Fantasy Premier League managers got almost exactly the result they were hoping for at Anfield on Saturday but there were some twists and turns along the way.
Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané both recorded double-figure hauls but there was frustration for anyone owning Liverpool defensive assets.
We’ve got all the Fantasy talking points in this latest Scout Notes article.
Liverpool 4-1 Cardiff City
Goals: Mohamed Salah (£12.9m), Sadio Mané x2 (£9.7m), Xherdan Shaqiri (£7.0m) | Callum Paterson (£5.2m)
Assists: Georginio Wijnaldum (£5.5m), Salah x2 | Junior Hoilett (£5.1m)
Mohamed Salah‘s (£12.9m) 15-point haul will be of great satisfaction to those who had held onto the Liverpool midfielder ready for the Gameweek 10 win over Cardiff City. It was an impressive all-round performance from the Egyptian which yielded a goal and two assists. Salah came out of the match with more shots than any other player and the joint-best number of chances created.
However, Salah’s owners weren’t rewarded with quite the smoking gun they were hoping for. That’s because Sadio Mané (£9.7m) did prove he could match his colleague at a cheaper price as his brace and maximum bonus points resulted in a match score of 15 too. His double-figure haul, the first since Gameweek 4, should ensure that the debate over which one of Salah or Mané to include in our squads will continue into Gameweek 11. It certainly seems that the former Southampton man is no longer troubled by the knock which kept him out of Gameweek 9.
“He has a broken thumb and plays with a brace. I wouldn’t feel comfortable but he plays so well. All good, very good.” – Jurgen Klopp
The most frustrating event of the afternoon was the fact that Andrew Robertson (£6.4m) was benched for the first time this season. After nine consecutive starts in the Premier League and a week where he was backed as the surer starter over Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.1m), he played no involvement in Liverpool’s latest win. Alberto Moreno (£4.2m) got his first league start of the campaign and created the same number of chances as Salah to trouble the 30.8% of Fantasy managers in possession of Robertson. With the premium defender debate rumbling on, one of the main reasons to go for the Scottish international (regular starts) has been now been somewhat called into question.
Moreno coming in at left-back was one of three alterations made by Jurgen Klopp to the side that beat Red Star Belgrade 4-0 in the Champions League midweek. Dejan Lovren (£4.9m) returned at centre-back at the expense of Joe Gomez (£5.1m) while Adam Lallana (£6.9m) came in for Xherdan Shaqiri (£7.0m). The Liverpool manager is finally delivering on his promise made in August that unchanged line-ups would be rare this season.
There was some surprise that Shaqiri did not start the match, especially after he impressed in the Champions League. A second-half goal for the Swiss international, his first for Liverpool, may attract some Fantasy attention but his role in the side remains unclear. Klopp cleared things up in his post-match press conference citing Shaqiri’s stamina.
“We don’t know Shaq long enough how he recovers but I thought the lineup today was a good one, it was good for Adam to start he was involved in a lot of things. Bringing on that quality makes the difference, you need 13 or 14 players to win a match.” – Jurgen Klopp
“The manager told me to go and enjoy the game, to help the team, to play my game. I try to do my best all the time, so today was good for me.” – Xherdan Shaqiri
The game itself went almost exactly as could have been expected. Liverpool dominated possession and Cardiff spent as much time as they could, putting every man behind the ball. The Bluebirds looked too scared to venture out from their own half for fear of Liverpool’s counter-attacking threat. Although they were forced out of their comfort zone when Salah opened the scoring in the tenth minute.
There was a spell in the second half when Liverpool weren’t quite as in control as they would have hoped. They registered double-figures for shots in the first period but had to wait until the 65th-minute for their first attempt of the second. But once Mané made it 2-0 it was a comfortable afternoon.
Callum Paterson (£5.2m) scored for the second week running as he was deployed as the centre-forward again. In classic FPL irony, the first goal conceded by Liverpool at Anfield this season was netted by the side with the worst scoring record on their road thus far. It came from just two shots on Alisson (£5.6m)’s frame so there is little to indicate clean sheets will start to dry up. That said, Junior Hoilett‘s (£5.1m) cross into the box did originate from the left-flank which staffed by Moreno in this particular match. The Spaniard does not have a reputation for defensive solidity, so if he is to start more Premier League matches at the expense of Robertson then Fantasy managers should keep an eye on whether that has an impact on Liverpool’s clean sheet potential.
Classified as a midfielder in FPL, Paterson does look like he could prove an interesting out of position option, especially with Leicester and Brighton coming to the Cardiff City Stadium in the next two Gameweeks.
Josh Murphy (£4.8m) came through an injury doubt to start the match, with Neil Warnock confirming after the game that he had simply been tired. Harry Arter (£4.9m) was left out with a knock which allowed Aron Gunnarsson (£4.4m) to make his second start in a row. Having only recently returned from injury, he was substituted around the 70th-minute mark again.
“I thought Gunnarsson did well for 70 minutes and we couldn’t risk him although he’d been that safety valve in front of the back four.” – Neil Warnock
Liverpool XI (4-3-3): Alisson; Moreno, Van Dijk, Lovren, Alexander-Arnold; Lallana (Shaqiri 61′), Wijnaldum, Fabinho; Mané, Firmino (Milner 70′), Salah.
Cardiff City XI (4-4-1-1): Etheridge; Bennett, Bamba, Morrison, Ecuele Manga; Murphy (Harris 73′), Gunnarsson (Damour 72′), Camarasa, Hoilett; Reid (Zohore 83′); Paterson
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