The Catch-Up – Gameweek 4
Filed under: Site Features - Posted by: Andy
Here at Fantasy Football Scout we like to think we bring Fantasy Managers a whole host of useful content in the build up to each Gameweek. We do, however, appreciate that you might not be following us day in and day out. For those of you in said group we are going to bring you a wrap-up of all the hard work that the team have put in as we close in on the Gameweek deadline.
This time around there’s been a two week international break following on from the closing of the transfer window giving us a bumper edition to kick things off…
Teamsheet Talking Points
All the chatter in the latter part of this week centred around the fitness of some of the new Old Trafford heavyweights. Both Robin Van Persie and Shinji Kagawa came out of Tuesday’s internationals with question marks over their fitness. Thankfully Friday’s press conference found Sir Alex confirming that both were fit and available. Panic over. Although we can’t help wonder if the old scoundrel is still keeping something up his “wee sleevey”.
Meanwhile up at St. James’ Park Alan Pardew has found himself in the midst of a minor defensive crisis with Tim Krul, Danny Simpson and Cheick Tiote ruled out of action for their Gameweek Four fixture. With question marks still hanging over Fabricio Coloccini, the Toon Army could be facing an uphill battle up against David Moyes’ Everton on Monday evening. It certainly seems like they might need to notch a couple to compensate for leaving the backdoor ajar. Big returns for Leighton Baines, Steven Pienaar and Nikaca Jelavic? See the Scout Picks.
As always, all of the weeks stories have been dissected and recorded in our Team News and Injuries & Bans pages for your convenience.
The Transfer Trail
As mentioned, the summer transfer window closed a mere 12 hours before the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) deadline shut. Some new faces look set to earn debuts in Gameweek Four and Scout Reports have been produced on a whole raft of new offerings.
The likes of Southampton splashed the big bucks to bring Gaston Ramirez in from Bologna. Aston Villa added to their attacking options with Christian Benteke and Pablo Hernandez joined Swansea for a club record fee of £5.55m. Here’s a snippet of our take on the latter…
“Hernandez’s arrival, however, places major question marks over the Swansea flanks. As a club record signing, the chances of him swapping La Liga for a place on the Liberty bench seem non-existent, meaning one of the two wide boys will almost certainly make way. Able to play on either wing, he looks favourite to oust Routledge on the left, allowing Dyer to continue his menacing form on the opposite side of the pitch.”
It’s not just new faces that intrigue us, though, as plenty of players made a late in the day move from one Premier League outfit to another. We’ve had a look at how this might affect Michael Owen and Charlie Adam at Stoke, Dimitar Berbatov returning to London to play under Martin Jol once more down at Fulham and Clint Dempsey leaving the latter outfit for pastures new at Spurs Lodge.
Looking Forward
Looking a little closer to home and assessing the upcoming run of Gameweeks, it falls upon us to Frisk the Fixtures and see which teams have a favourable run and which sides look a little more precarious on that front.
Looking in even further detail The Watchlist got it’s regular sprucing as we narrowed in on the players we feel are set to sparkle in the coming weeks. The aforementioned Nikica Jelavic and Leighton Baines lead an Everton flavoured charge with James Morrison representing West Brom ahead of Gameweek Four. The third option proving an interesting alternative to the norm…
“Priced at 6.0 in FPL and 6.4 in the Sky Sports game, the Scot looks a real mid-price differential to consider over the next few Gameweeks. With Clarke’s in-form side welcoming (RG, QPR, SOT) to the Hawthorns in the next eight and with trips to (ful, avl, wig) also on the agenda, his propensity to pick up the points could well appeal to those Fantasy managers looking for something different from the template midfields currently doing the rounds on site.”
Members Club
Our Members get exclusive content each week and we’d be remiss to not highlight the goodies that came their way for their season subscription. Data from the first three weeks was collated and assessed to provide some statistical analysis on the Defending and Attacking of each Premier League side to date. We followed these up with two more articles, with a Monitor examining the progress made by Norwich winger Anthony Pilkington under Chris Hughton’s regime, while Chris Glover made a triumphant return to these pages with a first of a new series. The “Moneyball” articles will find Chris delving into the budget market, attempting to decode an array of stats to find true gold – it all started with West Ham’s Ricardo Vaz Te.
