Here’s our Fantasy Bundesliga Matchday 27 article where FFGeek Contributor Rob Reid reviews his excellent start in GW26 and talks through his likely transfers and captains for GW27.
Fantasy Bundesliga Matchday 27 – Rob Reid reviews GW26 and shows his team for GW27
Follow Rob on twitter here
See Rob’s introductory article here
join the FFGeek fantasy Bundesliga league
Matchday 26 Review – 130 points; Gameweek Rank 3849
Here was my team for GW26
I really enjoyed my opening into salvo in Official Bundesliga Fantasy Manager (OBFM) last week and it was great to see some competitive football again, albeit in a rather eerie format. I’m pretty happy with my first try at the game and emerged with a creditable 130 points from my first Matchday for a gameweek rank of 3849 out of I believe around 110,000. I tweaked my squad a bit when the team news came out at 130pm on Saturday – some of the changes being more successful than others.
The big winners from my team were Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen and Hakimi from Borussia Dortmund. I swapped Havertz in for Sancho when the team news emerged that the England midfielder was only a sub and this proved fruitful, starring him for Monday night’s game which he duly rewarded with 33 points. Hakimi also looks a good option – he was starred for 21 points despite no attacking returns. Attacking defenders certainly look good in this format although I’d classify Hakimi as an OOP defender based on what I saw in the Dortmund game. He was effectively a winger for most the match, it reminded me somewhat of Gareth Bale’s early FPL days when he was still classified as a defender.
Otherwise my returns were more modest and I missed out by not starring Haaland, having to settle for a smaller return from Lewandowski in the Sunday match. Disappointments were Timo Werner and Nkunku (Leipzig looked a bit off the pace and were lucky not to lose) and my mid-price defender Bender who got also booked. Moving forward, I’ve now got half an eye on the fixtures coming up with Matchday 27 being quickly followed by a midweek for Matchday 28.
Observations
My initial observation from this week is that it’s really useful to have players spread across the kick-off days and times that make up the Matchday. Unlike FPL but more in tune with the Sky and UCL formats, this means you can make substitutions within the Matchday and give yourself the best chance of getting a good return on your Star Players. Last week for example, I was able to partially make up for missing out on starring Haaland by swapping to Lewandowski on the Sunday.
Another observation is that attacking full-backs appear very profitable and good value. Looking at the defence overall, clean sheets aren’t really given great recognition in this game (the Dusseldorf clean sheet was only worth a total 12 points from my Dusseldorf keeper and defender) where as the ability to attack can be rewarded more handsomely in terms of attempts on goal, passes to a shot and duels. Hakimi on his own (minus his star) outscored both those Dusseldorf players put together, with his points picked up going forward making the 3 he got for the clean sheet a bit of an afterthought.
Finally, I stand by my initial observation in that the top teams are key. Bayern and Dortmund look a class above to me, though I was also very impressed by Bayer Leverkusen on Monday night. That also being said there are also some teams that look poor. Werder Bremen were frankly awful in that Monday game as were Schalke against Dortmund. Have they just started slowly or is this a theme that’s set to continue is the question I guess.
Matchday 27 Transfers
So there’s 3 transfers available for this week and I plan to use them to try and spread players across the game times somewhat. My strategy is to bring at least one player in from the Berlin Derby for Friday night for starters. Having visited Berlin and the Olympiastadion a few years back, I’m really looking forward to this game. It’s a shame the ground won’t be full as this promised a great atmosphere but it is what it is and I think it should be a good tussle on the pitch.
The standout options for me are Mittelstadt from Hertha (DF, 7.4m) and from Union there’s Trimmel (DF 9.2), Lenz (DF 2.6m) and Schlotterback (DF 2.3m) though I believe Lenz is a slight injury doubt. Trimmel and Mittelstadt look the best options for me as they present an attacking threat, though it does obviously come at a price. There are forward options from both sides too, but I personally don’t feel it’s worth sacrificing other big names players to accommodate them – there’s better value elsewhere.
I’m also quite keen to bring in someone from Freiburg. They played well to hold Leipzig in MD26, have a favourable fixture in MD27 against Werder Bremen and also offer an option in the Tuesday 730pm timeslot in MD28. This latter option is key as the first game in the Tuesday 530pm slot is ‘Der Klassiker’ – Dortmund v Bayern so this ties up a few captain options early on and returns may be limited with these. Going back to Frieburg, Gulde (DF, 1.8m) looks a good budget option.
The other team I’m eyeing up is Augsberg, again with good fixtures in mind. Jevaj (DF, 2.1) is the budget possiblity here though I’m also keen to see if any cheap mids emerge as prospects against Schalke this week. Speaking of which, this is the area that does seem to be where the leanest pickings are at present. One of my MD26 punts was to bring in Reyna from Dortmund for 1m only for him to get injured in the warm-up. A player I am eyeing up though is Kainz from Koln at 7m. His team face struggling Dusseldorf this week and he returned last week. He also gives another option in the final timeslot of this MD as well as the same again in MD28.
So, it looks like the most likely moves for me will be Bender, Hoffman and Karaman out to be replaced with Mittelstadt, Kainz and Gulde. I’d slightly prefer Trimmel over Mittelstadt but I don’t have enough money. In terms of where I’ll place my Stars, I’ll start on Mittelstadt on Friday, then that leaves me with the Triple H combo of Havertz, Haaland and Hakimi on Saturday afternoon and back-up options of Gnabry and Lewandowski in the 530pm game. I then have further back-ups with Werner and Nkunku in the middle Sunday game and Kainz in the late match. I’ll make my final calls when the Berlin Derby teams are posted around 530pm – I’ll Tweet my final line-up after I’ve done so.
On a final note, I’d like to say that I’m really enjoying my first experiences with the game. The website is a little clunky and backwards and forwards compared with FPL, but the App is very good and I’m getting to grip with the rules and the interface. I’m certainly going to play for the rest of this season and am already very tempted to play next season as well. I hope you’re all enjoying it too and good luck this week everyone!
Likely transfers: Bender, Hoffman and Karaman OUT Mittelstadt, Kainz and Gulde IN.
Likely captains: Havertz, Haaland and Hakimi
Rob’s son joining in with the Bundesliga enthusiasm
Follow Rob on twitter here
See Rob’s introductory article here
join the FFGeek fantasy Bundesliga league
For more fantasy Bundesliga tips Follow FFGeek on twitter and facebook and instagram for article updates and news
