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 last year’s mini-league winner and overall no.2 Suvansh.
“Things that make you go meh”
Some weeks these updates are a joy to write, with events on the Fantasy pitch my mythical muse. In other weeks, well, they are less than inspiring.
To be fair, I didn’t expect much from this round of fixtures, with the general feeling that this was the aperitif before the stacked Gameweeks ahead.
The main excitement in the run-up to the Saturday kick-offs, delayed as some chap was putting a crown on it, was the return of the FPL flow chart, as managers prepared for Pep Roulette on super spin. In the end, even that was an anti-climax.
Events took a darker turn for FPL managers who held Solly March (£5.3m) as by the end of the fixtures, they had to suffer first his benching, then a ping of his hamstring before Alexis MacAllister (£5.5m) scored – it was not his owners’ best moment.
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
In a low-scoring week, where only three of The Great and The Good beat the overall average of 39, Magnus Carlsen was the leading scorer with a “massive” 43, thanks in part to his decision to double up on Liverpool defensive players and pick the right combination of Brighton midfielders (i.e. not Solly March).
Mark Sutherns was not far behind on 42 due to his tricky tree Brennan Johnson (£5.5m) and in fact, all four of those managers at the murky end of the table hit green arrows. Maybe they are fearing the ignominy of the wooden spoon.
A tip of the cap to Fabio Borges, who at least dared to be different by putting the armband on Mohamed Salah (£13.1m) and reaped the benefits. Unfortunately, it was cancelled out by the minus returns from both Jason Steele (£4.0m) and Fabian Schar (£5.1m) who did little in their audition for the double ahead.
TRANSFERS
You know it’s a slow news week when one of the highlights is FPL Matthew making a goalkeeper trade, bringing in the much-maligned Ederson (£5.5m), the Welsh Wonder is clearly not fazed by the Brazilian’s rotation last time out.
Elsewhere, Az couldn’t wait to get rid of Diogo Jota (£8.8m) for the sought-after Alexander Isak (£7.0m), who will be one of the antagonists in the main debate this week as to whether to go with him or Callum Wilson (£7.1m) or even both.
The full list of transfers is below:
- Az – Isak (Jota)
- LTFPL Andy – No Transfers
- Ben Crellin – No Transfers
- Fabio Borges – No Transfers
- Finn Sollie – No Transfers
- FPL Harry – No Transfers
- Joe Lepper – No Transfers
- Geoff Dance – No Transfers
- FPL General – No Transfers
- Magnus Carlsen – Mitoma (Martinelli)
- Mark Sutherns – No Transfers
- FPL Matthew – Ederson (Raya)
- Neale Rigg – No Transfers
- Pras – No Transfers
- Suvansh – No Transfers
- Tom Freeman – No Transfers
- Tom Stephenson – No Transfers
- Zophar – No Transfers
TEMPLATE
As solid as a rock.
The full details for The Great and The Good are as follows, with the number in brackets showing how many teams in which they appear:
Kepa (12), Raya (9)
Trippier (17), Alexander-Arnold (16), Botman (13), Shaw (12), Estupinan (10)
Rashford (18), Salah (15), March (15), Mitoma (15), Fernandes (13)
Haaland (18), Watkins (14), Greenwood (9)
WHAT IF MACHINE
It’s that period of year when we look back at what might have been, so it’s as good as time as any to bring out the What If Machine. If you’re new to this feature, it calculates how many points you would have scored if you had done nothing with your team since Gameweek 1.
The award for the most improved manager is Az, who has gained 706 points over the season due to his meddling – but to be fair his opening squad did include double Liverpool defence, mega troll Lucas Digne (£4.5m), the much-fancied enabler Pedro Neto (£4.9m) and Mason Mount (£7.2m). Hindsight can be cruel.
Not far behind him are Ben Crellin and Finn Sollie, who have made good ground during the campaign. FPL Harry had the best opening squad and has only got better during the campaign whilst Magnus, well, he has given up.
CONCLUSION
Brace yourself for a bevy of doubles as we face up to the next two weeks, which will no doubt be strewn with rotation as the campaign comes to its conclusion. For those chasing, it’s a good time to throw caution to the wind.
I am sure many will look to the default Newcastle and Brighton moves but if you have a transfer to spare and fancy a flutter, it’s worth looking at those fighting for survival. Dwight McNeil (£5.1m) and Morgan Gibbs-White (£5.5m) impressed this weekend – sometimes motivation can be greater than fixtures.
Anyway, that’s all from me for now, but remember: don’t have FPL 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
