The Pre-Match Preamble – Gameweek 10

Have I been the victim of Fantasy Football mind games?

Anyone who listened to this week’s ScoutCast will know of my reluctance to break up my team and yet, with Granville’s exasperated taunts rattling in my head, yesterday evening, I did just that.

Ultimately, the lure of catching a potential points haul from Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez proved too strong. It’s meant I’ve had to sacrifice Raheem Sterling – a player who I’d grown attached to having snapped him up in my initial lineup.

I’m not the only one making move. Sterling has been cast aside by other 120,000 Fantasy Premier League managers as a result of the great Sanchez scramble of Gameweek 10. There’s plenty of logic to back that up – Sterling has maintained his performances but has struggled to find an end product without the presence of Daniel Sturridge to convert chances and panic defenders. Following a tricky trip to a resurgent Newcastle, Sterling will face Chelsea at Anfield – a cauldron awaits and that’s an scenario that looks impossible to predict. Sterling has dropped to 8.7 this morning so, even if I were to go back to him, tail between legs, the funds lost are now minimal.

The case for Sanchez is also strong. Arsenal have frustrated in the past but will surely dispose of Burnley by two or more goals at the Emirates. Sanchez has scored or assisted 70% of Arsenal’s strikes this season when on the pitch – if Arsenal are ruthless, Sanchez will surely be amongst the points for a third consecutive Gameweek. In addition, with Olivier Giroud nearing fitness, I may well be forced to sell Danny Welbeck to avoid future rotation over the Christmas period. I’ve got my reason to downgrade the former United man and opt for either Saido Berahino or Diafra Sakho, investing the funds back into the squad to address the barrel-scraping bench-fillers I now possess. Sanchez will be my only Arsenal cover very soon and that’s something I can live with.

I’m happy with these arguments. I’ve weighed it all up and feel I’ve made the right decision and yet, I can’t stop the doubts from creeping in.

I’ve sold on an outstanding player in Sterling and a reliable source of points in Southampton’s Ryan Bertrand in order to acquire a hot property who, for all his consistency, could quite easily draw a blank and frustrate. More to the point, I’ve reacted to the cajoling of a Fantasy Football rival; that never feels comfortable.

However, I cast my mind back to last season and my stubborn reluctance to admit errors and jump on the bandwagons that were to prove so fruitful. I stuck with players that I had acquired early and backed their ability to eventually keep pace with the heavy-hitters I’d missed. It was like I had some loyalty – not to the players but to the logic and reason I’d used when I made the decision to sign them.

The Sterling situation was like that. I congratulated myself that I’d identified the Liverpool man as the optimum heavy-hitter for my lineup – I’d got that right. However, if I was to bask in that and keep him in, just so I could look back and admire that one correct decision, I’d be missing the fact that Sanchez has now emerged as the new force. That’s basically one area where I’ve been failing: keeping faith with players, or rather, keeping faith with my initial choices and decisions, has been a major weakness.

Even correct decisions in Fantasy Football have a “best before” date – the Sterling one was beginning to look curly around the edges.