The all-mighty Chelsea, Wenger’s attacking options and Moyes’ love interest make for a searing Say What selection. Throw in a rotating Guardiola and a defensive Klopp and the pick of the quotes from the week gone by is good to go.
3-4-3: The Number Of The Best
Top of the league, a former player of the year looking very much like the next player of the year and Victor Moses resurrected as a potential Fantasy asset – we simply have to start with Chelsea this week.
Eden Hazard (10.2) tops the bill, as befits the Fantasy Premier League’s leading points scorer.
Since Antonio Conte switched to 3-4-3 in Gameweek 7, both Hazard and the team have been omnipotent.
So happy is Eden with his lot that he’s even started talking about why last season was so hellish.
“I’m playing without pain. Last year was complicated. Some people didn’t believe it, but I played with an injury [he points at his hip] for a long time. I was never 100%, and when you’re not completely fit it’s hard to play at your best.”
And there we were thinking that the major pain Hazard suffered with last season was located in the fleshy area that connects the hips and goes by the name ‘Jose Mourinho’.
But Eden doesn’t want to dwell on past sins when the future’s so bright, offering some telling insight into his role in Antonio Conte’s lauded 3-4-3 setup.
“The change in system has made an impact. It’s such a difficult formation to play against: I played for Belgium against (Conte’s) Italy at the Euros and even though we saw plenty of the ball, it was so hard to break down that defensive block. They only conceded once from open play in five matches, and when teams come up against us now they find they don’t have many sights of goal either. Personally, it allows me to concentrate more on the attacking parts of the game, the offensive side. I play this way with Belgium, too. Defensively, with the national team I have [Yannick] Carrasco close to me. Here I have (Marcos) Alonso. That allows me to concentrate more on hurting teams going forward. And it’s worked. I’ve managed to make a positive impact in games, and my form is there.”
Conte, unsurprisingly, agrees with the man who has five goals and two assists in six matches.
“You can see Eden is always involved in the game, not calm and off during the game. He’s always a point of reference for his team-mates. I think he’s fantastic.”
But the Italian is eager to spread the praise further. He starts with Victor Moses (5.6), with perhaps a wee dig at that aforementioned fleshy part thrown in…
“I recognised his potential right from day one of pre-season. Moses has great quality, technique, physical strength and the ability to cover 70 metres of the pitch. I find it incredible that somebody like him could have been under-rated.”
…before turning his loving gaze elsewhere.
“Pedro? He has qualities of absolute excellence. He’s perfect for the 3-4-3.”
The Spaniard, priced at 7.2, has two goals and four assists from Chelsea’s purple patch and that blessing from his manager might go a long way to ending the debate about whether he is one bad performance away from being replaced by Willian (7.2).
And with Eden and Moses in their side, it’s no wonder Chelsea have gone biblical on the opposition these past six Gameweeks. Unbeaten Spurs will do well to avoid becoming their seventh deadly win in this (Hebrew) sabbath’s evening kick-off.
Wenger Fronts Up
The last team to beat Chelsea in the league was Arsenal, with the opening goal coming from Alexis Sanchez (11.3).
He was the hottest of midfield properties back then; Hazard the lukest of warms.
Times have now changed so dramatically that Arsene Wenger is considering shifting Sanchez back to his old spot on the left flank.
“The solution of Alexis up front has worked well and I have two options at the moment. Olivier Giroud is in both options because Alexis can play on the flank. Olivier can only play through the middle, so I can sometimes marry the two together.”
Wenger is certainly aware of Giroud’s (8.8) claims for a return to the starting line-up.
“I consider him to be a regular player. He had a long holiday (after the Euros), after that he was injured and now he’s just coming back for a few games. It’s true that in the past two games he has been a bit frustrated but that’s normal because he’s ready to go again…Giroud has been out for a long time. He’s ready to compete again now and from game to game it will change a little bit. I will make minor rotations but he’s not forever on the bench. He will play games, he will be on the bench sometimes, like everybody else.”
Since that Gameweek 7 goal (and an assist) against Chelsea, Sanchez has netted just twice more, and both of those were against Sunderland. Giroud, meanwhile, has scored three times in as many Premier League matches – and all from the bench.
It’s starting to feel like when, not if, the Frenchman regains his place up front. Owned by just 1.7% of FPL managers, he could prove quite the differential in an obliging run of fixtures involving Bournemouth and Stoke City at home and trips to West Ham and Everton before a pre-Christmas tear-up at Man City.
However, at least Wenger offered some reassurance on the prospect of Sanchez being handed a Winter break, playing down reports that the Chilean had been targeted for a rest by pointing out that almost all of Arsenal’s squad need to put their feet up.
“If I have a possibility, I would like to give a winter break to everybody. We just had the luxury to do it with (Mesut) Ozil, because Germany didn’t pick him. But Chile played qualifiers for the World Cup and in fact (Alexis) didn’t play in the first game, so he had a little break when they played in Colombia and he didn’t play. He was not overloaded with games.”
The worry for the 22.0% of managers with Sanchez in their squads is that he may have his potential output reduced should Giroud claim his role up front.
And that concern won’t exactly be eased by Sanchez himself discussing how he sees that role as the central attacker…
“Not quite a false nine. I like getting involved in the play more rather than chasing the ball. I like seeing lots of the ball because I have the chance to drop deep and that means I can link up with my team-mates more.”
That was definitely the case last week at Old Trafford where if he’d got any deeper he’d have ended up quoting Jean-Paul Sartre at Marcus Rashford.
‘Hell is other people’, Sartre once observed, clearly never having spent 11.3 on a player about to get shunted back to the left flank.
