Liverpool: Mignolet, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Flanagan, Henderson, Gerrard, Allen, Sterling, Suarez, Sturridge Subs: Jones, Toure, Sakho, Cissokho, Lucas, Coutinho, Aspas Newcastle: Krul; S.Taylor, Williamson, Coloccini (c), Haidara; Debuchy, Anita, Tiote, Gouffran; Sissoko; Shola Ameobi. Subs: Elliot, Santon, Yanga-Mbiwa, Satka, Dummett, Sammy Ameobi, de Jong https://twitter.com/FantasyYIRMA/statuses/465469912744755200 Another fascinating Premier League campaign draws to […]
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Crystal Palace vs Liverpool : Lineups
May 5
Crystal Palace: Speroni, Mariappa, Dann, Delaney, Ward, Dikgacoi, Jedinak, Ledley, Bolasie, Puncheon, Chamakh. Subs: Hennessey, Gabbidon, Parr, O’Keefe, Ince, Gayle, Murray. Liverpool: Mignolet, Johnson, Flanagan, Skrtel, Sakho, Gerrard, Allen, Lucas, Sterling, Sturridge, Suarez Subs: Jones, Toure, Agger, Coutinho, Aspas, Moses, Cissokho https://twitter.com/FantasyYIRMA/statuses/463263681401610242 Last home performance of the season today for the @Crystals_CPFC at […]
GW35 Preview: Liverpool’s Luis Suarez is facing Norwich. You know what to do.
After the drama of last weekend, Liverpool’s title challenge rolls on to Norfolk this time around, and there’ll be at least one man who’ll be pleased it does.
Luis Suarez (£13.3m) has scored a staggering 11 goals in his last four matches against the Canaries, including hat-tricks on his only previous two visits to Carrow Road and four goals against the same opposition at Anfield in December.
The Uruguayan’s often jaw-dropping goalscoring rate might not be at the same level it has often been at the moment, with just one strike in his last four games, but as the Reds chase what would be a remarkable title success he is certain to be determined to fire them there.
You could argue that Suarez is fortunate to be facing Norwich at all after narrowly escaping a red card against Manchester City, but he could be coming up against them without his strike partner Daniel Sturridge (£10.4m) in tow after the forward limped off in the same game.
At the time of writing the extent of Sturridge’s injury isn’t known, but if he doesn’t play then that will only add extra attacking responsibility to the shoulders of Philippe Coutinho (£8.5m) and Raheem Sterling (£5.7m), but as both have shown in recent weeks they are more than capable of handling the pressure.
One man who definitely won’t be playing for Liverpool is the suspended Jordan Henderson (£6.5m), with his three-game ban for the red card picked up against City now ruling him out for until the final game of the season.
Speaking of City, they can’t be counted out of the title race at all just yet, especially now they’ve got Sergio Aguero (£12.2m) back from injury, a return which has soften the blow of losing the injured Yaya Toure (£10.5m) for a couple of games.
As they showed at Anfield though, the inspiration behind all of their good work at the moment is the brilliant David Silva (£9.9m), a player who has really found his form in the closing weeks of the season and one who should really have a higher Fantasy ownership percentage than 14%.
He’ll be vital as City host West Brom on Monday night in a match they simply have to win to stay in the title race, whilst Chelsea also face a similar must-win (and probably will win) match at home to Sunderland on Saturday.
As usual, the attention is on Chelsea’s forwards ahead of the contest, with that baton now passed to Demba Ba (£7.4m) following his crucial goals against Paris-Saint Germain and Swansea.
Elsewhere, perhaps the game of the weekend sees David Moyes return to Goodison Park with Manchester United, a match which Everton will fancy their chances in as they continue to chase the Champions League.
Young defender John Stones (£4.2m) has kept his place in the team despite the return to fitness of Phil Jagielka, whilst Steven Naismith (£4.7m) continues to make his presence felt upfront. United remain largely friendless in the Fantasy game, although at least Juan Mata (£9.1m) has started to shine.
Cardiff’s latest attempt at climbing out of trouble sees them host Stoke in what is simply a must-win game, and whilst Peter Odemwingie (£5.5m) will fancy getting one over the club he started the season at, the hosts will be looking to Jordon Mutch (£5.0m) to inspire them to a much-needed three points.
Fulham, another club in relegation trouble, may have picked up important points lately through the goals of Hugo Rodallega (£5.0m), but they face a tough visit to a Tottenham side who will be inspired by the recent performances of Christian Eriksen (£6.8m).
