In ‘The Great and the Good’, Fantasy Football Scout community writer Greyhead analyses the 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, BlackBox pair 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.

“Suspicious Minds”

What happens in Europe should stay in Europe. Not an ill-judged Brexit campaign statement, but the call of many a FPL manager as the midweek adventures left us in a quandary going into Gameweek 9.

There were doubts over Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.4m) and ‘permanently carrying a knock’ Bukayo Saka (£10.0m), plus there was a little grumpiness over why Anthony Gordon (£7.5m) and Viktor Gyokeres  (£9.0m) played like Lional Messi whilst in UEFA Champions League (UCL) action, but more like my Auntie Pat* in the Premier League.

*No offence to my 93-year-old Auntie there, she has a dodgy hip and was hardly what you call athletic even in her younger years!

Then there was Joe Rodon (£4.1m), who appeared in so many high-profile managers’ teams, sparking off some conspiracy theory nonsense. As for Joao Pedro (£7.5m), well, let’s say his FPL P45 is in the post this week.

OVERALL PERFORMANCE

The managers who did well this week were those who owned Rodon, Micky van de Ven (£4.7m) – surely that was only Colin the casual from accounts – and Bryan Mbeumo (£8.2m). 

Fabio Borges had two out of the three with his faith in Mbuemo paying off as he soared to the top of the table. He also had the good sense to bring in Eli Junior Kroupi (£4.6m) just before the rush, and he scored on his first outing for the Portuguese FPL maestro.

Luke was the biggest riser as his Wildcard (more on that later) gave him an immediate boost, moving him up over 600,000 places, although he did curse Erling Haaland (£14.7m), who decided to blank just as he brought him in.

FPL General can at least gloat over his captaincy choice this week, as his pick of Bruno Fernandes (£8.9m) outscored the mob’s Haaland pick – thank goodness for defensive contributions (DefCons), eh?

Elsewhere, some of the managers are having ‘challenging’ starts, with Ben Crellin at least proving he is human after several years of dominance. I still fancy him to claw his way back, though.

To protect him from ridicule, please note I have deliberately not mentioned that Andy North benched van der Ven – oh shoot, now I have!

WILDCARDS

The slow drip of Wildcards continues with Zophar and Luke the next ones to run the gauntlet. So, what has the extra week of information meant in terms of differences between the Gameweek 8 Wildcards? Well, not much.

The raw materials remain with triple Arsenal, Enzo Fernandez (£6.7m), Antoine Semenyo (£8.1m) and, of course, Haaland. 

However, we have some new additions with both Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.7m) and Daniel Munoz (£5.7m), along with Kroupi Jr, seen as being essential. Thankfully, both have seen the benefit of dropping Joao Pedro and Gyokeres.

Luke has gone much cheaper in defence with two £4.1m defenders in Rodon and Nordi Mukiele. This has allowed him to stretch to David Raya (£5.7m) in goal, and the pick that catches my eye is Yankuba Minteh (£6.0m), who looks like an obvious move up from Tijjani Reijnders (£5.6m) for those that can afford him.

Zophar, meanwhile, has gone with a cheap midfielder in Josh King (£4.5m) to give him the flexibility of budget, and has preferred Jurrien Timber (£6.0m) over Raya, with Robert Sanchez (£4.9m) his keeper of choice – not sure on that last one myself.

TRANSFERS

Some pretty special and not-so-special transfer decisions. Tom Dollimore (watch him, he’s quite good) and FPL Harry picked precisely the right moment to transfer in Rodon.

Andy North and Fabio will be quite happy with their Kroupi Jr moves, and feel a little sorry for Az, who went with the wrong Leeds defender in Gabriel Gudmundsson (£4.0m), who didn’t even make it to 45 minutes.

Also, Tom Freeman continues to show his eye for a differential in Adrien Truffert (£4.5m), who quietly produced a double-digit return.

TEMPLATE

Enzo bursts into the template with Ismaila Sarr (£6.5m) moving out, just in time for his disappointing blank against Sunderland.

I’m still surprised that Gabriel is not 100% owned, with our top and bottom placed managers – Fabio and FPL General – yet to own him.

Dubravka (94.4%), Pope (50.0%)
Gabriel (88.9%), Senesi (83.3%), Rodon (55.6%), Andersen (50.0%), Timber (27.8%)
Semenyo (88.9%), Enzo (72.2%), Saka (66.7%), Fernandes (55.6%), Reijnders (38.9%)
Haaland (94.4%), Gyokeres (55.6%), Joao Pedro (50.0%)

TRANSFER SUCCESS

A look now at the transfer success of The Great and The Good.

Fabio sits at the top; he’s not made many transfers, but when he has, they have had an impact with 111 points in immediate returns.

He is followed by the more aggressive but similarly successful Tom Freeman.

CONCLUSION

A good week to have a bad week (FPL cliché klaxon alert), but hopefully next week is a good week for us to have a great week.

Also, just a little tip, everyone is going to transfer out Joao Pedro this week for Mateta so best to get on and do it so you can put your feet up.

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.