Fantasy Premier League Blog: Carlos Tevez

Showing posts with label Carlos Tevez. Show all posts

Tevez and Dzeko in hot water with Mancini

Exit stage right.

The news coming out of Manchester City's 0-2 loss to Bayern Munich is explosive. Evidently, Carlos Tevez refused to come on as a substitute. As a result,

Roberto Mancini tells the post-match press conference that Carlos Tevez will "never, never play for City again".

In addition, it's also being reported on Twitter that Dzeko will also be benched.

It won't get as much coverage but Mancini was "furious" with Edin Dzeko too - "he will sit the next game next to me"

This may be the chance for ~~Adebayor~~ Jo ~~Santa Cruz~~ ~~Bellamy~~ Balotelli to grab the starting striker role against Blackburn.

UPDATE: Evidently, Dzeko had a strop when he was substituted.

Mancini also had strong words for striker Edin Dzeko who also reacted poorly at being a sub.

“As for Dzeko, if he plays better next time, then maybe he can stay on the pitch.

“If we want to improve to the level of Bayern Munich, some players need to improve their behaviour.

“Dzeko was unhappy but I should be the one who is unhappy after his performance, not Dzeko.

“This is the last time that any player moves his head from side to side like this when they are substituted. You can feel upset inside but keep it inside.”

Video, after the jump.

UPDATE, Part the Second:

''Manchester City can confirm that striker Carlos Tevez has been suspended until further notice for a maximum period of two weeks,'' read a club statement.

''The player's suspension is pending a full review into his alleged conduct during Tuesday evening's 2-0 defeat to Bayern Munich. The player will not be considered for selection or take part in training whilst the review is under way.''

Click here for Part 1 - a look at the opening week's schedule plus a big announcement.

For a day when nothing concrete really happened, it has been a crazy day. The Tevez/Nasri swap was thrown out there and led to Jeremy's excellent post on other potential swap deals that might make sense for both clubs. I'll throw in a slightly smaller deal into the mix as my contribution to rampant speculation about transfers that will never happen:

Niko Kranjcar for Nik Bendtner
No, there's no way that these two North London rivals would get together and voluntarily do a swap deal but it would make sense. With Nasri and Cesc presumably on their way out, Kranjcar would be a logical short-term replacement for Nasri as a creative midfielder who tends to play a little wider than the average central midfielder but isn't a true wing player either - perfect for Arsenal. Not earth-shattering, but a good fit. Bendtner would be a great fit going back in the other direction. He may be a jack@ss but even in part-time duty, he's been more productive than either of Spurs' "big" forwards Crouch and Pav. Throw in the fact that Bendtner is young, has upside, and that his aristocratic wife could more than hold her own socially with Sylvie van der Vaart at team functions and you have the makings of a great swap that will never happen. As a Gooner, it would be a lot of fun getting to root against Bendtner for the next 5 years too.

Back to the swap deal that may come to fruition, I'm not sure how I feel about it. Here are some quick thoughts on the pros and cons of the deal if it has been correctly reported:

Pros

In Tevez, Arsenal get a playing asset rather than cash that they generally don't spend much of.
They get that asset in return for an expiring asset in Nasri who was, by all reports, going to leave for free next summer.
Tevez is really good.
If they were going to sell Nasri to a Premier League rival, I'm much happier with it being City (who really don't need him and for whom I don't see him as a huge upgrade on what they've got) instead of United where he'd fill a more pronounced gap. I'd rather offload him to Italy, Spain or Russia but if it had to be England, this is the best possible situation.
Getting the want-away elements out of the Arsenal dressing room can be nothing but a positive despite the talents of the players involved, it has clearly created an environment that the players can't overcome and overall negative momentum for the team.
Maybe this gets Arsenal out of the "we'll never buy a great player at his peak" mentality (the first evidence of Stan Kroenke's influence as owner? You could never see Wenger signing up for this entirely voluntarily could you?)
Did I mention that Tevez is really good?

