GW3 Update

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 Our Gameweek 3 update is here.  With the next set of fixtures in taking place after the international break, you all have until the GW4 deadline on 11am on Saturday 11th September to make changes to your team.

 

Gameweek 3 Update

It happens every year. 

Every year the same. 

The international break appears,

To ruin our fun and our game.

 

Two weeks to wallow in glory,

Or lament our own misfortune,

Two weeks to ponder the changes we’ll make,

Before hostilities resume. 

 

That’s right folks.  The dreaded international break is here. Two weeks of no Premier League.  Two weeks of wondering whether England will beat Hungary and Andorra; watching Scotland inevitably concede last minute goals in one-goal defeats against Moldova and Austria; praying that the Welsh will qualify for the World Cup with games against Belarus and Czech Republic, or awaiting for the underwhelming disappointment which will result from Northern Ireland’s fixtures against Lithuania and Switzerland. 

 It will suffice, but it lacks the drama of the Premier League + Fantasy Football combo. 

Yet, before we agonise over our transfer and team decisions for GW4 – or muse over whether or not playing our Wildcard is a good idea – we need to assess the GW3 performance. 

Jack Arliss’ Purple Reina retains top spot in our inaugural FF league.  According to some tools I’m using to analyze our league and player performance, Jack placed just outside the top 1.5m (yes, 1.5 million) last season.  Yet this season, after three gameweeks, he’s in the top 10k overall, only 37pts off leading the top of the Overall League.  With a total 7.5m players around the world, that’s not bad at all.

This week’s Bench Warmer is Jack Worley whose Bielsa’s Barmy Army whose loyalty to Leeds players is admirable.  It paid off, with Bamford captained for a fortunate 16pt haul.  Dallas and Raphina, however, combined for only 4pts, while 19pts were left out of Jack’s starting line-up.  This includes Man Utd’s Maguire (7pts) and Burnley’s Wood (9pts). 

But also a special mention for Ayran Haworth and his team Ayrstrike.  This Ayrstrike seems to be something akin to “friendly fire” with some decisions that must have left Ayran cursing the Fantasy Football Gods.  Ayran switched out Lukaku and Westwood (total 4pts)  for Ings and Doucoure (total 7pts), taking a -4pt hit for a net gain of…….-1pt.   Not only that, but Ayran also left Buendia (10pts) and Keane (6pts) on the bench.  Lesser people may laugh at Ayran’s misfortune, but not us.  No.  We share Ayran’s story as a cautionary tale on the perils of taking points hits.

This brings us to the bottom of the table where Rhys Cadwallader-Jones’ C-J United is locked in battle with EHU Business School’s very own Dr Ian Gibson’s Baxter Athletic.  Yet, if anyone knows anything about relegation battles, its Dr Gibson.  As an alleged and rumoured supporter of Bolton Wanderers, the only question we need answered is whether Dr Gibson will summon forth the Spirit of Big Sam to avoid the ignominy of a last place finish, or whether the Curse of Owen Coyle/Neil Lennon will condemn him to the humiliation of a last placed finish. 

We’re still early on in the league, and as our game progresses, so we will take a deeper look at stats and patterns.  Nothing is yet decided, with 35 gameweeks left to go, and the possibility of other players joining our league when the new First Year students arrive. 

 

Academic Stuff

Next week – with the international break - we’ll be taking a look at how we can use FF to help build our understanding of critical thinking.  One of the challenges we face with “teaching” critical thinking is that it is very difficult to think critically about areas we are not familiar with.  What Fantasy Football gives us is a context we are all familiar with.  We can use this to help us think critically, by which I mean: to be able to state our position using reasoned argument (why are we making certain decisions), support our reasoning with empirical evidence (maybe using data on past performance), and also change our mind depending on the emergence of new information (looking at a player’s form, or their form against certain teams), and in dialogue with others (discussing with friends and colleagues who may offer different perspectives).  Our goal is to (a) formulate the strongest possible argument in order to help us (b) make the most informed decision.    

The same critical thinking principles apply to our assignments in Business School – and in the world of business more broadly.  How can we formulate the most persuasive arguments using reasoning (philosophy) and empirical evidence (science)?  Is critical thinking a skill?  Can we train people to become critical thinkers?  Or is it more like a disposition – a mindset that causes us to ask questions about the world and our understanding of it?  Or perhaps critical thinking is a disposition which also involves certain skills (collating research materials, identifying relevant and credible information, processing data)?  This may be particularly helpful for 2nd and 3rd years in understanding research methodology for the final year dissertation.  We’ll see if this can be done in a single post, or whether we might need to do this over multiple weeks. 

But for now, you have two weeks to consider your next moves. And after transfer deadline day, we all need to be thinking seriously about changes.  Will it be Lukaku? CR7? Maybe a little punt on the legend that is Salomon Rondon?  

A reminder that the GW4 Deadline is 11am on Saturday 11th September.

All the best

Mike Gow

Lecturer in Business and Management

gowm@edgehill.ac.uk

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