Following on from our article last week on the FanTeam German Monster GW26, this weekend it’s time for gameweek 27 in the German Bundesliga. Our FISO team below will be entered into this week’s €20 entry (€50k prize pool) German 50k Monster, which has a maximum entry limit of 3,000 participants. The first 555 will partake in the prize pool and for this particular weekend, the winner will take home a cool €7,500 this weekend. Before moving onto our team selection, we want to highlight a couple of FanTeam rules that they apply to their Weekly Monster competition and which apply to this weekend’s German 50k Monster as well. If you’re not sure how to play FanTeam Fantasy Bundesliga then check out our step by step video guide.
Number one is that FanTeam have a rule called the ‘safety net’. The safety net comes into play when a selected player does not start in the Weekly Monster, because the game will then automatically replace this player with the next lowest-priced player from the same position (GK, DEF, MID, FOR) in the same team. This is regardless of whether or not your selected player does take to the field later in the game. This rule helps people who have entered a team into the German 50K Monster not to worry too much about whether their selected players will start or not, particularly if they know there are cheaper players for that same club in that same position who should start instead.
Number two is that FanTeam also have a ‘stacking penalty’ for the German 50K Monster, which penalises teams that have selected more than one defenders/goalkeeper from the same club. The stacking penalty comes into play when you pick more than one defensive player (defenders or goalkeepers) from a particular club and this club records a clean sheet. The points awarded for this clean sheet will decrease by 1 point for each additional defensive player from the same club that you have selected. The stacking penalty has a maximum of minus 3 points. This rule helps stop multi-entrants from gaining an advantage by submitting block defence teams. A reasonable tactic can be to select two players from two different clubs for your Goalie and Defenders, which would see you incur just 2 single-point deductions if you nail both clean sheets correctly.
Don’t forget, the deadline for the upcoming German 50K Monster is set at 2.30PM (UK time) on Saturday, May 24th, 2020. You can enter a team earlier and make changes right up to the deadline. This means you have an hour to check the starting line-ups for the 2.30PM (UK time) games, so you can change your selections accordingly up until the 2:30PM deadline, but not after.
German 50K Monster matches in gameweek 27
How did our German 50K Monster team fare last week?
Formation: 4-3-3 | Budget used: 99.9m | Finish: 1027 / 2574 | Prize pool: ///
| NAME (club) (opponent) | RETURNS | POINTS |
| Gikiewicz (UNI) (Bayern home) | 1 save, 2 goals conceded, impact-1 | 0.5 |
| Angeliño (LEI) (Freiburg home) | ///// | 2 |
| Mittelstädt (HER) (Hoffenheim away) | Clean sheet, 1 assist, impact+1 | 10 |
| Lainer (GLA) (Frankfurt away) | Impact+1 | 3 |
| Mbabu (WFB) (Augsburg away) | 1 assist, impact+1 | 6 |
| Neuhaus (GLA) (Frankfurt away) | Impact+1 | 3 |
| Grujic (HER) (Hoffenheim away) | Clean sheet, impact+1, 1 yellow | 4 |
| Nkunku (LEI) (Freiburg home) | ///// | 2 |
| Lukebakio (HER) (Hoffenheim away) | ///// | 3 |
| VC Werner (LEI) (Freiburg home) | ///// | 3 |
| C Lewandowski (MUN) (Union away) | 1 goal, impact+1 | 16 |
Our team suggestion for the German 50K Monster in gameweek 29
Formation: 4-4-2 | Budget used: 99.9m
General approach
The 27th gameweek of the Bundesliga brings us a few more so-called favourable fixtures in comparison to last weekend. This has also resulted in a very expensive pool of potential player picks, which is also reflected in our team selection for this gameweek. We initially wanted to stick to players from just a few outfits (Bayern, Leipzig, Freiburg, Köln), but we had to start making some budgetary room eventually. As a result, our team consists of 3 Bayern players, 3 Freiburg players, 2 Wolfsburg players, a Leverkusen star, a Köln defender, and a Düsseldorf budget enabler.
Goalkeeper
We picked out goalkeeper with budget constraints in mind. In that sense, we were happy to see Wolfsburg playing at home this weekend, as Die Wolfe boast the league’s third-best defence, both overall and for home games only. That’s why, for 6.2 million, we brought in Belgian international Koen Casteels. As the seventh highest-scoring goalie on FanTeam’s German 50K Monster, he’s a more than decent pick, but the downside is that this weekend he is welcoming Borussia Dortmund in a crowd-less Volkswagen-Arena. A clean sheet looks complicated, but a few save points not so much.
Defenders
The first pick of our four-man defensive set-up is Bayern’s David Alaba, who, at 10.1 million, is also the most expensive defender in our team. The extremely versatile Austrian left-back, who can also play in the midfield or as a central defender, already has 21 Bundesliga games, 1 goal, and 1 assist to his name this season, and he will be starting against Eintracht Frankfurt at home coming Saturday. On top of that, when a set-piece is positioned well for a left-footed specialist, Alaba is one of the prime candidates for the reigning champions. Frankfurt are dead last when it comes to away games this season, with just 7 points taken from 12 games. Over that run, the scored just 11 and conceded a more than worrying 25 goals. Fingers crossed for returns at both sides of the pitch for our Bayern man.
Christian Günter is the first of three Freiburg assets in our team for gameweek 27. At a price of 7.8 million, he is not super cheap, but hear us out. Not only is he a nailed-on part on the left side of Freiburg’s defence, he is also given freedom to participate in attack. The tangible results until now: 2 goals and 7 assists in 26 games. Add to that the fact that current number 17 Werder Bremen are rolling up to the Schwarzwald-Stadion and Günter’s potential keeps rising. Bremen, after all, boast the league’s worst defence (conceding 59 goals in 26 games), while only Düsseldorf has a less prolific attack than them. In other words, we’re kind of counting on points here.