Off the Mark: Liverpool’s Brendan Rodgers has to be named Manager of the Year, whatever happens now
The man with a plan is often a difficult man to take to, so engrossed and devoted to his own ideas as to frequently border on arrogance.
When that plan goes wrong the man is often left looking foolish, too obsessed with himself that he can’t see the bigger picture, stuck in a rut, one-dimensional.
It takes great strength, then, to persevere with that plan, to see it through to the end and to both adapt and improve upon it. In the Liverpool renaissance being masterminded by Brendan Rodgers, that is exactly what we are seeing now.
In his first year at Anfield it was easy to mock the Northern Irishman, to bring up quotes from his past when he was a younger coach, more naïve, perhaps covering up for his lack of experience and knowledge in a certain area by spouting a buzz-word or a phrase straight out of a managerial handbook.
When Liverpool were losing home and away to West Brom, at home to Aston Villa, away to Stoke and Southampton, at Oldham in the FA Cup it was easy to quote these words back at Rodgers, to make fun of him and to dress him up as some kind of egotist with a mistaken belief in his own importance. The first four letters of his first name are the same as the first four letters of the surname of a Ricky Gervais character too, and people noticed.
Yet despite all of that, and despite the setbacks which still ensure that really only one of the four transfer windows he’s presided over at Liverpool have been successful ones, look where he is now.
Rodgers has almost certainly guided the Reds to a top four finish this season, something that even the most optimistic of Liverpool supporters only dared to dream of in August, and it could yet get even better than that.
It is right that Rodgers’ side are still only considered as third favourites for the Premier League title behind the enormous strength of Chelsea and Manchester City’s squads and ahead of an Arsenal side who are about to enter some difficult fixtures, but even being there is a staggering enough achievement in itself.
Had you told those same Liverpool fans in August that this is where their team would be, and more importantly that the likes of Jon Flanagan, Raheem Sterling and Jordan Henderson would be playing starring roles within it, then you’d have been laughed out of Merseyside.
Less than a year ago Flanagan’s career seemed to have irreparably stalled. He’d picked up a serious injury and when Liverpool tried to farm him out on loan they were getting the brush off from League One clubs. He came in from the cold to start a match at Arsenal in November and plenty of fans groaned.
Sterling’s rapid rise in the first half of last season, when he was played more out of necessity than anything else, had ground to a halt. He put in an extremely nervy display at right wing-back against Crystal Palace in October and didn’t play again for two months. When he did at Hull he was awful. He’s been utterly fantastic ever since.
Henderson’s transformation has perhaps been the most staggering. From being a big money flop he has evolved to become one of the first names on the teamsheet behind the obvious ones. Actually, he probably is now one of the obvious ones. At Old Trafford on Sunday he bossed the midfield in a 3-0 win. Sterling was playing intelligently in the No. 10 role, Flanagan was tackling anything that moved.
Make no mistake, all of this is down to Rodgers.
The manager himself has had to learn from his mistakes and adapt and improve.
In September he made the bizarre choice to field four recognised centre-backs at home to Southampton and a defeat followed. The three-man defence should have been dispensed with earlier than at half-time in the Arsenal loss in November. Hull away in December was probably the club’s worst display of the season, whilst as recently as Aston Villa at home in January – probably Liverpool’s last bad game – he got his midfield shape wrong and had to bring on Lucas Leiva at half-time.
Yet he’ll have learned from all of that, and it will have made him a better manager.
Whatever happens to Liverpool between now and the middle of May, he deserves to be recognised for that improvement with the Manager of the Year award.
Who knows, it might not be the only trophy he’s seen lifting soon.
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Moyes has to go before more damage is done
It’s staggering that there are people claiming that tonight’s Champions League result against Olympiakos could make-or-break David Moyes’ Manchester United career. What difference should it make?
Even if they scrape through United are destined to lose to the first decent side they come up against, with the thought of what a Bayern Munich or a Barcelona could do to Moyes’ rudderless, confidence-free team barely worth thinking about for the club’s supporters.
Whether it’s now or in the summer Moyes needs to go in order for United to try and re-establish themselves amongst the elite of the modern game, and whatever happens tonight should have no bearing on that.
Hammers worth a punt to nail United
The Manchester United misery goes on, and ensures that this weekend’s trip to West Ham is far from a simple one.
Andy Carroll scored at Stoke last weekend and he is just the type of forward who can make things difficult for the visitors’ dodgy defence.
Off the Mark: In a mad Premier League season, are Liverpool actually the sane ones?
Mad, bad, dangerous to know, an absolute joy to watch. There have been few teams in recent English football history that are quite so compelling as the current Liverpool side.
