Scout Notes – United Crash Out

Man United exit the Champions League with an abject performance that undermines the Fantasy credentials of many in Jose Mourinho’s expensively assembled squad.

The inquests have already begun into the whys and wherefores of last night’s 2-1 chastening home loss to Sevilla, with Mourinho’s ingrained negativity, the imbalance to the side Alexis Sanchez’s arrival has sparked and Paul Pogba’s woeful form among the reasons being cited.

All are clearly factors, and Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers are now left to sift through the rubble for the positives that United’s relatively attractive domestic run-in should still be encouraging.

The Red Devils are likely to endure further ignominy if, as expected, Man City wrap up their title-winning push in Gameweek 33’s Manchester derby.

But aside from that and a Gameweek 36 visit from Arsenal, their schedule is still strong.

A probable double Gameweek 34 will involve a home match with West Brom and a trip to West Ham.

And should they see off Brighton in this weekend’s FA Cup quarter-final, another double – possibly in Gameweek 37 – would have them travelling to face Bournemouth and the Seagulls again.

Swansea City in Gameweek 32 and a final-day match with Watford, both at home, complete their fixtures. All bar the City match-up look eminently winnable – just not on last night’s evidence.

The one and only shred of encouragement that could be plucked from the Champions League wreckage was the continued upturn in form of Romelu Lukaku.

The Belgian scored from Marcus Rashford’s cross, rushed to pick the ball out of the net and then exhorted the Old Trafford crowd to bring the noise.

It was by some margin the most animated and inspiring action of the night from a United player, and one who is now close to his fine early-season form.

Lukaku has four goals and three assists from his last eight Gameweeks and his strikes last night and against Chelsea, plus an influential performance in the 2-1 win over Liverpool at the weekend, are finally helping to debunk the idea that he can only excel against lesser opponents.

With Harry Kane and Sergio Aguero currently sidelined, Lukaku is suddenly one of the few big-ticket strikers with fitness, form and fixtures on his side, which goes some way to explaining why he’s currently the third most bought player ahead of Gameweek 31 – despite the fact that he will play absolutely no part in it because of FA Cup commitments.

It’s proving much harder to argue the case for other United assets, however.

The brilliant David De Gea is found in 42.8% of FPL squads, but can only do so much behind a defence that has kept just one clean sheet in six Gameweeks; the 17 points he’s managed over that time a paltry return for a premium price of 5.9.

Eric Bailly and Chris Smalling were partnered at centre-half for the second straight match last night, only to be exposed by the shortcomings in central midfield personified by the increasingly unreliable Nemanja Matic and the confidence-free zone that is Pogba.

Marouane Fellaini was surprisingly preferred to the fit-again Frenchman against Sevilla and when he did finally come on in the second half, a wretched 30-minute cameo mostly involved giving the ball away as he strove in vain to find some semblance of form.

Jesse Lingard was another given a start ahead of Pogba, but the 10.1%-owned midfielder blanked for the ninth time in ten league and European matches.

Even Rashford, whose two goals won the clash with Liverpool last Saturday, was muted, not helped by Mourinho’s decision to station him on the right to accommodate the misfiring Sanchez on the opposite flank.

Form versus fixtures is an age-old Fantasy debate, with most agreeing that the former can trump the latter.

It’s a problem in reverse for United right now, with six of their final eight league matches offering the prospect of solid returns at both ends of the pitch, but precious few of their assets, Lukaku aside, in any kind of form to take advantage.

Saturday evening’s FA Cup tie now represents their last chance of silverware this season, with a prospective semi-final sandwiched between the probable double Gameweek 34 and a home match with Arsenal.

The lack of European duties should at least mean that the threat of rotation is now minimal, although the second fixture of their potential double, West Ham away, would likely come in the midweek before the cup tie, so Mourinho could be tempted to hold back key players for the semi-final.

But last night’s debacle merely underlines that, for many managers looking to Wildcard in Gameweeks 32 or 33, investment in United assets seems a risky proposition.