The best set piece takers and targets for FPL Gameweek 5 – Part 1

The community want more entertainment, more disagreements, more granville, more mark.

That is all.

Not a fan of the new features felt it was informative on the whole

Joe, Az, Andy each week. (Mark/Granville if available)
FPL discussions only.
Sorted.

My two cents. Get some proper debate going. 2 managers with 2 different teams/approaches and let them thrash it out in a good natured, respectful manner. People like to see FPL managers cross swords every now and then.

Keep it simple. The show doesn't need bells and whistles imo.

It doesn't need to be gimmicky, AZ. I don't know if David or Joe feel they have to try harder, but it's coming across that way. Just talk about your gameweek, wind each other up, and call out the players who are impressing you and are on your watchlist.

Tbf, that's exactly what you try and do, and it's appreciated! I'm happy to tune in for Andy and your views alone, but it is a shame how the scoutcast has changed along the way. Mark had such a grip on the flow of it, so it's understandable that it differs now he's not around.

Please no forfeits. It's not CBBC.

I thought on the whole it was a good scoutcast 🙂 Enjoyed seeing the return of the weekend preview - differentials, clean sheets, captains and transfers etc. I find that section v useful. Community sections also worked pretty well. I got a bit confused on the fixtures question part as I just heard an endless stream of team names as they all mixed together a bit but the discussion of the subject was strong. I also like the idea of the monthly forfeit, why not add in some jeapordy!

As you probaly know yeah the quiz ovverran and took too long to explain, needs tightening up and a bit more preperation to ensure its efficient and correct in its answers 😉 I agree with your suggestion also.

Some on here are getting a bit hysterical but thats par for the course when it comes to internet comment boards!

Need More conflciting views its less interactive if you all agree on the majority of the points which is why i didnt like the new features it led to you all agreeing on most things

Hi AZ! I'd really like the Scoutcast to be simple and to the point. With 4 different types of managers on the cast, we can easily have different opinions. A rivalry or even a Head to Head between you 4 wouldn't be too bad.

But in the end, I'd like the Cast to be about FPL exclusively.

What part of the quiz was interesting, entertaining or helpful to viewers?

Apart from that worthless segment I thought it was a pretty decent episode.

Az firstly thank god you were on, as you should be each week.

The show as you’ve said has flaw, IMO far too many.

My positive feedback, as you’ve asked is:

Why “try and freshen things up?”. There a reason the Scoutcast has had so many viewers in the past, because it worked and worker very very well.

Why not go back to basics and make the Scoutcast the same as it was say a year ago? Yes there’s no Mark, but yourself Andy and Joe have been involved long enough to take over the reins but why not do it in the same vein as before in a formula you know works?

It doesn't need more gimmicks. the Scout Cast has always been something the whole community looks forward to. What it does need though is managers that play the game a little differently. There needs to be discussion, a little friction and genuine debate over strategy / risks / different players / differentials etc. It does seem like there has been too much agreement and alignment of teams lately.

I liked the new quiz feature, I would tune in for that 10 minutes fun segment every week. Don't worry about the haters, you guys are doing a good job.

Hey AZ,

I’d like to see each scout pick their ideal wildcard team each week if they were activating it with their current budget for each player and then explain why they want those players in their team compared to their team instead of their current squad. Would start some interesting debates and would be interesting to see if you all picked the same team each week.
Quiz idea was decent but too long and wouldn’t be mad on the forfeits thing

Hi Az, fair play to you for coming on and addressing some of the talk. I do agree with what some others have said in terms of feedback (even though I seem to have led a few to think otherwise).

The simplest way I can think of putting this is just cover relevant topics concisely. Sometimes things can be overdiscussed which then means less topics covered in the time. But you’re right, I think a lot of that comes from chemistry and with time. At the moment you take it in turn to discuss each thing even if it’s mostly the same as what others have already put forward - I think in time it would be nice to see that evolve to be more natural and less robotic, if that makes sense? I appreciate it’s a hard thing to execute live on a hangout but I believe it would lead to better quality debates which is what I think a lot of people are craving. I also understand that’s not something that can be forced though.

Good luck to you all going forward, I do believe it’ll improve and you’ll land on something that works for you guys in particular.

In regards to Feeback, the hot topic a week or so ago regarding the Scoutcast probably broke records for the most comments on a HT. That alone proved the need for a solution to what is a clear problem.

If our feedback is actually acted upon, can you tell us which comments from the HT influenced the decision to make tonight’s Scoutcast in the way that it was conducted?

It would be interesting to see how our comments come across to you guys involved and what is seen as constructive and helpful.

I recon as the season goes on there should be some analysis of the top managers movements

The one constant in the feedback is people want a bit more banter. I think that’s quite easy and just needs a lot more “what on earth were you thinking” type questions.

