In this Scoutcast special of Question Time, Luke, Az and Joe have kindly agreed to answer a handful of the many questions you submitted over the last couple of days.
Everton’s Fantasy assets are discussed in more than one question, while budget-to-mid-price midfielders, the Gameweek 15/16 fixture swing and team value also warrant debate.
Many thanks again to our site users for taking the time to submit their posers to the panel – the response is consistently overwhelming and we apologise that we can’t tackle more of your queries.
Who’s on the panel this week?
Joe – Scoutcast presenter/contributor and the host of the excellent series, Meet the Manager. Joe is a fine manager in his own right, boasting a best-ever overall FPL rank of 840th in 2013/14 and having six other top 10k finishes to his name.
Luke – The maverick member of the Scoutcast team but another Fantasy manager with an impressive track record, with an OR of 580th (also in 2013/14) his stand-out achievement in FPL and an amazing fourth-place finish in Sky Sports Fantasy Football his crowning glory.
Az – A popular name on Twitter and the host of another recommended podcast, FPL Blackbox. Az is a regular Scoutcaster and had his best ever FPL season in 2017/18, finishing 817th. Az also has two other top 5k finishes to his name.
Question 1 – Joe
Tom: “Are Lucas Digne or Michael Keane viable Benjamin Mendy replacements for those looking to free up funds? If so, which one would you choose?”
Joe: “Prior to his surgery, I’d already made my mind up to swap Mendy for Everton’s Lucas Digne. Of the three players that make up the so-called ‘RAM’ premium defence, which also includes Liverpool’s Andy Robertson and Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso, the Manchester City man was struggling to keep up.
“Digne offers an extremely enticing alternative, with potential for points at both ends of the pitch. He also frees up vital cash to invest in midfield.
“Over the next four fixtures, the Toffees left-back has three great home fixtures, against Cardiff, Newcastle and Watford. Two clean sheets at least look highly probable.
“He can also be easily benched and rotated with other defenders in tough fixtures, such as against Liverpool in Gameweek 14. As Crystal Palace’s fixtures ease, this means Aaron Wan-Bissaka can come into contention for many, including myself.
“Digne also offers bonus potential, picking up an extra point in Everton’s 0-0 away draw with Chelsea last time out.
“In addition, he looks primed to add to his solitary assist, due to some impressive underlying statistics. Over the last four Gameweeks, no other defender has created more chances or taken more corners.
“His team-mate Michael Keane also appeals, with two assists and a goal this season. I don’t rule him out but am concerned that his early goal threat has disappeared since being injured and missing Gameweeks 4 and 5. Prior to that, he was averaging two shots a game, with a 66.7% accuracy. After coming back in Gameweek 6 that threat has almost halved and he has only mustered one on target attempt.”
Question 2 – Luke
Vyshnav Rajan: “Do I give Xherdan Shaqiri another Gameweek considering he posted attacking returns last weekend – or do I get in Richarlison?”
Luke: “The stars seem to have aligned for Xherdan Shaqiri in the last week or so and he is looking like an excellent differential pick with just 2.7% ownership.
“Fresh off the back of a goal and man-of-the-match performance against Fulham, he has continued to impress after picking up two assists playing in a number 10 role in Switzerland’s 5-2 win over Belgium.
“Liverpool’s best performances have come with Shaqiri stationed in an advanced central midfield role and I think Jurgen Klopp agrees, which may signal a prolonged spell in the starting XI from here on in; I would be extremely hesitant to remove him whilst in this kind of form.
“Having said that, Richarlison looks an absolute ‘no-brainer’ this week and possibly for the rest of the season. The immediate fixtures and an ‘out of position’ role up front make him close to essential for me and I expect a fair few of his 26% ownership will be considering him for the armband against Cardiff. Going without could hurt rank considerably.
“In a straight shoot-out, Richarlison wins out for me but I would try everything I can to come up with an alternative solution and field both players.”
Question 3 – Az
FPL Guy: “If I’m looking to move on Ryan Fraser due to his fixtures, are there any other £5.5-6.5m midfielders worth considering or do we need to move up/down a price bracket?
