Spurs roll over at Fratton Park while City’s slickers get bullied at the JJB by a strong Wigan performance.
Here’s the notes from Sunday’s games…
Portsmouth 2 Tottenham 0
Redknapp was able to welcome back Diarra into his midfield after he missed the Carling Cup tie defeat to Chelsea with a knee injury. He came in for Kaboul while Traore, Campbell and Defoe also returned to the starting lineup. Pamarot, Hreidarsson and Mvuemba dropped out. Little got a first start of the season with Utaka dropping to the bench. Harry stuck with a 4-4-2 with Traore pushed up into a wide left midfield role and Belhadj at left back.
The Spurs lineup was, quite frankly, baffling stuff from Ramos. Gilberto came from nowhere to claim a starting role on the left of midfield. Perhaps more puzzling was the role given to Bentley. He played in central midfield but appeared to be floating in front of the back four, rather than be pushed up in support of the lone striker Pavlyuchenko. The Russian striker was preferred to Bent today. He joined Lennon, Modric and Giovani on the bench.
As it turned out, this was just the fixture that Harry and his Portsmouth side needed. Ramos put out a shapeless unit, short on confidence who simply went out with whimper against an efficient Portsmouth display. Defoe’s penalty and Crouch’s goal will get them some renewed interest from fantasy managers as mid-price options. Diarra again showed he can control a game from midfield but tainted his performance with a careless red card received for two bookings. He will sit out next week’s clash with Stoke – that is likely to see Kaboul brought in to midfield to add some extra height.
In defence, Traore, at last, demonstrated his potential as a budget buy. He earned the assist for the Crouch goal in addition to a welcome clean sheet for the Pompey defence. With fixtures looking fairly favourable – he looks to be a very strong proposition. Even without clean sheets he clearly has the attacking potential to harvest assists and the odd goal from the left of midfield. He may well be rested at times with Hreidarsson coming in, shifting Belhadj forward but those times should be in-frequent enough to make him a worthy purchase.
As for Spurs, little to say really. There will be few fantasy managers even considering their players right now – despite the favourable fixtures. Bentley is a shadow of his former self, Bent and Pavlyuchenko appear to alternating, Modric was benched today and as for the defence – that’s performing at a familiar level in fantasy terms.
Lineups
Portsmouth: James, Johnson, Campbell, Distin, Belhadj, Little (Utaka 61), Diarra, Hughes, A Traore, Crouch, Defoe (Kaboul 89).
Subs: Ashdown, Kaboul, Hreidarsson, Pamarot, Utaka, Mvuemba, Kanu.
Tottenham: Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, Woodgate, Assou-Ekotto, Bentley, Jenas, Zokora (Giovani 58), O’Hara, Gilberto (Lennon 46), Pavlyuchenko (Bent 73).
Subs: Cesar, Huddlestone, Lennon, Bent, Modric, Gunter, Giovani.
Injuries and Bans
Diarra will miss next weekend’s clash with Stoke as a result of the two yellows earned today.
Wigan 2 Man City 1
Steve Bruce brought Melchiot and Figueroa back into the full back positions after they missed the midweek Carling Cup tie. Kilbane and Scharner dropped to the bench to make way. Kapo kept his place on the left of midfield though with Koumas again on the bench.
Hughes rang the changes after the defeat to Brighton in midweek. Richards came back into to the defence with Ben Haim benhed. Garrido also returned at left back for Ball. Elano came into midfield with Johnson out of the squad. Gelson and Sturridge were benched as Robinho and Wright-Phillips returned.
Wigan demonstrated that they are not a side that will roll over to the so-called bigger boys with a determined performance. They wouldn’t allow City’s flair players to influence the game and the likes of Robinho and Wright-Phillips were largely ineffective – a disturbing fact for the thousands of fantasy managers who have jumped on the City bandwagon of late.
I still stand by Wright-Phillips – his price across the games is such that he is more than a worthy mid-price purchase. Robinho and Jo still have work to do to convince as major fantasy purchases though. It will be interesting to see how they fair against the Liverpool defence at Eastlands next weekend.
Kompany’s goal from his midfield role, will have more fantasy managers looking his way for a City defender, however, Garrido could well offer even better value. He seems to have the edge on Ball for the left back spot and certainly in the FPL, he is currently priced at just 4.3 – a potential bargain. City have had 3 clean sheets thus far this season, although in the short term, the Liverpool game looks a tough one for them defensively now that Torres has some form back. Games against Newcastle, Stoke and Boro to follow, should offer clean sheet potential though.
As for Wigan, their players continue to impress and offer excellent low-to-mid price value. Zaki is a must, it’s hard to believe that there will be many successful fantasy teams without him by the end of the season. Valencia did his growing reputation no harm with a stunning goal and he will get renewed interest as a result. Defensively, Figueroa is always worth a look – particularly as a straight swap for Scharner who, rather surprisingly, finds himself struggling to get a start in the Wigan lineup right now. Be warned though, Wigan have Boro at home but after that face three away games in four which could limit their clean sheet potential.
Lineups
Wigan: Kirkland, Melchiot, Bramble, Boyce, Figueroa, Valencia, Palacios, Cattermole Brown 51), Kapo, Heskey, Zaki.
Subs: Pollitt, Scharner, Kilbane, De Ridder, Camara, Brown, Koumas.
Man City: Hart, Zabaleta, Richards, Dunne, Garrido, Kompany (Fernandes 90), Elano (Sturridge 84), Wright-Phillips, Ireland, Robinho, Jo (Evans 74).
Subs: Schmeichel, Michael Ball, Ben-Haim, Evans, Sturridge, Fernandes , Hamann.
Injuries and Bans
Cattermole suffered a knock and was subbed on 51 minutes. City’s Kompany picked up a knock in the final minutes and was replaced by Gelson.