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.
“I will survive! Oh, as long as I know how to love I know I will stay alive!”
Gameweek 12 don’t turn around now, you’re not welcome anymore. Even Gloria Gaynor would’ve struggled to survive this midweek FPL disaster land, with many managers struggling to find ten, let alone eleven, starters.
One thing seemed certain, Mohamed Salah (£12.8m) was back and there was a rush to captain him, although he left us with a sad look upon our faces. A Leandro Trossard (£6.9m) conga line was building up momentum and there was a Trent turntable, with Liverpool’s Alexander-Arnold (£7.2m) being bought back as quickly as he was sold.
Maybe we should’ve changed that stupid lock. And as for Danny Ward (£4.1m), he grew strong and learned how to get along.
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
A strong defence was the key to success during Blank Gameweek we, with Ben Crellin and that fair-to-middling FPL manager Fabio Borges holding their heads up high on 63 points.
Ben went pure Geordie for the week with a triple Newcastle United back line, whilst Fabio had Lewis Dunk (£4.7m) and unlikely hero Ward to thank for his green arrow.
The biggest riser was Geoff Dance, with a 500,000+ ranking surge. He was one of the first to jump onto Darwin Nunez (£8.8m) but I suspect he won’t be the last.
Finn Sollie stays top and is the only one with a place in the elite 10k, as FPL Harry dropped out. Casting your eye to the lower regions can Mark catch his BlackBox partner Az, or will he crumble, lay down and die?
Suvansh stays steadfast in his dislike of Salah, clearly spending many nights thinking how the Egyptian has done him wrong. He has yet to own him all season and so he captained Harry Kane (£11.5m), although Magnus Carlsen’s decision to put the armband on Son Heung-Min (£11.8m) was perhaps most shocking of all.
TRANSFERS
- Az – Salah, Castagne (Maddison, James)
- LTFPL Andy – Alexander-Arnold, Trossard (Williams, Maddison)
- Ben Crellin – Zaha, Alexander-Arnold (Saka, Perisic)
- Fabio Borges – Trippier, Trossard (Williams, Maddison)
- Finn Sollie – Mitrovic, Salah, Guehi (Kane, Maddison, James)
- FPL Harry – Trossard, Castagne, Salah (Maddison, James, De Bruyne)
- Joe Lepper – Andersen, Trossard, Salah (James, De Bruyne, Maddison)
- Geoff Dance – Darwin, Salah (Martial, De Bruyne)
- FPL General – Salah, Trossard (Maddison, De Bruyne)
- Magnus Carlsen – van Dijk (Toti)
- Mark Sutherns – Alexander-Arnold, Salah (James, De Bruyne)
- FPL Matthew – Doherty, Trossard, Salah (Emerson, De Bruyne, Maddison)
- Neale Rigg – Darwin, Trossard, Salah (Jesus, De Bruyne, Maddison)
- Pras – Alexander-Arnold, Trossard (James, Maddison)
- Suvansh – Trossard (Maddison)
- Tom Freeman – Solanke, Salah (Kane, Maddison)
- Tom Stephenson – Guehi, Solanke, Salah (Emerson, Kane, Maddison)
- Zophar – Trossard, Salah (Maddison, De Bruyne)
Plenty of hits this midweek, with ten of them taking minus fours to get out a team. Four welcomed Trent back after a short sabbatical – that magic sponge at Anfield really must be something – and the rest either went Trossard or Salah, as we thought we couldn’t live without them at our side.
I guessed in the last round-up that Neale Rigg would be forced into his Wildcard, threatening to eat my hat if he didn’t. Well, he didn’t, instead taking a hit to field nine players. I am busy nibbling way on my wizard’s cap as I type. Surely he will finally press the button in Gameweek 13?
TEMPLATE
The template for ‘The Great and The Good’ is as follows, with number in brackets showing how many teams they appear in:
Pope (12), Ward (10)
Trippier (18), Cancelo (14), Guehi (9), Williams (8), Doherty (7)
Andreas (18), Salah (16), Zaha (16), Martinelli (15), Trossard (11)
Haaland (18), Mitrovic (17), Solanke (7)
The template was afraid and indeed petrified as we saw significant movement. Matt Doherty (£4.6m) replaces an injured Reece James (£6.0m), James Maddison (£8.2m) is punished for his disciplinary indiscretion by being kicked out for Trossard and we also see Dominic Solanke (£5.7m).
SEASON STATS
A glance at the key stats gives some cheer to Az (get well soon!) who remains king of the captains and is the only one over 200 points. Finn Sollie is cash-rich, whilst Az, Suvansh and Geoff have taken plenty of hits but Magnus and Ben are yet to take any.
CONCLUSION
Most of us will be glad that the midweek dance is over and now the attention goes towards welcoming Man City and Arsenal players back into our squads and off our benches.
Those on a Wildcard will no doubt be looking to maximise their gains by focussing their investment on these sides, as well as that man Darwin, who I expect to see shoot up the ownership ranks.
For us non-Wildcarders, let’s hope we survive and learn how to stay alive.
Anyway, that’s all from me for now and remember – don’t have nightmares.
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