In ‘The Great and The Good’, community writer Greyhead analyses the Gameweek 10 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 Az and Andy North, Scouts FPL General, Tom Freeman and Joe Lepper, defending ‘Great and The Good’ champion Huss E, FPL celebrities FPL Harry, LTFPL Andy, Pras and Zophar, plus Hall of Famers Fabio Borges, Thomas Brønsby, Ben Crellin, Elevenify and Tom Dollimore.

Alongside these, of course, are last year’s mini-league winner, Andrew McKinnon, and invitational champ, Ben McCrum.

And relax…

Following Gameweek 10, the FPL landscape is starting to look a little different. The heavy hitters have been rather less heavy than their price tags suggest, leaving plenty of managers sitting on a healthy pile of cash and facing that age-old FPL dilemma: what on earth do you do with it?

Do you bank the money, save your transfers and resist the temptation to tinker? Or is now the time to start strengthening your bench and preparing for the inevitable winter fixture congestion? Decisions, decisions. Having money in the bank is lovely, but it doesn’t score any points.

Before this weekend, Ezri Konsa (£4.8m) found himself under the microscope. He’s performed miracles this season, but a slight injury coming into the weekend has raised a few eyebrows, especially with William Saliba (£5.9m) warming up in the wings.

Captaincy also provided some food for thought. The boring brigade predictably stuck with Erling Haaland (£15.8m). However, a few adventurous souls were eyeing up the Arsenal defenders, suggesting that clean sheets and defensive contribution (DefCon) points might just be the new goals. Some, yes, some went with Thierno Barry (£5.7m), and they would definitely have been making a misjudged attempt at that dance following Friday night’s fiesta.

OVERALL PERFORMANCE

Thomas Bronsby hit 88 and quietly moves into second place. This is his fourth green arrow in a row, which has seen him move from outside the top 1m to 25k.

He has only made three transfers in that period, with just six overall this season. They were to upgrade to David Raya (£6.2m) to give him triple Arsenal defence, and then last week go to Antonio Silva (£5.1m). Plus, he still has his Wildcard and Free Hit in hand – patience is definitely his virtue.

He went early on Barry, bringing him in ahead of Gameweek 5. He has also stuck loyal to the three big names of Haaland and, more surprisingly, Gabriel Magalhaes (£8.1m) and Bruno Fernandes (£11.6m). His loyalty extended to Enzo Le Fee (£5.7m), which paid off this week with a double-digit return.

A lesson here is having faith in our picks, plus sticking with the tried and trusted. Remember, Thomas is looking for his fifth top 10k finish in a row. He is also making our leader, Andy North, sit a little less comfortably than he would hope to going into the international break.

Tom Dollimore also had a good week, thanks to his triple Arsenal defence and the unstoppable DefCon machine that is Tarik Muharemovic (£5.1m).

As did Az, who has risen by just under 500k places since his Wildcard. His Alexander Isak (£9.3m) captaincy paid off, alongside his Brighton and Hove Albion boys and James Trafford (£5.0m)

TRANSFERS

FPL Harry took a hit this week to bring in Silva and Marcus Tavernier (£6.7m). This was the most aggressive move, with others keeping their noses clean to give them breathing space. Tom Freeman, Thomas Brønsby and Andy LTFPL all decided that four free transfers was a rather lovely position to be in.

Tom Dollimore went for Gabriel, while Pras made the midfield switch from Morgan Gibbs-White (£7.8m) to Bryan Mbeumo (£7.9m). Andrew McKinnon brought in Nicolas Jackson (£7.1m) for Gonzalo Garcia (£5.9m), only to bench his 11 points.

The most lucrative moves came from Fabio Borges, however. Yoane Wissa (£5.9m) made way for Barry, while Harry Maguire (£4.6m) was replaced by Luka Vuskovic (£5.3m). Just the net gain of 26 points, then. Lovely jubbly (and if you don’t get the Only Fools and Horses reference, we can no longer be friends).

TEMPLATE

Gabriel is back in fashion, after some early season doubts over his value for money, which subsided when we became a bit more cash-rich.

Mbeumo is in for Gibbs-White, just about the right time for the Nottingham Forest man to finally do something.

MONEY TALKS

So as mentioned, the amount of money we have left over in our FPL vaults is a bit embarrassing right now. Having a quick look at The Great and The Good finances below, there are several who are carrying cash. Indeed, Ben Crellin is holding £3.2m in the bank!

Elsewhere, others are spending it on their bench, which brings risk and reward. Joe has the most on the sidelines with £20.8m.

But as you can see, he is not the highest in terms of points left behind…

CONCLUSION

Break time and plenty to ponder, then.

The current debate seems to be whether we just bring in loads of DefCon defenders and be done with it. However, based on the fortunes of The Great and The Good, I would advise caution, as sometimes it’s best just to deal with your problems rather than create new ones in the chase for points.

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.