Say What? – Gameweek 7

Gameweek 7 concludes in the form of our weekly regular, Say What?, ahead of the upcoming international matches. This week, Danny Welbeck, Yaya Toure, Nacer Chadli and Branislav Ivanovic talk goals, Manuel Pellegrini, Steve Bruce and Alan Irvine explore defensive changes and Brendan Rodgers has a few words on the form of his English midfield duo, Steven Gerrard and Jordan Henderson.

Since arriving at Arsenal, Danny Welbeck has been earning rave reviews, with a couple of his goals even drawing comparisons with legendary Gunner Thierry Henry. The England international confirmed his credentials with a Champions League hat-trick ahead of the trip to Stamford Bridge at the weekend and, despite a blank at the Bridge, has seen his stock rocket to over 16% ownership in Fantasy Premier League (FPL). Arsenal welcome Hull City to the Emirates in Gameweek 8, kicking off some favourable-looking fixtures (sun, BUR, swa, MUN, wba) and Fantasy owners looking to capitalise will be encouraged by Welbeck’s growing confidence.

“If you’re getting goals and getting a run of games in your preferred position, your confidence is going to grow and performances are going to grow as well… When I’m playing with these sorts of players (Arsenal’s creative midfielders), they are looking to slip the ball in behind. I am always ready for that, looking to make the movement right and get in behind the defenders. Nobody can really criticise my finishing because they don’t really see me playing in a forward position too often. Obviously people can say I’ve not scored enough goals, but you stick the best strikers on the wing in a four-man midfield and see if they score goals.”

With four goals and an assist in the opening seven Gameweeks, Tottenham’s Nacer Chadli has been transformed by Mauricio Pochettino’s arrival at the Lane. The Belgian previously produced a goal and three assists over the entirety of his debut year but now sits third in the FPL midfield standings on 42 points – available for a very kind 6.3 price tag, Chadli credits his new manager’s change in tactics as the main reason behind his turnaround:

“The new coach has a different way of training and that pleases me. Also my role in the system suits me. Either I play as a second striker, in support of [Emmanuel] Adebayor, or on the flank. I find that I have become more efficient. The coach asks me to move into channels. That’s the reason why I’m coming more into shooting positions. We have already played 4-4-2, with me as a second striker, and a 4-3-3, as a left-winger.”

Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic has also been discussing his attacking displays over the season so far. The right-back’s two goals and an assist is just a single strike less than his tally for 2013/14 and, although the Serbian acknowledges that helping his side rack up clean sheets is his bread and butter, he also reckons that his surges down the flank can, at times, negate the attacking impact of opposition wingers.

“Well, when I was really young, until 14 or 15, I used to play striker. However, I just try to get into the right positions, focus and not complicate things a lot. I think, when you are a defender and you are in that position, you don’t even have time to complicate things – you don’t have time to think about it. The guys who are playing in front of us, they have more of these situations, so they are more experienced, but as a defender going forward, I just try to hit the target and, if you hit the ball well and it’s going on target, there is a good chance of scoring a goal….Sometimes you can show the winger that you want to attack, that you know how to attack, so they have to focus on the defensive side of their game. This can help the team by taking their winger out of position, taking him so far away from your goal that they cannot hurt you. However, this is another thing that depends on the opponent and the situation of the game, so I’m happy to go forward when I can, but I’m still focused on the defensive things first.”

At the other end of the pitch, Hull City’s defence was busy creating headlines of their own. Manchester City plundered four at the KC in Gameweek 6, taking the Tigers’ tally to 10 goals conceded in four matches ahead of last weekend’s win at home to Crystal Palace. Steve Bruce returned to a 3-5-2 and was clearly delighted with its immediate impact…

“The defending was a bit more like us and we defended as though we meant it. We’ve spoken all week about how we had success in the Championship and last season with the system we played on Saturday (3-5-2). We’ve gone back to it and we were a bit more like it. It’s very pleasing when it works. In my eyes, we thoroughly deserved the three points.”

Not only was there a clean sheet to celebrate at the KC, Hull’s defensive U-turn also provided a stage for young Andy Robertson to shine. Shifted to the left wing-back berth, the defender served up a 12-point haul in FPL, adding his first assist of the campaign and maximum bonus to the clean sheet. Robertson has now started all of Hull’s Premier League matches this season and Bruce clearly has high hopes for his starlet, but with trips to Arsenal and Liverpool in their next two, few Fantasy managers will be rushing to snap up the talented 4.5-priced (FPL) man.