For example how did Mark get away at the start of the season with no criticism when he spread he funds out so much he had to bench a 6.5m player and how did Luke get away with wildcarding after GW1? They were terrible decisions and it would be very entertaining to see them taken apart over them!

@Wild Rover...

Is Az more of a qashqui or Kia Sportage kinda guy?

N.B. my auto predict knows I'm writing Kia Sportage before I do. All conspiracy theories welcome.

New feature ideas:

Babewatch: Up to date stats on where premier league WAGs are in their pregnancies

The AZ doorstep challenge: Az challenges a member of the team to change a player in their team for a risky punty pick

Scoutside: A new weekly soap opera set in the Scoutcast

Lol, half the people are panicking because they have been trained to listen to Mark and follow his moves and his team and what not, but now that he is missing, the Salah/No-Salah debate for example is just messing them up. They don't know whom to listen to, whom to trust, whom to blindly follow and all that annoyance is just manifesting itself in criticism of the scoutcast. If this exact same episode started off with a 10 second cameo from Mark loudly proclaiming "No-Salah", you wouldn't hear half the criticism. Everyone would go away happily thinking they've "decided" their move this week.

Yeah, there's a bit of sameness sometimes, but so many other pods are so boring too. The criticism in one of the other threads calling it the worst of all time or whatever was so pathetic. Constructive criticism is good, but criticizing something for the sake of it without any concrete reasons is just desperate and weak.

Enjoyed it Az. Just build some rivalry and the banter will follow.

posting this at almost 2 in the morning on a school night, so it's important to me. First of all like jonty after the last scoutcast discussion thanks for providing the platform for us punters to have a say.
now straight-in like lee cattermole on an over-watered pitch, imo it's borderline impossible to get good unrushed discussion with 4+ people. dare I even say some weeks off could help everyone, you come back in with twice as much to say. strongly disagree with guests not being seen as working, for me that was a numbers issue too. the guest would get 1 chance to talk every 5 minutes then would feel under pressure (am assuming/guessing here, imagining myself in their shoes/slippers) to get something out and do so quickly so always be left a bit short-changed. those guests who eat top 1k finishes for breakfast can be gold dust. I say this as someone who likes andy and az but I'd happily see one of them take a back seat for a week to get a particularly special guest on. same as preferring the old-school 2 person format to the current, that's not saying the current is bad, the current is lasagna the former was pizza, given the choice I'd go for pizza.
David is the one I haven't mentioned, one thing I'd say is I'd never have guessed his rank history were it not mentioned, now that rank history was mentioned I'm simply routing for him to win more out of the 4 scoutcast. the quiz was worth a pop, personally feel its biggest downfall was the overt scepticism of the others, david's enthusiasm was not matched. Was a tough sell unless everyone was fully on board. Think football ramble all pissing themselves over their own jokes, it can help a lot! 2p there is no to quizzes, but a 1 off question to introduce an interesting stat each week would be good imo, could segue into a talking point.
no mark is a hammer blow, but far from fatal. Life goes on. Regarding that though when you came on this site (swear it's more than 8 years) it was like coming to a holy place for the religion that is FPL and once a week you'd hear from the creator. with respect to the cast they don't hold that aura and never will. not even sure where I'm going any more but let's just say while I think each player in the cast is doing a sound job none are essential or fixture-proof. Respect to the times, efforts etc to all those involved, regardless of what we think is good, bad, indifferent I think that always needs ramming home, it's not easy. Still try to always tune in, but don't religiously do so now in the year 1 after mark.

One more thing is don’t feel that every one of the 4 hosts has to comment on every question. If it’s a simple answer then feedback from 1 is enough, and for most questions input from 2 or 3 is sufficient. Otherwise it can become a bit samey to hear 4 sets of comments on whether eg Pedro is nailed.

My main piece of feedback is that there's too many parts of the podcast that personally I have little interest in. I just want debate on players to buy / sell, differentials, stats and answering community questions. This is ultimately what is gonna help me with my team and allow me to think a bit differently.

The other things like rough with the smooth, quizzes, fantasy island, etc don't add value for me personally.

I appreciate it's really hard work as you've been doing it successfully for so long and you're trying to innovate, but I'd just go back to basics! I think that's what making the newer era of podcasts really successful and acclaimed (59th min, planet fpl, trigger lips).

Cheers.

While there is room for improvement, I thought the scoutcast was pretty good, my feedback is:

1) The quiz at the end was not well run and it looked like something that was thrown in but only David knew about it. Not sure a quiz should be part of a scoutcast about FPL tips, even if it is run better in future. If anything, the quiz bit should highlight that you may want to practice any new segments, before including them in a live scoutcast.

