Fantasy football, update 3

League position: 7th (out of 11, up two places)

Overall ranking: 904,185 out of 1,932,562

So I caved in. Less than a month into the season I decided I'd got my tactics wrong and made wholesale changes. Out went Carragher, Mikel, Beattie, Swartzer and Torres, in came Inssua, Hunt, Defoe, Sorensen and Rooney. This should have cost me 16 points but I played my once-in-a-season wildcard and made all these changes at no cost.

And, on balance, I was fairly happy. Stephen Hunt got an assist and Wayne Rooney was man of his match (though Torres also scored). More typical was the injury picked up by Jermaine Defoe who proved himself to be the classic Fantasy Football sub, i.e. signed at least a week too late. Still, 61 points was the third highest in my League and respectability is on the horizon.

This improvement in my fortunes plus the international weekend ahead means I can relax a bit and maybe even dream of a top-four finish. First place is nearly 50 points away already and so is truly in the realms of fantasy.

Foster (Not a clean sheet but bonus points for general good behaviour)

Cole (Loads of points with a goal and a clean sheet, good lad)

Insua

Vermaelen

Lampard (Two assists making up for lack of goals)

Fletcher (Amazingly managed to avoid a booking let alone a sending-off)

Noble

Hunt (Got an assist, should play every week, a decent debut)

Rooney (Man of the match)

Defoe (Troubled)

Bent (Worth waiting on?)

Subs (All likely to play if my starters don't):

Sorensen

Samba

Cahill

Mascherano