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Learning from ‘The Great and The Good’ FPL managers – Gameweek 6

Fantasy Football Scout community writer Greyhead continues with his series of articles analysing the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) transfers and strategies of some noted Fantasy managers, from serial top 10k finishers to well-known faces.

The Great and The Good this year are the Scouts Joe LepperNeale RiggGeoff Dance and Tom Freeman, FPL Wire’s Zophar, from the Hall of Fame Fabio BorgesFPLMatthewYavuz Kabuk and Tom Stephenson, Blackbox’s Az and Mark Sutherns, FPL “celebrities” LTFPL AndyMagnus Carlsen and FPL General plus last year’s mini-league winner Les Caldwell.


“Cause the players gonna play, play, play, and the haters gonna hate, hate, hate.

Baby, I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake.

I shake it off, I shake it off”

Another week, another series of injury woes to deal with, as Patrick Bamford (£7.9m) fell victim to the mid-priced striker curse but at least Raphinha (£6.5m) managed to take Taylor Swift’s advice and shake it off.

This was also the week many lost patience in the £7-8m price bracket with several of us selling Ferran Torres (£7.0m) and Jack Grealish (£8.0m), as we saw the emergence of cheaper midfield options like Ismaila Sarr (£6.3m), Conor Gallagher (£5.7m) and Bukayo Saka (£6.2m).

Then there was the captaincy call, surely that was an easy one with Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.7m) ready to go, but Dean Smith’s men played the villains at Old Trafford to deliver red arrows for many an FPL manager.

OVERALL PERFORMANCE

Tom Freeman and Les Caldwell were the chart toppers with 60 points this week, although Tom left it late with Joel Veltman’s (£4.4m) 95th minute assist taking him to the heights of the hit parade.

Les’ strong showing was based on a Wolves double-up and his Mohamed Salah (£12.6m) captaincy; he was in good company as Mark and Magnus were the others to walk like an Egyptian.

Az was a very brave boy putting the armband on Michail Antonio (£7.9m) and it paid off; he is now only two points behind his Blackbox buddy. Could he finally overtake him?

Geoff Dance deserves a mention as he has yet to have a red arrow, although the size of the climbs are getting smaller with a sub 4,000 place jump this time round.

Wildcards are still burning a hole in the majority of The Great and The Good’s pockets, there seems to have been no discernible advantage to those who played early and it’s worth noting that none of the top three of Tom Stephenson, Andy and FPL Matthew have overhauled their squads.

TRANSFERS

Sarr underlines differential potential as Chelsea earn another clean sheet 10

This is a summary of the transfers for this week:

Az – Sarr (Grealish)

LTFPL Andy – Jimenez (Bamford)

Fabio Borges – None

Joe Lepper – Sarr, Armstrong (Bamford, Traore)

Geoff Dance – Gallagher (Torres)

FPL General – Saint-Maximin, Sarr (Bamford, Raphinha)

Les Caldwell – Gallagher (Torres)

Magnus Carlsen – Foster (Gunn)

Mark Sutherns – Alonso (Ayling)

FPL Matthew – Sarr (Greenwood)

Neale Rigg – None

Tom Freeman – Sarr (Gundogan)

Tom Stephenson – Sarr (Torres)

Yavuz Kabuk – Lukaku, Gray (Calvert-Lewin, Grealish)

Zophar – Sarr (Torres)

A blur of activity with Sarr a popular and wise choice if his goal against Newcastle was a sign of returns to come.

Joe and FPL General took hits to bring in the Watford wonder as they also had the Bamford blip to deal with, both made eyebrow raising moves with Allan Saint-Maximin (£6.8m) and Adam Armstrong (£6.0m) trotting onto their respective fantasy fields.

Yavuz’s dealings also caught the eye as he is the first to hit the high rollers with the “threemium” of Romelu Lukaku (£11.7m), Ronaldo and Salah.

I suspect Magnus will be soon going that way with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£9.9m) a placeholder, but I’ve tried and failed before to predict the Grandmaster’s groves.

TEMPLATE

Salah on target as Liverpool assets prosper at Leeds 1

The template for The Great and The Good is as follows with the number in brackets showing how many teams in which they appear:

Sanchez (12), Steele (8)

Alexander-Arnold (15), Shaw (12), Ayling (7), Livramento (7), Veltman (5)

Salah (15), Raphinha (11), Sarr (9), Jota (9), Benrahma (8)

Antonio (14), Ronaldo (12), Lukaku (4)

You sense bigger change is coming to the template, but for now Sarr and Lukaku were the new entrants replacing Bamford due to injury and Mason Greenwood (£7.7m), who proved expendable despite hitting an impressive eight shots against Villa.

