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Newcastle And Sunderland Reviewed

For the last in this series of reviews we come to the Premier League’s (PL) two North East clubs, Sunderland and Newcastle. Both are difficult to assess with new managers, but are important to consider as they are usually one of the most selected home/away rotation pairs for experienced Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers. So what effect will their new coaches have on them and what can be expected in the coming season?

NEWCASTLE UNITED – Overview

Newcastle finished the season in 15th place on 39 points, with 40 goals scored and a huge 63 conceded – only QPR let in more PL goals in 2014/15. The second half of the season (after the departure of Alan Pardew) was truly dismal, with 26 points coming in the 18 games before Pardew left and only 13 points in the 20 games when John Carver took over. The defence was poor all season, averaging 1.61 goals conceded per game under Pardew and 1.89 after he left. However, under Carver the goals dried up as well, culminating in a run where five were scored in 10 games (nine defeats) during March and April.

So what effect will the appointment of Steve McClaren have? He is a coach with a chequered club history – relatively successful spells with Middlesbrough and FC Twente, less successful at Wolfsburg, FC Twente (2nd time) and Derby County.

Generally quite good on the offensive side of the game, defensive solidity has not historically been McClaren’s strongest point. Over the last two seasons his Derby team scored 85 and 84 goals in the Championship – good totals for promotion contenders. But they conceded 56 and 52 goals, worse than most of their promotion rivals. Couple that tendency with the traditional preference among Newcastle fans for a team that plays open, attacking football and the probable outcome would seem likely to be a team that will improve offensively more than it does defensively.

SUNDERLAND – Overview

With Dick Advocaat (“Big Dick” as the Sunderland faithful have affectionately named him) we are dealing with a more known quantity as he took charge of Sunderland for the last nine games of the 2014/15 season. Three wins and three draws in his first eight games (scoring seven and conceding seven, with four clean sheets) was a big improvement on their form for the season as a whole, especially defensively, which was enough to see the Black Cats to 16th place on 38 points. But they remained a team that was short of goals; only Burnley managed fewer over the season than Sunderland’s total of 31.

Advocaat is a very experienced coach with a reputation for favouring team ethic and defensive solidity. So the reported agreement he has with the Sunderland owner Ellis Short that four to five quality additions can be made to the squad suggests that there may be good Fantasy Football options at the Stadium of Light next season, especially amongst the defenders, once the shape of the new squad becomes clearer.

Defenders

As noted above, it would take a big leap of faith to expect Newcastle to quickly become a much better defensive unit under McClaren, although early links with players like Joel Matip of Schalke and Aymen Abdennour of Monaco (both centre-backs) suggest that defensive improvement is a priority in his mind. It may, however, be wisest to look for now at Newcastle defenders who don’t need to rely solely on clean sheets for Fantasy points.

Goalkeeper (GK) Tim Krul mustered 17 save points on his way to 99 FPL points from 30 games played (Newcastle failed to get a single clean sheet without him in the team) and having amassed fewer points than he did in 2013/14 it seems unlikely that he’ll be priced above last season’s 4.5. A rotation pairing with Sunderland’s Costel Pantilimon could therefore be a realistic option, although Pantilimon (Sunderland’s top FPL scorer with 123 points) will probably see a price rise to 5.0 at least and 9.5 (maybe even 10.0) may be a little steep for a GK pair.

Apart from Krul, the stand-out Newcastle defender is likely to be Daryl Janmaat, who mustered a goal and eight assists during the season on his way to becoming their highest scoring player in FPL with 118 points. One who may benefit from McClaren’s probable attacking approach, the downside with Janmaat is a likely price increase to 5.5 (FPL). That would likely put him in direct competition with players like Joleon Lescott of West Brom and Ashley Williams of Swansea, two teams that are defensively more reliable.

The upside of Newcastle’s weak 2014/15 defensive performance may well be kind price tags for other defenders like Fabricio Coloccini and Paul Dummett. If Newcastle’s defensive performance improves they could prove real bargains next season.

For Sunderland there should be plenty of worthwhile defensive options apart from Pantilimon. Club captain John O’Shea is a steady if unspectacular Fantasy Football performer, though a possible price tag of 5.0 after his 107 FPL points last season may put some managers off. The value picks are likely to be the full-backs, Billy Jones and Patrick van Aanholt. Both could well be priced at 4.5, at which level, especially Van Aanholt, (five assists in 25 starts) would be attractive to many.

The Sunderland-Newcastle defender rotation pairing may look risky given Newcastle’s defensive frailties but it is worth noting that Stoke also pair well with Sunderland (home/away rotation in 28 of 38 games). Stoke may well also have feasible 4.5-priced defenders, so this may be one solution Fantasy managers will look at.

Midfielders

Among the Newcastle midfielders, the highest FPL points scorers in 2014/15 were Jack Colback, Remy Cabella and Moussa Sissoko. Amongst these, Cabella was the leader on all the creative statistics (key passes, chances created) apart from assists and he was also the leader on all the shooting statistics (inside box, overall shots) apart from goals. Increasingly a prolific goalscorer from midfield during his time at Montpellier in Ligue 1, it may be that French international Cabella was somewhat unlucky not to achieve more goals and assists last season and he’s one that could well benefit from McClaren’s influence on Newcastle’s playing style. Unlikely to be priced above 6.0 or 6.5, he could be a very useful “fourth midfielder” option if he nails down a spot in McClaren’s starting XI.

