Last GAMEWEEK of the SEASON

Well, last week of the season. My team actually looks fairly decent. I've just transferred out De Bruyne and Wood to bring in Evanilson and Saka with my two frees.

The captaincy is currently on Salah, but I might change that. Hmm?

My wildcard and subsequent bench boost weeks went so-so. 58 points on the wildcard (avg. was 43), 68 points on the bench boost (avg. 39).

Technically you could say the bench boost earned me 23 points, but in reality I'd have started Cucurella, so it was a measly 10 points in truth. Still, I got a decent rank boost overall.

I'm now sat at around 2.3m in rank. Could I sneak into the top two million?

Obviously, as I've lamented repeatedly on here, this season has been a washout for me. Hopefully next season will be a fresh start though.

I'll post once more this season to show how it all ended up.

(I've just switched the captaincy to Mbeumo as a fun final week differential!)

Two hours 'til kick off.

Late Season Wildcarding

Okay, so I've knocked up a little wildcard team for GW36. With a view to bench boosting in GW37. I'm liking the look of it, though obviously, given how the season's trailing out, it's a tad half-hearted.

(click to enlarge)

I'll no doubt tinker a little between now and the deadline.

No Doubles, Big Troubles

Well, since my last post we've had four gameweeks. Three where my Assistant Manager chip was active; then the latest week where I had to navigate the blanks. Obviously, my season was over anyway. However, I've still managed to climb a little bit, so it's going well within that overall more disastrous context.

I've climbed from 4.1 million

to 2.6 million since GW28

I had Glasner as my AM. He scored 8 points, 2 points, then 15 points in the final week. So 25 overall. I was fairly pleased with that, especially given I got a little bit of table bonus with that final draw against Arsenal.

I'll share my team for blank GW34 below. I would've had eleven playing if Robinson had played, so I got a tad unlucky there. In the round it was pretty decent though, given many people were free hitting.

Plans, plans, plans..

My plan was to wildcard this week, in preparation for a bench boost in the "double" of GW36. Alas, that cannot be though, as there are no doubles. So it's a change of plan. This week I've left things as is, as my team doesn't look too bad (though I have used my free transfer to switch Gordon to Mbeumo - who I've captained). And next week I'll wildcard instead, to then bench boost in GW37. There'll be no doubles, but still, it'll be a luxury bench boost, as I'll be able to pick strong single gameweek players. So I'll get a bit of fun and enjoyment.

With the season coming to a close I can then start looking to next season. I'll need a plan for then too.

Another Good Week :)

My GW30 went pretty well. 60 points.

Given so many people were wildcarding this week it feels like a big win (or let off). I'm now up to 3.4 million in overall rank. Not impressive, lol. However, that's up from 4.1 million two gameweeks ago.

60 points (avg. 44)

The Robertson clean sheet was particularly welcome, as it was my defence that was worrying me, and where I thought I'd lose most ground with other people. So I've been very lucky.

Assistant Manager

Now I have the Assistant Manager chip active.

Glasner is selected.

It's a little bit disappointing that there'll be no table bonus on offer in this first game. If Brighton had been a single place higher there would be, but it didn't fall that way sadly. With cash and transfers at a premium though I can't be chopping and changing chasing games, so over the three weeks I'm happy with the fixtures.

Brighton (H)

Man City (A) - probable table bonus

Newcastle (A) - probable table bonus

Bournemouth (H)

Arsenal (A) - table bonus

So I've got a few lottery tickets.

I'm quite happy with my team too. I should be able to manage the blank fairly easily, and I'll have enough doublers in GW32 and GW33 to make things interesting (injuries allowing). I'm glad I kept Palmer too. That minus 4 for Foden I was considering would've added a bitter edge to things.

Hopefully I can now keep climbing.

I'm still here..

I haven't posted in a while. Don't worry, I haven't quit. My season's been appalling, but I'm going nowhere. I do tend to quit football entirely during the international breaks though, so I've had a little sabbatical.

