Fantasy Football Scout community writer Greyhead analyses the transfers and strategies of some well-known Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers in his series of The Great and the Good articles.
This season’s names are the BlackBox pair of Mark Sutherns and Az, Scouts Joe Lepper, Tom Freeman and Andy North, Pro Pundits FPL General, Pras, Zophar, FPL Harry and Lateriser, FPL ‘celebrities’ Ben Crellin, Luke Williams and FPL Fran, Hall of Famers Fabio Borges, Jan Kepski, Markku Olaja and Seb Wassell, plus last year’s qualifying mini-league winner Geraint Owen.
“When a cold wind blows, it chills you, chills you to the bone.”
“Hey, I Wildcarded”
“Me too”
“How did it go?”
“Great, I brought in Cole Palmer”
“You?”
<Uncomfortable Silence>
Yes, apparently this was the week to Wildcard with almost three-quarters of The Great and The Good hitting the button into very similar teams.
The ‘will he, won’t he’ David Raya (£5.6m) saga added late drama but the final squads seemed to be in agreement. Still, at least they caught all the price rises if not the points – unless Cole Palmer (£10.7m) was captured.
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
There was a degree of irony that this week’s highest score came from a non-Wildcarder as Ben Crellin hit 63 points. As a crumb of comfort, his Gameweek 5 overhaul also started with a red arrow.
Ben’s success came in spite of owning Bruno ‘The algorithm still loves you’ Fernandes (£8.2m). Instead, it was Palmer, Josko Gvardiol (£5.9m) and a couple of Spurs players helping him up the charts.
Meanwhile, Lateriser and FPL General were the only Wildcard users who managed a green arrow, thanks to Mr Palmer. Impressive ones too, rising over 600,000 and 370,000 places respectively.
FPL Harry leads Pras by one point but it’s worth noting that there are only 65 of them between top and bottom.
WILDCARD-MANIA
It’s easier to say who didn’t activate the chip this week, as most pulled the trigger with the lure of fixture swings. There are now only three managers left – Fabio Borges, Jan Kepski and Seb Wassell – with their Wildcard powders dry.
This is the Wildcard template, with 3,818 clones of this squad according to that lovely man Ragabolly at LiveFPL.
Raya
Alexander-Arnold – Gabriel – Lewis
Saka – Mbeumo – Luis Diaz – Semenyo
Haaland – Solanke – Wood
Now for a game of ‘spot the difference’.
FPL Harry
He is the template! No doubt due to his YouTube popularity and recent track record, the masses decided to follow his path. His bench has Emile Smith-Rowe (£5.8m) ready for action alongside Everton defender Vitalii Mykolenko (£4.3m) and Jacob Greaves (£4.0m)
Mark Sutherns
The FPL Godfather has Mark Flekken (£4.5m) between the sticks and a 3-5-2 with Morgan Rogers (£5.2m). This allowed an upgrade to Ollie Watkins (£9.1m) and an Arsenal defensive double-up, with William Saliba (£6.0m) joining the universally popular Gabriel (£6.2m).
Az
He followed in the footsteps of Mr Sutherns – or maybe it was the other way round – by plumping for Watkins and 3-5-2. Although he differs by going with Raya and benched defenders Leif Davis (£4.5m) and Alex Moreno (£4.4m).
Joe Lepper
Like Mark, Joe also downgraded to Flekken but instead chose Kai Havertz (£8.2m) as his third Arsenal asset.
Andy North
Was he copying Joe’s homework? Another Havertz fan and the only differences are the backup keeper and Nikola Milenkovic (£4.5m), hoping to profit from a more robust-looking Nottingham Forest backline.
Tom Freeman
Scout’s Deputy Editor took a slightly different path by going without Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.1m) in order to invest more in his front line. It means that both Havertz and Dominic Solanke (£7.6m) join Erling Haaland (£15.3m). There’s also Pedro Porro (£5.5m) in defence and Matz Sels (£4.5m) over Flekken.
FPL General
The first of our happy Palmer owners, as he discarded the popular Luis Diaz (£8.0m) for him. Additionally, there is Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.0m) and a double Arsenal defence. Beyond his strong first XI, it’s probably best not to look at his substitutes as it will hurt your eyes.
Pras
Very much aligned to the template although, to be fair, he was probably its architect. To give everyone else a chance, he brought in eternal FPL trolls Calvert-Lewin and Ederson (£5.5m) rather than Raya and Chris Wood (£6.2m).
Zophar
Surprisingly, this Chelsea fan went without Palmer, joining Pras by having a Calvert-Lewin and Havertz front line. Choosing Flekken over Ederson may or may not be a good thing.
Lateriser
Our second very happy Palmer owner took a slightly more maverick route by going without Bukayo Saka (£10.1m). He replicates the front line of his FPL Wire buddies but, without Saka, also has two from Arsenal’s defence. His Fabio Carvalho (£4.8m) inclusion is also noteworthy.
Luke Williams
A very template line-up for this reformed maverick, with Calvert-Lewin over Wood the difference. He’s the only one with Auckland player Alex Paulsen (£4.0m), so at least that is slightly distinctive.
FPL Fran
The first player that strikes you is Fernandes so, first of all, thoughts and prayers go out to Fran. He only doubles up on Arsenal instead of the standard triple, preferring instead to go all-in on Manchester City. Unfortunately, his Gvardiol goal remained on the bench.
Markku Ojala
A traditional follower of the mighty algorithm, which can be the only explanation for the presence of Ederson and Fernandes. He ignores Alexander-Arnold, allowing double Arsenal defence and a strong bench.
TRANSFERS
Very few transfers and certainly few of note, done with a sense of housekeeping as we saw the injured Joao Pedro (£5.5m) exit for Wood and Calvert-Lewin. Elsewhere, Geraint Owen brought in Gabriel, who is now 95% owned. Fabio still doesn’t own him, for reasons we don’t know.
THE GREAT AND THE GOOD TEMPLATE
A Wildcard impacted template:
VALUE
The small consolation for Wildcarders – and it is small – is that there was plenty of team value to be raised over the last week. The table below shows the current money-makers:
The usual value chasers FPL Harry and Mark Sutherns are near the top, with Pras sharing number one spot. Fabio continues to value information above grabbing such rises.
CONCLUSION
And breathe, it’s over. Expect plenty of cliches this week, like ‘a Wildcard can’t be judged on its first week’ or ‘after a bad week it’s best to do nothing’ – possibly even ‘it’s all the content creators’ fault, they made me do it’.
Whichever path you now take, please remember that there are another 32 Gameweeks to go.
Anyway, that’s all from me for now, 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.
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