Lisandro Martinez and four other popular Dream Team players not pulling their weight this season

MOST Dream Team managers will be focusing on in-form stars like James Maddison (£4.1m), Bryan Mbeumo (£3.7m) and Julian Alvarez (£4.1m) when reflecting upon the first four Gameweeks of the season.

However, it’s just as important to acknowledge the popular assets who are yet to pull their weight.

There’s no room for sentimentality in Dream Team and gaffers will have to be ruthless with some under-performing players but others may warrant more patience.

Here we analyse five widely-selected individuals whose returns don’t match up to their popularity.

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Lisandro Martinez

• £3.3m
• 8.8% ownership
• 3 points

It’s been a brutal start to the campaign for Manchester United’s resident ‘butcher’.

He was hooked at half-time against Wolves, scored an own goal against Tottenham, shipped two goals at home to Nottingham Forest, and was substituted midway through the second half against Arsenal last weekend.

Add in a couple of bookings and the Argentine centre-back has mustered just three points across the first four Gameweeks.

At the time of writing, Martinez is more popular than Manuel Akanji (£4.7m) who has 20 points to his name despite missing a week with illness.

And he’s almost twice as popular as Destiny Udogie (£2.9m) who is the joint-second best defender in the game at this stage with 28 points.

Whether Martinez is playing through something worse than a niggle right now remains unclear but the fact he’s been replaced twice in four games is a concern.

Gameweek 5 seem unlikely to do the 25-year-old any favours either – Brighton and Bayern Munich will put an injury-hit defence to the test.

The Red Devils’ fixtures even out after that until the end of October but Martinez owners would almost certainly be better off cutting their losses and transferring him out before Harry Kane gets to work.

Jack Grealish

• £4.4m
• 11% ownership
• 12 points

Manchester City’s No10 has only played 180 minutes so far because of Pep Roulette in Gameweek 1 and injury in Gameweek 4.

The England international actually did alright in his two outings, earning four bonus points in between an assist, but any player who is a minutes risk for whatever reason is a red flag.

Grealish will undoubtedly have a significant role to play for the treble-winners again this season but right now he’s got fewer points than Mario Lemina (£2m), Harrison Reed (£2m) and Ryan Yates (£1.5m).

The list of players undeservedly less popular includes: Mbeumo, Solly March (£3.9m), Jarrod Bowen (£4.8m), Dominick Szoboszlai (£3.5m) and Eberechi Eze (£3.4m) – all have at least twice as many points as Grealish.

Kieran Trippier

• £5.5m
• 17.8% ownership
• 15 points

The Newcastle right-back has set sky-high standards for himself after he dominated 2022/23 to finish as Dream Team’s outright best defender by a comfortable margin.

Trippier, who is the fourth-most selected defender, has been forced to settle for 15 points from the opening four Gameweeks this term with over half of them coming purely because he’s played every minute.

However, the 32-year-old may be worth persevering with as his fixtures are about to flip, at least on the domestic front.

The Magpies have played Aston Villa, Manchester City, Liverpool and Brighton so far – four of the better attacking sides in the Premier League.

Their next six league games come against: Brentford, Sheffield United, Burnley, West Ham, Crystal Palace, Wolves.

That stretch feels ripe for returns and there are additional signs that Trippier is simmering – no defender has earned more bonus points at this stage.

The imminent start of the Champions League group stage could be both a blessing and a curse for Newcastle assets.

On the one hand, more fixtures generally equals more points but Eddie Howe’s mob have been drawn against Milan, PSG and Borussia Dortmund, an objectively tough group.

It’s a similar stick-or-twist scenario for Nick Pope’s (£4.1m) backers as he’s also the fourth-most popular asset in his position.

Aaron Ramsdale

• £3.8m
• 15.1% ownership
• 13 points

Arsenal’s No1 is the second-most popular goalkeeper in the game but 13 of his peers have more points.

His trip to Selhurt Park in Gameweek 2 is the only fixture in which he’s gained a point for registering two saves so far – that fixture remains his only clean sheet too.

Mikel Arteta’s tinkering has left the Gunners vulnerable at times and the sight of Ramsdale sprawled on the deck after conceding within a minute at home to Fulham in embarrassing fashion was an awkward one for the sizeable chunk of gaffers banking on him.

Unlike Newcastle, Arsenal have been gifted a relatively favourable Champions League group on paper in the form of PSV, Lens and Sevilla.

Couple this with a domestic match-up with Everton, probably the least clinical team in the league, first up after the international break and it may be the case that Ramsdale makes up for lost ground in the coming weeks.

However, the presence of David Raya (£3.5m) looms large – the Spaniard is unlikely to be a permanent first reserve and will be hopeful of minutes once the schedule picks up.

Truth be told, William Saliba’s (£3.5m) return of 17 points doesn’t match up to his massive ownership of 33.3% either so keep an eye on the Frenchman as well.

Lewis Dunk

• £2.8m
• 8.5% ownership
• 9 points

The Brighton stalwart is a reliable performer and fully deserving of his England call-up but the numbers don’t lie.

Roberto De Zerbi’s side are as dynamic and enterprising as you like going forward but, as is often the case, their ambitious approach inevitably allows opponents their fair share of chances in return.

The Seagulls are yet to keep a clean sheet this season and given they played Luton and Wolves in their first two fixtures, it may be the case that the vast majority of their games this season will feature goals at both ends.

A three-point return at Molineux is Dunk’s best haul so far and while he’s virtually guaranteed a full allotment of appearance points as captain, he may find other avenues unavailable to him.

Pervis Estupinan (£3.8m) is a different case entirely as he contributes so much going forward – he’s notched a goal and two assists already – but the Ecuador left-back is an outlier among Brighton defenders right now.

Fill your boots with Kaoru Mitoma (£3.7m), Pascal Gross (£3.7m), Solly March (£3.9m) and Evan Ferguson (£3m) but think carefully about whether Dunk is a viable option.

Udogie is available for an additional £0.1m and should recover from his fever once the action resumes.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk