FPL: Covid-19 mayhem

This is what we now have on display when we check our teams:

An unprecedented scenario of all the Premier League matches suspended until the beginning of April. Corona-virus' evolution and management led to this drastic action and uncertainty about pretty much everything is still the predominant note. In fact, at this point in time, it seems highly unlikely that the championship will resume in a fortnight. Just read a piece in the Skysports website about the probability that this season won't even be finished. The next few days will tell us a bit more on how this will all pan out, starting from tomorrow, as an UEFA meeting is scheduled to discuss the possible postponement of next Summer's Euro'2020. Such decision would give the national leagues a bigger time frame to rearrange the fixtures and complete the sporting seasons. A couple of days later, on thursday, the PL clubs and the FA will gather as well and this meeting in particular should answer a couple of questions on what future steps will be taken in the Premier League. In the meanwhile, we can all speculate - which, as we all know, is delightful.

Despite all this, the FPL machine didn't stop and GW 30 is on. It results in a rather curious sight and in a once in a life time #1 GW rank! Hurray.

With all this Covid-19 chaos unfolding, I almost forgot about that infamous GW 24 and my Triple Captain chip utter failure...

I was having dinner at a chinese-japanese buffet the night that Liverpool faced Wolves. They were broadcasting the match. It was by the time I was going for the second round of sushi. I turned my eyes to the telly to check time and result when I saw Minamino was about to come on. I knew immediately that it was an enforced substitution and that it had to be one of Salah or Mané to make way. It all then happened very quickly: a couple of replays of what seemed to be the instant in which he got injured followed by the horrible, agonizing sight of Mané limping off the pitch. I felt like someone had pulled the rug from under me. I almost dropped the dish to the floor. More: I almost fell to the ground - where I would've stood in fetal position, weeping. Forever. It's one of those moments you'll remember forever where you were and what you were doing - similar to 9/11, but tragic.

Moving on. The day after, at the office, I saw myself facing one of what I now recognise as an FPL universal type. Have you ever came across an FPL manager that just saw it coming, that knew exactly that that was going to happen? Like - "Why did you use your TC chip on Mané this week? Silly you". He was this close from telling me that it was obvious that Mané was going to get injured in the first half of the first game of the double GW! This is a typical FPL manager, a clearly identified specimen: the Forecaster. I'm sure you've met one already.

But here's another one. You know that rookie guy that just joined in the office mini-league for the first season and, despite picking two or three holding midfielders and spending more than half of his budget in the back seven, he's been doing annoyingly well, aka better than you. One once told me, as we were heading to our cars after work, complaining about his most recent results: "And what about Cork? He simply stopped scoring!".

I come to realise, the more I think about this FPL managers types thing, that I am (or at least have been, here and there) both these types. In fact, I've been all the other types one can identify in its mini-leagues: the Bragger, that show-off guy that boasts about his own team and decisions whenever he does well (whenever he doesn't, you can't get a word on Fantasy from him); the Hapless, that self-centered dude that moans week in, week out about his unparalleled bad luck, even if this means groaning about the fact that Matic scored no more than 2 points for the second consecutive week; the Inactive, that mate that claims he stopped paying attention to FPL a long time ago because he doesn't have the time... I suppose every FPL manager is somewhat the convergence of all these rather hilarious types.

Before wrapping this one up, three quick notes:

1) I've had five green arrows in a row. Good stuff.

2) if the Premier League resumes, we'll have a hectic end of season. Manchester City, for instance, is at this point with four (4!) games to be re-scheduled. Promising stuff.
Oh, that's KdB, by the way.

3) one final word for the almighty Bruno Fernandes. What a legend! As a Sporting CP (not Sporting "Lisbon"...) supporter, it was sad to see him leaving. But it's great to see him having such an impact right from the start.
Fun fact: he was the highest-priced player of the most popular fantasy game of the portuguese Superliga. When he moved on to Manchester, he came with a price tag of 12.5 (!).

We shall see what the future holds. May the Games resume briefly. Fingers crossed.