R_NZ FPL Blog

[fred1266]

Note all Spain player are in Isolation so moreno might be in doubt

[raoul]

Would Spain forfeit if they cannot play?

[fred1266]

i saw dey played a young side in the friendlies on yesterday so not sure if dey would use some of them for Euros

[Pepe_zys]

You need to have 13 players cleared to play the game. They train normally. Just like Sweden who also have 2 positive cases.

[Ruth_NZ]

Euro Fantasy Team MD1

After a hiatus (busy week) I eventually found time yesterday to put my team together. Wasn't easy! The team with 3 premium strikers really squeezed everything (as expected) so in the end I regretfully dropped Lewandowski in favour of improving 4 other slots in my squad. Could also have been Depay that made way but that didn't seem to save enough.

One player I was keen to have was Eriksen, he'll be my captain today (Berardi did get an assist yesterday but 6 points is not enough to stick with him). Maybe Eriksen's price was against him for some (he has only 6% ownership) but I have pretty good hopes in a home game against Finland. The other slightly awkward decision was between backing Poland after Pepe's comments or Spain amidst the covid issues. In the end I took a risk on Spain and ended up with a full contingent of three. Perhaps Szczesny or Schmeichel would have been better choices than Simon as 2nd GK - certainly the fixtures are better on paper - but with any luck Austria will keep a CS and Simon can just be left where he is on the bench.

Moreno Depay
Zieliński Eriksen Souček Berardi
Spinazzola Hinteregger Kjaer Coufal
Bachmann
Simon Cancelo F.Torres Ronaldo

No substitutions have been made as yet but there is some heavy cavalry on the bench for later on. Spinazzola proved to be a good spot and is only 5% owned. I guess Moreno is the riskiest choice there because he may not start but he should get on as a sub if not; his potential looks good and a bit of luck will be needed in such a short game.

Hope you all came up with a good team and will look forward to playing against you in the FISO League set up by Mogwai. The code is 73VM4F2Y03 and it is open to anyone that is reading this!

[wahine]

Great start for those that started the Italian block defence ( only one for my team ), I swerved Spain due to Covid-19 positive uncertainty with just F3 Moreno on the bench (because I think he joined the squad in a different group than Busquets and D.Llorente and I hope I don't need to sub in ).
You lot are so negative about your own Harry Kane and it seems more likely that only non Brits included Harry
Ye of little faith.
Oh and who needs Cristiano Ronaldo when you can have Cancelo
I am also changing captain to Eriksen tonight.
But MD2 Limitless is going to be so much fun .

[Sutter Kane]

But MD2 Limitless is going to be so much fun .

Yes! I couldn't resist trying a MD2 draft before the first game, just to see how useful it could be. I think it's around 110mn squad, and that's with Dzuba vs Finland, instead of premium striker. One problem that exists is which strikers to pick from the glut of options:

Dzuba vs Finland
Lukaku vs Denmark
Yilmaz vs Wales
Immobile vs Swiss
Depay vs Austria
Kane vs Scotland
Mbappe/Griez vs Hungary

All good options. Kane and Mbappe stick out as two certainties. Then maybe Lukaku/Dzuba. (this isn't even counting Sweden vs Slovakia or Ukraine vs North Mac). Ronaldo is always an option on a limitless budget as well, despite playing Germany.


On a different note, I can't see me not using WC MD3 but if I see my Italian trio are all starting before deadline, I'll have a hurried decision to make.

[Ruth_NZ]

Great start for those that started the Italian block defence (only one for my team).

Not sure that's true really. Apart from Spinazzola they have scored a relatively expensive 6 points each. Block defence is for later on (SF stage maybe), at this stage you are hunting for more than a plain CS for 5.5 to 6m. And Florenzi didn't even get the CS.

You lot are so negative about your own Harry Kane and it seems more likely that only non Brits included Harry.

