The Manager Melee Final – The Great and The Good Special

“Tell me. Do you spend time with your family?” “Sure, I do.” “Good. Because a man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.”

This writer has spent a lot of time over the last few weeks with his newly adopted FPL Family otherwise known as The Godfather : Pardew as part of the Manager Melee Community Tournament, and has enjoyed every minute.

For those of you not aware of the Manager Melee Community Tournament, it involves teams of 11 FPL managers competing against each other in a series of head to head match ups. It has been described as the Champions League meets the Ryder Cup ,which is just about accurate but with more swearing.

My one bit of advice would be to try it, should it come back next season. You learn, you laugh, and you may cry but most of all you realize that there are other like-minded FPL fanatics like you who understand the joy of Sterling missing out on the extra bonus point.

Anyway, back to The Godfather : Pardew who now face their greatest test… The American Dychos in the final during GW25. It promises to be an FPL bloodbath. Using the wonders of The Great and The Good spreadsheet I will look beyond the tough talk and tantrums to highlight the ones to watch in what promises to be the ultimate showdown.

JOURNEY TO THE FINAL

So who are the warriors who will battle in this epic final? For the American Dycho’s you have Le God, Rhinos, GBPearce, Walkman666, Rocco10, Rhinoceros, BB-8, Real Sociopath, Jay, Spencer, and Krul Runnings. They are against the tournament favourites, the FPL mafia family and saviours to us all The Godfather : Pardew who boast Gilles, Recoba, Lawro, Darth_Krid, Chaballer, Milvus, Delhi Dynamo, Jallegre, The Snazzy Viking, The Fantasy Freak, with last and definitely least me, Greyhead.

So how did these FPL giants get to the final? The Dychos found themselves in the same group as the ones to watch Claudio With a Chance of Modballs. They started with a bang with a 9-0 bloodbath of Dirty Zidancing and their impressive form continued until they faced the Modballs in Matchday 3 which was their only defeat in the group stages. They went through the quarters against Hughes Line is it Emery with relative ease before a tense, bitter battle was won 5-4 over the Modballs again in the semi-finals. This ultimately lead to the sacking of Az as manager with separation compensation still being negotiated.

The Godfather : Pardew have made it look easy strong arming their way through the group with only a loss to The Silence of the Lambert when they took their foot off the jugular. Their form continued through the quarters, but it was a real blow for blow encounter in the semis as they beat the formidable Howe to Train your Dragon 5-4 with the cool, calm and collected Recoba  holding his nerve to the deliver the killer blow. The full results can be found here

ONES TO WATCH

Who are the key men for both teams? The table below shows the win/loss records and GW points scored when selected. There is only one unbeaten record with Walkman666 at 5-0 for the tournament although he has yet to feel the fury of the Family.

The Dychos also have the best average score in Le God with an impressive 73.2, if you are into that sort of thing. Although in the spirit of mind games Le God has lost both knock out matches so maybe the pressure has got to him. Only two managers have played all the matches for the Dychos so far in BB-8 and GBPearce. Will fatigue set in?

The Godfather admires the commitment of Rhinos  who played his wildcard in the semi-finals  in order to secure victory but is less worried that he now has the injured trio of TAA, Solanke, and Alli in his team. Meanwhile, Jay appears to be the numbers guy but after a horrible defeat in the quarters losing by 18 points he was pulled from the team. Has he lost his nerve? Real Sociopath lost his semi-final match and looks on edge having made 4 of his 6 hits in the last 6 GWs plus he still has Isaac Success in his team. This is the only success the Dychos will have in the final!

In the corner of all that is right and true is The Godfather : Pardew. There are too many star players to mention but I’ll try. Delhi Dynamo has the best average score for the tournament with 68 pts, Jallegre aka Sonny the hitman has the best record with only one loss. The Snazzy Viking, another newbie, is not far behind on 5-2, his relentless snazzy form in the qualifying stage getting the FPL mafia through. Gilles has been the true star since taking up the armband for both knock out matches and winning comfortably when it mattered.

TRANSFER SKILLS AND CAPTAIN PICKS

So let’s dig a little deeper into the mindset of these teams: are they maverick or master tacticians? Well the transfer muscle in the Dychos is Rhinoceros with 19 hits but The Godfather : Pardew can equal that with Jallegre. Despite numerous interventions he remains a hit junky taking 5 in the last 4 weeks alone preparing his team for the final.

The Dychos have a better record in the transfer market with Rocco10, BB-8, and Krul Runnings all with 100+ points gained from transfers after hits according to FPL Statisco. Yet this only measures immediate impact and in Lawro the leader of The Godfather : Pardew you have a razor sharp strategic mind who thinks 5-6 moves ahead and therefore has only had to make 2 hits all season.

When we look at captain picks whilst Spencer for Dychos may have the best average captaincy score at 18.6 the Family are more of a collective and have a better average overall at 16.3 versus 16.1. Recoba, Delhi Dynamo, Jallegre and yours truly have all scored 390 points plus from their armband picks over the season. Remember Dychos it’s a team game! Of course, the most important captain pick will be the one made by Lawro who will decide who leads out the Family for the GW25 final.

TALE OF THE TAPE

Finally, let’s look at the ranks and total points in the table below. This is where the Dychos get the upper hand with a better average rank of 107,992 against the Family’s 170,228. Yet confidence in The Godfather : Pardew  remains high after all we have have Gilles who used his wildcard and a free hit chip in a sign of utter devotion and sacrifice during the playoffs.

Also, at The Godfather : Pardew’s disposal is The Fantasy Freak who is a former no.4 in the world and thrives on this pressure. Milvus wins when it matters and isn’t afraid to win ugly managing to be victorious in one game with only 37 points. Chaballer is our big time player and like the mailman delivers at the right time he has scored 70 and 80 points in his last two appearances. They also have one manager inside the current top 1,000 but the less said about him the better.

I have also saved the best to last as The Godfather : Pardew has a secret weapon, some call him Darth_Krid, whilst most dare not look him in the eye. Sent to a desert retreat and forced to eat nothing but red meat he came back strong for the quarters. He is ready for the final and you won’t like him when he’s angry.

CONCLUSION

So the numbers themselves would perhaps suggest an advantage to Dychos but that’s how The Godfather likes it: “a friend should always underestimate your virtues and an enemy overestimate your faults.”

Anyway that’s all from me for now and remember don’t have nightmares.. well apart from you Dychos.. you should definitely have nightmares.

Let the battle commence!