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Learning from ‘The Great and The Good’ FPL managers ahead of Gameweek 38

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.


“There’s some people on the pitch… they think it’s all over….”

It’s not quite over yet but there were certainly plenty of crowds on the pitch in midweek. Nottingham Forest celebrated reaching the play-off finals, inspiring Mark Sutherns to take his first-ever selfie with Djed Spence, while we also saw relief from Everton fans as they ensured survival for another season.

There was a general feeling of fatigue amongst the FPL faithful with many preparing their beach clothes for the upcoming break, which was no doubt accelerated by some phenomenal swings of fortunes over the last two Gameweeks.

Free Hits and Bench Boosts were flaunted across the community, and indeed The Great and The Good, with high expectations of green arrows for those chips, yet it was the 50/50 captaincy calls between Kevin De Bruyne (£12.1m) and Mohamed Salah (£13.1m) in Gameweek 36 and Danny Ings (£7.7m) and Richarlison (£7.6m) in Gameweek 37 which truly decided many of our fates.

OVERALL PERFORMANCE

Fabio, star turn in my recent Q&A (please do give it a read as he really is a lovely chap), showed his class by leaping past Az with an 81-point gain over Gameweeks 36 and 37 to take top spot.

Yet, he was not the highest scoring manager over the two weeks: that honour goes to Magnus Carlsen with a combined score of 250 points, all without an aid of a chip. His hot streak of captaincy picks continued, and he now has an impressive 752 armband points for the season.

It’s worth mentioning that Tom Freeman was only a point behind, thanks to a storming Gameweek 36 score of 177, more than halving his overall rank and gaining 153,000 places in that time. He looks determined to avoid being bottom of The Great and The Good.

The chips were flying with Andy top scoring this week, Free Hitting his way to 115, with James Maddison (£6.9m) and Jamie Vardy (£10.3m) both proving cunning picks. Geoff Dance also had a blinder in Gameweek 36 with his chip seeing him reach 149 points.

Bench Boosts were deployed in force in Gameweek 36 as seven of them decided to play the pine. For most it was successful but FPL Matthew and Magnus had the best returns as they gained 46 points off the substitute’s bench.

TRANSFERS

This is a summary of the transfers for this week:

Az
  • GW36 – Richalison, Gordon (Adams, Barnes)
  • GW37 – Maddison, Ings, Son, Pickford (Kulusevski, Hwang, Salah, Ramsdale)
LTFPL Andy
  • GW36 – Ederson, Nketiah (Sa, Wood)
  • GW37 – Free Hit
Fabio Borges
  • GW36 – Laporte, Nketiah (Broja, White)
  • GW37 – Free Hit
Joe Lepper
  • GW36 – Nketiah, Cancelo (Werner, White)
  • GW37 – De Bruyne, Richarlison (Salah, Watkins)
Geoff Dance
  • GW36 – Free Hit
  • GW37 – Vardy, De Bruyne (Ronaldo, Fernandes)
FPL General
  • GW36 – Gordon, Alonso (Schar, Ward-Prowse)
  • GW37 – Free Hit
Les Caldwell
  • GW36 – Mykolenko (Lamptey)
  • GW37 – Son, Vardy (Salah, Kane)
Magnus Carlsen
  • GW36 – Richalison, Maddison, De Bruyne (Pukki, Fernandes, Jota)
  • GW37 – Son, Holgate (Havertz, Robertson)
Mark Sutherns
  • GW36 – Richalison, Gordon, Dias , Pickford (Broja, Robertson, Foster, Podence)
  • GW37 – Zaha, Digne (Kulusevski, Dias)
FPL Matthew
  • GW36 – Richalison, Dias (Dennis, Robertson)
  • GW37 – Free Hit
Neale Rigg
  • GW36 – Pedro, Dias (Laporte, Mateta)
  • GW37 – Free Hit
Tom Freeman
  • GW36 – Rodrigo, Odegaard, De Bruyne (Rodriguez, Sterling, Havertz)
  • GW37 – Free Hit
Tom Stephenson
  • GW36 – Nketiah, Odegaard, Ederson (Weghorst, Kulusevski, Sa)
  • GW37 – Free Hit
Yavuz Kabuk
  • GW36 – Richalison, Jesus, Dias, Diaz (Broja, Podence, Robertson, Foster)
  • GW37 – Free Hit
Zophar
  • GW36 – Foden (Coutinho)
  • GW37 – Free Hit

