As highlighted by Greek Fan’s recent tweet, Sir Alex Ferguson is apparently still pondering over his set-piece takers going into the season.
With dead ball darling Ronaldo now plying his trade in Madrid, free-kicks and penalties are well and truly up for grabs, offering several players the opportunity to boost their fantasy returns this season.
Anderson’s timely set-piece strike in yesterday’s 2-1 win over Boca Juniors put his name in the hat but Ferguson today hinted that he has yet to make any decisions…
“I have been thinking about this for two weeks now and I have no definite answer to it…I think it depends on what 11 players are playing in a particular game. I think we have two or three players who are natural to take responsibility.”
Interestingly, when it comes to spot-kicks, Ferguson then goes on to mention a few obvious names and one not-so-obvious candidate…
“(Patrice) Evra, (Michael) Carrick, Anderson and (Ryan) Giggs are all natural choices to take penalty kicks, but when I choose my 11 on a particular day, then I will make my mind up on that day.”
Hardly helpful stuff from Sir Alex. However, if Evra really is set to be in the frame for penalty kicks then his value to fantasy managers would surely rocket. It’s also notable that Berbatov is not listed amongst those names – I’d certainly expect him to put himself forward given his desire to boost his goal count this term. Plus of course, there’s a certain Michael Owen to consider. Given that Carrick and Evra are set to get the biggest proportion of pitch time in those names, this latest quote hints that they may well put that pair in the box seat when it comes to penalties. Evra over Vidic then?