5 Talking Points from Week 3

So what happened during the weekend...

1. Manchester City rolls on, but how do you cash in?

City took a while to overcome a very resilient and ultimately unfortunate Everton, but Aguero and Silva were not involved in the 2-0 win on Merseyside this time, as Nasri and Kolarov took the honours. It does raise the typical problem of when a team is performing all around the park, who do you depend on to get the goals? So far the goal-scorers have been Aguero, Kompany, Fernandinho, Silva, Toure, Kolarov and now Nasri.

Most people will have Aguero in regardless, it becomes a question of should he get the captaincy? This week it was a no, but the Chelsea match caused many to jump in.

Tip: Sterling to score in the next match. You heard it here first.

  

2. Chelsea’s ups and downs

He wasn’t available for the Stadium Astro in time, but I can see half of us constantly refreshing our screens during the week in hopes that he gets added in by this weekend. Pedro, making light of Chelsea’s poor record against Pulis, scored and assisted one and inspired Chelsea to victory.  However, Chelsea’s defensive frailties are starting to look ominous, those with Courtois might want to look elsewhere for now, even if he did save a penalty. Terry out might also impact on their defensive organisation.

3. What is wrong with Manchester United?

Once again they kept a CS, but this time they failed to score at all. Admittedly Rooney was unlucky, but seriously they seem to lack leadership on the field, someone to spur them on to victory. Then you have the other issues, Pedro getting hijacked, the De Gea problem, etc.  Meanwhile, Darmian’s becoming a yellow card magnet, making it hard for me to keep him in this game. After this match I would stay clear of their attack until they figure out what they need to fix. Apologies for recommending them for last weekend.

4. Euro disappointment

Of the 3 I mentioned last Friday, Messi missed a penalty, Ronaldo blanked, fortunately Lewandowski scored. Higuain may have grabbed an assist though (Frustratingly I am not able to access Euro players to see their points unless I still have a useable code, which I won’t until the September cut off). Juventus and Napoli lost making Euro somewhat of a damper. Two more weeks before we can look at changing who you currently have though. 

Barca and Real Madrid drew clean sheets, but realistically is that what you want from those two teams for this game? I didn’t think so.

5. Sunderland and Bournemouth get off the mark

If you picked Gomis, well done you, but that was about it as Swansea were not able to find their way through Sunderland’s defense. Whether this could be a turn in fortune for Sunderland is anyone’s guess, but I can see myself continue to pick players against Sunderland for now. They're still bottom of the table by the way.

East London saw a goalfest and made me wonder whether West Ham are the current whipping boys, with Adrian out and the back line showing no sense of organisation. I had to choose between Ritchie and Wilson to keep in my starting lineup, but sadly chose the wrong one. Bournemouth have a nice run of fixtures so their players are worth considering investment.

That's it! Good luck for those with players tonight. I have Firmino and Sanchez.