So, while we've been gone, Graham Souness has replaced Sir Bobby as captain of the sinking ship in Newcastle. Good luck to him - he's got a team that has 10th place written all over it. A good set of strikers, a strong (albeit tempermental) left wing, above average keeper, and, um, well, hopefully that'll be enough to get them to 10th. If you want to give Sir Bobby a hard time on the way out, it should be about his player acquisition acumen, not his managerial ability. I have my doubts about anyone getting anything out of that back line and midfield. The fact that they were choosing between keeping Gary Speed and getting Nicky Butt in the close season is really frightening. Really, any central midfielder that Sir Alex can afford to let go at this point can't be that great. From a fantasy standpoint, Newcastle players might gain slightly in value as they try to impress the new manager but stay away from anyone on defense (no clean sheets for this bunch). Robert is still a stud from the left and always worth the money unless Newcastle are playing an extremely tight defense (i.e., Chelsea). If you can figure out who will be playing between Shearer, Bellamy & Kluivert any of them would be a reasonable starter as well. Otherwise, stay away from the 'Toon unless they have a double game and they're playing two of the newly promoted sides.
NUFC are unbalanced. They have Butt, Bowyer, Jenas and Dyer fighting for the 2 center middie spots and only Robert, Milner and Ambrose for the wings. They have 2 good fullbacks, but only 3 center-backs of questionable ability - O'Brien, Bramble and Hughes (who is himself a bit of a utility player).
ReplyDeleteYes they have 3 good strikers, but Bellamy is the odd man out (in this case a good thing) leaving Shearer and Kluivert to fight for the role of target man. But Shearer is undroppable, as Gullit and Robson have found out.
Given is a good keeper, but is left with nothing to do but pick the ball out of his net on too many occasions. Last season NUFC were good for a clean sheet at home most chances. This year they have already given up 2 goals at home to Norwich City! And that's with the addition of Nicky Butt who was to cover the back 4.
But NUFC will always attack. And without much competition on the left flank, Robert should continue to be a good fantasy pick. Even if for his ridiculous shots from 35 yrds out. Don't count for much in the real world, but 3 pts is 3pts to a fantasy manager