Gameweek 14
Fodder If You Hear Me
As my love for FPL continued to wane, I was thrown a game that could get me re-invested in things. I came against Chad (DJ Goliath). He is another member of the D&D Football Factory, but if you just started listening to the #FootyOnTop on OnTop FM, 95.5FM, (more product integration, you love it, don't you!), because he is never really there. Chad is full of tough talk, but his position in the table would tell you otherwise. If I could not get past him, then is there any point of me continuing?!
I had two free transfers to make, and up front as Sergio Aguero was injured, I kept on changing my mind over whether to bring Danny Ings back in, for a third run in my side, or bring Raul Jimenez back for his second stint in my team. I went with Jimenez, so you know that of course means Danny Ings will score, doesn't it? The other change was to take out Leander Dendoncker from Wolves for Leicester's James Maddison. I wanted to have another player in my side who took set pieces so got Maddison. This is as I let go of Dendoncker's teammate Joao Moutinho recently to free up some more 'cash', and Moutinho has been in great form ever since i made the change, to my disgust. I could have tried to get Moutinho back in, but with the sale of the expensive Aguero, there was so much money for me to play with, I was spoilt for choice, and went for someone more expensive.
Liverpool were involved in a rare 3 o'clock Saturday afternoon kick off, and as Chad had Sadio Mane like myself, I needed something from Mo Salah. Chad had also captained Mane, so we were obviously going to cancel each other out if he did anything. Liverpool got the 2-1 win, but both goals came from Virgil van Dijk, and they were both assisted by Trent Alexander-Arnold. We both missed out on a huge amount of points from the two defenders, as the other Liverpool player I had was Andy Robertson, and he had Georginio Wijnaldum. To my frustration Crystal Palace did not concede away as they won 2-0 at Burnley, and I had left Martin Kelly on my bench, who started in the absence of Joel Ward. Tottenham beat Bournemouth 3-2 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, so there were no substantial points for me from Diego Rico, I hoped he may do something useful, as Tottenham like Liverpool currently do not know how to keep a clean sheet. This game was huge for my opponent as they had Son Heung-min, and he set up two goals. The evening game between Southampton and Watford started well for me as Ben Foster was making saves and Watford led 1-0 late on into the contest. As I knew would happen however, Ings equalised ('I bloody knew it!!'), and then James Ward-Prowse scored a super free kick to clinch it. So no clean sheet for Foster, and the man I almost put back in my side scored, I really do not know why I bother! This was like when I used to see two girls in a club back in the day, I would change my mind on who I would want to try and talk to, and then the one I chose had a boyfriend, and the other ended up being the single one. 'F-ck my life!"
So on to Sunday. I still had faint hope of beating #relegationChad if I got something from Sheffield United's Lys Mousset and of course Raul Jimenez. I also needed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang not to fire. So things seemed to have started off well, as he missed a penalty away at Norwich, but then it had to be re-taken for encroachment, and of course he scored. Just my luck! Aubameyang added a second later on, and it seemed my fate had been sealed. Before Aubameyang had even scored his penalty, in the other early match, Mousset had tried to help me by getting the opener in Sheffield United's trip to Wolves, but it was not enough. He almost assisted a John Fleck goal too, but for a good save by Rui Patricio as the game finished 1-1. Jimenez assisted Wolves' equaliser by Matt Doherty, who did a tribute to Benik Afobe, whose 2-year-old daughter sadly passed away, may she rest in perfect peace.
So Leicester's game with Everton was where my fate lied, as me and Chad did not have any players in the other late kick off between Manchester United and Aston Villa. We both had Leicester's Youri Tielemens and Jamie Vardy, but I had James Maddison and he Ben Chilwell. So I needed Leicester to represent from an attacking perspective, but I needed them to concede. Leicester did concede as Richarlison gave Everton the lead, but Vardy levelled in the second half. Leicester went on to win 2-1 with a contentious winner by Kelechi Iheanacho. So that was it...even with his 4 point hit for making an extra transfer, I had lost to Chad by four points. I literally felt like vomiting. Time to take up garden bowls or something, this was my third defeat in a row.
