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.
haha jeff steling
‘clarke thats 2 wins in a row and as some have pointed out upstairs better than burnley this season’
Hi
What a tricky week this week. This is my first post on here and I’m looking for inspiration. Not sure what to do with my team this week…maybe get Kuyt in, maybe Zamora for Tevez…
Fulham have no game GW29 and have tough fixtures thereafter. MIght want to keep Tevez because at least he has a game GW28 (without Ade and against a somewhat weaker Chelsea defense) and ship him out next week. If McCarthy is fit you should be able to field XI. Might just be better off saving the transfer and do two next week, getting Tevez and ? out for two players playing GW29 (Saha?). I would suggest dumping Masch but at least he has a game GW29
I am hoping to wait until after the weekend to ship Tevez, as you are suggesting jms. My only problem is that I don’t like the price drop that seems pretty much certain for tonight. I’ve swallowed all his other price drops, but tonights will finally render me swallowing a loss on the player, which is against my principles.
Thanks for the advice JMS but now I’m feeling more worried about my team. Played Wildcard recently and was really happy but with all the missing GWs, it’s a bit tough now…but we’re all in the same boat. Although most of you are much higher up the table than me
I hear you. The other problem will be the fitness of Tevez. I will guarantee you that he was not working out very hard, if at all, while in Argentina. I see the issue as who to replace him with. I “solved” the problem by bringing in Bendtner, but that is not everyone’s cup of tea.
That’s not a bad bet. My problem with selling him before tonight’s price-drop, tho, is that I could have sold him ten days ago for the same effect and had 0.2M profit out of him, which stings in a whole different way….
A-rite guys – need some help doing my transfers the next GW’s:
Team is:
Given Hart
Hughes Dawson Ridgewell Gallas M Richards
Fabregas Valencia NZogbia Diaby Wilshere
Drogba Rooney Zamora
Thinking:
GW 28: Valencia/NZogbia out, Kuyt in OR Hughes/Richards out, Insua in.
GW 29: Hughes/Richards out, Baines in OR Zamora out, Saha in
GW 30: Collins, AYoung in.
GW 31: Whichever of Saha and Baines that I didn’t get in GW 29.
Sound plan?
Current Team:
Hart(Sorensen)
Evra Clichy Insua Baird Dawson
Milner Zog O’Hara Fab Duff
Rooney Drogba Bent
Team in a few weeks:
Hart(Sorensen)
Evra SONG Insua J.COLLINS TOMKINS
Milner BULLARD O’Hara Fab GERA
Rooney Drogba TORRES
Thoughts?
Your midfield is pants.
with that defence and attack though I presume he will be playing a 4-3-3 every week, Milner/Fab and whoever has the best fixture, very nice defence and the likes of United should find form in defence with Rio and Vidic back, Liverpool are already tight enough and Arsenal have the fixtures to provide defensive points too
nice vague post there! How may weeks? You have 5 out for GW29 so not that bad at all and well set up, once Song has his suspension served that is a great move from Clichy and saves bobs. Baird to Collins speaks for itself, nice. I think Dawson is a season keeper for me or for the next 4-5 fixtures at the very least, the Spurs defence is quite dependable at the moment, and West Ham is a disaster for FPL players in my opinion, I would be looking at Bolton or Burnely Defender if you need Dawson out for funds.
N’Zog to Bullard again is a great move IF he plays 2-3 games and gets through all that, while I don’t rate him that highly as a player his game is perfectly suited to Hull and mid to lower end of the table games. Gera is in a good spate of form but of course misses GW29.
Bent to Torres makes the world of sense once Torres is back for 2 games or so like Bullard, obviously you can justify all the downgrading throughout the team to get in Torres as he is lethal when fit, Dawson to Tomkins is the only transfer I would see as a bad move but then I just don’t rate West Ham personally
Cheers for the detailed response, I could maybe get Ridgewell instead of Tomkins.
So the transfers would be:
GW29: Baird>Ridgewell, Duff>Bullard
GW30: None
GW31: Clichy>Song, Dawson>Collins
GW32: N’Zog>Gera, Bent>Torres.
Nothing wrong with that
I’m seriuosly tempted to bring in Pienaar though! aaaaarggh. Help. lol.
damn horrible news on Pompey. That’s them gone for sure now. Wonder where my boy Aaron Mokoena will end up now.
Reply
well it’s not the worst news, sure they will be relegated, but at least they can play out the rest of the season and are protected from any order to wind them up, the FA rejected their bid to sell players outside of the window too didn’t they?
From what you gents say I’m assuming that Pompey have now gone into administration, although I’ve not seen anything past a report saying they will on Friday.
