'Good but not good enough...'
My brain had done overtime this week, deciding what to do with my team, as I had two free transfers to make for my big head-to-head game with my boy Rian. After a more than respectable start to the season, where I had won five of my first seven games, I had now suffered back-to-back defeats, and despite it being only a quarter of the way through the season, if I was to lose a third game on the trot, then I think it would be very difficult to get one of the cash prizes, let alone win the league.
With the weeks' action starting on Friday night, I decided to not mention this in last weeks Fantasy Football Files that I must remember to do my team early, to see if anyone had paid attention to the deadline, 'I mean you lot have had enough help from me, come on, I was trying to catch some of you out...'. Rian was not to be caught out however when I spoke to him, and he had already used his 'Wildcard' bonus, giving his team a shake-up to try and get him the victory over me. I tried to throw him off on Friday afternoon with who I was picking, but he unfortunately called my bluff. In the end, I took a four-point hit and made three transfers, rather than just using the two that I had free. Out came Norwich's Teemu Pukki ('what a waste of time that was!'), Josh King (Bournemouth) and Felipe Anderson (West Ham). Pukki had to go, it was a pointless run owning him, I was clearly too late to the 'Pukki Party', Josh King was another mistake, but he does score in bursts so I may look to him again further down the line. I really did not want to let go of Felipe Anderson yet, but after running a mock transfer run, I realised that I could squeeze in Jamie Vardy (£9.1m), so I let him go. Into the team with Vardy, came his teammate Youri Tielemens (£6.4m) and Southampton's Danny Ings (5.9m) returned for me, Ings is now worth £6m after his run of goals, but as I had already owned him I got him at the price I sold him for. Letting Ings go for Pukki was a huge error, as Ings has scored three times since I sold him and Pukki did nothing for me but get yellow cards ('I actually just punched the wall as I wrote that, fuming!'). I had believed Crystal Palace's Jordan Ayew would find the net on Sunday against Arsenal, and I was very close to getting him in, but I went with Ings, if Ings does not do a job in the next few weeks, I will let him go however.
The transfers overall did their job, and the risk early on seemed to have paid off, as Southampton were thumped 9-0 by Leicester, yes 9! This meant first of all my decision to put Watford's Ben Foster in goal instead of Angus Gunn had worked, as Foster was definitely not conceding nine, saying that, he has let in eight already this season away at Manchester City. Secondly, my transfers did their job, Tielemens scored and assisted in the first half, whereas Vardy scored a hat-trick, I had deliberated on who to make my captain, and I had thought of giving it to Vardy, but I left it with Sadio Mane. Vardy also was given a 'fantasy assist' for winning a free kick that James Maddison scored, all leading to a whopping 20 points. The only blemish was that as Leicester led 5-0 at half time against the Saints' ten men, Ings was taken off, meaning he got me just a solitary point, and it was at that moment that I knew I had messed up, and I knew that now Ayew was almost certainly going to score on Sunday afternoon. As I had the four-point deduction, I finished 8 points ahead of Rian on Friday night, knowing I still needed much more if I was to get the win.
Saturday's early kick off between Manchester City and Aston Villa, was not to be as fruitful for me as Friday night. Sergio Aguero, was on the bench for City, as Pep Guardiola decided to play 'rotation roulette' once again in City's 3-0 triumph, and now I must decide whether or not to keep Aguero as he costs so much and Gabriel Jesus is starting more and more. The 'secret weapon' Villa's John McGinn was to go close twice, as Ederson made a good save from him in the first half, and then he hit the post in the second half, any one of those going in would have given me much needed points. It was great news for my opponent however, as Ederson went on to get bonus points for his performance, along with this Kevin De Bruyne got an assist and he was Rian's captain. I was starting to get pessimistic now about gaining a gameweek 10 victory.
The 3pm games gave me a glimmer of hope as I got a unexpected double clean sheet at Vicarage Road, as there was a stalemate between Watford and Bournemouth. I had thought there was certainly going to be goals in this game, so I took the points with open arms. Not only did Ben Foster avoid conceding nine like Angus Gunn, but he made five saves and bagged me 10 welcome points, 'thanks mate, much much appreciated!'. Diego Rico of course was on the opposing side, so that meant another five points from him, it would have been six if he never got booked, Rico clearly not realising that every point is vital here. The other 3pm game saw West Ham draw 1-1 with Sheffield United, so there was no real points impact from Sheffield United's John Lundstram. The scant consolation I could take from this game was that Felipe Anderson did not score, as a player I let go of usually finds the net in the game after I transfer them out. So, I needed a favour from Burnley in the late game, as they entertained Chelsea, and Rian had Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham in his team. Burnley did not keep Chelsea at bay, as they fell 2-0 behind in the first half, but the goals had not involved Mount or Abraham, so I was content. But Burnley (aka Kabaddi FC) let me down in the second half, as Mount assisted Christian Pulisic's hat-trick goal, and then to my dismay, Abraham laid on Willian to grab their fourth. So quite clearly I am a fool for believing in Sean Dyche's men giving Chelsea a better game, it finished 4-2, so at least their late goal took a point away from Mount, but I needed more from them, 'bunch of chumps!'. I ended Saturday with a 14 deficit, and I duly gave Rian a call to tell him that our friendship was done!
So to Sunday, where we both had three players still to play. Both of us had Sadio Mane, but the Senegalese was my captain, so any goals or assists would have been more than welcomed. If I was to have any real chance, then what I needed more than anything was a Mo Salah masterclass, he had Roberto Firmino to counter Salah and a Firmino goal was something I was more than willing to be beaten by, with Liverpool being the priority. I had Virgil van Dijk, he had put faith in Anthony Martial; Martial was incidentally who he took Youri Tielemens out of his side for, so I was hoping Martial would not fire so I could banter him. All seemed to start well, as Martial missed a penalty, but he scored later on to my annoyance, so he still got points, not as much as the 11 Tielemens accumulated, but enough to help him to gain the triumph over me. Meanwhile; Liverpool came from behind to win 2-1 at home to Spurs, and Salah scored the winning penalty, which Mane won, so he got the 'fantasy' assist. It was not to be enough this week, but overall 67 points is a very competitive score for the week, I was just sadly beaten by the better man, who utilised his wildcard well, and believe me, many people do not have such luck when using one of their bonuses, so credit where credit is due.
@DubulDee
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