Talking Tactics
One thing we know all too well is that Andy Carroll suits a certain style of play. Brendan Rogers couldn’t offer him that but Sam Allardyce, down at Upton Park, is a manager who certainly can. The other thing we know is that when we let Paul loose to frolic in the fields of Stat Maps and numbers we’re bound to get rewards. His Technical Area on West Ham’s loan striker is evidence of just that. Now the Hammers will just have to hope his hamstring injury doesn’t keep him out too long.
Over on the Fantasy Premier League website our Gameweek Preview under the guise of “The Scout” takes a look at the current strategies of Brian McDermott and Reading and Martin Jol at Fulham as well as a look at the data behind the most attacking defenders to date. There are a couple of surprise candidates coming out of Wigan worth keeping an eye on…
“Wigan Athletic’s Emmerson Boyce and Maynor Figueroa have impressed, with the pair offering constant delivery from the flanks in Roberto Martinez’s 3-4-2-1 formation. Playing on the right of midfield, Boyce has mirrored the supply rate of Everton’s Leighton Baines from out wide with 12 crosses and has also managed 3 shots.”
Weekly Regulars
Of course there’s also the Scout Picks, released only last night, followed swiftly by Big Dunc’s return in the Differential. Once again our resident Evertonian managed to sneak one of his boy’s into the mix.
Finally, there’s the small matter of your most important Fantasy player this Gameweek. Judging by those who have answered the Scout Poll (found in the middle menu of the homepage) Robin Van Persie is the runaway candidate for captaincy this Gameweek with a rather appealing home fixture against the Latics. Those without the Dutch hitman look set to choose between Eden Hazard and Santi Cazorla in their quest to better the masses and hope that Sir Alex springs a surprise. Will the United boss prompt a big Fantasy swing? We can only wait to see what he has in store.
About The Author
“I eat stickers all the time dude.”
Andy @ffscout_andy
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“I love to attack and I love to go up front...It is a little more difficult than when you are playing centre-back. If you play the way that I want to play, I think my influence is better as a left-back. For the team, it is best that I play as a centre-back. I like to bring the ball out. You need to move the game quickly, and that is one of my qualities as well.”
Jan Vertonghen outlines what he feels is his best position for Andre Villas-Boas
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September 15 at 8:40 am
sumatera says:
need to consider michu, yaya, carzola, too much in defence, need to upgrade disanto possibly
September 15 at 8:40 am
sumatera says:
reply fail to last page
September 15 at 8:54 am
Old Glory says:
He has cazorla? I don’t think he was referencing Santi Claus in his midfield. Yaya is not going to bag 20 goals this season so you can find much better value in midfield.
September 15 at 9:05 am
ooh john aah john yes john says:
ditched verm for gibbs….upgraded santo to fletcher….i have cazorla..michu bandwagon has sailed,me thinks..skeptical about barfa….what do u reckon?
September 15 at 9:07 am
Old Glory says:
HBA is solid, really talented. Newcastle just have a lot of issues in back and they’re in poop form.
September 15 at 9:10 am
Old Glory says:
I’m on my WC now. Just shipped out HBA and Routledge to Pienaar and Morrison. Better fixtures.
September 15 at 8:54 am
UNITED FORCE says:
pick 3: cuellar, hughes, clark, rangel
September 15 at 8:57 am
Old Glory says:
Hughes, cuellar, rangel
September 15 at 1:35 pm
Brutus619 says:
+1
September 15 at 8:56 am
Seanie says:
Kaca or Nolan today? Inspire me
September 15 at 8:57 am
gers23 says:
i think nolan will score today
September 15 at 9:06 am
Old Glory says:
He could, but there’s no doubt he looked better because of Carroll
September 15 at 9:09 am
Simon says:
so that means he’ll score then…
September 15 at 9:39 am
Sneaky Pete says:
Football is priority , NOT BIGOTRY.. I was understanding that your homeland was trying to stamp out pictures like that.
