Fantasy Football Scout community writer Greyhead analyses the transfers and strategies of some well-known Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers in his series of The Great and the Good articles.
This season’s names are the BlackBox pair of Mark Sutherns and Az, Scouts Joe Lepper, Tom Freeman and Andy North, Pro Pundits FPL General, Pras, Zophar, FPL Harry and Lateriser, FPL ‘celebrities’ Ben Crellin, Luke Williams and FPL Fran, Hall of Famers Fabio Borges, Jan Kepski, Markku Olaja and Seb Wassell, plus last year’s qualifying mini-league winner Geraint Owen.
“Take a chance on me”
330,000 managers, including Pras, Joe and Az from The Great and The Good, cashed in their Triple Captain chip on a certain Mr Erling Haaland (£15.4m) at the weekend.
There were probably double that number of hindsight merchants waiting in the wings to tell them it was the wrong decision when he only netted once.
After some reflection, I suspect most will view the outcome as satisfactory if not spectacular.
Elsewhere, the Bukayo Saka (£10.0m) soap opera rumbles on, with uncertainty remaining thanks to Mikel Arteta and his “riddle me this” team news.
The first Gameweek 9 twist saw his ready-made replacement Son Heung-min (£9.9m) ruled out by Mr Postecoglu. See that, Mikel? That’s how to do a press conference update.
Of course, the climax to this sordid Saka tale was Bukayo stepping off the team bus and scoring in the ninth minute against Liverpool. Don’t you just love FPL?
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
The highest number of points didn’t come from a triple captainer, as FPL Harry led the way with 75.
He kept hold of Saka plus was in the enviable position of being able to bring in Cole Palmer (£11.0m) alongside Haaland. Is the ‘threemium’ back in fashion?
He also has – dare I say the essential Bryan Mbeumo (£7.7m) and Chris Wood (£6.4m), plus the soon-to-be-popular Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.6m).
All this means that The Great and The Good’s league is looking very familiar, with Ben Crellin at number one. He and Harry have won the latest two seasons, meaning this is fast becoming a Guardiola v Klopp rivalry.
While on the topic of Mr Crellin, remaining Haaland-less proves he has some kahunas. His Palmer captaincy call plus contributions from Jamie Vardy (£5.7m) and Josko Gvardiol (£6.2m) saw him gain another green arrow. There are many different paths this year.
Pras is going strong in third with 71 points, which probably felt all the sweeter for actually containing a clean sheet from Ederson (£5.5m). Although I suspect Fabio Borges was celebrating even harder over Dean Henderson‘s (£4.4m) eight points. Remember the FPL GOAT still has his Wildcard to use.
WILDCARD
Talking of the ultimate chip, Jan Kepski activated his this week. He’d been one of the Haaland-less heroes up to this point but couldn’t ignore that home Southampton fixture, so he tripled up on Manchester City.
The surprising third one was Savinho (£6.5m), deliverer of six points thanks to grabbing three bonuses.
Mr Kepski keeps faith in Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.0m) because, well, someone has to. In fact, this very low-key overhaul featured only eight changes in total. The key objective being to remove Arsenal players and buy Palmer and Haaland.
A green arrow arrived on its first outing and I expect more to come.
TRANSFERS
A cold front over the transfers this week, as Palmer was a popular move with Saka moved on. Some funds were created by Ait-Nouri’s arrival for Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.0m).
Meanwhile, Az and Gerraint went for Alejandro Garnacho (£6.2m). Will he become rejuvenated under new Manchester United leadership?
Tom Freeman ignored Palmer and went straight to Mohamed Salah (£12.7m) via Raul Jimenez (£5.7m), which looks like a canny move over the next couple of fixtures.
THE GREAT AND THE GOOD TEMPLATE
Now that he’s made way for Palmer, Saka has become a differential amongst this 18.
The Great and The Good template looks like this:
CAPTAINCY CALLS
The armband always plays a big part in the fortunes of an FPL manager, typically accounting for 25% of a season’s total score. However, this season has seen the decision significantly impact ranks, due to every week’s debate of ‘Haaland or no Haaland’.
Ben Crellin is a fine example of this, leading the way with 198 captaincy points (34%). He has nailed it since the Gameweek 5 Wildcard, a time when he’s bagged three double-digit hauls and Haaland has achieved none.
Sorry to rub salt in the wounds but if Mark Sutherns had followed the Crellin captaincy path, he’d be 114 points better off, top of The Great and The Good and with a points total just outside the top 10k. Although before you comment I appreciate this logic has more holes in it than the Ipswich Town defence.
CONCLUSION
Despite some of the ranks out there, I would argue that this is still one of the more enjoyable FPL seasons for a while. Please hear me out.
Whereas the last couple have been a bit predictable in this world of mighty algorithm machines, there seem to be so many paths that can be taken this year, highlighted by the variety of players held by The Great and The Good. So when you do achieve a green arrow, it tastes even sweeter.
This week’s rises will no doubt be determined by who can best interpret the news coming from Old Trafford.
Anyway, that’s all from me for now 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.
