A few days out, and as the weekends fixtures begin to take place across Europe, I start gathering my thoughts for MD2.

⚽ EARLY HEADLINES:

🔥 Players I’d love to have in MD2: Lewandowski, Salah, Raphina, Thuram, Dimarco, Guirassy, Adeyemi, Diaz…

➡️ Likely transfers for me (discussion below): Kane & Goncalves ❌, Lewa & Salah ✅

🚑 Key players set to miss MD2: Goncalves, Rodri (out for season), Mbappe, Ter Stegen.

I’m not 100% sure what i’m going to be doing with my MD2 team yet. 

Initially I thought I already had my MD2 plans sorted and ready to go. For MD1 I left £2.5m in the bank ready to do Kane → Lewa & Goncalves → Salah.

These moves seemed perfect as they’d bring in the ideal Tuesday captain (Lewandowski) and the ideal Wednesday captain (Salah). See here my current MD2 team:

After MD1 though, i’m doubting my transfer plans.

Kane scored FOUR goals, and even though THREE of them were penalties, Bayern scored 5 goals outside of them. They looked frightening. Kane now has 10 goals in his first 6 games (5 in 4 in Bundesliga). It looks like another electric season for the generational striker.

My original prediction was Villa would keep them quiet at Villa park in MD2. And they’ve a rejuvenated Barcelona at the Camp Nou in MD3. Can I really stick with the plan?

Other issues I have could feed in to this debate. The impressive Goncalves (4g3a in 5 games) is set to miss MD2 with an injury. Not only does this give me a player I should probably replace this week, but it could affect the output of my £7.5m Sporting Lisbon (Gyokeres) striker.

Does this force my hand?

I HAVE to get Salah for MD2. I set up my whole team (and left £2.5m in the bank) to make sure I had both the Egyptian king and Trent (already got, and a bonus return MD1) for the home game against a poor Bologna who only got their first win of the season last week (against Monza). I can’t see another way (other than Kane & Goncalves out, Salah & Lewa in) to get the team I want.

Kane may well have to go…

My other issues are going to be Ramsey and Bogarde. I don’t regret getting them (Ramsey 9 points! And Villa got a CS but Bogarde injured at HT - gutted!) but I won’t be able to see Villa’s starting team before the deadline. Given I want Lewa & Salah, I think i’ll need to keep them for now and try to put out that fire at later date.