Learning from the Great and the Good 19/20 – Gameweek 24

“I love the smell of a double Gameweek in the morning”

Apocalypse wow! An FPL community divided by either a MO-ment of joy at Salah’s goal and assist or MANE-ic misery at Sadio’s injury.

Talk of the double Gameweek had dominated the last month with debate raging over whether to go Mo or Mane, big at the back or big in the middle with a few more adventurous types initiating Project F (Firmino), the outcome was pivotal to many an FPL season.

The horror…the horror as injuries to key players such as Vardy, Abraham and of course Mane threw many of us into panic mode with some even considering the ultimate solution – wildcard.

As a reminder The Great and The Good are a handpicked group of FPL celebrities (?), FF Scouts or Pro Pundits who I will follow to see what we can learn as they navigate their way through the season. They are the Scouts (Mark, Joe, David, Geoff and Neale), FPL “celebrities” (Az, LTFPL Andy, FPL General and Jules Breach) and finally from the Hall of Fame we have Ville Ronka, Matthew Jones and Sean Tobin.

OVERALL PERFORMANCE

David lifted himself off the bottom of the table with a Salah inspired 94 points, he also had a strong defensive performance with Alexander-Arnold supported by the cheap but effective Targett, Rico and McCarthy and of course Firmino.

Sean Tobin was top of the tree with a 240,000 green arrow thanks to his double Liverpool defence and Pope, who with 22 points over the last two has rewarded those who kept the faith.

At the other end Andy must be hoping that someday this season’s going to end as he dropped another 240,000 places and Jules Breach is having a nightmare second half to the season enduring her 8th red arrow in a row.

The captain choice for this week was Mo vs Mane as they all, except for Az, played their triple captain chip and there was a collective scream of anguish from Mark, Joe, Andy, FPL General, Jules Breach and Matthew Jones after 33 minutes in the Liverpool vs Wolves when Sadio limped off the pitch.

Az marched to his own FPL drum as having used his Triple captain chip on Vardy in Gameweek 15 he gambled on Alexander-Arnold with the armband, but it was all about the Salah triple captainers this week.

TRANSFERS

This is a summary of the transfers for this week:

Andy – Grealish, Robertson (Traore, Rico)

Az – Firmino (Jimenez)

David – Grealish, Firmino (Richalison, Abraham)

FPL General – Calvert-Lewin (Ings)

Joe – Haller (Ings)

Jules Breach – Fleck, Mane (Mount, Ward-Prowse)

Geoff – Salah, Calvert-Lewin (Rashford, Alli)

Mark – Calvert-Lewin (Rashford)

Matthew Jones – Mane, Greenwood (Martial, Maupay)

Neale – Mane (De Bruyne)

Sean Tobin – No transfers

Ville Ronka – Moura, Mane (De Bruyne, Alli)

*transfers out are in brackets

Liverpool of course dominated the transfers with Mane, Firmino, Robertson and Salah finding their way into the squads of The Great and The Good, but the other popular move was for the rejuvenated Calvert-Lewin.

Ville Ronka’s move for Moura raised this wizard’s eyebrow but more as it meant the departure of the FPL God Kevin De Bruyne, Neale also showed him the exit door and I wonder whether they will live to regret this decision.

Joe bought a ticket in the West Ham double Gameweek tombola with his purchase of Haller and was immediately rewarded for his bravery.

TEMPLATE

The template for The Great and The Good looks like this:

Button (6) McCarthy (5)

Lundstram (12) TAA (11) Kelly (8) Soyuncu (7) Rico (6)

Salah (10) Grealish (10) Mane (10) De Bruyne (9) Martial (4)

Vardy (11) Ings (9) Calvert-Lewin (6)

* brackets show number of teams they appear in

There is a more concrete look to the template with six players now in double figures as Mane and Grealish become mainstays of most of the squads, I suspect with an injury and blank to consider they may not last long.

Upfront, Maupay’s misfiring and Calvert-Lewin’s renaissance under Ancelotti means the Everton man makes his way into the squad, he rewarded his new owners with a goal this week.

TRANSFER SUCCESS

So, with transfer decisions proving even more important this season with need to move quickly in the market being even more important this year I have dug a little deeper into the transfer success or otherwise of the managers. The table below gives a view of the transfers and immediate points gained so doesn’t consider longer term benefit:-

Sean has shown his class here and leads this metric, he has gained 94 immediate points, and this has been based on a consistent flow of points with only the Vardy transfer in Gameweek 12 standing out as giving him an instant double-digit haul.

Elsewhere, Andy has had a difficult few weeks and is on -39 for immediate points impact, he is one to suffer the goalkeeping curse as he swopped Pope for Fabianski and of course there was Son back in Gameweek 18.

CONCLUSION

We live in a divided FPL community with some not daring to look at their ranks whilst others feeling smoother than smooth at their new lofty position.

Yet, FPL waits for no man, woman and we have quick decisions to make with this weekend’s matches not far away, injury news to consider and the spectre of a blank Gameweek 28 on the horizon.

Many are considering the wildcard but is this emotion based on the misfortune of the double or is this wise with its impact potentially greater as long as though rotation will be rife towards the end of the season with the likes of Liverpool and City more likely to be focused on their European adventures. Will any of The Great and The Good look to wildcard and terminate their squads with extreme prejudice?

Anyway, that’s all from me for now and remember don’t have nightmares.

For those effected by any of the topics raised in the above article they can find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Greyhead19

Likewise, if you want to keep up with the Tweets of The Great and The Good you can find them here:

https://twitter.com/SkontoRigga

https://twitter.com/FFScout_Geoff

https://twitter.com/matthewpenycae

https://twitter.com/LetsTalk_FPL

https://twitter.com/DavidMunday815

https://twitter.com/ffscout_az

https://twitter.com/FFScout_Joe

https://twitter.com/FPLGeneral

https://twitter.com/julesbreach