“A life spent defensively, worried, is a
life wasted” - Lance
Armstrong
Four weeks, four losses. Times were getting
desperate. I couldn’t field a whole starting roster, injuries were mounting up
as Tom Heaton injured his shoulder which would necessitate a lengthy absence,
goals were becoming a rarity (two in four games), and an assist had yet to be
seen. Something had to be done. I could not just ride it out and hope Dwight
Gayle battles his way back into the Newcastle starting eleven, or that Victor
Lindelof would finally usurp Phil Jones from the Man Utd back-line. Actions
needed to be taken before I was cut adrift at the bottom of the table.
 |
| Shoulder surgery will keep Tom Heaton sidelined for months |
That those actions would entail me spending
almost my entire budget on three players who probably won’t start for their
respective teams this weekend, was not something people could have foreseen. In
fact, I didn’t even see it that way, as I had expected to be outbid on at least
one of the three players I now possess. Zlatan Ibrahimovic had a value of $68
last season, so I assumed he would go for slightly higher this time around and I had initially bid over $70. But I kept notching up the value until I settled on $85. I
probably could have acquired him for a fair but less. The Swede can’t come back
from injury fast enough. My other two players each cost me $40 less than Zlatan,
but I vastly overpaid. Serge Aurier becomes the most expensive Spurs defender
in the game and is fighting with $1 Kieran Trippier for a spot in their line-up.
Renato Sanches was made the fifteenth most expensive Midfielder in the league.
Not bad for a player who completed 90 minutes only once during a year at Bayern
Munich, where he was largely anonymous. While signing these players I had to
let go Gayle and Shelvey, what with the earlier release of Jose Fonte, means I’ve
basically thrown away nearly $100 since the draft. This sounds like doom and
gloom, but my new team get their chance to prove themselves this coming
gameweek against @wrigavin. Gavin has three wins this season and would have
beaten my side handily if we had met on any other gameweek. Thanks IEFSA/Fantrax
fixture computer!
@wrigavin’s Team
 |
| FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU><"{{@$^!$$*!)(!!@#$ |
What I Need To Happen
Zlatan is injured. Heaton is out for
months. Rojo is also still injured. Lindelof might as well be injured. Izquierdo
(who?) can’t seem to start a game. Tammy Abraham has less accurate passes in
330 minutes of football than Renato Sanches managed in 70 minutes last weekend.
Joe Allen is off form. Keane and Cook are defenders in name only as they don’t seem
to want to keep clean sheets anymore. Gareth Barry is……. still in my squad???
My only hope this weekend could be the longshot of my Bournemouth and Brighton
players outscoring @wrigavin’s Anthony Knockaert (a tough ask in itself),
followed by some sort of nuclear war that gets all the other games on Saturday and
Sunday cancelled.
 |
| Kim Jong-Un has won every season of the North Korean Fantasy League |
Predictions
An improvement from the week before sees
six correct predictions from nine. It was the tough-to-call games in the
Primary League that were my undoing. To heap praise on this week’s predictions,
feel free to follow me on Twitter @GarryIrwin. Also, feel free to badger
@THE_IEFSA to ease up on the fixture congestion my side unfairly has to face every week.
Here are this week’s predictions. Good Luck
Everyone.
@TRKingston over @TAMc10
@jwl_15 over @RotoZdroik
@nikarg over @EPL_MOstradamus
@jasonuk17 over @cjradune
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