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Learning from the Great and the Good 19/20 – Gameweek 36 and 37

“Never forget where you’ve come here from. Never pretend that it’s all real. Someday soon this will all be someone else’s dream”

Take that and free hit party! That is if you have one, the rest of us, including yours truly, must look on enviously whilst free hitters debate whether to have Triple City, Kane, Aubameyang, Salah or all of the above. Not jealous at all.

Before that we had the excitement of Gameweek 36 and 37 in this extraordinary season, it will be 352 days long by the time the final kick is made on Sunday’s finale and I “feel like I’ve walked a thousand miles” to quote Gary Barlow yet again.

As a reminder, The Great and The Good are a handpicked group of FPL celebrities (?), FF Scouts or Pro Pundits who I will follow to see what we can learn as they navigate their way through the season. They are the Scouts (MarkJoeDavidGeoff and Neale), Pro Pundits (AzLTFPL Andy, FPL “celebrities” FPL General and Jules Breach) and finally, from the Hall of Fame, we have Ville RonkaMatthew Jones and Sean Tobin.

OVERALL PERFORMANCE

learning-from-the-great-and-the-good-19-20-gameweek-36-and-37 1

The Great and The Good battle to rule the world is heating up and whilst Ville Ronka continues to lead the way it’s Az’s time to shine as he moves into second place and up to 14,374 overall.

He was the highest scorer in Gameweek 37, with 95 points, overtaking our long-standing leader Neale and is now just 14 points off top spot.

He has gained 150,000 places since the restart, thanks to his smart purchase of Sterling in Gameweek 33 and some bold captain picks averaging him 22.5 points since the return on FPL. Could it be magic?

Joe decided on an ill-fated bench boost in Gameweek 36, it was not the flood of points he expected with only two points off the woodwork. I am sure, so sure he will see the irony that if he had played it a week later he would have had 24 from his substitutes with his old friend Foster one of the culprits.

It only takes a minute to play your free hit, with Mark and David taking the plunge in the last couple of weeks but both had mixed results.

David gambled on City in Gameweek 36 but was a victim of Pep roulette, whilst Mark went without Guardiola’s giants a week later, though his triple up on United gave him similar poor returns.

The General had the greatest day and top scored in Gameweek 36 with his Jesus captain call coming good, plus whilst some suffered from the Kevin benching, he had Jimenez’s nine points to soften the blow.

TRANSFERS

This is a summary of the transfers for the two weeks:

Andy

GW36 Ings (Jimenez)
GW37 Son (Antonio)

Az

GW36 Alonso (Aurier)
GW37 Wood (Calvert-Lewin)

David

GW36 Free Hit
GW37 Wood (Iheanacho)

Joe

GW36 Ings, Taylor (Aurier, Calvert-Lewin)
GW37 No transfers

Jules

GW36 Giroud, Lamptey, Pulisic (Justin, Jimenez, Saint-Maximin)
GW37 Tarkowski (Wan-Bissaka)

FPL General

GW36 Jesus, Foden (Mahrez, Calvert-Lewin)
GW37 No transfers

Geoff

GW36 Sterling, Digne (De Bruyne, Robertson)
GW37 Wood (Iheanacho)

Mark

GW36 Willian (Sarr)
GW37 Free Hit

Matthew Jones

GW36 Sterling (Mané)
GW37 Wood (Calvert-Lewin)

Neale

GW36 Foden (Saka)
GW37 Ings (Calvert-Lewin)

Sean Tobin

GW36 Ings (Calvert-Lewin)
GW37 No transfers

Ville Ronka

GW36 Sterling (Salah)
GW37 Son, Digne (Alexander-Arnold, Pulisic)

*transfers out are in brackets

The Great and The Good ran out of patience with Calvert-Lewin as he was sold en masse, most made the sensible move to bring in the golden boot chasing Ings, before everyone got Wood in Gameweek 37.

Matthew, Ronka and Geoff were hoping for something amazing from Sterling in Gameweek 36 with the latter taking a minus four to bring him in, his 45 minute cameo would have disappointed them all.

However, in FPL everything changes as Gameweek 37 saw the City winger’s double bringing a surge in the rankings and an ominous feeling for those who don’t own Raheem for the final weekend.

Ronka’s Liverpool love ain’t here anymore as he has used his transfers to first move out Salah and then Alexander-Arnold but I suspect they will return when it comes to the Fin’s final free hit gameweek.

TEMPLATE

The template for The Great and The Good looks like this:-

Pope (8) Button (4)
Alexander-Arnold (9) Doherty (7) Boly (5) Aurier (4) Femenia (4)
Fernandes (12) De Bruyne (10) Pulisic (8) Martial (6) Salah (6)
Greenwood (8) Vardy/Wood/Ings (5)

The penultimate template for the season continues to see a double Wolves defence, a triple United attack and of course golden glove in waiting Nick Pope, who deserves a million love songs.

WHAT IF

Before the final reckoning, let’s take a minute to think what could have been by punching the numbers into the diabolical What If machine that lets you know how many points you have scored if you had not made any changes to your team since Gameweek 1.

