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.
“You are the one that I want”
Mo or Erling? Erling or Mo? Salah or Haaland? Haaland or Salah? However you phrase it, that was the mood music going into the weekend.
What isn’t up for debate coming out of Gameweek 10 is which Dominic is best. Heads up, it’s not Calvert-Lewin (£5.9m), who continues to be, well – how can I phrase this nicely – a bit rubbish.
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
The Great and the Good cartel bosses decided that switching to Mohamed Salah (£12.8m) was the answer, with 14 of the 18 making him captain. Az, Andy, Luke and Fabio are the only ones who don’t own him – have they been kicked out of the secret WhatsApp group chat?
It’s worth noting that only Mark Sutherns, Lateriser and Tom Freeman now own both heavyweights. They aren’t bad managers, especially when it comes to rapid rank gains, so maybe it’s not a case of either/or.
Talking of Mark, he was the week’s top performer with 75 points. It wasn’t even the high-priced options that helped him boost his rank by 1.9 million but, instead, the likes of Antoine Semenyo (£5.6m) and Brennan Johnson (£6.7m).
FPL Fran wasn’t far behind and moved up to 625k, with a Leif Davis (£4.5m) wonder goal helping him climb. He also already has Son Heung-min (£9.9m) in place ahead of Ipswich Town’s visit to Tottenham Hotspur.
WILDCARD
*Cue Explosion*
Nobody expected any kind of Gameweek 10 Wildcard, yet Seb Wassell was there to shock us with his team revamp. Not least the appearance of a certain Chelsea full-back.
Without much team value (£99.1m), he had to be creative and needed to sell Erling Haaland (£15.3m) as his cash cow to set up the midfield that everyone will want in Gameweek 12: Salah, Bryan Mbeumo (£7.8m), Cole Palmer (£11.0m) and Bukayo Saka (£10.1m).
He stuck with Dominic Solanke (£7.7m), alongside the cheap and cheerful options of Raul Jimenez (£5.8m) and Jamie Vardy (£5.7m). Having no place for Chris Wood (£6.5m) is a tad surprising.
Yet, the real jaw-dropper comes in his defence with the appearance of Reece James (£4.9m). Not due to his quality but more because of his expected injury (xI) rating.
TRANSFERS
“Show me the Mo-ney! Get Salah at all costs” was the cry, as he was the most popular transfer with Matheus Cunha (£6.7m) often being the cheap forward makeweight.
THE GREAT AND THE GOOD TEMPLATE
The template goes ‘threemium’ as this week’s big change sees the arrival of Salah over Semenyo.
BENCH PRESS
Meanwhile, with a hectic festive schedule coming up and the release of funds from selling Haaland, many will be looking to beef up their bench.
So here’s a quick look at the number of points they’ve benched so far and the value of each one’s pine.
Luke has the ‘honour’ of sidelining the most points this season (84) and Fran has the most investment there (£20.0m). As the average value has steadily increased over the season, it suggests that The Great and the Good are already building their reserves for the upcoming months.
CONCLUSION
So it was a good Gameweek for many, with plenty of green as the likes of Solanke and even Bruno Fernandes (£8.2m) delivered. Now it just needs a certain Brentford ‘keeper holding onto a clean sheet.
The weeks ahead look like they’ll bring further movement because of fixture swings and Manchester City’s poor form, the latter making it more and more likely that we’ll see Pep’s men receive a small hiatus from our squads.
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, you can find me here on Twitter.
