Fantasy Football Scout community writer Greyhead returns for 2023/24 with his series of The Great and the Good articles, analysing the transfers and strategies of some well-known Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers.
The Great and The Good this season are the BlackBox pair of Mark Sutherns and Az, Scouts Joe Lepper and Tom Freeman, Scoutcasters Seb Wassell and Andy North, Pro Pundits FPL General, Pras, Zophar and FPL Harry, plus FPL ‘celebrities’ LTFPL Andy and Ben Crellin, FPL champion FPL Gunz, Hall of Famers Fabio Borges, Finn Sollie, Jan Kepski and Jon Ballantyne, alongside last year’s mini-league winner Marko Miseric.
“This FPL union has been divided in like a civil war – brother against brother – sister against sister”
It was Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) versus Erling Haaland (£14.0m), the Egyptian King against Norwegian Meat Shield. Gameweek 2 was billed as a clash of the titans but, in the end, it was all a bit of an anticlimax with lots of red arrows to unite the FPL brethren. Actually, we should’ve been looking towards a certain Brentford midfielder.
Elsewhere, ‘big at the back’ instead became ‘bruised and battered at the back’, as the Gameweek 2 build-up was dominated by defensive injuries – some real and some fictional.
First, it was John Stones (£5.4m) who made his way to the doctors. Then, medical centre loyalty card owner Reece James (£5.4m) made the familiar journey, before rumours circulated around Pervis Estupinan (£5.2m). The latter one was proved false.
Some managers, particularly those with Gabriel (£5.0m) whose expected minutes appear to be under threat, took action and sought a replacement, whilst others bided their time with half an eye on a £4.0m Malo Gusto. Those who kept Gabriel – aka people who had better things to do at 6.27pm on Friday 11th August – may cling on for a little longer after Takehiro Tomiyasu’s (£4.5m) red card.
Once the action started, it was all about the £6.5m men. Bryan Mbeumo (£6.6m), Kaoru Mitoma (£6.6m) and Solly March (£6.6m) all dominated.
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
Bottom last week, Fabio Borges rose like a phoenix this time, with 66 points bringing a 3.3 million rank rise. He was prudent enough to own both Mbeumo and Mitoma.
It’s worth noting that he’s also the only one not to own any Arsenal midfielders, including Bukayo Saka (£8.5m), and has instead invested in their back line. It’ll be interesting to see if he moves on Gabriel as he, along with fellow Hall of Famer Finn Sollie, have spent the minimum on their benches and own two £4.0m defenders.
Tom Freeman also had a strong week, being one of the few who owns Martin Odegaard (£8.5m). The Arsenal captain stepped up to take their penalty and fooled us all, including his manager according to post-match comments.
Whilst Finn leads, Mark Sutherns is having his traditional slow start, this time benching Estupinan to give us all a head start.
TRANSFERS
Only a few moves were made, with those James owners who started off the week smug in the knowledge they were a transfer ahead, ending the week with predictable disappointment. Most have dumped him for team-mate Ben Chilwell (£5.7m).
Meanwhile, Seb threw the dice with a little more Gusto by going for the cheaper Chelsea alternative.
The full list of transfers is below:
- Jon Ballantyne – Chilwell (James)
- Seb Wassell – Gusto (James)
- Ben Crellin – Chilwell (James)
- Jan Kępski – Chilwell (James)
THE GREAT AND THE GOOD TEMPLATE
Solid. Solid as a rock.
However, I predict upcoming erosion in the template with Joao Pedro (£5.6m) a favourite to be moved on. Furthermore, the Manchester United midfield stranglehold could be loosened depending on the patience of our managers.
Turner (18), Pickford (9)
Estupinan (18), Chilwell (16), Saliba (12), Baldock (7), Shaw/Gabriel (6)
Rashford (18), Saka (17), Bruno Fernandes (15), Mbeumo (10), Martinelli (9)
Haaland (18), Pedro (9), Archer (9)
TARGET TEAMS
At the start of any season, we see certain teams targeted either because of fixtures or their own perceived strength.
The following table breaks down this mini-league’s players team by team. Also, in the third column, I have used the Season Ticker to rank teams by their Gameweeks 2-8 fixtures. It gives us a sense of where investment may swing towards.
An Arsenal triple-up has been the default position for most of The Great and The Good. This should reduce slightly over the coming weeks, with a Chelsea trio being touted as must-have during the upcoming fixtures, although their points output will need to improve.
Man United are the next most popular team, which is possibly a source of regret given their stuttering form. Many of the community are already itching to get rid, despite the home game with Nottingham Forest. Likely replacements could come from Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City, where Phil Foden (£7.5m) and Julian Alvarez (£6.5m) are waving at us.
The fact that City are not higher on the above list, even though their fixtures have looked so strong from the start, shows the unwillingness of FPL managers to play Pep Roulette once more.
CONCLUSION
It’s been a rocky start for some, including yours truly, with the real winners being those who went for William Saliba (£5.1m) and gambled on the right £6.5m midfielders. Yet there will be plenty more twists and turns, so patience is probably the best weapon we have.
As always, if you want to dig further into the data, have a read of the Mini-League Mate dossier. Under ‘Join an existing league’, just enter your name and email address alongside the league code MLM0001. It’s all free!
Anyway, that’s all from me for now, but remember – don’t have FPL nightmares.
For those affected by any of the topics raised above, you can find me here on Twitter
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