Here’s our Euro Fantasy Football Tips article with Rob Reid’s Round of 16 Euro Fantasy team
Euro Fantasy Football Tips – Rob Reid’s Round Of 16 Team
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Matchday 3 Review – 74 pts (Wildcard played); Total Points – 208; Overall rank – 9300
Matchday 3 followed a similar pattern to the other 2 for my team. A fairly middle of the road set of returns. 7 out of my playing 11 for this Matchday, plus an assist from Pau Torres left on the bench after I elected not to sacrifice a point to bring him in after the news of him being on the bench for Spain broke. My score was bumped up again though by a good Captain return after my punt on Shaqiri for the first game of the Matchday paid off – 26 points for him in the end.
At the end of The Group Phase I’m in reasonable shape – I’m inside the Top 10k, which is where I’d targeted to finish overall. The challenge is that I have to stay there now. A bit of frustration as well though as through the course of the games I’ve missed out on 5 clean sheets for various reasons (Covid, injury, early substitutions) including 3 this Matchday. That extra 20 points would see me up near the top 1000, closer to fellow contributors Kev and Stephen who have both had fantastic games so far. See the FFGeek Contributors League table below. Well done fellas by the way, and I’ll be rooting for you through the knockouts. Maybe one of you can win this thing!
Round of 16 Plan
I’ve no chips left now having used my Wildcard and Limitless chips in the group stages so I need to plan carefully from here on in. This is the most dangerous round for my team – 8 teams are going to be knocked out and I’ll only have 3 free transfers to deal with any eliminations for the 1/4 finals. The balance with this though is that it should be remembered that there are also only 15 matches left in the competition, so the remaining opportunities to score points are more limited now. As such, I’ve got to reach a compromise between attacking the remaining games, but not taking too many risks so that I can make sure I field 11 players in the quarters. After this, things become a little bit simpler – 5 transfers for the semis and then a further 5 for the final should make these rounds negotiable with 11 players and no hits.
Looking at the fixtures in The Round of 16, I can start to make a plan by trying to work out who I think are firstly good bets to get through and secondly good options for Captains on each day.
Saturday
Early game – Wales vs Denmark – the only game we’ll have teams for pre-deadline. This is a close one to call, I think a tight low-scoring game that may need Extra Time. I slightly favour Denmark to go through and I expect they are probably everyone’s second team now, though I’ll be keeping my household loyalty and supporting Wales. Not a great option for Captains.
Late game – Italy v Austria – probably the game in this round where I’m most confident of the result – I’m expecting a comfortable Italy win, so 3 or 4 players from Italy an option here. Good for a first day Captain punt too.
Sunday
Early game – Netherlands v Czech Republic – Netherlands are favourites here, though I’m not convinced this will be plain sailing. Neither side have been convincing defensively so I think there will be goals in this. Some good Captaincy options here too.
Late game – Belgium v Portugal – this is the draw neither of these teams wanted at this stage and I can see this one going either way. Belgium will be favourites, but Portugal know how to win these close knock-out games and Ronaldo is on fire. Maybe not a fixture to over-commit on despite all the talent available although the premium players are Captaincy options
Monday
Early game – Croatia v Spain – Another close one to call. Spain slight favourites I’d say, but they only really found their from in the Slovakia match and were helped by an implosion from their opposition. Croatia will find this one tough, especially as Spain will dominate possession, again probably not one to over-commit on and not a great one for Captaincy.
Late game – France vs Switzerland – France are the favourites here and I expect them to go through, but Switzerland may not be an easy nut to crack. Some good Captaincy options for France here and they are I think the next safest team for picks going through after Italy.
Tuesday
Early game – England v Germany – England are the only team with home advantage in this round, but they’ve landed up with their bogey team from previous tournaments. Germany have been very hot and cold and don’t seem to know their best team or formation. A tight game again I reckon and not one to commit heavily on for both players or Captaincy.
Late game – Sweden v Ukraine – This looks the fixture to target for a Tuesday Captain with good mid-priced options on both sides. Sweden looked good in the group phase and I would expect them to progress, but Ukraine have got the firepower to hurt anyone as they showed in their narrow defeat to The Netherlands.
