Say What? slides back into the schedule with succulent soundbites from a frantic Gameweek 15. This time, Fantasy forwards take the headlines as we hear from the likes of Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, Sam Allardyce and Ronald Koeman on our potential Sergio Aguero replacements. Mark Hughes attempts to get Bojan Krkic on our Christmas Wishlist, Yannick Bolassie talks tekkers and Ben Davies purrs over a long-awaited Spurs clean sheet.
With a new striker sitting top almost every Fantasy manager’s shopping list, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho put the dampener on popular Sergio Aguero replacement Diego Costa’s bandwagon. The Portuguese suggesting that he still has concerns over his star forward’s current condition ahead of a tempting home encounter against Hull in Gameweek 16.
“For me, the problem is not the goals – they will come as a consequence of his condition. He has to improve his condition. He was injured and had many doubts because he went a long time without training. Obviously that must have an effect on a player in the way he runs, the way he moves and in his co-ordination. I don’t think there is any problem but he has to recover.”
Meanwhile, West Ham boss Sam Allardyce had no such concerns over recent absentee Andy Carroll’s current form, describing his target man as “unstoppable” after a 16-point haul against Swansea. Carroll’s form will certainly register on the Fantasy radar, while Diafra Sakho’s return to prolificacy off the bench at the expense of Enner Valencia signalled some serious competition among the Hammers’ attack for the weeks ahead…
“He (Carroll) is unstoppable when he gets that space. Movement in the box is what it is all about, the heading ability only comes after the movement is right to give you the space to attack the ball and that happened with his two goals…We get players back from injury and sometimes it’s like they’ve never been away but Valencia wasn’t as good as we know he can be so we brought our leading goalscorer on. Enner will be back, no doubt about that. He’ll be disappointed. But fact of the matter is there is competition for places, everyone has to continue to play at their best or someone will take their place. We have really good options on the front line.”
Elsewhere in the Capital, Arsene Wenger was on hand to give us an explanation for his decision to rest Danny Welbeck as the Gunners endured a nightmare start at the Britannia. Wenger went on to suggest the plausibility of future rotation among his attackers and immediately took the chance to rest the 38%-owned Fantasy Premier League (FPL) midfielder Alexis Sanchez from last night’s Champions League win over Galatasaray…
“Danny [Welbeck] has played a lot, he had a little groin problem. He could have played. I rotated a little bit because I wanted to give him a breather. I had to respond at half-time unfortunately and it looked like he was alright. We have three or four strikers from game to game and not everybody can play. As Alexis has played every game, he has to dig deep in every game. At some stage you have to rest the players.”
Fantasy managers looking to re-distribute that Sergio Aguero cash may have their attentions tuned-in to Stoke’s rising star, Bojan Krkic. The £4.9m (FPL), former Barcelona starlet has now had a hand in three goals in his last five Premier League outings and has racked up eight bonus points along the way. Mark Hughes has clearly been impressed with Bojan’s re-emergence this season following a turbulent start to his career in England. That said, with Chelsea, Everton, United and Arsenal to play in their next six, Bojan and co. could find themselves on the periphery of the Fantasy radar until January Wildcards start coming into play.
“I think since he’s come back into the side he has played four or five games and I think he has been our man of the match in every game he’s played since he’s come back. He’s playing exceptionally well. He’s showing everybody that not only is he a good player technically but, in terms of his work rate and what he tries to do for the team, he’s very much a team player as well and we’re reaping the benefits of that. He’s integrated very, very well because he’s a good personality as well, works hard every day to get better and works hard for the team.”
Southampton’s superb early season form turned quickly with the sharp rise in fixture difficulty in Gameweek 13 and Ronald Koeman admitted that Graziano Pelle’s goal drought typifies his side’s struggle to create goalscoring opportunities in recent weeks. The Saints have produced just a single goal from their matches against Man City, Arsenal and United, while their usually water-tight defence has averaged two goals against during the barren run. With defensive injuries mounting, the onus will certainly fall on the likes of Dusan Tadic and Pelle to lift Koeman’s side out of their mini-slump.
“I think our opponents are analysing our attacking players and maybe they have a better defending against for example Graziano. It can be. We by ourselves in the last few games have had more problems to create opportunities. That’s both reasons why Pelle is not scoring in the last few games but the same questions in the beginning of the season and after that he scored. It’s a little bit the job for the striker sometimes, you need a goal to be back where you was. I have total confidence in the players but it’s about the team performance and it’s more important to create and do what we have to do in an attacking way…We spoke several times about our midfield players scoring in some games and assists of Dusan (Tadic) like the Sunderland day but we have to realise that they make three own goals. It was not eight goals by our qualities”
Yannick Bolasie became an instant Vine sensation with his outrageous flick against Spurs last weekend. The Congolese international narrowly upstaged team-mate Wilfried Zaha’s audacious piece of skill as Crystal Palace’s wingers produced highlights in a 0-0 draw – and Bolassie admitted later that right now his confidence is sky-high….
“It’s all about statistics nowadays. I may have a couple more tricks, I’ll just have to wait and see who I come against. It was a 360-degree turn and flick. I don’t really do too many tricks like that on the pitch but I remember doing it a couple of years ago in the Championship. There are no names at the moment, it was just a playground flick. It was a good for it to come off in the Premier League. I used to it in the playground at school, so it’s a trick from back then… When you don’t normally do tricks, you sort of become unfamiliar with it but my confidence is high right now, I think I can do anything.”
Former Swansea left-back Ben Davies chose to focus on the positives after Tottenham’s stalemate with Palace. The north London outfit registered a first shut-out in eight Premier League matches and only their second since Gameweek 2 and Davies – who is now available at a cut-price 4.4 after being frozen out for much of the season – reckons the growing cohesion among the Spurs back-line is finally starting to make an impact…
“The more you play with your team-mates the more they know what runs I’m going to make and how I can get into space. It takes time for everyone to get used to each other. Being with the same people at the back definitely helps. With Jan [Vertonghen] on my side especially, we’ve played together most times I’ve played this season so it’s nice to have that understanding together and that partnership, and I think it’s been working pretty well. At the beginning of the game we were looking to get the three points but, as the game wore on, I think we were trying to get the clean sheet after soaking up some pressure, and we’ll take the point.”
