Another one of Saturday’s matches to bring you now, with a dirt-cheap forward grabbing the headlines as Wolverhampton Wanderers beat West Ham United 3-0.
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£4.5M FORWARD MANE HAULS
Mateus Mane (£4.5m) had already caught the eye over New Year, making successive starts after a string of substitute appearances.
The 18-year-old attacker delivered on that promise on Saturday, emerging with a 12-point haul from the win over West Ham.
As the below pass map shows, he’s not really a forward. He and Jhon Arias (£4.9m) were again nominally positioned in midfield, either side of anchor Joao Gomes (£5.3m), with Hwang Hee-chan (£5.6m) and Tolu Arokodare (£5.4m) up top.
But with Hwang pulling wide and deep, it did create space for Mane and Arias to get forward. The latter two scored in such circumstances, indeed.
Mane was pivotal for all three goals. His brilliant receive, turn, run and pass in midfield set Hwang away to tee up Arias for the opener. The teenager then won the penalty that Hwang converted before scoring himself, firing in from the edge of the box.
He nearly added to that with another goal late on, forcing a save after more cute footwork.
Let’s not get too carried away; West Ham were absolutely dreadful on Saturday. Edwards also talked below about “looking after” Mane, while Wolves may recruit in midfield/attack in the January transfer window.
“It’s given everyone a lift. You can hear the fans singing his name. He’s already a favourite and rightly so with his performances at the moment. We’ve got to make sure that we look after him. You know, people don’t expect too much. He’s had a really impressive couple of weeks and you know, it’s a fantastic goal and an all-round performance as well today. So he deserves all the applause that he gets.
“We want to keep his feet on the floor. You know, keep him working hard, but he’s a great lad. He’s got a great attitude and it’s really pleasing to see that today.” – Rob Edwards on Mateus Mane
However, we don’t expect much from our £4.5m-ish forwards. Eli Junior Kroupi (£4.6m) doesn’t get regular starts. Marc Guiu (£4.2m) barely gets any. Minutes of any variety, and semi-regular starts, are perhaps enough for the job they’ll do in our FPL squads.
So, at a time when many FPL managers are going 4-4-2, 3-5-2 or even 4-5-1, Mane is currently looking like the best option as a wallet-friendly third forward. Unlike Guiu, he also doesn’t take up a third slot that you may wish to otherwise fill from the same club.
HWANG + PAQUETA INJURIES
Hwang joined Mane in bagging a double-digit haul.
He converted from the spot on Saturday, having missed against the same ‘keeper in the EFL Cup in August. It should be said that Jorgen Strand Larsen (£6.1m) was off the field, although the big Norwegian himself missed a penalty in Gameweek 17.
Hwang did come off with a knock to his calf on the hour.
West Ham meanwhile were without Lucas Paqueta (£5.9m) with a reported back problem. Nuno Espirito Santo said “let’s see for the next one” when asked about the Brazilian, plus Jean-Clair Todibo (£4.3m), before kick-off.
BOWEN DEFCON CONSOLATION
A dismal afternoon for West Ham, then, whose clean-sheet-less run now extended to 17 matches. The damage could have been worse, with Alphonse Areola (£4.3m) making five saves, one a superb one from Tolu.
The fact that they failed to trouble a Wolves defence, who themselves hadn’t kept a shut-out all season, was even more concerning.
There were three penalty shouts, while Jarrod Bowen (£7.7m) bicycle-kicked over, but the graphic below tells a story:
Bowen at least banked defensive contribution (DefCon) points! Only two forwards have done that this season, with Bowen managing it twice.
New signing, forward Pablo Felipe (£5.5m), didn’t get off the bench.
