FPL notes: Amad advanced, Hojlund in form, Porro poor

There were mixed Thursday night performances in European competition, as Manchester United and Chelsea earned away victories and Tottenham Hotspur scraped a point in a Battle of Britain.

The Red Devils fought back from a goal down to beat Viktoria Plzen 2-1 in the Europa League thanks to a second-half brace from substitute Rasmus Hojlund (£6.9m).

Meanwhile, Spurs barely deserved anything at Rangers but were helped by a Dejan Kulusevski (£6.3m) equaliser and Fraser Forster‘s (£4.3m) brilliant saves. Earlier, Chelsea eased to a 3-1 Europa Conference League win over FC Astana courtesy of Marc Guiu (£4.7m) and Renato Veiga (£4.5m).

We pick out the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from both fixtures in these Scout Notes.

THURSDAY’S RESULTS

TEAM SELECTION/ROTATION

AMAD’S STOCK RISING

Despite gifting Viktoria Plzen a sloppy opener, Man United rallied to record their first European away victory since March 2023.

Ruben Amorim made five changes to the side that lost to Nottingham Forest, opting for an interesting 3-2-2-2-1 formation. It had Joshua Zirkzee (£6.5m) lead the line, in front of Marcus Rashford (£7.0m) and Amad Diallo (£5.1m).

They were deserving winners, carving out numerous scoring opportunities and producing 17 shots, of which eight were on target. 2.7 expected goals (xG) bettered Plzen’s 0.9, as the hosts put only two of their 15 shots on target.

However, Zirkzee and Rashford didn’t cover themselves in glory and won’t have convinced Amorim that they deserve to start Sunday’s Manchester derby. Indeed, it was only after both forwards departed that goals arrived, their equaliser coming after a lightning run down the right from the increasingly impressive Amad.

He’d already created chances for Rashford and Mason Mount (£6.3m), going on to nutmeg his marker before a shot that rebounded favourably for Hojlund to convert from close range.

Amorim clearly likes the cut of Amad’s jib, having publicly declared that he wants him to sign a new contract. His current deal expires in the summer. Having played him in three of four Premier League matches, the manager clearly has the attacker in his plans.

Until Thursday, Amad had been deployed in a right wing-back role but here he thrived in a more advanced position. He racked up two shots, two big chances, 44 carries and the highest pass completion of any player (88%). The only problem Amorim identified was needing to get even closer to goal.

“I think he can be a very good player in that position. He’s a left footer, we need in this team left-footed [players] to play in that role.

“I think in the first half he was coming for the ball too much, he needs to play near the goal, near the backline. Not there, but near, so it’s the first time and he will improve in the future.” – Ruben Amorim on Amad Diallo playing in attack

BRACE FOR HOJLUND

Two other players who stood out were Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m) and Hojlund. The Dane has five goals in four appearances, showing great poacher instincts for his opener and brilliantly holding off his marker when doubling the tally.

“He is improving. I think he’s nearer the goal now. He knows better the movements that he has to do. He could score more this evening but he’s scoring, he’s working, he’s controlling better the ball. He’s improving and the other guys are also there to change the game from the bench and they did it.” – Ruben Amorim on Rasmus Hojlund’s progress

The second was wonderfully assisted by Fernandes. At a free-kick, he noticed Hojlund loitering by Plzen’s defensive wall and cleverly picked him out with a disguised pass.

This penalty-taking captain could well be a difference-maker against Manchester City’s brittle defence. Since Gameweek 8, only two midfielders have produced more than his 56 points.

That said, it should be noted that Fernandes’ attacking instincts are sometimes reined in for the big matches. In the recent trip to Arsenal, he was asked to sit deeper and help nullify Martin Odegaard‘s (£8.3m) threat.

ANOTHER ONANA HOWLER

Unlike Fernandes, Andre Onana (£5.2m) had another evening to forget. The goalkeeper surprisingly remains Man United’s second-highest points scorer this term but his form is dropping off a cliff.

Guilty of conceding a straightforward shot against Nottingham Forest, here he was caught napping when playing out from the back. An easy goal for Plzen. Whilst there are no indications that his starting spot is at risk, they’ll struggle for clean sheets while Onana is effectively throwing them away.

