"...Gotta learn to live with regrets!..."
They say "once bitten twice shy", or in this weeks case, it was more the old proverb that states, "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me". As I had pointed out, I did not make any transfers last week, so I could have two free ones this week, as I faced off against my old schoolmate Andrew, in the head-to-head league, the 'Justice League'. As soon as that dire match between Manchester United and Arsenal finished last Monday, I immediately started to try and work out which two players I was going to let go off, and which two players I was going to bring in for them. Though, I had said I was going to keep Teemu Pukki in my side as I believed that there were some games coming up that he could score in, my initial thought was that I should take him out, and how I wished I had gone with my gut man! I am raged, so therefore I am warning you now, that this is the longest 'Fantasy Football Files' I have written, be prepared, get your favourite drink ready, or whatever best settles you, today I am going in!
When Friday came, I was still undecided with what to do, yes, it was under 24 hours until Brighton and Tottenham were kicking off, and I had no clue whether or not to keep Pukki. Pukki was a player I was not going to put in my team anyway, but I decided as he had already played 3 top six sides and netted in all of them, that whether or not Norwich beat the opponents they had coming up, that he would be able to find the net anyway. After the stress of deciding what to do, I ended late on Friday, by taking out Wesley (Aston Villa) for Josh King (Bournemouth), and as I soon as I pressed confirm on the changes, I regretted it, I had thought that as Norwich played attacking football, that the Brazilian would capitalise on their naivety, but if I went to try and put him back in, then I would lose points, so I left it. In midfield, I went for a transfer that would give me more money in future weeks, and I let go of Joao Moutinho from Wolves, whose value was £5.4m and replaced him with his teammate Leandro Dendoncker (£4.4m), I had no intention of starting him this week, but I was preparing myself for possible wholesale changes in the near future, and the extra money here would come in handy. I, also went against making Sadio Mane captain, and decided to go with Mo Salah, as he has a good scoring record against Leicester since he came to the Premier League. This was another decision I was skeptical over, despite his record against the Foxes, but I just went with it anyhow. I could not be asked anymore, I was anxious, and no football in week 8 had been played yet, imagine how I am going to be when the games actually start?!
So, to Saturday. The early game did no feature any of my players, as Spurs surprisingly went down 3-0 at Brighton. Deciding to go against any thoughts I had of breaking my top 6 'rule' and drafting in someone like Son Heung-Min were justified as Spurs did nothing from an attacking perspective. While talking about this match, I would like to wish Hugo Lloris a speedy recovery, apparently he may back in January, which is much better than a lot of people's initial thoughts when he was stretchered off I must point out.
The traditional 3pm matches, saw Liverpool beat Leicester 2-1, with a late James Milner penalty. Prior to that, Sadio Mane, as of course he was not my fantasy football captain this week, gave Liverpool the lead. The Senegalese always scores when I do not give him the captaincy, it is crazy considering the amount of goals he gets, that I never seem to have him as captain when he does find the net, 'rage!'. Mane also got the 'fantasy' assist as he won the penalty too, all meaning I missed out on getting 24 points for him. Salah, had a good chance saved by Kasper Schmeichel, but bar that was not as heavily involved as he would have liked, and he even came off injured late on after a cynical foul by Hamza Choudhury. Virgil van Dijk, only got 2 points as Liverpool conceded. While watching the Liverpool game, before Mane had even opened the scoring, my worst fears came to fruition at Carrow Road, as Aston Villa laid the smackdown on Norwich. Pukki, and the man I let go of, Wesley, went going head-to-head, and there are no prizes for guessing who came out on top. Not even 15 minutes had gone, and I heard that Villa had taken the lead, I just knew who the scorer would be. Then, by the half hour mark, I almost threw my laptop, as I found out Villa were 2 up, and that Wesley had a brace, 'oh, what a mistake I had made!!' Wesley, had the chance to get a first half hat-trick, but he missed a penalty, this was not a huge problem for those that owned him however, as the bonus points he would get for his two goals, would cover up the 2 points he lost for missing the spot kick. To add insult to injury, he later assisted Villa's last goal by fellow Brazilian Douglas Luiz, as the Villans won 5-1, I was really was not expecting a beating of this magnitude at all. Norwich's consolation, was of course not scored by Pukki, but by Josip Drmic, which means the Finnish international has accumulated a whole 5 points, 'yes just 5!', in the 3 games I have owned him in, as he got himself booked too so ended with just a solitary point, 'thanks Teemu mate, much appreciated!'. My secret weapon; John McGinn, also received a caution, so if not getting Wesley's points was not bad enough, I lost a further two points thanks to Pukki and McGinn.
The only venue that gave me any dose of joy on Saturday was at Vicarage Road, as Watford and Sheffield United had a goalless draw. Ben Foster, was the highest scoring keeper in FPL this week with 10 points, and at the other end, John Lundstram got me a clean sheet too, as though he plays in midfield, he is registered as a defender. The only downside here, was that Lundstram also was booked, which lost me a further point, 'great, more aggravation!'. The late game, saw Crystal Palace win away at West Ham. I had left Martin Kelly on the bench of my team, as I did not believe Palace could stop West Ham from scoring, but to my surprise Kelly got an assist for Jordan Ayew's winner. Felipe Anderson came close to scoring and worked hard, but he could not get me any significant points. Overall, it was a bad day at the office, and I knew unless I had another epic last day, that Andrew would win, as although I finished Saturday ahead of him, he still had 5 people to play on Sunday and I only had 3.
Sunday, had me hoping that Sergio Aguero would score, but that Manchester City would lose to aid Liverpool's title cause, with that, I needed Josh King and Diego Rico to do something constructive against Arsenal. In regards to Manchester City, I got half of my wish, as they lost to my amazement 2-0 at home to Wolves, so obviously there was no goal for Aguero. When I checked on my opponents team, I saw that he had Aguero as captain, so in any other week this would have worked in my favour, as he would have got double the points that I would have got. If the game at the same time, at the Emirates had been good to me, then I could have sneaked the win, but King and Rico did nothing as Arsenal won 1-0. Chelsea beat Southampton 4-1 at St Mary's, vindicating the fact I put Foster in goal rather than Angus Gunn this week. Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount were on the scoresheet again for Chelsea, and I am very close to breaking my 'rivals rule' and putting one, or maybe both into my side.
I had no players featuring in the late game between Newcastle and Manchester United, so Andrew, to my dismay was to get the victory over me this week, by 4 points, just 4, 'damn!'. Leaving me with a bunch of regrets. If I had started Martin Kelly over Diego Rico, I could have got 5 extra points, as Rico takes the corners for Bournemouth, I had believed that as Arsenal have had troubles on set pieces, that he may have assisted a goal, but it was not to be. Taking out Wesley instead of Pukki was where the great downfall was of course, I have decided to give Pukki one more week, as they play Bournemouth after the international break. The Cherries love to attack (bar that dismal showing on Sunday!), and Pukki may exploit the space they leave, at £7.1m and the fact 41% of FPL players own him, I am getting close to severing ties with him it has to be said. On top of this, three of my team were booked, which cost me another three points, all in all, with all that went wrong, I am not sure how I even lost by just four points to be honest, it was an underwhelming gameweek. Anyway, the international break is much needed, as I am heated, and that at least means for now, that I can stop pulling my hair out contemplating transfers.
I will finish this week again by pointing out Manchester United are terrible, another defeat at Newcastle, sorry I had to say it, but watch how they turn up against us, as we go there next on October 20th. If he is fit, it would be a great time for Salah to break his duck against them, but it is unlikely I will be leaving him with the captaincy for that game.
@DubulDee
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