How FPL Harry, Mark Sutherns and more did in Gameweek 16

‘The Great and The Good’ are this season’s FPL Godfather Mark Suthernsthe BlackBox pair The And Andy NorthScouts FPL General, Joe And Tomthe FPL Wire trio of Pras, Lateriser And ZopharFPL Celebrities FPL Harry, Martijn Bakker, Pin green, FPL Frasier And Luke WilliamsHall of Famers Ben Crellin, Fabio Borges And Tom Dollimoreand the winner of last year’s mini-competition Hus E.

“Buy Buy Buy!”

FPL launched its own version of a personality test this week. You know, those awful things where, after a few questions, a simple algorithm tells you which muppet you are, what Gen Z you are, what your favorite Christmas food says about your personality, etc. I blame Carl Jung.

Anyway, back to the point. Yes, the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) five transfer giveaway gave us a fascinating insight into our FPL management personality.

Are you a cautious planner who reluctantly used one of the five? Annoyed that you had to deviate from a carefully laid out 38-Gameweek plan? An audience tracker using a couple to stay in line with the template? Or are you a crazy outsider, who saves all five on pure differences?

‘The Great and The Good’ was a mix of the above.

Everyone joined in the #TwoAssist campaign on Saturday when it looked like FPL Towers wouldn’t be awarding the first Bukayo Saka (£10.3 million). Fortunately, some members of the FPL cartel are among these 18 elite managers, and they were generally pleased with the outcome.

OVERALL PERFORMANCE

Lots of green arrows from Gameweek 16, but most of the gains were small because, like little kids playing football, we all gathered around the FPL template ball.

Mark Sutherns reached a century and took on the role of ‘mad maverick’ by using all five transfers to create clever differences such as Harry Wilson (£5.6 million) and Jarrod Bowen (£7.5 million), also with the in-form Bruno Fernandes (£9.3 million) and Phil Foden (£8.8 million).

In other news, the FPL general was definitely happy with the decision to give Saka the first assist as he used his Triple Captain chip on him. And there were a few free hits from Huss E and Pingreen that were not missed, resulting in red arrows.

TRANSFERS

Meanwhile, Mark was the only one to make five transfers, while Zophar and Pras cautiously stuck to one.

A full complement of Arsenal players seemed a must-have as Crystal Palace’s assets were thrown away en masse.

Sutherns had the best moves, although I suspect Az was the most satisfying. He Finally lost Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.6m), only for him to score.

‘THE GREAT AND THE GOOD’ TEMPLATE

The template became even more locked down as there are six players with over 80% ownership. Nico O’Reilly (£5.3 million) took the place of the injured Daniel Munoz (£5.9m), alongside a clear move towards a two-man front line. Marc Guiu (£4.2m) is clearly seen as standard bench food.

Dubravka (88.9%), Raya (50%)
Andersen (72.2%), Timber (66.7%), van Dijk (44.4%), O’Reilly (38.9%), Rodon (38.9%)
Fernandes (94.4%), Saka (94.4%), Foden (83.3%), Minteh (50%), Szoboszlai (33.3%)
Thiago (100%), Haaland (94.4%), Guiu (33.3%)

ATTACK OF THE CLONES

Therefore, with so many transfers to use, it became clear that our teams were going to look the same. But which of ‘The Great and The Good’ have attracted the most clones?

Normally we would now be marveling at FPL Harry’s appeal, with his legion of adoring fans copying him step by step. 331 teams are the same, but the most popular team of Gameweek 16 is Pras (731).

Elsewhere, FPL Frasier, Martin Baker, Tom Freeman and Mark Sutherns can feel special that there is no one like them. Of course there is only one Fabio Borges.

CONCLUSION

Patience. This is the right word, as it will be difficult to make big gains against almost identical rivals in the coming weeks.

Sure, you can buck the trend and sign any number of Brentford players, but I suspect most of us will have to wait until the next swing.

Anyway, that’s all mine for now, and remember, don’t have any FPL nightmares.

For those involved in any of the topics mentioned above, you can find me here on Twitter or Blue Sky.