Our review of the weekend’s matches from a Fantasy perspective continues with an analysis of the match at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon, as Manchester United held off an Everton comeback to climb above the Toffees into eighth.
With Romelu Lukaku named among the Red Devils’ substitutes, it was left to two players in the sub-£7.0m price bracket in FPL to lead the line for their respective clubs: Marcus Rashford spearheading the United attack and “out of position” midfielder Richarlison once again being used as the focal point in Marco Silva’s 4-2-3-1.
The game, however, belonged to two United midfielders, both of whom got on the scoresheet: Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial.
We’ve got all the goals, assist, Fantasy talking points, manager quotes and injury news from the penultimate fixture of Gameweek 10.
Manchester United 2-1 Everton
- Goals: Paul Pogba (£8.0m), Anthony Martial (£7.3m) | Gylfi Sigurdsson (£7.4m)
- Assists: Paul Pogba | Richarlison (£6.8m)
For the Fantasy managers who owned the most popular FPL asset on show at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon, there was at least the solace of an assist after what had been another frustrating day at the office.
When Richarlison (£6.8m) was handed the striker’s role against Leicester City in Gameweek 8, the 24.4% of us who own the former Watford midfielder had optimistic visions of the Brazilian embarking on a goal-scoring run in his new centre-forward position but after three Gameweeks as the spearhead of the Everton attack, Richarlison’s owners could be forgiven for clamouring for his return to the left flank.
As if to prove a point, Richarlison did his best work at Old Trafford when facing goal and retreating to a slightly deeper position.
Twice the Brazilian created excellent chances for his team-mates with incisive passes in behind the United defence, the first for Bernard (£5.9m) who could only fire into the side netting after rounding David de Gea and the second for Seamus Coleman (£5.2m) who blazed a shot over the Spanish goalkeeper’s bar.
Richarlison’s only real sight of goal came when he ran at United’s defence and fired low at de Gea, having spent much of the game being shackled out of possession or being ignored by his Everton team-mates when well placed.
Richarlison is a similar character to Aleksandar Mitrovic (£6.9m) when things aren’t going his way, here unable to mask his contempt when Theo Walcott (£6.4m) twice elected to shoot rather than square the ball and possessing the demeanour of a sullen adolescent when the ball bypassed his orbit.
The Brazil international was still the pick of Everton’s front four, however, and got a perhaps deserved assist when he was chopped down in the box by the leaden-footed Chris Smalling (£5.8m) to give Gylfi Sigurdsson (£7.4m) the opportunity to score what turned out to be the Toffees’ consolation from the spot on 76 minutes.
The Icelandic midfielder had earlier headed a Coleman delivery straight at de Gea and crossed for Andre Gomes (£5.4m) to do likewise, but was otherwise fairly quiet.
Being Everton’s designated penalty taker in a side blessed with pace in the form of Richarlison, Walcott and Bernard, however, means a spot-kick (or direct free-kick) award is always a possibility no matter what the opposition. Up next for the Toffees, indeed, are Brighton, a side who have conceded more fouls than any other Premier League side this season – three of which resulted in penalties.
Walcott and Bernard were fairly poor and their places could possibly come under threat from the likes of Ademola Lookman (£5.1m) or Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.3m) for the visit of the Seagulls in Gameweek 11, though it appears Cenk Tosun (£6.7m) still has much to do to convince his manager that he is worthy of a start after he was reduced to a fifth successive substitute’s appearance in the match on Sunday.
After the match, Silva said he was happy with his team’s approach to the game but bemoaned a lack of quality in front of goal:
We created four or five chances but only scored from the penalty and we have the quality to be better in those moments.
In the last ten minutes United had nine players on the edge of their box but we did not attack with quite enough quality, it was more with our hearts.
We did not create big chances in those moments but United were defending very deep.
We improved again in this match, though – not with the result, we are unhappy with the result – but we played our way. One penalty and one fantastic finish from Martial made the difference.
If we had been more assertive [with our chances] we would have had a different result – we did enough to achieve that.
Richarlison’s owners could have been forgiven for looking on enviously at what Anthony Martial (£7.3m) was achieving on the left flank for United, with the French winger perhaps the game’s standout player and giving Coleman a torrid afternoon.
Martial was particularly prominent in the first half, producing some excellent trickery to set up chances for Juan Mata (£6.2m) and Paul Pogba (£8.0m) before testing Jordan Pickford (£4.9m) from distance.
Martial was unlucky not to get an assist for United’s opener, having been “fouled” (replays suggested otherwise) by Idrissa Gueye (£4.8m) for the penalty that Pogba missed – the former Juventus midfielder subsequently tucking home the rebound from Pickford’s parry.