With most clubs facing 11 remaining matches in the Premier League this season, you’d think that we knew pretty much all there was to know about the teams vying for places at the top end of the table, and for the most part we do.
Chelsea are a winning machine built on Jose Mourinho’s twin foundations of control and intimidation. Arsenal are a tremendously talented bunch that are now being fuelled by the desire to prove the many people who are waiting for them to malfunction wrong. Manchester City can be an unstoppable force when all of the expensively assembled parts are in full working order and put in the right place. The rusty Martin Demichelis occasionally throws a spanner in the works though.
But Liverpool? There is nothing robotic about them.
Take their last three Premier League fixtures, matches which saw the Reds bludgeon the then league leaders to death with four goals in the first 19 minutes, twice come from behind to win at a normally sleepy Fulham with a last minute penalty from their captain, and then contrive to twice throw away a lead before winning what should have been a routine home game 4-3.
Predictable isn’t a word that features in the much-storied Brendan Rodgers coaching manual at the moment, but is that such a bad thing?
In those last three league games, the Reds conceded six goals but scored 12.
All football logic, all the football voices on Twitter, message boards, blogs, the corner of the pub, the middle of the pub, from behind a pundit’s desk are shouting at us to focus on those six goals conceded. On Kolo Toure’s comedic moment at Fulham, on Martin Skrtel’s failure to clear at Craven Cottage, on Simon Mignolet’s uncertainty, on Skrtel wrestling Wilfried Bony to the ground. On Toure at West Brom. We could go on and on.
But how about we look at those 12 goals scored instead?
Skrtel doubling up against Arsenal, Raheem Sterling leaving scorch marks on the Anfield pitch, Philippe Coutinho at a crucial time at Fulham, Steven Gerrard nerveless from the spot, Jordan Henderson all energy and boundless enthusiasm, Daniel Sturridge, Daniel Sturridge, Daniel Sturridge and Daniel Sturridge again.
This is the best attack in the country right now, and this is also the furthest that anyone has got into an article about Liverpool for the last three years before mentioning Luis Suarez.
Rodgers’ decision to move the Uruguayan into a perceptively deeper position in the past few weeks has had the effect that the manager will have wanted it to on Sturridge, Sterling, Coutinho, Henderson and Gerrard, all of whom have scored a Premier League goal more recently than the division’s top scorer.
So with such an imbalance in the qualities of their squad, are Liverpool not right to simply try and blast their way to the league title?
It isn’t a long-term plan, clearly, but until Rodgers either brings in some new defenders, learns how better to coach his current ones or we see rapid development from the promising but injured Mamadou Sakho, then why not just go with it?
Let Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City worry about the serious business of defending, the Reds should just carry on doing what it is they do best.
It’s mad, obviously, but this is a team and a manager who brought on Toure with the score at 3-3 against Swansea in a bid to calm things down. They do mad well.
There should be no pressure on Liverpool to win the league simply because nobody thought it was possible at the start of the season, or at the start of this year, or at the start of this month, or at the start of this article, but if they aim for first they might land fourth or third or second. Any one of those positions would be an outstanding success.
By sticking to their principles the crazy Reds have the best chance of achieving whatever it is they are capable of, and they might even end up proving that it was they who were the sane ones all along.
Ole Goner?
What a mess Cardiff are in. They’re in the wrong kit, with the wrong owner, the wrong manager and in potentially the wrong division soon.
The 4-0 loss at home to Hull last weekend was far worse than anything experienced under Malky Mackay, and whilst Ole Gunnar Solskjaer deserves time and a chance to get things right (although his scouting knowledge seems worryingly limited to Norwegians, ex-Manchester United players and sometimes both), Vincent Tan’s itchy trigger finger doesn’t need much encouragement.
The sooner Tan is out of the club the better, but if you had to bet on whether it would be him or his manager out of the door first then it should be pretty obvious where your money will go.
Tigers to maul Geordies
Everton came within a minute or two of landing our Double Chance bet at Chelsea, but Hull should have no problem making us some money at home to Newcastle this weekend.
Alan Pardew’s side beat Aston Villa but were still unconvincing, and with Nikica Jelavic and Shane Long forming a fine partnership, the 7/5 on the hosts looks a good price.