Gameweek 15
"'A Point' to prove"
I was matched against an old work friend Rich this gameweek. I was in a bad mood and made no transfers, as car issues amongst other things were occupying my time. As all the midweek matches were at altered times I would have missed the deadline anyway, as the first match on Tuesday between Crystal Palace and Bournemouth started at 7.30pm. This game went on to have a huge significance on my scoring this week. Nothing much had happened in the match, but then Mamadou Sakho was sent off for Crystal Palace in the first half. I thought Bournemouth would take the game to the Eagles after that, but Palace were the better side and got a deserved 1-0 victory. What infuriated me here, was that Diego Rico only played just over an hour, but he got three bonus points. This would happen wouldn't it, the one time I leave him on the bench. With Palace not conceding, Martin Kelly of course got me clean sheet points, but man, those bonus points from Rico would have been handy. Rich had Gabriel Jesus up front in the other game on Tuesday, and he bagged a brace, as Manchester City won 4-1 at Burnley. The scant consolation I could take from this game, was the fact that he had Raheem Sterling as his captain and he did not score.
Wednesday, saw Leicester beat Watford 2-0, and Jamie Vardy scored a second half penalty, He actually should've had another penalty before this in the first half, but he was adjudged to have gone down too easily, despite the replay showing that there was contact. I was ruing the fact I had put James Maddison into my side, but he popped up with the second goal in injury time. There was no big contribution from Youri Tielemens however, although he got a point for Leicester not conceding. This result of course meant there was no clean sheet for Ben Foster. With Angus Gunn not being first choice keeper for Southampton anymore, I really need to change my other keeper, as Foster is playing every game for me, and Watford are really struggling. There was no player for me in the game at St Mary's as Southampton won 2-1 against Norwich, but there was another goal for Danny Ings, as he showed me, that you should always go with your gut, as I missed out on more points from him. Wolves dealt quite comfortably with West Ham, as they won 2-0. No goal here for Raul Jimenez, as he had a good shot saved by David Martin and he almost assisted a goal by Roman Saiss, but the header fell just wide. As all those games kicked off at 7.30, the 8.15 kick off saw Liverpool beat Everton 5-2, and Sadio Mane was superb. The Senegalese scored and also laid on two assists. How I wish I had made him my captain, rather than giving it to Vardy, despite the fact Vardy scored, Mane's points return was of course much higher. Mo Salah did not start, and Andy Robertson did not make a significant points contribution. Therefore I needed Sheffield United to save me on Thursday night, or it was going to be another tight defeat.
The worst start possible on Thursday came when I saw the team news for Sheffield United and Newcastle, as Lys Mousset was on the bench. It was that time of year, when there are so many games, you have no idea when someone will be rested. Newcastle went on to win the game 2-0, I had hoped that Mousset would not come on, so I got the points from Diego Rico, but he did come on in the second half. With Salah not playing on Wednesday, that meant that I got two points from John McGinn who was on my bench. So therefore my calculations had us level at half time of the Arsenal Brighton game which kicked off later at 8.15, so needed I needed Arsenal to score twice, because once it got to the hour mark, otherwise Lewis Dunk would get an extra point (for him for playing 60 minutes of the game). Arsenal did score, but it was just once, as they lost 2-1, 'thanks for that guys!' I lost by just one point, one damn point again!
So this season I have lost by one point twice, by two points once and by once by three points also, this hurts man, I am now 16 points behind the leader in the 'Justice League', ironically though, I lay 7th in the 'League of Gentlemen' with 819 points overall. So it is now time to tell everyone that the head-to-head league is a myth, and only people in the traditional scoring league will get the money!
I.Am.Done.
@DubulDee
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