The Pre-Match Preamble – Gameweek 32

Many times this season I’ve moved into the market early. A contentious issue, there has been much chatter on the merits of making hasty transfers in order to pre-empt and beat a price change.

Generally, it’s worked in my favour – early ventures have helped maintain a decent team value, and I’ve yet to be punished for a blunder. But there have been close shaves, most recently in the last 24-hours.

Gameweek 32 presented another troublesome scenario. With Dele Alli conspicuous by his absence in my squad, I’d exposed myself to an obvious weakness ahead of Spurs’ home meeting with Watford.

With the Hornets dropping like…err..flies…the need to correct the Alli situation gradually morphed from a concern to an all-out emergency.

Walter Mazzarri – bless him – couldn’t have signposted the situation any clearer. In his words, Watford have “no defence”, and they are up against arguably the form side which includes a midfielder who has scored 12 goals in 14 Gameweeks.

At one point in the Watford press conference, I’m almost certain that the grizzled Mazzarri’s muttered in Italian, “so I’m going big on Spurs in my Fantasy team. Captain Alli. Fantastic!”. The translator must have refused to play ball: maybe, like me, she didn’t have Alli at that point either.

Rarely are we faced with such a one-sided scenario. The Premier League, particularly at this point, remains unpredictable but Mazzarri, in his most convincing Godfather moment yet – appears to be dangling an offer we can’t refuse.

Having been beaten soundly at Vicarage Road with Spurs scoring four, Watford will now make the away trip with their back four depleted, their keeper nursing a knock and three or four other players dead on their feet.

Meanwhile, Spurs are buzzing from a late rally in South Wales and have a clear motivation to win and win big.

I had to act and, come Thursday evening, I was poised to take the extreme option of trebling on the Spurs midfield, installing Alli alongside Son Heung-min and Christian Eriksen and, with a heavy heart, sacrificing Gylfi Sigurdsson.

I was totally convinced and just moments from pressing the button, but then gathered my thoughts and opted to postpone the move for 24-hours. A wise and perhaps somewhat fortunate decision.

Friday afternoon’s unexpected update on Harry Kane’s injury immediately transformed the landscape for us all.

Kane is back in the equation ahead of schedule, influencing not only our long-term thinking ahead of the double Gameweek 34, but also our immediate trades.

Disturbed by the decision to oust Sigurdsson, Kane’s return – which will surely threaten Son Heung-min’s pitch time – soothed the situation and laid out an obvious new path.

Not for the first time, I’d come close to an almost calamitous alteration; had the price changes driven the decision, I would have likely committed. I would have still justified the move in my head, but it would have been argument difficult to swallow.

The Alli problem had worried me so much, when I stumbled and settled on a solution, the excitement and enthusiasm almost took over.

I’ve often fallen for this Fantasy Football phenomenon – the sudden discovery of an idea that fits can sometimes create such elation, I can get carried along, convinced of its merits.

So here’s another note for my manager’s self-help manual: it’s great to devise cunning plans but, very often, it’s wise to put them on hold and resist acting on the impulse created by the moment of discovery.

Now we just need Mazzarri to keep his side of the bargain. Field eleven strangers, roll over and let Alli and co tickle Watford’s tummy and send us all into the three o’clocks with a big score.

What could possibly go wrong?