A weekend of football is over, and now it’s time to break down all the news that has been spilling out of the ethers ever since. There’s your standard injuries, more pulling out than a teenage bible camp and the usual round of back-slapping plaudits that follow a good performance…
We start with -potentially- big news from the Manchester United camp. Wayne Rooney has been the subject of many thousands of words written about him during the worst spell of his career, but just as much the next few could be key…
“Will he play? We will have a look and then build towards next weekend, Wayne has trained very well and we will assess him during the week. The exercise that we have put in place for him has worked well.”
Those are the words of United assistant manager Mike Phelan, and if they are true then we could finally have another top striker back in the realms of selection. Many more words of assurance by the end of the week will be needed, and his 2010 hasn’t been the most sparkling by any stretch of the imagination, but Berbatov and Hernandez haven’t set the world alight the last few weeks and as highlighted yesterday, United have some good fixtures on the horizon – the kind of fixtures that Rooney could profit from.
The England camp has been chock of full of withdrawals as John Terry and Ashley Cole have pulled out of the squad with muscle and ankle problems respectively. Stephen Warnock of Aston Villa has been called up to cover for Cole, while his team-mate Gabriel Agbonlahor also withdrew having just made a comeback from injury himself, Carlton Cole of West Ham and Gary Cahill of Bolton have filled the two other relinquished spots.
Reports from the papers on Monday night seemed to be all doom and gloom and suggest that Andy Carroll could even be out for a couple of weeks. All we know right is that he picked up a groin injury…
”I just felt a twinge in the groin as we were pushing forward to try and get a goal but I don’t really know how it happened…I hoped that if I got a good night’s sleep I might wake up and it would feel better because that’s happened before. It felt worse when I got up but improved during the day.”
Carroll has had to sit out Monday’s training with the England squad, but that is as far as it goes so far. Not quite as cut and dry on the doom and gloom factor, but something which will need to have a close eye kept on with the player now in 47% of all Fantasy Premier League (FPL) teams.
Carroll’s team-mate Cheikh Tiote will definitely be absent from Newcastle’s trip to Bolton next weekend after picking up his fifth yellow card in six games and picking up a mandatory suspension for his efforts, joining Joey Barton on the sidelines.
Talking of serving time on the sidelines, four players – Branislav Ivanovic, Danny Collins, Nigel De Jong and Cesc Fabregas – joined the suspension tightrope having picked up their fourth yellow card of the season. Owners of these players, and many more on three yellow cards, will need to be more observant over the coming weeks as more and more players walk this precarious line.
Three of the West Brom squad – Peter Odemwingie, James Morrison and Graham Dorrans – have all withdrawn from duty with their respective countries as precautions on their recent injury woes. Their remaining internationals, including Chris Brunt, Gonzalo Jara, Paul Scharner and Gabriel Tamas, have all reported for duty around the globe with their countries.
Liverpool have confirmed that Fernando Torres sustained an ankle ligament strain during their 2-0 defeat at Stoke on Saturday. Torres however has been allowed to travel out to Lisbon for further assessment by the Spanish medical staff ahead of their friendly with Portugal which may be a sign the injury is only a slight concern.
Everton right-back/right-midfielder Seamus Coleman has admitted that he is still fighting for his place in the team right now, while still learning his trade…
“I don’t know if I am established…I know I am not guaranteed my place every week so I am going out there and trying my best. It is going all right for me so far.”
Honest and down to earth comments from the Irishman, willing to acknowledge his place in the squad but also pushing to learn and grow. That attitude is that which has seen him earn his first international call-up ahead of the Republic of Ireland’s friendly with Norway on Wednesday and why he remains a promising “out of position” buy at a paltry £4.8m.
Fellow Irishman Richard Dunne has been confirmed to reignite a recurring injury in his knee which previously saw him miss a handful of games. The actual prognosis on any timespan out, if any, is as of yet unknown.
Third time lucky in the Irish family sees Kevin Doyle not getting beat up about the fact he is 0 for 12 in his goals to games ratio as he expects his luck to eventually turn. His club Wolves may also face a defensive crisis of their own with Jody Craddock returning from injury and Christophe Berra and Stephen Mouyokolo joining the doubtful parade and leaving Richard Stearman as the only confirmed fit centre-back currently on hand.
Following from Wigan’s one-nil victory over West Brom it was Charlies N’Zogbia, the provider of the sole goal and recipient of another 3 bonus points, who drew all the praise…
“We all know how fantastic a player Charlie (N’Zogbia) is and whenever he gets the ball he causes the opposition problems”
Those are the words of second half substitute Victor Moses who scored that winning goal. Steven Caldwell, another substitute who replaced his injured brother Gary early in the first half, also espoused positively about the French international.
Often Tottenham Hotspurs’ shield, Tom Huddlestone is going to undergo ankle surgery which will rule him out for around three months. The likes of Jermaine Jenas (5.1) and Wilson Palacios (4.9) will compete for his spot but even at low prices offer little in terms of excitement or solid Fantasy investments.