“I have to be honest and say he’s totally and utterly shocked me with his ability to step in. For 20 years old and playing at the highest level, he’s going to have a big, big future. We’ll make sure we keep his feet on the ground because he’s a fantastic talent. He’s a humble lad who just wants to play football and that’s quite refreshing these days. He’s been terrific. If he keeps improving, which he will, he’ll fill out and get bigger and quicker. He’s as quick as I’ve seen any full-back. He’ll only get better.”

Prior to the weekend victory at Villa Park, Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini explored the notion of a first-choice central defensive pairing, with Eliaquim Mangala’s form under the spotlight. Pellegrini turned to Martin Demichelis for the Champions League tie against Roma, yet Mangala retained his domestic starting berth for the trip to Aston Villa and the France international rewarded his manager’s faith with a clean sheet. City have now embarked on an enticing run of fixtures that stretches as far as Gameweek 22 before they face one of last season’s top four, but buying into the Citizens’ backline still seems somewhat a lottery beyond captain Vincent Kompany, with Pellegrini going on to say:

“We bought Mangala for an important amount of money because we thought that we needed a centre-back, but I’m very happy with the performance of Martin [Demichelis] and Vincent Kompany, also. Mangala was not out because he made a mistake against Hull on Saturday. Of course players not in a good [form] cannot play, but it’s important to make a good rotation, it’s important to decide tactical things. For that game I decided that it was better to play Demichelis, who was also playing very well. It was not linked with what happened against Hull and I think he [Mangala] will be a very good defender for us during the whole year.”

With last season’s FPL heroics looking far behind him, the game’s highest priced midfielder, Yaya Toure, saw ownership figures tumble with well in excess of 300,000 managers jumping ship for the likes of Angel Di Maria and Cesc Fabregas following meagre returns of just eight points from five appearances going into Gameweek 7. The Ivorian produced a goal and three bonus points in the win at Villa Park and used the opportunity to hit back at criticism of his strike rate.

“Sometimes people are forgetting I am a midfielder. My job is not to score all the goals. My job is to try to keep the team playing well, give the good pass. If I get the opportunity to score it is fantastic. Last year was quite open for me, I was in good positions, but I was quite lucky because I was getting free kicks and some penalties as well. Now the criticism is coming because I am not scoring but, for me, to not score is normal because I am midfielder.”

Liverpool’s post-Luis Suarez malaise was at least temporarily halted with the 2-1 home win against West Brom and the game’s star performer, Jordan Henderson, came in for some praise from manager Brendan Rodgers after the 6.0-priced midfielder (FPL) walked away with three bonus points, a goal and an assist:

“We flipped the midfield triangle about and played with Stevie controlling and Jordan just in advance of that. It gave him more licence to go into the corridor. He’s the one player in the country that can really dominate a game without the ball due to his running capacity. He has great physicality in the game and today was about trying to get him forward that bit more and encouraging him to go [forward]. He knows his role is to create goals and score goals. I was delighted for him because it’s something we’ve been encouraging him to do – to arrive into the box more. He did that for the two goals, combining on the edge of the box for the first and then getting his finish for the second.”

Rodgers also took a moment to discuss the effect of fielding Steven Gerrard in a more advanced role later in the match. With 15 minutes remaining, Gerrard was shifted to the role in “the hole” as Henderson dropped back to partner Lucas and the skipper made an immediate and noticeable impact on Mario Balotelli’s performance:

“You could see his quality and his ability to combine with Balotelli straight away. Steven is a player who makes the game look simple and Mario knows he is playing with one of the greats of the game. Mario is a guy who needs certain type of passes and Steven is the sort of player who can provide them. He definitely added something to our game in that position, though I feel he has been outstanding in the deeper position too. It was refreshing to see the cleverness and brightness he brought, and that was his third tough game in a week.”

While Balotelli had played his way out of Rodgers’ starting eleven, Andre Wisdom was excluded from West Brom’s match day squad for the trip to Anfield due to Premier League loan conditions and the agreement opened the door for Cristian Gamboa to stake a claim for first team action at the Hawthorns…

“It’s difficult because Andre played in the first few games in the Premier League, but I enjoyed myself on Saturday. I will keep fighting for the spot and hoping I’ve done enough but the coach will have the final say. It’s healthy that we have this battle. It’s good to have someone there fighting with you for the spot. We have good right-backs and the final decision is down to the coach.”

The performance certainly drew encouragement from Alan Irvine. The Baggies’ manager admitted that he now faces a selection headache which is sure to manifest in FPL discomfort with 4.4-valued Gamboa posing a threat to popular budget defender Wisdom, whose ownership has stretched to 12% in FPL.

“It was a really good debut. Cristian has been waiting for his chance and he showed the energy and the enthusiasm that we saw from him in the World Cup. He was a player I was really keen for us to get. We had competition but fortunately he decided this was the best place for him to come. I was hoping he would give me a selection problem and he has done that.”