The BlackBoxers were feeling cavalier over the last couple of weeks. Az took a -12 hit this week, which was saved by Maddison going mad for it, and Mark took the same triple hit gamble in Gameweek 36 but sadly the Everton trio failed to spark and his choice of Ruben Dias (£6.2m), who went off injured, highlights his rotten luck this season.

Fabio was the most effective in the transfer market with Eddie Nketiah (£5.7m) and Aymeric Laporte (£6.0m) providing exceptional value in Gameweek 36, Joe got it right over both weeks with Nketiah and Richarlison proving deadly, and Les Caldwell continues to highlight a good eye for the transfer with Vitalii Mykolenko (£4.9m) last week followed by Vardy this one.

TEMPLATE

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

  • Pickford (11), Schmeichel (6)
  • Mykolenko (11), Cash (10), Digne (9), Andersen (7), Tsimikas (6)
  • Son (15), De Bruyne (10), Zaha (10), Maddison (9), Coutinho (5)
  • Richarlison (13), Kane (9), Ings (8)

A Free Hit-impacted template this week with possibly more Villa defenders than you would expect to see, with only Kasper Schmeichel (£5.0m), Son Heung-min (£11.2m) and Harry Kane (£12.5m) surviving from the last time we looked at the squad back in Gameweek 35.

WHAT IF?

Some brutal red arrows over the last couple of weeks have left many to question, “what if?” So I thought it worthwhile to bring out the What If Machine, something that shows your score if you had made no changes over the whole season and just left well alone.

Whichever way you cut it, Fabio has demonstrated that whilst there may be some luck involved, FPL is still a game of skill as through his transfers and captains he has gained 695 points, the highest of all The Great and The Good.

Zophar, Magnus and Tom Stephenson have also showed their ability to improve their team and Az has only just pipped Mark again on this metric.

CONCLUSION

The final curtain is ready to close, but there is still one last hurrah as we prepare ourselves for the final week of the season. Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City and Spurs all have some lovely fixtures to finish the campaign, while the word ‘motivation’ will be bandied around a lot in the run-up. Perhaps we should all just go with our gut as we are deep into stoppage time, and we might just yet score that late winner.

Anyway, that’s all from me for 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

541 Comments Post a Comment
  1. Ronnies
    • 8 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    Best option;

    A) Play Richarlison
    B) Sell to Toney (-4)

    Cheers.

    1. Mozumbus
      • 2 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      Toney to score 4 plus what Richarlison scores to breakeven, right?

    2. THFC4LIFE
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      A

  2. Mozumbus
    • 2 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    Who will score more, different formations:
    A. Kane + Bruno Guimarães + Sessegnon
    B. Mount + Rudiger + Zinchenko

    1. Emah3
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 4 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      A

      1. Mozumbus
        • 2 Years
        1 year, 10 months ago

        Thanks

    2. Bushwhacker
      • 4 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      A

      1. Mozumbus
        • 2 Years
        1 year, 10 months ago

        Thanks

  3. Bob.
    • 13 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    Any Burnley fans on here? Reckon Weg will start up top?

  4. Stimps
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 10 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    Is this worth a -8?

    Salah, Dennis, Dias -> Vardy, Mount, Robertson.

    Team would then be....

    Pope
    TAA Rudiger Alonso Robertson
    Son Mount Saka Kulu
    Vardy Toney

    Foster Mahrez, Nketiah Ait-Nouri

    1. George James
      • 9 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      No way. Just start mahrez and Nketiah

  5. George James
    • 9 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    James and Alonso are tough to own this week IMO.

    Think you have to start but very much feel it’s 2 X 1 pointers waiting to happen

    Would you?

