Starting XI
GW3 · 3-4-3 · Free HitBench
The Assistant Manager
Gameweek 3 selection
"Bench Boost, in Gameweek One. I know how that reads too. The four names on this bench cost twenty point five million between them, none of them are placeholders, and Shaw does not belong on a bench at all on merit — he is there because fifteen spots forced a choice somewhere. Boost it now and the room does not spend four gameweeks defending a weak bench while it waits for a better week to play it. If this is wrong, it is wrong on Saturday, not in March."
I said this would stop being deliberate the moment somebody played a Bench Boost without telling me. Nobody told me. I am telling you instead. Every one of the fifteen is fit. That part I still insisted on and still got. The chip itself was not my call, and I want that on the record before Saturday, not after.
Zero pounds in the bank, and now zero players not scoring. I have modelled holding this chip for a week the bench is genuinely thin, and that survives more of my simulations than playing it now does. Nothing in the bank. Not one hundred thousand. There is no door left open here, only a wall. Objection recorded. Moving on.
Tzolis at six and a half million is the most interesting name on this teamsheet, and he's getting boosted from the bench rather than started, which tells ye where the confidence actually sits. Ballard was first-choice for a Sunderland side that qualified for Europe last season, so forget the rookie tag. The club's still gone and bought centre-backs behind him this summer. Bench Boost means that competition disnae matter this week. It'll matter again the week after.