Fantasy Football Scout community writer Greyhead is back with his The Great and The Good series, analysing the Gameweek 5 transfers and strategies of some well-known Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers.
The Great and The Good this season are the FPL Godfather Mark Sutherns, the BlackBox pair of Az and Andy North, Scouts FPL General, Joe and Tom, the FPL Wire trio of Pras, Lateriser and Zophar, FPL celebrities FPL Harry, Martin Baker, Pingreen, FPL Frasier and Luke Williams, Hall of Famers Ben Crellin, Fabio Borges and Tom Dollimore, and last year’s mini-league winner Huss E.
“Keep calm and carry on”
When do we start to panic? After five weeks, the phrase “ranks don’t matter this early in the season” has been rolled out at an alarming rate. In fact, our FPL well-laid plans appear to have been as effective as a toddler playing hide and seek.
Finding someone with a good start is also difficult, apart from Colin in accounts, who inexplicably triple-captained Daniel Ballard (£4.6m) in Gameweek 1. I hate Colin.
The answer to this, for some at least, is to release the chips, with five of The Great and The Good playing their Bench Boost, and a few more pressing the Wildcard button over the weekend.
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
Fabio Borges rises to the top of The Great and The Good after his Bench Boost. It takes him just outside the top 1m.
The FPL GOAT has played his Free Hit, Wildcard and Bench Boost in rapid succession over the last three weeks, which is very unlike his usual cautious approach, and maybe an indication that we all need to consider a more aggressive stance this time round.
Pras was the leading scorer with 72 points, and again this was boosted by his bench; he gained 21 points from the sidelines, assisted by Tijjani Reijnders‘ (£5.6m) nine points. It’s remarkable to think the Dutchman dropped in price this week.
He also had the defensive contribution (DefCon) monster Marcos Senesi to thank for his green – that’s 37 points for the Bournemouth defender who is still only £4.7m. I suspect he will be popular amongst Wildcarders, especially for those looking to pair him with Joachim Andersen (£4.5m).
Who won the Bench Boost challenge? On the basis that 10-15 points is the minimum target, then FPL Harry was the bench boss on 23 points as he had both Senesi and Reijnders off the pine. FPL General was unlucky, but at least he didn’t boost Robert Sanchez (£5.0m) as some unfortunate souls did to gain minus points.
All the Bench Boost scores are below.
- FPL Harry (23 points) – Dubravka, Porro, Senesi, Reijnders
- Pras (21 points) – Dubravka, Richards, Esteve, Reijnders
- Fabio Borges (16 points) – Dubravka, Rodon, Senesi, Dewsbury-Hall
- Pingreen (14 points) – Dubravka, Rutter, Esteve, Porro
- FPL General (8 points) – Martinez, Gyokeres, Gakpo, Cunha
TRANSFERS
Like a FPL version of musical statues, there was very little to get excited about in terms of transfers with only two moves. So, wish me luck squeezing anything out of this lot.
Luke Williams’ move for Yankuba Minteh (£5.9m) was well timed as he scored and, in exchange, avoided the benching of Florian Wirtz (£8.3m), who continues to disappoint in new and unexpected ways.
Pingreen disposed of an injured Murillo (£5.4m). I suspect further sales of Forest’s defensive players will follow as the Ange revolution grows apace.
TEMPLATE
For the love of God, will one of you buy Erling Haaland (£14.3m)!
No change this week, but surely we’ll see another Manchester City player or two next time. The template and % ownership amongst these managers is below.
DEFCON DOMINATION
DefCon this, DefCon that. There is no doubt that the D word is dominating FPL discussion. So, this week I’ve had a quick look at the top DefCon point scorers this season to see how many are in The Great and The Good squads.
Not exactly an overwhelming thumbs up for the DefCon magnets, with only Andersen over 50% owned.
Surely that will change with Senesi and James Tarkowski (£5.5m) overlooked, especially with a set-piece fragile West Ham United up next for the latter.
CONCLUSION
The engines are just being warmed up, with chip season now taking off and Wildcards fluttering. I would fancy a few Triple Captains being played ahead of that Manchester City v Burnley match, too.
My maverick prediction this week is that everyone will own Haaland, well apart from FPL General, who will no doubt be behind a Norwegian-sized sofa.
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 here on BlueSky.
