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Learning from The Great and The Good: Gameweek 11

“Someday you will find me. Caught beneath the landslide. In a champagne supernova. A champagne supernova in the sky.”

Southampton found themselves caught beneath the landslide as City continued their champagne football in GW11 and hit the south coast team for six. The result had significant impact for FPL managers and The Great and The Good were no exception.

The days before the transfer deadline saw a Mendy meltdown with managers clamouring to bring in the social media darling defender, but maybe they should have been more focused on City’s SAS (Sterling, Aguero, and Sane).

This week also saw Richarlison pay off for his patient managers, a number of Hammer assets catching the eye, and Mitrovic disappointing many. With rumours that The Great and The Good may be considering entering in the FFS Manager Melee, it was a tense week for all them as they jockeyed for selection.

So who are The Great and The Good? They are Jay Egersdorff, Ville Ronka, The Scoutcasters (Joe, Andy, Az, David, Granville and Mark), Eliteserien’s expert Niemi, and the last man standing Torres Magic.

Each with their own management style, these are FPL managers I have handpicked to follow and improve my own performance.

Overall Performance 

This week was all about Mark who was the first of The Great and The Good this season to reach triple figures in a gameweek with a massive 109 points. He is the only one currently to have Sterling from this group and he took full advantage giving him the armband, his cheap frontline of Arnie, Wilson, and Jimenez all delivered for him, his patience in Ricarlison paid off and Dubravka is proving to be great purchase at the back as Newcastle start to tighten up defensively. This took him up 66,000 places up to 12,771 and he has showed tremendous progress after his false start when he sat outside the top million. His aggressive approach is really paying off and whilst I gently mocked his eight point hit a couple of weeks ago to bring in Jimenez, Dubravaka, and Sterling it has really paid dividends. Hopefully this will give some comfort to those whose hits have not made an immediate impact.

Elsewhere, Jay continues his great momentum and moved up another 120,000 spaces thanks to Richarlison, Arnie, and Aguero. He moved off the bottom of The Great and The Good and was replaced by Az who took another red arrow. He has been incredibly unlucky this season. He captained Salah, which was maybe against conventional wisdom, but perhaps he will be kicking himself the most for transferring out Sterling only a couple of weeks ago after bringing him in as part of his wildcard.

There was a large divergence in scores this week amongst The Great and The Good and I am sorry to report that Joe scored 59 points less than Mark, with a measly 50. Joe dropped out of the top 100,000 with only Aguero and Alonso really contributing. He would also have been frustrated that Ings finally decided to score for the first time since gameweek 5, as not only did it wipe out his new signing Mendy’s clean sheet but he was also on his bench. Yet if you look at his team you would struggle to pull it apart too much (aside from maybe Mitrovic and Hart) and it shows the fine margins in the world of FPL.

Ville Ronka GW 64 pts Total 747 pts (rank 6016)

Andy GW 84 pts Total 742 pts (rank 8476)

TorresMagic GW 72 pts Total 739 pts (rank 9934)

Mark GW 109 pts Total 735 pts (rank 12771)

Niemi GW 62 pts Total 709 pts (rank 44676)

David GW 61 pts Total 706 pts (rank 49700)

Granville GW 59 pts Total 693 pts (rank 82997)

Joe GW 50 pts Total 687 pts (rank 103584)

Jay Egersdorff GW 80 pts Total 673 pts (rank 165789)

Az GW 64 pts Total 663 pts (rank 228118)

Transfers and Hits

Mendy and Arnie were the most popular transfers in this week with many looking to capitalize on the mouth watering fixtures against Southampton and Burnley. Mitrovic was the biggest victim of the rush to get the West Ham talisman, with The Great and The Good losing patience in the Fulham hitman (or maybe ‘missman’). Many of them used their reserve cash or brought in some makeweights in order to fund Mendy, with Success one of most popular picks. Will this be a success-ful strategy (ahem)?

The managers continued to divide themselves between the bold and dullard with Mark and Az being the former, again taking hits. That’s 5 in total so far for Mark and he used one this week to rectify his rash Holebas transfer last week. On the dullard side Ville Ronka (yet to take one hit) clearly likes the looks of the Hammers bringing Balbuena in along with Arnie this week. Elsewhere, there were slightly less exciting moves with keeper moves for Torres Magic and Granville both shipping out Hennessey for Fabianski and Ryan.

