Learning from ‘The Great and The Good’ FPL managers ahead of Gameweek 16

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 Lepper, Neale Rigg, Geoff Dance and Tom Freeman, FPL Wire’s Zophar, from the Hall of Fame Fabio Borges, FPLMatthew, Yavuz Kabuk and Tom Stephenson, Blackbox’s Az and Mark Sutherns, FPL “celebrities” LTFPL Andy, Magnus Carlsen and FPL General plus last year’s mini-league winner Les Caldwell.

“All we can know is that we know nothing. And that’s the height of human wisdom”

A War and Peace edition of The Great and The Good, as the frenetic pace of FPL means we double-up to look back on their fortunes over the last two Gameweeks.

If we did learn anything from the last couple of weeks, it was that we know nothing, as unsexy picks like Bernardo Silva (£7.5m), Mason Mount (£7.5m) and Ben Davies (£4.4m) captured the points if not the eye of the FPL Community.

As for big at the back? Well, even this latest trend appears to be coming under scrutiny as the Chelsea defence begins to falter and the Manchester City backline seems to have developed an annoying habit of conceding late goals.

As for Harry Kane (£12.2m)? I prefer not to speak.

OVERALL PERFORMANCE

We have a new leader! FPL General has taken top spot due to his consistency, plus his inclusion of Son Heung-min (£10.4m) over Kane.

However, it’s mightily close with only six points between him, Az and Tom Stephenson – plus let’s not forget Magnus Carlsen, who scored 74 in Gameweek 14 to put himself back in the top 50k. The Grandmaster’s move for Callum Wilson (£7.5m) has proved a master stroke.

Fabio Borges was the leading scorer in Gameweek 15 with 57 as Son’s double-digit return plus Bryan Mbeumo (£5.5m) finally doing something (if only an assist), put the Portuguese master into his highest rank of the season and into the top 100k.

An interesting development has been Mark Sutherns moving to five at the back with Reece James (£6.2m), Marcos Alonso (£5.7m), Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.1m), Joao Cancelo (£6.8m) and Sergio Reguilon (£5.3m) all in his side. Yet he also has a strong bench, with Keinan Davis (£4.5m) the only standard bench fodder.

Whilst it will offer protection ahead of the winter schedule, it does seem to close the door on any move for Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.3m). Remarkably, he was not the only one to go big at the back, with 60% of them playing five defenders (after autosubs) this Gameweek 15 and the rest deploying four.

TRANSFERS

This is a summary of this past week’s transfers:

Az

GW14 – Jota (Foden)

GW15 – None

LTFPL Andy

GW14 – None

GW15 – King, Alonso (Jimenez, Omobamidele)

Fabio Borges

GW14 – Son (Foden)

GW15 – King (Jimenez)

Joe Lepper

GW14 – None

GW15 – Tomiyasu (Coady)

Geoff Dance

GW14 – Brownhill, Jota (Sarr, Raphinha)

GW15 – None

FPL General

GW14 – Alonso (White)

GW15 – None

Les Caldwell

GW14 – None

GW15 – Pukki, Bernardo Silva (Jimenez, Mbeumo)

Magnus Carlsen

GW14 – Sancho (Saka)

GW15 – None

Mark Sutherns

GW14 – Gundogan (Foden)

GW15 – Reguilon (Livramento)

FPL Matthew

GW14 – None

GW15 – Gilmour (McArthur)

Neale Rigg

GW14 – None

GW15 – King, Jota (Antonio, Moutinho)

Tom Freeman

GW14 – Reguilon (Tierney)

GW15 – King (Armstrong)

Tom Stephenson

GW14 – Kane, Gallagher (Vardy, Foden)

GW15 – None

Yavuz Kabuk

GW14 – None

GW15 – King (Antonio)

Zophar

GW14 – Kane, Gallagher (Vardy, Foden)

GW15 – None

Timing is key when it comes to transfers and never is this more evident than in the case of Reguilon, as Tom Freeman soared when he bought him in Gameweek 14 but Mark was left cursing that the Spaniard didn’t even make half time when he made his move in Gameweek 15.

A moment here to congratulate Les Caldwell on the Bernardo Silva transfer which provided him 15 points. He remains outside of the FPL Twitter bubble and one wonders if that made him deaf to the clamour for IIkay Gundogan (£7.3m) or Phil Foden (£8.1m) as alternatives.

Also it’s worth noting that, whilst there is much noise about the Ralf Rangnick revolution, so far only Magnus has gone shopping at Old Trafford with Jadon Sancho (£8.9m) but I suspect Ronaldo may yet be this year’s festive ‘must have’ purchase.

TEMPLATE

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

Foster (11), Ramsdale (6)

Alexander-Arnold (15), Cancelo (14), Livramento (12), James (12), Alonso (6)

Salah (15), Jota (14), Raphinha (10), Brownhill (8), Mbeumo (7)

Antonio (11), Toney (11), Kane (11)

A minor change to the template sees Marcus Alonso joining the squad in placed of Antonio Rudiger (£6.1m). Much has been said of his swashbuckling ways but has it damaged Chelsea’s defensive strength?

TOP OF THE POPS

This week I have had a look into the popular picks of The Great and The Good with the table below showing the top players appearances up to Gameweek 14:-

No surprise to see Mohamed Salah (£13.1m) has been consistently played week in week out by this lot, apart from Joe’s brief dalliance before returning him to the fold via his Wildcard in Gameweek 4.

Mark’s commitment to Mbeumo probably explains some of the FPL Godfather’s stuttering form, Geoff’s faith in Illan Meslier (£4.9m) seems misplaced and Tom Stephenson’s early season trust in Said Benrahma (£6.0m) highlights why he had such a fast start.

THE NEXT GREAT AND THE GOOD

The feeder league into The Great and The Good is hotting up and here are the current top five teams:

Julian Fortuna leads the way and sits at 537 overall, having never finished in the top 25k, so let’s hope he can hold his nerve. His decision to captain Diogo Jota (£8.0m) in Gameweek 13 proves he has the courage.

Adam Brady in second has the strongest track record with three top 10k finishes and Phil Harrington has experience on his side, with 13 years walking these FPL streets.

However, there is a long way left to find out who will face up to Fabio, Mark, and Magnus next season.

CONCLUSION

“The strongest of all warriors are these two – time and patience”.

This season has amplified the need for tolerance in our FPL moves as the hubbub around certain players seems to grow each week.

Kane disappointed this week after the push to get him, or even hand him the armband and now Man United players are the current focus of our attention.

I am sure they will improve but remember to take a step back as it will take time for Rangnick’s methods to take hold and remember that patience can be an FPL manager’s greatest weapon in climbing up those ranks.

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 here on Twitter.