Fantasy Football Scout community writer Greyhead returns for the 2022/23 season 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’ of this season consists of BlackBox pair Mark Sutherns and Az, the Scouts Joe Lepper, Tom Freeman, Neale Rigg, Geoff Dance, Pro Pundits Pras, Zophar and FPL Harry, FPL celebrities Magnus Carlsen, FPL General, LTFPL Andy and Ben Crellin, Hall of Fame legends Fabio Borges, FPL Matthew, Finn Sollie and Tom Stephenson and, of course, last year’s mini-league winner and overall number two Suvansh.
“Ding-dong, the template is dead! Which old template? The wicked template.”
I’ve got a feeling we are not in Oz anymore. The rock-solid ‘big-at-the-back’ template went all soft and floppy this weekend as Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City defensive double-ups fell apart, whilst the less said about those bargain £4.0m Leicester goalkeepers the better.
We also had our first Great and Good wedding, with LTFPL Andy tying the knot over the weekend. Many, many congratulations, Andy! Unfortunately, the only present he received from FPL was a red arrow as he was one of many to suffer from the decision to bench Andreas Pereira (£4.5m).
He was not the only one to see a fall in his rank, as everyone except Joe Lepper and Finn Sollie suffered the same crimson fate.
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
Fabio Borges saw red yet still rose to the top of the table, in what was a difficult week for most. To prove that he is human, Fabio even had to suffer the agony of seeing 16 points from Pereira and Robert Sanchez (£4.5m) remain on his bench.
Finn, Hall of Fame number two, was the top scorer as his moves for William Saliba (£4.6m) and Ivan Toney (£7.2m) paid off. Interestingly, he is the first one to move to 4-3-3 and, with other mid-priced strikers such as Aleksander Mitrovic (£6.6m) and Callum Wilson (£7.4m) joining the Brentford man on the scoresheet, I wonder whether he will be ahead of the game with this shift in approach.
The only consolation I can provide to Az is that he continues to lead the way on captaincy points with 68 so far, given the edge thanks to last week’s Kevin De Bruyne (£12.1m) gamble. It’s worth noting that he is the only one to own the Man City magician despite the fact he is currently outscoring both Mohamed Salah (£13.0m) and Erling Haaland (£11.7m).
TRANSFERS
- Az – Martinelli, James, Zinchenko (Neto, Digne, Robertson)
- LTFPL Andy – Ederson, Reed (Sanchez, Neto)
- Ben Crellin – Reed, Cucurella (Neto, Williams)
- Fabio Borges – Sanchez (Iversen)
- Finn Sollie – Toney, Saliba, Reed (Archer, Robertson, Bailey)
- FPL Harry – Gross, James (Neto, Robertson)
- Joe Lepper – Cucurella, James (Patterson, Robertson)
- Geoff Dance – Dias, Cucurella (Williams, Robertson)
- FPL General – Reed (Bailey)
- Magnus Carlsen – Luis Diaz, Cucurella (Rashford, Robertson)
- Mark Sutherns – Toney, James (Johnson, Robertson)
- FPL Matthew – Luis Diaz, Zinchenko (Robertson, Bailey)
- Neale Rigg – Xhaka (Bailey)
- Pras – Luis Diaz, Walker, Perisic (Bailey, Dias, Robertson)
- Suvansh – Reed, Sterling, James, Cucurella (Neto, Diaz, Robertson, Cash
- Tom Freeman – Cucurella (Digne)
- Tom Stephenson – Cucurella, Luis Diaz (Neto, Robertson)
- Zophar – Cucurella, Luis Diaz, Reed (Robertson, Neto, Bailey)
Luis Diaz (£8.0m) and Marc Cucurella (£5.1m) were the most popular transfers in this week. Finn’s aforementioned moves were probably the best and Fabio’s goalkeeper move for Sanchez was probably the dullest.
Pras’ hit for Ivan Perisic (£5.5m) brought the sexy back and he was not the only one to take a minus four with Zophar, Finn and the BlackBox married couple also following suit.
Suvansh continued his all-or-nothing approach with a minus eight. Four players came in but, unfortunately, three of them were Chelsea assets.
Finally, Neale’s move for Granit Xhaka (£5.0m) had me shaking my head until I saw the more advanced position the angry Arsenal midfielder is taking up. Has the Geordie Ginger outsmarted us all?
TEMPLATE
The template for ‘The Great and The Good’ is as follows:
- Ward (17), Ramsdale (8)
- Alexander-Arnold (18), Cancelo (18), James (18), Cucurella (9), Williams (7)
- Martinelli (18), Andreas (18), Salah (16), Luis Diaz (10), Reed (8)
- Haaland (17), Jesus (17), Archer (13)
The first template shift occurred this week as the herd decided that Diaz is the better third Liverpool option, with Andrew Robertson (£6.9m) sold in droves to make way.
This allowed Cucurella to join the backline and create a Chelsea double-up which now looks shaky due to injuries and suspensions.
Harrison Reed (£4.5m) is the new cheap midfield enabler of choice now that Leon Bailey (£4.9m) and Pedro Neto (£5.4m) are being discarded. There is still no place or ownership of Rodrigo (£6.3m) who must be wondering what he has to do to attract a buyer.
TARGET TEAMS
At the start of any season, we tend to see certain teams targeted whether that be due to fixtures or perceived strength going into the season.
The following table shows us the number of players by Premier League team in this mini-league:
Four of the biggest teams in the league dominate with the only surprise being that Arsenal don’t have a full complement of triple-ups across ‘The Great and The Good’. Whether there will need to be further diversification once midweek European adventures bring rotation remains to be seen.
Perhaps we would’ve expected Spurs to be higher with their form and fixtures but the price points of key duo Harry Kane (£11.4m) and Son Heung-Min (£11.9m) make it tough against template essentials Haaland and Salah.
Unsurprisingly, no one dared to invest in Manchester United players due to their poor start to the campaign but I wonder if we may see more investment in them after Monday’s improved performance against Liverpool.
I also fancy the likes of Brighton and Hove Albion and Leeds United to gather more attention as form, fixtures and some budget-friendly gems attract the eye.
CONCLUSION
A difficult week led to many a wise sage telling us to keep calm and carry on but is patience the right path during this unique season that offers a ‘third’ Wildcard? Could it not be a good time to throw caution to the wind?
Going early always allows you to catch the price rises because the player market is most volatile in these initial few weeks, the unlimited transfers before Gameweek 17 also give you a safety net and the gap to the mountain top is much smaller right now.
I wonder whether any of ‘The Great and The Good’ will have an itchy trigger finger?
Anyway, that’s all from me for and remember: don’t have nightmares.
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