Save your transfers for the Fantasy Football Overhaul
Friday 23 August 2019 15:14, UK
Former Fantasy Football champion Dan Cox brings us his diary, documenting the highs and lows of his Fantasy Football management this season.
First and foremost, I missed the Raheem Sterling and Teemu Pukki hat-tricks and after looking at Lucas Digne for most of pre-season, I did not include him and I have missed out on 19 points from two clean sheets, an assist and tackle bonus.
My aim has always been, and still is, to just get to the Overhaul (unlimited transfers for a week) in one piece. I want to get there without wasting any transfers, reassess everything and start again. Yes, some people have probably got off to a flyer, but it has only been two weeks.
I would like to think that even being 100 points behind some players, I can reel them in over the remaining 38 Gameweeks. Actually, I would even go so far as to say that 200 points doesn't bother me. There is so much football and decisions to make.
Saturday
Saturday was pretty average. There was a clean sheet for Jordan Pickford and that is as good as it got for my backline. John Stones did not feature with an injury, one which I was not even aware of. Again, the cheap defender everyone had been raving about - Fredric Guilbert - failed to make the Aston Villa matchday squad.
Oleksandr Zinchenko and Andrew Robertson could not keep a clean sheet, but both achieved bonus points - Robertson with passing and Zinchenko with shots and passing bonus.
Gerard Deulofeu again had no returns other than starting points. Harry Kane did not do anything and neither did Mohamed Salah.
At least I captained the right player on Saturday, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang earning me 16 points. I was more concerned regarding Saturday and choosing the wrong captain between Salah and Aubameyang, so I was pleased to get that right. I was even more concerned about Sterling causing me some damage once more, so I was happy to see him score just the once.
Super Sunday
Sunday saw a much-needed improvement. James Maddison was my captain and duly rewarded me with an assist and Sky Sports Man of the Match award. It is just a pity he blazed a great chance over from close range. The 16 Fantasy Football points he brought in was good enough for me.
Monday Night Football
I only had Diogo Jota in action and he had been my planned captain for a while. I gave a fair bit of consideration to an Aubameyang to Marcus Rashford move, but in all honesty, I want to get to the Overhaul using as few transfers as possible. However, a friend of mine had mentioned that John Stones is facing a week to 10 days out and is a doubt for the Bournemouth fixture, so I made a quick decision to remove him for Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who would play twice before Manchester City even kick a ball.
Now I had a captain dilemma, in which I could have stuck with Jota, who had been pencilled in since day one, or go with my brand new transfer. I went for Wan-Bissaka and what a game he had, achieving tier two tackles and passing bonus, resulting in a 14-point captaincy. I almost thought he was going to take home the Man of the Match award.
All in all, 72 points from the week is not bad at all, although I was bailed out a bit with 30 points from my Sunday and Monday captains. I am hoping for another good weekend to now slowly start climbing the leaderboard and it would be nice to break into the top 10,000 after the weekend's action.
Pickford; Wan-Bissaka, Zinchenko, Guilbert, Robertson; Maddison, Jota, Deulofeu; Kane, Aubameyang, Salah
Overall Position - 12,657
Total Points - 191
Transfers Left - 39
Friday - Jordan Pickford
Saturday - Mohamed Salah
Sunday - Harry Kane
