Our stellar team contributors have been out and about scouting all the pre-season and past season reports, and come back with the up to date list of set piece takers for your viewing pleasure. Why don’t you all go take a gander when you have a few minutes, hopefully the information will come in handy when picking your teams. What will now follow is a short take on what seems to stand out as new and interesting for fantasy managers this coming season…
When it comes to the penalties many teams will just be a case of more of the same, the standout introduction over here is Kieran Richardson at Sunderland, having already netted one penalty in pre-season – if he were to keep putting them away, that could easily be an extra 5 goals this season, so priced at £6.0m in Fantasy Premier League he could prove to be a steal. At Manchester United we have plumped for Michael Carrick, at £7.5m he could also prove tasty – this is going on Ferguson’s recent statements and Carrick seeming good for games, but we won’t know for sure until they get their first chance. Over at Wigan penalty taking duties look more than likely to fall to the new boys from Swansea, look for Jason Scotland to get them if he’s on the pitch – and Jordi Gomez will be a more than capable back-up.
The new sides unsurprisingly all provide new faces here too, Burnley will be looking to 37 year old stalwart Graham Alexander if they are awarded a spot kick, while there are many reasons to be wary of the Clarets defence, a few extra 6 point hauls could turn a few heads. Those needing budget strikers could be swayed by James McFadden and Sylvain Ebanks-Blake at Birmingham and Wolves respectively, both look set to step up should they be required and at low prices look very tempting.
When we come down to the more regulation set pieces (your free kick & corner takers), there are also a few new tidbits worth picking up on. Over at Bolton, bargain basement midfielder Sean Davis has become a real contender for these, which will limit Matt Taylor’s potential output a little bit and make him a viable option for the cheap midfielder spot. Ronaldo’s absence will be keenly felt at Old Trafford, for fantasy managers though it leaves the direct free kick up for grabs. When he’s on the pitch, Ryan Giggs should often get the ball – but many players like Anderson and Rooney could see extra rewards. Valencia could also share all the spoils with his ability to kick a ball being none too shabby, look for him to get in on the action at the corner flag and well positioned free kicks. And again over at the newly renamed DW Stadium, Jordi Gomez continues to add to his potential by being the man to look out for on the free kicks and corners – he could be very appealing to us fantasy managers. On top of being very cheap and a potential out of position player with his support striker role, Luis Jimenez over at West Ham looks set to take the lions share of all set pieces, potential gold-mine springs to mind.
At Birmingham City, James McFadden adds to his penalty duties by being a jack of all trades with his share of the set pieces, the big man on campus here though will be a product of the Arsenal youth system, one Sebastian Larsson, adding another cheap midfielder into the consideration mire for you. Pre-season has shown that Wolves will be looking to their new Serbian signing Nenad Milijaš with their set pieces, once back to full fitness Michael Kightly could very well crop up in contention too. Greg Halford also showed he can take a mighty fine free kick by going and scoring one in Wolves’ pre-season campaign. Robbie Blake and Wade Elliott should be the men to look out for if you want a player who will take dead ball crosses for Burnley, but hark back to penalty taker Alexander alongside the aforementioned Blake when it comes to the goalbound shots.
I strongly advise you all to head over to the set piece takers when you get a minute, give it a good once over and use it in your own time to your hearts content – it should hopefully prove to be a great tool when constructing your teams…