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.
“Let it snow”
FPL Weatherman made a welcome return, as the threat of an arctic storm raised concerns that Liverpool versus Manchester United would be frozen off, meaning that Jacob Greaves (£3.9m) – other cheap enablers are available – would make our starting lineups.
Thankfully, this storm was more of the teacup variety and the game went ahead. In fact, the only blizzard was provided by Bryan Mbeumo (£7.8m), who hauled against hapless Southampton to make the notion of a new manager bounce laughable. Sorry, Saints fans.
As well as this, there were surprise benchings for Son Heung-min (£9.8m), Martin ‘why did I buy him?’ Odegaard (£8.4m) and Kaoru Mitoma (£6.4m). This should give us a reason to bolster our benches for the weeks ahead.
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
This year’s competition is turning into a humdinger and Ben Crellin flexed his fantasy muscles by bagging 78 points, jumping back to the top of the pile.
His difference-makers were penalty-takers Mbeumo and Raul Jimenez (£5.6m) – I wonder if we should be owning more of them. Although Ben also has Odegaard, meaning he’s not perfect.
A tip of the cap belongs to Lateriser, being the only one to not captain Mohamed Salah (£13.6m) by choosing differential Erling Haaland (£14.8m) instead – who thought we’d have said that in this season’s early days? He gained the week’s biggest green arrow.
TRANSFERS
Meanwhile, the latest purchases focused on the forward line, with Matheus Cunha (£7.0m) and Dominic Solanke (£7.5m) moving out to accommodate Chris Wood (£6.8m) and Alexander Isak (£9.3m).
Also popular was Anthony Gordon (£7.5m), as Pras, Zophar, Tom and Andy North all celebrated his goal against Tottenham Hotspur.
THE GREAT AND THE GOOD TEMPLATE
Cunha’s ban means he takes a rest from the template squad, with The Great and The Good seeing the Wood for the Trees as Chris joins.
The other notable change is that Isak now joins Salah and Cole Palmer (£11.4m) in the 100% club. Therefore this group of managers deems the Newcastle United striker to be essential.
Fabianski (44.4%), Raya (38.9%)
Gabriel (94.4%), Alexander-Arnold (88.9%), Hall (61.1%), Munoz (44.4%), Mykolenko (33.3%)
Palmer (100%), Salah (100%), Rogers (55.6%), Sarr (38.9%), Odegaard/Mbeumo (33.3%)
Isak (100%), Joao Pedro (66.7%), Wood (33.3%)
BENCH POINTS
Having just experienced rotation season, now is a good time to check this lot’s bench strength. As tends to be the case in most campaigns, Joe is near the top with 183 benched points, showing his more conservative approach to ensuring a full-strength squad.
However, the honour of having benched the most points belongs to Markku Ojala. At the same time, he’s the unluckiest because, on the occasions when he’s had to look to the sidelines, his autosubs have only averaged one point.
Furthermore, let’s give a nod to FPL General. Just 55 benched points highlight his long-term strategy of focusing all attention and funds towards his first XI.
Keep in mind that the data below is up to Gameweek 19.
CONCLUSION
Unless you owned Mbeumo, it was a bit of a meh week, really. Coming out of it, we have to wonder whether targeting Southampton is now a viable strategy because we find ourselves talking about Bruno Fernandes (£8.3m) again. And whisper this quietly is Haaland soon going to be a factor if he keeps on scoring?
Anyway, that’s all from me for now and remember: don’t have FPL nightmares.
Those affected by any of the topics raised in the above article can find me here on Twitter or BlueSky.
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