Fantasy Football - Defenders

Mr Moon

All talk about Defenders to be kept in this thread.

Special Agent Oso

I was going through the Fantasy Football section on the Football365 site and i saw a couple of defenders that might be worth a shout:Southamptons Daniel Fox is valued at 4.5m and got himself 10 assists and 18 clean sheets in the championship last year and Readings Alex Pearce got 5 goals and 20 clean sheets in the championship last year, could be another option incase Harte and Shorey do get rotated and he is also valued at 4.5m. I know both players have been mentions in other threads before but thought they were worth a wee refresh

dahat

This new lad Ramis Wigan have signed seems to be a goal threat too,4.5 also.......

OneColdHand

I see Vlaar is in for Villa for 5.0m. If someone has Clark, and has 0.5m lying around (not likely, I know!), I'd consider upgrading to Vlaar. Guaranteed starter even when Dunne comes back. It will be Vlaar + Dunne/Clark, so while Clark is a good bet while Dunne is out, he might not be a guaranteed starter all season.

Darkglasses

Robert Huth has suspected meningitis, obviously a doubt for the start of the season.

Paully D

I usually play 3 at the back for the vast majority of gameweeks.

I'm thinking about whether to load up on relatively cheap defenders that have a decent amount of potential for clean sheets (Cuellar, Shawcross etc) or go for a couple of fairly expensive options that are playing for teams that should be up there at the top for clean sheets come the end of the season.

The most attractive looking player here for me is Lescott at £6.5m. He'll start every week, is a goal scoring danger from set pieces and plays for a team who will easily be in the top 2 or 3 for clean sheets. He's £1.0m cheaper than Kompany and those two are the only guaranteed starters in City's back four.

The other one that catches my eye is Ashley Cole. He's the same price as Lescott, has a pretty nice first 7 out of 10 fixtures, always chips in with around 7 assists a season and should be improved on the 9 clean sheets Chelsea kept last season. The only thing to note is they have no match in gameweek 3 but that shouldn't be too much of a problem, especially as they have the DGW in week 1.

With two top end defenders in the side I look at the bargain players now to fill up the other 3 slots. I generally don't mind having 2 players who can rotate here and one that will be on the bench for the vast majority of weeks. I currently have Jenkinson for GW 1 against Sunderland and my plan is to transfer him to Cuellar after that as Sunderland have some nice fixtures and Arsenal go on a tough run early on. Sunderland will be solid this season especially at home so Cuellar is a good option and virtually guaranteed starter at £4.5m. West Ham have a great start on paper so I'll get one of their £4.0m defenders in, just need to establish which one will start now because there will be at least one. They rotate perfectly home and away with Sunderland for the first 10 games and both O'Neill and Allardyce like to keep things tight so this will hopefully work well. Clyne fills up my back four, he'll rarely start for me and won't keep many clean sheets, but he should get forward a lot for Southampton and may pick up a few assists over the course of the season.

So, with De Gea as my goalkeeper my starting defence will look like this most weeks:

De Gea

Cole Lescott Cuellar/Starting West Ham Defender

I'm pretty happy with that. Coverage from 3 of the teams expected to challenge at the top and thus keep plenty of clean sheets, along with a rotating option from two teams whose managers like to keep things tight.

carlcon

de Gea, Cole, and Lescott are definitely looking like the best 3 pricey players to start with at the back.

Personally, while I do expect more from Chelsea this season, I'll be dropping Cole for someone cheaper after a couple of weeks. With the uncertainty with United's 42 attacking players, I think I want to bring in a 2nd United player at the back. Rafael will be a sure-thing in my team if he's playing by that time.

With Vidic back, United have the most clean sheet chances in the league, easily.

Paully D

carlcon wrote: »

de Gea, Cole, and Lescott are definitely looking like the best 3 pricey players to start with at the back.

Personally, while I do expect more from Chelsea this season, I'll be dropping Cole for someone cheaper after a couple of weeks. With the uncertainty with United's 42 attacking players, I think I want to bring in a 2nd United player at the back. Rafael will be a sure-thing in my team if he's playing by that time.

With Vidic back, United have the most clean sheet chances in the league, easily.

Might do something similar myself with Cole but if I do I'll look to get some Spurs coverage at the back. They have a great start and once we establish who will start in the centre of defence (Kaboul and Dawson are nicely priced) it will become an option. AVB's high defensive line does worry me though!