This is a summary of transfers for this week :

Andy – Mendy (Bennett)

Az – Mendy, Success (Jonny, Mitrovic)

David – Mendy, Success (Yedlin, Mitrovic)

Granville – Ryan (Hennessey)

Jay – No transfer

Joe – Mendy (TAA)

Mark – Mendy, Arnie (Holebas, Mitrovic)

Niemi – Arnie (Mitrovic)

Torres Magic – Fabianski (Hennessey)

Ville Ronka – Arnie, Balbuena (Ings, Trippier)

*transfers out are in brackets

Template

After those transfers the template now looks like this:

Fabianski/Hamer/Ryan

Wan-Bissaka, Robertson, Doherty, Alonso, Mendy

Salah, Hazard, Maddison, Richarlison, Fraser/Hojbjerg

Aguero, Arnautovic, Mitrovic/Jiménez/Wilson

Perhaps the biggest question here is ‘where is Sterling’? Surely he will soon be making an appearance. As for now there were subtle shifts in the template this week and the return of RAM with Mendy making his comeback. There are a clear famous five at the back with Wan-Bissaka and Doherty making up the other two spaces.

The goalkeeping choices are much more confused with Hennessey dropping out and Ryan, Fabianski and Hamer being the slight favourites with a multitude of options being used by The Great and The Good.

Up front Arnie now joins Aguero as the preferred top choice despite his wooden knee. The third striker spot is currently being contested by Jiménez, Mitrovic, and Wilson (who in hindsight should have been everyone’s first pick over the last few weeks). Hazard remains the only player in all ten teams but with his niggling injury will that continue?

Perhaps more noteworthy is that Aguero, Salah, Alonso, and Doherty are only one short of 100% selection. With Mark deciding against the former 60 min now 90 min Argentinian, Jay going Salah-less and Doherty-less (very surprising), and Niemi overlooking Alonso.

Formation

Formation is dominated by the use of 343 (51% over the season) but the declining trend continues for 3-5-2, as it becomes less favoured by The Great and The Good, dropping between GW 4 TO GW11 from 42% to 23% utilization. The options at the back have seen 442 and 433 more frequently adopted as the season has progressed. As mentioned, Ronka has steadfastly refused to deploy 343 whilst Andy/Torres Magic continue to champion its usage setting out their teams in this formation 9 times out of 11 over the season. Interestingly and perhaps linked to performance Az has been the biggest proponent of 352. Is it time to consider a different approach?

Team Investment and Value

Average Cost of Player looks like this across the teams based on week 1 prices:

Goalkeeper –  4.5

Defender – 5.2

Midfielder – 8.2

Forward – 7.6

ITB – 0.5

Only small movement this week with the reformation of RAM meaning funding upfront reallocated and/or the The Great and The Good raiding their ITB piggy banks to fund the arrival of Mendy. Looking at overall team value, Granville still leads the way and as of the GW 11 deadline was the only member of the 104 million gang with Jay/ Andy still trying to find a way into the 103m members club.

Captain and Differentials 

The were a few more gambles taken with the armband this week with four different options chosen by The Great and The Good. Aguero was the low risk option despite limited pitch time running up to the Saints game and was the most popular this week, which saw him go neck and neck with Salah over the full season.  Both being the chosen 44% of the time over the first 11 gameweeks.

Elsewhere, the bolder managers went for Salah (Az, Ronka), Sterling (Mark), and Hazard (Granville). Yes, you did read that right: Ronka took a bold move in deciding on Salah as they took on an injury-hit Arsenal defence. It didn’t pay off but is this the first sign of a more radical approach? I doubt it. As mentioned, Mark’s bold choice paid off and in terms of the differentials between the teams Mark clearly has the pick of the bunch in Sterling who showed his worth this week; but we still see Mané (Jay) and Sigurdsson (Niemi) as other options capable of handing an advantage to these managers with the ability to haul over the next couple of weeks.

Conclusion 

The headlines of this gameweek definitely came from the City attack but the principle figure, Sterling, has been criminally overlooked by many, including The Great and The Good.

Similarly Martial has started racking up the points (47 in 4 weeks) and the Arsenal strikeforce (Aubameyang and Lacazette) are nowhere to be seen in these squads despite impressive performances.

So why is this?

Is it fear of breaking away from the crowd/template and in some of these cases taking on different price points?

The two form managers Mark and Jay have embraced the fear. Mark continues without Aguero with a budget friendly strike force and is taking hits for fun, whilst Jay ignores Salah but has seen a surge of impressive green arrows. How many of the managers would be in a better position if they had avoided the fear and never taken to the dance floor and attempted the Kane hokey cokey?