    A) Start both and pray

    B) start one bench one fir Ben Davies

    C) Sell one to Robertson for -4

    1. The Mighty Hippo
      • 7 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      B

    2. Bushwhacker
      • 4 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      B

    3. Mozumbus
      • 2 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      A

    4. Stranger Mings
      • 3 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      B

    5. Mr. O'Connell
      • 11 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      A

    6. lifes a pitch
      • 10 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      C alonso

  6. Sterling Malory
    • 8 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    Salah + Coutinho out for who?

    Son + 8.8m?

    1) Foden/Mahrez
    2) Havertz
    3) Diaz

    Pope
    TAA Robbo Cancelo James
    Son Mount Saka ****
    Kane Mateta

    1. Emah3
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 4 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      Diaz, others are riskier to play I think

  7. Metamorph
    • 8 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    Cash + Coutinho out, leaves 13.3 itb for me.. best replacement suggestions? SO many good options!

    1. jca
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      Mount and Matic

  8. MGD
    • 7 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    Will Salah play?

    1. The Polymath
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      Went round, his mum said no.

    2. Stranger Mings
      • 3 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      Reckon be on bench and come on last 30mins

    3. Bushwhacker
      • 4 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      If there's any risk at all no.

  9. The Polymath
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    Drop who?

    A1) Kane
    A2)Salah

    Bring in

    B1) Maddison
    B2) Vardy

    1. Bushwhacker
      • 4 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      A2 means it has to be B1 . . or Diaz.

    2. noissimbus
      • 1 Year
      1 year, 10 months ago

      Salah, apparently his mum said he couldn't play. Bring in Maddi.

    3. The Knights Template
      • 10 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      A2b1

  10. chilli con kone
    • 10 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    How many points do you think KDB gets on Sunday?

    A. Blank
    B. 5-10
    C. 10+

    1. The Polymath
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      B

    2. Mozumbus
      • 2 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      B is expected. C is possible more than A.

  11. nolard
    • 9 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    What do we expect from Arsenal and their assets this game?

    Here is what I think:
    A score draw, like 2-2 or even a third goal to someone.
    Arsenal need a win, Everton can play without pressure.

    Not sure what to expect from Saka, Nkietah and the rest. Ramsdale is dodgy as f though.

    1. The Polymath
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      Expecting a big win

    2. noissimbus
      • 1 Year
      1 year, 10 months ago

      1-1 or 2-1. No CS here.

      1. nolard
        • 9 Years
        1 year, 10 months ago

        Yeah, no clean sheet.

  12. Mr. O'Connell
    • 11 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    Foden YPOTY again. Who votes on these things?!

    1. Bushwhacker
      • 4 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      Foden's Mom and Dad. And Liam Gallagher.

    2. noissimbus
      • 1 Year
      1 year, 10 months ago

      Who'd deserved it more? TAA..?

    3. nolard
      • 9 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      Gallagher? Although he faded after a top first half.

      Saka, coming off age and showing up well in a young Arsenal team.

      Guehi/Mitchell for Palace.

      White

      Ramsey

      Plenty of options.

  13. dunas_dog
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    Is this move worth -4 for team below
    KDB Ings to Mount Vardy

    A Yes
    B No

    Schmeichel
    James Cancelo Robertson
    Son (c) Mount L Dias Zaha
    Vardy Toney Nketiah

    Ramsdale Mykolenko Gordon Cash

    1. Corgz Dark side of the Loon
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      A

    2. Mozumbus
      • 2 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      B

  14. JP\'s
    • 3 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    A or B for GW38?

    A) Mount
    B) Diaz

    1. Bob.
      • 13 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      A

  15. Corgz Dark side of the Loon
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    Guys, I see a lot of chat, especially on twitter that Chelsea are resting lots of players due to a comment by the manager. but I can not find anything to back this up ?? Can anyone confirm the source. ? I have read all of Ben Dinnerys tweets and there is zero mention that Tuchal said he will rest his players. I see that Alonso talks about the amount of games but nothing about rotation.

    1. Bushwhacker
      • 4 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      Doesn't seem to make a lot of sense ; they've nothing but holiday coming what would they rest them for? I can imagine those departing the club may not make the starting XI.