CAPTAIN CALLS

At this early stage, captaincy decisions are proving crucial in the respectability of your rank and Mark Sutherns leads the way with 126 points, which equates to an impressive 21-point average.

Fabio is having an uncharacteristically mediocre start to the armband action sitting on 88 points, his decision to move off his favourite Salah this week proved costly.

The chart below shows that Salah continues to be the popular pick over the season at 54% pick rate, Ronaldo is chipping away at that lead on 22% and I would suspect Lukaku will start to worry the leaders as his dream run of fixtures begins this weekend.

No doubt the heavy hitters have rewarded those who have stuck with the tried and tested in the opening weeks, but Az’s foray into differential choice Antonio shows there is ground to be made up if you look beyond the “threemium”.

CONCLUSION

Jimenez ends goal drought as Arsenal claim convincing north London derby win

An interesting week ahead with fixture swings on the horizon, with Chelsea’s mouth-watering matchups meaning heavy investment in the Tuchel Tombola.

The collapse of the mid-priced market and the rise of the cheaper options of Emile Smith-Rowe (£5.3m), Demarai Gray (£5.8m) and Sarr also means that more might be tempted with the three heavy hitter option as this becomes more manageable as we look to balance the books and unbalance our squad structure.

Plenty of options ahead, plenty of ways to play the game and catch those greens but remember if you do have a bad week then just shake it off as a good one can be just be around the corner.

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

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

1,672 Comments Post a Comment
  1. Whits
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    What do you think of this WC team people?

    Guita

    Tierney
    Alonso
    Christiansen

    Salah
    Raphinia
    Gallagher
    Saka

    Antonio
    Lukaku
    Ronaldo

    Steer
    Williams
    Livermento
    Brownhill

  2. The Mighty Hippo
    • 7 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    I'm on w/c with a backline of TAA Dias Csncelo and Alonso. Do I bring Rudiger in for Trent and simply bank the difference? It's starting to seem like the sensible option if he's doubtful to start at the weekend.

    1. gart888
      • 9 Years
      2 years, 6 months ago

      Yes.

    2. Eat my goal!
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      2 years, 6 months ago

      If he’s back for Watford is it worth it?

  3. Ógie
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 11 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Messiiiiiiiii

    1. DARK SIDE OF THE LOON
      • 7 Years
      2 years, 6 months ago

      Yessss

  4. BeWater
    • 3 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Classic Messi goal.

  5. DARK SIDE OF THE LOON
    • 7 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Salah captain worked perfectly well!

  6. Duke Silver ☑
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 9 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Messi magic!

  7. Rainer
    • 7 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Bobby goal

  8. Goodfeathers
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 9 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Text book messi

  9. Rainer
    • 7 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Jones incredible!

  10. DycheDycheBaby
    • 8 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Messi. The GOAT.
    What a goal.

  11. dark91
    • 8 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Messiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

  12. Gunneryank
    • 2 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Messi essential.

  13. Sim Simma
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 13 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Jota injured ?

  14. FPLtfs
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Jota benched next? 90 today, Firmino coming in and scoring

    1. Rainer
      • 7 Years
      2 years, 6 months ago

      Probably

  15. FCSB
    • 8 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Jota owners holding?

    1. ANGRY PERSON
      • 3 Years
      2 years, 6 months ago

      Yeah. Will bench him vs city anyway

      1. FCSB
        • 8 Years
        2 years, 6 months ago

        You must have a good bench with all the other problems this week

        1. ANGRY PERSON
          • 3 Years
          2 years, 6 months ago

          Yeah. If you dont have a good bench you must sell. Too much rotation risk

    2. FFSbet.com
      • 8 Years
      2 years, 6 months ago

      Season keeper

    3. Gunneryank
      • 2 Years
      2 years, 6 months ago

      For now yes.

      1. Flynny
        • 9 Years
        2 years, 6 months ago

        Likely gone for me.

    4. DaisyDaisyDaisyDaisy
      • 10 Years
      2 years, 6 months ago

      Hold but bench maybe

    5. gart888
      • 9 Years
      2 years, 6 months ago

      I think so. Still feel he offers really good value at 7.7.

      It's just a shame that I also have other injured players at the same time...

  16. Heiro
    • 14 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Evening all,

    A: Bruno&Obefemi --> Lukaku&Smith Rowe

    B: Greenwood/Jota & Jiminez --> Lukaku & DLuis

    Have no Ronaldo.

  17. No Kane No Gain
    • 5 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    No love for Gallagher anymore?!

    I was seriously looking at selling Jota for Gallagher to raise funds and was going to play him for the next few weeks...

    1. caldracula
      • 8 Years
      2 years, 6 months ago

      Probably doing that move but the flags are starting to mount up!

