A new season is upon us, which means a new stressful season of fantasy football is here. For those of you who read through last season, I had said I was going to make a head-to-head league for money over the summer, which was hassle in itself, before a ball had even been kicked, we did eventually get there however. The entry for the aptly named 'J.U.ST.I.C.E. League' was £10, I had asked the members in the WhatsApp group that had been made, if they would like it to be £10 or £20 entry, but only seven people voted, and six of them were in favour of it being £10 entry. I capped the league at 20 participants, that way we all play each other twice in a season, so it would complement the actual Premier League campaign. With the £200 pot now full; the winner will claim £100 at the end of the season, second place will get £50 and third place will get £25. To add to this, the highest gameweek score come the end of the season will get £25 also. A head-to-head league keeps things competitive on a weekly basis, meaning doing things like scouting your opponents team for the forthcoming week, etc., and I will leave that there as I have already said too much, and no one deserves my help. But seriously, if someone was to jump out to a mammoth lead in the classic league, then the other participants would get disinterested, and not bother with their team as much. This way gives you the chance to try and beat the person ahead of you when you play them, and increase your own chance of getting the cash. This is hence why the league is called the 'Justice League', and not because I have an obsession with DC Comics, (I am actually more of a Marvel guy if I am honest). For the traditional fantasy league scoring I have still run my annual 'League of Gentleman', which ironically has one female in it, and she is actually quite good, so therefore I should kick her out shouldn't I?...
So to my own gameweek, in the past I have usually had a very good start, but this week almost had me in tears, despite I somehow scraped a win in my head-to-head clash. My beloved Liverpool, started the Premier League season on Friday night, entertaining the winners of the Championship Norwich City. Liverpool won 4-1, a scoreline that was harsh on Norwich, but my fantasy team was not complaining one bit. I always have 3 'Pool players in my team, and with Sadio Mane getting extended rest after his African Cup of Nations exploits, I knew he would not start, so I went with 2 defenders Virgil van Dijk and my usual pick Andy Robertson, the third Red was a man who I have had since the day he signed Mo Salah. Salah (my captain) scored and assisted, van Dijk scored too, Robertson almost scored too which would have been beautiful. I was left partially infuriated as a late Norwich goal took valuable clean sheet points away from me. Believe me, there is nothing more frustrating than a late goal when you have two players from the same team in your defence, my team were winning 4-1 yet I found myself shouting at the television! So a nice 34 points from three players got my gameweek started, (Salah (24), van Dijk 8 & Robertson 2). I had hoped to get a sheer minimum of 60 now with this start to the proceedings.
Saturday's early kick off was West Ham and Manchester City, Sergio Aguero was on the bench, which I feared meant no chance of him getting points, but he scored a re-taken penalty after the first one was saved, but there was encroaching. Felipe Anderson, another player I had in this match, hobbled off injured in the second half, meaning he only scored me a solitary point. The 3pm kick offs, saw me let down by my two Southampton representatives, as keeper Angus Gunn was beaten three times in their game away at Burnley, and Danny Ings failed to hit the back of the net. As I thought they would concede at Watford, I left Brighton players out of my team, and to my amazement they won 3-0 away at Watford, this meant that the Hornets' Kiko Femenia, such a solid player for me last season got no significant points for me. This fixture coincided with Crystal Palace's goalless home draw with Everton. Palace's Martin Kelly was on my bench, as I thought Everton would be able to score against them, and man I was so wrong, 6 points just sitting on my bench, being a Liverpool fan I should have known the Toffees are not to be trusted. The late Saturday kick off left me even more vexed, as I thought Spurs would give Aston Villa a pounding, so I thought it best to leave my 'secret weapon' John McGinn on the bench as I did not expect anything. Though in the end Spurs won comfortably, McGinn gave Vila the lead, which meant I had another 7 points on my bench catching dust, this level of anger should not be happening on the opening weekend I tell you.
Sunday had only one match that concerned me, but there were 3 players in it. Wolves and Leicester finished goalless so, Youri Tielemens, Joao Moutinho and Raul Jimenez altogether only accumulated me 8 points, ('poor!'). Jimenez dragged a shot wide in the game, and Diogo Jota could have found him in space, but he decided to be greedy and fluffed his lines. So, Wolves' clean sheet added to my ferocious mood, as Matt Doherty was on my bench, which meant I had more wasted points, I really thought Leicester would score, this had become past painful now. My good start on Friday dragged me into a false sense of security, as I now had an average score for the week. As I informed last season, I have not picked any players from Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea or Everton. On top of that, I have only picked Son from Spurs previously, this season I may, and I state 'may' have to change this slightly, as there is money at stake now. let it be known however, I will not ever be picking any United players, so having Aaron Wan Bissaka go there is a huge issue as he has been the first defender that I pick since he burst on the scene.
@DubulDee
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