Fantasy Football Scout community writer Greyhead returns with his series of ‘The Great and The Good’ articles, analysing the Gameweek 2 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, Tom Freeman and Joe Lepper, defending ‘Great and The Good’ champion Huss E, FPL celebrities FPL Harry, LTFPL Andy, Pras and Zophar, plus Hall of Famers Fabio Borges, Thomas Brønsby, Ben Crellin, Elevenify and Tom Dollimore.

Alongside these, of course, are last year’s mini league winner Andrew McKinnon and invitational champ Ben McCrum.

“We should definitely talk about Bruno”

And so we arrive at Gameweek 2 — the difficult second album.

The week where absolutely nothing happens because every member of ‘The Great and The Good’ has spent the summer building a meticulous 10-week plan involving fixture swings, price changes, captaincy permutations and enough spreadsheets to make Excel ask for annual leave, well in theory at least.

Yet, the dark clouds of uncertainty have already begun gathering over FPL. The unexpected form of predicted cannon-fodder Hull City, the heavy hitters all heavy hitting making those swaps more problematic, and, of course, the transfer window have led to widespread second-guessing amongst our managers.

Tottenham Hotspur have approached the transfer window like Auntie Pat at the dessert section of an all-inclusive holiday. Initially claiming she’s “just having a look”, before emerging with too many new signings and a stomach ache.

And Iliman Ndiaye (£6.0m) appeared to be desperately looking for a transfer with the same energy as an FPL manager trying to change their captain five minutes before the deadline, while their phone is on 1% battery and the Wi-Fi has mysteriously stopped working.

Then there was Bradley Barcola (£8.0m), Enzo Fernandez (£6.9m), Daniel Munoz (£5.4m), Cody Gakpo (£7.0m) and Richarlison (£5.9m). I was half expecting Jim White to explode with all the excitement.

There were already plenty of early Wildcard twitches. Particularly amongst those brave souls who decided they could survive without Erling Haaland (£15.5m) ahead of Coventry City in Gameweek 3.

OVERALL PERFORMANCE

Big Scores, big benches and big arrows in this week’s instalment of the FPL big show.

15 of the 18 managers hit centuries, with Bench-Boosting Az and newbie Andrew McKinnon on the front foot with 130 and 129. They both had the essential Fab Four of Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m), Haaland, Joao Pedro (£7.6m) and Riccardo Calafiori (£5.6m).

Ben McCrum was the best of those not using a chip. He probably wished he had pressed his boost this week with 21 left on the sidelines, thanks mainly to Pascal Gross (£5.5m).

Ben had a couple of differentials to the rest of ‘The Great and The Good’ in Phil Foden (£7.0m) and Alexander Isak (£9.0m). He has managed this by keeping it cheap elsewhere, not hampered by the need to Bench Boost.

After last week’s captaincy points famine, this week was a feast.

The majority of ‘The Great and The Good’ went for Bruno. However, Mark and Huss E stuck their necks out for Haaland after deciding to go without the United midfielder. In the end, the swing was brutal.

After most of ‘The Great & The Good’ decided to get their Bench Boost out of the way in Gameweek 1, it was finally time for the FPL Blackbox Avengers to assemble.

Mark Sutherns, Az and Andy North all suddenly developed an intense appreciation for Coventry defensive assets. Newcomer Andrew McKinnon also joined the party with a triple-up on Lampard’s lads at the back. All apart from Mr Sutherns got a decent return.

Elsewhere, Rayan Cherki (£7.7m) produced an eye-catching performance, James Tarkowski (£6.0m) reached 18 points from two games, while Morgan Gibbs-White (£7.9m) dropped in price and then immediately hauled. They are collectively owned by only two of ‘The Great and The Good’. This will soon change.

The Newcastle United attackers are also beginning to look rather tasty with some decent short-term fixtures ahead.

Chelsea meanwhile are doing their best to make a triple-up on their attack feel inevitable from Gameweek 4. Cole Palmer (£9.6m), Joao Pedro and Morgan Rogers (£7.5m) continue to impress. Yet the planned shift away from Manchester United players may take more courage than previously anticipated.

TRANSFERS

None. Nada. Keiner. Not a single transfer.

TEMPLATE

Unsurprisingly, the template has barely shifted. But enjoy it while you can. Because the Manchester City Tsunami is coming. There will be plenty of knee-Cherking!

WHO WON THE BOOST?

So, who won the battle of the boosts between Gameweeks 1 and 2?

Well, it was a score draw with averages of 16.6 vs 15.25. Again, the range of scores from 7 to 32 shows the heavy hand that lady luck plays on this chip in a single Gameweek.

Let’s see how those who have kept their powder dry do later on.

CONCLUSION

Next week will be a moving week, with all of them having two transfers and a whole world of options opening up; this is shaping up to be an exciting season.

Anyway, that’s all from me for now and remember, don’t have nightmares.

For those affected by any of the topics raised in the above article, then you can find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Greyhead19