GM football fans. This is Route One, we’re the football CliffNotes for the pop quiz you didn’t know was coming.

Routers, we must apologise.

Yesterday we tried to be fancy by changing our email service. This meant our email might have landed directly in the depths of the unknown - or your junk folder.

Booo!

We didn’t follow our advice: keep it simple! Well, that’s what we’ll be doing from now on. Promise. 🙂 

Today’s briefing is a ~4 min read:

1. Red flags… red flags everywhere… 🚩

2. On this day in 1872… the story of the first-ever national team 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 

3. Fantasy Premier League… therapy for managers 🧘🏻

Morning Brief 🗞️

Hats off to Man United and Galatasaray…

Statistics are everywhere in football.

Most don’t paint a clear picture. But there’s one from last night’s game that does…

33 chances in 88 minutes.

This is an honourable mention to both teams for a Champions League classic.

The game ended 3-3 and it could have easily been 10-10.

The highlights can be found here. Enjoy.

RED FLAGS… UNITED’S RECRUITMENT ISSUE 🚩

Tinder can be fun… but there’s nothing worse than going on a date with someone with red flags.

You know? They have seven cats… they repeatedly mispronounce your name… or mention their ex just one too many times… eesh.

But, for the most part, it’s harmless… just a wasted Saturday night.

What about if you have the weight of a multi-billionaire dollar internationally-recognised club with a trophy cabinet the size of Maguire’s head on your shoulders?

Well, that’s where the red flags stop being harmless fun.

Right, Eric?

Let’s run through United’s red flags… one by one:

🚩 Mason Mount… yet to register a goal or assist for United at a £60m price tag.

🚩 Sofyan Amrabat… struggled to consistently perform during his loan spell from Fiorentina.

🚩 Marcus Rashford… 37 shots and 2 goals this season…

🚩 Casemiro… well, he just doesn’t really care. Do you blame him?

🚩 Jadon Sancho… remember him?

But, at Route One, we’re not here to bash United.

We’re here to show you that United’s problem isn’t necessarily a tactical one. And fans shouldn't jump to conclusions about Ten Haag’s future.

It’s a recruitment issue.

And with players like Timo Werner and unproven Portuguese winger Jota - currently in the Saudi league - as their key January targets, it makes us think that they haven’t learnt their lesson yet.

On this day in 1872… 🗓️

On 30th November 1872, the first-ever official international match was played.

It was England vs Scotland at the West of Scotland Cricket Club ground in Patrick, Glasgow.

The attendance beats even today’s Saudi games, with a crowd of around 4,000, each paying an entry fee of a shilling. That’s around £4.65 by our calculations - not too bad.

The match, initially scheduled for a 2 pm kick-off, was delayed for 20 minutes. The teams were gathered “with some difficulty, each side losing some of their best men almost at the last moment.”

Some things never change… as 11 Scottish players were members of just one team, Queen’s Park. On the other hand, England contained players from nine clubs.

The Scots looked better as the Queen’s Park players gained an advantage “through knowing each others’ play.”

Despite England playing better in the second half, they still conceded chances. But the Scots had a goal disallowed in the first half after the ‘umpires’ deemed the ball had cleared the tape that was used to represent the crossbar.

The game ended 0 - 0.

While goalless, the teams were praised: “It was allowed to be the best game ever seen in Scotland,” wrote the Aberdeen Journal.

FPL THERAPY 🧘🏼

Just like a toxic relationship, FPL can pull you in and spit you back out.

GW13 spat a lot of people out…

Like a good therapist, we are going to make you feel better and give you some long-term solutions to get to the root of your FPL problems.

So… sit back, relax and enjoy our take on:

1. How the current FPL champ is doing (spoiler… not very well).

2. Transfer tips from a proven FPL model… A.K.A your long-term fix.

1/ THE CURRENT FPL CHAMP SITS 2,829,180 IN THE WORLD.

It has been a while since we checked in on how the current FPL champion, Ali Jahangirov is performing.

And it’s not too well from what we can see…

• The FPL champs GW13 team ranked 7,322,430 out of 10,341,100 players.

• He sits at 2,829,180 in the world right now.

• He’s already used his first Wildcard in GW9.

• He has taken three hits so far this season. He took three hits in total in the first 16 game weeks last year!

Key takeaway: You’re not alone. Even the best managers get run-ragged by FPL sometimes.

2/ THE LONG TERM SOLUTION.

Someone on Twitter (Spiros Valouxis) has created a useful FPL model.

Last season, he joined in gameweek 25 and finished 1st place in the ‘gameweek 25’ league - the league for people who started their FPL journey at gameweek 25.

To be honest, we doubt there was much competition… but he’s doing a pretty good job this season so we think we can trust his model.

His model has produced the "optimum” GW13 wildcard team.

Here it is:

It even comes with instructions on who to transfer in and when.

Our advice: match this team as best you can for the next few game weeks.

Once you get back on your feet emotionally, we can talk about going solo.

EXTRA-TIME ⏱️

Hayley McQueen’s dad was seriously famous. It’s not Steve McQueen… it’s Manchester United and Leeds legend Gordon McQueen. She joins Kelly Cates, daughter of Kenny Dalglish as Sky presenters who come from a rich football heritage.

”Don’t get too close” is the conclusion as the France 98’ World Cup winning team brainstormed how to stop Brazilian Ronaldo.

Is this the 7th division of the Welsh league or the Champions League? A volley any professional footballer would treasure.

Bizarre, bizarre, bizarre. Barnsley scored a unique goal to win 1-0. What is the striker doing? And what is the keeper doing?

What’s the best way to defend against the Arsenal invincibles? Stand still. Well, that is according to Jamie Carragher who is still having nightmares about playing against the 2004 Gunners…

MEME 😆