A fantastic curled effort just after the interval gave Martial the goal his performance merited and the ex-Monaco man ought to have added to his tally in stoppage time, being denied by Pickford when clean through on goal.
Speaking of Martial’s performance, Jose Mourinho said:
I think he coped well with his development process. He took quite a long time to understand what we want from him, took quite a long time for his brain but also his body to be ready to play the way we want him to play. But in this moment he is solid, he’s playing very well and even if he doesn’t score or is not in his best days to create the way he’s creating his performance, is a solid performance for the team.
He’s understanding now things we didn’t before and he wants to play and he knows that to play and be consistent in the team he has to go in a certain direction and he’s finding that direction.
His performance today without the goal would be a good performance and what I want from him is exactly that. You cannot score every time you play but in these matches, where you don’t score and you don’t assist, where your creation is not at a high level, but you have a certain balance in your performance.
And that’s the way I think he’s going now.
United assets have understandably been overlooked in recent weeks given the almost constant state of turmoil the club finds itself in, but Martial is averaging 12.33 points per match over the last three Gameweeks and is the form player in FPL.
The Frenchman, indeed, came into this match as the third-most-bought player of Gameweek 10 following his brace at Stamford Bridge.
What perhaps deters investment for those of us without him is the fact that United now face back-to-back away matches against Bournemouth and Manchester City, two sides that have kept three and five successive league clean sheets and who both sit in the top four for fewest big chances conceded in 2018/19.
Martial had started the match on the left of a front three in Mourinho’s 4-3-3, with Marcus Rashford (£6.7m) deployed as the central striker and Mata stationed on the right flank.
That meant that Romelu Lukaku (£10.8m) was dropped to the bench for the first time this season, the Belgian striker underscoring his lack of confidence in front of goal late in the match when emerging as a substitute to head Pogba’s inch-perfect cross horribly wide from eight yards.
Mourinho discussed his reasoning for Lukaku’s omission after full-time:
The reason is he is playing lots of matches and lately, not just not scoring goals, but also not showing lots of confidence.
Sometimes we decide that the best thing for the players is to not be on the pitch, to be protected and away from the initial pressure.
If he comes into the game later, he will come with a positive feeling of trying to make a difference and be back to normality because normally with Romelu, he scores lots of goals.
So I think he is under pressure a little bit because he is not doing that.
Rashford didn’t particularly stand out as a mid-price forward worth investing in, wasting the one goal-scoring opportunity he was presented with, but United looked better overall with Rashford’s movement up top and without the lumbering presence of Lukaku to stall any momentum.
Mata had a fine game too, though United’s other eye-catching player from a Fantasy perspective was Pogba.
While sloppy at times (his penalty miss and an unnecessary flick that ultimately led to Everton’s goal being two examples) Pogba looked capable of registering a goal or assist every time he went forward, registering twice as many attempts on goal and shots in the box as any player on show at Old Trafford.
Not even Mohamed Salah (£12.9m) or Eden Hazard (£11.3m) have registered as many shots on target as Pogba this season, meanwhile.
Being United’s penalty taker is another string to his bow from a Fantasy perspective, though Pogba has missed two of the five Premier League spot-kicks that he has taken this season and his manager suggested his technique from 12 yards needs honing:
The thing I like is the desire to take it. Let me choose the words, I don’t want to be punished.
I don’t like Mickey Mouses, fragile, afraid to go, ‘I don’t take penalties.’ I like the player that I want to take it.
The Crystal Palace boy today he missed against Everton and today two penalties he wants to take. Paul, can he improve? I think he can. The goalkeepers know his running, they don’t move and they are waiting for his decision so he has to learn from that but for me, the most important thing is he wants to go again.
United’s defence once again failed to keep a clean sheet on home soil and they have now conceded just one fewer goal at Old Trafford than they shipped at the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ in the whole of 2017/18.
After an impressive start to the campaign, Luke Shaw (£5.om) is averaging just 1.6 FPL points per match over the last five Gameweeks and didn’t touch the ball once in the Everton penalty box on Sunday.
Jesse Lingard (£6.7m) and Marcos Rojo (£4.9m) returned from injury to be among the substitutes, where they were joined by Alexis Sanchez (£10.0m), who had mysteriously been ruled out of this fixture just 48 hours previously.
Manchester United XI (4-3-3): De Gea; Young, Lindelof, Smalling, Shaw; Fred (Lingard 90′), Matic, Pogba; Martial, Rashford (Lukaku 65′), Mata (Herrera 85′).
Everton XI (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Coleman, Keane, Zouma, Digne; Gueye (Tosun 78′), Gomes; Walcott (Calvert-Lewin 78′), Sigurdsson, Bernard (Lookman 62′); Richarlison.
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