Miles Reucroft is undertaking a different way of playing the ever popular Fantasy Football this season. To understand his methodology, read part one here. The Week 1 review is here, Week 2 transfers & preview here, Week 3 preview here, Week 4 preview here, Week 5 preview here, Week 6 preview here, Week 7 preview here, Week 8 preview here, Week 9 preview here, Week 10 preview here, Week 11 preview here. Week 12 preview here. Week 13 preview here. Week 14 preview here. Week 15 here. Week 16 here. Week 17 here. Week 18 here. Week 19 here. Week 20 here. Week 21 here. Week 22 here. Week 23 here.
We’re officially treading water, ebbing and flowing gently on the calmest of tides. We notched 51 points last week against an average of 49, which us saw us tamely drop to 1,482,858th. There are no obvious areas of the side to excavate, either. I can’t twist, so I’m forced to stick; stuck in a Fantasy Football limbo.
Harry Kane scored again because that’s what Harry Kane does. KdB’s midfield excellence continues to go unrewarded by this lamentable game and Bobby Firmino continues to excel. Shaqiri continued his recent excellent form, but the defence has been subdued. I simply don’t have the funds to address that problem, though.
I only had one transfer available to me this week and the injury to Fernandinho forced my hand. It was a brief conversation with Gary, our player agent, this week.
“How much can you get me for Fernandinho?” I ask.
“£5.1m,” comes the reply.
“Done,” I state. “Get him gone and see what can you do about getting Luka Milivojevic in.”
Luka has racked up a fair few points this season and has caught the eye. He’s not Sergio Aguero in regards to point scoring, but he can anchor a midfield effectively and that’s exactly what we need. I’ve lost faith in Granit Xhaka and he’s started to give me dirty looks at training. If I had another transfer available to me I’d chop him, but he got a game the week just gone and can still do a job. I’ll keep on smiling.
“Luka will set you back £4.9m,” says Gary when he calls me back. I instruct him to conclude the deal.
“Are you alright?” he further enquires. “You’ve lost a bit of enthusiasm, a bit of chutzpah, a bit of pizzazz.”
I fall silent. I hadn’t realised the depth of Gary’s vocabulary, for he’s a man more inclined to deploy punchy, four letter words than anything straying from the mainstream.
“I’m just… just a bit disillusioned,” I reply. We’re playing well, but just not making any progress. I fear that we’ve found our level.”
“One good game week will turn it all around, you’ll see,” comes the comforting reply. I hope he’s right.
We’re shifting to a 4-3-3 this week. Daryl Janmaat and Aaron Cresswell come in as full backs either side of Nicolas Otamendi and Harry Maguire. Luka will anchor a midfield three, enabling KdB and Christian Eriksen to push on. Firmino will start as inside-left with Shaquiri providing width on the right. Kane, naturally, starts up top.
It’s time to save our season.
4-3-3
Schmeichel – Janmaat, Otamendi, Magurie, Cresswell – Milivojevic, KdB, Eriksen – Shaqiri, Firmino, Kane
Subs
Gomes, Niasse, Xhaka, Hegazi