Southampton 2 Man U 3
A hat trick for RVP. How could I even have thought of having Rooney in my fantasy premier league team ahead of this guy. An absoulte masterclass of finishing. 10 shots 5 on target. Ridiculous!
Southampton lined up in a 4-3-3 with the defence starting to look predictable with Fox Clyne Hooiveld and Fonte. The 3 midfield were Ward- Prowse Schneiderlin and Smith with lallana and Puncheon flanking Lambert.
Man U started with Lindegaard in goal and I now expect a load of stick for not covering him with a cheap fantasy premier league keeper. The defence was strengthened in theory with Ferdinand coming back but otherwise as per the Fulham game. The midfield had 2 screening midfielders in Cleverly and Carrick with the advanced midfield 3 of Welbeck and Valencia outside of Kagawa with RVP the lone forward. Utd looked terrible and unsettled in defence but as he did with Arsenal RVP carried Utd to a victory when it looked completely unlikely. sould we just give him the armband ala Ronaldo in the old days and just forget about it?
The United defence is looking a concern although you have to think as SAF does that once Vidic and Ferdy are fit then things will tighten up.
In midfield Valencia was the source of chances with their being little or no creativity from the centre. kagawa was quiet and only when Scholes came on as for last year did some sort of momentum and creativity show up. Hes not a fantasy premier league player but hes invaluable to Utd.
Theres no need to say any thing more re RVP. Tevez at home was the logical captain choice but this was some finishing performance
For Southampton Lambert showed that he could be a viable option once the fixtures improve and for the first time Lallana looks a possibilty in an advanced position although Puncheon showed alot of promise as a £4.5m cheapie. Im just assuming that Do Prado will take his place
Newcastle v Villa
Newcastle despite the much vaunted strike force and midfield didnt really score as much as they should have. They had the most possession but shots were even.
Newcastle are at least easy to predict and lined up as you would expect.
The same thing can never be said of lamberts teams and even when norwich were outperforming and brilliant he changed the tam so anything could happen and it did when things arent going well.
Out went Given for Guzan, lichaj replaced baker. Herd was nowhere to be seen Bannan returned and Zzogbia was dropped for Weiman. Is anyone safe apart from Bent? Why did I pick someone from his team?
CB Clark scored underlying the attacking potential I’ve been saying about him on the site. Hopefully someone benefited. Ben Arfa replied with one of the goals of the season but villa showed for the first time some defensive solidity. Ba and Cisse had their chances but it was Ireland who should have won it.
Stay on the site for regular articles over the international break although GW4 cant come soon enough.
