Fantasy Football Scout community writer Greyhead returns for 2024/25 with his series of The Great and the Good articles, analysing the transfers and strategies of some well-known Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers.
The Great and The Good this season are the BlackBox pair of Mark Sutherns and Az, Scouts Joe Lepper and Tom Freeman, Scoutcaster Andy North, Pro Pundits FPL General, Pras, Zophar, FPL Harry and Lateriser, FPL “celebs” Ben Crellin, Luke Williams and FPL Fran, from the Hall of Fame, Fabio Borges, Jan Kepski, Markku Olaja and Seb Wassell plus of course last year’s mini-league winner Geraint Owen.
“Spice up your life”
FPL managers with their Assistant Manager chip active showed their true colours this week.
The conservative, socks-and-sandal-wearing brigade kept with Arne Slot (£1.5m) or played it supposedly safe with Mikel Arteta (£1.5m). The more cavalier flip-flopped to Oliver Glasner (£0.8m). Finally, the completely mad ones – including a certain ‘Greyhead’ – went with Ruud van Nistelrooy (£0.5m)…
To jump ahead a little, the ones with the Austrian 50-year-old unleashed the true power of the Assistant Manager chip and will probably be the ones sidling up to you at the next FPL meet-up saying they now think it’s a good idea.
Elsewhere, there was some controversy over extra time being given to managers after the deadline. If nothing else, it gives all those having a bad season a chance to claim an ‘asterisk’ over the campaign.
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
Pras made it a trio of centuries as he jumped into the top 10,000, the first time any of The Great and The Good have made it to this lofty benchmark in 2024/25. A combination of an Oliver Glasner 20-point haul along with Daniel Munoz (£4.9m), Bryan Mbeumo (£8.0m) and Alexander Isak (£9.5m) did the damage – he could even afford to bench Joao Pedro (£5.4m).
He was not the only one full of Glasner glee as he was joined by his FPL Wire buddies Lateriser and Zophar. It looks as though Lateriser’s encouragement to live a little paid off! Lateriser was the one, alongside Geraint Owen, to benefit the most from the Assistant Manager chip over the three weeks, with a score of 56 points during that period.
The power of this chip, whether you like it or not, can’t be underestimated. This has seen Lateriser move up over 300,000 places whilst the Assistant Manager chip has been active. Geraint is now just outside the top 10,000.
It was indeed a very swingy week with a gap of 37 points between the highest and lowest score. This was amplified by the decision to gamble on captaincy this week, with Mohamed Salah (£13.7m) supposedly facing a more difficult fixture. Sadly, the bets on Leandro Trossard (£6.9m), Ethan Nwaneri (£4.6m) and Martin Odegaard (£8.2m) did not pay off – although Lateriser will be relatively happy with Yoane Wissa (£6.4m).
TRANSFERS
There were five hits this week. Many saw this as a time to take a chance and it paid off for Az, Lateriser and FPL General with Glasner, while FPL Fran will be relatively happy with Beto (£5.0m).
Dango Ouattara (£5.2m) was a popular transfer in but Bournemouth failed to live up to the hype this time round. Mark Sutherns sensibly brought in Mbeumo, while Lateriser’s move for Omar Marmoush (£7.1m), although not an instant success, certainly catches the eye.
TEMPLATE
Just a slight murmur in the template, with Morgan Rogers (£5.7m) moved on with new dad Justin Kluivert (£6.0m) celebrating with his first appearance in The Great and The Good squad.
Pickford (66.7%), Fabianski (33.3%)
Alexander-Arnold (100%), Gabriel (94.4%), Hall (50.0%), Munoz (44.4%), Mykolenko (44.4%)
Palmer (100%), Salah (100%), Mbeumo (72.2%), Ouattara (72.2%), Kluivert (38.9%)
Isak (88.9%), Joao Pedro (38.9%), Wissa/Wood/Ndiaye (27.8%)
CHIP CHOP
A good a time as ever to look at the relative success of the chips so far. FPL General leads the way with three of his chips now deployed. I would look out for Fabio Borges and FPL Harry, who are yet to play the Assistant Manager chip – or have they missed the boat?
CONCLUSION
A swing week this time out, which should give us all a bit of confidence that there are still gains to be made – especially with a few more chips and doubles up ahead. A midweek Gameweek which always catches out Maureen from Accounts, too.
Anyway, that’s all from me for now, and remember: don’t have FPL nightmares.
For those affected by any of the topics raised above, you can find me here on Twitter or BlueSky
