Another New Year’s Day Scout Notes and another standoff! This time, Liverpool 0-0 Leeds United.
WHY FARKE HAS CALVERT-LEWIN ON THE BENCH
The two ‘form’ forwards of the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) fell short in this deadlock.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.9m) didn’t get much of a chance to extend his goalscoring streak. He had to make do with a 20-minute cameo, with Daniel Farke explaining that decision after full-time.
“Yes, sometimes the head has to beat the heart. We have a period of four games in the Premier League in ten days and I trust my whole group and my whole squad. If I didn’t use the whole squad during that period, I would never use them.”
“And especially for Dominic, we all know what has happened to him in the last two years. I have to take care of him a little bit. It was always the plan and I also expected that the striker here at Liverpool, especially in the beginning, has to work against the ball a lot. Lukas Nmecha did an excellent job and hopefully if Liverpool also get a little more tired, then bring in Dominic and give him some rest as well and maybe he would be there with a winner. I think he has scored a goal.” goal, but was unfortunately disallowed for offside. So the plan was almost done, but overall it was more or less a sign of how much I trust the whole group. – Daniel Farke on Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s bench
Even then, Calvert-Lewin still scored almost eight goals in seven gameweeks. He had the ball in the net in the 81st minute, pounced on a loose ball and finished sharply. Unfortunately, he was offside with one leg.
Well rested and with an unconvincing Manchester United defense next, there will still be a few attractive attackers for Gameweek 20.
EKITIKE’S 50P HEAD
Hugo Ekitike‘s (£9.1m) run of four games without a clean sheet also came to an end, but if you’re one of those managers encouraged by underlying figures then you’ll be comforted by the expected goals involvement (xGI) figures of 1.47 (Opta) and 1.05 (Statsbomb).
Much of that came from a header in the 32nd minute, which Ekitike steered Jeremy Frimpong‘s (£5.7m) cross shot back where it came from, with the target gaping.
Ekitike had a total of four shots and also tested Luke Perry (£4.5 million) at his nearest post. Florian Wirtz (£8.2 million) almost followed in recovery.
And did honesty cost the Frenchman in the first half? Ekitike was being wrestled Jaka Bijol (£3.9m) as he attempted to break through the Leeds defence, admirably staying upright when many would have gone to the ground.
“If he would have fallen, it would probably have been a penalty. But I can understand why he doesn’t go down, because we have made so many mistakes in the 18-metre area this season, when we have been fouled so many times inside the 18-metre area. So maybe as a result of that, our players think: ‘Yes, let’s try to stay on our feet.'” – Arne Slot on Hugo Ekitike
Still some encouraging signals from Ekitike, in an otherwise somewhat flat team performance.
In any case, the Reds didn’t concede much. The one good chance Leeds had, it stood out Ethan Ampadu (£4.9 million), was self-inflicted Alisson‘s (£5.4m) poor fainting spell.
FRIMPONG ‘OOP’
Frimpong was one of Liverpool’s liveliest players as the Reds struggled against Leeds’ low block.
He was ‘out of position’ on the right wing at Anfield Conor Bradley (£5.0m) behind him at right-back.
While Frimpong sporadically offered darts to the right in open play, Virgil van Dijk (£5.9m) came close from a corner, nodded into the ground and went narrowly wide when well placed. That was one of three shots he received Thursday.
A goal continues to elude him: the Dutchman, who has scored an average of three goals per season over the past seven years, has made eleven attempts without success in the past twelve game weeks.
LOCK ON ROTATION + WIRTZ’S HAMSTRING
Will Frimpong be in the starting line-up at Craven Cottage on Sunday? He has already started twice this week and lasted 84 minutes last night.
Cody Agat (£7.3 million), Alexis MacAllister (£6.2 million) and Federico Chiesa (£6.3m) are all options to play in Gameweek 20.
Don’t expect too much rotation, though.
“I’m not so sure if we’ll do that in the next game because if you look at our bench, I think there were four players on the bench who were 19 or younger or players who have hardly had any playing time in the Premier League. All four of them. So yeah, we’ll have to wait and see how they come out of the game.” – Arne Slot about rotation in Gameweek 20
Finally, perhaps also provided some relief for the fact that Wirtz was slightly wrong last night, after some improved performances in recent weeks. It also explains why he was taken off the field after 66 minutes.
“For example, Florian Wirtz has only trained once this week because he felt his hamstring at the beginning of the week. That’s why I didn’t want to take the risk of playing him for too long. With all the games ahead, this is what we have to do and it is the situation we have to accept and find ourselves in.” – Arne Slot
#FPL #notes #Wirtzs #hamstring #CalvertLewin #benched