Welcome to the GW11 REVIEW – MR JONES
“Everything that makes him dangerous makes her love him even more!”
Firstly, massive thanks to Stu Allen (123rd) for taking the reigns last week, that was a seriously good review… I had better up my game or I will be out of a job. Sackings seem to be quite popular at the moment and you do not want to be reading an Allardyce or Moyes review next time round!
More importantly have you heard about the FFUK CUPS? Check out PETE’s CUPDATE for all the latest as the first round of Challenge Cup ties are now underway.
The FFUK league leader Jamie Stewart (1st) has also published his latest article PP90 Revisited which reveals a couple of very interesting picks going forward. Listen to this man he clearly knows what he is talking about.
This review was all set to be called Fireworks but, unless you owned the highest scoring player Mo Salah (15), there weren’t any on show. I had loads of good puns lined up too! No fireworks for me as I’m in the 60% who don’t own the Egyptian Messi. Even if you were on board it was a relatively quiet weekend unless you were one of the 10 FFUKers who gave Salah the armband, more on those later. The Liverpool forward looks deadly right now and ticks all the boxes especially as he is a midfielder in FPL. I am now working out a way to get him in but it is going to take a couple of weeks as I have other fires to put out first.
But it wasn’t all about the forwards this weekend as the GW11 Dream Team below shows. The bulk of the points were in midfield and defence, not for the first time this season, and certainly not the familiar picks. Just when we were all focusing our attentions to the other end of the pitch. How many of the 11 below do you have your eyes on?
So why Mr Jones for this review? Well I will explain with the help of some Counting Crows. (FFUK GW REVIEWS playlist is updated)
Saturday came and went without much to report, the 3pms were a drab affair and I ended the day with 18 points after 4 players played. Not disastrous but I certainly didn’t go out partying on Saturday night. It was more “Pass me a bottle Mr Jones”. I wasn’t overly worried as we had Super Sunday ahead. 4 massive games. 7 of my players, all my big hitters, including the most popular captain pick of the weekend. What could possibly go wrong? I was in good company too – 127 FFUKers selected the Spurs talisman against bottom of the league Palace. (Check out all the FUK captaincy and chip stats from GW12 in the image below)
Long story short Super Sunday was a bit of a shocker in terms of FPL. From my side the only one with any attacking points was the ever-dependable Aguero (8) with a penalty on his special day. All the more galling after Super Harry Kane (2) had blanked in the early game. It was inevitable in many ways. Turns out he isn’t very good at home to rubbish sides. Who knew?
Bavies (1), Otamendi (1), Sane (2) and Eriksen (3) did little to ease my suffering and I was left at 4pm with just one man to save me… Step forward Mr Phil Jones (1). This wasn’t how it was supposed to end. What is worse is that Manchester United were playing Chelsea. I was confused. Did I want a 0-0? I obviously didn’t want a Utd win. I wasn’t in that much distress. But apart from the far fetched scenario where Mr Jones went off after 60 mins before Chelsea stepped up a gear scoring goals galore I could see no easy way out. But then I owned no Chelsea players since selling Morata (8) for Hopeless Harry just last week. In reality Mr Jones scored a comical own goal before it was disallowed for a dubious foul by Morata. Mild relief. Shivers. Hold me. I was an emotional wreck and all I had was Phil Jones to comfort me.
However it turns out that Chelsea battered Utd 1-0 with Morata’s brilliant header the highlight of the game, instantly reminding me of what I was missing. Kante (3) was back too. Ominous for everyone else he looked like he had never been away. Through all of this I was trying to tell my self “Mr Jones and me, we’re gonna be big stars”. It all ended with me scoring 38. Mr Jones didn’t really help, but it wasn’t his fault. He has been brilliant this season but he isn’t Superman. If there is a moral to this story it is never end up in a position where you are relying on Phil Jones to save your gameweek. Simple really. However I wasn’t the worst affected by the events that unfolded, for that we need to dig a bit deeper.
With that we go to the FFUK league and investigate how the latest events have affected the top of the table…
As mentioned Jamie Stewart (1st) retains his place at the top. The Doc clearly has all the answers at the moment. I just hope he can deal with the additional stresses incoming with the impending winter. Our squad and skills are about to be put to the ultimate test. Salah (15) saved the day for our leader. Jesus (5), Silva (5) and Choupo-Moting (5) made the score respectable. But what of the 225 FFUKers who are chasing our leader?
The scoring at the top of the table was, on the whole, fairly unremarkable as most had gone with Kane captain. It was those who didn’t who profited most. Josh Prentice (10th) with 63 points was certainly one of these. It got even better for Josh as he captained Salah (2 x 15).
Massive respect to Mark James (28th) who was the top scoring manager this week with 71 points. No surprises who his captain was. Salah (2 x 15) was complimented by Azpi (12), Daniels (6) and Richarlison (7).
The FFUK average was 43 this week and for the first time this is actually lower than the overall FPL average of 44. This is largely to the Kane captaincy. Basically this is a week where the FFUKers didn’t know best.
Who are this week’s heroes? Rising higher, faster, stronger. Those who did not require Phil Jones to save them.
- Barry Clarke (101st) rose 59 places from 160th after scoring 67 points! You are the number 1 HERO this week!
- Chris Norman (130th) rose 52 places from 182nd after scoring 67 points! Bravo
- Matt Packham (127th) rose 49 places from 176th after scoring 63 points! Well played Matt!
And who suffered the most, who fell the furthest, who was plunged into despair without even Mr Jones for company:
- Glenn Macnamara (109th) fell 42 places from 67th after scoring 26 points! Ouch.
- Rachel Lynch (138th) fell 39 places from 99th after scoring 23 points.
- Natalie McKenna (72nd) fell 37 places from 35th after scoring 30 points.
- Stuart Newton (172nd) fell 37 places from 135th after scoring 30 points.
However even this quartet of Zeroes didnt suffer quite as badly as this week’s lowest scorer, John Gordon (192nd). John’s captain Alli (0) didnt even turn up and his vice Romelu (2 x 2) didnt fare much better. Mr Jones was nowhere to be seen.
Another week another team on the chopping block in FFUK – The CONTS mini-league and it was a nervous Super Sunday for a couple of FFUKers in particular. Ben Eastwood (57th) was looking twitchy but had Lukaku in the last game to save him. However so did Mark Tarbox (24th) along with a certain Mr Jones. Ben ended up on 26 points and Mark on 27 points. So I think we can all agree that Mr Jones saved Mark. For another week at least. Unlucky Ben, I have now removed you from the mini-league. Who will be next to go?
So that is it for another review, thanks for reading. Unfortunately we are now in the midst of another international break. Fortunately it is the last for a while though so we can get back to concentrating on what we do best. GW13 is the start of a run of fixtures that will make or break many of our seasons. What else is coming up? Plenty dont you worry. Keep an eye out for the FFUK CUP 1st round live video draw. These ties begin in December but the 1st round of the CHALLENGE CUP is already underway. Good luck to all those involved!
Cheers
Chris
FFUK 