2) A lot of people on here are missing Mark/Granville being on the Scoutcast, which none of the current cast can do anything about. Joe is getting used to being the host, and David is obviously new so you will all take some time to gel. I'd suggest running a few more episodes together, maybe in a basic format more similar to last year, and not worry about adding new bits/segments etc. The banter and flow should improve as the core of the scoutcast get used to things and each other.

3) David obviously really likes FPL, does his best to contribute and offers valid/thought out opinions. Not sure why so many people seem to think you have to be an "elite" FPL manager to contribute to the site/scoutcast and I would be happy if he continues to be on future scoutcasts.

A stats based quiz sounds ok, especially if it relates to some of the players in your respective teams

It would be great to have a 2 minute comedy guest slot - invite Jafooli, Chucky or FPL Virgin - FPL Gold 🙂

The bottom line is that if this was the first ever scoutcast everyone would be saying how great it was and better than anything else out there 😉

Everyone has an opinion ... not many try it for themselves though 🙂

a thought i've had and read some other similar points too is how similar the managers are on the show. reassessing that now i think FPL in the chips and 2 wildcards era could be the bigger issue there, also era where ownerships and effective ownerships are so widely discussed, brings logical safety and logical fear to the table. not even sure it's totally true, az you're a bit of an underrated maverick, plenty of 'different' picks. lots of template picks start as maverick moves. andy will have maverick months.
long way of saying I think the game is a bit guilty here, not a lack of diversity on the show

In the middle of watching the scorecast now.. so far so good. Az a mainstay for me each week. I believe a way of possibly pleasing majority would be to have 3 weeks of the same faces to build that chemistry/banter etc and once a month have a special guest.. ie Jay (best episode last season) someone who goes against the grain.

Overall good. Thanks for your efforts.

A bit late to the party but some of my thoughts.

Didn't mind last nights episode at all and think over time quiz can become competitive. I hope u guys carry over the points to the next episode too and make it a weekly thing. Like others have said player segment was good but the team segment could be better. Maybe each of you could pick a team to watch out for good and bad. (2 good, 2 bad). In a normal week the scoutcast normally comes before the digest article so it should be a good preview.

Intersperse the regular episodes with guests every few weeks. One of the more popular episodes have been the ones with Bharat and Jay in them. I feel there should be a spot for the weekly community champion if they beat the scout picks. Maybe another thing you could work with is a ffs squad run by the four of you with the help of the community.

I’m away at the moment so only just had chance to watch it, I enjoyed it. I know people love Mark and Granville, the friendly banter was entertaining. Mark’s wildcard episode in which Granville and Jonty tore it to pieces remains one of my favourite to date.

However we need to accept that for the unforeseeable future they both have other priorities which rightly come first.

People want the the same level of banter but complain when it feels forced, the only that it will naturally is by giving the new line-up a chance.

I thought the latest episode was fun and moved along at a nice pace, then the quiz came along and things did grind things to a halt. It just didn’t fit in. I think Jonty said what most of the audience were thinking when he said he didn’t understand what was going on but would go along with it. It was a decent idea but for me just didn’t work and was just too convoluted.

People also want people to think differently to the others, yet forget David put in Troy Deeney this week who very few in the community had considered.

I’ll continue to watch and give the guys a chance to find something that works for them, they’ve only had something like 5 scoutcast episodes.

Feel compelled to come in and among all the negativity, just say that I really enjoy the current scoutcast and appreciate the effort you all put in. The only person I used to miss was Granville as he was the perfect contrarian and always questioned the think tank that tended to form around Mark. Given his regular absence though, I just adapted as will everyone else now that Mark is not a fixture. It’s a different beast but it’s by no means “bad”.

My only feedback is to relax, don’t formalise too much and get to know each other more so the rapport flows and is more natural. Most of the other good content out there is 2 people who know each other well discussing FPL and bantering - on a side note I’m still unsure on the 1-man show formats like Triggerlips, Applebonkers and Andy’s personal podcasts as those have some more serious flaws IMO.

What I’m getting at here is that at times you guys are like strangers afraid to offend each other, need more energy and more conviction and with that will come a better dynamic with improved debate and rapport. Think it’s just something that will come in time with some consistency in the panel (with less of the guests from the circlejerk twitter community.)

There are too many know-it-all experts on here giving feedback. Think you just need encouragement and I think you’re on the right track.

Don't worry. I don't feel entitled to anything with the scoutcast, i'm just glad i can listen in on you guys. So you guys
do whatever you do. Of course it is nice when there is a bit more competition / bashing each other's moves, but living up
to Granville vs Mark is just hard in that respect. That said, some points (feel free to ignore):

1. Bring Luke on, his strategy is often so different that it makes things much more interesting (feel similar about AZ). As mentioned by others: interact with each other, not just let everyone say what they'd do or will do with their own team, rather respond to what the others said.

