The Burning Question – Is Dzeko’s Bandwagon More Boselli than Michu?

Pre-season friendlies can be a double-edged sword for Fantasy managers. A couple of good performances over the summer can lend their way to the most unlikely bandwagons as we seek out the in-form protagonists ahead of the campaign’s kick-off.

We’ve been here before. Even experienced Fantasy managers were fooled by former Wigan man Mauro Boselli – the Argentine produced the goods in back-to-back pre-seasons only to fall flat on his face when the real action ensued. On the other side of the coin, there’s someone like Michu, who racked up the goals for Swansea last summer and hit the ground running from Gameweek 1.

As we cast an eye over City’s summer results, Edin Dzeko’s four-goal exploits have turned a few heads. With home games against Newcastle and Hull, allied with a trip to Cardiff in the first three fixtures, Manuel Pellegrini’s side have an enticing opening schedule before the first international break comes along. Kindly priced across the Fantasy games, at just 7.5 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), Dzeko has been pencilled into many a squad as we brace ourselves for Saturday’s big kick-off. As the Bosnian’s bandwagon edges towards 12% ownership (more than any City midfielder or attacker) we turn to our contributors for some opinions.

Mark says…
Let’s look at the facts. Dzeko has started six of City’s seven pre-season matches, including last weekend’s defeat to Arsenal. Over that spell, he’s repaid the faith shown by Pellegrini by notching four goals. Unlike Roberto Mancini, the Chilean has rewarded Dzeko for his scoring rate with regular starts and has taken time to single the Bosnian out for praise. So, despite a wealth of attacking options, including a new £48m strike duo of Stevan Jovetic and Alvaro Negredo, we can surely expect Dzeko to get the nod when Newcastle visit the Etihad next weekend.

Now consider this. Dzeko was given just 16 league starts by Mancini. Despite this, he notched 14 goals and, significantly, whilst on the pitch, either scored or assisted 40% of City’s goals. In contrast, David Silva was involved in just 24%.

Hands up – I’m a Dzeko fan – while I acknowledge his sometimes awkward style, his propensity to switch off and go missing for lengthy spells, I’ve always been willing to back his instinct to find the net. Give Dzeko minutes and he’ll score goals. He proved it last season. He’s proved over the summer. He’ll likely remain a rotation risk all season long but if Pellegrini gives him starts in the first three Gameweeks, I think Dzeko could be a huge bandwagon going into the international break with the wildcards fluttering.

Disclaimer: I backed Boselli.

Applebonkers says…
Dzeko seems quite a simple formula. Dzeko + minutes = points. He’s never been pretty but he gets the job done with goals and, to a lesser extent, assists, which essentially is all that matters for us, if not fully for real life managers. With Aguero having fallen behind fitness and match sharpness and Silva being used more on the left than in the hole in pre-season it seems like just Dzeko, Negredo and Jovetic for two spots, in which case I think one spot is Dzeko’s to lose early doors.

Reverting back to the formula, 7.5 therefore looks like a tantalising price, especially given the costs of his attacking team-mates. Once Aguero is up to full speed it surely complicates matters more as I also believe Jovetic is the perfect flexible striker for Pellegrini.

I like Dzeko as an individual punt. I don’t, however, if one of several risks being taken. The Gameweek 3 absence of Chelsea and Villa assets means our squads will already be stretched, narrowing the margin for error. In a week where we’ll need our starters to be reliable and bench options to step up, Dzeko’s uncertainty of game time may well spell trouble.

Andy says…
I’ll be honest – all of the Edin Dzeko talk really confuses me. It’s not to say that I think he’ll be comparable to Mauro Boselli – I’d like it on record that I do think he’s a decent, competent striker – but it’s more that I’m somewhat agog that he seems to have been elevated to a status I don’t think he deserves.

I just don’t quite believe that he will be utilised as frequently as is mooted, and either the manager is simply trying to boost the morale one of his squad members or has got his words in a mix. When you’ve got Alvaro Negredo, Sergio Aguero and Stevan Jovetic in direct competition for places, I just don’t see Dzeko standing up to the challenge.

If I’m wrong and Manuel Pellegrini really is going to rely on the Bosnian to lead his attack then the 7.5 striker jumps out as a Fantasy option to be reckoned with. This Fantasy manager, however, is going to need to see the proof before he’s willing to sample the goal pudding.

Jonty says…
With 30 goals in 76 appearances for City and 66 in 111 appearances at his previous side VfL Wolfsburg, Dzeko is certainly more Michu than Boselli on paper. With Aguero and new boys Jovetic and Negredo vying for game time, plus an abundance of attacking talent in midfield, Dzeko looks set for another season of rotation.

Manuel Pellegrini has come out publicly in declaring Dzeko as his “main striker” but this statement may have been lost in translation. Did he really mean that Dzeko was his number one choice, or just praising his talents as centre forward to keep him on side? Those words are far more likely to keep Dzeko warm and happy when he sits on the bench than if Pellegrini had said the truth, ‘he’s a pretty good striker, but they are ten a penny at our club.’

In terms of minutes he is certainly likely to be more Boselli than the Swansea man: Michu is as “nailed on” as they come. But does the uncertainty of Dzeko’s starts matter all that much? He has already proved that as a sub he can still damage opposition defences. He started just 16 Premier League matches last season yet still managed a respectable 14 goals. It took Southampton’s Rickie Lambert 35 starts to get just one more than Dzeko last season. It’s worth noting that both are priced at 7.5 this time around.