Scouting The Doubles – Bolton Wanderers
Continuing our examination of the four double gameweek sides, we now turn our attention to perhaps the least attractive of the bunch. Bolton Wanderers are about to embark an incredible run of five away games in six in the Premier League – just the kind of spell you need when you’ve not won on your travels since September. Owen Coyle begins by taking his team to City and Wigan in gameweek 26. Can they possibly offer any fantasy returns in the process? We give their prospects a good going over…
The Opponents
Wanderers face two trips away from the Reebok at City on Tuesday and at Wigan next Wednesday. In between this they also face an FA Cup encounter with Tottenham this weekend, a factor that has to be considered when it comes to rest and rotation and of course, injuries.
Despite two clean sheets in consecutive home matches, it’s hard to see Bolton returning defensive points from their trip to Eastlands. City have very strong home form and will surely breach a Bolton defence that will be without Gary Cahill. Next Wednesday’s journey to Wigan could be a different story, although again, backing a clean sheet certainly looks a gamble – Bolton are averaging two goals conceded per game over their last five away trips. If investment is heading Bolton’s way for this gameweek then, it will surely be aimed at their attacking players. Bolton will likely be forced out to attack and chase leads in both games.
The Current Form
Bolton’s away form is poor. No wins in their last five matches with five scored and ten conceded is not a good record to be taking into a run of fixtures that has them facing five away games in the next six. Owen Coyle’s side struggled to break down Fulham at the Reebok at the weekend despite plenty of goal attempts, so the omens aren’t good for a goal glut over these two matches. Even so, they are well capable of scoring in both against defences that are error prone. Set-plays are also always a factor when you’re talking about this Bolton side.
The Rotation Risk
Owen Coyle has brought in options in midfield and Jack Wilshere and Vladimir Weiss will be in his mind, although Weiss is ineligible to play against City. The winger will be available for the Wigan trip and could threaten Matt Taylor if he again fails to impress at City on Tuesday have replaced him with 20 minutes left against Fulham. Coyle has confirmed that we will see Wilshire on Tuesday night at City, although it’s not clear whether he will be a starter. If he does start, it will presumably be in a central role, perhaps in support of a lone striker. Mark Davies will likely make way. With Klasnic injured, Coyle’s options up front are more limited. Elmander will be pushing for inclusion but Kevin Davies looks nailed on for starts in both fixtures barring injury. In defence (should you be interested) Andy O’Brien has been declared fit and will start in place of Cahill. Steinsson has recovered from illness and is a likely starter for Robinson with Ricketts shifting back to the left.
The Potential Targets
Matt Taylor
So disappointing this season, it’s easy to give up on the former fantasy favourite but he remains one of Bolton’s key threats. His shot count is by far the highest in the Bolton squad and he is also a major player from set-plays as well as the designated penalty taker. Well overdue a goal from open play, Taylor has been given a more central attacking role behind the lone striker by Owen Coyle. He has the opportunity and potential then. He now needs to deliver or Weiss could start in his place against Wigan next week.
Predicted return: 1 goal
Chung-Yong Lee
The Korean winger is perhaps the most viable option in the Bolton ranks. Now established in the starting eleven, Lee is the source of much of Bolton’s creativity from the right. While he doesn’t carry the direct goal threat of Matt Taylor, he has notched four goals and three assists. One goal and one assist in his last seven league starts is hardly reassuring but then Bolton have won just one of those matches. Should Coyle’s side get anything from the City and Wigan trips, Lee seems likely to be in profit.
Predicted return: 1 assist, 1 FPL bonus point
Jack Wilshere
This would represent a real gamble. Wilshere is a very cheap option and his participation in the City game has been confirmed. This could be as a substitute however and we’ve yet to get an idea of just what role Coyle has in mind for Wilshere once he’s on the pitch. With Weiss recruited as a winger, it’s my bet that Wilshere will be used in a central role to attack from midfield. He’s undoubtedly a quality player but is still far from the finished article. Returns over two away games are far from assured. Personally I see just over an hour of pitch time over the two fixtures with no returns as yet.
