Learning from The Great and The Good: Gameweek 17

“Should I stay, or should I go now? If I go, there will be trouble. And if I stay it will be double. So, come on and let me know”

Salah, Aubameyang, and Kane asked this question of many a FPL manager this week. With such a wealth of options open and only really 3-4 spots to accommodate the big money names it was the latest puzzle to face The Great and The Good.

Gameweek 17 was a beauty parade for the heavy hitters, with all of them looking to impress. In the end it was Hazard who caught the eye although Sterling and Sane did enough to keep us interested and at least return their calls.

We also saw the start of the FPL cup and the chance for a FPL minnow to claim the scalp of one of The Great and The Good. The other big news story going into this week was whether David would keep his King of the Captains title.

So, who are The Great and The Good? They are Jay Egersdorff, Ville Ronka, The Scout-casters (Joe, Andy, Az, David, Granville, and Mark), Eliteserien’s expert Niemi, and the last man standing Torres Magic.

OVERALL PERFORMANCE

It was good to see Az back on his game this week and his score of 65 was the pick of the performances. Hazard was the star turn and turned what looked like a mediocre week on Saturday evening into one that saw him return to the top 100,000 with his fourth green arrow in a row.

At the other end Andy continues to show inconsistency with a red arrow this week and a score of 40 points, after hits, dropping him out of the top 20,000. His Aubameyang transfer in GW15 which set him apart from the others has not paid off yet and this week he suffered from Son starting on the bench. However, it would not be surprising to see both come good this week and continue Andy’s chequered red/green progress.

Say it quietly but Ville Ronka also had a poor week with only 44 points (but clearly with no hit) which must have been frustrating with 12 points sitting on the bench. He is sticking with a double Everton midfield, so this week was always going to be difficult but looks as though he is planning for when the Toffees’ fixtures improve.

The low score also saw him kicked out of the FPL Cup, so take a bow Haris Tahirovic manager of the “dead” team Fk Dobrinja who has achieved one of the biggest cup upsets. Poor Joe also suffered an early exit, as he predicted, and must wait another year before enjoying the romance of the Cup. Spare a thought for Niemi who didn’t even qualify.

TRANSFERS AND HITS

This is a summary of the transfers for this week:

Andy – Schindler, Anderson (TAA, Diagana)

Az –  No transfer

David – No transfer

Granville – No transfer

Jay – No transfer

Joe – Anderson (Sigurdsson)

Mark – Schindler, Anderson (Murphy, Van Aanholt)

Niemi – Anderson, Aguero (David Silva, Lacazette)

Torres Magic – No transfer

Ville Ronka – No transfer

*transfers out are in brackets

A week which saw a lot of The Great and The Good engage in a game of musical statues and stand very very still with six of them rolling their transfers.

Mark went back to his old ways and took a hit to bring in a Huddersfield defender?! He did also bring in Felipe Anderson which was the most popular move this week and he delivered again taking the Brazilian to 30 points over the last 4 weeks.

Andy followed Mark and took the hit to bring in Schindler, but the gamble didn’t pay off this week. Niemi took a hit but brought in a heavy hitter, however one that has gone off the radar, Aguero.

TEMPLATE

After those transfers the template now looks like this:

Fabianski, Hamer/Ryan/Patricio

Wan-Bissaka, Robertson, Doherty, Alonso, Alexander-Arnold/Schindler/Balbuena/Digne

Salah, Sane, Richarlison, Sterling, Anderson

Kane, Jiménez, Mitrovic/Aubameyang/Wilson

Some minor changes to the template with Felipe Anderson cementing his place, he is now in eight of the ten teams. I would stick my neck out to say the Hammer will be the next to join the ten out of ten club and give Doherty some company.

Elsewhere, Lacazette dropped out and the battle for the 5th defender spot hotted up with Schindler, Digne and Balbuena joining the squad.

TEAM INVESTMENT AND VALUE 

Average Cost of Player looks like this across the teams based on week 1 prices:

Goalkeeper –  4.5

Defender – 5.0

Midfielder – 8.2

Forward – 8.2

ITB – 0.8

Only a small move in the budget allocation with money being taken out of the bank to boost the forward line. However, it did mark the milestone of being the first time since GW 8 (the Kane/Cardiff trolling) that spending on the strikers has equalled the midfield budget.

Torres Magic took the lead in terms of team value moving to a whopping 105.5, he is clearly saving for the New Year’s sales. Mark is the only other in the 105m elite club.

CAPTAIN AND DIFFERENTIALS 

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls let me introduce to you the King of the Captains David Munday! Imagine that with fireworks and you get the idea. He did it again but made us sweat with Harry Kane saving his assist to the last few minutes.

Rumours are circulating that many of The Great and The Good are copying David’s homework with seven of them going with his choice Kane. If nothing else, it makes The Breakfast Club essential viewing for them all.

Elsewhere, Mark and Andy went Sterling and Granville was, well, Granville and went different with Aubameyang.

The last few weeks have seen much more variety in the armband choice with the stable Aguero or Salah choice now only at 72% selection compared to 86% back in GW 8.

In terms of differentials Jay’s pick of Snodgrass continues to be a quality choice, with 35 points in 4 weeks how long can he be ignored by the others?

Yet my eye is drawn to Niemi’s transfer of Aguero. He is the only one to have him and could the King of Eliteserien strike an early advantage by bringing him back into his team? It certainly is a gamble.

CONCLUSION 

So, lots of discussion this week around the headline acts with every big name being scrutinized. However, have we not forgotten what our success or lack of it has been built on?

What about those high value/low cost players who have made or dismayed our season? This week saw Ings, Milivojevic, Snodgrass, and even Deulofeu out score some of the big boys. As we approach the mini GW19 swing should we not be working out ways to add more Everton and Burnley players?

I am sure over the holiday season The Great and The Good will be thinking over these decisions as they sit by their roaring fire sides, with a glass of sherry and a mince pies in their hands.

Anyway, that’s all from me for now, remember don’t have nightmares and I wish you all very merry Xmas!