A certain Dutchman, misfiring premium midfielders and the Fantasy Premier League Bonus Points System’s (BPS) love affair with centre-backs dominated discussions among the Fantasy Football Scout community this week. We also catch up with the latest goings-on in the community leagues taking place this season.
Hottest Topics
A look at the top ten FPL points scorers does not contain a single midfielder; a worrying development for those Fantasy managers used to premium midfielders dominating the game. The fate of expensive midfielderS has been a key discussion this week with QPR Expects…Glory among the pessimists who believe the premium midfield era is over and it is time to invest in centre backs instead. Arsene’s Boys, however, is more optimistic, pointing out that we are just two games into the season. In addition many of last year’s star midfielders such as Juan Mata and Santi Cazorla failed to perform early on, he notes.
As premium midfielders fail to excite us there is now plenty of interest in centre-backs. But is their dominance of the bonus points shortlived? Jamsiep, wonders whether we are experiencing a false dawn, due to a lower than average number of goals being scored this season. His excellent post suggests that centre-backs may not be so fortunate when the goal rate picks up.
Still on the same subject, SAAB has been considering that many of the league’s most attacking teams simply do not have a suitable midfield option for Fantasy managers. He points out that teams such as Tottenham, Manchester United, Southampton and Aston Villa currently just have forwards worth our consideration.
If Wayne Rooney stays at Manchester United could he match Robin Van Persie’s expected returns? King Nemanja’s analysis of Rooney and RVP performances together last season provides interesting reading for those looking for a cut-price root into Manchester United’s attack.
Owning Van Persie obviously makes captaincy decisions much easier. But for those looking to mix up their armband selection, Impressive Tackle has compiled this handy long term guide to the best non-RVP captains available all the way up to Gameweek 20.
Finally, Isacki has been taking a look at price changes and reckons it is far tougher for players to rise in price this season. His analysis also takes a look at the time price changes kick in and how ownership level and flags influence price falls.
Community Leagues
Heels Over Head’s Worst to First 2Million+Club league, which is open to anyone who has an overall rank below 2 million during one of the first five Gameweeks, is currently topped by Gokyo Locos who rose more than 700,000 places on his long march to the top. The code to join this FPL league 459213-545168.
Patrick Star retains his lead in Fifa Las Vegas’s 28-strong league, with a score of 154, closely followed by Messimerized with 151. In joint third on 144 points are MB10 and Somebody’s Gonna Get Lit Up.
Thomass67 and Peppie and Felix’s league is split into three groups and topped by Thomass, Daniel and Forca Inter.
The leaders of In Tommy We Trust’s five leagues are ENR, RDB007, Forca Inter, Mind Over Mata and Chazza.
Forca Inter also topped Torres Magic’s Last Man Standing and Early Bird leagues. In the Early Bird league, 349 managers remains after 200 were knocked out, while in the Last Man Standing League, 995 are left after 43 Fantasy managers were sent packing. Entries are still open for the Early Bird League.
In the FFS UEFA leagues, Tommy Tour, the manager of Real Madrid, registered the highest score of the round, with a haul of 75 points.
The most closely fought battle in the week was in their Bundesliga league where The Shadow beat Jack off Attack by just one point. Elsewhere in their leagues , The Light Knight’s Norwich continued to maintain a stronghold on FFS UEFA’s weekly Order of Extreme Valour Award, opted to those who make the most left field choices. He opted for a 5-2-3 formation, which saw both Leighton Baines and Emmanuele Giaccherini pitching in with nine points each. His cumulative score, 67 points, was more than enough to beat the dullard team of his unfortunate opponent Jonty by 11 points.
Some late FFS UEFA news that missed last week’s round up from Gameweek 1 involved the group’s second Super Cup, in which 2012/13’s Europa League winner Acquafresca emerged triumphant 88-76 against last season’s Champions League winner MJ6987.
Meanwhile, the The FFS UEFA Transfer Window Simulation (TWS) comes to a grand finale this week with the TWS End of Season Party on Monday September 2nd at 20:00 BST, in which team vacancies will be filled by auto-select in a live interactive draw, leaving each team’s fate up to their random number selection. The Shadow‘s Norwich is hotly pursued by a chasing pack of Zep‘s Arsenal, PeppieandFelix‘s Fulham and 4Vets‘ Liverpool. FFS UEFA also tell us that a brand new competition will be launched immediately after the TWS concludes.
In Doosra and Ginkapo’s It’s a Long and Winding Road competition the main league leader is still Back on the Horse. Meanwhile, the leaders of their H2H leagues are: TommyTour, Turbo Dog, MsRed19, Beric, Doolittle, Dino, Konig Luther.
