In The Great and the Good, Fantasy Football Scout community writer Greyhead analyses the Gameweek 6 transfers and strategies of some well-known Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers.
The Great and The Good this season are the FPL Godfather Mark Sutherns, BlackBox pair of Az and Andy North, Scouts FPL General, Joe and Tom, the FPL Wire trio of Pras, Lateriser and Zophar, FPL celebrities FPL Harry, Martin Baker, Pingreen, FPL Frasier, Luke Williams and Ben Crellin, Hall of Famers Fabio Borges and Tom Dollimore, and last year’s mini-league winner Huss E.
“One day, Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. ‘Which road do I take?’ she asked. ‘Where do you want to go?’ was his response. ‘I don’t know,’ Alice answered. ‘Then,’ said the cat, ‘it doesn’t matter.’”
FPL Wonderland brought us big decisions come Gameweek 6. The form of Erling Haaland (£14.4m) meant that the run-up to the Burnley game seemed pivotal, with Wildcards and Triple Captain chips deployed – 17 out of 18 managers within The Great and The Good activated a chip.
Perhaps the biggest decision, certainly for those Wildcarding, was whether to go for Mohamed Salah (£14.5m), with budgets tight due to the seemingly essential Norwegian Terminator. There is also a nagging feeling that Alexander Isak (£10.6m) may start to steal some of the Egyptian points.
Then came the injuries. Cole Palmer (£10.3m) can’t seem to leave his groin alone, training pictures of Haaland became like catnip when he was flagged, and Noel Madueke’s (£7.0m) absence made Bukayo Saka (£9.8m) more appealing.
It was enough to take your shirt off in excitement. Not now, Hugo Ekitike (£8.7m), not now!
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
The Triple Captainers won the day, with Pras top on 77 points. That’s the second week in a row he’s been top scorer and he has gained over five million places in that time – turn on the turbo boosters, my learned friend!
Fabio Borges stays in first place, having now played all four chips in as manyr weeks, going against the standard strategy. So far, it has paid off as it’s only him and Huss E in the top one million.
A nod to Luke Williams, who proved himself to be special as he was the only one playing the Free Hit. He did gain ground thanks to the unlikely hero of Michael Keane (£4.5m), with his goal rather than his anticipated clean sheet on Monday night.
The less said about FPL General’s week, the better, as he transferred in and captained Bruno Fernandes (£9.0m). Was this the unluckiest week ever for the FPL legend?
WILDCARDS
Someone call the Doppelgänger police! There were wafer-thin differences between the six Wildcards deployed this week, with the template seen below:
FPL Harry and his clone army do end up being the architects of the template, so the only real difference is the appearance of Chris Richards (£4.5m) rather than a £4.0m option. That’s surprising, really, as the popular option Omar Alderete (£4.1m) now averages 6.5m points per game.
Ben Crellin also has Palace defender Maxence Lacroix (£5.1m) but one assumes that is for a later Bench Boost. He also rolls the dice a little on the likes of Phil Foden (£8.1m) and Richarlison (£6.8m)
Hall of Famer Tom Dollimore takes only a small detour from the norm with Josko Gvardiol (£5.8m) preferred to James Tarkowski (£5.5m).
Andy North finally comes out of the closet and shows himself to be a Spurs fan with Micky van der Ven (£4.8m) and Xavi Simons (£7.1m) his template kink.
FPL Pingreen plays around with the formation as he sticks with 3-5-2, using Marc Guiu (£4.3m) as his third bench warmer, allowing him to add Foden as his fifth midfielder.
Frasier Crane shocks everyone by not including his beloved Bruno Fernandes, instead including Bryan Mbeumo (£8.1m).
TRANSFERS
It was operation “Hire Haaland” as all those who didn’t activate the Wildcard or play their Free Hit made it their mission to bring in the City striker.
All apart from FPL General, who has the game on maximum brutality setting, with the refusal to own either Haaland or Salah. Then there was the ultimate jump scare as he brought in Bruno Fernandes (£9.0m), who promptly missed his penalty. Ouch!
There was at least some variation in the midfield replacement for Salah, with the enigma Foden, Iliman Ndiaye (£6.5m) and Tijjani Reijnders (£5.8m) all drafted into the squads.
And well done to Huss E, who chose precisely the right time to bring Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.2m)
TEMPLATE
A tectonic shift in the template, with the Wildcards giving it a good wobble.
Haaland enters as expected and is now the highest owned player amongst The Great and The Good. He is joined by another new entrant as Viktor Gyokeres (£9.0m) joins him upfront.
Salah goes to afford Erling and is joined in the exit room by Florian Wirtz (£8.2m), with Ndiaye and Foden making their debuts in the template squad.
All change at the back with only Joachim Andersen (£4.5m) and Pedro Porro (£5.6m) surviving and David Raya (£5.6m) comes in to join Martin Dubravka (£4.0m) – I can’t see that combination changing any time soon
The template and % ownership amongst these managers is below:
Dubravka (88.9%), Raya (38.0%)
Andersen (66.7%), Porro (50.0%), Sensei (44.9%), Gabriel (38.9%), Rodon (38.9%)
Reijnders (88.9%), Semenyo (77.8%), Bruno Fernandes (66.7%), Ndiaye (38.9%), Foden (33.3%)
Haaland (94.4%), Joao Pedro (72.2%), Gyokeres (55.6%)
CAPTAINCY CALLS
With the majority of managers still basking in their bloody obvious captaincy pick of Erling, a good a time as any to look at the season captaincy points so far.
Joe Lepper edges this side quest by the narrowest of margins thanks to his Saka pick in Gameweek 2. Meanwhile, FPl General’s decision to lock Haaland and Salah in a basement sees him on 40 points – at what point do we stage an intervention?
CONCLUSION
Don’t expect the calm after the storm of Gameweek 6 with another round of Wildcards on the way. The big question is whether any of the next iteration will include Salah?
Anyway, that’s all from me for now. Remember: don’t have FPL nightmares.
For those affected by any of the topics raised above, you can find me here on Twitter or BlueSky.
