Snapped up from Arsenal by Paolo Di Canio last summer, the Italian was part of a dramatic first-team overhaul as the Black Cats boss signalled his intent by acquiring 14 new faces over the close-season. Mannone’s prospects looked bleak after his compatriot opted for Kieran Westwood as the Wearsiders’ number one for the opening 10 matches before an injury to the Republic of Ireland international afforded him the chance to impress:
The Statistics
Climbing off the bench to replace Westwood during the first-half of a 1-0 defeat at Hull, Mannone has cemented his role as Sunderland’s keeper of choice with a series of outstanding displays between the sticks. The former Gunner made an immediate impact on Fantasy managers in his first start for the club – having dropped from 4.5 to 4.2 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), his heroics proved vital in helping the Wearsiders to their first clean sheet of the season at home to Manchester City.
The City match set the tone for what was to follow as Mannone racked up 11 clean sheets in 28 starts for the Stadium of Light outfit, with a trio of shut-outs in the final four Gameweeks key to his side’s successful battle against relegation. His back-four hardly made Mannone’s job easy, though – on 20 occasions he earned at least one FPL point due to saves, with a total of 33 save points highlighting just how often he was called into action. Indeed, despite missing those first nine matches, Mannone still finished second for saves – only Cardiff’s David Marshall made more (152 to 131), with the Italian’s 14 stops against Chelsea in Gameweek 35 helping Gus Poyet’s side end Jose Mourinho’s long unbeaten home league run.
Finishing in eighth spot for keepers on 134 points, Mannone picked up more bonus points (16) than any keeper and earned six sets of double figure hauls. Sunderland’s joint-top scoring player in the FPL game, he registered a hugely impressive 4.6 points per game – better than any regular stopper and a sign of his points potential for the upcoming campaign, with a security of starts surely cemented.
The Prospects
Cost-wise, much depends on whether Fantasy games analyse Sunderland’s entire campaign when taking their new prices into consideration. Ultimately, the Black Cats conceded 60 goals in 2013/14 – the fifth worst defence in the Premier League, with only the three relegated clubs and Aston Villa shipping more.
Certainly, a rise in price looks inevitable in light of his displays but if he’s priced too highly, our interest in Sunderland’s defensive options will surely drop. Bearing in mind that Marcos Alonso – with an average of 3.2 ppg – was the club’s top defender, it puts into perspective just how far ahead of his team-mates the Italian proved to be as a Fantasy prospect last time around.
If Mannone comes in around the 5.0-mark, as opposed to 5.5, it’s likely he’ll be the default keeper for many next time around. With six shut-outs at home and five on the road, there was no obvious pattern for those looking to rotate on a home/away basis and given his propensity for picking up the save points, many may choose to simply field the Black Cats stopper as their regular number one due to his consistent ability to deliver the points and perhaps partner him with a cut-price option as back-up.
