Sunday’s Friendly Round Up
Bent, Bentley and De Ridder raise their fantasy profiles that little bit more as Spurs and Wigan ease to wins in their last friendly fixtures of the pre-season.
Here’s the notes and teams…
Utrecht 0 Wigan Athletic 2
Steve Bruce’s side ended their pre-season with a comfortable win in Utrecht thanks to goals from De Ridder and Kilbane.
De Ridder struck a sumptuous free kick to give Wigan the lead just before the half-hour mark after Palacious had been fouled. Kilbane doubled the lead with a volley in the second half.
Wigan were still without the likes of Kirkland, Koumas, Taylor and Scharner through injury and that quartet will continue to be doubts for the trip to Upton Park next weekend. Heskey is another you can add to that list after the striker was forced off after just 19 minutes.
Valencia and Zaki were unavailable for this one due to Visa restrictions. That meant that Bruce pushed Kapo up front, playing just off Heskey. De Ridder took the right midfield berth and combined well with Melchiot throughout the game. He looks a certain starter at West Ham after a very decent pre-season and is likely to switch to the left with Valencia returning on the right.
Wigan vs Utrecht:
Pollitt; Melchiot, Boyce, Bramble, Figueroa; de Ridder (Camara), Palacios (Brown), Cattermole, Kilbane; Kapo (Sibierski 72), Heskey (King 19)
Tottenham 5 Roma 0
Both Bentley and Bent hit a brace of goals as Spurs romped to an impressive win over Roma at the Lane.
Bentley got a dream home debut underway as early as three minutes, curling a free-kick that eluded everyone to creep in at the far post. Bent got his first of the afternoon just moments later, latching onto a poor back pass to slot past the keeper. Just before half-time, Bentley struck his second - a fabulous 25-yard effort to send Spurs in three to the good.
Shortly after half-time, Spurs were four up. Dos Santos fed Lennon after being freed by Bentley and the second-half sub made no mistake. Bentley was involved again in the fifth just a few minutes later, swinging in a corner which Woodgate headed into the path of Bent who swept it home for his 12th goal of the pre-season.
Ramos went with a 4-4-2 which saw Berbatov paired with the in-form Bent. That meant no place for Bale as dos Santos, Bentley, Modric and Jenas made up the midfield. Zokora was employed at right-back while Dawson partnered Woodgate in central defence. The right back role could well change hands however, with Man City’s Corluka expected to officially sign for Spurs early next week. That would give Ramos a wealth of options in this area with Hutton also a factor.
A starting role for Bale now looks in doubt. If Berbatov leaves the club in the next few days then he could feature at Boro if Ramos opts for just one up front. In a 4-4-2 however, it appears that Bale is frozen out in midfield, at least for now. He could of course take the left-back role but that has been occupied by Assou-Ekotto throughout the pre-season.
If Bale’s reputation with fantasy managers reduced following today’s game, then Bentley’s and Bent’s only rocketed further. Bent has been the form striker this summer and must surely get a start at the Riverside next weekend with our without Berbatov. Bentley meanwhile appears to have hit the ground running and overshadowed Modric in terms of his creative output.
Tottenham vs Roma:
Gomes, Zokora, Assou-Ekotto (Bale 45), Dawson, Woodgate, Jenas (O’Hara 69), Modric, Bentley (Gilberto 69), dos Santos, Berbatov (Lennon 45), Bent.
Luke
Joe
X-Ray Dog
Marknlard
Paicey
simon
Jonny
Mark , what do ya think ?
Jaaskelinan ( Reina )
Shorey Clichy Carvalho ( Bale ) ( Figuero )
Taylor Bullard Bentley Fabregas ( De Ridder )
Alves Bent Adebayor(c)
Any other comments ?
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I’ve had Bent in my team for a while now and was starting to get worried that it would be Berbatov starting as the lone front man for Spurs. But today has assured me to keep Bent.
I do have a doubt in Midfield though, which currently looks like this:
Lampard | Arteta | Gamst Pedersen | Taylor | Lawrence
I have 2.0 in the bank for my FPL squad and I might bring Bentley in for Gamst Pedersen as the latter is an injury doubt and also Blackburn don’t appear to be doing too well. That would cost me 1.0. But up front I have Van Persie and I’m considering whether to swap him for Adebayor, which would cost me 1.5.
So, I can’t make both changes. My only plan is to bring De Ridder in place of Lawrence but how long is he going to stay in the Wigan line-up?
Do any experts out there have any advice for me?
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I have a similar issue, I have brought in Bent for Ashton-although West Ham have some really good fixtures…but Bents form is too much to ignore.
De Ridder is a good shout esp if Heskey is injured. If not you could get Johnson (4.5m) from Mid’bro could be a good signing…but O’Neil will probli have the right wing spot.
You could take out Arteta for Pienarr or Osman who are bit cheaper..?
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Andrew - I’m not sure I can recommend a 4.5 or 5.0 midfielder, but I’d say bringing in Adebayor would be the right move.
Having said that, my biggest problem at the moment is choosing which two or three top mid/attackers to plump for. At the mo’ am tempted to go with Ade and Lamps to give:
Bentley / Lampard / Gera / Young
Adebayor / Bent
But it still seems odd to leave out Fabregas and Bullard must be good value.
Maybe Mark’s guide to attacking players will clear things up?
