Welcome to the latest in our new regular article series gathering our community’s tales of joy and woe from the last Gameweek in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game. This will look at the key decisions made that proved either inspired or saw overall ranks plummet. We also find out what lessons our community has learned from their key captaincy, transfer and benching decisions over the week.
This week Southampton’s record-breaking midfielder Sadio Mane proved pivotal to success or failure.
Rough
BangValarDesh thought he had found a winning transfer for double Gameweek 37, by taking Mane out for a hit to ensure he could afford Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny. He was forced to watch in horror as Mane scored the Premier League’s fastest ever hat-trick against Aston Villa and rack up an impressive FPL tally of 23 points. What’s more he reveals he could have got Koscielny’s team mate Hector Bellerin for free plus he also benched Leicester’s Robert Huth, who accrued yet another clean sheet. He estimates he would have been in the Top 10 among India-based managers if he had avoided this disastrous hit.
Another to take out Mane was Sconeus, who also drafted out Aston Villa goal scorer Christian Benteke. The pair brought in 29 points compared to a lowly seven for their replacements in his team, Sunderland’s Connor Wickham and Arsenal’s Santi Cazorla.
Aguerooney was going for another world record this week, of having the highest ever bench score in FPL. His bench of Liverpool’s penalty-saving goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, Mane, Tottenham’s Danny Rose and Leicester’s Jeffrey Schlupp brought in an incredible 51 points.
Smooth
Faith in 2013/14’s midfield star Yaya Toure proved crucial to Heels over Head’s great Gameweek. He brought the Manchester City man in ahead of Gameweek 36, and stuck with him even though he blanked that week. His faith was rewarded as Toure racked up a surprise brace this week.
In FortunesAlwaysHiding’s draft league game he switched Marouane Fellaini out for Mane just ten minutes before deadline. With Benteke, Sunderland’s Patrick van Aanholt and Costel Pantillimon also in his ranks, it proved a profitable week, made extra special by his rival drafting out Shane Long and bringing in Stoke man Mame Biram Diouf. While Long scored two and assisted another two, Diouf not only failed to score but also picked up a yellow card.
This week’s Dimitar Berbertov smooth operator award goes to Jafalad who brought in two Sunderland defenders, John O’Shea and van Aanholt, plus Black Cats goalkeeper Pantillimon for the double Gameweek. The trio brought in an eye-popping 41 points between them.
To see more Rough with the Smooth submissions for Gameweek 37 click here.