I had Lewandowski ahead of him for MD1 anyway. Kane is more in play for MD2 & MD3 in my view. Depends how cautious Southgate is, 5-2-3 or 4-2-3-1. But I don't expect a 3-0 in the Croatia game, more likely a 1-1 or a 1-0 either way.

But MD2 Limitless is going to be so much fun.

Yes! I couldn't resist trying a MD2 draft before the first game, just to see how useful it could be. I think it's around 110mn squad, and that's with Dzuba vs Finland, instead of premium striker. One problem that exists is which strikers to pick from the glut of options... Kane and Mbappe stick out as two certainties. Then maybe Lukaku/Dzyuba. (This isn't even counting Sweden vs Slovakia or Ukraine vs North Mac). Ronaldo is always an option on a limitless budget as well, despite playing Germany.

Had a look at your team, interesting. You did take the 3 big striker approach, albeit with Lukaku rather than Lewandowski. The cost is to play with 14 (I don't count Négo, who you can't expect much from) and to downgrade other slots (Wijnaldum for Eriksen, Denayer for Cancelo and so on). I think I'd rather be my side of that choice.

A lot depends on Belgium, people generally seem to rate them higher than I do, especially Lukaku. He's good - I have always thought him pretty much on a par with Kane - but with KDB and Eden out (not 100% anyway), Belgium are missing a lot of their magic. Plus, is an away game in Russia easy? I don't think so, not at all and don't much fancy Belgium till MD3 when they play Finland myself.

For MD2, why would you want Lukaku away in Denmark? That's a tough opponent. He gets nowhere near my team. Dzyuba, yes. Yilmaz I was keen on but Turkey didn't look right yesterday, was that their true level or did Italy just play exceedingly well? Isak will be a strong contender for me, as well as Kane and Mbappé. Actually fancy Griezmann at 1m cheaper but if it's the LL chip then Mbappé will probably be the one.

Lot of games to watch before then, though.

[Sutter Kane]

For MD2, why would you want Lukaku away in Denmark? That's a tough opponent.

In November it was 4-2 Belgium with a Lukaku brace - different game now I suppose so not saying that is typical of the upcoming game - also not in Belgium. I agree though, it's probably Dzuba ahead of him. Will of course monitor the upcoming games and see who looks good (or bad) before that decision needs to be made.

I don't count Nego either! Problem is, I wanted a decent chunk of cash to upgrade him as I do not like the 5.5-6mn mids at all. Ronaldo was the one I would have gone without, and I would have gone with Eriksen in midfield (maybe Wind would have come in, which would have looked a good decision now, as he's starting) To be honest, I didn't really think as much proportionally about this game compared to FPL gw1 - there's so much luck involved anyway in only 7 match weeks...Hoping I will catch some luck and not require Nego's 1 point cameo!

As for Wijnaldum, their formation is key. But he was always in my side with his national record. Seems to get big chances every game and seemingly a bit of a differential I think!

[Ruth_NZ]

I wanted a decent chunk of cash to upgrade (Négo) as I do not like the 5.5-6mn mids at all.

There are a few but I agree, it's not a generous menu. Berardi you probably already have? Alaba plays much further forward for Austria than he does at Bayern and gets his fair share of assists, plus the odd goal. Jankto had a good season in Serie A (Sampdoria) and gets a fair few assists for Czech Republic. Problem with him is you immediately want to find the extra 0.5m for Souček if possible.

As for Wijnaldum, their formation is key. But he was always in my side with his national record. Seems to get big chances every game and seemingly a bit of a differential I think!

Yeah, was high up on my shortlist, had Depay been sacrificed then Wijnaldum would have made the cut. He scored a fair few in his Newcastle days as well, 4 in one game once if memory serves. 7% ownership is nice; there are quite a few good players in less than 10% of teams and that's one reason why it will be easier to make ground at the start than later on as people catch up with the in-form players. I just hope that Wijnaldum confines himself to an assist or two for Depay.

