How are you?

Yeah, I'm okay.

Thanks, Joe.

Yeah, like you just said then, wildcard last week, bench boost hopefully this week.

Um, wildcard, uh, I mean, it did okay.

8 out of the 11 players returned, but there was a lot of big scores about this week, and, uh-

Mm.

I've got Haaland at home to Sunderland as my captain.

It's just, yeah, who are you reluctant to get rid of if you're getting rid of them? And who's going to stay?

Yeah, I mean, when you look at the team this week, I mean, it's quite fine margins.

There's only a couple of players who really returned.

You mentioned Mbomo there and Isak as well.

And Kinski got the clean sheet, but it wasn't, you know, there's not holes throughout the team, but it was enough to have a decent week.

So I had Kinski in goal with six points.

Not much happening at the back.

So do you want to run us through the team and then we'll have a look at some of the big issues that you're considering?

Who are you happy with? Who are you sad with?

Yeah, I mean, a lot of big scores around this week.

I mean, I got 117, but I've seen some approaching 130, I think, maybe even a bit more.

So it's been a really good week for engaged managers, I think.

Yeah, so 117, I had Kinski.

He was the only player not to return in the XI.

He is a problem, given the way that Tottenham are playing, which will be rectified on my wildcard next week.

Yeah.

There might be some that you think, "Eh, do you know, I'll keep them."

Yeah, yeah.

Sure.

So, um, I had Kinsky in goal, who just got the two points.

Um, at the back I had double Arsenal.

White got 11, Calafiore got 9.

Happy with that.

Yeah.

... uh, and what, what the plans are.

Okay.

So, um, the team you can see there, it's set up in a 4-4-2.

Um, there is potential to move to a back five in game week two, um, which I'll talk about in a bit.

But yeah, 4-4-2 for now.

I've got, uh, Kinsky in goal, uh, from Tottenham Hotspur.

I've got double Arsenal defense at the back in Mosquera and Calafiori, and then I've got Ballard and Maguire as well.

Okay.

So what's, um, your reasoning that you're thinking not now, later?

Yeah.

Um, I've looked at bench boost one and two, and I, I think they're, like, fine strategies for, for...

I, I completely get it and I... and there is appeal in bench boosting and then wildcarding out of it, whereas I'm gonna be doing the reverse of that.

I'm gonna wildcard probably into a bench boost, and then I've obviously got a fair bit of money on the bench, which I'm gonna solely have to move away from.

But, um- I like the idea of the game waiting for a wildcard because I think I can potentially move off Bruno Fernandes.

And because of that then, if I choose to bench boost, be it in game week five or maybe in game week eight as well, because game week eight, a lot of the newly promoted teams, those cheap enablers, they've got home fixtures.

Yeah, these guys have just got plenty of ways they can get you something in any game week.

Yeah

...

in the first three, aren't they? I think it'll be a priority for Iraola going in to get Isak firing.

I think that will be one of his kind of main things he has to work on.

I th- I actually think there's a decent chance that Isak will be on penalties over Szoboszlai.

Um, I think the real early fixtures are good.

[upbeat music] Roll out.

Now at Lowe's, faster quotes start at the Lowe's Pro Desk.

world, the most

common policy for non-medical use is prohibition.

So use is prohibited and criminal laws are applied to those who are in possession or supply or use of cannabis.

But these are increasingly being replaced by more lenient policies such as decriminalisation, And decriminalisation would typically remove those criminal penalties for possession, but not for supply.

And then moving to more liberal approaches, we can have legalisation, which can be quite strictly controlled.

So in some cases, there might be very restricted access to a legal supply chain, for example, free pharmacies and home cultivation and cannabis social clubs.

And then on the other end, as the level of commercialization increases, we have some legal markets where cannabis is sold on an increasing array of different premises, an array of different products in a way that appeals to adults and is highly commercially driven.

But I think that the tricky thing is that the politics and the demographics can be so different even from state to state in the U.S. What do you think the challenges are with policymakers taking this evidence and applying it in different cultures, different states with different types of demographics? Yeah.

So let's start with the goalkeepers, nice and cheap in those positions.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Just wanted to go really, really cheap and push the budget further forward.

I think both will be good for scouting bonus.

Really low ownership for the Canada goalkeeper.