September 15 at 8:56 am
gers23 says:
should i use my FT to do Bale to Cazorla?
September 15 at 9:00 am
Hubert says:
Depends on the rest of your team, but yes, probably
September 15 at 9:01 am
gers23 says:
Swarchzer/Begovic
Ivanovic/Zabaleta/Cuellar/Demel/S Taylor
Bale/Yaya/Mcclean/Pienaar/Dyer
Rvp/Tevez/Petric
September 15 at 9:06 am
Hubert says:
I would, Bale might start scoring, but Cazorla already has, and has a better fixture
September 15 at 8:57 am
Old Glory says:
Kaca, Fulham home, Richardson hurt and Bryan 50/50.
West Ham @NOR. Don’t do it.
September 15 at 8:58 am
dropkicks says:
play sterling or guthrie this week?
September 15 at 9:02 am
gers23 says:
Guthrie
September 15 at 8:58 am
babs91 says:
http://gu.com/p/3aec8/tw RVP and Kagawa will not be playing…..hard luck boys
September 15 at 9:01 am
Hubert says:
Pure speculation
September 15 at 9:03 am
babs91 says:
sounds like solid info to me, players never attend these functions the evening before a game, just not done
September 15 at 9:09 am
bdwhite91 says:
never in the history of football has it been done?
September 15 at 9:10 am
Hubert says:
Oh
September 15 at 9:05 am
babs91 says:
3 reasons why RVP won’t play. 1. Champions league week 2. Took a knock during the week. 3. Wigan are pants
September 15 at 9:08 am
bdwhite91 says:
won’t -> may not
3/3
September 15 at 9:20 am
Old Glory says:
Go back to your bridge troll
September 15 at 9:08 am
Old Glory says:
Foster or Jaask this week? I have Berbatov so I’ll take my chances with Jaask I think…
September 15 at 9:20 am
bdwhite91 says:
I don’t even care anymore. My rival doesn’t even have Tevez, we both have RVP. I’m going Santi (c). Time to take a nap. See you all in a few.
September 15 at 9:21 am
Mind over Mata says:
Couple of questions:
(1) best cheap gk combo Guzan and Foster or Ruddy and
foster
(2) play 2 of Lambert (ars), Guthrie (TOT), Demel (nor) and Hughes (WBA)
Thanks for any responses
September 15 at 9:25 am
UNITED FORCE says:
How does it looks guys ?
— Jaaskelainen —
— Cuellar * Hughes * Clark —
— Yaya Toure * Hazard * Santi Cazorla * Michu -
— Adebayor * Van Persie * Tevez —
September 15 at 9:25 am
Mind over Mata says:
Looking good
September 15 at 9:27 am
UNITED FORCE says:
Van Persie (C), Santi Cazorla (VC)
September 15 at 9:27 am
UNITED FORCE says:
Sub: Etheridge, Rangel, Mariappa, Gunnarsson
September 15 at 11:03 am
athevroy says:
I was gonna say. Your bench must be pants. and it is. I would do something about that.
September 15 at 9:28 am
dropkicks says:
rvp and sterling (playing) OR bale and podolski
September 15 at 9:30 am
Mind over Mata says:
Final squad, comments please:
Foster / Ruddy
Baines / Cuellar / Gibbs / Hughes / Demel
Cazorla / Hazard / Guthrie / Michu / Pienaar
Lambert / RVP / Tevez
September 15 at 9:34 am
Danapussy. Mithrandir, the Grey Pilgrim says:
Template! And nice!
September 15 at 9:57 am
UNITED FORCE says:
awesome team !
September 15 at 9:33 am
decob says:
Kagawa –> Cazorla Y or N?
Already have Van Persie and I am not sure Fergie is gonna play both.
First to five…
September 15 at 10:05 am
Joey Barton and Friends says:
carzola will most likely be the silva of last year. get him
September 15 at 9:33 am
Danapussy. Mithrandir, the Grey Pilgrim says:
Right, for my differential spot.
