New FPL Transfers Liverpool Mohamed Salah and Andrew Robertson
Hello and welcome to New FPL Transfers Liverpool Mohamed Salah and Andrew Robertson. Liverpool started last season in electric form and in some circles they were being spoken about as potential league champions. A lack of depth within their squad and possibly a lack of a plan B eventually saw them fall away and ultimately they did well to finish 4th. Last season they had no European football to contend with meaning they were free to concentrate on the league. This season they will have European football to deal with although it remains to be seen what night of the week they will play. One thing is for sure and that is that Liverpool need to add both depth and quality to their squad. They continue to be linked with Virgil van Dyke, despite issuing a public apology ending any interest they may have had in the Dutchman and Naby Keita although it’s looking highly unlikely they’ll prise the Guinean away from Leipzig so for now let’s concentrate on two players they have actually signed.
Mohamed Salah
Position: Midfielder
FPL Price: £9.0m
At the end of last season if you’d been asked to guess what position Liverpool’s first summer signing would play you’d probably have gone with a centre back, a left back or a defensive midfielder. You might even have gone with a keeper or a forward. I seriously doubt any of you would have chosen an attacking midfielder. However Jurgen Klopp’s first summer signing was indeed Mohamed Salah (we’ll ignore Solanke for the sake of this article!) who arrives at Anfield from Roma for the princely sum of £36.9m. Yes, the very same Mo Salah who managed just 13 league appearances and two goals across his two seasons with Chelsea. Some might label him a flop but they may have said the same of Romelu Lukaku and Kevin de Bruyne…clearly there’s life after Stamford Bridge. Initially he went on loan to Fiorentina and then to Roma before moving permanently to the Italian capital. In 81 Serie A appearances he managed 35 goals and 20 assists which clearly suggests that Liverpool have bought a talented player.
The Egyptian is quick, direct & skilful, and should therefore feel at home in the Liverpool attack. When Sadio Mane left on international duty in January and got injured at the end of the season Liverpool clearly lacked pace but this issue has certainly been addressed with the addition of Salah. But where is he likely to start? He’s predominantly left footed, preferring to come in off the right flank. Assuming Klopp continues with his favoured 4-3-3 I expect Salah to start on the right with Mane moving to the left although I’d envisage the two regularly swapping positions.
So what of his FPL prospects? Let’s ignore Roberto Firmino as he’s been reclassified as a forward. Therefore Salah’s direct competition for a place in our teams is likely to come from Sadio Mane (£9.5m) and Philippe Coutinho (£9.0m). Continuing with our assumption that Klopp sticks to his favoured 4-3-3 this is likely to see Coutinho (assuming he stays at the club) drop a little deeper and play as the most advanced of the midfield 3. This was initially a concern for me until our very own Mito pointed me in the direction of some stats which indicated that the Brazilian scored three in three when starting from a central midfield position last term so I certainly wouldn’t discount him. Mane is 0.5m more expensive than the other two so the games creators obviously expect him to score more points and I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with such an assumption. However he has missed the early part of Liverpool’s pre-season and therefore might take some time getting up to speed. Salah has impressed to date in pre-season and has found the back of the net on three occasions and his link up play with Coutinho is already something to behold. Just like last season picking the correct Liverpool midfielder will be akin to choosing between Scarlett Johansson and Jennifer Lawrence. My advice at this early stage is to pick one and stick with him, and on the evidence of pre-season Salah is certainly a contender.
Andrew Robertson
Position: Defender
FPL Price: £5.0m
Oh how we rejoiced when the powers that be at FPL towers reclassified James Milner as a defender. We now had another penalty taking defender on our hands and as a result Milner began to appear in a significant number of RMTs. Unfortunately this joy was short lived as Jurgen Klopp has brought in Andrew Robertson from relegated Hull for an initial fee of £8m which could eventually rise to £10m. The young Scot has enjoyed something of a meteoric rise having only made his senior debut at the beginning of the 2012/13 season for Queens Park in the Scottish 3rd division. He only remained with the division 3 outfit for one season before moving to top flight Dundee United. The step up in quality was nothing to the youngster and his displays saw him move to Hull City and the English PL. In his three seasons with Hull he’s been relegated from the PL twice and won promotion from the Championship via the play-offs. This is another step up in quality for the Scottish international and Liverpool fans will be hoping he can leave his mark on the club like one or two other Scottish internationals have done before him!
What of his FPL prospects? Personally I expect Milner to start the season (assuming the injury he picked up in the Asia Cup isn’t serious) but I fully expect Robertson to put pressure on him and he has certainly not been bought merely as back up. Upon his arrival Klopp stated “This addition gives us fantastic competition in the left-back position now. Obviously, James Milner did very well for us last season there and can play most positions on the football pitch.” He also spoke about Alberto Moreno & Jon Flanagan but I don’t see either of them seeing much game time. Robertson’s underlying stats from last season indicate that he didn’t offer a huge threat going forward and this will be an area on his game which he will hope to build upon. However, he didn’t make a single error which led to his opponents having a shot on goal…I doubt any of his new colleagues could make such a claim. Should Liverpool somehow manage to become more solid at the back this season and should Robertson secure himself a regular spot in the first XI he could yet become quite an interesting prospect but for now there’s too much uncertainty over the left back spot.
