Mark Hughes withdrew a reluctant handshake and inflicted a potentially fatal blow to Roberto Mancini’s hopes of a top four finish as Fulham held City at Eastlands. If the visitors’ stubborn display, with attacking menaces surprised nobody – City’s inability to blow down defences, even with three £20 million strikers on the pitch, continues to baffle.
Carlos Tevez earned an assist – paltry returns from what would have been billed as a potentially profitable afternoon for his owners. Investors in King Kenny’s revival came off even worse – a tepid showing at Upton Park saw Liverpool rolled over with apparent ease. Scott Parker again led the way for West Ham, despite being patched up for a shoulder injury hours before kick-off.
With the Carling Cup Final covered off in Sunday’s Knee Jerk and it’s Robin Van Persie follow-up, here’s the notes on yesterday’s Premier League encounters.
Roberto Mancini was without two key players in Vincent Kompany and David Silva. The latter’s omission came as a surprise to Fantasy Managers, with the Spaniard featuring as a Watchlist candidate earlier the week. Silva missed yesterday’s game with an ankle knock sustained in Thursday’s Europa League tie with Aris Salonika. He was subbed with 10 minutes remaining of that game but, at the time, there was no mention of an injury. Mancini stated after the Fulham result that he hoped to have both Kompany and Silva back for their FA Cup fifth round tie with Villa on Wednesday.
“David injured his ankle against Aris and Vincent hadn’t recovered from his hip injury, but I hope one or both will be back for Wednesday.”
Those two casualties added to Mancini’s list that already contained Adam Johnson, Micah Richards and Nigel De Jong, as even City’s resources become stretched – much to the frustration of the City boss…
“If I could freshen up the side by resting three or four players, I would, but because we have so many injuries, it’s impossible.”
Mancini again went with three strikers against Fulham, with Carlos Tevez partnered by Edin Dzeko and Mario Balotelli in attack. The latter opened the scoring with a fine strike from distance – his ninth goal in City colours. The Italian international came under a barrage of criticism from his manager however, having frustrated the home fans with several wasted efforts and failing to display the movement and workrate expected of him.
“No, I am not happy with him…He scored a good goal but I am not happy. He should play well, better than today…For strikers it is important to score. But strikers should also play for the team. You cannot always play well. But the attitude is always important. If you don’t have a good attitude, it is difficult to play with three strikers.”
Balotelli’s place against Villa is far from assured then and a shift back to 4-4-2 for forthcoming matches seems likely. Yesterday’s 4-3-3 saw Pablo Zabaleta in a holding midfield role, with Aleksandar Kolarov shifted to left-back. The Serb again showed attacking intent throughout but was also a frustration having fired in a first-half shot from an impossible angle when team-mates were better positioned. Kolarov was also run ragged by a lively Damien Duff and was eventually subbed on 77 minutes; he is still far from assured of his starting role for gameweek 29’s home clash with Wigan.
Fulham’s performance was again encouraging. Mark Hughes was forced into one change to his lineup – Dickson Etuhu returned to central midfield for the injured Steve Sidwell. Hughes’ side have lost just one of their last eight league games and have conceded just 5 goals in that spell. Again, they were well organised defensively against City, whilst in attack Duff in particular enjoyed a fine game – terrorising Kolarov and converting Andy Johnson’s cross for the equaliser.
The Cottagers have strong fixtures to come and certainly present an option for the Fantasy Manager seeking a differential. It’s Blackburn at home next, with an Everton trip followed by another winnable home encounter with Blackpool. The likes of Duff, Moussa Dembele and Clint Dempsey look decent options in attacking terms, while Chris Baird and Brede Hangeland present considerations at the back.
West Ham’s 3-1 victory at Upton Park lifted them from the bottom and inflicted a defeat in 8 matches for Dalglish’s side. Scott Parker was once again the inspiration for the Hammers – he notched a delicate curling strike for his fifth goal of the league campaign and duly earned another 3 Fantasy Premier League Bonus Points. Parker has scored 8 Bonus in his last 4 matches.
Demba Ba continued to show superb form – planting a fine header into the corner of Pepe Reina’s net from a Gary O’Neil centre for West Ham’s second. Ba has struck 3 goals in 2 league starts and earned FPL Bonus in both those games.
While we’ve picked out the Hammers in “Frisking the Fixtures” in recent weeks, the potential of West Ham’s players is somewhat tempered by a run of fixtures that now stiffens considerably. Avram Grant’s side do not have an easy run-in and, in the short term, visits to Spurs and Bolton, with Stoke and United at Upton Park next – looks a testing schedule.
Liverpool’s showing was bitterly disappointing. Steven Gerrard’s return and a second league start for Luis Suarez up front failed to ignite Liverpool as an attacking force, although the Uruguayan did notch a smart assist for Glen Johnson second-half goal.
Defensively, Liverpool also looked strangely frail, despite Dalglish deploying a 5-3-2 system with young Danny Wilson holding his starting role as one of three centre –backs. Martin Kelly’s hamstring injury which saw him replaced just before half-time could cut off the obvious route to Liverpool’s defensive returns for the coming weeks and, looking at their schedule of games (MUN sun wba MCY ars), his colleagues at the back are in for some severe tests. The prospect for Liverpool clean sheets looks bleak.
Raul Meireles also suffered an injury was replaced just after half-time. He has been the shining light within the Liverpool squad in terms of attacking points, but his earning potential must also be questioned in the light of the injury and Liverpool’s forthcoming opponents.
