The Community Round Up

The community have been on the defensive this week as Fantasy managers look to freshen up their rearguard troops. Differentials, Everton’s kind run and the exact cost of a hit have also been among other key discussions taking place. We take a further look at what’s been buzzing, whilst catching up with the latest in our community leagues, congratulating some early season champions in the process.

The Hottest Topics

The resurgence of clean sheets for cheap defenders has produced a glut of defence minded research over the week as community members ponder the merits of diverting cash out of defence and bailing out on teams with a porous backline. In Tinkerman’s discussion on cheapening defences Festive Demel was full of beans for his cheap as chips defensive setup that includes Crystal Palace’s Julián Speroni and Danny Gabbidon, as well as Cardiff’s Ben Turner and David Marshall.

Keith meanwhile knows exactly what he wants for Christmas in defence; a collection of clean sheets from Everton. He has been looking at the virtues of two of their key players Phil Jagielka and Sylvan Distin and how they fare under the Bonus Points System in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game.

Everton’s kind run has also turned Evs’s head. He asks not whether we should be investing in their ranks, but how many of their players we should be getting. Seamus Coleman, Romelu Lukaku have been mainstays of Optimus’s team but he also pledged to invest in goalkeeper Tim Howard going into Gameweek 16.

Among our most popular posts was 7ShadesOfSmoke’s look at picking the right differentials. With Sergio Aguero, Luis Suarez and now at least one Everton defender in most squads, the search for an effective differential has never been more pertinent. He recommends midfielders with a proven track record who are coming back from injury – pre-empting the returns we’ve seen from Theo Walcott and David Silva this weekend.

Just how much is an Fantasy Premier League (FPL) hit worth? Monkey Hanger has been rifling through the figures and thinks he’s worked it out. His analysis shows that for those with a FPL rank of around 550,00 a hit will cost 20,000 places and those with a rank of around 1,000 are set to struggle to stay in the top 2,000. His research does come with a huge caveat though; if the hit pays off the rise up the rankings can be nothing short of spectacular.

The Community Leagues

A few of our community competitions have reached a nailbiting conclusion over the last couple of weeks. Co-league host Thomass67 has emerged victorious to win Thomass and Peppie&Felix’s Friends Life T20 H2H competition.

The Solomon Islands have scooped the coveted FFS Beach Soccer World Cup prize after defeating Brazil in the grand finale during Gameweek 15. The organisers tell us that ironically it was the Solomon Islands management’s faith in the Brazil and Spurs midfielder Paulinho that won them the competition.

In Fifa Las Vegas’s Championship style league Somebody’s Gonna Get Lit Up emerged as the overall winner.

Well done to all this season’s champions to this point.

Those who registered an overall rank below 2,000,000 over the first five Gameweeks have found some comfort in Heels Over Heads’s “Worst To First – 2 Million+ Club”. Bales of Fury now sits in 90,918^th and takes first place in the tournament, as well as the accolade as the first league member to enter the top 100,000.

Meanwhile in Torres Magic’s Last Man Standing competition Whoisme topped the league with a score of 85 at the end of Gameweek 15 and another 42 were axed, leaving 446 survivors. Details of his leagues can be found here.

The leaders of In Tommy We Trust‘s All Things leagues are Evs, Bootsy, Athletico Timbo, Crouch Potato, Chazza and Koneheads.

The FFS Paddy Power Cup was back in action for Gameweek 16 – we hope to have the results and draw with you for Tuesday this week.