Based on this, I’m going to look at a squad with something like the following. Firstly, 4 Italians and 2 or 3 from France and The Netherlands as the core. That’s potentially 9-10 players who I’d be fairly confident on getting through. After that, I’ll fill in the blanks from the other teams but also look to target players who I think will score well in this round. The curiosities of the pricing system mean I have ended up with £106.6m to play with after the price rises between rounds so here’s what I’m looking at.
Goalkeepers and Defenders
Donnarumma is back in again after I left him out for MD3. I’m then going to punt on a triple up for Italy defence by adding my MD1 star attacking full-back Spinazzola and gametime secure Bonucci. Italy have the best clean sheet odds for this round so I’m going to gamble on this early on. It leaves me in a trickier situation for the 1/4s as if they progress, they will face the winners of Belgium v Portugal, but my thinking is there won’t be any easy ties in the quarter-finals so you’re probably picking defenders more for their attacking return potential.
So with a nod to that previous statement, I’ve picked 2 very attacking full-backs in Dumfries and Maehle. I think both have a great chance of progressing and adding some attacking returns in the process. Denmark and Netherlands also rank 3rd and 5th for clean sheet odds this Matchday. My final defender is the gametime secure Varane of France (they are 2nd for clean sheet odds) and my back-up keeper is Pickford. The England keeper is a little bit of a hedge for the quarter-finals – I’ll mention this later
Midfielders
3 names are nailed on in this category. First up Wijnaldum of The Netherlands and Forsberg of Sweden – great form in the group stage and a good chance of progressing. The other nailed on player is Berardi from Italy. He’s a bargain at £6.2m with the bonus of set-piece involvement. The other 2 picks were trickier as I’ve gone with 3 premium strikers so my budget was more limited.
I’ll consult with Sergio on this one probably, but I thought Sarabia played well against Slovakia and looks a good prospect. I’ll see if there’s any news in the Spanish press regarding him being a likely starter before I fully commit here though as the Spain line-up has been a bit unpredictable. I’ve gone with Damsgard for my last player, but I am tempted to try and cover another team here – perhaps England, Germany or Belgium so this could change before the deadline.
Forwards
3 premiums here. Depay was the first name in my 15 – he’s in fine form, got all the set pieces and has a good chance of getting through to the next round, he’s in. Next up, I wanted to cover France for a Monday Captain option so I’ve gone with Benzema. Mbappe and Griezmann are both good options too, but I like Benzema’s recent form and the fact he’s on penalties. Last up, it’s Ronaldo. He’s not guaranteed to get through, but I just couldn’t leave him out and he’s an easy transfer to another premium if he gets knocked out.
A few other points
I’ve got a couple of issues with my team that I’m going to mull over. First up, I’ve no Belgium cover. They’ve got players who can score big such as Lukaku, De Bruyne and Meunier. My argument here is that I prefer Depay as a Captain option that day and I think he is safer bet to reach the quarters. Next is my Italy 4. It’s a gamble to go with 3 defenders and overlook Immobile – I may regret that move!
The other problem is England vs Germany as I potentially won’t have anyone playing in this game if Italy keep a clean sheet. I don’t think this is a huge issue for this round as I think their game could be a tight low-scorer, but low coverage from these teams could be a problem for the quarters as they potentially have the easiest quarter against Sweden or the Ukraine. This is why I’ve made a small concession by having Pickford as my reserve keeper. If England qualify, he then becomes a great option for the quarters with a defensive double-up tempting. And if they get knocked out, it’s no big deal as reserve keeper is kind of a bonus position and would be the last position in the team I’d change on a transfer.
Therefore, this isn’t completely set in stone and I might change before the 5pm Saturday deadline. As usual though, I’ll Tweet my final team before the deadline. Good luck folks – I hope you’re enjoying the tournament as much as I am and all the best for the knockout rounds.
Here’s Rob’s team as it stands now
See also Yaniv’s and Kris O’s team for the round of 16
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