Az: “I’m surprised to see the wholesale selling of Bournemouth attackers over the last few weeks, with Callum Wilson and Ryan Fraser being sold by quite a few people because of their tough run. In terms of value though, I don’t think you can do much better – have you really got no other pressing concerns? Can Fraser not be benched for this week and then kept as part of a rotation pairing? I don’t think any options even come closer to Fraser for his price, particularly if you can only sell for less than £6m.
“If you’re set to make the switch though, the mini-bandwagon of Grady Diangana as a potential £4.5m midfielder was short-lived when he got substituted at half-time and my attentions have now turned to Kadeem Harris. He really passed the eye test in their win against Brighton, causing the Seagulls defence a lot of problems and even hitting the woodwork – as well as getting an assist.
“I can’t really see any other options in the sub-£5m bracket though. I do like Callum Paterson and the versatile midfielder-cum-striker has three goals in four games, which is a great return for a £5.2m midfielder. My man though is David Brooks, who was man of the match for Wales the other day and has three goals this season. He has a knack of arriving in the box at the right time, almost like a budding Aaron Ramsey. I’m very happy with him for £5.1m and am content to keep him in my team, rotating him in and out as necessary and potentially having him come on as a substitute over this hectic winter schedule.
“But none of these players would make me consider dumping Fraser if I had him. Six assists, three goals and 32 chances created bodes well for future returns, no matter what the opposition. I wouldn’t be getting him in due to the tough run, but I think he’s worth holding on to.”
Question 4 – Joe
El Polako: “Is the GW15/16 fixture swing for north London clubs a red herring? With Harry Kane off-form, the Arsenal defence non-existent and the constant rotation in midfield, is it really worth keeping the Wildcard for?”
Joe: “Never underestimate the power of a favourable fixture run.
“Take Arsenal for example, who lost their first two tough matches against Manchester City and Chelsea but notched seven victories and a draw over their next eight, easy ties.
“On four occasions over that sensational run, they notched at least three goals, proving that Arsenal attackers are more than worthy of investment when the ticker turns in their favour.
“With rotation indeed afflicting the midfield, it is one of Alexandre Lacazette or Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang that I favour getting in.
“Over those aforementioned eight matches the French striker accumulated four goals and as many assists, while the Gabon forward found the next seven times and created two further goals.
“Clean sheets are the bread and butter of defenders, but the Gunners backline are serving up workhouse gruel, conceding against the likes of Cardiff, Fulham and Newcastle during their previous easy run of games.
“Nevertheless, Hector Bellerin is on my watchlist, with four assists and seven shots over that Gameweek 3 to 10 run.
“Tottenham assets I’m less keen on currently, with many of their options failing to live up to their price tags.
“Harry Kane has shown promise of late, but his shot-in-the-box strike rate of one every 34.6 minutes is below many premium-priced alternatives, including Sergio Aguero and Mohamed Salah. It is also similar to Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson, who costs almost half as much money. For £12.4m I want to see much more from Kane, especially after he let many Fantasy managers down when he blanked at home to Cardiff.
“Kieran Trippier remains the best value Spurs option, with just two points less than Kane, but costing just £6.2m. Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli have the pedigree to deserve watchlist status. But as with Kane, they need to do much more to justify their cost.”
Question 5 – Luke
George Sewell: “This season I’ve been taking almost weekly point hits to build team value, hoping to make up points in the long term. My team is worth nearly £2.0m more than all the teams above me in my mini-league but I’m 68 points off the top. How important is team value in the long run?”
Luke: “Unless we have a crystal ball it’s very hard to answer this question, but I’ll give it a shot.
“The best players are usually expensive. FPL towers are very good at pricing players pre-season and rarely get it wrong. Even if they do get it wrong or some cheaper alternatives surprise us, they usually increase in price fairly quickly – this intuitively leads to the conclusion that more money to spend on our squads is a good thing as we can include more of these players in our teams.
“So generally I would say team value is quite important and will often help secure you extra points over your rivals, especially around the time of the second Wildcard. The caveat to this is that cheap players can emerge at any given time and render it less so – Leicester’s title-winning season immediately springs to mind with players like Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez, Odion Ighalo, and at the time, the lesser-known Harry Kane rendering team value near useless.
“Ultimately though, points are the only factor that matters come the end of the season, so like most things, a healthy balance is usually required.”
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