The Community Round-Up

Welcome to the new timeslot for the Community Round-Up, where will we cherry pick the week’s best community articles, hot topics and members tables to help with those last-minute Gameweek-deadline decisions. Our selection of cuts this week include some advice on the players to draft in, those to ditch and the targets to pencil in for forthcoming Gameweeks. Our new time also allows us to look back on last weekend’s community tournaments to bring you the very latest league and head-to-head standings.

The Community Articles

The Puntmaster continues to impress with his weekly three punts. At least two of his selections have notched up points on a weekly basis. Last time out both Nikica Jelavic and Stewart Downing dropped in with hauls to maintain his soothsaying run of form. Given his track record you’re advised to keep a close eye on this week’s trio. Arvin-ation is another who has impressed with his differential tipping. Here are his three attack-minded punts for Gameweek 6.

Another regular community article was launched this week when The Sarjeant published his inaugural Form Gauge. The format is simple but brilliantly effective: he analyses recent form to help us predict the results for the forthcoming Gameweek. This week he reckons there will be goals on Merseyside and in Hampshire, with a tight encounter on Humberside.

Meanwhile, Sticky Mockwell has been looking at recent bandwagons to assess whether they have matched the expectations of their new owners.

Don’t forget, if you’ve got some analysis, scout reports or features brewing, be sure to visit our community section to submit your article.

The Hottest Topics

Wakey has been ferreting in his lab this week to emerge with a new invention – the Wakatronics. This new piece of kit claims to be able to assess goal-scoring threat for the forthcoming Gameweek and over the short-term fixtures. For those paying close attention to Southampton’s form, it will come as no surprise to see Graziano Pelle at the top of his list. However, his second placed striker will be sure to raise eyebrows.

Sticking with the stylish south coasters, our resident Saints expert Lucy has been looking at Ronald Koeman’s tactical switch designed to fetch his central midfielders score more goals. Her hot topic will come as welcome reading for those who have drafted in Morgan Schneiderlin ahead of the weekend encounter with QPR.

Lucy was also asking for the community’s views on the best goalkeeper combination in the coming Gameweeks. For Doosra, Stoke’s Asmir Begovic and Swansea’s Lukasz Fabianski are the duo to recommend, while Yomoe favours Sunderland stopper Vito Mannone and a non-playing 4.0-priced option to save funds.

On paper, Sergio Aguero has a plum fixture with City’s trip to Hull this weekend. However, two of our contributors urge caution: 7 Shades of Smoke believes investment in Aguero may be fool’s gold, while Applebonkers has examined the Argentine’s home and away record. His findings certainly indicate he may not enjoy his visit to the KC Stadium this weekend.

Liverpool fans are understandably eager to see Daniel Sturridge back on the team sheet. According to Ludo, Fantasy managers should be welcoming him back with open arms as well, with the Reds’ upcoming fixtures handing the striker a series of potential hauls. Ludo’s analysis demonstrates that the England forward shows little mercy when he encounters minnows.

For every new recruit, there’s a departure in our squads. Manchester United forwards are top of Ryan’s list of departees. He argues that, with so many sources for goals in Louis van Gaal’s squad, we’re better off investing in strikers who hog their team’s goal output. Meanwhile, Parm is pondering ways to push Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey through the exit door.

The community is struggling to find a champion to keep up with Paul’s Scout-Picking skills. Going into Gameweek 6, the community is 45 points behind our editor and will be hoping that Giggs Boson can steer them to glory this week. He won the vote to be Gameweek 6’s Community Champion and you can see his selection right here. This week also saw a lively discussion about the best way to pick community champions, with a range of intricate alternative voting systems put forward.

Long-term strategy was another focus of the hot topics this week, with Get Yer Yayas Out using his data science expertise to debunk theories about “being due” a goal and “coverage.”

We also posed a couple of strategic questions over the past seven days. The first looked at whether holding back your wildcard can work. Greenwindmill was among those to reveal it can be both a blessing and a curse in our discussion.

Our second revolved around the jerky knees and the optimum time to ditch a player. Valargentina was among those who responded and revealed himself to be among our most patient community members, particularly with midfielders.

The Members Tables

Snevitz has constructed two notable tables this week ahead of Gameweek 6’s action. His first looks at attacking threat and offers plenty of comfort to those pinning their hopes on Graziano Pelle. His second, looking at assist potential, clearly highlights just why Stewart Downing has become an unlikely pick this week.

I turned my attention to Crystal Palace to look in detail at their new attacking verve and key goal-scoring contenders, while Granville cast his eye over the most creative defenders. Doosra, meanwhile, was looking at some of the worst defences on show so far this season in his Dodgy Defences – The Hole in the Wall table.

If you’re a member and are yet to get to grips with the custom statistics tables, you can view this movie for an explanation of how they work. Also, remember to tag them so that people can find the tables with ease.

The Community Tournaments

In @ofcprodigy’s Scout Picks Challenge, which is loosely based on our own Scout Picks, there are four joint leaders going into Gameweek 6: Krzys, Timtastic03, Lionel’s Messy Boxers and Iniesta Fiesta.

The “Early Bird Cup”, organised by AZ, reaches the semi-final stage in Gameweek 6 where Dusan Citizen will take on Costa – The Chosen One, while AZ faces DT42, who was the quarter-finals’ highest scorer with 56 points.

The safety score in TorresMagic‘s “Last Man Standing” league was 28 in Gameweek 5. This meant 76 teams were eliminated and 1,256 progress.

The ghost ship teams sail on in Zep’s “Dead Team Challenge”, where managers make no alterations to a team all season. The leader going into Gameweek 6 is Hymie, who has 310 points, the equivalent of a top-5,000 rank.

Darko is among our community managers having a great start. He goes into Gameweek 6 topping the “Top 1,000 Any Season” and Fantasy Football Scout Members leagues with an overall rank of 418.

Elsewhere, Greek Fan has reclaimed top spot in the Fantasy Football Scout moderators and contributors league, Triggerlips clings on first in the “Long and Winding Road” main league, while Rasping Drive has a commanding 13-point lead in the “FFS Old Farts Club league” for the “oldest and wisest” members of the community.

Finally, Australia and New Zealand are the group leaders following Matchday 1 in FFS UEFA’s Hockey World Cup.