Cons

Tevez never really seems to be happy so it seems highly likely that we'll be right back here in this spot next summer with Tevez agitating for a move elsewhere "to see his children". We'll call that Summer of Cesc, Part IV: The Tevez Drama when it inevitably happens.
As Jeremy accurately pointed out, it isn't clear how RvP and Tevez might work together given that Arsenal have been favoring what is essentially a 4-3-3 with RvP playing the only role I can see Tevez occupying which is the central #9 figure.
If the presence of RvP and Tevez dictates a move towards more of a 4-4-2 formation then what becomes of Gervinho who looks perfectly suited to one of the roles supporting the #9?
Assuming Cesc goes as well, have Arsenal lost too much creativity while replacing that creativity with big attacking names that are less creative and more goal-scorers? That's a big burden to put on Wilshere, Ramsey and someone who might be purchased either now or in January.

OK, enough speculation on random things and on to the main event, our first week's worth of player recommendations for the Yahoo! fantasy game. Keep in mind that the Spurs match has been postponed due to the riots but that the rest of them are likely to come off as scheduled.

Quick Reminder, Real Life

This was the season when all of the money invested started to pay off in a big way. Lots of shiny new objects came into the squad with the corresponding spare parts mostly going out on loan. Some of them fit - Yaya Toure, David Silva - while some of them didn’t - Jerome Boateng - and the jury is still out on others - Edin Dzeko, Mario Balotelli, and Aleksander Kolarov. Still, at the end of the day, the money produced results in the form of an FA Cup trophy and an invitation to Europe’s biggest dance, the Champions League, for the upcoming season. Can’t really argue with that... unless you are turned off by teams just buying big names like the real world were just a big game of fantasy football.

Quick Reminder, Fantasy

Given their results on the pitch, you’d think that there would be more fantasy success around this group but that’s just not the way it turned out. The size of the squad and the frequent rotation between very good and pretty good players kept fantasy output low. The unquestioned fantasy studs were Joe Hart and Carlos Tevez with Kompany and Kolarov putting up solid numbers as well. Beyond that, players like YToure and Silva were much more productive on the real pitch than the virtual one.

Summer Changes

One of the longest running transfer sagas of the last few years is finally over. Sergio "Kun" Aguero is officially a Manchester City player as of today. How does "son-in-law-of-Maradona" fit into the Citeh squad and more importantly your fantasy team? Here's the rundown:

One Carlos Tevez (and two goals) forced a barn door re-think on my part. That's not entirely true. Your comments and a viewing of the Premier League Review Show also "helped".

I had to grab Carlito. I'm not convinced he'll play at Bolton, but I wanted the option. So out went Ba and Hennessey with Carson coming in as an enabling keeper. Krul and Mignolet are also (bad) options at the price.

In the defence, a lot of questions were being asked about Onuoha. And rightly so. The better pick there would be Bardsley, who has been surprising good this season. But the real pick for me is Blackburn's Martin Olsson. He's been great in a midfield role for Rovers over the last month and I expect he'll be value for money at 10. Gibbs is a relatively cheap ticket into Arsenal, who must win on Sunday. I'm not sure his status or Clichy's health. If it doesn't look like he'll play, or if I want money to upgrade the keeper position Gibbs is likely to be gutted.

How is your final XI shaping up?

Manchester City Team News

UPDATE: Never mind. Full strength ahead for City, and that doesn't include Kolarov or Dzeko.

Team: Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Zaba, de Jong, Toure, Milner, A Johnson, D Silva, Tevezless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyManchester City FC
MCFC

Word is breaking on the Twitter machine.

#mcfc team news for tomorrow. balotelli out with knee, tevez bench. Silva big doubt, knee.less than a minute ago via Twitter for iPad Favorite Retweet ReplyIan Ladyman
Ian_Ladyman_DM

So seemingly we'll get a start for Dzeko with AJohnson and possibly Kolarov in support. What's interesting for "next" week is the further suggestion that Tevez is being rested for the trip to Bolton.

@gideonmradivan yes. Saved for bolton after his shift at wembley.less than a minute ago via Twitter for iPad Favorite Retweet ReplyIan Ladyman
Ian_Ladyman_DM

Bolton... the club that has shipped four to Blackpool, two to Sunderland (of no strikers fame), one to Rovers (might as well not have any strikers), and three to Fulham in their last four matches. Tevez still commands top-tier money north of 17, but maybe it's worth an investment. He'd certainly be a differential if you're looking to stand-out from the crowd.

