My head was still spinning. It had been my worst start to an FPL campaign in recent memory and I desperately needed to turn things around. I had two free transfers but I decided to make three transfers and take a deduction. This came about after a talk with a listener of my radio show Sam Cleaver. We decided as we were both struggling we may as well take a 4-point hit to try and rectify things as we did not have many points anyway. My opponent in the 'Justice League' was my friend from school Andrew who had suffered two narrow defeats to start the season.
Rodrigo Moreno whose price is ever rising had started like a house on fire. Any old readers will know he has spent a decent amount of time in my team in his first two years at Leeds. He had some moments but from an FPL-perspective had disappointed, now with Raphinha parting for Barcelona he has come into his own. His manager Jesse Marsch has been singing his praises and said he will be on penalties. As well as this Marsch has given him the captaincy with Liam Cooper and Luke Ayling absent, Rodrigo's confidence was at its zenith. With this evidence you would think I put him in my team, but as usual I was overthinking and thought as Liverpool were away to Manchester United I should rearrange things and go for the much more expensive option in Luis Diaz, we will come back to how that went later.
Phillippe Coutinho was the man I sold in midfield for Diaz as his price had gone down. At the back to make room for Diaz I let go of Matt Doherty for Everton's Nathan Patterson, and up front Ivan Toney came in for Brennan Johnson. Forest forward Johnson's price had fallen otherwise I would have more than likely kept him. Mo Salah kept the captaincy and Andrew had him as his captain too. Andrew had the highly owned Gabriel Jesus and Erling Haaland, with my points-hit I knew it was going to be very hard to get the win here.
The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was the venue for the first match of the gameweek as Tottenham and Wolves met. I needed Wolves to score as he had Ivan Perisic in his team. And Bruno Lage's men were indeed the better team in the first 45 minutes as they took the game to Antonio Conte's despite not properly testing Hugo Lloris. Harry Kane saw his header tipped over by Jose Sa in the first period, and then in the second he had another header that struck the woodwork. Sa made another good save this time Heung-min Son, but from the resulting corner Perisic flicked the ball on to Kane as he headed Spurs in front to give me and Andrew our first points of the gameweek. It was to be the only goal in the game. Perisic did not complete 90 minutes but he still got the maximum bonus points as the match-winner Kane got himself booked taking him out of the running. I trailed by 10 points early on, but at least I was out of the negative thanks to Kane.
In the 3pm's; Crystal Palace added to the pressure on Steven Gerrard as they won 3-1 at Selhurst Park over Aston Villa. Villa actually took the lead through a well taken Ollie Watkins goal. Palace were to level a few minutes later as Wilfried Zaha punished them on the break with a clinical finish into the corner. This goal was critical as my opponent had Tyrone Mings in his defence. Just before the hour mark the Eagles were awarded a penalty. Zaha stepped up but had his spot-kick saved, 'damn!', he luckily put the rebound in however and stared down wind-up merchant Emiliano Martinez in the Villa goal. More points for me! 'Yay'. Patrick Vieira's men went on to win 3-1. Zaha was lucky to escape with all three bonus points as along with the missed penalty he also got himself booked. Everton and Nottingham Forest met at Goodison Park. In an end-to-end game Neco Williams almost got me some precious points as he went close twice. One was saved by Jordan Pickford, the other effort was a powerful shot that went just past the post. You will find it no surprise that Williams was cautioned in the first half, that was three points had lost now. Forest were to take the lead and the goal came from....you guessed it the man I sold Johnson, as he reacted quickest to a rebound after Ryan Yates had his shot parried. Johnson would go on to get maximum bonus points too. If you do don't laugh you'll cry! The Toffees salvaged a point as Pickford's great vision so him find Demarai Gray who finished well. No clean sheet points for Patterson then as I would have felt like a fool if he did something as I left him on the bench. Andrew had Conor Coady so at least Johnson's goal still positively impacted the head-to-head for me.
