And breathe. After a crazy start to the season the international break gives us a chance to take stock and try and make some sense of what we’ve seen so far. The scores resemble something from a Pathé video reel, perhaps fitting given the historic times we’re living in, and plenty of ink has been spilled trying to figure out “what’s going on”?
“The Day football went crazy” – The Times
The “maddest day in Prem history” – Daily Mirror
Is it a lack of a meaningful pre-season, playing behind closed doors, new rules, a new ball, the increasing influence of VAR, all of the above? All I know is freak results and goals galore are playing havoc with FPL.
DREAM TEAM
No red on display in this week’s dream team. McCarthy (9) has repaid those who kept faith in him after the Spurs demolition in GW2. With clean sheets at a premium defenders who offer an attacking return are more valuable than ever. Of course clean sheets are still the bread and butter but when you throw in goals and assists like this weeks “kings” did then you have… I don’t know, a prawn sandwich or something.
Son (18) was the bane of many a ffuker this week. Those who sold or benched him will be mindful not to pay too much heed to Jose’s words in future but for those who kept him in it was many happy returns. Rodriguez (18) is fast becoming essential at his price point and Grealish (24) and Watkins (19) absolutely cleaned up for the Villa.
And then we have the penalty takers. Cilson (16) and Jorginho (15) both bagged a brace, with Kane (16) also getting one.
FFUK LEAGUE TOP 20
We have a new leader in Clayton Deakin (90) who takes top spot despite having Son (18) on the bench. Steve Cronin (77) is right on his heels with last weeks leader and September’s manager of the month Nick Maston (68) slipping to a close third. There were a couple of notable wildcards with Dean Cummings (78) moving from 14th to 4th but for Matthew Shaw (58) it had the opposite effect moving from 5th to 11th. Special shout out to John Bryant (99) whose gw topping score moves him from 65th to 6th.
This week’s unlucky Cont evictees are James Simpson (23) and Joseph Colliass (28). Joseph will be left to rue leaving Bissouma (9) on his bench but the common denominator here was owning TAA (-1) and Robbo (-1) with James throwing in Shaw (-2) for good measure. Special shout out to Roni Friel (30) who survives despite triple Liverpool defence for a total of -4.
Stoppage Time
A number of teams came from the pack in FFUK last season and with this years game being unlike anything we’ve seen before, it’s worth remembering that it’s a marathon not a sprint. We have more big hitters than ever to choose from but you can’t own all of Son, Kane, Salah, Mane, Sterling, KDB, Bruno, etc. so there will be weeks when you crush the average and weeks where the average crushes you. We just have to roll with the punches. So hang in there ffukers, with so many prizes to play for, never give up.
Thanks for taking the time to read, enjoy the break,
JMAC (as I now seem to be known)
FFUK 