Kevin Davies
Possibly the most unfashionable fantasy signing of all – Davies is nonetheless a vastly effective member of Bolton’s lineup. A budget purchase up front, Davies looks certain to start both league games barring injury. With Klasnic sidelined, he’ll be burdened with providing the goals and will certainly cause issues for both the City and Wigan defences.
Predicted return: 1 goal
I’m thinking of Duff –> NZogbia this week. What say?
def
which teams have the best odds for a clean sheet according to paddy
Any idea of what to do with my team?
Sorensen
Dawson Hughes Dann Richards
Etherington N’Zogbia Lampard
Tevez Roooney Drogba
Bench – Hart Wilshere Gera Evra (Who i will put in place of Richards if he isn’t in tommorow nights starting line up)
Already made one free transfer, Etherington > Kuyt
Not sure who to make Captain. Most probs Tevez.
I am captaining n’zogbia although I have Tevez.
Ohh kidda farhat teek tak? Captain tevez
Hart (Hahnemann)
Ivan Dawson Evra (Dann Craddock)
Fab Lamps Duff wilshere (Gera)
Rooney Tevez Bent.
0.4 in the bank and 2 free transfers.
Any ideas?
Most would say Duff to N’Zogbia, and I agree with them. Could also drop Bent for Rodallega towards raising money to later drop tevez for Rooney…
cheers
Meant Drogba, see you have Rooney
hey guys, which defender should i bench out of dunne, evra, a cole, dawson…
Tricky one. I would bench Dunne out of that quartet.
Would you bench Dann (away to WHM) or Dunne?
i think i would bench dann. i really think the man u vs a villa will be 0-0, so im leaning towards someone else (maybe a cole)
Of the 4, I like Ashley Cole the best. EVE looked feckless against LIV, and now they are without Pienaar and Fellaini…
true, but now they r the home team, and i really see everton scoring 1 maybe even 2 past chelsea’s defense… Compared to the others, i see a cole conceeding the most.
This is my current team with two free transfers to take and 0.8 in the bank
(Hart) Sorensen
Evra A.Cole Scharner (Carr) (Nelsen)
N’zog Fabregas Lee Lampard (o’Neil)
Rooney Tevez Bent
What would you guys do with the two transfers?
Of two minds this week
Cheers
Great team mate, almost identical to mine! You really don’t need to make transfers but if you’ve got two to burn just try and do small upgrades for future games
And captain Tevez.
cheers epl. obviously gonna need the drog asap though. I’m tempted by
Lamp> Nani
and
Bent> Drog
which would leave me over 3m to upgrade next week
Oh those are solid moves. Nani is going to continue to be a rotation risk I think, even with his stellar form in recent games. Also you may not want to drop Bent before he faces Pompey.
Don’t you have to use this extra transfers for the next gw?
I meant (o’Hara) not (o’Neil)
Final dilemma:
Bent (Portsmouth A)
OR
McCarthy (Stoke H, Bolton H)
I have Bent at the moment.
Tough mate, was going to say bent, but if McCarthy starts in both might be worth giving him a go. You would hope bent would score against POR.
Sorry not much help……
Bent the safer option I think but not much in it.
defs mcarthy he will surely get 4 points, taking corners helps him too
Sunderland’s away form is not good and POR chase hard at home. Mcarthy for me.
Who to start out of Bowyer, Gera or Eagles? (just one)
bowyer
gera
Bowyer – he’ll have it in for West Ham.
Does this team need a transfer guys
sorenson (hart)
Scharner, a cole, dawson (evra, carr)
Fab, tuncay, nzogbia, taylor (duff)
rooney, teves(C), drogba
Looks pretty good. Have you made your transfer already?
Hard to bench Evra though…
yeh evra / duff is annoying me and havnt done a transfer dunno what to do
I would save my transfer for next week, as your team cant get much better for this gw
dunne/evra is bothering me. I’ve benched Evra and don’t feel inclined to play both. It’s a hard game to call-could go any way. I’ve got it down as a 1-1 draw so both players would miss out.