Our third defensive pick is Toni Leistner, the only Köln player on our roster this weekend. Considering Die Geißböcke were in decent form prior to the sudden corona-break and the fact that they are playing at home against Düsseldorf, we actually wanted to include at least one more team mate of Leistner’s, but budget made us decide otherwise. We stuck with the German 29-year old who arrived on loan from QPR at the very end of the last January transfer window and who has played 5 of the possible 7 Bundesliga games since then. He has no attacking returns to his name yet, but this weekend provides him with a good opportunity to get his counters going. Newly-promoted Fortuna Düsseldorf are coming to Cologne, who have scored just 14 goals in 13 away games, while conceding a whopping 27.
Our fourth and final defender is a complete budget pick. It basically came down to picking a defender from either Mainz (at home against Leipzig), Frankfurt (away to Bayern), and our pick, Düsseldorf’s Zanka. In the previous paragraph, we just pointed out Düsseldorf’s defensive frailty, so we are not expecting too much here. As a matter of fact, seeing as we have a defender from each team in the Köln-Düsseldorf game, we’d be extremely happy with a boring 0-0 draw.
Midfielders
Like our defence, our midfield is made up of four players with Bayern’s Leon Goretzka being the most expensive one at a price of 12 million on FanTeam this weekend. Our preferential midfield pick from the Bayern roster was actually Kimmich, but Goretzka gives us a good way into the starting line-up at 0.6 million less. On top of that, Kingsley Coman is priced 0.2 million lower still, which means that the Safety Net would apply automatically in case Goretzka doesn’t start. It’s very possible that Bayern won’t start with both against Frankfurt, but also extremely unlikely that neither Goretzka nor Coman will start, considering both are fit. The 25-year old German recorded a lovely 21 points on FanTeam from his last three Bundesliga games, courtesy of 2 goals and 1 assist, and he might just continue that purple patch on Saturday.
For gameweek 27 of the German 50K Monster, we have also gone with a real joker. Kai Havertz is the only Leverkusen player in our team, partly due to the prices of Leverkusen assets and partly due to the fact that Die Werkself are visiting Mönchengladbach coming Saturday afternoon. Defensively, Wolfsburg is very stable this season, but traditionally, this encounter has been full of goals. Just to give you an idea: 13 of the last 20 games between Leverkusen and Gladbach saw 3 goals or more scored between them. At the same time, Havertz resumed his Bundesliga in style by scoring 2 goals against Werder Bremen last weekend after trainer Peter Bosz started him all the way up front. Only three teams have scored more in away games than Leverkusen’s 24 goals, so we’re counting on their offensive prowess to deliver again this weekend.
Freiburg’s Vincenzo Grifo is joining Goretzka and Havertz on our midfield. The Italian-German left-winger is listed as a midfielder for FanTeam’s German 50K Monster, which gives him some additional out-of-position potential. In his first season for Freiburg, Grifo has already racked up 19 Bundesliga games in which he scored twice and provided 5 assists. This weekend, he is facing the league’s third-worst defence in terms of away games when Werder Bremen visit Freiburg. Die Grün-Weißen have conceded 29 goals in 13 games, while overall, this total reaches the worrying amount of 59. After Freiburg’s hard-fought 1-1 draw at Leipzig last weekend, we’re hoping Grifo and his team mates will build on that result against Werder this weekend.
Our fourth midfielder is Wolfsburg player Xavier Schlager. The 22-year old central midfielder is a nailed-on part of Wolfsburg starting eleven, which is kind of the minimum you want from a fantasy budget-enabler. On top of that though, he plays for a more than decent team at home this weekend, though the opposition will be formidable. Borussia Dortmund are just coming off an impressive 4-0 home victory over derby rivals Schalke 04, so they’ll be brimming with confidence. Wolfsburg though, is a more than solid unit this season, which is illustrated by the fact that only Bayern and Leipzig have conceded less goals. At the same time, Dortmund are a bit leaky away from home, having given up 23 goals in 13 games already. In other words, Schlager has his work more than cut out for him in the middle, but we would be surprised if the home team don’t get a few good opportunities themselves as well on Saturday.
Forwards
Robert Lewandowski. We’re going to be brief here, because, what is there left to say? He scored 26 goals in 24 Bundesliga games so far. He scored last weekend. He’s on penalties. He’s the highest-scoring game on FanTeam’s German 50K Monster. He’s playing at home against Frankfurt. Yes, his 15-million price tag is extreme, but… just pick him, captain him, and move on to the rest of your team.
Joining our star man in attack is our third Freiburg pick, striker Nils Petersen. The experienced German has been at the club since 2015 and has grown into an inevitability up front for the Breisgau-Brasilianer since then. This season, his tallies stand at 8 goals and 2 assists from a total of 2’015 Bundesliga minutes. With eight Bundesliga games still to go, Petersen will be aiming for at least double digits in terms of goals and what better way to continue that mission with a home game against Werder Bremen at home? Die Grün-Weißen boast the league’s leakiest defence and are already 9 points behind the safe 15th spot (with one game in hand). Petersen might just be the one to complicate things further for them on Saturday.
As we said this team has been entered into the 20 euro FanTeam German Monster and we hope to report back next week that we’ve shared part of the 50,000 euros prize pool. You can also follow discussions about FanTeam games on FISO’s FanTeam Forum where we have a FreeRoll for those that want to learn a bit more about the game.