Here’s a fantasy premier league persective pre-season catch up on a Man Utd, Spurs and West Ham
A League All Stars 1 Man Utd 5
Line up: Lindegaard, Rafael, Ferdinand (Keane 46), Jones, Evra, Zaha, Carrick (Anderson 71), Cleverley, Lingard, Giggs (Van Persie 62), Welbeck (Januzaj 71).
Goals: Lingard 11, 55, Welbeck 34, 71, Van Persie 87.
In pre-season for Man Utd were looking to see if there’s any value in defence and midfield and in particular whether Kagawa will play behind the striker. At £8.0m that could give some Utd coverage for those not wanting to spend the money on RVP. However with Utd’s difficult fixtures it is possible that you could wait to see their line up before deciding if youre not going down the RVP route. At the moment I cant contemplte him not being in the team. No Kagawa on the tour as yet so that rules that out to watch. Only Evans in defence offers any value and he wasn’t involved in this game. With the problems around Young, Nani and Valencia, Zaha is another to watch out for and he played the full 90. At £6.5m if he gets a regular start he’s great value. Worth watching. Welbeck and Lingard stole the show and got 2 goals each with RVP getting the last. I cant see either Welbeck or the young Lingard (who is a 20 year old midfielder who played a few games on loan to Liecester last year) being involved in any regular way.
Tottenham
v Swindon 1-1 Bale
first half
Lloris
Walker Dawson Stewart Naughton
Huddlefro Bentaleb
Bale Sigurdsson Ceballos
Defoe
2nd half
Friedel
Smith Caulker Verts Rose
Parker Carroll
Townsend Siggy Lennon
Obika
alot of no shows and a completely different team each half didnt give any selection assistance or form Bale and Carroll played well by all accounts
v Colchester 0-0
The preseason for Spurs will focus again on value in defence. the line up first half could be the first choice defence. In terms of clean sheets the defence was poor last year but underying shots and big chance stats were good and I’m expecting a much better clean sheet record this year. The ordinary clean sheet stats means there’s value all over the place with Dawson (who started) only being £5.0m in fantasy premier league for example. Rose for some ridiculous reason is a midfielder which is a shame as he may have the march early on BAE and Naughton. The central striking position will also be interesting. If Adebayor leaves as rmoured, Defoe at £8.0m may represent good value up front for those who dont want to spend big on Bale. Both strikers played last night. There are so many midfielders that there has to be some value there. Expect Paulino and Dembele to be nailed on in a double pivot if AVB plays 4-2-3-1. Bale in the 3, but who with him, lennon maybe and one other. Dempsey is now £7.5m and Siggy £7.0m so if either of these nail a place down they are decent alternatives. As for RVP I cant imagine my team without Bale.
No real standout performances in what was a poor result
West Ham
played a number of pre-season games now.
Lets focus on the last game away to German side Mainz where they lost 4-1 as that will give an indication of Big Sams preffered line up.
Starting XI Jass O’Brien (Demel) Reid Tomkins Potts (Rat) Noble Collson(Nolan) Lletget (Diame) Vaz Te (Taylor) Maiga (Lee) Cole (Morrison)
The main defensive value will come from Collins at £4.5m who was given the night off for a wedding? or the LB position but only if Potts or McCartney (both £4.0m)make it which seems very unlikely. It will probably go to O’Brien ruling out value there at £5.5m. Our defensive pre-season will revolve around seeing if Collins looks like he will start.
In the midfield only Nolan is an option really and he looks expensive now at £7.0m. With Carroll doubtful for the start of the season there is value up front its just will they score anything . Vaz Te is £5.5m and Maiga £5.0m. Its possible both could start. While West Ham have the best of any teams opening fixtures according to my fixture ease schedule I just cant see them scoring enough to warrant selection.
Thats it, next time we’ll focus on at least Chelsea.
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