The Watchlist – Cork And Alexander
Brian Laws must have struggled to look for the positives in a limp second half Burnley performance that saw Aston Villa come back from a goal down to tear his team apart in last weekend’s 5-2 away defeat.
Having taken just three points from six games since his arrival, Laws’ team are embedded in the battle for Premiership survival and with Burnley badly in need of inspiration, one flicker of hope for Laws would surely have been the performance of young midfielder, Jack Cork…
The on-loan 20 year old arrived at Turf Moor from Chelsea at the tail end of the January transfer window in a move that has pretty much slipped under the radar. The son of Wimbledon legend Alan Cork, he comes with a footballing pedigree, and has represented England at every level from U16 upwards.
The Villa game marked Cork’s full Premiership debut, and despite the comprehensive manner of defeat, he still managed to catch the eye. As this chalkboard shows, Cork performed his midfield duties admirably, continually getting forward to support his forwards in a tireless performance that saw him grab an assist for Martin Paterson’s injury time consolation goal.
In spite of their poor form, Burnley players are currently under consideration for FPL investment due to two reasons: the next five gameweeks see them play four times at home (POR, ars & STK, WLV, wig, BLA), and, on the back of last night’s FA Cup replays, they join Lancashire neighbours Bolton in being the only clubs to have a double fixture in gameweek 29, a week when a good few teams will be postponing their Premiership duties to participate in the FA Cup.
Having played only twice at home in the league under Laws, Burnley have beaten West Ham and lost out only to a late John Terry header in a spirited performance against Chelsea, suggesting they may well replicate the good home form shown under Owen Coyle at Turf Moor before the Scotsman’s move to Bolton.
Priced at just 4.0m in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) and classified as a defender, Cork is already looking promising as an out-of-position player. With club captain Graham Alexander soon to return from a calf injury, however, it will be interesting to see whether the youngster has impressed his manager sufficiently enough to justify his inclusion in the Burnley first XI as Laws looks to take advantage of a potentially promising set of fixtures.
Brian Laws was talking up the prospect of a return for Alexander earlier today, stressing the importance of his experience and composure on the Burnley side. Should he make a return to the starting lineup, he will of course bring with him the promise of attacking points from penalty kicks. Given that Burnley have the run of four home matches in six, Alexander will be fancied to bring in some returns to supplement any clean sheets that may come their way.
Alexander has already contributed five goals this term – form that saw his FPL price rise to 5.0 from an intial 4.5. Now standing at a reasonable 4.7, Alexander is more expensive than the likes of Cork and Daniel Fox, but arguably offers greater security over Cork and stronger attacking potential over Fox. Should he be declared fit in tomorrow’s Burnley team news, he looks a worthy investment once again.
About the Author
Sir Paulos is certain he won't make the same mistakes next season.
Valencia, Dunne or Etherington out?
priority has to be dunne as he misses 2 in a row. guess it depends how much you paid for him though and how much you stand to lose. etherington could be back at the weekend (unconfirmed) Valencia has 2 decent fixtures after this week
Paid 5.4 so a lot to lose. Valencia may be rotated though.
I’m dropping Valencia this week. Could drop him for Kuyt if you want to spend the cash or Everton mid (Piennar?)
i am going to bring in Torres/Gerrard in for Zomora
who out of skrtel or baines for higginbottom people
Thanks
Baines and
Torres.
What you make of my Q above?
i’d go baines/torres too
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropa.....ch=2000930
Found this
Fouls Suffered?
Makes me laugh
Hey everyone, probably won’t be online tomorrow as i’ve got my driving test. Just wondering after the FA Cup replays – should i take anyone out this week, if so who for?
Sorensen, Gomes
Baird, Ivanovic, Hughes, Evans, Richards
N’Zogbia, Fletcher, Fabregas, Modric, Duff
Rooney, Rodallega, Drogba
id look at your team for wk 29 you got alot of players out
Hiya. I know, that’s why am in a bit of a pickle. Don’t know whether to take some players out this week and bring some in who will be playing in both gw28 and gw29. Or leave it and do all the transfers next week. Every bit of advice is much appreciated.
is hard decision to make, depends if you thinik the players ur going to get in will do it for you this week and next week. Ive got 2 players missing this game week and 6 next week so i got to lot ahead and weigh it up
football chris im in a similar position to you, planned for this week a few weeks back but its hard to plan for the next week as well
“westlife” & “hiya” = are you sol campbell?
