Fantasy Football Scout community writer Greyhead returns for the 2023/24 season with his series of Great and The Good articles, analysing the transfers and strategies of some well-known Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers.
This season’s names 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, FPL ‘celebrities’ LTFPL Andy and Ben Crellin, FPL champion FPL Gunz, Hall of Famers Fabio Borges, Finn Sollie, Jan Kepski and Jon Ballantyne, and last year’s mini-league winner Marko Miseric.
“Never ending story”
The Gameweek which like many a relative over the festive period threatened to overstay its welcome, as we patiently, or if you owned him, impatiently waited on the final outcome of Dominic Solanke’s (£6.8m) points, and of the Bournemouth v Luton result.
Obviously though, the whole weekend’s fixtures were overshadowed by events at Bournemouth. It’s good to see that Tom Lockyer (£4.3m) is now stable and I know everyone wishes him a speedy recovery.
News before the Gameweek was dominated by the striking terminator, Erling Haaland (£13.9m), with so many theories aplenty including holiday snaps from Marbella, Pep’s usual riddles and a better understanding of when a stress is not a fracture.
While we were waiting for the powers that be to make up their minds we also had the excitement of the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, which proved a distressing watch for those FPL managers with Anthony Gordon (£6.2m). Do I hear the rustle of festive free hits being played?
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
Last year’s number one was this week’s top scorer in The Great and The Good, as FPL Gunz rolling of the dice paid off with the three wise men of Mohammed Kudus (£6.7m), Cole Palmer (£5.6m) and Gabriel Jesus (£8.0m).
His willingness to take risks is probably an indication of his rank this season. However, it’s also why those more cautious managers will never win FPL, as he seems to embrace the calculated differential with ease – I for one would break out in a cold sweat at having Jesus anywhere near my team.
Meanwhile, we have a new leader in The Great and The Good as FPL General marches to the top, thanks to a Gordon auto-sub for Solanke, whilst poor Mark Sutherns had Rayan Alt-Nouri (£4.5m) drafted in.
The person to benefit most from Solanke’s points removal was the one manager who put the captaincy on him, Marko Miseric, who despite blanking on his armband score, had an Alexander Isak (£7.6m) gained boost as his auto sub was Kudus – quite the rollercoaster of emotions.
Pras and FPL Harry also had good weeks on 77 (-4), are their teams morphing into one? They only have two differences with Pras’ William Saliba (£5.5m) and Chris Wood (£4.9m) v Harry’s Kostas Tsimikas (£4.9m) and Cameron Archer (£4.6m). The burning question is, are we all getting a bit samey in our picks?
TRANSFERS
The move for Solanke was a popular one, although despite the disappointing end at least his new owners have saved themselves a transfer later on for his double – yeah, it’s probably too soon for a positive spin.
FPL Gunz trades were triumphant this time with Jesus and Pedro Porro (£5.5m). The latter was a popular pick by many, as I am sure his Spurs team-mate Richarlison (£6.7m) will soon become, but for now, Seb Wassell has stolen the Flapjack-inspired march on his rivals.
- Mark Sutherns: Mubama > Solanke
- Joe Lepper: Archer > Solanke
- FPL General: Nakamba, Haaland > Saka, Solanke (-4)
- Jan Kepski: Haaland > Alvarez
- Andy North: Maguire, Haaland > Porro, Solanke (-4)
- FPL Harry: Cash, Haaland > Porro, Solanke (-4)
- Zophar: Haaland > Watkins
- Seb Wassell: Mbeumo, Haaland > Richarlison, Solanke (-4)
- Andy LTFPL: Haaland, Archer > Watkins, Solanke (-4)
- Mark Miseric: Haaland > Solanke
- Ben Crellin: Haaland > Alvarez
- Finn Sollie: Baldock > Konsa
- Pras: Guehi, Haaland > Porro, Solanke (-4)
- Jon Ballantyne: Martinelli, Haaland > Son, Solanke (-4)
- Tom Freeman: James, Haaland > Alexander-Arnold, Solanke (-4)
- Fabio Borges: Haaland > Solanke
- Az: Haaland > Watkins
- FPL Gunz: James, Haaland > Porro, Jesus (-4)
TEMPLATE
Finally, Haaland leaves the template squad due to a combination of injury and a blank, although his replacement Solanke scored as many points as the absent Norwegian did this week.
TOP OF THE POPS
A look now at how the most popular picks have been so far this season. Note this is just up to Gameweek 16, and no prizes for guessing that Haaland is the majority of the manager’s top pick. Having been ever-present apart from that little blip – Seb Wassell is the only one where the Norwegian doesn’t make the top five.
FPL General has no doubt made Ollie Watkins (£8.7m) the captain of his FPL army, owning him through the season and the Villan has repaid his faith by leading him to the top 100,000.
Mohamed Salah (£13.2m) is not as popular as in previous campaigns. The fact that Mark has doubled up on the heavy-hitting combination of Haaland and Salah all season is a good indication of why he sits in such a lofty position in the rankings.
Elsewhere, Jan Kepski’s love of Morgan Gibbs-White (£5.7m) catches the eye as does Mark’s devotion to Moussa Diaby (£6.7m), but perhaps FPL Gunz’s obsession with Gabriel Martinelli (£7.7m) and Phil Foden (£7.6m) explains why he has not soared so high this time – in another season they could’ve been diamond differentials.
CONCLUSION
Right, breathe everyone, take it on the chin and let’s carry on after many lost a point or two on Solanke.
Whilst this is disappointing be assured that with the festive schedule coming thick and fast I am sure there will be other disappointments to come. By the way, don’t forget to save space in your stocking for Haaland!
As always if you want to dig further into the data then do have a read of the Mini-League Mate dossier. Click here https://www.minileaguemate.com/membership and under ‘Join an existing league’ enter your name and email together with league code MLM0001. It’s all free!
Anyway, that’s all from me, and remember don’t have FPL nightmares.
For those affected by any of the topics raised in the above article then you can find me here on Twitter at Twitter at https://twitter.com/Greyhead19
