Season Verdict

  • GW5
  • Pre-launch

Konsa or De Cuyper on the bench?

One flip, and the purest 50/50 in FPL: this defender or that one.

Published · Updated with result

Flipped before the GW5 deadline with a coin app, before FPL Shrine existed. Each call was flipped once and never re-rolled, and the screenshots below are the originals.

GW5 was the last week before a three-week international break, and we had one real dilemma. Brighton were at home to Arsenal, and we owned a defender on each side: Konsa for Arsenal, De Cuyper for Brighton. One of them had to sit on the bench.

Flip 1 · BenchKonsa or De Cuyper?

The dilemma

Konsa (Arsenal, £4.5m) or De Cuyper (Brighton, £4.9m), on opposite sides of the same match. We flipped for the one to bench.

The case for starting Konsa

  • Arsenal had conceded once in four games.
  • He kept a clean sheet at Sunderland in GW4.
  • Most managers benched their Brighton players for "safer" Arsenal defenders.

The case for starting De Cuyper

  • Brighton were at home.
  • He had 17 points in GW1 and 11 in GW4.
  • He was in 2.6 million teams after being the most-bought player after GW1.

Why it was genuinely 50/50

If Arsenal kept a clean sheet, Konsa. If Brighton scored, De Cuyper. Nobody knows in advance which half of that will happen.

The flip

  • Konsa Arsenal at Brighton (A)
  • Coin benched De Cuyper Brighton v Arsenal (H)

The coin said bench De Cuyper

Coin app screenshot: De Cuyper chosen over Konsa, so De Cuyper was benched
The original flip for our GW5 bench call, Konsa or De Cuyper, before FPL Shrine existed.

See this flip on FPL Shrine

What happened

Brighton won 3–0, a result hardly anyone saw coming. De Cuyper kept a clean sheet for 6 points, on our bench. Konsa conceded three and scored 1. Groß, who we did start, scored 14 in the same game.

OptionGW5 points
De Cuyper (benched by the coin)6
Konsa (started)1
The verdict Wrong

The coin benched the side that kept the clean sheet.

What some well-known managers did

We weren't alone. Let's Talk FPL benched both Groß and De Cuyper and left exactly 20 points on his bench, and four of these five left 16 or more on theirs. Ben Crellin was the only one to captain Gibbs-White instead of Haaland; Gibbs-White scored 2.

ManagerCaptainBench pointsGW5 points
FPL MateHaaland2349
FPL FocalHaaland644
Let's Talk FPLHaaland2038
PrasHaaland2038
Ben CrellinGibbs-White1636

From public FPL team data. Links open X in a new tab. These managers have no connection with FPL Shrine and are mentioned for comparison only.

GW5 in summary

  • 46Our GW5 points
  • 48FPL average
  • 155,594Our overall rank

A below-average week to end the run. Haaland managed 6 (12 as captain) despite City scoring five against Sunderland. Over five gameweeks we scored 372 against an FPL average of 299, and the coin's head-to-head record is 1 right, 4 wrong and 1 level, with four long-term calls still playing out. Proof, if anyone needed it, that a coin doesn't know more than you. It just makes the decision for you.

The Coin's record

  • 1Right
  • 4Wrong
  • 1Level
  • 4Long-term calls

After GW5. A head-to-head flip counts as right if the coin's pick outscored the other option, wrong if not, and level if they tied. For a bench call, the coin's pick is the player it benched, so it's right if that player scored less. Long-term calls (chip timing, and squad moves like which keeper to keep) play out over weeks, so we report what they've returned but leave them out of the right-or-wrong count. All GW1 to GW5 flips are pre-launch. See every Verdict.

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