It was a bit of uncertainty if he would be the number one, but I think Jesse Marsh has come out in the last 24 hours and said he's going to be the starting keeper.

So as soon as I heard that, I thought I'd get him in.

Let's start with the German double up because that's quite exciting against Curacao.

Yeah

... um, the, the, the kind of the defense first approach in so many of the games.

Um, yeah, we, we might not get back to certainly those levels of, uh, 2021, '22, but I still think this week, I think it makes sense to kind of target the attacking picks.

Mm

... into Europe.

Um, so that stadium's just gonna be absolutely buzzing.

Um, they don't score many goals, Sunderland, um, but I can see them beating Chelsea.

I think the defense w- they capitulated recently, didn't they?

With that, here's my conversation with Tom Freeman.

I was born and raised in Kansas City, went to the University of Notre Dame, played football for Lou Holtz, which was very impactful on the trajectory of my life.

And from that, I ended up-- I had a short stint with the Kansas City Chiefs, but then I went back and got my MBA from the University of Notre Dame, concentration in security analysis.

And so I've always been mathematical and quantitatively.

That world just seems to make sense to me.

But I started Merrill in, uh, 2002, left Merrill, went to UBS.

When I was at UBS, they asked me to join their family office consulting group.

So how do you relieve the burden?

Yeah

... he's in my first team anyway for now.

Um, and then I've got the two Palace defenders.

Munoz has just got two, Lacroix got one.

Uh, the others did better.

Gabriel 11 and O'Riley five.

Um, obviously some still matches, still games to play there as well for a few of them.

... run us through your team and what your early thoughts are.

Mm

... and was a bit of a doubt as well.

I don't think he'd been spotted in training.

So I kind of thought Aaronson, he looks pretty nailed on here to play in one of those attacking midfield roles.

Um, he was in all the predicted teams that, or most of them, I think there was one that he wasn't in, but he was in most of the predicted teams.

So I thought, take a bit of a s- a, a punt on that one.

Mm.

Lacazette just got the two.

Mm-hmm.

Obviously, a lot of people had Watkins and Salah and things like that.

So I tried to differentiate a little bit but didn't pay off, and I ended up having Anderson on my bench.

But I don't think I can complain too much.

Decent score.

Um, so I had Raya in goal who got 10 points.

Think his first double digit haul since game week one.

Yeah

... probably okay with everyone else.

Yeah, they're letting the team down a bit at the moment, aren't they? But, um, yeah, so 53 points free hit.

Um, I've got Dalot on six.

Um, at the back I've got Hill with four.

He got the def con.

Senesi just two, and then Strout got seven.

Um, midfield, Cherki-

Mm.

So, yeah, just take us through your team, who you're happy with, who you're sad with, and you've got a three double digit haulers here, which is great.

Yeah, so the transfer, I just used one transfer and I took out Ekotike and bought in Bowen.

So that paid off.

I've rolled the other free transfer, which I'll use later in the season.

So at the back, I had Raya conceded a couple to Bournemouth, just got the one point.

Dallo was a sub.

He had been ill last week and I think that probably influenced Carrick's decision.

one is there's no Bruno Fernandes but that's a bit of a spoiler there for those listening to this take us through your team and yeah I mean just go go straight for the back just start from the back who you're playing who you're starting why are you backing these players

Like, do I expect them to keep a clean sheet away at Burnley? Not massively.

But you could say Burnley are quite predictable.

They're quite bad.

most that is true that's a good point they've won once since game week nine um they haven't they've scored in one two three four scored in four of their last eight so 50 50 chance um i i don't think that's i obviously yeah that's the big question if if brighton win three nil You know, you may be looking at seven, eight and eight from that world card.

Those three players are probably going to win out and make the world card worth it.

And then, you know, maybe a Palmer penalty and suddenly you're flying.

But yeah, I don't know.

Arsenal have Fulham at home Chelsea who you'll have a lot of from the double have Forest at home City go away to Everton a lot of the teams who double apart from Brighton have a good 35 fixture to set up for the bench boost 35 is a better week to play your bench boost than 36's that's your thought process Tom

Speaking of chips and strategy then, so what is your kind of immediate take after the FA Cup results and the confirmed doubles for the six teams in GW33?

Yeah, so I think you can see my team.

