How Barcelona can beat Liverpool

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The time has come. Barcelona’s biggest, and potentially most difficult game of the season is upon us.

For the second season in a row, Liverpool have reached the Champions League semifinals, and they are at least Barca’s equal in this two-legged affair.

The Reds have history on their side too, as the Catalans have never beaten them over two legs in European competition. Continue reading

Is it Safe to go without Mohamed Salah in the Premier League Run-in?

After 33 games played, Mohamed Salah was the highest scoring player in the official
Fantasy Premier League game with 216 points. The closest rival to the Liverpool man
was Raheem Sterling on 201. Despite this impressive tally and dominance of the game,
a lot of fantasy managers still see this season as a let-down compared to Salah’s debut
campaign at Anfield. Now, some players are questioning whether it might make more
sense to go without Salah for the remaining fixtures and use the spare funds to
strengthen in other areas. Is this a risky option, or could it make the difference
between winning and losing a mini-league?

There is no Denying the Egyptian’s Explosive Potential

Liverpool still have it all to play for in a title race which is going to go right down to the wire. The Reds need to win all of their remaining games and hope that quadruple-chasing Manchester City slip up at some point. As of the 7th of April, Jürgen Klopp’s men can be backed at 6/4 with Betway, while the Champions can be found at 8/15. For this reason, the Egyptian star is likely to be selected by Klopp in every single game despite the fact that the Merseyside outfit are also competing in the Champions League. Salah managed to bag himself 32 goals and 12 assists in the 2017-18 campaign, which has made his 18 goals and ten assists after 33 games seem like slim pickings this time out. Those figures, however, are still exceptional and are superior to Eden Hazard’s returns in each of his seven seasons at Chelsea.

The main problem with ditching Salah is the player’s potential for explosive returns. He has registered more than ten points in seven matches this season, and scored a hat-trick on one occasion. With Salah still being in 36 percent of all teams, a huge haul could represent major drops in rank for those who don’t have the player in their sides. And for people who still have the triple captain chip in hand, there is the temptation to deploy the tactic for Liverpool’s home game against already relegated Huddersfield Town on the 26th of April. If the tricky speedster hits form before then, a lot of fantasy managers without the player are likely to be hiding behind sofas during that match.

The other side of the Salah argument is the fact that those who hold him have tied up a significant amount of funds in the player. The £13.2 million outlay for the 26-year-old could maybe be put to better use if redistributed in other areas of fantasy teams.

Sadio Mane Represents a Cheaper Alternative

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Because Sadio Mane is a whopping £3.1 million cheaper than his attack partner, a large portion of managers have chosen to opt for the Senegal international instead of Salah in recent weeks. Those who signed the player before gameweek 23 reaped the rewards, as he hit top form and bagged nine goals and one assist in the nine games that followed. This red hot streak makes Mane look like an even better option in the Liverpool attack than Salah at present, but the one downside is the fact that he also has a history of going on dry spells. Between gameweek five and twenty, the player who can be purchased for £10.1 million only registered attacking returns in three games.

Another major option in midfield is Salah’s title rival Raheem Sterling. The England international is already in a high proportion of squads and on current form represents a more attractive asset than the Egyptian. The only problem is City manager Pep Guardiola’s penchant for rotation. Sterling has missed four games this season to rest for important games, and with the Champions League in its final stages he is likely to sit out some of the easier top flight matches to stay fresh for Europe.

With all things considered, those managers who still have Salah should probably hold on to him in case he brings in a big haul. But for people without him, Mane could be the better choice in the Liverpool attack and signing him can free up funds to be used elsewhere.

EPL Game of the Weekend – Southampton vs Liverpool

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When Virgil van Dijk took to the pitch at St. Mary’s on Friday evening, memories came flooding back (both fond and otherwise) of when he would turn out at the venue on a regular basis. This time, however, he was wearing the purple of Liverpool’s away kit – and few would have argued going into the game that the end result would be anything other than an away win. Southampton are not a bad side, but they have really struggled to find their feet for much of the season. Despite improving well under the guidance of Ralph Hasenhüttl, Liverpool are a title-chasing side who cannot afford to slip up as they take on current champions Man City in the final furlong. In the end, what occurred was an absolute cracker, and the second game of the week in a row to feature Jurgen Klopp’s men.

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EPL Weekend Picks – Week 31

vardyWith a reduced run of fixtures in the Premier League this coming weekend owing to FA Cup Sixth Round action, there are only ten teams from which to take this week’s weekend picks. The pick of the upcoming fixtures is arguably Everton hosting Chelsea in the 4.30pm kickoff on Sunday, while Bournemouth host in-form Newcastle on Saturday. Burnley do battle with Leicester and West Ham take on Huddersfield in Saturday’s other games, while Sunday’s earlier game sees Fulham welcome Liverpool to Craven Cottage. Taking all of that into account, let’s adopt a 4-3-3 this time and see which players could be set to work their way into fantasy management consideration.

