7 Red arrows in a row. 7. Seven. Seven. Seven. If only it felt as good as Monica in that famous scene from friends.
It really has been a season of two halves for me so far this season. The first 7 game weeks went ok. I was sat at 145k, and closing in on the top 100k, whilst sitting nicely in my mini leagues. The next 7 gameweeks have brought nothing but pain.
With work being busy, studying for my apprenticeship, a general lack of sleep, the whole CBS Arena situation and awaiting an operation date, it’s been a pretty stressful time, and life is getting in the way of FPL.
It all started back in GW8. With the blank GW12 looming, I took my first hit of the season (a -8) in order to set myself up, and then started planning to set myself for the blank. But these plans got quickly ripped up, a wildcard was rushed and then I’ve been chasing points since… up until last week, where my holiday meant that I spent 5 mins on FPL and brought in Ben White and his clean sheet in the first transfer for a while that has worked.
Lowlights in that period include bringing in my favourites James Maddison and Callum Wilson on my wildcard. Maddison stopped returning, and was replaced by Phil Foden only for him to be blanked, whilst Callum Wilson blanked for me before being replaced by Gabriel Jesus, and as soon as he was sold he scores 3 goals in 2 games (and 2 assists), whilst Jesus continues to not get the returns his performances have warranted.
They weren’t the most frustrating moves though… after Reece James was injured Vs Milan, I went for his team-mate, Marc Cucurella only for him to be subbed off at halftime in GW 11 (his first week in my team) and after just 35 mins in GW13 (his last week in my team).
Looking forward, we have 2 gameweeks before the World Cup break, and the beauty of free, unlimited transfers for us all. With my run of form, I’m stuck in two minds.
Do I play safe, and look to arrest the decline? Or do I have some fun and look for some differential punts and look to make some big leaps… at the risk of compounding the misery of the last 7 weeks?
A lot depends on the biggest talking point of the week… the fitness of Erling Haaland (and to a lesser extent - Bukayo Saka) but it looks like both should be fit. If so, then the simple move would be Salah out, KDB in. Kevin De Bruyne is looking electric, was rested in midweek, and gives a tantalising Man City attacking triple up against a Fulham team that have conceded 22 big chances in the last 6 gameweeks (a tally that only Liverpool can match, whilst every other team in the league is below this number). I'd even be tempted to captain KDB over Haaland this week, just as I think he's more assured of minutes.
If I want to have some fun though, I could potentially look to do something. One name I'm considering (If I go down this route) would be Cristiano Ronaldo. I really like the two fixtures United have to go into the break, and Ronaldo found himself back in the starting line-up last week vs West Ham. He will no doubt be looking to get himself into a rich run of form ahead of what will undoubtedly be his last World Cup. To do this though, would mean removing Harry Kane. Which doesn't sound ideal, but when you tally up the fact he's on 4 yellow cards, so sould easily miss GW15, Son's injury and Spurs generally looking a little sluggish, I could be tempted.
Such a move would also let me improve Andreas (Fulham play both Manchester teams heading into the break, so I'd likely want to bench him anyway), and would give me enough funds for the FPL form man Miguel Almiron (or his team mate - and a player i prefer - Bruno Guimaeraes).
In all likeliness, I'm not likely to make a decision until tomorrow morning. But the decision boils down to the sensible approach I took between GW1 and GW7, or doubling down on the riskier, potentially more fun approach, and trusting my judgement that a speculative move will come off eventually.
Hopefully I will be able to make the decision tomorrow morning, whilst watching England qualify for the T20 Word Cup Semi Finals, followed by Eric's next game in his u7's team, where this week he will be joined by his best mate from school making his debut.
Talking of Eric, he's made his moves already. Castagne and Alisson in for Cucurella and Kepa. Haaland captain. Trippier Vice (currently where my vice captaincy is too ironically).
Preferably as i'm watching