The next course in the week’s football feast is nearly upon us but let’s fully digest the last course before we move on. Here’s some thoughts on the gameweek gone…
Taylor is lacking the Matt finish…
The Bolton man has let me down badly. For the last month I’ve been peddling his worth, predicting a turn of fortune and goals for Bolton. I’ve been right on that front. Sadly Matt Taylor has not been the contributing factor I’d anticipated. Bolton notched three more goals last night, but it was Klasnic, Lee and Cahill who profited. Taylor has now brought just one assist to the party in the last three games, despite Megson’s side hitting 7 goals. His season totals of 3 goals and 4 assists in 15 starts, remain disappointing.
Taylor is still a factor and is clearly not hiding. His shot count is still impressive enough, with 18 attempts on goal in his last five Premier League starts, including 4 more efforts in last night’s game. That’s in line with last season’s stats which saw Taylor wade in with 113 shots in 34 starts. Significantly however, only 3 of his recent 18 attempts have been on target.
Clearly, Taylor is a player low on confidence. He needs a deflection off a defender’s backside or a tap-in to get the ball rolling. The potential problem however is that Megson may well be losing patience. The Bolton boss has recently stated that he feels some players aren’t producing – Taylor is blatantly one of them. He chose to sub Taylor with fifteen minutes to go last night – the first time he’s been subbed in the league since October 3rd against Spurs. Gardner duly came on and took the corner that lead to Cahill’s third. He’ll be pushing for inclusion at Wigan, which could put Taylor’s starting role under pressure.
Rooney could have done so much better…
When the Wolves team-sheet was announced, plenty of us suddenly backed a mauling at Old Trafford and with Rooney safely on the team-sheet, he looked odds on to bring in big profits. As it turned out he needed his third penalty in three games to score, although he did also earn the maximum Fantasy Premier League bonus points. That gave his owners a decent return but Rooney should have done more damage.
The Black Cats are still lame…
Steve Bruce had Lee Cattermole on the bench on Tuesday night. He needs him back in the side at City at the weekend. Sunderland’s form has dipped alarmingly in his absence and, as mentioned before, it’s had a major knock-on for Reid and Bent. The fixture list is still kind to the Black Cats over the coming weeks. They need to find the form to capitalise else we’re likely to see big Bent sales before Christmas.
Milner is thriving…
Earlier this week Martin O’Neill revealed that he always intended to switch James Milner to a central midfield role. Tuesday’s performance at Sunderland, coupled with his 90 minutes against Hull before that, confirmed that the World Cup wannabe has already made the position his own. Another goal, assist, bonus point haul on Tuesday now lifts him close to essential status based on form, but I’m still wary of his fixtures over the next few weeks. He faces Arsenal and Liverpool in the next four and comes up against a miserable January fixture list that has Villa up against Arsenal and United at Villa Park, plus very tricky trips to Fulham and Chelsea. Milner will have to do it the hard way if he is to maintain his current form then. Personally, I still prefer Lennon and Wright-Phillips over the same period of gameweeks over the Villa man.
Rafa will play safe with Torres…
A cold Wednesday night and a hard Anfield surface were not the conditions with which to test the resolve of Fernando Torres. Rafa was cautious enough about his striking asset to leave the Spaniard in reserve against Wigan, much to the annoyance of the early adopters amongst the fantasy fraternity. In previous seasons Benitiez has rushed Torres and other key players back to the starting eleven and paid the price. This time he was taking no risks; something we should perhaps keep in mind when attempting to read Rafa in the future.
In the Niko time…
Kranjcar’s performance in the 3-0 win over City won the headlines and saw him bring in his biggest points haul of the season. That will likely earn him some attention although is timing is far from perfect from a fantasy perspective. Luka Modric is now back from injury and available as an option for Redknapp. While Kranjcar’s form will likely see him earn continued starts in the short-term, over Christmas Modric will surely figure and put his compatriot’s starting role in doubt. Redknapp has today stated that he can see both in the same eleven. I’m not so sure.