Welcome to the GW6 REVIEW – LOST MY MIND
Six weeks have been and gone. Things are starting to beginning to take shape, but it is still very early days. If this was a race we would only just be out of the blocks. But as we all know this is no sprint. There is a long way to go. If you’ve started well watch out as there is still plenty of time for it all to unravel (note to self). If you have stumbled early on and find yourself at the wrong end of the league table don’t panic, there is still loads of time to recover and succeed long term (note to Pete). How is your sanity? Despite most of us knowing all this the game does funny things to our judgment. We begin to question our own instincts. Stay strong FFUKers!
The annual Mercury Music Prize was awarded to Wolf Alice for their Visions of a life album last week (but none of those tracks seemed relevant). After listening to more of the nominated albums I am pleased to report there are several gems, but unexpectedly one of the stand out tracks was from Lily Allen’s new album, moreover I never knew she was into Fantasy Football. The season playlist has been updated with LOST MY MIND.
Now I’m stuck in a rut, kicking stones
Looking at my phone all night
Maybe I’ve lost my mind
When I couldn’t breathe
Couldn’t sleep
And you say it served me right
Maybe I’ve lost my mind
With that fresh slice of pop in our ears we can move on to more important matters like the GW6 Dream Team.
Best scoring player of the gameweek is not a popular pick. Liverpool’s Joel Matip (15) has just 0.2% ownership but he scored a goal, with a clean sheet and max bonus, not bad for his first start of the season. His young english teammate TAA (11) is far more popular with 18.5% ownership as he picked up his first attacking return of the season.
The Man City rotation in midfield is pretty much impossible to predict but if you get it right the rewards are worth the risk. This week Bernardo (14), Gundogan (13) and a late cameo from Mahrez (12) were all the ones to pick. But it’s a lot easier in hindsight! If you one of the unfortunate ones who removed Bernardo before his haul, you can be forgiven for losing your mind!
Leicester and Burnley have a pair of players each. Old boys Lennon (13) and Barnes (12) rolled back the years whilst the foxes pair of poachers Iheanacho (12) and Vardy (11) also reminded non-owners of what they are missing.
AWB (9) is now approaching legendary status and the Palace defence are certainly providing incredible value at the moment… What will we all do when their fixtures turn nasty in GW10?
Time now to see how all of this affected the top 50 of the FFUK league:
We have a new leader, my old nemesis and 2 time league champion, certainly hasn’t lost his mind. Neil Stewart (1st) takes top spot. One half of Right Said Fred ended up playing an unconventional 523 formation as David Silva (0) missed out in Pep’s rotation this week. Neil was one of 109 FFUKers to captain Aguero (6 x 2) which gave him the platform whilst Maddison (8) and Kane (9) provided the attacking prowess but it was his backline that brought home the bacon. TAA (11), AWB (9), Luiz (6) and Alonso (6) were backed up by Hennessey (8) for a total of 76 points.
To make matters worse for the rest of us 2017 champ Nick Johns (2nd) is now right up there too. As I said it’s early days but we know these boys have the pedigree. Tim McEwan (3rd) aka Mr Side-Games found out the hard way just how tough it is at the top after his very brief stay at the summit.
The only man in the top 10 to outscore our new leader was Mark Storrar (6th) with 77 points. He was one of 52 FFUKers who went Salah (8 x 2) but his points came at both ends of the pitch. His forward trio of Mitrovic (8), Aguero (8) and Lacazettte (8) all returned but perhaps even more impressive was Mark’s rearguard of AWB (9), Robertson (7) and Alonso (6) were outshone by Fabianski (11).
However for the big score this week we have to go a little further down the league. In the deepest recesses of Page 2 we find Richard Harrison (90th) who smashed it when his wildcard team kicked in to great effect a week after a less than impressive initial showing. 92 points and a GW rank of 500 was achieved with captain Salah (8 x 2) but points came flying in from everywhere. At the back Hart (9), TAA (11), AWB (9) and Alonso (6) all returned whilst in midfield the brilliant Bernardo Silva (14) and Maddison (8) came good whilst up top Rich could rely on Aguero (6) and Vardy (11). Well played mate!
At the other end of the scale the low scorer on page 1 with 44 points is a previous high scorer, just goes to show how everything can change in this game so quickly. Unlucky Glenn Murray (33rd) only captain Aguero (6 x 2) and TAA (11) turned up for We Are Stefani this weekend. Hopefully Glenn can use his transfer balance to address an underperforming player or two.
We had no Monday Night football to wait for this week so Super Sunday was a tense affair. As the two games unfolded many of us realised it was going to be a tight week. In fact Donald Macaulay declared he was a goner. Then his Gooner Ramsey (8) plucked out a couple of assists to save him. Even tho I was fortunate enough not to be involved in the danger zone, I could sense the mislaid marbles of several FFUKers. Chief amongst them was our very own Stu Allen who was concerned for his own safety and that of his son Theo. In fact so concerned was he that following the last game he was first to confirm the eviction status. Steve Coffen was out with 47 points scored, what makes it worse for Steve is that he transferred in AWB (9) for Mendy (0) but left the Palace man on his bench, this is a decsion that could haunt lesser managers for years but Steve will come back stronger for this experience. The question remained – Who would be evicted with Steve?
The Allens were safe with 53 points. Then it gets a lot closer. Three managers finished on 51 points and one of them had to be evicted… it came down to overall rank and unfortunately for Eoin Reynolds he was lower than Jimmy Spence and Donald Macaulay who both live to fight another day but their mentality has been well and truly tested in this most brutal of mini leagues. Eoin and Steve you have now been removed from the CONTS mini league. 40 now remain and there will be another double eviction next week!
If you missed it then check out the latest post, from our very own Stu Allen (56th), in his new series WANNA WIN THE FFUK LEAGUE?. If you wanna win it you need to read it (he says) so I suggest you do that 😉
Next month sees the start of FFUK Cup Qualification. Mark it in your diaries! The FFUK Cup Master will be on hand to explain exactly how it will all work this season. Watch out for Pete’s first CUPDATE of the season coming very soon!
Finally if you have been reading this and find yourself unable to decipher some of the abbreviations for player names check out the BOOK OF CONTS which may (or may not) help you.
Thanks for reading LOST MY MIND, enjoy your week as the weekend will be upon us before we know and we will have to go through it all again.
Cheers
Chris
FFUK 