Here’s my McDonalds Euro 2016 fantasy football article where we have a first go at our team. We talk through some basic principles that I’ve tried to implement in creating my team plus some specific thoughts on players and teams. There’s still nearly 2 weeks to go and I’m only part way through my research on players so it’s just a starter for 10. So although I obviously will welcome any comments and feedback please recognise that it is early in the process.
McDonalds Euro 2016 fantasy football – first draft team
Firstly here’s the team. It’s set out for the first gameweek.
The 2nd GK is McGovern of NI at £4.5m. I couldn’t get him in the picture.
The first thing I would say is that funds are a precious commodity and you do have to make sacrifices to get a team out.
Given there’s a wildcard I’ve selected players with the first 2 rounds in the Group stages (weirdly named Matchdays) in mind making an assumption that I will use my wildcard before Matchday 3 to avoid potential rotation. That combined with price rises on performance have affected my selection.
I started wanting to have a good selection of potential captain options given that it seems you can throw the armband around like confetti if you’re prepared to gamble but the funds just weren’t there. I couldn’t get Ronaldo in the team which ideally I would have liked to. In terms of captain potential then I have Lewandoski, Giroud and Gotze I would trust with the armband. Given that Lewandoski and Gotze play each other in Matchday 2 I’m not set up fantastically well for this.
It also occurs to me that given the substitution ability in between game days that you should put the players on the bench that play last and sub them in if you think they could do better than those who’ve played. That could mean having Ronaldo on the bench which seems a little ridiculous? I’ll take this under advisement.
However with Lewandoski home to NI he seems essential as a starter given a price rise will occur straight after. Gotze and Martial are practically strikers given their advanced positions so they seemed good acquisitions. Giroud seems such good value given he should lead the line in a fairly easy Group. It’s also worth mentioning that I think we should see the France lineup before the teams are locked which will be helpful as it isn’t impossible that neither could start.
Moving on then Alli seems great value although he could play deeper than his Spurs role. Januzovic seems good value for an Austrian CAM who opens with Hungary and has some set piece responsibility. Manzukic wasn’t a particular favourite but was the best filler at the price. No armband potential though. I did flirt with the idea of Harry Kane but 2 England players didn’t really appeal. Neither did Lukaku given his end of season form. Stanciu of Romania seems the best very cheap midfielder.
So on to defence. Cash was limited. France was my only essential in defence so I went for the security of Sagna. Mangala starting would save £1m but the potential appearance of Sakho puts some doubt over this. I would have liked Spain and Germany in defence but this wasn’t feasible. So I’ve drafted the defence for the 2 Matchdays based on fixtures. Switzerland v Albania and Poland v NI in round 1 with Djourou and Gilk. Then I’ve gone for the fixtures of Ukraine v NI and Iceland v Hungary with Ratiksky and Saevarsson.
Patricio for a strong Portugal defence seemed the best GK for the £5.0m price. McGovern was 1 of 3 £4.5m GKs who could start and he was forced upon me due to funds.
Unfortunately the structure especially in defence does limit the sub options during matchdays. However I think having multiple captain options and a strong 5th midfield and a full suite of strong defensive countries is a tall order given the funds challenge.
So these are my inital thoughts and my initial team. I hope it proves your thoughts so please comments are welcome but as I said strategy and the best player picks are still forming
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