Everton produced a fantastic performance in which Fellaini was unplayable in the postion behind the striker Jelavic
Heres the fantasy premier league immediate reaction
Evertons back 4 lined up as predicted with the 2 £5.5m defenders beng Hibbert and Distin. Both were excellent and Heitinga must be fearful of getting back in. Fantasy premier league managers can now pick either of the 2 with a lot more security. Phil Neville played in the ef mid position instead of Heitinga as I predicted and Gibson filled the other CM position with Osman and Pienaar on the flanks. Fellaini played behind Jelavic in 4-4-1-1
Against my prediction United played 2 midfielders in defence with Valencia at RB and Carrick a CB wth Vidic and Evra making up the rest of the back 4. The 3 midfielders were Cleverley in the Carrick vacated position with Scholes and Kagawa and up top were Nani Rooney and Welbeck. RVP was left on the bench.
Although Utd had a lot of early possession Everton came in to the game especially in the 2nd half. For Everton Fellaini was an absolute menace although it was primarily as a provider with Osman and Pienaar benefiting rather than Jelavic who didn’t really have much of a sniff. The goal resulted unsurprisingly from a header from a Gibson corner and he missed nothing in the air the whole game. Osman and Pienaaar were also impressive. Gibson and Neville offered no goal threat. Fellaini offers a real alternative to Osman and Pienaar. He’s the same price as the other 2 at £6.5m. For me I have a lot of faith in the other 2 alternatives and I would like to see Fellaini consistently play in this position behind Jelavic in the next couple of games before I would consider ditching Pienaar or ignoring Osman as an alternative. Its possible he could revert to Gibsons position and Naismith plays behind Jelavic or the new Belgian striker plays in a 2 up top.
For Utd the Kagawa was excellent and his role was defined quite neatly swapping positions with Rooney and consistently being the most forward midfielder. The Carrick Scholes pairing still remains the barrier to consistent game time to him though especially now with RVP and Rooney effectively forcing SAF to play 4-4-2 but there is no doubt that if this conundrum were removed he would be a real asset at £8.5m in fantasy premier league.
Nani was disapointing which gives further prospects of game time to Valencia and Young assuming Rafael returns to RB.
RVP came on for about 25 minutes but the tide had turned at this stage and he didnt get a shot on goal. Its hard to establish a pattern in that time and in that game and cirumstance but it seems he will play further up than Rooney and Kagawa and Rooney will swap positions to find space.
Utd have coming up 3 easyish games with Fulham H Southampton A and Wigan H. In the 2 home games Utd will be the best captaincy option and picking the right Utd player is essential. To me at this stage that has to be Rooney not because of form or position but because RVP with a limited pre-season can not be guaranteed to start. Kagawa would be the next best option but a risky one because of game time and a big decision based on one performance. If I feel I could be guaranteed that RVP were going to play I may go for him instead but its a close call. I personally don’t like taking risks with the captaincy armband especially if there is a game time question and especially as SAF uses people rotated as late subs to make matters worse.
Hope a few fantasy premier league managers had someone in the Everton defence at least tonight.