GW26 Preview: Sturridge is outshining Suarez in Liverpool’s high-scoring team
Feb 10
Selecting your Fantasy team’s captain was a lot easier earlier in the season when Luis Suarez (£13.4m) seemed to be on a one-man mission to get Liverpool into the Champions League. Anyone lucky enough to have selected Suarez as skipper between Liverpool’s visit to Tottenham on Gameweek 14 and their home clash with Cardiff on […]
West Brom vs Liverpool: Lineups and Preview
Feb 2
On the back of a pride-crushing derby defeat, things don’t get any easier for Pepe Mel and West Brom, as they prepare for Liverpool’s visit to the Hawthorns. By @BETFUZE. Albion team v @lfc: Foster, Jones, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell, Yacob, Mulumbu, Gera, Berahino, Vydra, Brunt (c). #wbaliv — West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) February 2, 2014 […]
GW20 Preview: Back Liverpool’s Luis Suarez to bring in the New Year with goals
Dec 30
The chaos of the festive fixture programme is now dying away somewhat, with just the New Year’s Day matches left for Fantasy bosses to get through. Saturday’s resting and rotation of several of the game’s big hitters made it a tough weekend for all, but things should return to normal for the first matchday of […]
Off the Mark: Tottenham trouncing shows it’s time to talk about Liverpool
Dec 18
After Liverpool’s recent 4-1 win over West Ham at Anfield, manager Brendan Rodgers expressed his satisfaction at being “in the title conversation.” Following Sunday’s stunning win at Tottenham that killed off Andre Villas-Boas, they are now the team that everyone is talking about. The Reds delivered a complete performance at White Hart Lane, and whilst […]
GW14 Preview: Liverpool’s Luis Suarez to torture Canaries again
Don’t be alarmed by the headline, this isn’t the story of the latest misdemeanour from a player who has had a chequered history in England, but rather about what he’s going to do to his favourite opponents.
Liverpool’s Luis Suarez (£12.3m) might have struggled along with the rest of his teammates in Sunday’s defeat at Hull City, but that will be meaningless when Norwich City come to Anfield on Wednesday night.
The forward has scored seven goals in his last three matches against the Canaries, and as Chris Hughton’s side come to Merseyside the Uruguayan has scored six goals in the three home league matches he’s played this season.
That kind of form is impossible to ignore ahead of a match which Liverpool will need to win following their weekend setback in Yorkshire, where the absence of Daniel Sturridge was keenly felt.
But with five wins from six Anfield assignments this season, 13 goals in their last three matches against Norwich, 11 strikes in their three most recent home games and Suarez in such form against these opponents, Brendan Rodgers will expect to see his team return to winning ways in the quickest possible time.
The Reds boss might well decide to change things around for the contest, but one constant in his team this season remains Jordan Henderson (£5.9m). The midfielder scored in the 5-0 win over Norwich last season, and has played in every minute of every one of Liverpool’s league games during this one.
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Elsewhere during this midweek programme of fixtures, two of the weekend’s happiest teams will meet at the Emirates Stadium.
With the spectres of Chelsea and Manchester City lurking behind them, Arsenal will expect nothing less than a win as Hull come to North London.
When they’ve got a player such as Aaron Ramsey (£7.4m) in their team though, that victory could well be assured.
It is highly likely that the Welshman will have gone up in price by the time the match at the Emirates kicks off on Wednesday, ensuring that he will have risen by a staggering £2m since the opening weekend of the season. Six in every 10 Fantasy Premier League teams include him, and with his two goals in the victory over former club Cardiff last Saturday it is easy to see why.
Tuesday’s only match is a London derby between Crystal Palace and West Ham at Selhurst Park, where Mohamed Diame (£4.7m) will be seeking to build on his weekend performance and goal against the league’s bottom club.
Further up the table, Manchester City go to West Brom fresh from a 3-0 victory over Swansea that was inspired by two goals from Samir Nasri (£8.1m).
Having been regarded as merely a squad player for much of his time at City, the Frenchman is blossoming under the tutelage of Manuel Pellegrini and the continued absence through injury of David Silva.
It might surprise many to find out that Nasri has figured in every one of City’s league games this season, starting nine of the last 10 after coming off the bench in the first three. After his two strikes against Swansea and a goal in the Champions League last week, he can punish a West Brom side who’ve conceded 10 goals in their last five games.
The game of the week probably comes at Old Trafford, where Manchester United boss David Moyes faces up to Everton for the first time since leaving the club in the summer.
Plenty will dub the contest as a battle between Wayne Rooney (£11.1m) and Romelu Lukaku (£8.0m), but United winger Antonio Valencia (£7.1m) has started the last four in the league and could enjoy himself down the right flank in the absence of the injured Leighton Baines from the Everton side.
Injuries have also affected Swansea recently, and as they welcome an in-form Newcastle to the Liberty Stadium their lack of firepower could be punished against a side who’ll include the in-form Loic Remy (£8.1m) and Yoan Gouffran (£6.3m).
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