Moussa Sissoko continues to be a player whose actual FPL returns seem to undershoot his promise but Jack Colback had a very good first season for the Toon, racking up 114 FPL points from central midfield. Unlikely to be priced above 5.5 (maybe even 5.0), he could be a worthwhile budget option, though his tendency to accrue yellow cards (12 last season) is a concern. In addition, we should also consider Siem de Jong, a high-scoring attacking midfielder in his time with Ajax, whose first season with Newcastle was totally disrupted by two long-term injuries. McClaren will know all about De Jong from his time managing Twente and it’s quite possible that the Dutch international could prove to be the best of the bunch if he gets an injury-free run.

For Sunderland, Sebastian Larsson and Jordi Gomez were the most consistent midfield starters under Advocaat. Larsson had very decent creative stats (similar to Cabella) and is also an excellent free kick taker. Unfortunately his price tag seems unlikely to fall below last season’s 5.5, at which level he’s not the greatest value on past performance. Gomez may get a price drop to 5.0 but doesn’t seem great value even at that level, although as Sunderland’s penalty taker he is always capable of a goal. A possible left-field option could be Jack Rodwell – highly rated in his Everton days and one who may have the talent to make a much bigger impact. However, it is worth noting that Advocaat is considering trialling Rodwell in central defence, a role he has played during his career. If this happens, interest in him as a Fantasy option would effectively end.

Forwards

A difficult area for both teams, and in which both would apparently like to add to their squads, although effective strikers (like Charlie Austin who has been linked with Newcastle) are generally sought after by a number of clubs. As it stands neither North East team has convincing striker options right now from a Fantasy perspective.

For Newcastle, Papiss Cisse scores lots of goals when he plays, but game time is a problem. In all but one of the last four seasons he has played less than 1400 minutes – that’s around 15 full games at most. He may score readily when he plays but he seldom seems to stay injury free for long enough to rely on. Emmanuel Riviere was disappointing with one goal in more than 1200 minutes of play in his first Newcastle season and he did not pull up any trees before that in France either (40 goals in 161 league appearances). Ayoze Perez had a promising first season but seven goals from 36 appearances (even if quite a few were as a substitute) is nothing to write home about. For attacking players the Newcastle midfielders look better options right now.

Sunderland do have a proven PL striker in Jermain Defoe but his four goals in 17 starts was really disappointing. Neither Connor Wickham nor Steven Fletcher have convincing goalscoring histories either. With only 31 goals scored in total in the 2014/15 PL, Sunderland appear to really need a new striker, either that or a way to get more from Jermain Defoe. Most Fantasy managers will be taking a wait-and-see approach until then.

14 Comments Post a Comment
  1. J0E
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • Has Moderation Rights
    • 14 Years
    8 years, 9 months ago

    Thanks so much for this series. Been really interesting. Newcastle are going to be particularly interesting this year in our search for good budget players. They should be good value should McClaren get the goals back to St James's.

  2. President John F. Keninnsie
    • 10 Years
    8 years, 9 months ago

    Thanks for all of these articles Ruth, they've all been excellent.

    1. Ruth_NZ
      • 9 Years
      8 years, 8 months ago

      YW mate.

  3. Sushi Boks
    • 10 Years
    8 years, 9 months ago

    Firmino FPL gold? how much do you think they will slap on him?

    1. FPL P0ker PlAyer
      • 9 Years
      8 years, 8 months ago

      I'm thinking so too, but I'm going to adopt the better too late to the party than too early approach this year. I'm guessing 9.0m.

      And yes, thanks Ruth NZ for keeping the FPL flame flickering over the summer.

  4. Eze Really?
    • 9 Years
    8 years, 8 months ago

    I would like to know how to get all stats on players split between home and away.
    I think with the pricing for next season we will have to look at midfield and forward rotation.

    1. Ruth_NZ
      • 9 Years
      8 years, 8 months ago

      You could do it the old fashioned way - count it!

      1. Eze Really?
        • 9 Years
        8 years, 8 months ago

        Thank you for the informed response!

      2. Eze Really?
        • 9 Years
        8 years, 8 months ago

        Someone has helped me though and directed me to a sight that offers this service.

  5. Bojan Horsemack
    • 10 Years
    8 years, 8 months ago

    Enjoyed these a lot Ruth - Thanks

  6. CBC
    • 14 Years
    8 years, 8 months ago

    Great stuff Ruth. Thanks for all the time and effort you have put into all your articles.

    1. Ruth_NZ
      • 9 Years
      8 years, 8 months ago

      You're welcome! AC too.

  7. Donkey_Sanctuary
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 11 Years
    8 years, 8 months ago

    Not been on here for a while but nice to see Ruth getting some credit for the time and effort he has put into these articles. The last one I looked at he was getting grief from some for the format, content etc. I think these are very useful - keep up the good work!

  8. dribbler
    • 14 Years
    8 years, 8 months ago

    I really enjoyed your stuff RuthNZ, thanks for all the hard work

    (one comment though...almost nobody will be rotating £5.0m defenders)