[Ruth_NZ]

Euro Fantasy MD1 Review

Moreno Depay
Zieliński Eriksen Souček Berardi
Spinazzola Hinteregger Kjaer Coufal
Bachmann
Simon Cancelo F.Torres Ronaldo

So, that was 64 points which is probably broadly average, won't be sure till the game updates. I consider myself pretty unlucky, though; obviously what happened to Eriksen was horrible and the fact that UEFA gave the Denmark team a choice of two harsh options afterwards was quite vile. UEFA made a big fuss about standing with the fans over the ESL project but they don't give a damn about fans or the sport, as I said at the time. All they care about - ALL - are their commercial revenues and therefore keeping sponsors, advertisers and TV happy is the only game in town for them.

Anyway, my two Denmark players delivered less than expected as a result of that. Cancelo - who I had made sacrifices to include - also became sick after the MD had begun, so no benefit from the Portugal CS. And Moreno didn't get much time, surprisingly when Spain needed a goal. Spinazzola and Coufal did well, though, and CR7 saved the day on captaincy. All of that was fine - the good and the bad. The one thing that infuriated me was Hrádecký's 13 points; a poor GK that people only had because he was dirt cheap manages to make 6 saves including a penalty in keeping a CS against a shell-shocked Denmark. Horrible. I guess you could argue that if you had Bachmann or Simon or Rui Patricio behind him, he was a kind of free hit and I guess there's some truth in that. Personally I went after a more solid CS (and got one) but it was dwarfed by Hrádecký's heroics and good fortune.

Anyways, on to the LL chip for MD2 now. I think it is possible to have a team around 125m - maybe more - but my current draft is 116m. Would be helpful to know whether Eden Hazard or KDB will be fit to start, though; I could perhaps find room for one of them if so. It's hard to know what kind of game Denmark v Belgium will be; there will surely be a wave of sentiment behind Denmark in front of their own fans after what has happened. Maybe they will have a great deal of fight; maybe they will go into the game already deflated. Who knows? Won't be that easy a game to deal with for Belgium either.

[fred1266]

Apologies ruth

just commenting on the Denmark game what should you think should have been done with the game

me personally i find Denmark should have forfiet and in all fairness i think now dey probably even forfeit the tournament cause what dey seen happen to there colleague u just don't get over that in a months time

[fred1266]

last i heard KDB was expected to play

[Ruth_NZ]

..on the Denmark game, what should you think should have been done?

First step, abandon the game for that day. After seeing their colleague being given chest compressions on the pitch to try to resuscitate him and standing as a shield around the incident, the Denmark players would have been in a state of shock and in no position to make a sound decision (as they were forced to), let alone to play on. UEFA should have made that decision without reference to any implications for the tournament schedule.

Second, create a plan to resolve the unplayed game. Monday 14th would have been reasonable, to resume play at 12:30. Arguably it would have been better to re-play the game from scratch but that could also be considered unfair to Finland, so resuming at minute 41. That would have given both teams 48 hours to come to terms with the situation, now having a clear picture that Eriksen was stable and safe.

That would have meant putting the Russia v Finland game back a day to Thursday 17th, where it could have been played at 17:00 at the same time as Denmark v Belgium in the same group and putting all four teams on an equal footing going into the final round of games.

That a solution like that was not found demonstrates that at the point, UEFA were more concerned to manage the tournament schedule and satisfy the TV preference for games in sequence than to respond properly to a shocking occurrence. They plainly acted as a commercial enterprise rather than as stewards of a sporting event. Unfortunately there is no surprise about that.

[mogwai]

The one thing that infuriated me was Hrádecký's 13 points; a poor GK that people only had because he was dirt cheap manages to make 6 saves including a penalty in keeping a CS against a shell-shocked Denmark. Horrible. I guess you could argue that if you had Bachmann or Simon or Rui Patricio behind him, he was a kind of free hit and I guess there's some truth in that. Personally I went after a more solid CS (and got one) but it was dwarfed by Hrádecký's heroics and good fortune.