To The Victor, The Spoils. And The Love
One player easily out-performing Sanchez these past two weeks has been Sunderland’s Victor ‘Can you just put something like’ Anichebe (4.6).
Black Cats fans must have experienced literally seconds of excitement when David Moyes signed up the big fella. He is, after all, that most Moyes of attacking options – a forward with 23 whole goals from 10 top-flight seasons of ‘action’.
But two starts, three goals, an assist and five bonus points later, Victor is finally looking like a bigger offensive threat than namesakes Valdes and Wanyama.
And Moyes has now revealed the secret to all this success.
“I think he needs a bit of love. I think he wants to be respected. He’s probably been to a lot of places where he’s maybe not had that. I’ve always respected him and he knows that, and I think that’s why he came to play here. It makes it a lot easier for him, but also I would like, and he likes, the people behind him. He’s that sort of boy, and I think at the moment the crowd are enjoying having him as well.”
So Anichebe just wanted to know what love was, while Moyes thinks he’s fit but he knows it.
“He’s a big unit, he’s got a lot of beef to carry about. So he has to work hard at it, he can’t afford to let his fitness down. Psychologically and mentally, he’s in a good place because he’s realising, ‘Hey, I can play this, I can run this distance, I can do what’s getting asked of me’. We hope he continues.”
And Victor has confirmed that the love is all around.
“Everyone knows I’ve got this love for the manager after coming through at Everton with him. I tried to turn a bad time into a good time and I always knew the belief David has in me.”
Liverpool away on Saturday might not be the best place for this bromance to develop any further, but Anichebe is suddenly looking attractive as the bargain bench man in this season’s fashionable 3-5-2 Fantasy formation.
Back on less loved-up ground, Moyes has also confirmed that Jordan Pickford (4.1) remains his number one for now.
“For me, it’s not a decision. Jordan has got the jersey at the moment. His form has been so good that I can’t see past Jordan at the moment, it’s as simple as that. But obviously, now Vito (Mannone) is back, he has more competition.”
That should come as blessed relief to the 13.9% of us with Pickford in our squads.
Pep On His ‘Perfect’ Player
At least you can rely on Pep Guardiola, that v-neck wearing unromantic stickler, not to go anywhere near love when talking about his squad – particularly where former outcast Yaya Toure (7.6) is concerned.
Or can you?
“His personality and his quality are there to see – he can play many positions. I’m so happy for him and his family. We now have one more man that can help us achieve our targets this season…The last two months he was amazing in the training sessions. His behaviour was absolutely perfect. His team-mates love him. He’s another guy who will help us with the rotation in the team.”
By ‘rotation’, you can’t help but feel that Guardiola means ‘saving Ilkay Gundogan (5.8) for the Champions League that Yaya can’t currently play in’ – a bitter pill for the 14.4% of FPL managers with the German on board.
City’s fixtures are far from straightforward – Burnley and Leicester away, Chelsea and Watford at home – in the run-up to that pre-Christmas Arsenal shindig. Even with his 15-point return on Saturday, surely we can’t consider Toure a born-again FPL prospect?
More than 21,000 FPL managers have already brought him in on just that basis.
Klopp Gets All Defensive
We finish with the uber-affable, ever-smiling charm-fest that is Jurgen Klopp.
Ask him about Liverpool’s dodgy defence, however, and the mask slips a tad.
“I don’t care about what people say about it because when you only look at the numbers and you see 14 goals conceded then that is obviously too much for a team like this.”
In fairness, 14 goals conceded makes the Reds the seventh-best defence in the league. But dig a little and things aren’t quite so laudable – only West Ham have made more errors leading to goals than Liverpool’s three and even the Hammers have kept more clean sheets than the Reds’ two.
Klopp is also well aware of his back four’s major flaw, even if he is happy to cry foul over it.
“Look how we conceded those goals. It was a thing we spoke about with set-pieces because three goals we conceded are from set-pieces – well, in my analysis afterwards they were offside but nobody spoke about it, just that we have a problem with set-pieces. We always need to be cool with it, we have to work, improve, we know this. But we are able to defend. We are not weak in defending. If somebody wants to say that then do it, but I know we aren’t.”
Klopp’s full-back, Nathaniel Clyne is also talking up their improved resilience…
“We have been solid of late and not giving the opponents any chances to get a shot at goal and keeping it strong at the back. Also, credit to the forward players who are pressing really hard at the very top end of the pitch, which stops them creating any chances. Our total dominance of the football match is helping us defensively in the games.”
While also offering a view on his own freedom to attack as the role of a full-back is transformed…
“Nowadays, it has changed, it is more demanding for a full-back. They want you to get up and down the line very quickly and also help out in attack, almost becoming wingers really. Nowadays, wingers are coming inside and want to play more inside. It gives license to the full-back to have the whole line.”
Meanwhile, if we needed any further assurance on the attacking promise offered by Philippe Coutinho, the Brazilian maestro was on hand to underline just how he’s been released by Klopp’s attacking tactics…
“I like the position that I’m now playing. What I like most about it is that I don’t have to just stay in one place. I have the freedom to move around. The manager is comfortable with me doing it and that’s given me the confidence to go and play…I am linking up well with all of the players on the pitch. And when the team is playing well, the individuals in the team look like they are playing better.”
Liverpool’s next four matches – Sunderland and West Ham at Anfield and trips to Bournemouth and Middlesbrough – present an ideal opportunity for Klopp and Clyne to convince us all of his team’s defensive qualities. And for Coutinho to demonstrate just how much damage he can cause given his freedom to roam.