I think it lends itself to a game week 33 free hit, game week 35 wild card, game week 36 bench boost.

Just because I've got a lot of players here who have got fixtures in game week 34.

I did look at the game week 32 wild card, but it would have meant I mean, I know it's part of a bigger plan, but it would mean probably tripling up on Chelsea and City, who play each other this week.

I probably want some Bournemouth in there, away at Arsenal.

What is it, Leeds as well, away at Man United.

shots,

And you were talking a bit before we started as well, there could be something around the Leeds-West Ham game, which we thought might not go move, but that might change if Leeds win.

Yeah, so the first thing that came out was that Leeds played Burnley in game week 35.

That fixture has been moved for television purposes to the Friday of game week 35.

We originally thought that if Leeds progress in the FA Cup, their game week 34 fixture would stay in game week 34 by just moving a few days later.

It can still do that, but now they've got to play on the Friday and it would work out that they would have like an FA Cup semi-final on a Saturday.

They would then play Bournemouth on the, they would have to play on the Tuesday and then they would play Burnley on the Friday.

Now, if you're the Leeds United board or the manager, I don't think you're going to be completely happy about that.

You could wildcard in 32 if you wanted as well.

in game week 32 so you could wildcard um depending on what happens but you might just keep this um and then i'll show you um why perhaps you could be minded to keep this um but just run through the team um yeah and what if anything you're minded to do here

Yeah, so I've got two free transfers because I rolled one of them last week and I've got 0.8 million in the bank.

So the bus team, I've got Raya in goal at home against Bournemouth, Gabrielle at home against Bournemouth too, so really happy with that.

I've got Mukuele who will probably come in at home against Tottenham and I've got Dallow at home against Leeds there.

Midfield, I've got Gordon away at Palace.

I like that fixture, Palace are playing Fiorentina on either side, so...

I think that's an opportunity to get a few more points for him.

And the other one, and it all depends on things we don't know what's going to happen in the FA Cup.

And there's always going to be a dip.

Yeah, I can't see a clean sheet at St. James' Park either.

But yes.

Yeah, so Dalot, yeah, just the two points.

But yeah.

Feel pretty optimistic about him going forward.

In midfield, Wilson just returned three, but the fact he's just fit is the good news ahead of Burnley in blank game week 31.

So do you want to just take us through your team and what your sort of early thoughts are in terms of using perhaps all three free transfers or just maybe two?

So do you want to run through your team, who you're captaining and what potential moves you may or may not make? You've got two free transfers and point five million in the bank.

Yeah, that's it.

So I've got that Arsenal double up again.

I've got Raya and Gabriel at home against Everton.

I've got Hill away at Burnley and then I've got Dallow at home to Villa at the moment.

Now there is options there.

Mukwele, we think he's going to be back soon.

Even Aston Villa are home to West Ham.

So do you want to run through your team? And I think we've just found out there may be another flag added in a second.

Potentially, yeah.

So, yeah, 89 points.

I made three free transfers.

I took out Richards, Enzo and Strand-Larsen and moved them to Hill, Wilson and Thiago.

That was partly with game week 31 in mind with the two Palace players going out and then Enzo's just really... pointed recently so the transfers paid off um obviously as you can see but i'll just run through the team so we got um we got ryer and goal with three points gabrielle got nine he got the assist and he got the defcon and uh the bonus as well dallo just won hill two um In midfield, Rice 5, Semenya away.

Fernandes was my captain.

What are you going to do?

And at least they got a clean sheet out of him.

Yeah, yeah.

And it's needed this week because nobody else did much.

Haaland got the assist and then he got the extra bonus point, didn't he? Or the bonus point.

I think he just got one.

He got 12 points.

Ekertike blanked two points.

But if money was no object, which one would you go for? Would it still be O'Reilly?

So what's going to go through your mind if you get the news that Haaland is out for a week or it's a bit dubious?

Yeah, so I've got, you can see I've got two free transfers.

I've got 0.5 in the bank.

So the team, I've got Raya in goal.

in the North London derby, and Gabriel as well.

And then Mukwele and Richards, who got decent home fixtures.

So that feels fairly good this week.

What do you think about the attackers? And also the second thing, if you can remember after you talked about the attackers, defenders, which defender to get in?