Defence is looking pretty poor. I can’t see a single one of them starting in week 29. Makes it pretty tough.
Would anyone suggest taking an 8 point hit this week, and an 8 point hit next week to shift some players out?
If it means fielding 11 players – yes
Thanks Si
You got any suggestions of which three players to take out this week, and possible replacements for them?
I think these are the players i have out aren’t they?
Baird, Ivanovic, Hughes, Evans, Richards, Modric, Duff, Sorensen, Gomes – who to take out this week and bring in? who to take out next week and bring in?
Thinking an Everton defender would be a good option.
Would Richards > Baines be a good replacement? Also are stoke playing this week and next week?
http://www.fantasyfootballscou.....cker-tape/
It’s only the fist half and Shaktar 1-0 down but they have had 10 corners
and 12 goal attempts. Blimey!
Babel Goal
game over, Unirea need 3 to win it now
doubt we’ll see much of torres now, maybe 5 mins at the end to stretch his legs
How does this 8 point hit sound: A.Cole > Baines, Etherington > Taylor and Rodallega > Bent?
it would pay off over the next 2 weeks imo, could also do the bent move next week and then in GW 30 use my WC, sound like a plan?
Do not get Taylor. I think he’ll get dropped for this weekends game, he looked absolute bobbins v blackburn. Weiss/Wilshere will start in his place.
The best value for money Bolton midfielder is Lee atm. He will start and offers decent attacking returns for 5.1 million
Ive had lee for a few weeks and i think he awful
The team liverpool are playing, played a friendly against Northwich Vics before the 1st leg, due to the fact that they havent played a competitive game in for a while and northwich isnt to far from liverpool and only beat northwich 1 – 0
You a Northwich fan?
No visted a mate the other day who lives there
Eduardo could return for trip to Stoke
Eduardo could return for the trip to Stoke but William Gallas, Abou DIABY and Andrey Arshavin will definitely miss Saturday’s game.
The Croatian striker has missed the last five games with a hamstring problem but will return to full training on Friday and may be included in Arsène Wenger’s squad for a tough test at the Britannia Stadium.
“Gallas (calf), Diaby (knee) and Arshavin (hamstring) are all out but Eduardo joins in training tomorrow [Friday] and we will decide after training,” said the manager at his pre-match press conference.
I transferred in Diaby 8 or 9 days ago and he´s out this GW as well. Curse myself.
Just goes to show that Wenger’s “they are coming back” comment earlier in the week meant nothing and was just irrelevant.
guess that makes up the mind of those debating keeping/ bringing in diaby (myself included)
Yeah, I know the feeling mate. in my case it was just to beat a price rise. Been playing this game long enough to know better
same here..
I think that’s pretty much what Wenger said he expected to happened after the Sunderland game – Eduardo would be fit, the other 3 wouldn’t.
There was just all that false hope in between
As reported in the tweets 16 minutes ago…
Duh sorry…
if edwardo was to play he will be on the right or left side of the strike force, bendtner will still play, arsenal have more problems on the wings, they have rosicky, nasri, walcott for those wings
Well that’s thrown a spanner in my works.
If I get Torres I will only have 10 or I can replace Hunt this week and not next and have 11.
Ballacks.
Will it be worth a 4 point hit to get someone in for Valencia now? I want to keep Diaby long term.
well you have 5 players out this weekend, your in a right pickle dont think you have a choice
Already got rid of Evans for Baines though.
Where on earth is Andrew Goddard these days?
Chip shop
Thought as much. Rascal.
Torres – How many mins do we reckon this weekend?
60 mins max
20mins
18
205.
70
or 205
Hart
Dawson – R. Johnson – Ivanovic – Craddock
Fabregas – Gamst Pederson – N’Zogbia – Tuncay
Drogba(c) – Bent
Subs: Sorenson, Evra, Valencia, Rooney
..Have 2 free tranfers this week. Thinking of getting Shawcross in for Dawson which will leave me able to field 11 next week. Good move?
..Any other improvements ye reckon?
0.5m in the bank
What do ye reckon, will Valencia be a big rotation risk again soon with Nani and Giggs on the way back or will he continue to play?
