Fantasy Football Scout community writer Greyhead analyses the Gameweek 23 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, the 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 and Luke Williams, Hall of Famers Ben Crellin, Fabio Borges and Tom Dollimore, and last year’s mini-league winner Huss E.
“It’s murder on the dance floor.”
Gameweek 23 was less Saturday Night Fever, more Saturday Morning Panic. The deadline disco alarm kicked off as rumours of Erling Haaland (£15.1m) and Phil Foden (£8.5m) being benched sent managers into a frantic shuffle, throwing out plans they’d rehearsed all week.
When the leaks landed, the music didn’t stop. It just got louder, along with the familiar grumbling about deadlines and dodgy sources.
- READ MORE: FPL notes – Pep praises Guehi, explains Haaland + Foden benching
- READ MORE: FPL notes – £3.9m defender praise + why Slot benched Ekitike
Then came a record-scratch moment: the popular captain switch, Hugo Ekitike (£8.8m), was benched as well. Two moves, one dancefloor, zero points with timelines descending into flares and tears.
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
Tom Freeman was all killer and no filler with his 63 points. He rolled out a bit of “Hammer Time” with Jarrod Bowen (£7.6m) giving him nothing but green, as he soared with a 440,000 rank gain.
Mark Sutherns wasn’t far behind on 57 points as he rolled out the Bowen belter alongside top of the pops Harry Wilson (£6.0m).
Gameweek 23 captaincy turned into a full-on dance disaster after the Haaland news, with only Joe Lepper slow dancing with the big Norwegian while everyone else changed partners.
The mirrorball was spinning hard, resulting in seven different captain picks strutting their stuff. Ekitike, Antoine Semenyo (£7.8m) and Igor Thiago (£7.2m) were the crowd-pleasing classics, but there were some real deep cuts too – an Enzo Fernandez (£6.7m) captain sliding in like an unexpected remix, and even a retro Mohamed Salah (£14.0m) pulled straight from the archives. Truly, armbands were flying everywhere.
It does make you wonder if it would be this chaotic (and fun?) every week, were Haaland ever to leave the Premier League.
TRANSFERS
The transfers among The Great and The Good turned into a full-on 70s disco inferno. Bruno Fernandes (£9.5m) was the glitterball superstar, with about two-thirds doing the hustle straight to bring him in.
By contrast, Foden got booted off the dancefloor. Pep pulled him back, causing 16 of these 18 managers to cut ties.
But the real Dirty Dancing moment came from Martin Baker. He dropped a hit to bring back Salah, giving him the captaincy cha-cha.
Additionally, Lateriser’s move for Bryan Mbeumo (£8.3m) caught my eye across the smoke-filled room.
‘THE GREAT AND THE GOOD’ TEMPLATE
In Gameweek 23, the template had a seismic salsa in midfield. Foden, who boasted 100% ownership last time, got shown the exit, while Fernandes moonwalked into midfield, grabbing the spotlight for about two-thirds of the group.
Up front, Martin joined the non-Haaland club, busting a funky move alongside the FPL General and proving you don’t always need Manchester City’s superstar in order to steal the show.
Dubravka (94.4%), Raya (44.4%)
Gabriel (88.9%), Timber (55.6%), Andersen (44.4%), O’Reilly (38.9%), Dorgu (33.3%)
Saka (77.8%), Fernandes (72.2%), Enzo (50.0%), Rogers (33.3%), Szoboszlai (22.2%)
Haaland (88.9%), Ekitike (66.7%), Thiago (61.1%)
FASTEST FINGER
Next up is something different. Due to the Saturday morning frenzy, I’ve had a quick look at when The Great and The Good timed their transfers.
Az and Joe hit the dance floor a week early, chasing Fernandes’ price rise on 17th January.
Mark and Pras strolled over on Friday, the night before, with platform shoes on and a cocktail in hand. Totally relaxed, they made their moves and calmly watched the chaos unfold.
Meanwhile, 13 others did the frantic tango inside the final eight minutes, praying that FPL’s servers didn’t drop the beat. Zophar and Baker hit full-on Squeaky Bums Samba at 10:58, with the latter taking an adrenaline-fueled points hit like a Travolta daredevil.
And Tom Dollimore? He just leaned back, shades on, spinning vinyl, and let everyone else sweat it out.
CONCLUSION
We appear to be hitting a mid-season slump where FPL feels less predictable than ever. Although one thing I can guarantee is that Manchester United players will be hot property.
Their tendency to soar in price at any sign of form means that some will be tempted to press the transfer button early, although, as this weekend shows, that may not always be the wisest choice.
Anyway, that’s all from me for now, and 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.
