Monday Mirror: Ba's Brilliance

Demba Ba on fire with 2 goals in just 45 minutes of action.

Interesting game at Goodison Park as we saw Demba Ba equalised twice to earn a point for Newcastle. Here are some of my notes:

• Demba Ba (£7.7m, 12 pts) blasted both goals for Newcastle and responded perfectly to Alan Pardew's decision to bench him. The striker is clearly furious though with his agent threatened to take Ba away from Newcastle if he continues to sit on the bench.
• On the other hand, Papiss Cisse (£9.3m, 2pts) continued his goalless streak, and made Alan Pardew's decision to start him instead of Ba a ridicule.
• Meanwhile, Leighton Baines (£7.1m, 9 pts) scored his second goal of the season and accumulated 7 bonus points already this season, as he highlighted to us the benefits of owning a high-end fantasy defender. Solid.
• Also on the scoresheet was Steven Pienaar (£6.6m, 7 pts), who shows good value to money so far and is capable to provide consistently in offence.
• Marouane Fellaini (£6.9m, 1 pt) on the other hand has reduced fantasy potential as predicted with Kevin Mirallas (£7.4m, 2pts) started alongside Nikica Jelavic (£8.5m, 1 pt) on yesterday night. Jelavic was subbed out with an injury nonetheless, so Fellaini could still play in an advanced role for a few gameweeks more.
• On Sunday we saw Gareth Bale (£9.3m, 11 pts) went on full throttle as Tottenham claimed their first victory of the season, crushing Reading 3-1.
• Jermaine Defoe (£7.6m, 9 pts) got the nod to start again ahead of Emmanuel Adebayor (£9.4m, 0 pts) and repaid Andre Villas-Boas' faith handsomely with 2 goals. Does Adebayor still have value fantasy wise? Pretty negative at the moment.
• Brad Friedel (£5.5m, 2 pts) continued to start ahead of Hugo Lloris (£6.0m, 0 pts), and it surely left us wondering why the French keeper was being bought at the first place.

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Deadline Day Deals

Gaston Ramirez doubled Southampton's record transfer fee.

The transfer window has officially closed and numerous deadline day signings are made. Here are some of the moves that can shake up the fantasy game:

• Andy Carroll (Liverpool to West Ham, loan): This deal was done on the night before deadline day actually. Perhaps the pony-tail can reignite his form there, but I don't really think he can score over 15 goals and justify his high price tag.
• Charlie Adam (Liverpool to Stoke): I don't know how he can fit into Stoke's system. The lad is too bad to function as a defensive/holding midfielder, while Jonathan Walters should continue to take the offensive midfielder spot.
• Yossi Benayoun (Chelsea to West Ham, loan): The Israeli returns to his former club after five years. His addition complicates the Hammers midfield line-up, reducing the value of the whole midfield unit due to rotation fears.
• Christian Benteke (Genk to Aston Villa): Scored 19 goals in 37 games for Genk last season. Not too bad and should be a good back-up forward for the Villans. He has little value fantasy wise unless Paul Lambert decides to play 4-4-2 and the forward duo — Gabriel Agbonlahor and Darren Bent — injure more often than not.
• Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United to Fulham): Great business. He is unlikely to become a sub, so Mladen Petric's playing time could be sacrificed.
• Clint Dempsey (Fulham to Tottenham): Surprise it is. Liverpool were unwilling to add £2m to their £4m valuation to get the striker's service, which subsequently sent the American to White Hart Lane. Poor decision by Liverpool, though it isn't a good move by Tottenham either by sending out Van der Vaart and getting a less impressive replacement.
• Ashkan Dejagah (Wolfsburg to Fulham): A replacement for Dempsey. He had once scored 8 league goals in one season, but that was five seasons ago.
• Javi Garcia (Benfica to Manchester City): A replacement for Nigel de Jong. Not much fantasy value here though, despite his high transfer fee.
• Pablo Hernandez (Valencia to Swansea): This could be interesting. Bought as a replacement for Scott Sinclair, the lad has consistent goal and assist records at Valencia.
• Hugo Lloris (Lyon to Tottenham): Great capture which effectively means the end of Brad Friedel's fantasy usefulness.
• Maicon (Inter Milan to Manchester City): An experienced right-back they've gotten. If he's price £6.5m or below he would be the best place to look at City's defence.
• Stephane M'bia (Marseille to QPR): Can play both as a defender and midfielder. Perhaps he can strengthen the Rangers' porous defence.
• Bryan Oviedo (Copenhagen to Everton): A young guy with little productiveness on offence. Will become a benchwarmer most likely.
• Gaston Ramirez (Bologna to Southampton): The Saints are going all in by doubling their transfer record fee on him. Definitely will lead the attacking line-up, but it remains to be seen how effective can he become in a club with limited talents to feed him the supplies.
• Scott Sinclair (Swansea to Manchester City): Do not see his value here yet, unless Roberto Mancini somehow believes he is better than Samir Nasri or David Silva.

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