2. I feel David's added value is he researches facts & stats. Quizzes are a nice format for laying those out. My suggestion:
Just do 1-2 questions about the previous GW(s), as a fun way to highlight some surprising or extraordinary stat. Add 1-2 questions about the following GW, like what MF will create most chances / whose FPL Team will do best this GW. Points are not necessary for a fun quiz question.

3. Sometimes the same topics come up a bit too much, because you naturally move towards what's on your mind. Suggestion: Commit to certain topics, for example:
- Ask listeners who are wildcarding to send in their provisional team, select one, pick it apart with the scouts.
- Somehow select 3-5 actual PL teams, and go in more depth on (i) who people should get, (ii) who to keep an eye on, (iii) who's a good cheap option. Liked that section this week based on fixtures.
- Best prospect under 5% ownership
- Start a monthly league, somehow use that.
- Have scouts prepare rankings - Top 10 strikers / Defenders

Re-posting here:
the quiz wasn't necessarily a bad idea but should have some relevance to viewers - each person should have been asked two questions each and the answer should have been useful to us (maybe even non-members)
Q1. past performance (stats)
Which team has conceded least chances in the box? Which defender delivered the most crosses last week? Which sub-6.0 midfielder had the most shots? blah blah
Q2. future performance (educated guesses)
Which sub-7.0 midfielder will score highest this GW? Will Hazard outscore Salah in the next 3 GWs? etc.

Quickly tally up the totals each week, then we can see who's the best with stats/memory (also giving out free info for non-members) and who is better at predicting/guessing future performance...if you make the future performance questions relevant to that week (Hazard v Mane v Salah etc.) then it could have a purpose.

imo obviously. I know people might source stats from elsewhere, but giving 'underlying' stats as reasoning for someone potentially doing well soon and then them actually doing well could encourage people to sign up as members. Also might guide people with decision making that week, like best sub-7.0 mid etc.

Just watched the scoutcast this morning after all the attention - usually I listen to the podcast and have done for the past years.

I wanted to let you guys know that I really enjoyed it (Not just because I got mentioned 😉 )
It seems you guys are building a relationship that’s enjoyable to watch/listen to, so I think you should continue what you are doing.
Some of the features were great, others didn’t really feel that great - it’s up to you to decide which you want to keep working on and which you wanna scrap. The quiz could be good fun as a bigger end-of-the-season quiz or maybe twice a season.

Az and Jonty were great as always and I think David is doing a good job overall. My biggest issue is actually Andy. I like him and I like him as cast member. I know you were joking, but if there is actually just an ounce of truth to him “saving” some comments/opinions etc. for his own podcast that is a big issue for me and it felt a bit awkward tbh. Better to have him reduced to an occasional guest member then.

Hopefully you guys can manage to absorb the constructive criticism and ignore the irrelevant comments.

I had a couple of laughs and you bring a lot of relevant stuff to the table.
Keep up the good work and I enjoyed that you guys let your hair down a bit.

Thanks for doing the show !

Watching ScoutCast for years. Here is the few things I will say. Don't take all the negative comments seriously. We actually comment when we feel upset. But we don't comment much when we like it. For example, I liked the idea of having guest in ScoutCast and liked the episode with Luke very much but I didn't express it. Also, Sometime we (viewers) don't know why we didn't enjoy the video and may point out the wrong reasons. So please research, discuss and create poll to take decision.

I have few points to mention.

1. I like David. But right now we know most of the stats on twitter or in the websites. And Jonty cover the stats very well. And his decisions mostly based on stats. So we can lose David. Keeping 2 stats guy in the show make it bit boring for people who already know some or most of this stats already from twitter. Stats are easily available nowadays. People want unique and different strategies, perspectives and style of play. (Like your shout to TC Salah in watford game last season while everyone was planning to use it in DGW)

2. You (AZ) and Jonty is very important. Should appear in every episode. I think you 2 have very different way of playing the game. And you 2 are naturally entertaining when you disagree on something.

3. I like Andy, But I think most of his views are already known to viewers thorough his channel and twitter. So it may sounds like repeating same thing to some viewers.

4. Reduce the number of people to 3. And make 3rd spot rotating. Bring new guests who has different ideas or doing things differently. Also, You can ask question here before introducing a new feature. Discuss and improve then include it in ScoutCast rather than introducing it directly without preparation.

5. As others said. No need irrelevant things like quiz. Which doesn't add any value to viewers. Just keep it simple. Maybe you can answer question from live chat to engage more with the viewers.

Best of luck. 🙂