Tevez hands in transfer request

http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=1350615.html

"I can confirm I have handed a transfer request to the chairman of Manchester City Football Club," said the 26-year-old. "Now I need to clear my head and think because this is an important part of my career. My feelings have not changed and it is regrettable that we have reached this situation. But it is something I have felt for some time and have spent many hours thinking this through."

So Tevez hands in a transfer request, which is rejected. But he states that he needs time to think (now?) and it doesn't seem as if he will be available next week when City host Everton. I know we are all feeling a bit burned after Balotelli's -2 yesterday. But what if his early tap-in had rolled into the net instead of across the face? How different would it all have been? It will be very hard - for me at least - to stay away from him at just over 6.

Though Defoe at 10, at Blackpool, may be too tempting as well alongside Torres and Rooney.

And of course, this isn't the first time Tevez have been involved in some unseemly dealings.

Eyeing the Schedule

Football - Premier League - Standing - Home - 2010-2011 - Day 12 - Yahoo! Eurosport

Holding Drogba, but enticed by the match-up that Tevez has as well as his cheaper price tag. So a quick look at the tables.

BRM and SUN are about the same on the road, though BRM just a bit more likely to concede and score.

SUN 5 for/10 against
BRM 8 for/12 against

But CHE is absolutely clinical at home, while MAC's cautious approach isn't just away from Eastlands.

CHE are 17 for/0 against at home
MAC only 7 for/5 against at home

So on that, I think it's worth it to keep Drogba and look for enabling players elsewhere - especially at goalkeeper.

Injured Carlos Tevez flies home

Injured Carlos Tevez flies home, Manchester derby doubt - Barclays Premier League - ESPN Soccernet

Tevez is all but certain to miss City's upcoming Premier League matches against Wolves and West Brom...

Now we know. And knowing is half the battle.

The other half is figuring out if K2 or Balotelli get the playing time. [My guess - Balotelli scores the winner after coming on for the ineffectual K2, who starts.]

And the other half is figuring out whom to gut to afford/place them.

I hate the Interwebs

Express.co.uk - Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | Sport | Football

Carlos Tevez will be rested either tomorrow or in the Europa League on Thursday after he complained of being exhausted.

Really? Now I have to wonder if this is true, and if so why would they rest him for the League game? Maybe he's not even back from Argentina yet. Who knows? Have you seen Tevez?

If Drogba weren't ill - he'll only miss one game - this would be an issue. And maybe it shouldn't be. Should I just suck it up and take the goose egg for the week? On the other hand, I'm trailing and need to make up ground. But at what cost temporary advancement?

ARGH! Bad place. Stepping away from the internet for a bit.

Tevez furious with Mancini's negative tactics

Carlos Tevez furious with Roberto Mancini's negative tactics at City | Football | The Guardian

Carlos Tevez's volatile relationship with Roberto Mancini has descended into open hostility after a furious row between the Manchester City manager and captain at half-time of Sunday's 2-1 defeat of Newcastle United.

The argument began when Mancini overheard Tevez making a derogatory comment in Spanish and challenged him about it. The argument quick escalated while other team-mates watched in silence as the two men lost their temper. Tevez blamed Mancini for a poor first-half performance, complaining about his tactics and saying the Italian was getting it wrong by being too negative. Tevez has been playing as the lone attacker in a side featuring three holding midfielders and, despite scoring five times, the striker is believed to be increasingly frustrated about the lack of chances coming his way.

Mancini, who has shown an increasingly tough edge this season, saw it as his authority being undermined and responded aggressively, reminding Tevez that he was under orders to follow team instructions and should not be questioning his manager in such a way.

A bit of pause for those looking to draft Tevez on his own, or as a cheaper alternative to Drogba. Tevez has played, and played well, under Mancini. But is he immune from rotation? Is he going to be available against Blackpool after having been gone on international duty? Argentina play later this week in Japan, and then Tevez is seemingly headed home.

Mancini agreed to Tevez's request to take an extra day off after the international break so that he can visit his daughter who is currently in South America.

This probably tempest in a teapot stuff, but hey... it's the international break and we're looking for anything to keep our interest.