Even Ville’s no hit approach makes him stand out when others have bowed to peer pressure to take a hit and bring in the latest shiny toy. He also has gone his own way since GW3 effectively investing in only one striker all season, Aguero, with Ings/Kamara mainly there for bench purposes and to allow greater funding for midfield and defence.

What role does fear of being different play in our decisions and does experience give you the belief to go your own way?

Do we have too much information fed to us meaning that we avoid our gut and our own research and listen to what we are spoonfed.

Let’s see whether any more of The Great and The Good decide to go their own way and break the template over the coming weeks.

That’s all from me for now and remember don’t have nightmares.

25 Comments Post a Comment
  1. xHaTr
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 6 Years
    5 years, 4 months ago

    How is this shaping up?

    Fabianksi (Hamer)

    Laporte/Robertson/Alonso (Doherty/Wan-Bissaka)

    Salah(c)/Maddison/Hazard/Pereyra (Hojbjerg)

    Arnautovic/Aguero/Murray

    1. Could Have Ben Mee
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 4 months ago

      Pereyra/ Murray to Richarlson/Jimenez

      1. xHaTr
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 6 Years
        5 years, 4 months ago

        Great to see this comment, was thinking of making these exact two moves over international break

  2. FPL price manipulators are …
    • 10 Years
    5 years, 4 months ago

    Mane a nice differential in the elite club

    1. Greyhead
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 4 months ago

      Yeah surprised more haven’t doubled up on him and Salah over last few weeks.

  3. Niemi
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 4 months ago

    Selling Richarlison for Maddison two gameweeks ago - biggest mistake of the season

    1. Another Hoops
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 4 months ago

      Same. I chose the wrong 6.8 mid to sacrifice for Mendy 🙁

    2. Greyhead
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 4 months ago

      Think Maddison will come good this weekend. Fingers firmly crossed.

  4. Tsparkes10
    • 5 Years
    5 years, 4 months ago

    Schurlle, TAA to that 4.5 West Ham mid and :
    A) Gomez and bank
    B) Robo

    Going to do Vardy, H-Odoi to Arni, rich most likely week after IB

    1. BitefromBarcelona
      • 8 Years
      5 years, 4 months ago

      Why not consider Anderson over diangana?

  5. BitefromBarcelona
    • 8 Years
    5 years, 4 months ago

    Any way to find out team IDs of the players forming the good and the great?

    1. Ronnie Hotdog
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 4 months ago

      A lot of them are in the Mods & Cons league

      https://fantasy.premierleague.com/a/leagues/standings/29077/classic

    2. Greyhead
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 4 months ago

      Jay 64342
      Ville 829593
      Mark 4668
      Joe 291
      Andy 662
      Az 94
      Granville 6025
      David 2032
      Niemi 1815
      Torres 988

      It’s on my list to add links in the articles...

  6. Az
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • Has Moderation Rights
    • 14 Years
    5 years, 4 months ago

    Ugh, I’m now bottom off his list!!

    Quit happy to see Ville punting on Salah too... glad it wasnt just me!

    1. Greyhead
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      5 years, 4 months ago

      Don’t worry it will just make your second half of the season comeback all the more impressive....

    2. Monkey Hanger
      • 10 Years
      5 years, 4 months ago

      I'll take you and Jay as a tag team against Ville and Andy all day long. #marathonnotasprint 🙂

  7. french holiday
    • 6 Years
    5 years, 4 months ago

    Crazy to see Aguero in top 5 of most transferred out this GW. Been delivering in almost every game this season and being rested in Europe and no international duty.

    1. tokara
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 4 months ago

      good for us

  8. french holiday
    • 6 Years
    5 years, 4 months ago

    Mata if nailed maybe a great pick.

  9. fedolefan
    • 9 Years
    5 years, 4 months ago

    Someone recommended the FPL general's podcast to me and am listening to it right now. He is talking about Anderson being ..Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

    1. french holiday
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 4 months ago

      Haha

  10. ⚔★Vibudh★⚔
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 4 months ago

    Sterling to start vs United?

    1. french holiday
      • 6 Years
      5 years, 4 months ago

      Aguero and Mendy i can guarentee.

    2. tokara
      • 9 Years
      5 years, 4 months ago

      has always start agst top six

  11. ⚔★Vibudh★⚔
    • 7 Years
    5 years, 4 months ago

    How many goals+assist do you except in these 3 games
    New(A),Ars(H) and Hud(H)
    I dont see him blanking in any game and AWB covers him for MCI game!