Learning from ‘The Great and The Good’ FPL managers ahead of Gameweek 28

Fantasy Football Scout community writer Greyhead continues with his series of articles analysing the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) transfers and strategies of some noted Fantasy managers, from serial top 10k finishers to well-known faces.

The Great and The Good this year are the Scouts Joe Lepper, Neale Rigg, Geoff Dance, and Tom Freeman, FPL Wire’s Zophar, from the Hall of Fame Fabio Borges, FPLMatthew, Yavuz Kabuk and Tom Stephenson, Blackbox’s Az and Mark Sutherns, FPL “celebrities” LTFPL Andy, Magnus Carlsen and FPL General plus last year’s mini league winner Les Caldwell.

“So, I’m never gonna dance again the way I danced with you. Time can never mend the careless whispers of a good friend.”

Those expecting a wham from their Free Hit were left with nothing but a feeling of what might’ve been, especially those who invested in Ben Mee (£4.8m) and Wout Weghorst (£6.6m).

Yet, with another Double Gameweek on the horizon, will we learn our lesson and keep hold of these single Gameweek superstars? I doubt it with the likes of Che Adams (£6.9m), Joe Willock (£5.9m) being talked up, although opinion seems split on Armando Broja (£5.5m) if you listen to Az’s careless whisper.

OVERALL PERFORMANCE

Mark was top of the pops this week with his brave Harry Kane (£12.5m) captaincy standing out against a Weghorst wave, which pushed him to a score of 63 for his Free Hit.

Yavuz Kabuk was the highest scorer amongst those who didn’t use their chip, despite a double hit, but Fabio remains as the King of the Mountain, and he was helped by James Maddison’s (£6.8m) 18-minute cameo and goal.

It’s worth noting that Magnus and Joe have played their second Free Hit of the season and it was a typical bold play from the Grandmaster, with triple Man City, Southampton, and Burnley; it was perhaps unlucky that it didn’t pay off this time around.

TRANSFERS

This is a summary of the transfers for this week:

• Az – Weghorst, Son (King, Salah)
• LTFPL Andy – Free Hit
• Fabio Borges – Broja (King)
• Joe Lepper – Free Hit
• Geoff Dance – Free Hit
• FPL General – Free Hit
• Les Caldwell – Willock (Cornet)
• Magnus Carlsen – Free Hit
• Mark Sutherns – Free Hit
• FPL Matthew – Saiss, Weghorst (Coufal, King)
• Neale Rigg – Free Hit
• Tom Freeman – Broja, Weghorst, Kilman (King, Dennis, Coufal)
• Tom Stephenson – Free Hit
• Yavuz Kabuk – Son, Weghorst, Tarkowski (Emerson Royal, King, Salah)
• Zophar – Free Hit

Whilst the Free Hitters were deciding on their Burnley triple-up and which City midfielder would survive Pep roulette – spoiler: it wasn’t Riyad Mahrez (£8.8m) – the rest were left to make do with the limited transfers they had.

Les Caldwell deserves a mention for moving out a Double Gameweek player in Maxwel Cornet (£5.9m) for Willock and coming out on top in that exchange.

Tom Freeman looks intent on trying to navigate the next few weeks without the aid of a chip and so took a minus eight, as did Yavuz Kabuk, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he Wildcards this week as he sold Mohamed Salah (£13.1m).

TEMPLATE

The template for The Great and The Good is as follows, with the number in brackets showing how many teams in which they appear:

• Pope (8), De Gea (3)
• Cancelo (12), Mee (8), Amartey (6), Livramento (6), Alexander-Arnold (6)
• Son (10), Mahrez (9), Fernandes (8), Sterling (6), Bowen (6)
• Weghorst (15), Kane (11), Broja (11)

The impact of the Free Hit gang means that the template was turned upside down with nine new players in the squad; it’s certainly the first time that Weghorst, Mahrez and Mee have made an appearance in the XV.

There was plenty of regret for the Free Hitters who brought in Daniel Amartey (£3.8m), as he also made his debut in the squad – but unfortunately, his eight points were left on the bench for all of them.

WHAT IF?

Amidst all the chaos, it can be easy to forget that our moves do make a difference. The infamous “What If” machine shows us what would have happened if we had not made any transfers or changes to our team since Gameweek 1.

This shows that the General has been the best at directing his battalion over the campaign with an improvement of 388 points from his Gameweek 1 squad, although Tom Stephenson and Fabio are not far behind.

Whilst Tom Freeman sits towards the bottom, it’s worth noting that with his Free Hit, Wildcard and Bench Boost in hand, I expect that to change by the end of season. You can check your own progress here.

CONCLUSION

Wildcard chips are burning in the pockets of many as we enter three weeks of doubles and blanks but many will be keeping their powder dry until the completion of the FA Cup matches to see what the final schedule will bring.

Even when the matches are finalised, there will still be questions to answer. Should we really sell Joao Cancelo (£7.1m)? Is Reece James (£6.2m) fit enough? Can we really be thinking about investing in the Newcastle defence?

Whatever happens, I can sense a lot of joy from seeing those Free Hit-failing Burnley players disappearing from these managers’ teams. If nothing else, this week should tell us that quality is better than quantity when it comes to our squad selections.

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

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