Thanks for reading New FPL Transfers Liverpool Mohamed Salah and Andrew Robertson. This article was written by Kop Warrior
The Fixture Tracker…
Gents
Quite happy with my team, Look good?
Evening mate. Are you nearly there then do you think? I’m not sold on Firmino but I can see why you have gone that way. Not caught any Arsenal games yet but I saw you say you were really impressed with Kol, does he look very attacking? And I assume the Rambo pick comes from similar scouting too? Is he looking more like his old self again?
Evening init
I was really impressed with kola it was the first time I’ve saw him play. The only thing I’m worried about is his defensive duties but I suppose in this game we are looking for this potential going forward! (I can’t see him lasting 90 mins with the way he runs)
Rambo has looked sharp and seems to be getting into those positions that he scored a lot points a few seasons ago! He should have at least 2 goals at the weekend but his finishing was poor!
Rambo and firmino are ones im not 100% but they are my picks based on my gut. I plan to stick to my strategy and WC around GW3 so if they ain’t performing they will be dealt with…
How’s your team coming along?
P.S any news on my problems with the comments?
If they all play that’s a really good looking side.
Not hand a chance to look at it properly yet mate.
Not heard back about the comments thing but it was logged.
Team looks decent Mitro but I have concerns over Kol and Ramsey. You would have more of an idea about them though so if you are confident go for it. I think we both know you will probably change something again 😉
Have some doubts over Morata and Cedric in my team so I’ve done up another with different strikers. Which do you guys think is better?
New draft
I’ve got my doubts about Morata as well, who’s in my current draft, but have to say I prefer your draft with him in it.
I’m almost tempted to punt on Batshuayi with the pre-season he is having – it will be interesting to see how much game time each of them gets. I suppose you could always go with the second draft above and be prepared to downgrade Pogba to bring in Morata if he looks lively.
Yeah that’s what I was thinking Rob. I’m just not sure about Chelsea fixtures as well.
Not the greatest first few GWs for Chelski, but Burnley at home is very, very hard to resist some attacking coverage for.
It’s so tough to decide for the openers. I reckon I’ll have 8 or 9 players I’m absolutely certain on, so I might very well just spend the Friday evening switching around the other spots and go with whichever random one happens to land when the deadline bell goes!
I’m not too pushed Heaton always seems to come alive against the big teams and Chelsea haven’t really set the world alight in preseason so Burnley could sneak a 0-0 draw out of that game.
Also the deadline is the Friday night incase you didn’t realise it. Arsenal play Leicester on Friday the 11th
Matt I’d swerve Morata for a bit personally. He could be great in time but right now he’s not nailed on at all. Batshit is pushing his own case for a start and clouding that issue even more as a result.
Cheers Init. I’m really unsure on Morata and with Batshit looking like playing through the middle I really don’t think Morata is worth it at 10 Mil. Only problem is the next worth while striker is down around the 7 Mil mark so it’s looking like going Team 2 could be the way to go until some premium striker proves himself.
Lose a mid and step up to Kun or Jesus?
I could do Eriksen to Willian and Morata to Kane. Don’t know who starts out of the City boys.
Kane is hardly a bad compromise! I’ll be starting with him I think. Kun and Jesus should both start I think
I was thinking of going with Kane I’m just not sure how Spurs will start the season and thought Eriksen offered a little more.
I think both Kun and Jesus should both start I just don’t think Pep is 100% sure on it. Only City player I feel safe going with is KdB.
Which one looks best? The one with Alonso and Kane still leave 0.5M ITB.
I prefer the balance of the first team. The only double attacking coverage I’m considering is from the other side of Manchester, which rules out the second team.
Team 1.
Hey guys.. reposting my prev comment here:
How does this team look guys..Is the front lineup very weak? Had to take out Bertrand to free up some cash. Worth it? Still have 0.5m itb
Hey Constantine,
How’s the little ‘un?!
The forwards are too weak for me mate – West Ham have a tough start and Austin isn’t guaranteed to start every week.
Personally I think you need 2 big hitters up there.
Cookie. lil one is doing fine. not for us i fear. lot of yellow material discharge happening. haha. i have the same feeling. need to work on the front line-up..would like to have sure starters atleast.
Morning gents; does anyone know if Milivojevic is a guaranteed starter for Palace? 5mill for a penalty taker isn’t too shabby!
He’s guaranteed 100% Milburn
Exxxxcellent….
cheers Milburn..that’s a great info and changes many things
Just using Mito’s chart Constantine
What u think about it?
Hi rein
If you downgrade Arnautovic (West Ham have a tough run to begin with) to Tom, Ince of Huddersfield or Matt Ritchie of Newcastle, that would allow you to upgrade Jesus to Lukaku.
Also, I would consider trying to get a playing substitute defender – Alonso to David Luiz would allow Rosenior to Dunk.
The basis is very good I think. Well done.
Thank you !