Season Preview: Manchester City

Overall Outlook - So here we go, the big wild card. We'll assume for the sake of this analysis that Milner and Balotelli are in and that Ireland, Robinho, RSC, Jo, Bellamy, and SWP are either out or marginalized to the point of pretty much being out. The first big myth of last season at Eastlands is that the attack was potent while the back line let them down in their quest to rise up to Champions League contender status in their first year of oil money. The reality? Citeh just weren't clutch. Their goals for and goals against numbers were about the same as the rest of the contenders for the final 2 Champions League spots the difference was the 13 draws. If they can find a way to convert even a few of those to wins, then Arsenal and Spurs should be rightfully frightened as they look to challenge their 3 and 4 spots. The question one has to ask is where Citeh actually improved in the off-season and if bringing in a bunch of Premier League newbies who, regardless of their eventual quality, may drop some points as they adapt. I wouldn't bet against them but it's hard to forget Mancini's inability to break through in a meaningful way at Inter until Milan and Juve were eliminated from competition due to the match-fixing scandal. Is he the guy to bring together a fairly random set of talent and reign in all the huge egos? I honestly have no idea but the answer to that question will determine where Citeh end up the season. The good news? There are a lot of new players in Silva, Kolarov, Boateng, Toure, and (maybe) Balotelli who will provide fantasy managers with early season value.

Jeremy Spitzberg: have you put together a "real" team yet?
Jeremy Spitzberg: guess there's no hurry
Neal Thurman: check your text messages
Neal Thurman: :-)
Neal Thurman: EvdS, Boateng, Koscielny, [space for Korolev], MPet, Eth, JCole, DSilva, Chamack, new LIV striker, Roonaldo
Jeremy Spitzberg: why don't you just TELL me what movie you want to see
Neal Thurman: ?
Jeremy Spitzberg: never mind
Jeremy Spitzberg: jcole super cheap?
Jeremy Spitzberg: or you have expectations?
Neal Thurman: 7.06
Neal Thurman: cheap
Jeremy Spitzberg: too bad jovanovic is a striker
Neal Thurman: Riera already out the door, rumors that Maxi will follow - seems like they're making room for JCole - even if his stats are "Yossi-like" that's not terrible at 7
Jeremy Spitzberg: true
Jeremy Spitzberg: we'll see
Jeremy Spitzberg: emerton a middie
Jeremy Spitzberg: starting from the last page and working fwd
Jeremy Spitzberg: in case any bargains jump out at me

So do I ditch Liverpool (@Burnley) and Sunderland (@Hull) and go for the likes of Tevez and K2 (@Arsenal)? They have a double game week next week, but I don't want to get too caught up in that and miss out on points this week. But maybe I won't.

I did, and I'm devestated.

I went from Gerrard/Maxi/Reina to Tevez/Adebayor/Green. And I'm devestated.

Song could return for Manchester City game

...or, The Song Remains the Same for Arsenal.

Alex Song may return for the visit of Manchester City on Saturday evening.

The midfielder, who has missed the last three games with an inflamed cartilage, faces a fitness test on Friday.

The inclusion of the Cameroon international is the only major change possible from the squad that lost at Wigan last Sunday. That is because Andrey Arshavin (calf), Manuel Almunia (wrist) and Denilson (groin) are still out.

“Maybe Song [could be off the injury list],” Wenger told TV Online on Thursday. “He has a test tomorrow and we’ll see. He is a question mark.

“Apart from that, nobody is back. Andrey Arshavin is out. Everyone else - Gallas, Almunia, Denilson - is still out too.”

I'm beginning to think that I took the wrong lesson from Burnley 0 - Manchester City 5. I thought Burnley were done and it was another "Who is playing Derby?" type situation where the bet was to pile in against them. But that really hasn't paid dividends for me. Granted, it hasn't been a bad play. But the better play would have been staying with Citeh. Neal had a bumper return from K2 and Onuoha in their 5-1 thrashing of Birmingham and I didn't do badly with AJ. Now those players are a little more affordable on the back of the 0-1 defeat to local rivals Manchester United. What can Citeh's front four of Tevez, K2, Bellamy and AJ do against the likes of Campbell, Silvestre and Fabianski? They scored four on Arsenal's first team at Eastlands earlier in the season, which gets lost when all we remember is K2 stamp on RvP. (Which reminds me, that should be added to the memorable images of the season, shouldn't it?)

