“Panic on the streets of London”
There was panic for some of The Great and The Good as all signs pointed to a Hurri-Kane going into GW8. For those who didn’t own him then sales of soft furnishings must have rocketed but it was sofa so good when he not only blanked but then his main rival Hazard delivered. Moving on, there was also the small matter of Az playing his wildcard, but more of that later. For those of you who have avoided these articles so far….The Great and The Good are Jay Egersdorff, Ville Ronka, The Scout-casters (Joe, Andy, Az, David, Granville, and Mark), Eliteserien’s expert Niemi, and the last man standing Torres Magic. These are FPL managers I have handpicked to follow and improve my own performance.
Overall Performance
Ville Ronka GW 79 pts Total 556 pts (rank 9294 )
TorresMagic GW 75 pts Total 552 pts (rank 12533)
Andy GW 71 pts Total 551 pts (rank 13185)
Niemi GW 68 pts Total 537 pts (rank 31893)
David GW 83 pts Total 534 pts (rank 36017)
Joe GW 61 pts Total 530 pts (rank 45577)
Mark GW 74 pts Total 523 pts (rank 64168)
Granville GW 56 pts Total 519 pts (rank 76475)
Az GW 60 pts Total 505 pts (rank 141771)
Jay Egersdorff GW 70 pts Total 460 pts (rank 645547)
The top score this week from The Great and The Good came from David. Seen as the underdog by many going into the season he scored a very healthy 83 points. He stuck to his guns (which is more than Jay did) and captained Hazard to great effect, he also had a solid defensive play and his love of the Wolves must be continuing as both Doherty and Patricio contributed to a great gameweek. He is now in the top 50k and this is unchartered territory so maybe this is the season to crack the top 10k.
Andy’s time at the top of The Great and The Good didn’t last long as inevitably Ville Ronka moved into no.1 spot with chilling efficiency. He was another one to captain Hazard and moved into the top 10k. Mark continues his rise and made it 6 green arrows in a row to make the initial couple of weeks seem a forgotten memory and he is now in the top 100k for the first time this season. Granville was the only one of the non-Kane captainners not to see a rise. The original maverick picked Alonso to carry the armband, however it was perhaps that fact he is the only manager not to have Hazard plus the bench points of Wilson and Mendy which hampered him the most this week. Meanwhile Jay continues his move up the rankings with a second green arrow in a row but it is steady progress as he fell for the Kane trap and Az must be disappointed at his initial returns from his wildcard which saw him receive a red arrow for all his deliberations.
Transfers and Hits
Let’s start with Az’s long awaited wildcard. What did the Lord of the Wingbacks do? Has he created the new template and which of the big hitters has he gone for?
In – Hamer, Fabianski, Doherty, Obiang, Arnautovic, Sterling, Kane, Hazard
Out – Patrício, Stekelenburg, Mendy, Mane, Aguero, Fraser, Kamara, Salah
Flexibility seems to be the key here bringing in Sterling and Kane but giving himself enough in the bank to switch to Salah/Aguero over the next couple of weeks. He finally fell for the charms of Hazard and went for Arnie upfront (although missed the price rise in a schoolboy error). Fabianski was bought in as his set and forget keeper. However, both of the Hammers failed to deliver in their initial outing for Az and in fact it was only Hazard and Doherty (in some style) of his new signings who contributed more than a blank this week. It will be intriguing to see if he brings back Salah or Aguero during the international break.
This is a summary of the rest of transfers for this week :-
Andy – No transfer
David – Maddison (David Silva)
Granville – Gudmundsson (David Silva)
Jay – Kane, Maddison (David Silva, Aguero)
Joe – Kane, TAA (Robertson, Aguero)
Mark – Kane (Aguero)
Niemi – Kane (Aguero)
Torres Magic – Kane, Jiménez (Aguero, Zaha)
Ville Ronka – Doherty (S Cook)
*transfers out are in brackets
Andy was the only one not to make any transfers this week and avoided the rush for Harry as Kane was already in his squad. However the events on Saturday may see him already shown the exit door with his plan to bring back Salah a certainty and a rumoured move for Lacazette also being considered. Elsewhere, six of The Great and The Good bought in the Tottenham talisman with Jay seemingly going against his own advice and taking a hit in the process. He clearly is having no luck this season. Granville, David and Ronka were immune to the Spurs man and made running repairs to their teams. Gudmundsson was a particularly smart move from Granville but take a bow Mr Ronka who purchased Doherty to see him score his first goal of the season. Joe was particularly unfortunate this week with both his transfers failing to have any impact with Trent Alexander-Arnold only making the bench. Perhaps the fact that David Silva was the most popular transfer out from The Great and The Good will raise the most eyebrows. Interestingly, David and Andy are the only ones to roll transfers into the international break and the follow the sage guidance of being ready for any injuries during the global adventures of their squads.