The Neon Knight

any opinions on Skrtel v Zabaleta ?
I have 6mill to spend on a defender, pools opening fixtures seem difficult and Zabaleta seems to have featured a lot in Citys warm up games?

LostBoy101

The Neon Knight wrote: »

any opinions on Skrtel v Zabaleta ?
I have 6mill to spend on a defender, pools opening fixtures seem difficult and Zabaleta seems to have featured a lot in Citys warm up games?

Why not consider Lescot as a better option for 6 mil? if you want a City defender.

Sorry, just checked there that he is 6.5 thought he was 6 mil this year. I would consider Coloccinin at a cheap 5.0 and he offers a serious goal threat.

Mr. Incognito

I am going Baines Cole and Ivanovic for first three weeks.

The one of cole and ivanovic out for ferdinand or enrique.

Rotating fabio and stevens.

I think Baines is terrific value at 7.0 with a decent forward line and pienaar to feed.

The Neon Knight

[QUOTE=LostBoy101; I would consider Coloccinin at a cheap 5.0 and he offers a serious goal threat.[/QUOTE]


not so sure about that, 2 goals in 3 premiership seasons and him up for pretty much every set-piece the toon get is hardly prolific.

dahat

The Neon Knight wrote: »

not so sure about that, 2 goals in 3 premiership seasons and him up for pretty much every set-piece the toon get is hardly prolific.

I must say i agree with this,S Taylor is back fit and a far greater threat at set pieces to me,after missing last season he is quite the forgotten man......

The Neon Knight

To be fair Skrtel, Zabeleta and Collocini have more or less the same scoring record in premier league games, but its a serious lottery picking a defender for his goalscoring ability. I just get the feeling Mancini likes the look of Zab this year and may play him a lot more than last season. He offers great assist value with his freekicks but also could be worth a few clean sheet bonii if City stop giving away last minute consolations when winning 5-0.

manual_man

The Neon Knight wrote: »

any opinions on Skrtel v Zabaleta ?
I have 6mill to spend on a defender, pools opening fixtures seem difficult and Zabaleta seems to have featured a lot in Citys warm up games?

skrtel safer bet. but zab could be a points machine. Could. blast Mancini and his absolute-unpredictability when it comes to full-backs

keano_afc

Am I wasting money putting Clichy in my team? He was first choice and playing well towards the ned of last season.

Lemlin

keano_afc wrote: »

Am I wasting money putting Clichy in my team? He was first choice and playing well towards the ned of last season.

Kolarov has been playing on the left in a 3-5-2 system with him and Zabaleta as wingers. Clichy could well feature come the season but he's a rotation risk IMO. City have 4 wing backs (Zabaleta and Richards on the right, Kolarov and Clichy on the left) and Mancini could pick any 2 at any stage.

Therefore I'm steering clear of all four. Even when one gets a run of three or four games, and people think Mancini has decided on his first choice back four, he will annoyingly change his system or who he selects, without any explanation whatsoever. Kompany and to a lesser extent Lescott are the City defenders guaranteed a game, although that may change if Agger signs.

massdebater

Is Ferdinand first choice to partner Vidic or will it be Jevans when both players are fit? I'm considering doubling up on United at the back (I have DDG in goals). I'm thinking 6.0m for Ferdinand and swap him out for Jevans if he's starting ahead of Rio once he's fit. SAF has said Evans won't make it for the start of the season and with Jones after picking up an injury and Rafael not getting a look in in pre season, is Ferdinand the best option for now?

United have only conceded 1 goal in 5 games pre season and had the most amount of clean sheets last year, I really want to get two players into my back line if possible.

Lemlin

massdebater wrote: »

Is Ferdinand first choice to partner Vidic or will it be Jevans when both players are fit? I'm considering doubling up on United at the back (I have DDG in goals). I'm thinking 6.0m for Ferdinand and swap him out for Jevans if he's starting ahead of Rio once he's fit. SAF has said Evans won't make it for the start of the season and with Jones after picking up an injury and Rafael not getting a look in in pre season, is Ferdinand the best option for now?

United have only conceded 1 goal in 5 games pre season and had the most amount of clean sheets last year, I really want to get two players into my back line if possible.

The only United defenders guaranteed a game are Evra and Vidic IMO. Valencia has even been playing right back in pre-season.

I thought it was just a virus Jones had so I'd expect him to be back for the start of the season but I'd be unsure where he'll fit in. Last season I brought Jones in after he played a heap of games in a row only to watch him be dropped for the next game. I quickly transferred him out and learned my lesson about the United defence!