So do I ditch Liverpool (@Burnley) and Sunderland (@Hull) and go for the likes of Tevez and K2 (@Arsenal)? They have a double game week next week, but I don't want to get too caught up in that and miss out on points this week. But maybe I won't.

Monday Morning Manager

I was boarding a plane on Saturday morning and saw the ESPN crawl as I walked by a wall-mounted television. Burnley 0 Man City 4 it read at the time. I spent the next three hours dreaming up scenarios of how many goals of the four Tevez was involved in and what the final scoreline was going to be. I decided that he had probably scored a second consecutive hat-trick. With visions of that dancing in my head, I was disappointed to find out he had only scored one. But following up later I saw the assists, and AJ's contributions as well and was happy with the outcome. Then of course, the points didn't come in on Saturday. Or Sunday. How frustrating! But they're up now and Carlito and AJ both put up ~20 and even Fox brought points to the table - which was far from a sure thing.

Carlito is owned by over 20% of teams. To be honest, I'm surprised that more teams around me - in my private group - didn't have him. Playing Burnley, even at Burnley was nailed on for points. I stayed away from K2 as he's been so inconsistent this season, and after that hat-trick against Wigan, clearly Carlito was the hot hand. Foot, sorry. But I wasn't selling AJ, even after an anonymous few weeks. And I even looked into Viera and Kompany, but didn't pull the trigger on those moves, choosing instead to gamble on Maxi despite his matchup. While that didn't work out for me - Viera with 19 and Kompany with 14 - Maxi earned a respectable 8.5 and came oh-so-close to scoring. As he's cup-tied in Europe, he's sure to be fresh and ready for a flagging Fulham next week.

Speaking of Fulham, congratulations to them again for their European success so far. It's come at the cost of their interest in the Premier League, but they did have the luxury of coming up against Wigan, a team who is trying even less hard at the moment. Wigan's win at Liverpool was a great performance but it seems like they might have over-estimated the worth of that victory. They're not safe from the drop yet and will have to pick up points against Portsmouth, @West Ham and Hull City from their remaining fixtures. That should be possible, but it will be needed because their other two matches are Arsenal and @Chelsea.

I would be remiss if I didn't point out this particular gem from Neal's Week Ahead post:

Hangeland - reasonably priced, good match-up, and hasn't done anything yet going forward this season - I'm saying he's due;

Thankfully for me, Neal's back-line is otherwise set, but he sure got that pick spot on.

One pick that Neal didn't get right was Nasri.

Nasri - see Walcott above, he's been at his best when he's been in Cesc's role so if I were you I'd pick him up now and keep him for the rest of the season as he's likely to see his fortunes rise in his most comfortable position;

At least not yet. It was inexplicable how Wenger left him (and Bendtner, but that's more of a personal gripe because he's in my team so cheaply) out of the starting line-up against Wolves. I didn't go for Nasri because I was afraid that even in the "Cesc role" (Is that like the Makelele role? I mean are we coining the phrase yet? No offense to Fab4, but if we're calling out attacking middies, shouldn't that be the Messi role or the Gourcuff role?) Nasri would still be the guy behind the guy behind the guy scoring the points. Also, I knew that Wolves would be tough opponents (Hi, Chris Jones!) and that they might be more vulnerable to pace, so I went with Walcott in my fantasy team.

All that being said, Nasri's introduction saw Arsenal ratchet up the pressure - and yes, Henry's dismissal after Sicky went down like a little girl didn't help Wolves - and eventually... like virtually the last touch of the game eventually... score and win.

I'm not going to keep Walcott despite his 14 point return. At Spurs is not the same as home to Wolves (no offense, Chris Jones) and Walcott never seems to deliver medium- or long-term in fantasy. Instead I'm selling him and Osman (who was a virtual spectator against West Ham) for the two-match pairing of Etherington and Gera. I'm also going to be thinking about selling Tevez for Torres. But I'm leaning, thanks to a game-in-hand, towards keeping the Argentine.

