In ‘The Great and The Good’, community writer Greyhead analyses the Gameweek 9 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.
“Popular. You’re gonna be popular.”
Gameweek 9 was another episode of FPL’s favourite game show: ‘Who Wants to Replace Joao Pedro?‘
His injury dominated the transfer chat, and top of the charts was Nicolas Jackson (£7.0m), whose staggering 2,370,904 purchases created some most-bought Fantasy history.
For those less keen on following the herd, Evanilson (£6.4m), Alexander Isak (£9.2m) and algorithmic darling Thierno Barry (£5.6m) were also in the conversation.
Meanwhile, Riccardo Calafiori‘s (£5.9m) owners went through the full emotional rollercoaster. First, he was flagged, then he missed the midweek cup defeat, before finally turning up and punishing those who doubted Mikel Arteta’s ability to annoy.
We also realised that Xabi Alonso won’t be appearing on any FPL forums soon, as he responded to the chat around Joao Pedro leaks with: “No, I’m not into the Fantasy team thing.” Please yourself.
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
It turns out that it wasn’t a dream. Andy North is actually having a good season – possibly a great one – as he top-scored again with 81 points, taking him tantalisingly close to the top 10k.
This week’s witchcraft was his well-timed moves for Jackson and 15-pointer Jan Paul van Hecke (£5.0m). Also delivering for him were Chelsea’s popular midfield duo, Johan Manzambi (£6.1m) and, of course, Barry. Rumours are circulating that Andy attempted the dance when Everton’s forward netted on Monday.
Thankfully, he benched Calafiori and Maxim De Cuyper (£5.4m), otherwise we would’ve had to burn him at the stake.
Pras sneaks into third place just behind the two Andys and, in a further sign that FPL is currently an upside-down world, Fabio Borges still hasn’t got going. Admittedly, he does still have three chips in his back pocket.
WILDCARDS
The big risers were Az and Huss E, who had immediate returns from their Wildcard overhauls.
Az’s team is certainly well stacked for the winter: his cheapest outfielder is Tarik Muharemovic (£5.1m), alongside some rotating £4.5m goalkeepers. He even felt comfortable enough to bench his Brighton and Hove Albion boys.
No place for Cole Palmer (£9.8m) means his big hitters are Haaland, Isak and Gabriel Magalhaes (£8.0m), with Morgan Rogers (£8.1m) there too.
Very heavy on defensive contribution (DefCon) stoppers, there is van Hecke, Muharemovic, Antonio Silva (£5.2m) and Luka Vuskovic (£5.2m). Plus, two Aston Villa attackers and cut-price midfielder Mohamed Belloumi (£5.3m).
I worry that he’ll suffer some benching pain and may have to engage in some surgery if certain heavy hitters do eventually hit heavy. However, for now, a big success!
And if Az’s Wildcard was a trip to the casino, Huss E’s looks more like a carefully considered investment portfolio. He’s tripling up on the teams with good form and fixtures, such as Bournemouth and Tottenham Hotspur. If both continue to perform, some big point tallies could be coming.
He’s also got a goalkeeping rotation behind Arsenal duo Gabriel and Ezri Konsa (£4.7m), while money allows Palmer to join Rogers in midfield. In fact, the only player making me scratch my head is Matty Cash (£4.3m).
Again, the strength of his squad highlights that budget is not an issue. But, again, he’s asking for some bench pain. Exhibit A is the 29 points he left on Gameweek 9’s sidelines.
TRANSFERS
‘The Great and The Good’ clearly decided that Joao Pedro was yesterday’s news.
In a transfer stampede that makes Black Friday look orderly, Jackson attracted nine new admirers. Some even moved early in the week to get the sweet, sweet rush of that £0.2m price gain.
Thankfully, this time the masses were rewarded, as Jackson found the net and justified the frenzy. Perhaps the group’s collective wisdom isn’t quite as questionable as we sometimes suggest. Andy North, Zophar and Tom Freeman were particularly pleased with their van Hecke investments.
Bournemouth duo Antonio Silva and Evanilson got amongst the points, rewarding those who looked beyond the Jackson bandwagon. Teammate Marcus Tavernier (£6.6m) picked up some interest, plus we saw punts on Isak, Barry and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.1m).
Ben McCrum was particularly busy, making three transfers, while Andrew McKinnon opted to replace Bukayo Saka (£9.5m) with Bryan Mbeumo (£7.9m).
As for Fabio, well, he did nothing.
‘THE GREAT AND THE GOOD’ TEMPLATE
As a group, the love for van Hecke grew, as his ownership doubled.
In attack, the final spots move Mbeumo to Tavernier and poorly Pedro to ‘Action Jackson’.
TRANSFER TITANS
Now, after a very profitable week for buyers, a look at this season’s immediate transfer gains. For anoraks who care about such things, the data below goes up to Gameweek 8.
Unsurprisingly, Andy North is top of this metric. Just have a look below at what he’s done over the last few weeks. Is now a good time to ask him for the lottery numbers?
Tom Dollimore has also done rather well, but the less said about Andrew McKinnon, the better.
CONCLUSION
So it was a good Gameweek for most – an unexpected one, considering how dull the match-ups looked. The same cannot be said for this upcoming weekend, where the fixture list seemingly favours a lot of the popular picks. Spoiler alert: it will therefore probably be a stinker.
Anyway, that’s all from me for now, and remember: don’t have FPL nightmares.
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