Would prefer to ship out Evra for Carragher this week but if Valencia is likely to be a problem down the line…
yes because he might put nani in against wolves(a weaker side) and valencia to play against ac milan as valencia is on form
pick the better players for the bigger games
The last premiership game Nani played v Villa ferguson was unhappy with him for getting sent off
The last game Valencia played v West ham ferguson was happy with his performance getting the 2 assists
So I cant see Valencia being benched just because Nani is available again
But Valencia was in great form compared to Nani earlier as well but Ferguson still gave Nani his chance…
my point is if valencia is in better form he will rather have him playing against ac milan, when nani played against milan he was ineffective where valencia ripped them appart, nani will play against wolves, perfect game to bring a player back to and valencia will play the harder game
ya I suppose he is a risk
is kuyt still lucrative after torres recovery?
who’s best mid under 10.2 for next 2 GWs ??
Do you figure Skrtel and Insua bringing the same amount of points? I want Insua but need to save some cash for a double transfer.
No. Inusa will have more chance of assists. Check out his stats. . .
Yeah, 5 for the season. I don’t know if that’s convincing enough…
How many do you expect for a full back?
Thats a decent return to date fella, think baines had most last year, and not sure if that reached x2 figs !
new post.
Tweets throw a spanner in the works with Diaby definitely OUT, so much for my plans to get him in.
This leaves me wondering who to transfer in this week… Need to transfer 2 for full 11.
Thinking ETHERS -> Pienaar and Cahill -> cheap BUR or BOL? The plan is to maybe get a LIV or EVE defender the week after… can’t have both though with cash flow.
who to bench in my team? Keep in mind I am getting Insua in for Scarner.
Okay, strategy time. My main rival has a definite 7 outfield players out this week, with Etherington doubtful he may have 8.
I can field 11 and have 3 out this week (one of which is A.Cole). He can field 11 the following week though (assuming Diaby/Gallas come back from injury) whereas I have 7 out that week. He is currently 98 points ahead of me, so do I:
(A) Take 8 point this week to sort myself out for GW29, be able to field 10 and save transfer from GW29 to GW30 to bring in 2 + Villa players?
or
(B) Field 11 this week, and take hits next week based on how I do this week against his 6-7 players, bearing in mind he will take at least a 4 point hit this week?
I am leaning towards (A) http://fantasy.premierleague.c.....c?id=38863
Thanks boys
A) Jonny !
Any thoughts on Arteta as fantasy prospect?
I am “tempted” Hunter but few issues. . .
1) Is he back on pens?
2) he didnt take corners v Utd (was donovan & baines)
3) He didnt get his share of Free kicks either.
4) Normally plays quite deep, but even deeper now since Fellaini absence.
Like I said, im tempted but too many Qs to be answered first. I will be watching game later with interest. . .
I see what your saying but those roles must surely start heading back to him?
Across the GW 28/9 mess I think I’m gonna give him a punt.
I have a plan for the following gameweeks, and i’d like to hear some opinions over it:
This gw: Dawson -> Bikey & Duff -> Kuyt (-4)
Next gw: no transfers
Following gw: CY Lee -> Milner + another free transfer, im leaving my options open (probably Gomes -> Friedel somehow, for the dgw, maybe worth taking a hit there too)
I was thinking of perhaps postpoing duff -> kuyt, so i wouldnt take a hit, but then i thought:
taking a hit is worth it only if kuyt (BLA) outscores duff (sun) by 4 pts or more in this gw. i think he should! DO YOU?
also, if i bring him in only for gw 29 then his price might rise (many valencia sellers, and im afraid he’ll do greatly vs blackburn so many new buyers will arrive).
opinions?
Same as last time you posted, i don’t like either
Managed to field 11 (hopefully) with 0 point hits, not sure how much im gonna score though…
Hart
Shawcross, Dawson, Ivanovic, R Johnson
Cohen, Bowyer, N’Zog, Fabs
Drog (c), Saha
A Bench of Evra, Rooney & Valencia, how un-fair is that!
New Post…
Which looks best: 1. Diaby > osman
Adebayor>Bendtner
2. Diaby>eagles
Adebayor>Saha
Gomes>hilario
3. Diaby>o’hara
Adebayor>torres
Gomes> jaaskeleinen
anyone have an opinion on mascherano. worth a 4 pt hit?
classic
i take it that a no