Scout Scribbles – Reds Handed Spanish Lesson

Arsenal edge past Anderlecht thanks to late goals from Kieran Gibbs and Lukas Podolski, while Mario Balotelli is hauled off at the break as Liverpool are soundly beaten by Real Madrid. Elshewhere, another piece gets added to the Diego Costa puzzle, Steven Naismith is rested for Everton’s Europa League trip to Lille and Nigel Pearson is looking for a little more solidity in Leicester’s play.

Liverpool Outclassed By Real

Liverpool’s indifferent start to the campaign took a further twist as they were bewildered and beaten by a clinical display from Real Madrid at Anfield.

Brendan Rodgers side barely got a foothold in the tie, falling behind to a piece of early brilliance from Ronaldo, before Karim Benzama expertly headed home and then converted a third as Liverpool failed to clear a corner.

The Liverpool manager made a trio of changes to his lineup following the 3-2 win at QPR with Philippe Coutinho, so impressive off the bench at Loftus Road, earning a start ahead of Adam Lallana. Joe Allen, another sub on Sunday, also started with Emre Can dropping out, while Alberto Moreno made a return at left-back with Jose Enrique making way.

Mario Balotelli continued his run of miserable form – he has now scored gone six appearances without a goal and has notched just once in nine outings. Rodgers spared the Italian the second-half, withdrawing him for Lallana at half-time and pushing Raheem Sterling up front in a central role.

The Scout Says: Liverpool were simply blitzed by Madrid’s quality and, once again, were found wanting in defence from a set-piece when Benzema converted a sloppy third goal. Defensive doubts remain, then, offering little incentive for Fantasy managers to invest, despite obliging fixtures to come. After a promising start to the campaign, Dejan Lovren has been bitterly disappointing and currently looks out of his depth. Balotelli’s performances are even more abject. The striker put in another ineffective shift in the first-half and was seen swapping shirts with Pele as he made his way to the dressing room – he was replaced for the second period. Interestingly, that saw Rodgers move Sterling to a central attacking role which briefly pepped Liverpool’s fluidity and suggested that, at times, we may even see the youngster given such duties in the league. Certainly Balotelli’s tenure in the starting XI looks doomed, while, given his pitch time, Rodgers seems unconvinced by Rickie Lambert.

Gunners Spare Belgian Blushes

Two at-the-death strikes from Kieron Gibbs and Lukas Podolksi earned Arsenal a hard-fought victory against Anderlecht as Arsene Wenger’s men snatched an unlikely three points. Arsenal had fallen behind on 71 minutes after a lacklustre showing in the first-half but endeavoured to turn the game around in its dying stages.

The Gunners’ boss brought Calum Chambers straight back into his starting lineup at right-back with Hector Bellerin making way. Aaron Ramsey also earned a start following an appearance from the bench against Hull City – he came in for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Mikel Arteta was again kept on the bench with Mathieu Flamini preferred in midfield. Laurent Koscielny again missed out, leaving Nacho Monreal to start alongside Per Mertesacker once more.

The Scout Says: Arsenal’s display was equally unconvincing as Liverpool’s against inferior opponents. Alexis Sanchez was the one major positive – much of the Gunners’ attacking promise came via the Chilean, as Danny Welbeck suffered one of his more ineffective displays. Sanchez has now started nine of the last ten outings under Wenger, indicating that his role looks assured going into the weekend trip to Sunderland. Wenger does have increasing options in his position, however, with Theo Walcott closing in on a return and Podolski clearly pushing for a start having notched a vital winner in Belgium. Defensively, Arsenal have now gone six matches without a clean sheet, although Chambers’ return continues to offer a cheap investment route ahead of the meetings with Sunderland, Burnley and Swansea.

The Costa Puzzle Takes a New Twist

Reports this morning suggest that Diego Costa was taken to hospital upon his return from international duty with Spain last week. The striker allegedly suffered a severe stomach bug on his return to Chelsea and spent several days under medical treatment. It’s thought that Costa is also suffering from both hamstring and groin problems and he failed to train on Wednesday ahead of Sunday’s visit to Old Trafford, compounding the assumption that he will miss out in that match.

The Scout Says: This situation remains confused and somewhat cloudy. Although some reports tentatively suggest that Costa is emphatically ruled out of the United trip, Jose Mourinho has appeared to remain vague on the full prognosis and other reports continue to suggest that the Chelsea boss has only gone so far to state that he “expects” him to be unavailable. This latest claim of an illness adds further confusion and clearly explains how Costa came to miss the European tie with Maribor. Why Mourinho failed to reveal that an illness played a part is anyone’s guess: cynics would suggest that, by keeping this information back, the Chelsea boss was able to build up speculation on the severity of Costa other problems which, according to current crop of stories, are in both the thigh and groin areas. Costa’s failure to train yesterday suggests that he will indeed miss out at Old Trafford but we’d expect Mourinho to again leave this situation open when it comes to his press conference this week. A degree of uncertainty, perhaps through claimed ignorance on Costa’s condition, would keep the striker in the frame against United; Fantasy managers can only hope that we get some clarity and a definitive answer ahead of Saturday’s deadline.

Pearson Looks to Tighten Up

The Leicester boss took time out to discuss his side’s defensive problems in midweek, after the Foxes narrowly loss to Newcastle last time around.

“Clean sheets over the course of a season are going to win you a number of points. It is also good for morale to have the knowledge you can play a tight game when required. What you also have to say is, for a side like ourselves, we are coming up against opponents who are a lot more clinical. We are playing against players who are capable of scoring one goal from one chance. You are going to have to score enough goals to stay in any division and certainly if the emphasis is lopsided at the minute, it is a lopsidedness which is preferably towards keeping clean sheets.”

The Scout Says: With eight Gameweeks of the season gone, Leicester’s problems at the back have seen them ship 13 goals and deliver a single clean sheet so far. Delving further into the data highlights Pearson’s concerns – his side have afforded their opponents more shots (152) than any other side in the top-flight but with Swansea, Sunderland, West Brom and QPR in the next five, they need to start picking up the points. Whilst defensive returns still look unlikely, Jeffrey Schlupp’s out-of-position prospects on the left of midfield has already brought his owners a goal in Gameweek 7 and at 4.5 in FPL, he looks the likeliest Leicester defender to bring home the points. Pearson’s recent attempts to tighten up seem to have proved detrimental to Leonardo Ulloa’s prospects – after bagging a brace against United, the Argentine has now blanked in each of the last three as his manager attempts to find a better balance to his side.

Naismith Rested for Toffees

Both the Scot and Leon Osman were omitted from Everton’s Europa League squad ahead of this evening’s encounter with Lille. Roberto Martinez explained the reasoning behind his decision at yesterday’s press briefing:

“Steven and Leon have been rested for this trip bearing in mind the number of games we have this month and in terms of their individual circumstances and the number of games they have played.”

The Scout Says: Naismith and Osman were fielded on the flanks in the weekend win over Villa, with the former shifting from a central role in order to accommodate fit-again Ross Barkley. The Scot has started all but one of the first eight Gameweeks in “the hole” and sits in over 26% of FPL sides after netting four times so far but with Barkley immediately regaining the role behind Romelu Lukaku on Saturday, Naismith’s owners will be somewhat concerned over his pitch time and position within the starting XI. Granted, his midweek rest hints at a starting berth away to Burnley on Sunday, though it remains to be seen whether he’s capable of picking up the points from a wide berth – Everton’s fixtures may afford him a stay of execution for now but with the likes of Saido Berahino and Diafra Sakho offering in-form alternatives in the budget bracket, some may be eyeing up a transfer out as the Toffees treatment room empties.