  18. Jullepuu
    • 4 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Any news on Ayling?

      1. Jullepuu
        • 4 Years
        2 years, 6 months ago

        Cheers

  19. ANGRY PERSON
    • 3 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Only if City bought Messi this season

  20. Duke Silver ☑
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 9 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    C'mon Jota, grab a goal man!

  21. Cruicky
    • 12 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Man City needing to sign a striker, buying Jack Grealish for £100M and not getting said striker is still hilarious to me.

    1. how now brown cow
      • 9 Years
      2 years, 6 months ago

      Kane will be going on a free in January at this rate.

  22. Rainer
    • 7 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Bobby Brace!

    Jones 3rd assist...

  23. TomSaints
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 6 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Some Liverpool performance

  24. Random Name
    • 8 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Messi here for his yearly spanking of English fans. This country will forget again quickly though, slate him and say he can't do it in the pl until next year's spanking

    1. DBW - Slug's Mortgage …
      • 3 Years
      2 years, 6 months ago

      Do you have his posters on your wall?

  25. DBW - Slug's Mortgage …
    • 3 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Pep outsmarting himself once again.

    Jesus scores in a massive game on the weekend then drops him in UCL.

    Signing Grealish over Kane too was an odd transfer.

    1. RamaJama
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      2 years, 6 months ago

      Could also got Haaland for the price he wanted to offer Spurs.

      1. n-doggg
        • 11 Years
        2 years, 6 months ago

        Surely not. His wages and agent fees must have made it not doable

  26. TomSaints
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 6 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    KDB should have been off so as much as I dislike PSG, they’ve got the deserved win today

    1. Eat my goal!
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      2 years, 6 months ago

      It’s hard to choose who to hate more city or psg

      1. Gunneryank
        • 2 Years
        2 years, 6 months ago

        This exactly.

      2. Collie01
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 6 Years
        2 years, 6 months ago

        I have some respect for PSG ever since they were one of the only big European clubs who refused sign up for the super cup.

    2. ANGRY PERSON
      • 3 Years
      2 years, 6 months ago

      They need a proper 9 if they want to beat good defense consistently

      1. Dthinger
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 7 Years
        2 years, 6 months ago

        does PSG have a good defense?

  27. Strchld
    • 7 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Is it time to hit WC button?

    Jota (probably benched)
    Torres (probably benched)
    Greenwood (good change benched If he plays 90 tommorrow.)
    TAA (injured)
    Ayling (injured)
    Shaw (injured)

    Dont have any Chelsea assets.
    Have one FT and would like to WC during IB, but worried to get 11 players out this weekend

    1. TomSaints
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 6 Years
      2 years, 6 months ago

      If it helps, Shaw will almost certainly be ok. Plus always low expectations for Torres, Jota and TAA this week . I’ve accepted this week will be average at best buy wildcard next week will be worth it.

      1. Strchld
        • 7 Years
        2 years, 6 months ago

        Atleast I have one FT, but dont have idea how to use it.

    2. Fish up a tree
      • 2 Years
      2 years, 6 months ago

      Why do you need to ask?

      1. Strchld
        • 7 Years
        2 years, 6 months ago

        You have right answer?

    3. Cruicky
      • 12 Years
      2 years, 6 months ago

      if you're not willing to keep any of them after GW7, then I wouldn't delay it.

  28. Kodap
    • 6 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    I'm in trouble with this team aren't I? Any moves I make will be a -4 but I do have 2.6m in the bank.

    Sanchez
    Trent - Rudiger - Marcal
    Salah - Jota - Gray - ESR
    Bamford - Antonio - Cr7

    Steele - Livra - Williams - Sissoko

    1. Dthinger
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      2 years, 6 months ago

      how did you get here? What transfer did you already make?

      I would not worry about TAA. Jota and Bamford would be my concerns with Jota playing 88 minutes today and Bamford maybe still injured.

    2. Cruicky
      • 12 Years
      2 years, 6 months ago

      assuming you did Shaw to Rudiger already, which seems odd when you still have Bamford - who is the biggest priority.

      I think both Trent & Bamford miss this week at least, so likely do Bamford to Jimenez/etc. for -4 and play Livramento (may nick a 0-0, Norwich aren't keeping a CS anytime soon).

  29. Duke Silver ☑
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 9 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Real in the mud. Eyebrows will be raised.

    1. Gunneryank
      • 2 Years
      2 years, 6 months ago

      Sheriff scored again??!?! Oh my. Awesome.

  30. JONALDINHO
    • 6 Years
    2 years, 6 months ago

    Curtis Jones with 4 assists….doesn’t get the attention he deserves