Week one and already the best laid plans go out of the window. Wayne Rooney’s cursed luck with foot injuries strikes again and half a million Fantasy Football teams throughout the land are admitted for major surgery. It wasn’t just Rooney causing Fantasy Managers problems this weekend, a couple of Premiership Managers had the cheek to field formations and lineups that tore up the pre-season research, just so they could win themselves three points. How selfish can you get?
Step forward Sam Allardyce. Somehow, in under a week, Big Sam introduced his favoured 4-3-3 to his new look Newcastle side, and despite being untested in pre-season, Newcastle looked liked they’d been playing the system for months. Add to this a strike pairing that had barely been on the same pitch before Saturday, and still Big Sam still came away with the points at former club Bolton, making it almost impossible for him to hide his smugness in the stands.
The result didn’t take me by surprise so much – Newcastle are a decent side and Bolton are in transition themselves. However, the move to a 4-3-3 with Alan Smith in midfield, certainly caught me out. While, Obafemi Martins snuggled in alongside Mark Viduka and scored a goal of the season contender before Porstmouth’s Matt Taylor had even kicked a 40-yarder in anger. There’s sure to be a few Fantasy Managers having a look at him whilst fumbling with their Rooney money.
Martins isn’t the only Newcastle player with a Fantasy bandwagon rolling. James Milner looks an even more tempting prospect after this weekend. Allardyce pushed him up front in a 4-3-3 resulting in him earning an assist for Martins’ first goal. He looks a very decent bet once the midweek games are out of the way. In contrast, Smith’s stock will have fallen. Despite being played up front with Viduka in his debut in pre-season, Smith was handed a midfield berth at Bolton, which makes him a far less attractive Fantasy proposition. Despite Alladyce acknowledging Smith’s versatility, it seems likely, with Shola Ameobi and Michael Owen to return, his new signing from United will find himself in midfield for the bulk of the season, particularly if Milner continues to shine.
Allardyce wasn’t the only Premiership Manager to spring the unexpected. David Moyes is almost as guilty. He put his Everton team out with Jolean Lescott at left-back and Alan Stubbs in the centre of defence. Tony Hibbert played right-back, with skipper Phil Neville was employed in midfield. This all meant that Phil Jagielka was, rather surprisingly, left on the bench. Indication then that, despite costing Moyes a cool four million, Jagielka will face a serious battle to hold down a place, even when Everton are short in midfield in the absence of Tim Cahill.
There’s likely to be a shuffle of Everton’s pack to come though. Leighton Baines could be fit to make his debut at Spurs on Tuesday, which should see Lescott move back to central defence and Stubbs benched. We’re also yet to see Moyes’ policy away from home. Despite a goal from Victor Anichebe, the young striker could find himself on the bench as Moyes moves to 4-5-1 which could well see Jagielka get a belated debut. Patience is the best policy with Jagielka then, at least until the weekend.
Elsewhere, the promoted sides gave me some food for thought. Sunderland’s resolute performance against Spurs shows their defenders to be sensible early season targets. Roy Keane took few risks in this first home game and knicked the points. He seems likely to keep to that formula, which means the likes of Paul McShane, Nyron Nosworthy and keeper Craig Gordon are very decent solutions if you’re looking for a budget clean sheets over the season. Ross Wallace also stood out with the assist for Michael Chopra’s goal, but is classed as a midfielder. Even so, he’s likely to be a regular starter at left-back and will be pushed forward when Kieron Richardson proves ineffective – which, judging by Saturday’s performance, could well be a regular occurrence.
Derby went with five recognised defenders at home to Portsmouth, with Andy Todd played in central midfield. If Billy Davies perseveres with this, it will limit the appearances of the creative David Jones but make Todd an extremely popular Fantasy signing. Todd is classified as a centre-back and has raised his Fantasy profile considerably by powering home that diving header against Pompey. Just keep an eye on Todd’s yellow card count if you opt to draft him in.
In attack Steve Howard caught the eye, proving a real handful for Sol Campbell and Sylvain Distin. Derby will channel most of their attacking ploys through the giant frontman and Saturday was evidence that Howard has what it takes to cause problems to Premiership defences. A decent consideration as a budget forward then but be warned before jumping on Derby bandwagon with either Howard or Todd – Derby’s fixtures in September see them play Liverpool and Arsenal away from home.
In the same game, Portsmouth’s lineup was of particular interest. Harry went for John Utaka out wide on the right and Sulley Muntari on the left, leaving Matt Taylor on the bench. With Niko Kranjcar still to return, it appears that Taylor’s opportunities will be limited, hinting that perhaps he’s on his way out of club. A transfer would see his Fantasy potential revived. Right now however, Taylor’s points potential looks hampered.
Elsewhere, I liked the look of Man City’s Elano. Erriksson went with a 4-5-1 with the Brazilian employed just off the frontman. If this system continues then Elano should register a decent haul throughout the season although you need to watch to see if he’s rotated with fellow Brazilian Geovanni. Hold fire for now then, but watch for Elano over the next few games. City’s defence, although not severely tested at Upton Park, is also worth monitoring. Micah Richards and Richard Dunne are the key targets there.
Chelsea’s performance raises a few points of interest. As predicted, their defence looked shaky but the trade off from that is that you can guarantee that their attacking players will often compensate. Jose’s side won’t be able to sit on a 1-0 without John Terry – they’ll need goals to win matches. This raises the value of the likes of Florent Malouda, Shaun-Wright Phillips and Didier Drogba. Malouda and Wright-Phillips were particularly menacing against Birmingham. Drogba meanwhile, is set to return in midweek and personifies the word in striker terms. A ready-made Rooney replacement.
I’ve got a few concerns about Frank Lampard though. He managed just one shot on goal on Sunday, out of Chelsea’s nineteen efforts. He’d normally chip in with at least half a dozen shots, one of which would deflect of a backside and find the net. He appeared to be holding back to allow Malouda and Wright-Phillips to push on against Birmingham. If that continues, Lampard’s stock in Fantasy terms will plummet given his hefty price tag. I wouldn’t panic yet if you have him in your lineup, but I’d be fidgeting nervously and watching the Reading game with interest.
If Lampard seemed shackled, Arsenal’s Alexander Hleb was freed to push up alongside Robin Van Persie and responded with the winner. While I saw his potential with a post last week, I was in two minds given that Eduardo Da Silva was being considered for debut. As I mentioned back then, Hleb could be worth a look while Arsene Wenger keeps Eduardo benched and is without Emmanuel Adebayor.
Still at the Emirates and Emmanuel Eboue also showed his Fantasy potential against Fulham. With Arsenal in a 4-5-1 he cropped up in attack far more than Patrice Evra for United, another full-back pushed into a midfield position. However, Evra will almost certainly provide more clean sheets, plus Eboue was replaced by Theo Walcott on the hour mark and this could be a trend that develops throughout the season. That’s a concern as in the Fantasy Premier League game a player needs to be on the pitch 60-minutes to register points for a clean sheet, and it’s 75-minutes in the Fantasy League games.
That’s about it for my “Scout Notes†from this weekend. I’ll be looking at the various replacements for Rooney in detail at some point tomorrow, as well as previewing the midweek games. You can already get my initial predicted lineups for those on my Team News section and I’ll be updating my Scout Picks and Shortlists for these games very soon.