Say What? – Gameweek 5

Say What? returns as we recount the fallout from Gameweek 4, after a surprise round of Premier League results. Prior to United’s loss at Leicester, Louis van Gaal had plenty to ponder on team selection. Meanwhile, Brendan Rogers and Mauricio Pochettino were left mulling over poor results, though Ronald Koeman and Sam Allardyce had plenty to cheer about. We also hear from Arsene Wenger on a couple of his weekend goal scorers, Sean Dyche takes a balanced view of Burnley’s progress and we close with a special appearance from Stuart Downing.

Louis van Gaal’s decision to hand Radamel Falcao his first start at the expense of Juan Mata failed to bring United the points at Leicester last weekend. Fantasy managers had ploughed millions into the plethora of attacking assets at Old Trafford, so with that in mind, Van Gaal had a few words to indicate that predicting his team sheets will be anything but easy:

“I don’t think any player is fixed. Only the captain has more privileges but no other player has privileges I think. Every player knows that when you see how I manage my teams. I don’t think that Falcao interferes with van Persie or that he interferes with Falcao. Falcao is a very good striker, I like Van Persie as well – he is also a very good striker. Then we have Wayne Rooney and Adnan Januzaj, and we also have James Wilson. We have five players for the two striker positions and I have to choose. He (Januzaj) has to compete with very good players and that is the reason. You cannot put 15 players in the squad, only 11, and with this system he has to compete with a lot of very strong strikers. When we play 4-3-3, for example, then he should have maybe more chances. It is always dependable on the system that we play. When I have changed my system, he has played.”

There was, however, some indication from the United manager that he sees Falcao as the better option up front, with Rooney likely to keep Mata out of the picture:

“We have played well but can improve and I was not so satisfied with Rooney as a striker and Mata as midfielder and that’s why I’m changing. Rooney can play in more positions, he’s a multi-functional player and I have tried him in a striker’s position. He’s played well but not spectacular and Falcao is a striker and I think he can do it better.”

Southampton topped our Frisking The Fixtures: The Strong article this week. Their enterprising and reliable style of 2013/14 made them a goldmine for affordable Fantasy talent, and despite the departure of some key players and a highly sought-after manager, the Saints’ new look is proving equally enticing ahead of such an excellent run of fixtures. Last week we heard young midfielder Jack Cork praise Ronald Koeman for granting attacking autonomy to his central players and the new manager went into more detail following another midfield match-winner against Swansea:

“We do exercises in the finishing not only for the attackers, but as well for the midfield players. We like to play offensive. We play with three players in front, with three midfielders, and we need at least one or two midfielders in or near the box to have the players in position for the second ball and, ok, if you play up and you play offensive then you need midfielders who score, because it’s not always up to the strikers. In my opinion, midfielders have to score between five and ten goals. I give the freedom to those players to play more offensive than maybe they did before.”

Burnley, another side sitting pretty in our Frisking the Fixtures series, also bring some Fantasy form into the mix. Sean Dyche’s men may sit second from bottom in the Premier League but have now treated us to three consecutive clean sheets – although they’ve failed to find the net in each of those matches, the Clarets’ manager had a few reassuring words about his side’s form at both ends of the pitch:

“I was very [pleased] with the clean sheet again. It’s so hard to do that back-to-back. But as I say the framework and energy is spot on, as was the football we played. I want the players to affect oppositions in as many ways as we can and they have the freedom to do that. The balance of the side was even better today. Defensively the framework of the side was good and we created enough chances to win the game. It didn’t happen, but I thought overall we deserved more than we got and if we keep playing like that I am absolutely convinced that wins are around the corner”

Mesut Ozil emerged as an unlikely hero for Arsene Wenger following his side’s smash-and-grab four minutes at Villa Park. After about half an hour of ‘playing nicely’, the German playmaker turned on the style and – in tandem with Danny Welbeck – blew the league’s leanest defence away. Having previously fielded the World Cup-winner on the left, Wenger moved Ozil into a more central role and conceded just how crucial the German’s impact in the final third can be:

“I adapted a bit game by game. There is a little difference but not a major one. Özil played today behind their midfield because I thought they made it very tight. But it’s important for us to find Özil between the lines and move the game forward. It worked, but he can play everywhere. I believe that the team played well and after it’s easier for everybody.”

…Before indulging himself in a little trumpet-blowing to the tune of Danny Welbeck’s repositioning…

“I think [Welbeck] has an interesting potential and let’s see how he develops. He has a good mentality, good physical potential, good technical potential, he contributes to our team play because he doesn’t lose the ball up front and those are important qualities. He is a good finisher. I think as well he has played at Manchester United in the position wide for the last two or three years, never through the middle. Then you lose a little bit of that instinct to score… which is a little animalistic. You need to always be in the middle and wait for your chance to kill the opponent. On the flank you have less of that responsibility.”

A home loss to West Brom on Sunday took Tottenham’s tally to one point in the last three Gameweeks. Mauricio Pochettino’s side had generated some significant Fantasy interest with early displays of dynamic attacking football but Spurs have been well off the pace since their Gameweek 3 humbling at the hands of Liverpool and it seems that some soul searching is in order at White Hart Lane.

“Maybe in the beginning of the game we were wrong in our set-up. We played very slow and we gave the possibility to West Brom that made the half a good performance. I need to analyse and fix because maybe we made a mistake in some position in the pitch. Maybe West Brom arrived to White Hart Lane with only two points and last in the table, but we need to show respect. I believe that we were wrong in our way and we played very slow, there was a lack of movement. You need play football that is aggressive.”

Liverpool may be right up there with Southampton and Burnley at the top of our fixture analysis, but the Merseyside club carry neither of the pair’s early season form into what look to be – on paper at least – some excellent Premier League games. The Reds followed up the shock home defeat to Aston Villa with a defeat at the hands of West Ham, forcing Brendan Rodgers to reassess his tactics.

“Our passing disappointed me on Saturday. We arguably played more long passes than West Ham. I look at the movement patterns in the team and our pressing and patterns of pressure. Probably with the injuries, I need to look to retain a system for maybe a longer period. The 4-4-2 diamond worked really well for us but it worked really well because we had certain players playing in it. It didn’t work quite so well at the weekend. Until we get all our multi-functional players back, I’ll look at the strengths of the players we do have. Hopefully that gives them the confidence of pressing better from that position.”

Sam Allardyce’s reputation as a manager who thrives on set pieces was further enhanced in the Liverpool upset. The West Ham manager has seen his side massively improve their attacking outputs this season with a more expansive style, but it was a bread-and-butter Allardyce goal that got the ball rolling, much to his delight.

“I think everybody is vulnerable to a set-piece when the ball is a quality ball. When you have got good headers of the ball, like James Tomkins, and the quality of Stewart Downing’s ball caught out Liverpool at the far post, that was a great start for us.”

Which leads us nicely on to Stewart Downing. The former Liverpool winger was deployed in a new central role that saw him further flourish as an attacking prospect. At just 5.5 in the Fantasy Premier League game, Downing now boasts more points than Eden Hazard (10.0) – who’d have imagined? – having secured a goal, a pair of assists and six bonus points in just five appearances. Here, the in-form man is granted the final say in this week’s article, as he revels in his new position:

“I played a similar role at Middlesbrough, more in a 4-4-1-1 type formation. It obviously helps in this formation where I have three lads behind me, I can play a bit further forward. I feel more involved playing in this new position. I’m enjoying it more, the manager wants me to be more involved. If you’re under the cosh sometimes and you’re on the wing you tend to do a lot of running without seeing the ball.”