– Bench Boost, Kudus, Pedro, Salah (c). What does that say to you about Gameweek 1 first-draft team reveals?
– There’s too many of them?
– That’s one way of looking at it. Another way of looking at is: the bosses like them, let’s make some more of them.
So might an exchange have gone between Alan Partridge and Tony Hayers, had they worked in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) industry.
But heck, if every other five-time-top-1k-finishing Tom, Dick and FPL Harry is doing one, why don’t we.
By ‘we’, we’re talking about the Scout Squad, the in-house panel that puts together their Scout Picks long-lists during the season.
It consists of editor Neale, deputy editor Tom (he of the multiple top 1,000 ranks) and staff writer Marc. Sam is usually part of the panel, too, but has already beaten us to it with her Gameweek 1 Bench Boost. For that reason, we’ve got regular contributor Rich to become the rogue fourth leg of the content creation cat. And boy has he gone rogue, with no Mohamed Salah (£14.5m).
Here we go, then, with our first drafts…
MARC
Admittedly, this draft hasn’t weeks and weeks of thought put into it, as our final Gameweek 1 teams will. Although there is merit to the argument that gut instinct is better than overthinking, seeing other people’s drafts, then thinking a bit more and messing it all up.
It’s also lacking a chip strategy – partly because I’m still sulking about all these extra chips and transfers.
At the very least, let’s not make another Christopher Nkunku (£6.0m) mistake! I quite like Matheus Cunha’s (£8.0m) positional switch, but was all set to pick Bruno Fernandes (£9.0m), thinking these plus likely future teammate Bryan Mbeumo (£8.0m) would be priced similarly.
The Portuguese playmaker takes penalties and fares well when it comes to these new defensive contribution points. However, I certainly didn’t expect him to cost £1.0m more.
James Trafford (£5.0m) is in goal, assuming he joins Manchester City. A £5.0m route into their backline cannot be ignored. I’m not a huge fan of Vitalii Mykolenko’s (£5.0m) price rise, but massively rate Everton’s defence. And with Pedro Porro surprisingly staying at £5.5m, let’s give Destiny Udogie (£4.5m) a go instead.
When it comes to premiums, Mohamed Salah (£14.5m) is non-negotiable. I’m currently not feeling the other high-priced assets but there’s a decent chance that – for price spread reasons – I’ll eventually downgrade Chris Wood (£7.5m) to a £6.0m-£7.0m forward and increase the £1.0m that’s already left in the bank.
That can convert either Cunha or Phil Foden (£8.0m) into a big midfielder. Am I foolish for thinking Foden could return to what he was? Meanwhile, I’m staying away from Florian Wirtz (£8.5m) and Joao Pedro (£7.5m) – the former is a wait-and-see, while I prefer some Pedro Neto (£6.5m) coverage of Chelsea’s attack.
As of now, Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) seems locked in due to Aston Villa’s great initial fixtures. Should a strong successor to Jhon Duran and Marcus Rashford be bought, maybe he goes.
Finally, while I don’t think Tottenham Hotspur will end up troubling the higher league positions, they begin at home to Burnley. Dominic Solanke (£7.5m) could flourish under the guidance of Thomas Frank.
Something to consider is a switch to 3-5-2 because it feels like there are so many more good midfield options. But a £4.5m forward is less likely to either play or grab some defensive contribution points.
TOM F
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