I agree on that and also what you wrote about UEFA procedure concerning that game. It corresponds exactly to my thoughts.

But what would you have done in case of getting Hradecky's 13 points for your squad?

I had him in my team (Crew Andrew, Amarius). I considered seriously to dispense on that 13pointer and switch Bachmann in instead, because I felt it was somehow an immoral 13 points. But in the end I couldn't resist to leave it as it was.

[Ruth_NZ]

The one thing that infuriated me was Hrádecký's 13 points; a poor GK that people only had because he was dirt cheap manages to make 6 saves including a penalty in keeping a CS against a shell-shocked Denmark. Horrible. I guess you could argue that if you had Bachmann or Simon or Rui Patricio behind him, he was a kind of free hit and I guess there's some truth in that. Personally I went after a more solid CS (and got one) but it was dwarfed by Hrádecký's heroics and good fortune.

I agree on that and also what you wrote about UEFA procedure concerning that game. It corresponds exactly to my thoughts. But what would you have done in case of getting Hradecky's 13 points for your squad?

I had him in my team (Crew Andrew, Amarius). I considered seriously to dispense on that 13pointer and switch Bachmann in instead, because I felt it was somehow an immoral 13 points. But in the end I couldn't resist to leave it as it was.

Two separate things, mate. UEFA demonstrated exactly what they are. We agree.

But in taking Hrádecký, you were either very lucky or very cute. Very lucky if you only had him because he was cheap. Very cute if you figured that he had an outside chance of a big score (would get plenty of shots to save) and felt the GK you had behind him had a pretty good CS chance. Either way, lucky or cute, there was no reason for you to have any compunction about keeping his 13 points, I certainly would have.

Well done on the good start, Hrádecký helped but MD1 was really about how many of CR7, Lukaku and Immobile you had. You managed two and that put you on the way to a good score. Still, I'm only 11 points behind you so we'll see what this MD brings.

[Ruth_NZ]

Euro Fantasy Team MD2

Limitless chip in play and I tried to resist making the team as expensive as possible. KDB has been left out as he'll probably be eased in to the tournament after his injury and once again I have bet against Belgium with none of their players for the game in Denmark. Hopefully the Danes will be inspired rather than deflated after what has happened to them. Could go either way.

Kane Dzyuba
Insigne Sterling Çalhanoğlu Bale Yarmolenko
Spinazzola Zinchenko Fernandes
Olsen
Lloris Alba Mbappé Hernandez

Dzyuba is my first captain; I couldn't resist having him against Finland (who are due a hammering after the last game) and was quite close to taking Golovin as well. Isak was the striker I'd have liked but couldn't fit. The midfield was harder to pick and there were plenty reasons not to take Bale but Turkey concede plenty and maybe this will be Bale's big game. Perisic, Golovin or Wijnaldum would have taken that slot otherwise. The defence would have included Dumfries if Fernandes hadn't been starting. Hopefully Fernandes and Dzyuba can give me a good start.

As usual, GL all!

[Ruth_NZ]

How's your luck? Fernandes was RWB and very attacking, getting on the end of things in the box and all. And then injured after 25 minutes. Another cute choice with a not-cute outcome then. Sometimes it seems you'd be better off doing no research at all.

[fred1266]

How's your luck? Fernandes was RWB and very attacking, getting on the end of things in the box and all. And then injured after 25 minutes. Another cute choice with a not-cute outcome then. Sometimes it seems you'd be better off doing no research at all.

Agreed

[Ruth_NZ]

Euro Fantasy Team MD3

MD2 was poor and am just playing on automatic now, little chance of making up so much lost ground in a short game. Was right about KDB being eased in but unfortunately 45 minutes was enough. And the preference of Fernandes over Dumfries was compounded when Dumfries did so well after Fernandes got an early injury. Ah well.

