These gameweeks are coming around so rapidly, that you do not have an opportunity to properly think at times. I decided to not make any transfers, not because I wanted to necessarily, but because I could not think of what player was best to bring in, so I just left it how it was. I had informed the Whatsapp group of the actions I was taking against the people who did not send their scores over, but surprisingly there was not as much of a reaction as I expected. Clearly some of the guys have given up knowing that they will not make the money positions, but at least common courtesy would have seen them kindly do as they had been asked. I had on and off for as long as a week calculated their totals, so I could manually update the head-to-head league table. Even if they knew they could not win the league, the prize for the highest score is still well and truly up for grabs, unlikely that 111 will be beaten, but it is still possible.
In the first two matches of the gameweek; while Michail Antonio was scoring four goals away at Norwich, Newcastle scored early away at Watford. No clean sheet for Ben Foster then, but he did get an extra point for the number of saves that he made. In the aforementioned Norwich and West Ham game, to my annoyance Todd Cantwell came on as a sub, and I had not taken him out of my starting lineup, thinking that as he had a hamstring issue that he would not feature and I would automatically get points off of my bench, I ended up looking like a fool. Laziness 1 Me 0.
Liverpool hosted Burnley in the 3pm match, and the way they started, I thought the Clarets were going to get a hiding, unfortunately for me Nick Pope had other ideas. Before and after Andy Robertson popped up on the right to score a header, Pope displayed why he should be England number one instead of Jordan Pickford. Pope made 8 saves in all and Burnley escaped with a 1-1 draw. I say escaped but they almost won it at the end as substitute Johann Gudmundsson struck the bar. So once again giving Sadio Mane the captaincy did not work, but watch when I take it away from him, he will score two! Mo Salah missed a sitter by his standards at the end, as he shot tamely at Pope, and I was left pondering what might have been. Later on, in a result that surprised me massively, Sheffield United bullied Chelsea at Bramall Lane in a 3-0 win. John Egan was on my bench as I thought Chelsea would score when I did my team very early on, I first actually did it during the last gameweek, and that is the last time I will do that. Six points were sitting on my bench catching dust. My gameweek was almost already over it seemed, unless Sunday brought some really really good fortune. My opponent Adi had not changed his team since the pandemic and sat bottom of the table. but his side boasted Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus (who was his captain). Both of them had big games as Manchester City won 5-0 at Brighton, so I was well on the way to losing to a default team. 'Oh the shame'.
I needed a good start on Sunday, but the early lineup curse hit once again. I had left Adama Traore in my lineup and he had a shoulder issue I later found out. He was on the bench for Wolves' home game with Everton, and I had not looked properly and put the wrong Wolves man on the bench Leander Dendoncker. So trust Dendoncker to score once again whilst being on my bench. There was still a chance for Traore to get some points when Nuno brought him on needlessly with them cruising at 2-0. Traore however had a chance to get onto the scoresheet but he somehow hit the bar when the goal was open from six yards. It would have been easier to score! I was fuming, he has got his blonde braids back in, and they must have been done too tight, because that is just quite simply unacceptable missing from there. Things worsened with the next game, as two goal-shy teams met at Villa Park; Aston Villa were to get a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace, as Trezeguet copped a brace. No not that Trezeguet, he retired ages ago. So no Joel Ward clean sheets again. There was another questionable interference by the VAR here as Mamadou Sakho's goal was ruled out for handball when it looked much like it came off his shoulder, and last time I checked your shoulder was not handling the ball. Anyway we move on, and Spurs despite barely having any of the ball managed to sneak a late win at home to Arsenal. Harry Kane could not get a goal for me, so now that is two blanks in a row, he did at least touch the ball a few times more than he had been recently.
With the gameweek lost, I was looking for scant consolation from the few players that I had remaining. The first was Jamie Vardy as Leicester travelled to the Vitality Stadium to take on Bournemouth. Proceedings started well as Vardy scrambled in the opening goal as he remains the league's top scorer, and he could have had another. The second turned into a horror show unbelievably as the Foxes leaked four second half goals. Dominic Solanke scored not one but two, to break his long goal drought. And with 'willing runner' David McGoldrick helping himself to his first Premier League goals on Saturday for Sheffield United, the 'end is nigh', so please after you read this tell whoever you need to that you love them! The gameweeks action concluded with Southampton's trip to Old Trafford. The Saints took the lead, before Manchester United came back, but then Southampton levelled in injury time. I wished it was Danny Ings who had scored, but it was Michael Obafemi, who may not score a bigger goal in his career. A bemused Ole Gunnar Solskjaer promptly went back to crossing his legs after the goal, much like I was doing when I looked at my woeful score for the week.
@DubulDee
Kommentare