22 Aug 2013
Gameweek 1 - Rapprochement
The new fantasy season is well and truly on as the juggernaut chugged smoothly through to Chelsea’s re-arranged fixture last night. Villa, in fine fettle following their weekend travails at Arsenal, sought to leave the capital having amassed all three points. Chelsea meanwhile, draped in the all-intoxicating euphoria of the Happy One, looked to lay down a marker to the rest of the title contenders. Eden Hazard opened the scoring, his goal-bound effort prodigiously aided by a deflection off of Antonio Luna. Villa replied with a clever effort from main man Christian Benteke to go into half time with honours even. Chelsea took the lead again when a seemingly offside Branislav Ivanovic latched onto a Lampard free kick to head his team ahead. Villa threw the kitchen sink at it and we’re extremely unlucky when referee Kevin Friend failed to award a stonewall penalty after John Terry handled inside his area late on in the piece. So it ended 2-1 to a hugely fortuitous Jose Mourinho, Paul Lambert’s Villa side left to feel greatly aggrieved.
THE LOW DOWN
Chelsea’s (and indeed the season’s) first double game week meant that managers didn’t have to look much further than the Blues XI as regards how they would set their teams up for the new season. In amongst the DGW stakes as well were a buoyant Aston Villa side who were coming off the back of a cracking away victory over Arsenal in the weekend. So the stage was set, gaffers falling over themselves to stock up on both these sides’ assets. First up were Villa who came up against an out of sorts Arsenal reeling from fan unrest over their transfer window inaction. Big Belgian Christian Benteke proved yet again why he is so central to the Villains success as he set about nabbing a brace to cancel out Olivier Giroud’s opener. New boy Antonio Luna set off the alarm bells for the gunners, helping himself to a late goal to seal a brilliant 3-1 win for Paul Lambert’s side.
Further afield, Daniel Sturridge scored the winner for Liverpool as they came up against a sparky Mark Hughes-led Stoke City. Both sides hit the post early on in the piece but it was debutant goalkeeper Simon Mignolet who stole the show at Anfield. A superb penalty double-save and a hard-fought clean sheet were enough to bag the Belgian stopper a brilliant 15 points, fine reward for the gaffers who placed faith in the former Sunderland man. Over to West Ham and it was Joe Cole and Kevin Nolan in amongst the points as they cruised to an opening day win over new boys Cardiff. Everton and Norwich City drew up an entertaining 2-2 draw which saw Toffees full back Seamus Coleman nab maximum points for his managers. Up to Wales for the main course - David Moyes’ Manchester United against Micheal Laudrup’s Swansea. Cue the Robin van Persie show as the Dutchman set about punishing managers who saw fit to do without him, and indeed his two goals (the second of which was an absolute pearler). Danny Welbeck put himself in the fantasy picture as well with a tidy brace. Debutant Wilfried Bony came on late in the piece to nab a late goal, a scant slight on an otherwise perfect 4 goal victory for the defending Champions.
Sunday saw big-spending Tottenham take on promoted Crystal Palace in an entertaining fixture which was ultimately decided by a somewhat fortuitous penalty which was cooly converted by new boy Roberto Soldado. Chelsea next met Hull City at Jose Mourinho-laced Stamford Bridge. Kevin de Bruyne’s inch-perfect through ball found the sprightly Oscar who poked home for 1-0. Frank Lampard atoned for a missed penalty with a glorious free kick. All those hoping Chelsea would go on to rack up a cricket score would have been left disappointed as the tie ended 2-0 to the Blues.
Monday night football had Manchester City hosting Newcastle United. Newcastle were without the unsettled Yohan Cabaye (who had earlier in the day been the subject of a bid from Arsenal). City looked sharp and incisive as they pieced the Magpies apart, David Silva helping himself to an early goal before Kun Aguero made it two. A Steven Taylor sending-off only served to exacerbate an exasperating evening for manager Alan Pardew. The second half saw Yaya Toure curl in a sumptous free kick and Samir Nasri steal in to make it 4-0, a superb start to life at the Etihad for new gaffer Manuel Pellegrini.
TALKING POINTS
The question of whether or not to have Robin van Persie in amongst our squads was always bound to come up as the season wore on. While many schools of thought exist over this most chewy bone of contention, one angle stands out for me. The age-old price vs value debate. While his fantasy pedigree is undoubtedly beyond question, is forking out 14 million pounds for a single asset (particularly with the market being as inflated as it is already) folly or sensible? It’s easy to see why many are going the RvP + consolidating the midfield/defence with cheapies… van Persie, last season’s top points scorer, was outstanding against Swansea as well as being a nailed on starter for United. This however does not mean that value is not to be found elsewhere. Roberto Soldado, Christian Benteke, Daniel Sturridge, Edin Dzeko all reperesent a smattering of attacking gems all going below the premium 9 million pound mark. The mid-range bracket also presents great value with the likes of Rickie Lambert, Ricky van Wolfswinkel, Olivier Giroud and Romelu Lukaku amongst others. While this approach might not provide the security of starts that RvP undoubtedly offers, what it does allow is for managers to spread the cash a bit more evenly around the squad albeit whilst having to contend with the inevitable and unenviable task that is rotation. It remains to be seen how both camps fare as the season rolls on though as Saddam Sadd can attest (his RvP-less side sits pretty atop the leader-board at present), it’s all good going without the flying Dutchman.
I’ll leave you to chew on that.
- denniskig at 20:02