Mark Mansfield hits both ‘elite’ and ‘veteran’ FPL status, having played the game for 17 seasons. Amazingly, he has managed to achieve 2 x Top 1k finishes, 6 x Top 5k finishes and 7 x Top 10k finishes. A truly astounding record.
Premium Plus membership is now FREE until Gameweek 1. Nothing to pay, cancel anytime. Click here to get it now!
Mark describes himself as a ‘flexible opportunist’. His primary focus is doing whatever he thinks will get his squad the most points. A simple outlook which, like most things, requires a large degree of complexity to pull off consistently.
In this sense, Mark is a more balanced manager, using a variety of different playing styles to reach the right decision. Eye test, stats and models all inform his decisions, but it is Mark’s latent intuition and experience which guides him, even when it means going against the pack.
The first thing to note is the inclusion of André Onana (£5.0m) as Mark’s primary goalkeeper. When Onana’s price was announced on the FPL website, his ownership rocketed to 10% within 48 hours and currently sits at almost 15%, making him the third most-selected goalkeeper in the game.
While Onana has the feeling of ‘shiny new toy’ to him, Mark does not tend to succumb to fads and so this could well be something to consider, if you are stuck for goalkeeping options.
I guess there are a few narratives out there around him and the impact he will have, but perhaps it’s better not to consider Onana per se, rather consider that he has joined a club that kept several clean sheets last season, however they did it. Then layer whatever narrative you like on top of that. David De Gea won the golden glove, not by conceding the least goals, nor by having the lowest xG. This indicates there are Dycheball returns to be had for Onana. This segues nicely to Pickford. I can see why he is attractive and if I was looking for a 4.5 [keeper] I’d seriously consider him, but I’d need to see some evidence that Everton are competent at the back before going there. Other than that, I really like Ederson as a short-term season opener. I did that last season and it worked out well.
A back line of Pervis Estupiñán (£5.0m), John Stones (£5.5m), and William Saliba (£5.0m) covers the three teams who have the best start to the campaign according to our Fixture Planner.
A big decision for Mark – and for many of us – is whether or not to include Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.0m). FPL’s pricing of Liverpool's out of position (OOP) defender has made his inclusion far from straight-forward and, with Liverpool’s opening fixtures being less-than-ideal, many managers are exploring the expanded options his exclusion allows.
At the back there are lots of options I like. Top of the list is Estupiñán. Then there are loads of others I could pick and that’s without going near the 4.5 slot. Botman is a great price but maybe he will suffer a price drop or two before he has some good fixtures. The big question back there is whether to get TAA or not, and it feels like everything else will eventually spin off that pivotal decision. I could argue it either way, but with the number of great options that are 2.5 less than him, I am currently experimenting with avoiding him. There is no wrong answer to this question in my opinion.
In midfield, Mark is currently opting for a Manchester United midfield double-up. Marcus Rashford (£9.0m) and Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m) are his picks in a midfield which is notable by the absence of Mohamed Salah (£12.5m).
Bukayo Saka (£8.5m) and Kaoru Mitoma (£6.5m) – who are the 1st and 3rd most owned midfielders respectively – round off Mark’s 4-man midfield.
At 37% owned, Mitoma is the third most-owned midfielder in the game.
— Fantasy Football Fix (@FantasyFootyFix) July 26, 2023
Is he in your squad? pic.twitter.com/bOwwTbdglJ
The midfield is stacked with great options, but there are a few that come without caveats. The four I have right now are among those and it’s the fifth midfielder I struggle with. Pick from 5 or 6 in the 6.5 to 7.5 bracket and throw a dart. Perhaps you can have a punt on that position mainly to hold it in your structure.
The inclusion of Erling Haaland (£14.0m) is barely worth a mention. However, it is notable that Mark has opted for a front-three, bucking the current trend of the template 3-5-2 formation.
Up top with Haaland is Gabriel Jesus (£8.0m) who under-performed against his xG last season, but is expected to be Arsenal’s first-choice #9 in their easy opening run of fixtures. He plays alongside Mark’s most interesting option, Brighton’s João Pedro (£5.5m), who is currently owned by just 4.5%, and raised eyebrows when he took (and scored) a 79th-minute penalty against Chelsea in their pre-season friendly last Sunday.
Up top there aren’t too many slam-dunk options to go with Haaland. Jesus seems a safe play but flatters to deceive at times, and Watkins has not got great fixtures to start. Right now, I can build a beautiful narrative around João Pedro. A record signing, who has been given the number 9 and took a penalty against Chelsea. And this narrative squares the circle back to Onana; be careful what stories you spin to yourself. It’s fine and fun to punt on the likes of Nkunku, Jackson, João Pedro and so on, but it’s not so much fun when it goes wrong!
The exclusion of expensive Liverpool assets in his starting XI has afforded Mark the luxury of having good squad depth. Ben Chilwell (£5.5m) and Ibrahima Konaté (£5.0m) sit patiently on the bench and will be considered for selection in Gameweek 2 once their difficult fixture against one another is over.
This, of course, is merely a first draft and will be subject to change. Our Elite XI managers like to tweak and refine as much as the rest of us.
If you want to keep up-to-date with Mark’s (or any other Elite XI manager’s) moves, then head over the Elite XI: Team Reveal area and be sure to turn on notifications and alerts to find out when our managers have updated their squads.
Premium Plus membership is now FREE until Gameweek 1. Nothing to pay, cancel anytime. Click here to get it now!
You can check out the Elite XI: Team Reveal tool by clicking HERE.
Join 89% of our members who won their main mini-league last season.
TRY IT NOWAlready a Premium user? Login here
© fantasyfootballfix 2024 | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Contact Us
