Learning from ‘The Great and The Good’ FPL managers ahead of Gameweek 19

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.

“There may be trouble ahead, but while there’s moonlight and music and love and romance. Let’s face the music and dance”

Such fun! Careful Fred and Ginger-like footwork was needed to tap dance your way around the latest wave of COVID cancellations – as well as a large dollop of luck.

Games being postponed with just hours to spare meant FPL managers were left to speculate rather than plan their moves, along with desperately searching for any credible ‘in the know’ insight. Unfortunately, there was also plenty of un-credible insight as well.

In between all the madness and frustration, there were still the moments of FPL magic to keep us coming back for more. Whether that be the wonder of the instant returns from Phil Foden (£8.1m) and Ollie Watkins (£7.9m) in Gameweek 17, the differential talents of Gabriel Martinelli (£5.3m) or even the rewards from those fortunate enough to captain Joao Cancelo (£6.8m) in Gameweek 18.

OVERALL PERFORMANCE

An unusual couple of weeks, with many of ‘The Great and The Good’ struggling to put a full team out. Mark only managed nine in Gameweek 17, whilst poor old Tom Freeman could only muster seven this weekend just gone when Pep did Pep-like things by resting Foden.

Despite the chaos, there were still plenty of green arrows to go around, with Az remaining top of the tree – due in no small part to his move for Martinelli, something which will he no doubt dine out on for many seasons to come.

Like the Premier League, there does appear to be a gap opening between the top three and the chasing pack. FPL General is less than 10 points behind in third, whilst Tom Stephenson kept the pressure on in Gameweek 17 with the top score of 77.

Magnus Carlsen finally injected some life into the captaincy debate in Gameweek 18 as he went with Raheem Sterling (£10.6m) and his courage was rewarded with the highest tally of 75, as even his Joe Gelhardt (£4.6m) transfer paid off.

TRANSFERS

This is a summary of the transfers for this week:

Az

GW17 – Martinelli, Foden (Raphinha, Mbeumo)

GW18 – Jimenez (Antonio)

LTFPL Andy

GW17 – Pukki, Foden (Ronaldo, Mbeumo)

GW18 – Lacazette (Pukki)

Fabio Borges

GW17 – Pukki, Foden (Ronaldo, Brownhill)

GW18 – Saka, Raphinha (Sissoko, Mbeumo)

Joe Lepper

GW17 – Watkins, Dennis (Ronaldo, Armstrong)

GW18 – Lacazette, Ramsdale, Foden (Antonio, Fernandez, Sissoko)

Geoff Dance

GW17 – Bowen (Rashford)

GW18 – Watkins, Lacazette, Saka (Antonio, Gallagher, King)

FPL General

GW17 – Watkins (Toney)

GW18 – Lacazette (Watkins)

Les Caldwell

GW17 – Foden (Allan)

GW18 – Watkins (Antonio)

Magnus Carlsen

GW17 – Sterling (Sancho)

GW18 – Lacazette, Gelhardt (King, Wilson)

Mark Sutherns

GW17 – Foden (Mbeumo)

GW18 – Ramsdale, Lacazette (Foster, Antonio)

FPL Matthew

GW17 – Watkins (Ronaldo)

GW18 – Smith Rowe (Brownhill)

Neale Rigg

GW17 – Pukki (Toney)

GW18 – Lacazette, Foden (Ronaldo, Delph)

Tom Freeman

GW17 – Coufal (Dalot)

GW18 – Lacazette, Foden (Ronaldo, Mbeumo)

Tom Stephenson

GW17 – Watkins, Foden (Ronaldo, Mbeumo)

GW18 – Saka, Lacazette (Watkins, Gallagher)

Yavuz Kabuk

GW17 – Watkins, Foden (Vardy, Brownhill)

GW18 – Lacazette, Jota, Saka (Bowen, Watkins, Gallagher)

Zophar

GW17 – Bowen (Mbeumo)

GW18 – Saka (Gallagher)

Busier than Santa on Christmas Eve, ‘The Great and The Good’ have had to move quickly and often in the transfer market with 16 hits taken in the last two Gameweeks alone.

The moves for Watkins and Foden were the most popular in Gameweek 17, with Yavuz Kabuk and Tom Stephenson timing that to perfection with immediate double-digit returns from both.

Tom Freeman’s move for Vladimir Coufal (£4.7m) was less fortunate and I suspect he won’t be sending the Czech a seasonal card this year as he managed to get himself sent off on his debut for the differential king.

The normally cautious Fabio Borges has taken hits in three consecutive weeks but his moves for Raphinha (£6.6m) and Bukayo Saka (£6.3m) provided instant rewards in Gameweek 18.

In other shocking news, conservative Joe took a minus eight this weekend, joining Geoff Dance and Yavuz in an attempt to have eleven at least take the field but perhaps the most surprising sight was Aaron Ramsdale (£5.1m) finally join the ranks of Sutherns Comfort.

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 (8), Ramsdale (8)

Alexander-Arnold (15), Cancelo (15), James (13), Livramento (11), Alonso (6)

Salah (15), Jota (14), Foden (11), Bowen (6), Gallagher (6)

King (10), Lacazette (10), Antonio (8)

Some unlikely faces in the overhauled template with Alexandre Lacazette (£8.4m) joining the fray this week, replacing Watkins who became surplus to requirements after his game was called off with only hours to go and probably whilst Villa fans were tucking into their pikelets on their way up to Burnley.

Additionally, Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.5m) has been ditched due to the fixture chaos and Raphinha fails to make the cut for the first time this season despite playing games and scoring points. Foden joins too, although he may lose his place if Pep Guardiola sees him as a very naughty boy.

TRANSFER SUCCESS

In these uncertain times, immediate returns from your transfers are even more important than usual so I thought it would be worthwhile to look at the transfer stats of ‘The Great and The Good’:

Obviously, the number of hits has increased dramatically over the last few weeks, with managers trying to adapt to the fixture list carnage. These managers averaged 2.6 hits between Gameweek 1-16 compared to an average of eight in the last two weeks.

Yavuz has taken the most hits over the season – successful ones at that – as he climbs towards his lofty goal of securing his eighth successive top 10k finish, whilst Zophar and Az have been the most cautious.

With the season developing into a more instinctive phase, these conditions would seem to favour those who can pick out those moves that give an instant impact.

Looking at the data, this would appear to give the advantage to Magnus and LTFPL Andy, who have both gained over 100 points from their transfers so far. Could the ‘Chess Grandmaster’ and the ‘YouTube Galactico’ be the ones to challenge Az at the top?

CONCLUSION

Who knows what awaits us over the FPL horizon? With matches vanishing without any sensible notice, now is the time for short-term tactical actions rather than longer term strategies, well until at least we get a bit more certainty.

As for the game itself, no doubt, it will impact our enjoyment unless you take sadistic pleasure in desperately scanning club forums or Twitter for team news minutes before deadline, so it’s probably best to just accept it for what it is.

However, most importantly, stay safe, try to keep positive and enjoy the time with your friends and family.

Anyway, that’s all from me for now, thanks for reading along for another year, have a fantastic Xmas and remember – don’t have FPL nightmares.

For those affected by any of the topics raised in the above article then you can find me here on Twitter.