Stick with Dyer this GW ( hardly a differential I know )
Or get in Morrison / Snodgrass / Ramierez?
Whom is better?
September 15 at 9:51 am
UNITED FORCE says:
snod
September 15 at 11:07 am
athevroy says:
For this week I like the Snodgrass punt. Long term Morrison looks tempting..
September 15 at 9:45 am
Mumm-Ra says:
Good morning campers, i would appreciate your feedback on this bunch of ruffians
Friedel (Federici)
Vermaelen, Lescott, Hangeland (Demel, Cuellar)
Michu, Kagawa, Pienaar, Allen, (Robson-Kanu)
Tevez, Petric, RVP(c)
I have 1.6m in the bank and am considering transferring Morrison in for Allen. Thoughts???
September 15 at 10:02 am
Addaaammmm says:
Get Begovic for Federici (more clean sheats 4 same price)
Morrison for Allen sounds good to me as well
September 15 at 10:00 am
mucka says:
Kagawa > Hazard (4 point hit)
Yes or No
September 15 at 9:59 am
UNITED FORCE says:
y
September 15 at 10:00 am
Addaaammmm says:
Yes
September 15 at 10:00 am
Addaaammmm says:
Is it possible for RVP to rise by another 0.1 within the next hour and a half? Would anyone know?
September 15 at 10:01 am
UNITED FORCE says:
its not possible, tonight he will rise
September 15 at 10:17 am
Joey Barton and Friends says:
looking forward to when Rooney is back and the CL is in full swing. I have RVP but would like a bit more unpredictability. At the minute the top 3 are easily picked – RVP, Tevez + 6.0 striker
September 15 at 10:17 am
Mr Draper says:
God damn all I needed was to start having doubts about captaining RVP!!!
September 15 at 10:16 am
Joey Barton and Friends says:
you know he will play and if its 3-0 after 65 mins he will come off. Kawaga is the only real doubt
September 15 at 10:26 am
Mr Draper says:
Thanks I seriously needed that!
September 15 at 10:24 am
JoshyC says:
Hi all, first time poster. Wondering if I can get some feedback on my wcfpl team.
Vorm (jaask)
Ivanovich jenkinson mertsacker, McCauley (demel)
Hazard yaya cazorla dyer routledge
Tevez Torres Ba
0.1m left
Thanks all
September 15 at 10:25 am
Joey Barton and Friends says:
you dont want to be doubling up on 2 Arsenal defenders – esp since neither of them will be first choice in a couple of weeks. No United cover?
September 15 at 11:08 am
athevroy says:
Not good. Pick one of Routledge/Dyer. One of them will highly likely make way for Pablo as well. As was mentioned, both Arsenal defenders will most likely also make way in the next few weeks, leaving you with major transfer issues.
I would also look at getting in one of Jelavic/Fletcher/Berbatov/Lambert for Ba. Newcastle are out of form right now and there are just better options at the moment.
I would try to look at players that have good fixtures on the ticker, not what would score highly this week if you are on a WC.
September 15 at 10:25 am
Mr Draper says:
Hmm I have McCartney and Hughes In my defence with ridgewell on the bench should I swap McCartney for ridge?
Which means I hedge my bets as I feel there is more chance WBA getting a cleanie away than west ham.
September 15 at 11:13 am
athevroy says:
Berbatov Captain anyone?
September 15 at 11:16 am
GREENDREAMS11 says:
I have to say I swithered for 1.7 seconds but then stuck with RVP, Berba is (VC) though.
September 15 at 11:21 am
Kobra says:
A) Foster + Reid
B) Jaask + McAuley
WHich pair to choose? I want to get most cover.
September 15 at 11:28 am
Soundwave says:
Quick reply needed here – Jask or Begovic for today?
September 15 at 11:33 am
Kobra says:
Jaask
September 15 at 11:32 am
Kobra says:
Much much much easier fixture
September 15 at 11:45 am
Soundwave says:
Thx, I put him in XI, hope he will get CS or maybe some saves