Hogey007

Ferdinand will be first choice to parnter Vidic i.m.o. but may get rested for games like southampton, wigan at home or weeks when united have a tough european game midweek.
If and yes it's a big if, ferdinand was to stay fit all season I'd expect him to play 30-32 premier league matches.

Lemlin

Hogey007 wrote: »

Ferdinand will be first choice to parnter Vidic i.m.o. but may get rested for games like southampton, wigan at home or weeks when united have a tough european game midweek.
If and yes it's a big if, ferdinand was to stay fit all season I'd expect him to play 30-32 premier league matches.

I'd have to disagree. If he plays 25 out of the 38 games, I'd be surprised. Ferdinand is 34 in November. He's not getting any younger and clearly has back problems, which limit him to one game a week.

The last time he played over 30 PL games was 07-08, when he played 35. Since then he has played 24 games, 13 games and 19 games each season. Last year he played 30 but that was only because United had chronic injury problems.

So, in the last five seasons, he has averaged 23 PL games a season.

Fergie has even mentioned a central defensive position for Carrick in the last few weeks. Jones, Smalling and Evans can all play there and are considerably younger than Ferdinand.

Hogey007

Lemlin wrote: »

I'd have to disagree. If he plays 25 out of the 38 games, I'd be surprised. Ferdinand is 34 in November. He's not getting any younger and clearly has back problems, which limit him to one game a week.

The last time he played over 30 PL games was 07-08, when he played 35. Since then he has played 24 games, 13 games and 19 games each season. Last year he played 30 but that was only because United had chronic injury problems.

So, in the last five seasons, he has averaged 23 PL games a season.

Fergie has even mentioned a central defensive position for Carrick in the last few weeks. Jones, Smalling and Evans can all play there and are considerably younger than Ferdinand.

but he was injured in those seasons he only played 24 and 13. wasn't he injured towards the start of last season too?
when fully fit vidic and ferdinand will be centre backs. Unless it's a game where ferguson thinks he can win without one of them. that combined with european games (as you said, he can't play 2 in a week) would see a fully fit rio hitting the 30 mark again.
but i'd be surprised if he stayed fully fit all season.

Lemlin

Hogey007 wrote: »

but he was injured in those seasons he only played 24 and 13. wasn't he injured towards the start of last season too?
when fully fit vidic and ferdinand will be centre backs. Unless it's a game where ferguson thinks he can win without one of them. that combined with european games (as you said, he can't play 2 in a week) would see a fully fit rio hitting the 30 mark again.
but i'd be surprised if he stayed fully fit all season.

That's exactly my point though. He is prone to injury so you can never rely on him being available. That, along with the fact that Fergie will be looking at rotating him, mean I don't consider him an option.

Smalling and Jones were bought to be the future of the United defence. Rio IMO is on his last legs. Rotation is more of a risk than ever and I'd feel he wasn't rotated more last season because others weren't available. If all defenders had been fit, Rio and Vidic are first choice, I agree with that and sorry if I wasn't clear enough, but Rio will be rotated more and I disagree that he'll play anywhere near 30 PL games.

He'd be a more viable option if Vidic was still out but he isn't. With Vidic there, Ferdinand's experience isn't as vital.

OneColdHand

Sorry for asking this question, I think it's been asked somewhere before, but I can't find it now.

What are likely Spurs starting CB? Vert, I'm guessing, but who will partner him?

dahat

OneColdHand wrote: »

Sorry for asking this question, I think it's been asked somewhere before, but I can't find it now.

What are likely Spurs starting CB? Vert, I'm guessing, but who will partner him?

I have read though no link that Dawson was made captain after Ledley King retired so im guessing he is the other CB

basillarkin

LostBoy101 wrote: »

Why not consider Lescot as a better option for 6 mil? if you want a City defender.

Sorry, just checked there that he is 6.5 thought he was 6 mil this year. I would consider Coloccinin at a cheap 5.0 and he offers a serious goal threat.

While Colocinnini is a threat from set pieces he only managed 2 goals last season plus Newcastle have a hard start imo

darego

dahat wrote: »

I have read though no link that Dawson was made captain after Ledley King retired so im guessing he is the other CB

5 mil for a spurds cb? really :pac: is there any site that shows preseason results? with line ups and goals scores etc

Paully D

I'd stay away from Spurs defenders for the first week anyway until we see who will line up at CB. Verthongen will surely take one of the places and as far as we know it's a toss up between Kaboul and Dawson for the second spot.

