Millions of pounds worth of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talent converged on the King Power Stadium on Saturday, but how did key Fantasy targets Liverpool and Manchester City fare?
Our latest Scout Notes article covers the key FPL talking points plus Community Shield goals, assists and line-up information.
LIVERPOOL 3-1 MANCHESTER CITY
- Goals: Alexander-Arnold, Salah pen, Darwin | Alvarez
- Assists: Salah, Darwin, Robertson
outstanding match
Erling Haaland
The sight of Erling Haaland (£11.5m) smashing a six-yard effort against the crossbar in second-half stoppage time was soon accompanied by the inevitable FPL mini-exodus.
Haaland’s ownership had fallen 3% in the four hours since the full day, although that still leaves him on more than one in two Fantasy teams.
“He’s strong. He missed it and he’ll put it in the net again. It happened, it’s football. He had another goal disallowed because the ball was off the line. He’s got that talent and he’ll do it. I’m not worried I don’t even care about that.
“I would be happy if he scored and we won, but we have a long season ahead of us. It’s so intense. It will help us, I’m pretty sure.” – Pep Guardiola on Erling Haaland’s late foul
Useless finishes and whitewash aside, the signs were actually encouraging, despite what you may have read elsewhere.
Haaland’s three shots were a high percentage of chances with a total of 1.59 expected goals (xG), and that was against one of the best defenses in the Premier League. He even found the net with a smart finish, only for play to be stopped because the ball was offside.
Then there were the many unrewarded bending runs behind the backline, in the manner of Jamie Vardy (£9.5m), which required him to be played through balls, the kind of observation of “eye test” which is not captured by Opta’s data. bodies
In any case, it seemed that City had to adapt to him and not the other way around; the usually dead-eyed Kevin De Bruyne (£12.0m) was strangely guilty of not picking him on a couple of occasions.
It may not come as soon as Gameweek 1 (match fitness seems to be an issue, to begin with), so you can understand the temporary loss of faith, but a flurry of goals in 2022/23 seems inevitable.
“I love watching him live. He’s great to watch. His movement is excellent and it’s only a matter of time, especially when City get that sharpness back, going forward. There are goals to come. His movement is incredible.” – Roy Keane
DARWIN NUNEZ
Liverpool’s starting line-up for the Community Shield was fairly easy to predict, with Roberto Firmino (£8.0m) starting in the middle, as he often does in games of this magnitude, but Darwin Nunez’s chances ( £9.0 million) to lead. the line for Liverpool in Week 1 now looks a little better.
His four-goal substitute appearance against RB Leipzig was followed by another game-changing cameo here, with the Uruguayan winning a late penalty which Mohamed Salah (£13.0m) converted earlier to close the victory with a header from close range.
Darwin had more shots than any other Liverpool player on display despite playing just half an hour, with the Uruguayan thwarted in another one-on-one by Ederson (£5.5m).
Although they are different players, there are FPL parallels here with last season’s Diogo Jota (£9.0m) – a concern for minutes and rotation, but the underlying ‘for 90’ stats which threaten to be almost as good as Salah’s.
Klopp may still opt to ease Darwin into the fray even against a defense as suspect as Fulham’s, with his quotes below about ‘impact’, being ‘patient’ and ‘getting better with time’ casting doubt on a start , but it immediately seems more. of a natural fit with Liverpool than what his fellow modeller does at City.
“It was good, it was really good. It’s clear that it will get better with time. We live in a world where everyone is judged at first sight and that’s not good for anyone, but it happens all the time. Today, both teams, we weren’t in the 100% of his physical situation, usual, if you like. But in the first games [of pre-season] we weren’t even close to the level of fitness we are today.
“When he came in we passed every ball because he was chasing it and after the third one he completely killed himself and then everyone judged his first touches and that kind of thing. It’s just a joke but we have to live with it, he he will deal brilliantly, we are patient and we know he can do good things. I liked his impact today; I liked the impact.” – Jurgen Klopp on Darwin Núñez
SALAH AND THE REST
Interestingly, Salah took the Liverpool kick-off despite James Milner (£4.5m) being on the pitch; it seems Milner has had the final say in the past, suggesting the veteran is now increasingly happy to hand the penalty duties to the Egyptian even when they are both on the pitch.
A lively Salah “assisted the assist” for both his penalty and Liverpool’s third goal, and also set up Trent Alexander-Arnold’s equally impressive deflected header (£7.5m).
Luis Diaz (£8.0m) was quieter, as he has been throughout pre-season, so it may still be a bit premature to mention him at the same time as Andrew Robertson (£7.0m pounds) in discussions about Liverpool’s third place in our FPL sides, especially when the cheapest Scot is so prominent in the opposition box – here the left-back not only assisted the attack of Darwin, but also nodded in with a glorious chance of his own from close range.
As for City, Phil Foden (£8.0m) got his first minutes of pre-season as a second-half substitute after missing the US tour. Foden’s lack of action has meant that Riyad Mahrez (£8.0m) and Jack Grealish (£7.0m) have been given the chance to put down a marker for one of the wide roles in the Gameweek 1, but both failed their auditions at the King Power and were snapped up ahead of schedule, with substitutes Foden and debutant Julian Alvarez (£6.5m) set to feature in the tie City.
Joao Cancelo (£7.0m), meanwhile, was placed at left-back, where the consensus seems to be that he looks less effective, although let’s not forget that most of his 11 FPL assists last season came from this same position.
Liverpool XI (4-3-3): Adrian, Alexander-Arnold (Milner 74′), Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho, Henderson (Elliott 74′), Thiago (Keita 84′), Diaz (Carvalho 89′) , Salah (Jones 90′), Firmino (Núñez 59′).
Manchester City XI (4-3-3): Ederson, Walker, Dias, Ake, Cancelo, Rodrigo, De Bruyne (Gundogan 73′), Bernardo, Mahrez (Foden 58′), Grealish (Alvarez 58′), Haaland