Another New Year’s Day Scout Notes and another stalemate! This time, Liverpool 0-0 Leeds United.
WHY FARKE BENCHED CALVERT-LEWIN
Fantasy Premier League’s (FPL) two ‘form’ forwards drew a blank in this deadlock.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.9m) didn’t get much of a chance to extend his goalscoring run. He had to make do with a 20-minute cameo, with Daniel Farke explaining that decision after full-time.
“Yeah, sometimes the head needs to win over the heart. We have a period of four Premier League fixtures within 10 days and I trust my whole group and my whole squad, and if I wouldn’t use the whole squad during such a period, I would never use them.
“And especially for Dominic, we all know about what happens in the last two years to him. I have to look a bit after him. It was always the plan and, also, I expected that the striker here away at Liverpool, especially in the beginning, you have to work a lot against the ball. Lukas Nmecha did excellent and then hopefully when Liverpool also gets a bit more tired, then to bring Dominic on and to rest him also a little bit and perhaps then he would be there with a winner. I think he scored a goal but was sadly ruled out with offside. So nearly worked out the plan, but overall, it was more or less a sign of how much I trust the whole group.” – Daniel Farke on benching Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Even then, Calvert-Lewin still nearly made it eight goals in seven Gameweeks. He had the ball in the net in the 81st minute, pouncing on a loose ball and finishing sharply. Alas, he was offside by a leg.
Nicely rested and with an unconvincing Manchester United defence to come next, there’ll be few more appealing forwards for Gameweek 20.
EKITIKE’S 50P HEAD
Hugo Ekitike‘s (£9.1m) four-match run without a blank came to an end, too, but if you’re one of those managers who are encouraged by underlying numbers, then you’ll be consoled by expected goal involvement (xGI) figures of 1.47 (Opta) and 1.05 (Statsbomb).
A lot of that came from a 32nd-minute header, in which Ekitike sent Jeremie Frimpong‘s (£5.7m) cross-shot back where it came from with the goal gaping.
Ekitike had four shots in all, also testing Lucas Perri (£4.5m) at his near post. Florian Wirtz (£8.2m) very nearly followed in the rebound.
And did honesty cost the Frenchman in the first half? Ekitike was being wrestled by Jaka Bijol (£3.9m) when trying to spring the Leeds defence, admirably staying on his feet when many would have gone to ground.
“When he would have fallen down, that would probably be a penalty. But I can understand why he doesn’t go down, because this season so many times when we were fouled inside the 18-yard box, we didn’t get a penalty. So maybe as a result of that, players from us think, ‘Yeah, let’s then try to stay on our feet.'” – Arne Slot on Hugo Ekitike
Still some encouraging signs from Ekitike, then, in a team performance that was otherwise a bit flat.
The Reds didn’t concede much, at least. The one good chance that Leeds had, which fell to Ethan Ampadu (£4.9m), was self-inflicted due to Alisson‘s (£5.4m) poor pass out.
FRIMPONG ‘OOP’
Frimpong was one of Liverpool’s livelier players as the Reds struggled with Leeds’ low block.
He was ‘out of position’ on the right wing at Anfield, with Conor Bradley (£5.0m) stationed behind him at right-back.
While Frimpong offered sporadic darts down the right in open play, Virgil van Dijk (£5.9m) went close from a corner, nodding into the ground and narrowly wide when well placed. That was one of three shots he had on Thursday.
A goal continues to elude him: the Dutchman, who has averaged three strikes per season over the last seven years, has had 11 efforts without success in the last 12 Gameweeks.
SLOT ON ROTATION + WIRTZ’S HAMSTRING
Will Frimpong be in the starting XI at Craven Cottage on Sunday? He has started twice already this week, getting through 84 minutes last night.
Cody Gakpo (£7.3m), Alexis Mac Allister (£6.2m) and Federico Chiesa (£6.3m) are all options to come into the side in Gameweek 20.
Don’t expect too much rotation, however.
“Not too sure if we do this next game because if you look at our bench, you see that I think there were four players from 19 years or younger on the bench or players that have hardly had any playing time in the Premier League. All four of them. So, yeah, we have to wait and see how they come out of the game.” – Arne Slot on rotating in Gameweek 20
Slot also perhaps provided some mitigation for why Wirtz was slightly off it last night, following some improved performances in recent weeks. It explains why he was taken off after 66 minutes, too.
“Florian Wirtz, for example, only trained once this week because he felt his hamstring in the start of the week. That’s why I didn’t want to take the risk of playing him too long. With all the games coming up, this is what we have to manage and it’s the situation we have to accept and where we are in.” – Arne Slot
