The Pre-Match Preamble – Gameweek 35

Pregnant with huge expectation of our own making, Gameweek 34 cluttered our thinking and dominated our strategy.

To varying degrees, most of us emerged from Thursday’s final act content with the end results of a six-day points-fest.

But once totals were tallied and as we began to pick through the bones, the regrets and doubts started to mount. We almost had to stop for fear of further punishing revelations as we analysed deeper.

Hindsight – that wonderful weapon wielded by Saturday evening gloaters – certainly starts to nag at those who, like me, threw down their Bench Boost chip.

Through fresh eyes it’s clear that I had two prime Triple Captain candidates on offer in Aguero and Sanchez, but chose instead to recruit and back a cast of mediocrity from our bench.

My raggy doll lineup will now limp over the line for Gameweek 35, somewhat revived by a shot of quality as I sheepishly open the door for Harry Kane to return.

I openly admit that I was somewhat carried away with the Wildcard/Bench Boost scenario in a double Gameweek. It stacked up to provide a heightened level of excitement and anticipation that I found just too difficult to resist; new exotic forbidden fruit in a troubled season.

In the end, I’ve got enough out of the six days to convince myself that I “won”. I’ve enjoyed a significant rank hike, but it was perhaps a pyrrhic victory at best.

Urgent repairs are required and I look ahead to Gameweek 37’s fixtures bewildered as to how I can squeeze some worth from my remaining Triple Captain chip.

I’m worried that I’ve sold the soul of my squad for the promised treasures of Gameweek 34 and, as the final weekends go by, the real cost of that dramatic Wildcard surgery will reveal itself.

Harry Kane comes in this morning, partly as a Captain choice but also as a reassuring figure that represents the pedigree of my pre-Gameweek 33 lineup.

I can look on him in my forward line and keep my gaze locked, preventing it from wandering over to Mitrovic, or looking up and catching sight of Lanzini’s boyish grin.

A couple of weeks ago these figures prompted excitement and hope. Now they’re reminders of how easily I was seduced by the allure of an easy three-figure Gameweek. That cheap thrill may well prove costly.

I got what I wanted, now I want to forget: removing all the traces that act as reminders and hope that I get away with it.