While it is a solution to stop them being wound-up on Monday, it still does not guarantee that they will be able to play the rest of the season. If the administrator finds insufficient assets and resources to keep the company as a going concern while satisfying creditors, it may just be that the company is wound up in a few weeks, rather than on Monday.
From the limited information I’ve seen about the way they’ve done business, it neither surprises me, nor convinces me to feel any sympathy for them that they are facing this situation.
Not allowing them to sell players was the right decision. It would have caused a bit of mayhem, not to mention allow the clubs who bought them a massive advantage over their rivals. They had the opportunity to sell (even at a loss) in the transfer window, it was only a few weeks ago.
I hope they can keep going, it would be a disaster for their fans if they went under. But I wouldn’t defend the way the club’s been run, it’s been a disaster waiting to happen.
Can’t believe we brought people in in jan! We should’ve sold every player we could to get them off the wage bill. We could’ve just played the youth players.
Why can’t you believe it? That is your club all over and the reason why you are in this mess to begin with, you going into administration is the biggest joke of all.
best option from the bolton midfield? only 4.8 to spend – looking at Gardner – anyone know if he is a regular starter now?
He has played a fair few minutes this year and amassed a total of one assist, one goal and no bonus. Since starting the season at £5M there has been a steady trickle of people abandoning him.
At best he gets you three points for a match (full appearance plus clean sheet), which hardly makes him worthwhile when I couldn’t even tell you if he’d get a full appearance.
Any advice on my team for this week would be much appreciated:
Shwarzer
Ridgewell RJohnson Berra (Evra, Collins)
Diaby Fabregas O’hara N’zogbia Lampard
Bent Drogba (C) (Rooney)
I’m thinking of the following transfers:
a) Berra to Ricketts/Bikey
b) Rooney to Torres!
c) Diaby to ? (if injured)
or something else?
DBRONALDO…ru still there??
Just wondering if you can suggest any decent transfers for 6 Nations?!
just back here again after abit of diner,
if yout still here post me your team and ill advise as best i can,
otherwise i can do that 2mor when il be doing my own team
I’m heading into a crisis and need some help.
Hart Sorenson
Dunne Evra Ivanovic Baird Olsson
Fabregas Valencia Milner Diaby J McCarthy
Rooney Tevez Drogba
0.1 in the bank
GW28 5 missing, possibly 7
No GW – Dunne, Milner, Rooney, Valencia, Evra
Doubts – Diaby, McCarthy
GW29 7 missing, possibly 9
No GW – Dunne, Milner, Ivanovic, Baird, Olsson, Tevez, Drogba
Doubts – Diaby, McCarthy
suggestions? My plan atm is to wait on Diaby and McCarthy fitness, potentially no transfers this week, and see where i am at the beg on gw 29!!! Argghhh!
2-1 roughly everton and fulham to lose tongiht. anyone disagree strongly?
Sporting 1-1 Everton & Shaktar 1-0 Fulham, imo.
anyone know why the Last man staning has fixtures from about 3 weeks time rather than this weekend?
I thought it you had to pick a match every weekend, not every month…
*Standing
due to the postponements i would think,
for example if someone had say man united aston villa left as there choice they would not be able to play,
so the game skips to the next weekend where everyone has there available choices playing that weekend
makes sense I suppose – but annoying as I had planned everything for about 12 weeks!
TAYLOR: DUO SHUNNED MEDIATION OFFER
http://www.sportinglife.com/fo.....e_PFA.html
I read “Meditation” instead of “Mediation”! Never got how meditation would solve their problem
Mediation is a load of ****. HR departments have to do it in workplaces if a person is being bullied, or there is a personality issue. All that happens is that the individuals are looked in (initially separate) rooms with highly paid mediators. They don’t let anyone leave until everyone agrees to sit in a room together, shake hands and promise to be best friends.
*locked in
Mediation is a great thing—for the mediators who can make a decent living at it.
who should i swap dunne for, cant decide either a burnley, bolton or birmingham defender
Liverpool: Reina, Carragher, Agger, Skrtel, Insua, Babel, Gerrard, Lucas, Mascherano, Benayoun, Ngog
Subs: Cavalieri, Aquilani, Torres, Aurelio, Kyrgiakos, Kuyt, Kelly
Benayoun starts. Bonus.
guys I killed it today. Whipped out a cheeky century as well.
same time tomorrow guys. x
p.s that letters girl is a honey küchen. yummy.
sorry guys still on a high from my win today, posted in the wrong place. but about this post i would imagine it will be a long nervous wait for insua owners until sunday…
looking at kuyt on the bench, looks like hes playing up front at the weekend imo with torres on the bench at the weekend, thats what it looks like from that llineup
Kuyt rested nice one.