      1. Holmes
        • 10 Years
        1 year, 10 months ago

        Everyone is expecting them to get a game and they are considered as nailed 😀

      2. Amsterhammer
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 8 Years
        1 year, 10 months ago

        I was thinking the opposite and that they would rest a lot to try and blood some youngsters.

      3. No Kane No Gain
        • 5 Years
        1 year, 10 months ago

        To give the youngsters and imagers who haven’t played much a game against weak opposition

    2. Stranger Mings
      • 3 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      Guess it’s because they played ET at weekend then 90 mins on Thursday

  16. Mozumbus
    • 2 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    A. Rudiger with a starting bench
    B. Cancelo with almost no bench

    1. Gizzachance
      • 9 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      A

      1. Mozumbus
        • 2 Years
        1 year, 10 months ago

        Thanks

    2. lifes a pitch
      • 10 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      B

      1. Mozumbus
        • 2 Years
        1 year, 10 months ago

        Thanks

    3. No Kane No Gain
      • 5 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      A. You need a bench this week. Most definitely 1 nailed starter to come in if needed

      1. Mozumbus
        • 2 Years
        1 year, 10 months ago

        Thanks
        Here's the bench, in both situations:

        A. Rudiger with bench Gunn+Tsmiskas+Gelhardt+Amartey

        B. Cancelo with bench Stele+Tsmiskas+Richardson+Kelly

        1. No Kane No Gain
          • 5 Years
          1 year, 10 months ago

          A with gelhardt first sub

          1. Mozumbus
            • 2 Years
            1 year, 10 months ago

            Thanks

    4. Walter White (WW)
      • 2 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      A. I would even go as far as benching cancelo. He isn’t needed this gw imo

      1. Mozumbus
        • 2 Years
        1 year, 10 months ago

        Oh, thanks for the insight.
        What's the reason Cancelo will be benched for the title match?

        1. Walter White (WW)
          • 2 Years
          1 year, 10 months ago

          Team related but now considering not benching

  17. Gizzachance
    • 9 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    Thoughts appreciated
    A salah to mane for free
    B Salah an Watkins to
    Diaz an Kane -4 ?
    Cheers

    1. Mozumbus
      • 2 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      A

    2. lifes a pitch
      • 10 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      B

  18. Gizzachance
    • 9 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    Cheers

  19. Mozumbus
    • 2 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    A. Rudiger with bench Gunn+Tsmiskas+Gelhardt+Amartey
    B. Cancelo with bench Stele+Tsmiskas+Richardson+Kelly

    Reposting with more information. Thanks.

  20. Walter White (WW)
    • 2 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    Remember when Bruno, Antonio & of course Shaw were essential lol

    1. Mozumbus
      • 2 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      Yes lol

    2. No Kane No Gain
      • 5 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      Benrhama too lol

  21. Beerman_68
    • 1 Year
    1 year, 10 months ago

    How should I protect 1st in mini league holding a 40 pt advantage?

    The teams come down to my Kane, Richarlison, Saka, Mount, Gordon, Laporte, Sa
    vs. her Wout, Ings, Maddison, De Bruyn, Odegaard and Matip, Schmeichel
    she has 1 free transfer, I've used mine to match Son.

    I can move to Maddison from Saka with a -4;
    Should I?

  22. Sprinterdude
    • 3 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    In a bit of a state for the last game Kane Watkins Richarlison
    Bundeia Gordon Jota Kulu Son
    Robertson James Cancello Cash holgate

    Very close to winning my mini league for first time my best moves here appreciated

  23. Twigs
    • 5 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    Salah + Broja to Kane + Diaz for -4

    Or

    Salah to KDB?

    1. Rankbajin
      • 2 Years
      1 year, 10 months ago

      Kane was a worry for illness . i'd go with KDB.
      Upgrade Bruja to Nketiah if you have the cash?

  24. Rankbajin
    • 2 Years
    1 year, 10 months ago

    Captain choice between Son and KDB ?
    Leaning Son because KDB might no start (Pepe Roulette)

    Any strong opionions otherwise?