Gameweek 16

Well what a week both for us, and our fellow Premiership managers –  welcome to the Prem, Nathan Jones, one tricky match away at Anfield, before you’re ‘gone too long’, and big up Jesse Marsch, it appears we ‘never can say goodbye’, as you somehow dodged the sack again with a thrilling Crysencio Sumerville inspired comeback! For the rest of us managers GW15 was also a rollercoaster,  full of joy and misery in equal measure – buckle up for a long update everyone………… 

First of all, let’s check in on the standings, it’s been a cracking season so far, and hugely competitive – top of the Evie Dove League once again is ‘Crystal Pellis’ on 906 points, closely followed as ever by ‘Hotel? Thiago’ (904) and ‘Romford Rejects’ (901), with many of you in hot pursuit behind – only 42 points separates the top 20, the kind of incremental haul that’s only one good gameweek or a differential captain away.

GW16 also gives you one last opportunity before the break to have a crack at the range of prizes – no Free Hits or Triple Captains last week, so ‘Tinchy Sneijder’ (85 Free Hit points)  and ‘Neil Madrid’ (94 Triple Captain points) remain as your targets to aim for – wouldn’t you love to take the lead into this nice long break, or maybe it’s one to gun for in the second half of the season particularly when the inevitable double gameweek arrives??

‘K.E.T.H UTD’ also remains in situ with the highest (non TC) gameweek score (118 points), however a couple of you had a right good bash at that last week. Tied on 86 points we had ‘I love Jesus’ and ‘KTFC’ as our high scorers of the week. Seeing KTFC top of the pile was particularly pleasing, 86 points is phenomenal in a week in which the average score was 53, AND I have seen first hand the hard work, dedication and research that goes on behind the scenes every week from ‘KTFC’…….. I am delighted to finally see that rigorous approach paying dividends!  ‘KTFC” (and of course ‘I love Jesus’), take a bow!!! Commiserations also to the team on 83 points who thought they were top scorer of the gameweek, you will have to wait just that bit longer for your first mention my friend!!

In captaincy news, the Haaland phenomenon continued, over 55% of you stuck with him as your main man, and he rewarded you by notching a late penalty off the bench, also admitting the nerves were jangling, as he, much like Matt Hancock, tried to prove that he is indeed human, just like the rest of us……keep those PR machines rolling boys! Other inspired choices were……………. 

Trippier (24)  – thanks to Eddie Howe repeating his GW9 trick of subbing him off before the late Southampton goal, well done everyone (he’s in everyone’s team right?  If not – where have you been all season??!!), but in particular well done  ‘Neil Madrid’ and ‘Nemos Wonky Fins’ who gave him the armband.

Maddison (22), his last few points for Leicester, prior to his inevitable move to the North East in January (I’ll keep saying it – Newcastle for the title anyone?), well  done ‘Mocking bird fc’ – you and Gareth Southgate both finally clocking that this guy is actually pretty good!

Salah (30)  – amazing that the EK is now a differential, congratulations ‘Run of the Milner’, ‘No Mane, Mo problem’ and ‘To Elland Back’ for opting for the Liverpool star, incredible that only three of you went for him. However surely he’s going to feature highly on the unlimited transfer shopping list, bang on form and no World Cup, very very tempting……..

And then of course there is the other end of the scale – let’s chat about Joao Cancelo……nice idea the four of you that gave him the armband – a home game versus a Fulham side missing their main goalscorer, surely a clean sheet, hopefully an assist or two, maybe some bonus points, all topped off with that lovely smug feeling of having nailed a differential captain on Saturday afternoon………..what could possibly go wrong?…..ah yes – our old favourite the RED CARD! And to add insult to injury, the guy that then scored the resulting penalty was the most benched player of the gameweek – over 30 teams in our league had the old “Cancelo in the starting line up and Andreas on the bench combo” that’s 30 people that had their Saturdays utterly ruined!! 

However, as the old saying goes, there is always someone worse off than you………. spare a thought for one time leader  ‘Wilss wanderers’…..Having had a sleepless night on Saturday following the anguish of captaining Cancelo and benching Andreas, Wilss turned his attention to Sunday, and was just about to celebrate Saka (in the starting 11), scoring directly from a corner, when up popped Gabriel (sat on the subs bench arm in arm with Andreas) with a completely unnecessary nudge over the line to snaffle 15 pointless points, leaving poor bemused Saka to contribute a relatively miserable return of 5 points for the ‘assist’. Cue a miserable Sunday too!……..

Meanwhile another former leader of the league ‘Forest in the Prem’ took a gamble on one of the mystery prizes being allocated to ‘highest number of points left on the bench in a gameweek’. You may recall that ‘Scmaccaroni Cheese’ laid down the gauntlet in gameweek 11, with an incredible 32 points in reserve. However, I am pleased to announce that ‘Forest in the Prem’, literally smashed this out of the water with a quite staggering 38 (thirty eight) points. If only you had known he was also awake, you could have given Wilss a call and drowned your sorrows together (some kind of Fantasy Football helpline?). Anyway, the roll of honour was Gabriel (him again) – 15 points, Gros – 9 points, Andreas (yep, him again) – 6 points, and Ward – 6 points. Seriously this is ‘Gros Mismanagement’ – thank you ‘Remi Garde’ for the new name – I’ve added you to the mix for the £50 prize!!

So that’s it for this week,  Gameweek16, the last one before the World Cup, and the Unlimited Transfer Bonanza…..ALL CHANGE!!!!! There is a 13 hour window from 11:00 on Saturday when prices will rise so if you’ve got your eye on someone get in early – after that every price will be frozen until the deadline for GW17 on BOXING DAY!! Enjoy the gameweek everyone, and all the best from all of us at the Evie Dove Foundation.