The Pre-Match Preamble – Gameweek 11

After last season – my worst ever – it’s perhaps understandable that my current position feels precarious. Nestled in the top 1,000, while I’ve ended up there before, I can’t recall reaching such a rank so early in the campaign.

Now I feel that I have to seek out that precious balance between putting faith in the players that got me there, whilst choosing the right opportunities to take risks.

I’m not particularly happy with my Gameweek 11 transfer. Stewart Downing presented a convincing case but I can’t quite get my head around his revival. This is a player who almost reached legendary status in Fantasy terms as a player who flattered to deceive. A constant supplier of futile crosses at Liverpool and Villa, he’s suddenly been revived by the tactical brilliance of Sam Allardyce. It doesn’t get any easier to understand when you read it in black and white.

I’m a little nervy that I’ve committed to Downing and Big Sam. These are not individuals I’d normally trust with the fortunes of my Fantasy line-up.

Gylfi Sigurdsson has gone. In contrast to Downing, this is a player I trusted. In a way, he epitomised the situation I’m now in. Sigurdsson would have ticked by for me: he was a reassuringly safe option, whereas taking on Downing, pocketing the cash and using that to seek out differentials, opens me up to a far more uncertain world of risk and return.

Thanks to Downing, I can look at finding short-term differentials – that’s the major benefit from this week’s deal. I may boost my backline for a Gameweek or even bring in someone like Wilfried Bony for his approaching home encounters with Palace and QPR.

I now have options. That can work against me – last season demonstrated that I’m more than capable of making catastrophic choices. But, having earned a decent rank, I have to give myself the opportunity to make decisions that cement it and even threaten to push me on further. Holding Sigurdsson and being constrained by a lack of funds would have likely seen me batten down the hatches and drift.

I’ll get to play with my cool one million after the break. Right now, it’s over to Downing and Allardyce to justify my decision. I just want it known – if Downing does the business – it’s all down to Big Sam.