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 […]
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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.
Liverpool vs Arsenal: LINEUPS and Match Preview
Feb 8
With results elsewhere opening the door for Liverpool to re-ignite their title challenge, Brendan Rodgers’ men have the ultimate opportunity to close the gap on league leaders Arsenal. Lineups to be provided from approx 11.45am Confirmed #LFC team v @Arsenal: Mignolet, Flanagan, Cissokho, Toure, Skrtel, Gerrard, Henderson, Sterling, Coutinho, Suarez, Sturridge — Liverpool FC (@LFC) […]
Off the Mark: REVEALED: The two men who could define Manchester United’s next five years, and David Moyes isn’t one of them
Feb 5
Perhaps the most surprising thing about Manchester United’s 2-1 defeat at Stoke last Saturday was that it wasn’t that surprising. The Potters had already beaten Chelsea at home this season, as well as drawing with Manchester City and only losing out to Liverpool in a mad eight-goal shootout from which they were unfortunate not to […]
Can Liverpool’s Sturridge Stir Captain Debate?? FPL
Jan 18
Guest Post by @RotoZdroik Daniel Sturridge Enters Captain Discussions You can also read the Official FantasyYIRMA.com GW22 Preview HERE Is there even a point in talking about whom to captain anymore? Luis Suarez continues his onslaught on the Premier League with 177 Fantasy Points. That’s 44 more than leading midfielder Eden Hazard and […]
GW22 Preview: Reuniting Liverpool’s deadly SAS could be key to Fantasy Premier League glory
Jan 16
The only surprising thing about the fact that 53.1% of Fantasy bosses now own Liverpool’s Luis Suarez (£13.4m) is that there are 46.9% who don’t. The Uruguayan was at it again at Stoke last weekend, scoring twice as the Reds survived a madcap game in rainy conditions to win 5-3. For the final 25 minutes […]
Off the Mark: Why I’m backing Andy Carroll to lead West Ham to Premier League safety
Jan 15
When the bat signal was finally visible, it was shining over the gloomy skies of the Welsh capital. The silhouette of the hulking, ponytailed figure looked a little different to how we’d remembered it in the past. There was a bushy beard and, dare we admit it, even a few extra pounds, but there was […]
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 […]
Manchester City v Liverpool: Confirmed Lineups
Dec 26
TEAM NEWS: Hart, Zabaleta, Lescott, Kompany (C), Kolarov, Fernandinho, Yaya Toure, Nasri, Silva, Negredo, Navas #cityvliverpool #mcfc — Manchester City (@ManCity) December 26, 2013 SUBS NEWS: Pantilimon, Clichy, Boyata, Garcia, Milner, Dzeko, Nastasic #cityvliverpool #mcfc — Manchester City (@ManCity) December 26, 2013 Confirmed #LFC team news v @MCFC: Mignolet, Cissokho, Skrtel, Sakho, Johnson, Lucas, Allen, […]
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 […]















