Say What? Gameweek 17

Once again, we scour the press conferences and post-match reports in our quest to find any sound bites of interest over the last few days. Liverpool’s midfield, Chelsea attack, Newcastle’s in-form forward and a change of position for a Sunderland midfielder all find their way onto the radar:

Brendan Rodgers praised the central midfield displays of Joe Allen and Jordan Henderson in Sunday’s 5-0 win at Tottenham. With Steven Gerrard sidelined through injury, the Liverpool boss moved to a 4-3-3 and partnered Allen with Lucas in front of the back-four – a set-up that helped his side to just their second clean sheet in the last 13. Henderson’s role behind Luis Suarez saw him bag a goal and assist at the Lane and brings the 5.9 priced midfielder onto Fantasy radars ahead of three home games (CAR, HUL, AVL) and a trip to Stoke in the next six:

“I thought both Jordan and Joe Allen were brilliant, in how they pressed the ball. Joe is an outstanding player and as time goes on at Liverpool, he will really show that. He’s a big talent; because he doesn’t get the goals, he’s more a technician and dynamic. He’ll get maybe six or seven goals a season. But his influence on the team to retain the ball is so important. He and Jordan were excellent. He (Henderson) has been absolutely outstanding in my time here, a great boy as well and wants to learn. You saw his performance. You looked at Jordan – a few times he was really organising and encouraging, and getting into one or two of his teammates as well. That’s the leadership that you want.”
Brendan Rodgers praises his midfield after Sunday’s win at Spurs

Eden Hazard discussed his attacking contribution for Chelsea after picking up an assist in the weekend win over Palace. The Belgian now has six goals and nine assists to his name so far, compared to nine goals and 16 assists in his debut campaign – with 22 Gameweeks left of the season, his current tally of 96 points looks on target to surpass the 190 points from 2012/13:

“I don’t know if I am stronger than last season, that is something we will only be able to say after the season has ended. I feel well and have settled in this team. I have more experience and I can cope better with the amount of games. We’re playing for the title and the manager asks me to be decisive. I try to be. I try to work as hard as possible and to enjoy myself on the pitch. I want to make people happy. I know that people expect more goals and assists from me. That’s logical. For me it is all about playing well. When I play well, I’ll score more goals.”
Eden Hazard on his attacking contribution for Chelsea

Jose Mourinho has bemoaned his forwards’ inability to find the net. Chelsea have racked up 32 goals in the opening 16 Gameweeks but no frontman has scored more than twice – in addition to Hazard’s six, Oscar has chipped in with five as the Blues boss relies on his midfield to provide a cutting edge instead:

“Which team, which manager doesn’t like to have one guy who scores 30 goals a season and gets the ball, dribbles round one or two guys and puts the ball in the top corner? Everybody wants that but we are not that team so we have to go in another direction. It’s a direction we’re going playing with creative guys, playing with lots of ball possession but of course, we have to try also to improve our defensive mistakes. We know we don’t have that striker that we used to call the killer, the selfish one, the one that gets the last touch…We don’t have the striker that’s going to score 30 goals in the Premier League, we know that we don’t have that but the way that we produce, we know we have to score more goals.”
Jose Mourinho on his forwards’ collective lack of goals

Arsene Wenger reckons the fixture list was partly to blame after Arsenal were hammered 6-3 at the Etihad by City. Whilst their hosts played at Bayern on Tuesday evening, the Gunners visited Napoli 24 hours later and played half of the second period with 10 men before a Saturday lunchtime trip to face Manuel Pellegrini’s men:

“I’m very disappointed because we didn’t do our defensive job as we are used to. We didn’t defend well from up front and did not show enough solidarity defensively. That’s too easy going. We had the best defence until now in the league and to give six goals like we did today is just difficult to accept because we lost our discipline and in the big games and you pay for that. The schedule didn’t help us, let’s be fair as well. You could see that the legs were tired and you play Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday morning, it’s too difficult.” Arsene Wenger on Arsenal’s defeat at City

Roberto Martinez has called upon Ross Barkley to ignore the speculation surrounding interests from the likes of United, City and Chelsea in recent weeks. After just a single start between Gameweeks 10 and 13, the youngster’s game time looked in question but he’s since featured in the first XI in each of the last three matches and has since re-established himself in the advanced central role for the Toffees festive fixtures:

“In football a week is an eternity so for a few months it is going to be a waste of time thinking about what can happen in the future. In football you need to concentrate on the day-to-day work and that’s where Ross is. But all he needs to do now is concentrate on his club role and make sure he is ready to help the team and enjoy his season and develop, and grow. Sometimes you get confused as a player how you are going to affect what happens in the national team – but it is very easy. It is about what you do at club level.”
Roberto Martinez on Ross Barkley’s displays

Alan Pardew has heaped praise upon Yoan Gouffran after the Frenchman scored for the fourth successive home game last weekend. Despite being moved to the left wing, the former Bordeaux man – who cost Newcastle less than £1m 12 months ago – has proven a vital member of the Magpies’ first team that has risen to sixth in the table after losing just once in the last seven Gameweeks:

“He’s astonishing. I really didn’t want to take him off against Southampton, but I needed to get Hatem on the pitch because I just wanted him on to try and conjure something up which he nearly did. He was terrific up to that point and then he sprinted off, which is pretty typical of him. I’m sure the Geordie faithful up here absolutely loved him to bits. It’s fair to say that he didn’t come with a great fanfare. Not too much was made of him, but we had played against him in the Europa League and we were very impressed in the two performances he gave against us. We could see as a player that he was really committed and that he had the quality to play for Newcastle.”
Alan Pardew on Yoan Gouffran’s form

Gus Poyet has explained the reasons behind a new role for Ki Sung-Yeung in the Sunderland midfield. The South Korean was moved into a more advanced role away to West Ham, with Lee Cattermole drafted in to protect the back-four, and fired five attempts on goal last weekend. Ki then climbed off the bench to score the winner against Chelsea last night – he comes in at 4.8 in FPL and has Norwich, Cardiff, Villa and Fulham in the next five Gameweeks.

“We had a chat with Ki. He prefers to play in front of the back four, but of course you need to work a lot defensively, and he’s not that type of player. So we said to him that we’d give him a chance to play forward. He can pass the ball, he’s not the type of player where the ball is flying over his head, it could be interesting for us if he plays there again, it could be an option for us.”
Gus Poyet on Ki Sung-Yeung’s attacking capabilities

Mark Hughes has revealed the recent displays of Marc Wilson at centre-half have convinced him there’s no need to rush Robert Huth back from a knee injury. The Republic of Ireland international has stepped in alongside Ryan Shawcross in the heart of the Stoke back-four and helped his side to a couple of clean sheets in the last three Gameweeks –with Villa, Newcastle and Spurs up next, defensive returns look on the cards again, with Wilson (4.3) looking nailed-on until Huth is 100% available.

“Marc looks really comfortable and he’s done really well for us. I’m really pleased for Marc because he’s a good professional and a good technical player who can play in any number of positions. He shows real composure and doesn’t get fazed by anything. There’s no real pressure to get Robert back before he’s ready. He’s an important player for us, we all know that, but if we can make sure he’s 100 per cent right we may well get a bigger, stronger Robert Huth…if that’s possible.”
Mark Hughes on Marc Wilson’s recent displays