Say What? Gameweek 28

Once again we scour the press for soundbites and quotes from another round of Fantasy action. This week, Jose Mourinho, Sam Allardyce, Roberto Martinez and Felix Magath discuss their respective forwards, whilst Brendan Rogers and Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer explain their weekend tactical adjustments:

Following his side’s 3-1 demolition of local rivals Fulham, Jose Mourinho elaborated on his decision to drop Samuel Eto’o after six consecutive league starts. Going by his post-match comments, Mourinho has seemingly earmarked his experienced Cameroonian for a return to first team action in the home tie against Tottenham next week. With premium strikers hard to come by ahead of a depleted Gameweek 29 schedule, Eto’o may just catch the eye of daring Fantasy managers following Mourinho’s apparent backing – though the Blues’ midfield prospects may suggest that investment would be better spent elsewhere:

“Eto’o scores goals, but at home. He scores in the league, in the Champions League, but all of them at home. I think away is more difficult for him. He is our best striker to play at home because of his technique, his movement and his understanding with Eden and Oscar. Away he is showing some difficulties so we made the decision to start with Fernando [Torres] and have Demba [Ba] for the last part of the [Fulham] game.”
Jose Mourinho on Samuel Eto’o’s omission from his side’s away win at Fulham.

Andre Schurrle’s match-winning hat-trick spoke volumes for his own Fantasy prospects and the Germany international used the spotlight to describe his ideal role in the Chelsea attack. No surprises for guessing that Eden Hazard would play a key role in the dream line-up – the Belgian winger provided the assist for two of Schurrle’s goals to maintain his spot as the Chelsea midfielder of choice:

“I think I’m more of an attacker than a midfielder like Lamps [Frank Lampard]. I can play No 10, on the right side or something in between to get my runs from the deep and get some shots in. I think for me, when I play on the right wing and Eden [Hazard] on the left it’s perfect because I know he can take on two or three people and have the quality to make the pass to me. When I start my run, he always knows that I’m running and sees me.”
Andre Schurrle on his favoured role at Chelsea.

A buoyant Roberto Martinez hailed the return of Romelu Lukaku last week, with the Belgian’s strike on his return from injury enough to secure a 1-0 victory at home to West Ham. The Everton forward has both shown pedigree as a Fantasy prospect and burned his owners in equal measure this season but Martinez’ comments will once again draw some attention Lukaku’s way:

“Romelu is somebody we’ve missed for a long time and he pops up with a clinical touch today. It was well deserved… You don’t want to lose players through injury, but I think in a strange way it is what he needed. This is the first season he has played 90 minutes consistently in the Premier League, leading the line and taking responsibility for the team. I felt in January that he was starting to feel tired and suffering from the demands of this league. But now he is refreshed and desperate to help the team. He has accumulated the experience of being so effective with us already this season and now he is fully refreshed for the last 10 weeks of the season. You are not going to find a better striker around the world with that power and strength with his back to play. He is showing how well he can finish, he is a No.9 who can bring instructions into play – he has got everything. I respect him a lot – he could be as good as he wants to be.”
Roberto Martinez welcomes the return of Romelu Lukaku ahead of the run-in.

Martinez also tipped Leighton Baines for a strong finish to the campaign. Fantasy Premier League’s (FPL) most expensive defender still ranks eighth in his position despite patches of slightly underwhelming form and a six game absence, but with his future secured and double-digit hauls in three of his last nine – not to mention an enticing run of games to follow this weekend’s blank (including a double in Gameweek 31), the England left back could be set for some explosive returns:

“It’s been a difficult season for him because of the transfer speculation at the beginning… It does not matter how experienced you are, that will affect you. He has had a little interruption but I think Leighton can have a phenomenal end to the campaign.”
Martinez singles out Leighton Baines for a big contribution in his side’s battle for fourth.

Staying on Merseyside, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers continued to boast a positive footballing philosophy following Liverpool’s change of formation ahead of their trip to Southampton. With a solid 3-0 win at St. Mary’s, it seems that the League’s top scorers can maintain a serious attacking threat, regardless of Rodgers’ tactical manoeuvring:

“The systems are relevant – we can look at each game and analyse the strengths of what we have available against the opponent we’re playing. The style will always be the same – we want to control and dominate the game, be tactically strong and very good in transition. We saw all of those aspects today. We’ve played 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 and 3-5-2 and today we played a 4-4-2 diamond. You’ve got to heap huge praise onto the players, who kept the tactical discipline in order to block up the space and be a threat going forward”.
Brendan Rogers on Liverpool’s tactical adaptability and the value of discipline.

After a significantly improved defensive display in his side’s 1-0 defeat at Spurs, Cardiff City manager Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer spoke of his tactical switch in preparation for the match. The Norwegian decided to play a more secure formation following a heavy home defeat to Hull City in the previous week, although, with a home tie against Fulham on the cards this Saturday, Solskjaer may be expected to revert to his usual attacking style:

“We had three very good centre-backs out there, and I can’t say any players played out of position. I thought Gary Medel was outstanding, and Caulker was excellent too. It suited us on Sunday, I think the players performed really well in that system, we got hold of the centre midfield as well. We conceded a sloppy goal, a disappointing goal, but that wasn’t because of the shape, it was because we were caught on the break. I thought that was suitable to play at Spurs away.”
Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer taking the positives from a narrow defeat at White Hart Lane.

Earlier in the week, Fulham’s new manager, Felix Magath talked up Kostas Mitroglou’s chances of returning to action following his omission from the home defeat to Chelsea. The Cottagers big January signing has managed just 30 Premier League minutes since arriving at the West London club, though is already a doubt for the weekend after picking up a hamstring problem on international duty last night:

“Mitroglou is used to playing in a small league and was playing at the best club in this league. Olympiacos were always the better team and attacked a lot. Mitroglou is a fantastic finisher and you need such players when you’re in the box, but he’s not used to it when teams have to be more defensive. The problem is not that he’s not fit enough, more that he needs to get used to the Premier League and to working defensively, which he has not been asked to do before. I’ve told him that he must get used to the situation in the best league and do more defending. He’s fit enough to play half an hour or so, not 90 minutes. He will develop and has worked hard over the last four weeks. He will be ready for next week.”
Felix Magath explains striker Kostas Mitroglou’s fitness levels.

Sam Allardyce explained his decision to substitute Carlton Cole with less than 30 minutes played in the weekend trip to Everton. Cole had maintained his starting berth after producing a goal and an assist in the Gameweek 27 win against Southampton, despite Andy Carroll’s return from suspension but was afforded little time to justify his selection. While the Hammers face a blank in Gameweek 29, the promise of a double home fixture Gameweek 31 will bring Carroll onto Fantasy radars if, as expected, he ousts Cole for the Gameweek 30 trip to Stoke:

“Our hold-up play needed to be better because we did not counter-attack enough, bar the odd occasion, which was a very good breakout from a header from James Collins… I needed to get better hold-up play. I didn’t think it was quite happening for Carlton, so Andy came on and we got more into the game.”
West Ham manager Sam Allardyce on a slightly ruthless decision to withdraw Carlton Cole on 28 minutes.