The table below shows the results up Gameweek 37:-

learning-from-the-great-and-the-good-19-20-gameweek-36-and-37

Unsurprisingly, Ville Ronka shows he is back for good having gained 418 points due to his fiendish fiddling, what is surprising is that he started in Gameweek 1 with a front line of Glen Murray and Josh King.

Neale, Sean and Az have demonstrated their considerable skills with significant improvement, Jules is the only one that should left well alone having lost points and Mark will pray for better next campaign sitting near the bottom of this particular FPL metric. You can check your own scores here via the What If machine.

CONCLUSION

So, it’s been a good return to form for most of The Great and The Good since the restart with an average of 82,000 places gained since Gameweek 29 but one last hurdle awaits them.

Jules, Mark, Neale, Matthew and our two front runners Az and Ville will be playing their free hit in what is typically the most unpredictable of Gameweeks.

I was reminded recently that defenders Van Aanholt and Robertson were top scorers in the final week only a couple of seasons ago, will there be an unlikely hero this year, could it be Pieters or Jonny?

Many questions for the final Sunday. Will David Silva relight his fire? Could De Bruyne get the golden assist record? Can Salah and Sterling live up to the hype and get ten goals each?

However, the biggest question is who will be the greatest of The Great and The Good? Will it be the ruthless Ville, the comeback kid Az or can Neale free hit his way back into contention?

Whatever the outcome and whether you are fighting for the top 10,000 or 500,000 just remember this will all start again in September and be someone’s else dream.

Anyway, that’s all from me for now and remember don’t have nightmares.

For those affected by any of the topics raised in the above article then you can find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Greyhead19

If you want to keep up with the Tweets of The Great and The Good you can find them here

https://twitter.com/SkontoRigga
https://twitter.com/GeoffreyDance
https://twitter.com/matthewpenycae
https://twitter.com/LetsTalk_FPL
https://twitter.com/DavidMunday815
https://twitter.com/ffscout_az
https://twitter.com/FFScout_Joe
https://twitter.com/FPLGeneral
https://twitter.com/julesbreach

19 Comments Post a Comment
  1. Rotation's Alter Ego
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • Has Moderation Rights
    • 12 Years
    3 years, 8 months ago

    Cheers for writing Greyhead, final stretch now! Best of luck 🙂

    1. Greyhead
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 8 months ago

      Cheers RAE!

  2. Will J 256
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 8 months ago

    Are Mané or salah essential on a FH?

    1. Long ago I drew a walrus
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 8 months ago

      No they're not, and also probably the wrong article to be posting questions like this on :p

    2. Greyhead
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 8 months ago

      No one’s essential but Mo would be my Liverpool weapon of choice

  3. Long ago I drew a walrus
    • 13 Years
    3 years, 8 months ago

    Az gives hope to us all. Wasn't he outside the top 2 million at one point?

    1. The Polymath
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 8 months ago

      I prefer the desperate Az to the Smug Az. 😀 😉

      1. Az
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • Has Moderation Rights
        • 14 Years
        3 years, 8 months ago

        I'm really trying not to be smug, I'm just happy 🙁

        1. pingissimus
          • 5 Years
          3 years, 8 months ago

          That was quick. Do you have an alert for any Az posts?

          Good work

        2. Werkself
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 10 Years
          3 years, 8 months ago

          Happy? We don't need no stinking happy!

    2. Greyhead
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 8 months ago

      Yes - was at 2 mill back in GW11 so he’s had a good run

  4. TheFunkPhe-Gundogan
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 8 months ago

    Loyal reader. First time in 11years winning all mini leagues. Ranked in to 24k for first time ever. Have listened to myself all year with no hesitation. ( my only regret is I sat TAA literally ONE time all year and it was when he bagged his biggest haul.

    Simply opinion sought. One FT.
    Ahead by 30 over 2nd. 3rd is a non factor.

    He has neither of the four here.
    Who is set for bigger haul in your opinion.

    Sub Jimenez for Ings.
    Or
    Sub Kane for Aubameyang

    Cheers

    1. Jo Melon
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 8 months ago

      I'm eyeing A myself with Vardy's gate still fresh in memory..

      1. TheFunkPhe-Gundogan
        • 5 Years
        3 years, 8 months ago

        Cheers

    2. Greyhead
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 8 months ago

      A loyal reader? Well I that case A even though Ings has been a pain in my FPL side all season

      1. TheFunkPhe-Gundogan
        • 5 Years
        3 years, 8 months ago

        Thanks. I think Ings a possible GB might just be a crazy day for Southampton.

  5. Nas
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 8 months ago

    Great piece as usual.
    I don’t dare use the what if machine. Can’t risk ruining my weekend

  6. Greyhead
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 8 months ago

    Thank you! Yeah, I did it and was only 149 better off - mainly as I had Ings from the start and then sold him as he hit form/fitness.

  7. Swanmoretime
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 9 Years
    3 years, 8 months ago

    Thanks for writing these, always a must read article every GW for me.