As for Dawson being made captain, it hasn't happened yet and I think it's more of a ''club captain'' role which has been spoken about. Personally I think it will be Parker who gets the armband.

Who_8_Paul?

In terms of 4m defenders to rotate which will spend a lot of the time on your bench, Nelsen for QPR signed by Hughes looks like a viable option, maybe better than Demel, Tierney, Gunter, Clyne etc. I'm looking at having a couple of 4m lads to allow me Vidic and Kompany as my 2 ever presents. Lescott is looking less than a sure thing given Citys new formation and Vidic is definitely the best, albeit most expensive, option in the Utd defence. I think lindegaard will see some game time this season too despite his mistake in the preseason game there yesterday, making DDG a pain if he misses some clean sheet bankers at home later in the season

mufcboy1999

Back to the drawing board for me, il have to replace lescott and try move kompany or vidic in and tbh yaya at 8 is a steal. People are saying he will be playing too deep to have an impact but he's scored a few pre season and again today in this new formation, he's always a threat no matter where he plays In the middle.

Paully D

Just a heads up - Mancini has said Richards is out for a month (source in link below), Zabaleta at £6.0m looks nailed on to play in his absence providing Mancini plays four at the back. Even if he goes to his 3-5-2 as he did in the second half against Chelsea, Zabaleta should still be pretty much a nailed on starter with Clichy or Kolarov fight it out to be the other part of that back 3 with Zab and Kompany. Could be a cheap way into the Manchester City defence for the first few weeks anyway.

http://www.teamtalk.com/premier-league/7985456/City-rocked-by-Richards-setback

dahat

Paully D wrote: »

Just a heads up - Mancini has said Richards is out for a month (source in link below), Zabaleta at £6.0m looks nailed on to play in his absence providing Mancini plays four at the back. Even if he goes to his 3-5-2 as he did in the second half against Chelsea, Zabaleta should still be pretty much a nailed on starter with Clichy or Kolarov fight it out to be the other part of that back 3 with Zab and Kompany. Could be a cheap way into the Manchester City defence for the first few weeks anyway.

http://www.teamtalk.com/premier-league/7985456/City-rocked-by-Richards-setback

Bad news for Lescott then..........but Zab is .5 cheaper so all n all a good spot...

Paully D

dahat wrote: »

Bad news for Lescott then..........but Zab is .5 cheaper so all n all a good spot...

I think Lescott will play actually. It could even be:

Zab Kompany Lescott

Milner

---

Clichy/Kolorov

or

Savic/Toure Kompany Lescott

Zabaleta

---

Clichy/Kolorov

If I was to guess I reckon he goes back to 4 at the back for the opening day (Zabaleta - Kompany - Lescott - Clichy/Kolorov) but I'm just looking at some different scenarios.

Hard to call exactly, but either way I think it's worth taking a chance on Zabaleta at £6.0m as I'd wager on him being in the starting 11 for the first few weeks at least no matter what formation Mancini uses.

miller82

hhmm, might drop lescott now for Zab'

Jax Teller

Just a heads up Ivanovic isn't suspended after been sent off yesterday .

redzerdrog

I think the liverpool full backs will do well this year. rodgers has them pressing high up the pitch and if we hold on to agger are pretty solid defensively

Paully D

Mancini on his plans:

Intriguingly, the new system looks to favour City’s full-backs in terms of game time; the opposite of last season, where rotation frustrated Fantasy managers on an almost-weekly basis. Mancini ended the match with all three of his available full-backs on the pitch, with Gael Clichy joining Zabaleta at the back – an indication their versatility could be crucial to the manager’s plans. Post-match, however, Mancini was asked whether he will start the season with the new formation but the Italian admitted that it was unlikely:

I don’t know…No, I don’t think so. But it’s important we know another system we can change during the game. We tried this because we worked for one month in pre-season without 12 players.

