Fantasy Football Scout community writer Greyhead analyses 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 season are the BlackBox pair of Mark Sutherns and Az, Scouts Joe Lepper, Tom Freeman, Neale Rigg, Geoff Dance, Pro Pundits Pras, Zophar and FPL Harry, FPL “celebrities” Magnus Carlsen, FPL General, LTFPL Andy, Ben Crellin, from the Hall of Fame, Fabio Borges, FPL Matthew, Finn Sollie and Tom Stephenson and of course last year’s mini-league winner and overall no. 2 Suvansh.
“Flying without Wings”
We were on team news tenterhooks leading up to the weekend, with injuries to Reece James (£6.0m), Aleksander Mitrovic (£6.7m) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.2m) meaning we paid extra attention to Friday’s press conferences.
Unfortunately, the responses of Jurgen Klopp, Marco Silva and Graham Potter kept us very much in the dark, requiring a seeking of our own specialists, although we did learn that Liverpool’s medical staff need a pay rise as the “unavailable” Trent looked distinctly available as he sat on the bench against Manchester City.
Gameweek 11 itself saw many regain their faith in Mohamed Salah (£12.7m) due to his central position, the cult of Dominic Solanke (£5.8m) also gained new followers and James Maddison (£8.2m) owners probably expressed a few spiritual expletives of their own when he ruled himself out of Gameweek 12 with a last-minute yellow card. Silly boy!
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
The biggest shock when ‘The Great and The Good’ team news was revealed showed that Magnus had done a Magnus and put the armband on Son Heung-Min (£11.8m) rather than everyone’s favourite perma-captain Erling Haaland (£12.2m).
Ultimately it meant nothing, although Magnus will claim a moral victory as Son managed one extra clean sheet point. Where will magical beads convince the Grandmaster to look for Gameweek 12 captaincy?
Finn Sollie continues to glide effortlessly up the rankings, annoyingly he even looks well-equipped to deal with the blank, having two free transfers in hand. The Norwegian is joined in the top 10k by FPL Harry, who kept his momentum going despite leaving 18 points on the bench. Tom Freeman managed to outdo this with 22 sat on the sidelines.
In a low-scoring week, Ben Crellin was one of only two to get 60 or more points. His ‘threemium’ strategy paid off, with Harry Kane (£11.4m) plus that man Salah making up for Haaland’s first blank.
Just behind him this week was Mark Sutherns, who had a week which may get him more airtime on FPL Blackbox as his 60 points led to a 650,000 green arrow thanks to his faith in Brentford. David Raya (£4.5m) and Ivan Toney (£7.4m) must’ve had him buzzing on Friday night.
Mark was not the only one to benefit from a goalkeeping masterclass, as there were an incredible six double-digit scores from men between the sticks.
TRANSFERS
- Az – Doherty (Alexander-Arnold)
- LTFPL Andy – Trippier, Webster (James, Alexander-Arnold)
- Ben Crellin – Dunk (James)
- Fabio Borges – Dunk (James)
- Finn Sollie – None
- FPL Harry – Doherty (Alexander-Arnold)
- Joe Lepper – Doherty (Patterson)
- Geoff Dance – Castagne (Alexander-Arnold)
- FPL General – Doherty (James)
- Magnus Carlsen – Trossard (De Bruyne)
- Mark Sutherns – Cresswell (Alexander-Arnold)
- FPL Matthew – Dunk (James)
- Neale Rigg – None
- Pras – Doherty (Alexander-Arnold)
- Suvansh – Doherty (James)
- Tom Freeman – Zaha, Andersen (James, Gordon)
- Tom Stephenson – Dunk (James)
- Zophar – Guehi (James)
Defensive transfers were the priority, with most looking to ship out either James or Alexander-Arnold. In retrospect, it might have been better to keep Trent but, either way, it showed a split in approach by ‘The Great and The Good.’
The more conservative went for solid, dependable Lewis Dunk (£4.6m), whilst the more daring types went for Matt Doherty (£4.6m), although his starting place after Gameweek 12 does look more secure after the shift to 3-5-2 by Conte certainly made Spurs more effective.
TEMPLATE
The template for ‘The Great and The Good’ is as follows, with numbers in brackets showing how many teams they appear in:
Pope (12), Ward (10)
Trippier (17), Cancelo (14), Williams (10), James (8), Guehi (7)
Andreas (18), Martinelli (15), Zaha (15), Maddison (14), De Bruyne (8)
Haaland (18), Mitrovic (16), Kane (6)
It was at the back that we saw a shift, with Alexander-Arnold booted out and James just clinging onto his space – although this won’t last. Marc Guehi (£4.3m) makes his first-ever template appearance.
A certain Liverpool midfielder will no doubt find his way back for Gameweek 12, as everyone has decided he is good again.
BLANKETY BLANK
I’ve had a quick look at the preparations for Blank Gameweek 12, with many less-engaged managers likely to be caught out by a quick turnaround and the sudden disappearance of their Man City and Arsenal assets.
The injury to James only exacerbates the situation and, quite frankly, I can barely type Maddison’s name because his silly simulation let us all down.
Looking at the squads, I have listed the number of transfers and players currently available, discounting reserve keepers. Ben Crellin is best prepared with a full XI plus the luxury of having two free transfers if needed.
It looks less optimal for the likes of Joe and Harry so I suspect a hit or two will be taken and, as for Neale Rigg, well if having only seven available players doesn’t force a Wildcard then I will eat my Wizard’s hat!
CONCLUSION
Be on your guard, as rapid-fire decisions need to be made. I expect Salah to enter stage right plus a couple of hits here and there for those looking to gamble on Brighton and Hove Albion’s home clash against Nottingham Forest. Yet it’s important to keep half an eye on Gameweek 13 onwards, as those Man City and Arsenal players will quickly become very attractive.
Anyway, that’s all from me for now and remember – don’t have nightmares.
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