Everton beat Manchester United 1-0 through Fellaini

Butt’s Brain: Rooney & RVP Fail to Fire; Fellaini Steals the Show

Screech Powers is an absolute stud

You can’t judge a season by one gameweek, that’s for sure. Opening weekend is always a strange one [see Swansea 5-0 QPR, Fulham 5-0 Norwich, and West Brom 3-0 Liverpool] and Monday night was no different.

In an incredibly organised and spirited display, Everton beat Manchester United 1-0 Monday night. A few notes from the match and from around the league:

Rooney put in an average performance – which is below average for him and his FPL owners. He had 2-3 shots on target from dangerous areas, but in the end Tim Howard made relatively straightforward saves. Robin van Persie came on with less than half an hour to go and didn’t make much of an impact.

Kigawa made his debut and played within himself a bit. He wasn’t scared to ask for the ball – and made the runs into the areas to receive it, but his passes were often sideways and backwards – he was kept in check by Everton’s midfield. He did make a few dangerous runs forward and tried some through balls, but again, give credit where credit is due to Everton’s back four and defensive midfielders.

Fellaini was the most impressive player on the pitch. He combined well with Pienaar and Jelavic, took his goal well, and it’s OBVIOUS why David Moyes felt he could cash in on Jack Rodwell. Who needs Rodwell when you have Fellaini? Great game by the young Belgian. Superb physical and technical performance. And he’s only owned by about 4% of fantasy managers. He gets booked quite a bit, and probably isn’t a long term solution for most managers, but with performances like that, his ownership will surely increase.

Quick shout out to Tony Hibbert. Not the best right back in the league by any stretch but he absolutely had Nani, Welbeck, Evra, and whoever else ventured left in his pocket the entire match. Solid, if not spectacular display.

David de Gea looked great. He may well be worth the 6m FPL pricetag this season. He made a few standard saves and a few fantastic ones – tipping a Leighton Baines free kick around the post, for instance, near the end of the first half.

So there you have it. An extremely slow start for Sir Alex’s men who played with Carrick and Valencia at the back – neither natural defenders. Fulham come to Old Trafford this weekend after a 5-0 home win against Norwich. Should be a tasty matchup.

Surely the 25M combined FPL duo of Rooney / RVP will start from the beginning with Welbeck relegated to the bench. Will be interesting to see if they can get their season kick-started at home against Martin Jol’s in form men. About 2 million+ fantasy managers are waiting, holding their collective breath.