I'd put a huge amount of money on him starting with the following against Southampton:

Zabaleta - Kompany - Lescott - Clichy/Kolarov

dahat

Paully D wrote: »

Mancini on his plans:

Intriguingly, the new system looks to favour City’s full-backs in terms of game time; the opposite of last season, where rotation frustrated Fantasy managers on an almost-weekly basis. Mancini ended the match with all three of his available full-backs on the pitch, with Gael Clichy joining Zabaleta at the back – an indication their versatility could be crucial to the manager’s plans. Post-match, however, Mancini was asked whether he will start the season with the new formation but the Italian admitted that it was unlikely:



I'd put a huge amount of money on him starting with the following against Southampton:

Zabaleta - Kompany - Lescott - Clichy/Kolarov

I have decided to keep Lescott myself as he has a goal threat from corners.....
Lescott,A.Cole and Hangeland are my first choice back 3 early on with Fabio and Clyne on the bench

Paully D

At least after a few weeks we'll know for certain if we have a £5.5m option at Manchester United starting every week (Rafael), same for Spurs with their two £5.0m or £5.5m CB's (Dawson and Kaboul). Liverpool will also have some of their tougher fixtures out of the way and Enrique is a cheap-ish way into their defence at £6.0m

Personally I think people are better off spending the decent money on the likes of Lescott, Ashley Cole, Vidic etc at the start and the re-assessing things after a few weeks. By then the bargain players will start to pop up but it's better to play it safe at the beginning IMO.

Lemlin

How long is Hart due to be out for? I'll be taking my City defender out if he's not back by the weekend. Their sub keeper Pantimillion or whatever he is called is useless.

mufcboy1999

does anyone know if o brian at west ham and barnett of norwich are starters?

massdebater

mufcboy1999 wrote: »

does anyone know if o brian at west ham and barnett of norwich are starters?

Not sure on O'Brien at WH but Barnett's not a starter. Norwich's 4.0m defenders should be Tierney and Ryan Bennett.

For West Ham, Demel and McCartney could potentially be starters but I'd wait and see with them. I'm guessing Demel will start but don't take my word for it.

Dietsquirt

I currently have Kompany, Cahill & Vlaar starting. (Frazer richardson/ian harte subs)

Tottenham have a fairly 'handy' opening 4 games, good potential for clean sheets, i have friedel in goals.

Was thinking of bringing in Vertonghen, i don't know much about him but have heard good things. Although at 6.5m, he could be a bridge too far.

Any ideas?

mufcboy1999

massdebater wrote: »

mufcboy1999 wrote: »

does anyone know if o brian at west ham and barnett of norwich are starters?

Not sure on O'Brien at WH but Barnett's not a starter. Norwich's 4.0m defenders should be Tierney and Ryan Bennett.

For West Ham, Demel and McCartney could potentially be starters but I'd wait and see with them. I'm guessing Demel will start but don't take my word for it.

Cheers, I'm trying to go cheap as possible at the back with cole as my main defender, was going to go with lescott too but I don't think he'll start so Iv hart as my city way into the defence but now he's a doubt.

Jax Teller

Lemlin wrote: »

How long is Hart due to be out for? I'll be taking my City defender out if he's not back by the weekend. Their sub keeper Pantimillion or whatever he is called is useless.

It says he's a 75% chance of playing against Southampton .

After sundays showing i'd say Mancini will he rushing him back anyway

audman

I wonder what are the chances of Clichy getting regular game time?

dahat

audman wrote: »

I wonder what are the chances of Clichy getting regular game time?

I wonder what the chances are you could stop multiple posting.........

dahat

Paully D wrote: »

Mancini on his plans:

Intriguingly, the new system looks to favour City’s full-backs in terms of game time; the opposite of last season, where rotation frustrated Fantasy managers on an almost-weekly basis. Mancini ended the match with all three of his available full-backs on the pitch, with Gael Clichy joining Zabaleta at the back – an indication their versatility could be crucial to the manager’s plans. Post-match, however, Mancini was asked whether he will start the season with the new formation but the Italian admitted that it was unlikely:



I'd put a huge amount of money on him starting with the following against Southampton:

Zabaleta - Kompany - Lescott - Clichy/Kolarov

I would imagine these 3 are first choice till Richards is fit,even if playing a 3 he needs 3 CB's to do so,Kompany,lescott and Richards then...

kennyb3

What is the story with Senderos?

I'm thinking of freeing up €0.5m by doing Hangeland to Hughes. I've seen Baird V Hughes mentioned but not a single mention of Senderos (like he doesnt exist)

carlcon

I'm adding this as more justification for having Vidic. His vision and lack of fear approaching half-way must be worth a few assists throughout a season.

Liam O

^^^^^ I'll tell you right now his supposed great vision as you call it is virtually non existent and wont be worth jack. Hasn't looked his best in preseason and will definitely take time to adapt and could get a few niggling injuries early on.