Template and Formation
After the wildcard and those transfers the template now looks like this:-
Hennessey, Patricio/Hamer
Wan-Bissaka, Robertson, Doherty, Alonso, TAA/Bennett/Trippier
Salah, Hazard, Maddison, Richarlison, Fraser/Hojbjerg
Mitrovic, Kane, Aguero/Jimenez
So Az’s wildcard and the clamour for Kane meant changes in the template. Harry joins Mitrovic in the front three although I think this may be short-lived and Aguero finds himself competing with Jimenez for the final berth after he was sacrificed by so many. Mendy dropped out completely which I sense may be a mistake as he returned this weekend and delivered points again. Trent Alexander-Arnold replaces him in the battle for the fifth defensive spot but then had to make do with a place on the bench for Liverpool, which may put off further investment. In other news, Hamer and Hojbjerg are now the preferred bench fodder. Currently only Alonso and Wan-Bissaka sit in all ten teams.
343 remains the preferred weapon of choice for the majority of The Great and The Good and this has now been utilised 54% of the time. Again Ville Ronka is the only one not to have played the formation all season and again this week decided to deploy a 451. With the growing options at the back (the emergence of Doherty, return of Mendy, lack of rotation for Trippier [so far] and possible doubling up on Liverpool defenders) we may see more move towards a 4 man defence over the next few weeks.
Team Investment and Value
Average Cost of Player looks like this across the teams based on week 1 prices:
Goalkeeper – 4.4
Defender – 5.1
Midfielder – 8
Forward – 8.2
ITB – 0.6
We saw further movement in the budget allocation with more shifting funds into their forward lines and for the first time this season we see the average being spent on the strike force above that of the midfield. A note of caution before other managers begin to look at their own structure of their teams – the one man who continues to invest the least on forwards is the top man Ville Ronka who averages only 7m compared to Andy who is at 9.7m. When looking at the metric of team value Mr Ronka also leads the way with 103.4 (please note for those of you following along that is based on value as of GW8 deadline). There are 3 others in the 103 gang with Joe, Granville and Niemi also hitting the mark.
Captain and Differentials
The captaincy choice started to get interesting this week and Sir Harold was the most popular; Ronka and David were Kane-less so went with Hazard. The Belgian delivered and his consistency must make him a popular choice going forward perhaps his previous troll history is clouding managers judgement when deciding to give him the armband. This week saw a maverick pick from Granville who went with Alonso. Although this was the week for a differential pick it was still a bold play but he certainly managed more points than you know who. In terms of the managers, David is the current king of the mountain when it comes to picking the armband and averages 19.75 from his choices this season, which is very impressive.
I have listed out the most popular choices from The Great and The Good below:
Captain choice %
Salah – 45%
Aguero – 41%
Kane – 9%
Hazard – 4%
Alonso – 1%
There are few more interesting differentials in play as The Great and Good start to take a few risks and jostle for position. Sterling is the star turn and could be a game changer for Az if he continues to get playing time over the next few weeks. Arnie could also be key for him if he stays injury free. Surprisingly Andy is the only one with David Silva and I fancy this to work in his favour if he avoids rotation. Gudmundsson In Granville’s squad is another one to keep an eye on with good form as Burnley continue to recover from their European adventures and Jay continues to have patience with Zaha but as his fixtures turn I am not sure how long this will last.
So what will the international break bring for The Great and Good? Will we see a mass Kanexit and will they simply bring back Aguero and ask for forgiveness or use It as a way of redistributing the funds in midfield and at the back? Will we see more 4 man defences employed with such a wealth of options available? Will any of them put trust in the Liverpool forwards with dream set of fixures coming up? Will Granville finally admit defeat and bring in Hazard? Can they all continue to ignore the lure of Lacazette’s form?
However, that’s all from me for now and remember don’t have nightmares.
