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.
“Keep your friends close, but your content creators closer”
I often wonder whether the likes of Bukayo Saka (£10.1m) are aware of the frenzied levels of FPL espionage that follow their every move right up to the deadline each week.
The poor lad had FPL enthusiasts pouring over training pictures, hanging around seaside hotels and trying to get access to the FPL Illuminati WhatsApp chat in a bid to determine whether we should be as “hopeful” as Arteta was about him playing.
Post-deadline the level of hysteria got worse, with the virtual pitchforks and baying mob coming out in force with accusations of a content creator cartel.
Then his popular replacement Son Heung-min (£9.9m) was given an assist which was later removed – were FPL Towers given an offer they couldn’t refuse?
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
There were some truly awful scores this week with 10 of The Great and The Good below the overall average of 36 – this meant plenty of red.
Ben Crellin goes top with 54 points, as his no Erling Haaland (£15.4m) Wildcard back in Gameweek 5 continues to pay off, seeing him gain 1.2m places since his overhaul and move up to 301,000 overall.
I don’t know what influence Ben has over Haaland but since his Wildcard the Norwegian has scored only 15 points in those four weeks, compared to 54 previously. Maybe Crellin is the true leader of the cartel?
Most went for Haaland captain, with only Ben going for Son and a resurgent Jan Kepski picking Mohamed Salah (£12.6m). It’s worth noting the Egyptian is now the game’s leading scorer.
Fabio Borges also had a good week on 44 points, with Ollie Watkins (£9.1m) helping him to his second green arrow in a row. Remember he still has his Wildcard in hand.
TRANSFERS
So let’s find out who is in the FPL cartel and transferred out Saka.
The Goodfellas are Ben Crellin, Az, Markku Ojala, Seb Wassell, Geraint Owen, Fabio Borges and FPL Fran. Narrator’s voice: there is no FPL cartel or at least they are a very disorganised syndicate.
Other transfers of note were FPL General and Markku Ojala’s decision to move out William Saliba (£6.0m) just at the right time before his red card.
THE GREAT AND THE GOOD TEMPLATE
Just a midfield reshuffle in the template this week with Phil Foden (£9.2m) coming in for Cole Palmer (£10.8m).
Flekken (50%), Valdimarsson (44.4%)
Gabriel (94.4%), Lewis (77.8%), Alexander-Arnold (66.7%), Greaves (50%), Porro (38.9%)
Mbeumo (94.4%), Rogers (83.3%), Semenyo (50%), Saka (44.4%), Foden (38.9%)
Haaland (88.9%), Solanke (72.2%), Calvert-Lewin (50%)
SEASON STATS
A quick canter through the season stats shows the continued divergence in fortune when it comes to captaincy. Mark Sutherns can only muster 72 points for the season as he managed to curse Haaland since he brought him during Gameweek 6. Compare that to Ben Crellin who is on 178 and living a very charmed life without Erling.
FPL Harry continues to be the rich man with a team value of £102.5m so hopefully he can lend some to Seb Wassell who has actually lost money so far at £99.6m.
The new rule to roll transfers seems to have had the effect of limiting the number of hits being taken by this group of managers with only two between them all season.
CONCLUSION
A bad week, unless you were Ben. Still, the swings will continue to come as we face up to a reality where the form of the heavy hitters will continue to have a major influence on the colour of our arrows.
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.