However, Dunne has a habit of getting bps and I’ve got this hunch he’ll score tomorrow being ex-City.
Anyone else with the Dunne/Evra scenario?
sorensen (hart)
nelsen ridgewell cahill (bikey zayatte)
fab lamps zogbia etherington (milner)
drogba tevez rooney
already taken 4 points hit. should i take another 4 to bring in hughes for the injured cahill? and bench milner or fab? advice please.
No i wouldn’t take a hit to bring in a defender and bench milner, it’s a big gamble and the most you’re likely to get out of it is break even if hughes keeps a cs and milner does nothing. I think only take the hits when bringing in attacking players with a good chance of making a big points profit, not to chase 4 points from a clean sheet. Would be crazy to bench fab too
bikey zayatte and cahill are dead weight.. get rid imo.. bench milner obviously
but who’s the third defender that i can play? bikey? i know i need to get rid of them but i can’t make too many transfers.
so i guess i can only depend on my midfield and strikeforce, which is hopefully good enough.
stick with milner over bikey, zayatte for sure
i need to play 3 defenders.
im already playing drogs rooney and tevez.
lamps fab etherington and zogbia.
ahh my bad forgot about cahill, in that case i’d say it’s 50/50 with those 2 they both suck. Flip a coin
glad I don’t have the headaches you all got with who to bench this week. I’m benching carr and cahill, gera who are both injured. No tough decisions there
off topic champ, but whats with the avatar?? Who’s that in the red mist?
It is torres piggy backing gerrard emerging from the red mist
I probably should use one that can be seen properly as you’re the 3rd person to ask
ah, ok…nice idea…it would have been appreciated more if the gravatar size had been a little larger, but there you are.
after much thought here’s my startin line up.. figure i’d leave my away players on the bench.. any changes?
Gomes
Evra Hughes Nelson
Lampard Fabregas Duff Nzogbia Etherington
Rooney Tevez(c)
Hart Bent Ivanovic Ridgewell
worried bout benchin ivanovic and bent.. but gotta do it.. is ivan a better startin option than nelson?
I think you should starr bent over duff. Other than that looks good
*start
Duff’s at home to Burnley though. SUN don’t perform on the road and it’s a long road to the south coast.
true but even if fulham win say 2-0 there’s a fair chance duff won’t be involved in the goals, sunderland do struggle away and may have a tough time at fratton but if anyone’s gonna score my money would be on bent even if they lose or draw. And this is portsmouth we’re talking about with no kaboul. I think bent will outscor duff this week
Got this hunch that avram grant is going to show your post to his players and POR will win 1-0.
thanks.. so nelson over ivan is ok then? will decide last sec between duff and bent
haha whatever I can do to help
think Duff has had 5 assists and 5 goals this season so he’s been pretty good. Nelson may notch v Hull.
3 goals and no assists in his last 12 matches though, no goals or assists in his last 5
he got an assist last gw didn’t he?
My team:
Sorensen (Hart)
Dunne Ollson ShawX Dawson
Lampard Fabregas Nani Duff
Tevex (c) Rooney
Subs: Evra, Jerome, Bowyer.
Thoughts:
3 players involved in the dgw
7 players are at home
Would like to get The Holy Cinque (Tevez,Drogba,Fabs, Lamps and Rooney) in the fewest possible moves:how could I do it?
Any recommendations on improving the team?
Is the bench right?
Thanks!
If you really want 2 add Drog in your team, you’ll have 2 downgrade 2 MFs. Lets face it, if you have those 5 , you will probably play 4-3-3. So other MFs can be dirt cheap.
I’d say Nani to McCarthy & Duff to Neville/Muamba(find the cheapest regular playing MF) should free up the cash.
Thanks Deovrat!
Yes I’ll have too downgrade players although players on here advise cheap defenders are easier to rotate around. On saying that, Idon’t really want to part with Dunne and Evra.
