of the time in 2016/17 to Lukaku’s 11%, the Spurs frontman averaged 13 points compared to 20.7 points from his Red Devils’ counterpart.
Heading into Gameweek 7 we once again find ourselves torn between the two. We’ve been here before, as recently as Gameweek 3 when both players disappointed – it almost couldn’t have been worse as Lukaku missed a penalty and Kane earned only his appearance points. Surely lightning can’t strike twice? At least we know Lukaku won’t be missing any penalties this time.
TRANSFERS – GAMEWEEK 6
| Manager | Peter | Graeme | Jay | Matthew | Mark |
| Players In | Aguero | Bellerin, Aguero | WC | David Silva | Tarkowski |
| Players Out | Lacazette | Alonso, Firmino | WC | Pogba | Alexander-Arnold |
Aguero was the popular transfer in Gameweek 6. Graeme shifted funds from defence to attack by downgrading the most expensive defender in the game – Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso – and upgrading Firmino. While Peter did a straight swap with Lacazette, as he continues to go without Lukaku.
Mark however ignored the clamour for the Argentine and instead used his free transfer to dispense with his much criticised Wildcard purchase of Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Scathingly referred to by Jonty as a “Magic Bean” purchase on this week’s Scoutcast the youngster has returned a grand total of 1 point from his three appearances this season, with Liverpool shipping nine league goals on his watch. Mark’s replacement Burnley’s James Tarkowski quintupled that amount in a single Gameweek.
JAY’S WILDCARD
| Players In | 11 – Aguero, Calvert-Lewin, Silva, Mkhitaryan, Ritchie, Gross, Kolasinac, Mee, Naughton, Fabianski, Elliot |
| Players Out | 11 – Lukaku, Firmino, De Bruyne, Choupo-Moting, Loftus-Cheek, Carroll, Valencia, Lowe, Mbemba, Foster, Myhill |
| Remainers | 4 – Kane, Ramsey, Mendy, Davies |
Jay’s decision to Wildcard is perhaps surprising given how well he is doing but, as he announced on Twitter, he felt he “needed to shake up the midfield/GKs and was risking missing out on price rises in these 2 areas if I didn’t hit the WC button”.
Jay’s used his Wildcard to do something different – he’s become the only Top Five manager without a 4.5m midfielder or indeed a 4.0m defender. He clearly has one eye on rotation around Champions League fixtures.
His Wildcard has also seen him depart from the “Power Three” up front. Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin (5.0m), who scored the winner in the Under 20 World Cup final in June for England, lines up alongside Harry Kane and Sergio Aguero.
Jay will be hoping the England starlet can keep hold of his starting spot as Everton enter a decent run of fixtures with Arsenal the only top six side they face until Liverpool in Gameweek 16.
In midfield Jay swapped Manchester City midfielders as David Silva replaced Kevin De Bruyne. The Spaniard currently providing better value at 8.4m compared to the Belgian’s 9.9m.
Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey is a non-mover in Jay’s side ahead of a decent set of fixtures until Gameweek 11’s encounter with Manchester City. Newcastle’s Matt Ritchie and Brighton’s Pascal Gross the sub 6.0m options in midfield.
At the back he’s gone for four wing-backs in Arsenal’s Sead Kolasniac, Manchester City’s Benjamin Mendy, Tottenham’s Ben Davies, and Swansea’s Kyle Naughton. Burnley’s Ben Mee the only centre-back to make the cut.
Jay’s been unlucky with the ACL injury to Mendy, although as his most expensive defender at 6.5m he shouldn’t have too much trouble replacing him.
TRANSFER SUCCESS
| Manager | Peter | Graeme | Jay | Matthew | Mark | Average |
| GW6 Transfers | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| GW6 Points Hits | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| GW6 Immediate Points Gained from Transfers | 9 | 28 | 26 | 11 | 5 | 16 |
| Minus Points Hits | 9 | 24 | 26 | 11 | 5 | 15 |
Unlike his fellow Top Five manager’s largely unsuccessful Wildcard, Jay’s transfers earned him an impressive 26 points.
