Assessing The Eye Test Of 3 FPL Players Who Caught My Eyes In FPL GW2

In this FPL GW2 Eye Test and scout notes blog, Stevie @eyetestfpl will be Pogba, Livaramento, and Adama Traore from their performance in FPL GW2.

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FPL GW2 Eye Test

Paul Pogba (7.7M)

For two consecutive league matches, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer played Paul Pogba as the left-winger in the 4-2-3-1 formation again.

With Pogba at left-wing, United have a player who possesses the unique ability of squirming around in tight spaces, bringing control and composure to their overall game.

This complements Mason Greenwood on the other side greatly as he provides penetration and direct running on the right while Pogba brings elegance and poise on the left.

Perhaps playing him on the flank might not inspire confidence for some prospective owners which is quite understandable but he proved to be quite effective in this position so far, getting four assists in GW1 against Leeds and one more against Southampton.

Also, as Hassenhuttl changed his formation to a 5-3-2 right after the break, United were allowed to gain the upper hand in the midfield area and subsequently, Pogba got into advanced areas more, often creeping into good goalscoring positions inside the box.

At times, he was even more advanced positionally than Bruno Fernandes who had two fewer attempts on goal than Pogba’s four.

Based on his shot locations, he was very unlucky not to come away from this match without a single goal to his name.

In comparison, Bruno Fernandes had a lower shot volume and arguably had lower quality of chances as well.

There are some concerns regarding his minutes though as Sancho and Cavani will come back into contention for a starting place soon.

However, even when they are back, Solskjaer would possibly be tempted to try to fit in Pogba into the team given his current of form.

During pre-season, there was much talk of the possibility of Solskjaer playing a new, more attacking 4-3-3 formation, especially against the weaker teams as he realized United’s weakness in breaking low-block teams down.

The new formation would very likely see Sancho playing on the left-wing and Pogba being reinstated back into one of the central midfield positions alongside Bruno Fernandes. This formation would allow Solskjaer to play almost all of his best players into his starting lineup which is why it makes sense.

But what this requires is a strong, reliable defensive midfielder that can hold down the fort all by himself which unfortunately cannot be said about either Fred or McTominay at the moment.

United are linked with several players in this position like Brighton’s Yves Bissouma and if United do manage to get this elusive defensive midfielder, the new formation would take shape much sooner and we could then possibly unearth a new potential bargain in Pogba.

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Valentino Livramento (4.0M)

With Liverpool’s Andy Robertson nearing a return to the starting line-up after his ankle injury, many FPL managers who own Tsimikas are looking to get him out and from the match against Manchester United, we might have found his replacement.

After an assured performance in GW1 against Everton where he held his own facing the tricky Richarlison, Valentino Livramento was given another sign of faith by Ralph Hassenhuttl to continue his role in the right-back position, keeping Kyle Walker-Peters out of the side.

In the first half, Southampton did much of the defending, obscuring Livramento’s attacking potential.

But at the start of the second half, Hassenhuttl decided to play with a back 5 system with Livramento and Perraud as wing-backs. As the right wing-back, Livramento clearly enjoyed more freedom to get higher up the pitch, often joining the attack whenever the opportunity arose.

There were some glimpses of what he offers further up the pitch as he once glided past Pogba and Shaw in tight spaces.

At one point of the match, he was also not shy to take a pop at goal himself albeit blazing it over into the high stands.

However, the wing-back system might not persist for very long as Southampton were clearly unfamiliar to the new formation, immediately losing their hold on the game after the tactical switch and eventually conceding Greenwood’s equalizer.

But this change of formation clearly signifies Hassenhuttl’s willingness to adopt a more defensive approach as well as the possibility of playing Livramento in more advanced positions.

Livramento played as a right-winger during his time at Chelsea youth academy so playing further up the pitch won’t be new to him.

Given how Hassenhuttl likes to play an aggressive high-pressing style, it wouldn’t even be a complete surprise if he takes the right-wing spot in the future due to his offensive as well as defensive contributions he can make from that position.

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Adama Traore (6.0M)

Adama Traore has been getting lots of attention in the FPL community recently due to his premium-level underlying numbers, producing 10 shots, 7 shots inside the box, and 2 big chances in the last 2 gameweeks.

These good chances that fell for Traore mostly came from turnovers in the midfield area patrolled by the likes of Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho who are capable players defensively.

After Daniel Amartey lost the ball to Moutinho in the center of the pitch, he quickly released Traore, launching a dangerous counter-attack.

The same also happened in the match against Spurs. This time, it was Neves who did the job, robbing Eric Dier off the ball before releasing Traore into a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper.

It’s quite clear Bruno Lage has set an emphasis on making turnovers as close as possible to the opposition half to create dangerous counter-attacking opportunities for Traore.

On top of that, Traore is already physically built for such a strategy himself as he possesses the strength like no other to nudge defenders off-balance, creating a considerable number of turnovers in the opposition half in this way.

The small caveat to his good underlying numbers is it is based on a small sample size of two matches against teams with a relatively high line which are accustomed to playing on the front foot.

This greatly plays into Wolves’ counter-attacking strategy with Traore as their main outlet.

Then, perhaps this leads to the next big question: Can Traore produce the same underlying numbers against the low-block teams he will face from GW4 onwards?

In occasional instances where Spurs returned to a low-block shape, Traore often had trouble finding room before eventually deciding to take wildly speculative shots from outside the box.

Two possible scenarios are very likely to happen then – either Traore will continue to force himself into taking these highly speculative shots or he will have to drift wide for more space. Either way, this won’t bode particularly well for prospective owners.

However, given the bold nature of some of the recently-promoted teams in the league such as Brentford and Norwich, it would not be a complete surprise to see these smaller teams taking the game to Wolves, thereby allowing the occasional space in behind for Traore to exploit.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to drop comments down below and share it if you find it useful 🙂

Further Reads from ALLABOUTFPL Ahead of FPL Gameweek 3:

How and When do we Fit Lukaku in our FPL Teams | Stats Analysis
FPL GW 2 Fixture Wise Stats Review | Key FPL Stats that Caught our Eye
FPL Gameweek 2 Fixture Wise Review From FPL Perspective | Eye Test

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