Duff and Nani would have to be downgraded I agree. Jerome would have to make way for Drogba so I’m going to have to do a defender to get Drogs!
cheap defender-is Senderos at 4.6 worth pursuing? Didn’t start v Lpool though.
not a fan. Collins and shorey best bet around that price imo
Cheers!
maybe you should consider not having one of lamps or tevez which would give you more options and a better team all round. I’m planning on just fab, rooney and drogs as my captains for the run in
That’s The Holy Quad. No bad thing. I could swap Tevez for Drogs true. If I had The Holy Cinque, I’d have to select my cheapies carefully with the fixture list in mind.
Want to keep Lamps as he’s going to play a part in the title run in.
do you think my bench is right for the dgw?
It’s a very tough choice between dunne, evra and ollson. Don’t know which way I’d go with that. Might lean towards playing evra instead of dunne, can see a 1-0 utd win there
Well Ollson’s at home v Hull and plays midpark so he’s got the advantage of scoring threat and clean sheet.
Dunne at home, bps, score threat (he’s due a goal).
Could I get some advice for my starting XI;
Hart, Myhill
Ollson, Baird, Caldwell, A Cole, Dunne
Fabregas, Lampard, Etherington, Nzobgia, Eagles
Rooney, Tevez, Bent
3-4-3? with eagles, a cole and dunne on the bench??
yeah, maybe even play cole instead of ollson. I think hull will score and everton should be without pienaar and fellaini
Well Dunne averages over 5 pts per game and he’s at home albeit Man U so I’d be loathe to bench him.
Who does Caldwell play for?
wigan, nice home double hard to pass up if even though wigan’s defence sucks
Its my first year of FPL and being only 17 years old i decided to have some fun, till now ive made 56 transfers which is about 160 points lost but im still ranked 130k overall which im content with.
Continuing with my risky tactic, this week i traded the in form drogba to Adebayor. I will get drogba back as soon as the gameweek starts so ultimatley a i lose 0.1 and gain the services of Adebayor for his DGW.
I also think if as many people had Adebayor as do Tevez he would probably be leading on the poll so he has got the armband for this week.
gettin rid of drogs is bonkers.. u’ll prob have to get him back for a hit next week cause u’ll have to make some other transfer due to injury etc.. if u get drogs early and waste ur transfer he may get injured/other players may get injured forcin u into a 4-8 point hit.. u gonna regret it imo
Ade for captain – definately…he is good forward and this season (so far) haven’t had even a brace not mention the hat-trick…think the time is right…
As for the transfers – I never really believed in not taking 4 pts hit…take it as long as it was worthed…(had 45 so far)…
What do people think of Daniel Fox?
Fluke of a debut or potential gem?
Maybe worth a gamble at 4 mill considering he’ll be taking free-kicks etc?
will consider him for some games, but scoring would be his only contribute…not CS…
he seems to be straight in to the starting XI good value but for that price you can almost get collins/hughes/baird/shorey all with better cs chance
This week will be the litmus test for tevez in my opinion. Depeding how he plays and ultimately whether he scores big will solidify many peoples thoughts on him vs adebayor. The last 2 games he has played well without reaping huge results. In my opinion that was simply down to a combination of luck (he hit the post yet has played well and scores bonus) as well as the minor adebayor factor. I think tevez will show his class as a workhorse points provider this week. Adebayor is a finisher with quality but not a worker like tevez and that coupleld with most managers already owning tevez is why he leads the poll so resoundingly. If I am wrong and adebayor dominates this week u will quickly see a watershed of transfers to adeabayor as it will then be clear tevez isn’t producing in his new role, plus fixtures start to go against him. Time will tell but for nor tevez remains the only pick for captain IMO. It’s cut and dry
he’s gone for drogs next week no matter what
You are a mindreader! Think Tevez is on a good run and he’s too good a player to drop. Drogs however…
drogs is drogs. Essential. The holy cinque is what it’s all about right now. I personally expect backlash from fabregas this week after a couple of barron gameweeks. Look out for big scores there.
