Luis Suarez comes to the rescue for Liverpool once again with a sublime effort at Anfield earning a point against Newcastle. Yohan Cabaye scores for the second time in three Gameweeks, Kaspars Gorkss is amongst the Fantasy points again for Reading, while Djibril Cisse nets his first goal of the season to salvage a point for QPR:
Suarez the Talisman
A goal and maximum FPL bonus points continued Luis Suarez’s unstoppable season so far. With injuries and a threadbare squad limiting Brendan Rodgers’ options, Liverpool’s reliance on the Uruguayan is obvious but Suarez continues to thrive as the Reds’ talisman – yesterday’s brilliant equaliser means he has either scored or assisted 10 of his side’s 13 goals this season. Post-match, Brendan Rodgers was quick to label his prized asset as “unplayable”, whilst indicating that he is putting the emphasis on getting goals from players around Suarez…
“Suarez is so bright, so clever, he’s a world-class striker. On that form today he really frustrates and provokes defenders…We play him in that false 9 role. He’s not a traditional No.9 who’s up there, stood, static. That’s why when we get a number of players in who can work off his qualities, that’s going to make us a real threat. I ask him to get on the move and get defenders out of their positions. It’s then important that we’ve got men running in off that…He gets paid to score goals. But of course I would want them to be a bit more spread out..That’s the key feature going forward, we need to get goals from other areas.”
With attacking returns in four of his last five, Suarez has averaged just less than nine FPL points per game since the end of Gameweek 5 and with Wigan, Swansea and Southampton in the next five, many will be keen to snap up the 9.7 priced FPL forward – he has now moved up to fourth top forward, with 57 points accrued.
Cabaye in the Goals Again
We mentioned his potential in a recent Members Monitor article on Hatem Ben Arfa and the former Lille man produced the goods with an outstanding strike against Liverpool yesterday. Cabaye has now scored twice in the last three Gameweeks and with a couple of bonus points also picked up at Anfield, he has outscored Ben Arfa by 19 to 10 over Newcastle’s last three, in spite of his compatriot’s assist. Having picked up a knock on 67 minutes, though, Cabaye was replaced by Shane Ferguson – bearing in mind the Magpies now host West Ham and Swansea and travel to Southampton in their next three, his 4.6% FPL owners will be sweating on his fitness ahead of next Sunday’s clash with the Hammers.
Shin Worry for Ba
Once again, the Newcastle forward limped off with a shin complaint to further frustrate his Fantasy owners. Having picked up the injury in last week’s win over West Brom, Ba was named in the Magpies first XI, despite failing to train for much of the week, but he lasted just 48 minutes at Anfield before making way for Sammy Ameobi. With the fixture list smiling kindly on Pardew’s side, Ba looks primed to rack up the points after picking up 60 in his opening nine but he’s clearly struggling to overcome the shin problem – his owners face another anxious wait before next Sunday’s showdown with former club West Ham.
Newcastle Defensive Rotation
Steven Taylor’s Fantasy owners were handed a boost after the centre-half ousted Mike Williamson to return to the Magpies back-four yesterday. Taylor had struggled to reclaim his regular role after picking up a calf problem in Gameweek 6 but now looks to have climbed above Williamson in the pecking order once again – ironically, Williamson is now set to return to the first XI for the next three after Fabricio Coloccini received his marching orders for violent conduct.
Danny Simpson also seems to have question marks against his starting role. The right-back dropped to the bench yesterday, with Vernun Anita preferred in defence, but an injury to James Perch handed Simpson a reprieve – Anita’s versatility allowed him to move into central midfield, with Simpson slotting into the back-four again. In a complete reversal of the previous campaign, Davide Santon is the only Magpies defender to offer a consistency of selection this time, having started all of the first 10 Gameweeks; with just one clean sheet all season, though, many are likely to think twice before investing in Pardew’s defence.
Value in Reading Backline
With just five clean sheets across the Gameweek thus far, it’s been yet another frustrating one for Fantasy defensive returns. While Reading’s 1-1 draw at QPR continued their record of conceding in every match so far, their cut-price Fantasy assets have offered some decent value of late. Alex McCarthy continues to look nailed-on between the sticks in spite of Adam Federici’s return and the keeper’s save points, particularly away from home, have helped boost his score – priced at 4.1 in FPL, McCarthy has scored (3,3,4,4) across his last four road trips. Predictably, Brian McDermott heaped praise on his young stopper,
“The first save was fantastic, pushing the free kick onto the bar, then the one-on-one against Taarabt was another fabulous save. It was a point-winning save I would suggest. He’s playing very, very well. He’s a cool, mature young man with a really good mindset, he works hard and wants to be the best he can be, like they all do. He’s a very good young goalkeeper and we are blessed with good goalkeepers at our club. He’s working hard to keep his place, and we have Federici, Andersen, Taylor, all pushing each other.
Although he also indicated that McCarthy could have picked up a knock to his shoulder saving the last ditch long-range effort from Cisse…
“He fell on his shoulder, we’ll have to have a look at that.”
Nicky Shorey has now begun the last six ahead of Ian Harte and is on corners and free-kicks; he picked up a couple of bonus points yesterday and, with a share of free-kicks and corners, offers a decent source of creativity from the left-back berth, while Kaspars Gorkss looks the most rotation-proof of McDermott’s backline. The Latvian centre-half is the only defender to start every game for the Royals and yesterday’s goal and maximum bonus, allied with last weekend’s assist against Fulham, means he has produced 16 FPL points in the last two Gameweeks. Gorkss is now down to 3.9 and with a strong schedule in the four Gameweeks (NOR, EVE, wig, avl) his price is surely set to appeal.
Pogrebnyak Prone to Rotation
Up until yesterday afternoon, Pavel Pogrebnyak had looked nailed on for Reading. Whether in a 4-4-1-1 or 4-4-2, the Russian had started every league game under McDermott and having been fielded as a substitute in the midweek cup defeat by Arsenal, it was a fair assumption he would return to first-team duties for the trip to Loftus Road. McDermott’s decision to drop him to the bench was a real surprise, with Noel Hunt and Jason Roberts handed the starting berths as the visitors went in search of their first win. Indeed, Pogrebnyak played no part at all in the proceedings, with Adam Le Fondre thrown on late in the game – clearly, the former Fulham man is no longer a certainty for the Royals.
Cisse Opens his Account
With Bobby Zamora dropping to the bench due to worries over a hip concern, Djibril Cisse was handed only his second start since Gameweek 2 yesterday. The Frenchman seems to be out of favour under Mark Hughes, with Zamora in the driving seat for the lone striker role, but Cisse took advantage of a rare first-team appearance by finally finding the net for the first time this term. QPR now have three away games in the next four (stk, mun, sun) but if Cisse can continue in the first XI, his next three home matches (SOU, AVL, FUL) offer potential. Hughes reserved praise for his striker post match, indicating that he could be prepared to keep faith with Cisse…
“You always sense that if there’s a ball dropping in the box or there’s an opportunity to get a strike on goal, because of his technique he’ll hit the target more often than not…He scored important goals for us last season and he’s scored another one today.â€