Where are you on the barn door? Two-gamers? Well-chosen one gamers? Argentinians or Spaniards?

Matchday Open Thread

Mazel tov to Carlos Tevez and family on the birth of their baby girl. That's great news for him personally, and for fantasy managers it means a much more rapid return to Manchester City than was originally planned. He and Craig Bellamy could be available for the Liverpool match but will miss today's match at Stoke.

Two-match hero Matt Etherington - really, is there a player other than Stephen Hunt who steps up their game more in Y!fantasy football double-match weeks? - is out with a knee injury which will sideline him for a few weeks. Perhaps Liam Lawrence becomes a good pick-up for the weekend's trip to Portsmouth?

These multiple match weeks can be so frustrating! Especially in a "week" like this one where you have FA Cup games before or between matches... there is so much can go wrong in terms of injuries, suspensions and squad rotation. Who knew that Martin Petrov would be injured or that Tevez's wife was having a difficult pregnancy? How could you predict that James McCarthy would go out with a hamstring strain or Etherington would do his knee 15minutes into the FA Cup match?

However, persevere we must. As always, consider this your midweek matchday open thread.

Early Doors

Happier times.

We're just weeks into the new year and it's already time for many happy returns.

via Yahoo!UK/Eurosport:

Manchester City forward Carlos Tevez will miss Saturday's Premier League game against Arsenal, manager Mark Hughes has confirmed.

The 25-year-old picked up a knee injury while on international duty with Argentina, but City hope he will ready to face Manchester United the following weekend.

"Our doctor has spoken to the Argentine medical people and the feeling is that he is out for the weekend so he will not play against Arsenal," Hughes told the club website.

"The hope is that he will be okay for the derby, but we will have to determine that when he comes back.

"He is staying with the national squad because he needs acute treatment at the early stage of the injury, which is what he can get now.

"Flying him back quickly might compromise the injury, so he will be back towards the end of the week so we can assess him and hopefully get him ready for the United game."

Robinho, who faced Tevez in Brazil's 3-1 win over Argentina on Saturday, also has a slight knock.

"It's a different situation with Robi," said Hughes. "It's an old injury that he aggravated last year, just above his ankle.

"We are going to get him back as soon as possible, the hope is that he will be an option for the weekend."

For fantasy managers, Tevez to Bellamy is more or less a straight swap as would be Robinho to K2. Otherwise, there's always Tuncay for a buck. ;-)

Also, the Fantasist has a great round-up of Premier League teams' injury status.

Injuries and Suspensions

One in, one out.

Not much new news this morning, the latest being the casualties from yesterday's Europa League matches. Those claimed Andy Johnson and will force Jack Rodwell and Steven Pienaar into the dreaded "late fitness test".

Spurs have lost Gomes for a while and so Cudicini will sit behind their make-shift back line. Presumably King will be back to partner Bassong with Corluka moving to right back and Hutton dropping to the bench.

Rio will be out for a month, but Manchester United have Vidic back. That should solidify the back-line though presumably Brown and O'Shea will be the candidates for center and right back.

Ilunga is a doubt for West Ham meaning a likely start for Spector. N'Zogbia is a doubt for Wigan. Sunderland have questions over Lee Cattermole, Steed Malbranque and Martin Fulop. The latter is interesting if it gives Gordon a chance to claim the number one jersey. Doesn't sound likely, however.

Manchester City have some mixed fitness news after their 1-0 win over Barca midweek. Adebayor, Robinho, and Bridge are slight doubts but Tevez looks good to start against Wolves. Wolves themselves are missing Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, but could have Berra and Doyle back if only from the bench.

Finally, Birmingham's Cameron Jerome turned his ankle. This may give Christian Benitez his first start, but I'm not sold on that as his play has been so limited in games and warm-ups. That being said, he's an interesting pick at home to Stoke for 6.04.

All the gory details at the links below:

Fantasy Premier League Blog

Tevez and Dzeko in hot water with Mancini

The Week Ahead - Never Manage Alone Edition, Part 2: Yahoo Player Recommendations

Season Preview - Manchester City

Kun You Believe It?

Midweek Barn Door Team