Where is the watchlist? i can’t find it
Found it. Seems different!
http://www.fantasyfootballscou.....watchlist/
Right hand column in a different format. Now just names of players – not full explanations.
Cheers billy. Why is your name upside down?
I can field 11 this week if I lose Valenica, but poor 11
Team will be…
Hart
Dann, Baird, Dawson, Ivanovic
Fab, McCarthy, xxxxxx, A Johnson
Bent, Drogba
Bench: Robbo, Milner, Rooney, Evra
The xxxx is Valenica out for. . . “aint got a clue” ???
Pineaar?
take Milner out for the likes of Pineaar as he doen play next week eather and valenica plays wolves
Best Combo for this GW
a) Hart and A Hughes
b) Hart and Dann
c) Hart and Bikey
Not the best of choices I know, who do you guys reckon is best?
seriously thinking about getting kuyt and saha in for tevez and milner.
am I mad? or clever?
go for it. your ranking shows you know what you’re doing.
that’s because I go for logic, but KUYT! that isn’t logic! I’m off to the chalkboards to make my decision, will wait till after tonight’s game’s though
i notice they are both for free as well so no problems there. kuyt is just as likely to get 8 as he is to get 2, that is the annoying conundrum with him.
his chalkboards are horrid! but I agree he can pop up and score, and has 9 times this season.
hmmm,
its between kuyt and pienaar, but then can’t have two everton, hmm.
best striker for tevez? saha, torres? bent?
You know all about conundrums now, Clark
yep. ‘massively’ only took 8 seconds or so for the clarkester today.
Not sure I would lose Milner Jimi?
I need to lose one this week and going for Valencia, only cos I will lose to much value in Milner (sell 7.6 buy at 8.3).
Would like him from GW30. . .
can’t keep milner for two weeks with no gw, will only lost .3 on him.
i miss a lot of players the gw following, so need to keep united boys for that.
grrrr it’s annoying
will get milner back in for gw30, just need to ship him for two weeks
I agree – I will lose a tump on Milner if I sell him. that my problem !
I have Evra, Rooney, Milner and James Collins all not playing, plus Cech a serious doubt.
Do people think I Should:
Take Cech out for Almunia or Reina
Take Collins out for a Liverpool or Arsenal defender
Take a points hit and do both(have never done one before)
All of them will drop to a greater or lesser degree, and the AV players more-so because of two weeks out. With Collins having moved so little price-wise before today, I’d punt that he’d be the easiest to dump and buy-back without any problems or £-loss.
I’d take that as a starting point to get in a defender with an unbroken run of fixtures, pointing at Arsenal, Liverpool and Bolton. There are arguments for and against a variety of their players.
I stupidly took Insua who got 6 points last week for Collins who got 1. bah!
Collins for Carragher
Thanks Shipstontrev I just did that transfer. probably should have waited until after this evening’s match though….
shipping out collins but who for.
baines or a arsenal defender???
please help
Either Burton is fine.
Baines would be best for Eve. Song would have been for the arse pending potential ban !
Why not a Liverpool defender, Carragher or Insua?
wat you gus think of these transfers,
im looking at keeping my 3 chelsea players until week 32.
week 28: rodellega > bendtner
week 29: hughes & baird > distin & fox/cork/mears
week 30: evra & lee > milner & warnock
All good moves to me db, I would be doing Hughes to Baines however if you had the cash, I am not convinced that Distin will keep his place in that back 4 whereas Baines is dead cert. If it is an issue with cash then I suppose it will have to do, I would be going for Cork out of the Burnley bunch as you are guaranteed to have 4 defenders for week 29 and cover elsewhere should he not start.
Evra and Lee for Milner and Warnock is sound
whos the best burnley defender-bikey?
I want to know which burnley defender to bring in too. Is there a burnley fan on here?
I was thinking fox btw, cause he is on some free kicks, though apparently mears takes some too.. also, fox played on the left wing in 1(2?) game(s?)..
I don’t think any Burnley fans own a computer let alone know what the internet is
lol
haha
You lot think i’m joking. You should go up to Turf Moor one Saturday afternoon, you’ll think you have gone back in time
No DeLorean required, eh?
I believe the cafes close for lunch up there…
oi! we’re still good on countdown, a show full of young people in the audience…. all right fine
Ok so clearly you wernt inspired by the write up!
I’m gonna go fox I think!
When fit, Alexander is a great bet – (C), so won’t be dropped, and takes the penalties. Can’t really say fairer than that. You could always actually read the above article.
I’d say Alexander cos he plays as midfielder – should be back this weekend
is fox a definate starter though?
He’s played 3 full games since he’s moved so I’d say yes. Plus he’s on set pieces. I like the prospect of that over Alexander taking pens.
where is fox playing on the pitch?
Theres a lot of talk about “keep valencia to face Wolves”….
