“Mukiele’s 17-pointer ruined my week”: An FPL allegory

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In our latest community article, FPL_Runpharm highlights the ‘grass is always greener’ mindset that can permeate Fantasy Football.

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This is a true story. It happened to someone I know, and it might happen to you too. In the FPL community, there is no shortage of similar examples every week.

This belongs to the FPL managers Omar Alderete (£4.1m), planned to Bench Boost, then saw a yellow flag. He thought about swapping Nordi Mukiele (£4.0 million). Same price point, same team – why not? However, he decided to wait for further news. When photos of Alderete in training emerged, he felt brilliant. “See? Patience pays off,” he said to himself, proud of not wasting a transfer like those “impatient” managers. Now he can Bench Boost without wasting a transfer.

Match day arrived. Alderete begins. Sunderland kept a clean sheet. This manager celebrated his genius until he checked the details. Alderete lost one point of defense contribution (DefCon). What a waste, but okay. No bonus points. Good.

But then he saw Mukiele get DefCon. His face turned pale. Mukiele got all three bonus points. His jaw dropped: how could that happen? And finally, the killer blow: a goal. The result is 17 points for Mukiele, only six for Alderete.

His smile disappeared. The patience he once prided himself on now felt like a mistake. He spun around. Cursing his luck, cursing other people’s luck. “They don’t deserve those points,” he muttered. “I should have just made the transfer, I should have known!” The gratitude he felt moments ago, for Alderete’s start, the clean sheet, the Bench Boost success… it all evaporated. He was no longer happy with what he had; he is angry about what others get.

And that’s what life really is. We often start to feel satisfied, with our job, family, or simple wins, until we start comparing. Other people earn more, seem happier, luckier, and suddenly what we have feels smaller. Happiness doesn’t disappear because our reality changes; it disappears because our focus is lost.

So, maybe next time you get a clean sheet (literally or figuratively), stop comparing. Celebrate your wins – because happiness doesn’t mean letting other people’s scores steal your joy.

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