Sir Alex Ferguson reveals his keeper rotation is set to continue. Andy Wilkinson is charged with violent conduct by the FA, Kevin Mirallas admits he’s not yet 100% fit for Everton, while Arsenal and City have contrasting fortunes as the Champions League gets underway…
Sir Alex Ferguson has spoken of his intention to rotate his goalkeepers over the course of the domestic campaign. The United boss revealed at yesterday’s press conference:
“The most important thing I’m trying to do is give both of them experience in the English game. Neither is as experienced as Edwin van der Sar or Peter Schmeichel. Alternating isn’t a problem for me. They’re both equally very good goalkeepers. That’s the policy we’ve adopted this season and last season, although De Gea played most of last season after Lindegaard was injured. I’m comfortable with this situation.”
Having started the first two league games, many had assumed David De Gea was in the driving seat but Anders Lindegaard has replaced him for the wins over Southampton and Wigan. Already, we’ve seen the impact – as De Gea’s owners become frustrated, he’s dropped 0.1 in price in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL), with his game time anything but assured. At present, the Spaniard has nearly 12% FPL owners compared to Lindegaard’s 0.8% but clearly, Ferguson is just as likely to play one as the other – yesterday’s confirmation at least clarifies the situation and is likely to see sales in De Gea accelerate.
The FA have charged Stoke’s Andy Wilkinson for an off-the-ball incident with Mario Balotelli in Saturday’ 1-1 draw. The Potters right-back escaped at the time as the match official failed to spot his misdemeanour but now faces the prospect of a three-match ban after the incident was caught on video. With Stoke already out of the Capital One Cup, Wilkinson would miss (che, SWA, liv) if found guilty – Robert Huth could move into the full-back position as cover with Matt Upson perhaps drafted into the centre, though while Ryan Shotton is an obvious replacement, he seems to have fallen out of favour lately, with just 12 minutes game time so far this season.
Kevin Mirallas admitted he has yet to reach full match fitness after making his first league start for Everton in Monday’s draw with Newcastle.
“I’m still conscious I’m not 100 per cent fit yet and I think I still need maybe two or three more games to get that full match fitness. I’ve been ready to work really hard. The main reason that I am hopefully settling in quite well and quite quickly is the fact that I’m really prepared to go all out – both in training and on the field.”
The Belgian looks set to continue in the Toffees first XI for the weekend trip to Swansea, with Darron Gibson’s recent injury forcing David Moyes into a central midfield reshuffle for the Magpies clash. Mirallas may even take the lone forward role, depending on Nikica Jelavic’s prognosis – Fantasy managers are keenly awaiting an official update after the Croatian was subbed off before half-time in the 2-2 stalemate. A spell on the sidelines for Jelavic would be a huge boost to Mirallas’ prospects, with Everton afforded a strong run of fixtures over the next couple of months.
Demba Ba may have struck a brace to earn Newcastle a point at Goodison on Monday but the repucussions of Alan Pardew’s decision to bench the striker are still resonating. The Magpies boss suggested that Ba scored his goals out of anger against Everton and, from the quotes in the press this week, it seems Pardew’s claims are valid. Ba has reportedly stressed his frustration at the Newcastle management with his agent, Alex Gontran, reporting the players’s frustration, even harking back to January when Pardew made the decision to deploy Ba wide on the left flank…
“Since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations, Demba doesn’t understand the management…If he continues to be a substitute all season, we’ll look at other solutions…How could you put your best striker with full confidence on the left wing? The choice to put Demba on the left last season was good for the club, because Cisse scored 13 goals. But there was a lack of recognition for Demba. It is more difficult to play well when you don’t have the confidence of your staff. Demba is happy at Newcastle. He is playing in the Premier League, with lot of fellow French speakers and he loves the club’s supporters. He would like to start every game but he respects the choice of the coach, even if he does not always understand or agree.”
The press are reporting that Newcastle have remained tight-lipped on the backlash, although there is a suggestion that Pardew and the backroom staff are fuming at the involvement of Ba’s agent. Nonetheless, it seems highly likely that Ba will be back in the starting XI for the visit of Norwich this weekend, although clearly there is unrest brewing that could be a concern further down the line.
Montpellier 1 Arsenal 2
Arsene Wenger welcomed Abou Diaby back after a recent muscle problem, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was replaced by Gervinho on the right, with Olivier Giroud taking the lone forward role against his former club. Having conceded their first goal of the season at home to Southampton due to an error by Wojciech Szczesny, the Gunners once again shot themselves in the foot after Thomas Vermaelen gave away an early penalty. Arsenal’s resilience yet again came to the fore, however; Lukas Podolski levelled matters thanks to an Olivier Giroud assist, while Gervinho was amongst the goals once more, with Carl Jenkinson supplying the assist. In terms of game time, Giroud was subbed off on 76 minutes, while Santi Cazorla and Podolski were both withdrawn in injury time. Assistant boss, Steve Bould, gave his post-match reaction, focusing on the performance of Podolski in particular…
“Podolski has made a real impact. I have to say, I’ve not seen many finishers as good as him – ever. In training, right foot, left foot – he goes in at 100mph, which is fabulous. He’s a good trainer, a good boy. He has really added something this year. I’m not getting involved in whether we are missing Robin, I wasn’t involved at the time. Podolski is a good player.”
Real Madrid 3 Man City 2
Roberto Mancini retained Maicon at right-back but dropped Joleon Lescott for new boy Matija Nastasic in defence for the Bernabeu clash. Elsewhere, Javi Garcia continued in central midfield, with David Silva returning on the flank and Carlos Tevez fielded as a lone forward. Mancini was forced into an early substitution after Samir Nasri picked up a hamstring knock – Alex Kolarov replaced the Frenchman and fired home a free-kick for City’s second, after Edin Dzeko climbed off the bench to notch their opener thanks to a Yaya Toure assist. Roberto Mancini’s post-match comments focused mainly on his frustration with his defence at conceding two late goals…
“We didn’t defend as we can on the edge of the box and made some mistakes – we cannot continue to defend this way and we need to resolve this problem quickly.”
We await the prognosis on Nasri’s injury from the City camp. Already there is talk from some sources that the Frenchman will likely miss out against his former club on Sunday. Further reports and, hopefully, official word from the club, will come later this week.