hmmmm very well said. For people in your position (ranked 28th overall) you do not need to take unnessesary risks such as captaining Adebayor but for many unfortunate others like me its a risk i have to take to try catch up with the likes of you
LOL. Cheers for the kind words mate, that’s somewhat true, yet also not. I’m trying my hardest to win this thing and if that’s going to happen I need differentials here and there. That means risks. We’re all working under the same conditions. The key (amongst other things) is to be that 1 week ahead where possible so as to grab those points before the bandwagons roll and slowly get ahead that way
‘Midnight Jackhammer’? -snigger
“The key … is to be that 1 week ahead … so as to grab those points before the bandwagons roll”
You make it sound so easy …
need help plizz..
i had taylor,sorensen,shawcross,teves..but in the same time i tend to sub sorensen and play hart..
my plan..
hard
shawc,evra,a.cole(carr,hegeland)
reid,taylor,fab,diaby(eagle)
roda,teves,rooney
decided not to make any transfers and go with the following team to use my two transfers for the next gw to do arsh->fabs and given->some cheapie gk:
given (gomes)
baird dann nelsen ivan (craddock)
arsh nzog lamp (dunn cohen)
drog rooney tevez
not keen on bringing any dgw’ers coz nobody appeals much. thoughts anyone?
Team looks good. Good plan
Morning all,
Matchday is here! Cant wait.
Lookin for a little feed back on my lineup if some of you would be so kind.
Currently my line up is:
Gomes
Hangeland,Shawcross,Ivanovic
Fabrehas,Lampard,N’Zog,McCarthy
Bent,Tevez(c),Rooney
Subs: Hart,Ridgewell,Diaby,Collins
Any changes you would recommend?
looks good to me
team looks strong. A solid gwk looms IMO
ZB if you dont mind me asking, you captaining Tevez this week? Seems the obvious choice!
Also do you reckon Birmingham have better chance of clean sheet than Man U/Villa?
Congrats on a great score by the way. really impressive.
Cheers mate. Yeah mate i’m captaining tevez. My post a few back outlines why.
Yeah i’d say Birmingham have a better chance of a cleanie than both Man U and Villa this week. Definitely better than Villa and probably marginally better than Man U.
I expect the Man U Villa game to end 1-2 or something like that. Whereas West ham although at home are a team struggling for form. They might score, but it’s not nailed on and Birmingham are solid as a rock, although not so much away from home. All in all both games could end up without cleansheets, so its touch and go either way.
Ivanovic or Insua long term ??
can we really risk even getting ANY bolton player to play 2 away games this DGW? i mean, where are the points coming from in these 2 games (mcy / wig)???
i ask you. you tell me. cheers, other wise it’s 2 stoke (eth + shawx), 2 wig (caldwell , zog) and tevez.
speak to me
guys, i need some help. Here is my line up
Given (jaskaleinen)
Hangeland, Terry, Ivanovic (Insua)
Wilshire, Cahill, Modric, Adam Johnson, (milner)
Tevez, Anelka, Rooney
im not sure whether i should keep Milner in or leave him on the bench.. tough game for Aston, and then bolton and Mancity both have doubles, and Tottenham have a potentially easier game to play. So who should i bench from the midfield? and what about my defence.. Terry or Insua? both have been in good form
i am undecided on who to play for the final spot in my team. The players left are Nelson, Duff, Cohen Cahill.
Any thoughts?
By the way.. when i say Cahill im refering to Everton’s
Afternoon all,
As strange as this may sound, I’m a bit stuck between these two transfers…
G.Cahill to Wigan defender or Arshavin to Fabregas.
I know Fabs is an essential and I intend to get him in either in this transfer or for my next one considering Arsenal’s run. Will a Wigan defender score more this week than Fabs, yes or no?
Cheers
Sorensen
Shawcross / R Johnson / Evra
Etherington / Bowyer / Fabregas / Lee (Bolton)
Tevez (c) / Rooney / Drogba
Subs: Dunne / Milner / Cahill (Bolton)
Am I right to exclude Milner & Dunne?
Should I transfer Cahill for Zabeleta or someone elese and who should I substitute him for?
If I transfer Cahill, I will have £5.4m.
Is Tevez the right choice of captain?
who is the best city midfielder – got ireland – but looks like he may not play both games?