My string of bad gameweeks continued, however, last week (GW29) came off very nicely. I used the free hit and it went fairly well, so I've gained a bit of ground back.

Here's the lowdown since my last post:

GW27: 36 points (avg. 53); end of week overall rank: 3,608,018 😡

GW28: 32 points (avg. 52); end of week overall rank: 4,163,093 😡

GW29: 69 points (avg. 40); end of week overall rank: 3,646,011 😁

With an overall rank of three and half million that grinning emoji isn't really justified, lol. Still, I have to take the small victories at this point.

Onwards and Upwards

Going forward it's all plans and strategies now. The way the doubles and blanks have fallen has suited me. I should be able to navigate blank GW34 fairly easily. Meaning the decision to play the free hit last week didn't come at too large a cost.

Now my general plan is to:

Switch Wood to Mateta this week.

Play the Assistant Manager chip in GW31 (probably putting it on Glasner).

Navigate the GW34 blank with transfers.

Wildcard GW35.

Bench Boost GW36.

Potentially I could also take a minus 4 to bring in Foden for Palmer this week. It would make sense to get the extra game. Plus, this week's Man City fixture (Leicester) is very nice. So that's feeling likely at the moment. Then next week I can bring in Dan Burn to get the extra Newcastle fixture (and cover for GW34, where Newcastle play Ipswich).

So it's all systems go.

I only come to share pain..

Another week where I can safety say it's a disaster after the first round of fixtures, lol

9 points :((

To be fair there's some bad luck here as well, so I can't self-flagellate too much.

- Semenyo blanks (and gets a yellow card), as Kluivert scores (just looked - he's on three bonus too).

- Robinson doesn't start, then comes on and gets a yellow.

- I bring in Cunha and bench Rogers. Rogers scores, Cunha blanks.

- Captain Palmer. Chelsea score four, he gets nothing.

😅

There's nothing more I can add really.

My Season Is OVER :(

Okay, we've finally reached the point: my season is over.

It's been a terrible season for me, comfortably my worst ever. However, up until this point I'd always held out hope that I could somehow turn it around. That with a good enough run and a bit of application I could somehow propel myself to somewhere near the 100k mark. Nothing spectacular, but a respectable rank, on a par with my other lower-end circa 100k ranks. Now even that is in the realms of fantasy. Actual fantasy that is, not fantasy football fantasy.

I ended up with a bit of a red arrow in GW25, thanks to Watkins and Trent Alexander-Arnold scoring. It's the current week - GW26 - that's delivered the fatal blow though. Just look at it !

Just twelve points so far :/

I made the mistake of gambling on the captaincy. I did have it on Salah yesterday evening. As I watched the Let's Talk FPL deadline stream though it occurred to me that my opportunities for differential moves were running out. 'Salah away to Man City' - if I can't gamble with the captaincy then when can I gamble?

I was already thinking in terms of differentials with my transfer of Luis Dias to Semenyo. Obviously Kluivert was the popular choice, so I thought I'd go different and hope for the best. (I have always been a big fan of Semenyo, so it felt apt.) Luckily, that didn't damage me as well, so I guess it could've been even worse. Of course, it's possible that Salah could blank tomorrow. With just twelve points it barely matters though at this point. Many will have Isak captain too.

Going Forward

I will still keep trying. And I'll stick with my general plan in regard the chips. I do still have a lot of chips to play, so you never know (oops, I'm getting my hopes up again - stop that!). It's the hope that kills ya. When I was sat watching Everton 2-0 up with three Everton defence I had my hopes up. The triple clean sheet and the Palmer hattrick was very much in play at that point. The minute Fernandes stepped up to take that second freekick I had the feeling it was curtains though.

Anyway, I'll switch off for the rest of this weekend. Write it off - along with the season. Then come back raring to go on Tuesday. Do I captain Palmer against Southampton then? I stuck it back on Salah when I did my bus team after the deadline. Perhaps I should switch it back now I've really got nothing to lose?

[2 minutes later]

I've put it back on Palmer,

 - Let's go for it!!!