Depay Belotti
Chiesa KDB Mount Havertz Yarmolenko
Rodriguez Mykolenko Tolói
Stekelenburg
Simon Gosen P.Torres Moreno

Belotti is my first captain; fortunately we know the lineups for the first 2 games and that helps as my Italy triple is relatively cheap. Isak was once again the striker I'd have liked but couldn't fit, 8m just seems a bit much for a Sweden attacker. The Holland lineup could be anything as they already won the group so I'm guessing with those but I'd imagine Dumfries may get a rest. The other I had my eyes on was Müller but historically it's the KO rounds where he comes alive so I'll be waiting for those.

As usual, GL all and hope your pin is landing better than mine.

[wahine]

Euro fantasy is quite fun with the format although my captains have an average of two points coulda shoulda woulda too much tinkering.
my C on Chiesa today

[Neath boy]

Made some late changes when I saw lineups. Changed Mount to Shaqiri as well but failed to note Mount was on bench so I ended up benching Shaqiri today! Now hoping one of my squad doesn’t play!

[Ruth_NZ]

Made some late changes when I saw lineups. Changed Mount to Shaqiri as well but failed to note Mount was on bench so I ended up benching Shaqiri today! Now hoping one of my squad doesn’t play!

The peril of last-minute changes.

I had Shaqiri as well but realised I had no players on Tuesday for captaincy so switched him for Mount.

[fred1266]

Made some late changes when I saw lineups. Changed Mount to Shaqiri as well but failed to note Mount was on bench so I ended up benching Shaqiri today! Now hoping one of my squad doesn’t play!

yikes

i thought mines was bad by accidently not captaining anyone for this round

[fred1266]

Made some late changes when I saw lineups. Changed Mount to Shaqiri as well but failed to note Mount was on bench so I ended up benching Shaqiri today! Now hoping one of my squad doesn’t play!

The peril of last-minute changes.

I had Shaqiri as well but realised I had no players on Tuesday for captaincy so switched him for Mount.

wouldn't u have prefer not have a captain than putting it on mount

[Ruth_NZ]

I had Shaqiri as well but realised I had no players on Tuesday for captaincy so switched him for Mount.

Wouldn't u have prefer not have a captain than putting it on Mount?

I would now.

Every 50/50 in this game I am taking the wrong one. Just getting in practise for next FPL season probably. Still, some luck today, Depay had a captain haul and Stekelenburg a CS that Dumfries didn't get.

[fred1266]

I had Shaqiri as well but realised I had no players on Tuesday for captaincy so switched him for Mount.

Wouldn't u have prefer not have a captain than putting it on Mount?

I would now.

Every 50/50 in this game I am taking the wrong one. Just getting in practise for next FPL season probably. Still, some luck today, Depay had a captain haul and Stekelenburg a CS that Dumfries didn't get.

yea lol

i also losing all 50/50 Mount might still play cause dey all tested negative when dey tested today

[TheRumourMill]

An own goal for that Finnish goalkeeper you hate Ruth, some 50:50's do go your way sometimes

[Ruth_NZ]

An own goal for that Finnish goalkeeper you hate Ruth, some 50:50's do go your way sometimes.

That wasn't a 50:50, it was a 10:90.

I'm glad Finland are out, they were entirely boring to watch and gave the competition nothing. Would be better to go back to 16 teams and a shorter tournament but UEFA want to squeeze every last drop of oil from their olives.

[TheRumourMill]

An own goal for that Finnish goalkeeper you hate Ruth, some 50:50's do go your way sometimes.

That wasn't a 50:50, it was a 10:90.

I'm glad Finland are out, they were entirely boring to watch and gave the competition nothing. Would be better to go back to 16 teams and a shorter tournament but UEFA want to squeeze every last drop of oil from their olives.

They did give the tournament one thing, that beautiful kit!

But otherwise I agree, the 16 team format was far better. As much as anything else it just works far better mathematically and is fairer on the teams involved.