Im not so certain Valencia will face wolves. Nani returning from Ban, Giggs from injury. Plus throw game v Milan into it – its not a cert!
My thoughts exactly. He’s my first out the door this week
Im with you my man…. !
I feel theres better value in me benchin Milner for 2weeks and keeping him nice a warm for the run !
I was so far ahead of you on that one I dumped Valencia two weeks ago when I was certain he’d be rotated with Nani and be poor value. Then Nani got suspended and gave him a free run and loads of points.
“Why I oughta…”
I’m in two minds
i did the same thing but brougth him back just for last weeks United DGW after Lampard went down on Friday. Probably why it’s easy for me to get shot of him now
I only brought Antonio in for a GW27 cameo Billy.
16pts and a 0.1m earnier later, and off his goes.
God, Valencia is my. . . Bitch
!!!
high five Evs or even BIG tens?
20′s mate?
Use toes as well
???
As you bought Rooney for 11.8 Evs, might be worth considering taking a little punt on Torres. By Sunday Rooney will be down to 12.0 (which is what you will have sold him for) so you can bring him in for (maybe for Drogba). A thought…?
Thats a fair point Pas, cheers.
I would want Rooney back though for the following week v Wolves.
So your suggesting… A “cheeky” Torres cameo?
Maybe…Drogs doesn’t play next week – He’ll be 11.8 come Sunday so you can sell him at 11.6 – if he drops to 11.6 by the following week (reasonably likely) then you can do the same with him. 2 potentially difficult GWs, 2 top strikers – no 12M on your bench – and it won’t cost you a penny. I’m doing it if Torres comes through unscathed this evening.
Currently have Evra, Dunne, Valencia & Rooney this week. Was going to get Evra out, but thinking that the next two fixtures after this one are gd chances of cs, so might keep him until after gw30.
Planning on brining in Carragher and Pienaar this week, and need to decide between Evra/Bramble – Valencia/Duff to take out.
Thoughts?
im keeping evra for wolves away at least, maybe not fulham as i want some villa defenders
Got the evra/bramble dilema too. Did plan to do carragher for evra (as long as carragher comes through tonights game ok), had bramble the whole season and he warms the bench good, he rarely starts for me.
I am going Carragher too gents, figure he really is the safest option and he is not too expensive, as long as he stays fit, Bramble and Valencia for me, Evra is a nailed on starter and while Valencia is the cat’s pajama’s at the moment Pienaar is in form aswell. Once Nani is back and Champions league action kicks in Valencia is turning into such a key player we could see rotation. I think with Vidic and Rio back United will start to deliver on the clean sheet front, they haven’t playing together since October and we all know what has happened to the defence in the mean time
Fulham: Schwarzer, Baird, Hangeland, Hughes, Kelly, Duff, Murphy, Etuhu, Davies, Gera, Zamora
Subs: Zuberbuhler, Nevland, Riise, Smalling, Greening, Elm, Marsh-Brown
Duff has played a lot of football recently. It’s a great credit to the Fulham back room staff that they’ve managed to get him 100% and keep him fit.
Hope you haven’t jinxed him now
It’s great to see him back to his best i love watching him, one of my all time favourite Rovers players so i hope i haven’t jinxed him
amen to that. it was a shame to see him struggling so much for fitness and consequently form in a struggling newcastle side knowing there was still a very good player in there.
Gareth Barry anyone?
And Newcatle’s fitness coaches aren’t exactly world class are they?
Hey guys, lost on other page..;.
Best Combo for this GW
a) Hart and A Hughes
b) Hart and Dann
c) Hart and Bikey
Not the best of choices I know, who do you guys reckon is best?
I’d go Bikey. If you have him and don’t want to play him at home to Portsmouth, then what is the point of having him?
Some people don’t play the sqaud game, just 11/12 who play every week and then some cheapie to warm the bench and give them max money for their big guns
i think hart and bikey
Torres definatly not starting tonight, if you are taking a gamble then this is good news.
Is the Liverpool game on TV tonight?
ESPN i think
ESPN.
Fulham game on ITV4
Everton on five
What time Kos? As team are out???
Shakhtar Donetsk v Fulham 1800
Sporting Lisbon v Everton 2005
If found out now off beeb. I was being lazy!
anyone fancy fulham to win? longshot maybe 11/2 odds
Facing a dilemma this week, good few players not playing, should i transfer out friedel for hilario and the do rooney for torres????(no points hit)
not hilario maybe jensen would be a better choice or reina
rooney a keeper IMO, man u’s only outlet, there relying on him to get there goals and hes getting them, torres….we dont know about him people believe he might start the weekend and some dont, itsofacto torres takes a few games to get into it and liverpool arn’t creating much as it is