So the takeaways from this performance are that Amad and Fernandes are worthy of consideration by FPL managers. The former provides great value, has three goals and six assists in all competitions and is getting regular minutes under Amorim, while the latter is enjoying a real purple patch. After a slow start to this campaign, Hojlund has suddenly rediscovered his touch.

WERNER BURNED

Tottenham’s troubles continued as they scrambled a 1-1 draw at Rangers. They were second-best at Ibrox and will be grateful to Kulusevski for digging them out of a hole with 15 minutes remaining. Ange Postecoglou is often criticised for not changing things when it starts to go wrong but at least his substitutes combined to make a difference, as Dominic Solanke (£7.5m) provided the assist.

Postecoglou made five changes to his injury-ravaged side. Cristian Romero (£5.0m) and Micky van der Ven (£4.5m) were sidelined once again and replaced by Radu Dragusin (£4.3m) and Archie Gray (£4.6m). Additionally, Rodrigo Bentancur (£4.9m), James Maddison (£7.6m) and Timo Werner (£6.2m) came in for Pape Sarr (£4.8m), Kulusevski and Solanke

It was a lacklustre performance. Werner skied an early chance and was ineffectual to the point that he was hauled off at half-time and publicly lambasted by his manager afterwards.

“Yeah absolutely [I expect more from him]. When you’ve got 18-year-olds it’s not acceptable to me. I said that to Timo. He’s a senior international, he’s a German international. In the moment we’re in right now, it’s not like we’ve got many options. I need everyone to at least be going out there trying to give the best of themselves. His performance in the first half wasn’t acceptable.

“Don’t really know [how he took the dressing down]. It’s not really of great concern. We need everybody including him to be contributing. because we don’t have the depth to leave people out if they’re performing poorly. We need them to play their part. Especially the senior guys. When I’m asking younger guys to do massive jobs. I expect a level of performance from some of the senior guys and today wasn’t that.” – Ange Postecoglu on Timo Werner’s display

You wonder quite what throwing Werner under the bus will achieve, especially considering that since Gameweek 10 only Son Heung-min (£9.8m) has created more big chances than the German’s four. But perhaps Postecoglou will try anything at this point to get some end product out of a forward who has mustered three assists and zero goals so far.

KULUSEVSKI DELIVERS, MADDISON DISAPPOINTS

On a positive note, Kulusevski impressed once more. Since Gameweek 6, he’s brought five attacking returns and is the scourge of defenders with his foraging runs. Solanke owners will also be encouraged by the assist.

Elsewhere, performances were largely disappointing, particularly from Maddison, Son and Pedro Porro (£5.6m). Senior players are supposed to make a difference in these matches, yet they failed to deliver and offer little FPL encouragement. The team mustered four shots on target out of 13, compared to Rangers’ six from 15. Furthermore, the Scottish giants had a better xG (1.5 v 1.2).

PORRO POOR

One of those shots on target came from full-back Porro, someone still owned by nearly 30% of FPL squads. From a tight angle, the chance was never really going to be successful from there. More worrying was his general display, which looked tired.

Having been benched in Gameweek 14, perhaps Porro’s place is again in jeopardy after successive starts this week and another game 72 hours after the trip to Glasgow. Djed Spence (£4.4m) is standing by.

At least Forster has been excellent. Were it not for two important saves at the end of each half, Spurs would have comfortably lost. Then again, from a Fantasy standpoint, although he has stepped up to the plate during Guglielmo Vicario’s (£4.9m) serious injury, he lacks the protection to reward managers with anything other than save points.

NETO RETURNS

Given Enzo Maresca’s squad rotation in Europa Conference League outings, there is little to glean from Chelsea’s trip to Astana. Cheap forward Guiu continues to produce at this level but remains firmly behind Nicolas Jackson (£8.2m) and Christopher Nkunku (£5.8m) in the pecking order. Veiga scored his second goal in this competition too, yet is also a mile away from first-team contention.

The only players of note who could come into Maresca’s first-team thoughts are goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen (£4.2m) and defender Alex Disasi £4.2m), with the Dane likely to get another chance to replace error-prone Robert Sanchez (£4.8m), who again lacked conviction when conceding three at Spurs last Sunday.

Pedro Neto (£6.2m) weighed in with an assist in a 45-minute cameo but his appearance was designed to get minutes in his legs while he serves a league suspension for accumulating five yellow cards. He’ll be back in Gameweek 17 to challenge Jadon Sancho (£6.2m) on the left flank.

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