Graeme’s decision to sell Alonso and Firmino for Bellerin and Aguero netted him a 24 point gain after factoring in the cost of the four point hit.
Despite Lacazette outscoring Aguero by 13 points to 11, Peter’s decision to captain the Argentine means he gained nine immediate transfer points instead of losing two.
| Manager | Peter | Graeme | Jay | Matthew | Mark | Average |
| Total Transfers | 9 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Total Points Hits | 8 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| Total Immediate Points Gained from Transfers | 5 | 25 | 27 | -23 | 1 | 7 |
| Minus Points Hits | -3 | 17 | 27 | -27 | -3 | 2 |
| £ Value (GW6) | 100.6 | 101.1 | 100.6 | 100.9 | 101.5 | 100.9 |
| Total Benched Points | 42 | 61 | 46 | 31 | 42 | 44 |
Three managers – Peter, Matthew and Mark – remain in minus numbers for points gained on immediate transfers minus hits. Perhaps showing how unpredictable the first six Gameweeks have been.
Taking a look at Benched Points, Graeme’s total of 61 is the result of playing the wrong keeper (Foster / Elliot) three times this season, and benching the wrong one out of Naughton and Bournemouth’s Charlie Daniels in the last two weeks.
TEMPLATE – GAMEWEEK 6
Players in Bold are in 3 teams or more
Elliot, Foster / Krul
Naughton, Cédric, Davies, Jones, Mee
Salah, Alli, Carroll, Mkhitaryan / Silva / Ramsey / Ritchie / Loftus-Cheek
Kane, Aguero, Lukaku / Firmino
PLAYERS – GW6
| Players in 5 teams | Kane, Elliot |
| Players in 4 teams | Salah, Naughton |
| Players in 3 teams | Lukaku, Aguero, Firmino, Alli, Carroll, Jones, Mee, Cédric, Davies |
| Attacking players 6m and under | Carroll x3, Ritchie x2, Loftus-Cheek x2, Chalobah x2, Calvert-Lewin, Choupo-Moting, Brady, Gross |
AVERAGE COST PER PLAYER
*based on GW1 prices
Goalkeeper – £4.2m
Defender – £5m
Midfielder – £6.8m
Forward – £10.8m
There is general agreement when is comes to defenders and forwards but much more variation in the midfield area. Our elite quintet appear a little uncertain about who will deliver the points in the center of the park.
In the 6.0m and under category we currently have a spread of eight players, including three 4.5m mids – Carroll, Loftus-Cheek, and the injured Nathaniel Chalobah.
FORMATION
| Manager | Peter | Graeme | Jay | Matthew | Mark |
| GW Formation | 3-4-3 | 3-4-3 | 3-4-3 | 4-3-3 | 3-4-3 |
3-4-3 was again the most popular formation this week. So far this season it has been chosen 77% of the time with 4-3-3 second most popular on 20%.
Those managers with two 4.5m mids (Graeme, Matthew, and Mark) look set to alternate between 3-4-3 and 4-3-3 depending on who has the better fixture between fourth defender and fourth midfielder.
GAMEWEEK 7
With no transfers so far this Gameweek our elite quintet are perhaps hoping to save a transfer going into the international break.
However with a few injuries to deal with and the worrying news of Sergio Aguero being involved in a car crash, we may yet see some movement in the transfer market.
There is also the dilemma of who to captain out of Kane and Lukaku. The break until Gameweek 8 in the middle of October will feel like a long time should this group of top managers fail to repeat their Gameweek 6 success.
6 years, 6 months agoAnother great read.
Jay's wildcard is particularly interesting. Given my disdain for cheap mids I'm starting to wonder whether he's onto something with a cheap striker . The option of going 3-4-3 or 4-4-2 certainly appeals more than having to field the perma injured RLC and the perma points dodging Carroll.