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EPL Weekend Picks – Week 28

shawThis weekend’s Premier League fixture list promises another round of tension, goals, celebration and despair. Proceedings get underway Saturday lunchtime with the north London derby, Spurs welcoming Arsenal as their guests at Wembley. We also have a relegation clash as Brighton host bottom side Huddersfield, while on Sunday we have a west London derby – Fulham vs Chelsea – and the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park. Manchester City look to continue their bid to retain the Premier League crown when they travel to Bournemouth 24 hours before Liverpool’s trip across Stanley Park, and with both of those fixtures proving potentially slippery for the top two this weekend could well start to shape the landscape as the domestic season rolls on.

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EPL Best XI – Leroy Sane leads the way

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The 13th weekend of the 2018-19 Premier League season saw Manchester City and Liverpool maintain their unbeaten starts, while Chelsea suffered their first defeat of the campaign at the hands of Tottenham. Let’s take a look at the top points scorers from the weekend’s games…

GK: Jonas Lossl, Huddersfield – seven points
Jonas Lossl kept his third clean sheet of the season as Huddersfield won 2-0 away at Wolves on Sunday. The Dane now has 14 points from his last three games.

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Ballon Bore – How the awards have become a laughing stock

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There once was a time when the Ballon d’Or awards really seemed to mean something.

Being the best in the world in the eyes of your peers was a gong worth winning and most of the time there was no real argument as to who the eventual winner was.

Since Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have monopolised the award, however, we’ve seen ridiculous tactical voting and even an unprecedented extension of the voting period in order to allow the Portuguese to win it during the year in which he was well behind the Argentinian at the original cut off point.

The situation has only been made worse with a splintering of the award in the recent past.

Now we have FIFA’s ‘The Best’ as a rival to France Football’s Ballon d’Or, as well as the UEFA Player of the Year.

We’ve seen people crowned as the best in their respective position who’ve then not made the team of the year (Thibaut Courtois), and Mo Salah winning the best goal of the year in the Puskas Award when it was abundantly clear that his strike was nowhere close to the best effort.

Though it was probably a knee-jerk reaction at the time, Jorge Mendes, Ronaldo’s agent, saying that only Real Madrid players win the award, when FIFA’s The Best was given to Luka Modric rather than his client, was telling.

With the greatest of respect, including Karim Benzema on the list of 30 players for this season’s Ballon d’Or is utterly farcical.

The Frenchman has struggled to put the ball in the back of the net for the best part of a year now, and after an initial burst of goals at the start of this campaign, is back to the poor form of 2017/18.

There is literally no reason for him to be on the list other than the fact that he plays for Real Madrid.

Lionel Messi is unlikely to win it this year, after missing out on both the UEFA Team of the Year and FIFA’s The Best, however, out of every candidate, with the possible exceptions of Ronaldo and Antoine Griezmann, the Argentinian deserves it.

Griezmann has already been vocal in saying that the best player has to come from the best team, insinuating that a French World Cup winner has to win. As he’s also won the Europa League and the UEFA Super Cup, there’s a school of thought that would agree with him.

Equally, a third successive Champions League trophy for Real Madrid gives Ronaldo a shout.

However, the Ballon d’Or is an individual award, and no one player has done more than Messi to rightfully stake a claim.

Goals, assists, key passes, completed passes… the No.10 reigns supreme.

Frankly, if the governing bodies can’t or won’t give the award to the players who deserve it the most, what’s the real point of making such a song and dance about them in the first place?!

All it’s doing is alienating the public further and treating them with contempt.

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Liverpool remain a force in the Champions League

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Anyone who thought that Liverpool’s march to Kiev last season was a flash in the pan will be eating their words after their performance against one of the favourites in the competition, Paris Saint-Germain.

A final score of 3-2 doesn’t really tell the whole story because the Reds were on top for long periods. With Anfield in full voice, European nights don’t really come much better than this. Continue reading

EPL Best XI – Mo Salah stars again

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The third weekend of the 2018-19 Premier League season saw Liverpool, Chelsea and Watford continue their winning starts to the new campaign, while Manchester City were held to a 1-1 draw by newly promoted Wolves. But which players stood out to make the EPL Best XI of the Weekend?

GK: Alisson, Liverpool – seven points
With three clean sheets from three matches, Alisson couldn’t have had a better start to life as Liverpool goalkeeper. The Brazilian picked up seven points this weekend, taking his tally for the season to a very impressive 21 points.

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Marcus Rashford has to leave United to further his development

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Whether or not England go on to lift the World Cup title, or go further than the quarter final against Sweden, one thing has become abundantly clear under Gareth Southgate.

His astuteness and nous has seen a number of his young players going out onto the pitch fearless and able to fully express themselves. Not constrained in any way, they’re given the confidence to play their natural game and, where possible, enjoy themselves.

Compare and contrast Marcus Rashford’s demeanour with England to when he’s playing for Manchester United. Continue reading