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right after all the ups and downs of preseason i’ve tried to get my head around it:)
Everton and Bolton have had really poor preseason and although their fixtures are good are we ignoring the problems and not keeping perpestive. Evertons dressing room is a ghost town and bolton have noone to score. Will elmander start from the get go firing them in. Or are we looking at a gritty bolton defence to supply points
Villa, wigan, portsmouths defences look as solid as they did last year
Chelsea esp lamps and anelka are in form but is anelka a definite starter?
man u are probably best avoided until after gw5
Arsenals best bet is adebayor. Even cap fabs role in new midfield will be questionable
Bent and bentley should start off well but bertatovs move will decide a lot
Liverpool- only rafa knows
West ham are sneaking under the radar but with favorable fixtures and ashton doing well could be worth investment.
Alves, downing, guthrie, duff all performed well preseason and with good fixtures will get the points
Petrov will start great and go on holidays again in january for the rest of te season
Hull are the new derby
anyone else got any musings?
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Reply by Bedknobs and Boomsticks on August 10 8:56 pm:
Blackburn are the new Bolton.
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Reply by CK on August 10 9:56 pm:
Paul Ince will be the first premiership manager to get the boot!
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Reply by brooklyn on August 10 10:04 pm:
that would be really sad if it were to happen.
personally, i’m rooting for King Kev to be the first to be shown the door.
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oh and ronaldo will play for one week, break his leg and all fantasy football managers will breathe a large sigh of relief
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what do people think to this for an opening weekend team. i think most of the players are ok until gameweek 3 to start with
GK- Jaaskelainen (robinson)
Defence- clichy, carvalho, gallas, O’brien (luke young)
midfield- essien, matt taylor, arteta, ashley young (vogel)
attack- keane, van persie (alves)
also still got 1.2 mil left.
thanks in advance.
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Reply by higgo on August 10 8:58 pm:
i’d prob stay away from 3 mid strikers and get in adebayor for rvp and downgrade keane to a low sub and see if you can upgrade essien to lamps. otherwise looks good
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Reply by brooklyn on August 10 9:40 pm:
to that end, what do you make of this team:
Jaaskelainen (Schwarzer)
Carvalho, Clichy, L. Young, (Cahill, Figueroa)
Fabregas, Lampard, A. Young, M. Petrov (Mendes (POR))
Adebayor, D. Bent (Zamora)
I’m not thrilled with my defense but I think it’s passable and I think the firepower in the midfield and attack should more than compensate …
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Reply by higgo on August 10 9:45 pm:
very strong team.i’ve similar with noble instead of petrov and cech in goal. i dont think i’d change anything. btw any money spare? i’m a bit worried that i wont be able to respond to changes as really strapped
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Reply by brooklyn on August 10 9:58 pm:
Unfortnately, no money to spare
I share the same concern about having the flexibility to swap in players …
So it seems that the difference in our teams essentially comes down to Jussi + Petrov vs. Cech + Noble + 0.5?
On one hand, I’d like to strengthem my defense with Reina instead of Jussi but on the other hand, I have this weird gut feeling that Petrov will do very well this year and that points are better spent in the midfield than in the back ….
aargh, i can’t wait for the season to just start already!
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Seems a lot of ppl on here going for Figeroa as the 4mln budget defender… excluding him what do people think are the best budget defence options out there?
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Now meite has gone to West Brom he should be a good bargain at £4.0m
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Reply by CK on August 10 10:05 pm:
Don’t agree. How can any WBA defender be worth having?. They wont keep cleans, they wont get forward = low points!
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Reply by Christian on August 11 4:09 am:
Paintsil of Fulham might be a good option instead of Figueroa
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Painstill is very attack minded so could get a few assists and Fulham should do well this season.
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I cannot decide whether to go 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 to start the season..whether to have 5 class midfielders all likely to score well..or a big forward line…
any thoughts..
OPTION 1
Fabregas, Young, Bentley, Petrov, Arteta
Tevez, Crouch (sub..Zamora)
OPTION 2
Fabregas, Young, Bentley, Petrov/Arteta (sub De Ridder)
Tevez, Crouch, D Bent
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I’d say option2 Simon, but I wouldn’t start with Crouch with Portsmouth difficult start.
How’s about this? Torres or Adebayor to start my only decision now.
Reina / swartz
L Young / Carvalho / Evra / Steinsson / Figueroa
Bentley / Lampard / Duff / A Young / de ridder
Torres / Bent / ashton
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Reply by Dave on August 11 11:01 am:
Looks strong. I’m liking the gamble on Duff.
You’ve got to go with Adeb playing at home against WBA and still with a point to prove. Vs. Torres who can barely score away from home and playing a fired-up Sunderland.
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Thanks Jimmy…I know its a tough start for Portsmouth fixture wise but who is to say an international striker of Crouch’s ability can’t get a goal against Chelsea or Man U…first games of the season can be very hard to predict! So I’m tempted to stick him in there…
Alves if not?
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Ye you’re right, adebayor it is. I’m going to leave a spare million for Torres to come in though. Have you seen the goalie selector on fantascene.co.uk ? It’s pretty good. I’m not settled on my goalies yet.
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I’ve gotta say, I’m new to footballscout and not seen fantascene before - I was happy just using bbc sport and physiorooms…I’m sure this will make me just spend longer over my selections!
I used to go for two cheap keepers and alternate them for fixtures, but I’m thinking a Reina or Cech this year will make it easier. Especially as the only stand-out cheap keepers are Jaask and ‘boro keeper, and for the cost difference (~1m) I don’t think it’s worth the gamble.
Also, forgot to say - is Lampard a guaranteed starter and free kick taker? Especially if Kaka goes to Chelski - who can predict the Chelsea midfield!
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