Fulham blew a 2-goal lead but still managed to get the three points at home to Brentford, edging past them 3-2. Brentford were still clearly hangover from battering Manchester United as they fell behind with not even a minute on the clock. At 2-1 Ivan Toney thought he had levelled things up and he pursued to mock Aleksandar Mitrovic's celebration only for it to be ruled out. Toney did get things level however as he pounced on a rebound, cue the Mitrovic celebration again. He who laughs last, laughs longest though and Mitrovic won the game for the Cottagers in the last minute. I am sure I heard Mitrovic said 'f*ck Brentford!' when he celebrated, nah I'm kidding. Brendan Rodgers remained in the mud as Leicester let their lead slip at home to Southampton. Whereas this could land Rodgers without a job, it kept Ralph Hasenhuttl in one and he can thank Che Adams for that. Adams only played just over 31 minutes off the bench but prevented Hasenhuttl's P45 with a brace. The winning goal was a stunning acrobatic effort. This was all after a smart James Maddison free-kick had given the Foxes the lead. I was more than grateful for the Maddison points as he now has a goal contribution in all three outings thus far but...he also got booked!
I needed Bournemouth to hold out against Arsenal not just because Andrew had Jesus...but because everyone had him really! The man is owned by over 80% of players now, someone needs to tell people he was not who turned water into wine! He was not who walked on water either but he was to walk through Bournemouth's defence to create the Gunners' first goal. Jesus' run and pass saw Gabriel Martinelli's shot saved and the rebound was put in by Martin Odegaard. Andrew had Martinelli so it was still very bad news for me. Odegaard was to be at the double as he nicked the ball off of Jesus' toe, thank you Martin me and the two other FPL managers in the world who do not own Jesus greatly thank you for your services. After a brilliant third by William Saliba, Jesus thought he had scored only for it to be ruled out for a very narrow offside call...Amen! Jesus also got a yellow card for a cynical foul and him only getting an assist was amazing for me considering how bad the Cherries' defending was. Saturday ended with me ahead 32-25 mainly thanks to Zaha.
Sunday saw Leeds entertain Chelsea. With Edouard Mendy as my opponents keeper I needed Leeds to hit the back of the net. And they were to do that to my shock three times! I thought they could get a draw but they went all out. Rodrigo scored and assisted making me feel like a fool for overthinking. Jack Harrison also scored and assisted showing me that I should have just kept my original team which had him in it before the campaign began. Mendy gifted Leeds the first goal and I had somehow survived this game but there was still more needed to hold off Andrew. He had another man playing in the game at the same time between West Ham and Brighton in Tomas Soucek. Luckily the Czech international did not find the net but that was only due to the alertness of Robert Sanchez who tipped over two headers from him. The latter game was where I hoped for a blank from Haaland as Manchester City went to Newcastle. The Magpies fell behind but reacted superbly and took a 2-1 lead. Callum Wilson brilliantly converted the second goal after fine work from man of the match Allan Saint-Maximin, I screamed in delight knowing how big a differential Wilson was. Eddie Howe's men continued to rattle City as they went 3-1 up, but Pep Guardiola's men fought back for a draw. Of course Haaland got one of the goals but Wilson's goal meant I had survived again. Sunday concluded with me having a narrow lead of 38-35.
So there was just one game left. I needed Andy Robertson to outdo his teammate Trent Alexander-Arnold, as we both had Luis Diaz and we had Salah as our captain. After back-to-back wins at Old Trafford; Liverpool were simply terrible and Manchester United deservedly won 2-1. Jadon Sancho auditioned for Strictly Come Dancing on the first as Virgil van Dijk marked Casper The Friendly Ghost, and Liverpool are still running back trying to catch Marcus Rashford on the second goal. Salah bagged his customary goal against the Red Devils, but it was too little too late, to be honest I felt so embarrassed I did not even properly cheer. With Alexander-Arnold also getting booked, I had snuck victory 57-53. But I was fuming as my real team had lost, so this was past bittersweet, despite the FPL win this felt more melancholic I cannot lie.
Ironically the points-hit did not initially serve its purpose but I still got the job done. The changes made were not for one gameweek however so there is still time for them to impact. I sold Johnson and he scored, but his replacement Toney also found the back of the net thankfully. Diaz did not contribute and Patterson who of course was brought in to free up some money was on the bench. The win could have been more comfortable if it was not for all the points lost to yellow cards to be honest. I need to decide whether to roll with my team or make further changes for gameweek 4. One thing for sure is I need a new goalkeeper sooner rather than later and Callum Wilson may unfortunately be out with a hamstring injury for a small while.
@DubulDee
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