Euro 2016 Fantasy Football – Group A

Euro 2016 Fantasy Football – Group A
The countdown to Euro 2016 began with Andy’s intro article concerning the set up and rules of the game and the man himself has kindly followed that up with our first look at the groups. Group A is made up of hosts France together with Albania, Romania and Switzerland. A lot of friendly games are still yet to be played so no doubt we’ll be able to gleam a lot more information from the starting line ups as we go along but for now here’s a brief run down of the teams involved in Group A with a few player recommendations.

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Albania
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[/three_fourth]This will be the Albanians first venture to a major tournament as they are one of the international sides who have benefited the most from the recent Euro expansion of sixteen teams to twenty four and as such should be considered as rank outsiders to qualify from the group stage. Although they are still considered as one of the lesser teams in European football they have been notoriously difficult for teams to break down and are usually at their best when the chips are down.

Qualifying was a bit of a roller coaster ride for the Albanians as they seemed to be the main beneficiaries of the Serbian fall from grace, notable wins in Portugal and Serbia (the second one proving pretty controversial) helped the Albanians along the way and with Denmark failing to beat them in either game a second place finish in the group was notably achieved. They were also undefeated in the two friendly games against the French so I’d be careful about the amount of attacking options I’d be willing to take against these so called minnows.

Another of the sides who are still to announce their complete twenty three man squad the Albanians currently have twenty seven announced for their coming friendlies.

Goalkeepers

Berisha (4.5) – The Lazio stopper will be among the three cheapest starting goalkeepers in the game, it might be worth using him as a ultimate budget rotation with one of them but you’d still fancy the Albanians to ship goals to both the French and Swiss teams in rounds one and two.

Defenders

Xhimshiti (4.5) – With the only nailed on starting defender (Cana being listed as a midfielder) picking out the other three starting defenders is proving troublesome so far, Xhimshiti however is the most versatile of the lot and has started games at RB, LB and CB recently and I’d like to think that this will help to see him start at least the opening fixture.

Lila (4.0) – This one could be a bit of a punt but when Lila does start he normally plays on the right hand side of midfield rather than at his normal position of full-back, he is one of the more experienced Albanians going into this tournament with over fifty caps to his name so I’m hoping that this will count for something in the managers eye come game time.

Fantasy tactic

Under no circumstances at all should we be looking to take attacking options from the Albanian side as they have never been the most prolific of scorers, in the qualifying rounds their highest scoring player was a drone with three (credited for the Serbia game) and an own goal by a Lithuanian player, just don’t do it and I’d only recommend looking at the defenders if you need a starting player at budget prices.

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France

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[/three_fourth]Les Bleus are this summer’s host nation and as such obviously go into this tournament as hot favourites not only for winning group A but the whole competition itself. The last two times the French have hosted a national football tournament they’ve managed to emerge victorious on both occasions with the likes of Tigana, Giresse and Platini of ’84 being followed by Desailly, Blanc and Zidane in ’98 so if history is anything to go by this French side should be held as major contenders.

Although they didn’t need to qualify directly for the tournament because of being hosts they were paired with teams from qualifying group I in the lead up to the competition, it wouldn’t have made much difference to the end result either way though as the French would still have cruised through automatically. They have struggled of late though when facing tougher friendly opposition with the likes of Brazil, Belgium and England managing to beat them over the last year.

Thankfully the French were one of the first teams to announce their 23 man squad well in advance of the opening kick off so here are a few players who I figure will play a major part both for them and potentially our fantasy teams :-

Goalkeeper

Lloris (6.0) – The Spurs stopper and captain of the side will be an ever present starter. Although he is listed on the more expensive scale of the goalkeepers he would be a great choice for those willing to take only the one playing GK backed up by the budget saving 4.0.

Defenders

Koscielny (6.0) – Laurent Koscielny would probably be the most likeliest defender from the French to knick a bonus goal as neither Sagna nor Evra have managed to score in over a hundred and twenty international games between them. It’s probably best not mentioning that Kos has also not found the back of the net for France yet but you’d have to imagine that he’d be much more of a set piece threat than the other two as he is coming off the back of his highest scoring season for Arsenal.

Mangala (5.0)/ Mathieu (4.5) – With the late withdrawal of Varane due to a thigh injury a sneaky budget option into the French defence has become available. I’m not sure yet just who the main beneficiary of Varane’s downfall is but both Mangala and Mathieu look like being the main contenders, fingers crossed everything will be made a lot clearer by manager Didier Deschamps team selections in the upcoming friendly games.

Midfielders

Pogba (8.5) – Paul Pogba looks to be the safe route into the French midfield as at the tender age of just twenty three the powerful box to box midfielder has already racked up an impressive number of twenty nine caps in his short career so far. Although he hasn’t managed an international goal since the World Cup of two years ago he’s the most likely to offer support to the sole striker from the central midfield position.

Payet (8.0) / Martial (9.0) – We all should know by now of the stunning season that Dmitiri Payet has had in this season’s Premier League. The native of Reunion has been a breath of fresh air and has always looked to be a game changer when on the field for West Ham, this doesn’t however translate well into a international career in France as although I do strongly believe that the midfield maestro will start the first game he will be on a very short leash, so if the host nation don’t get off to the best of starts against the Romanians, Payet will more then likely be the one to make way for Man Utd’s Martial.

Forwards

Griezmann (10.0) – Griezmann is probably the most in-form player that France have as he’s having his most successful season to date at Athletico scoring over thirty goals in fifty games for the Spanish side. He will have the small matter of a Champions league final to negotiate before joining up with the squad but this guy will be a major threat to all the other defences in group A. His goal scoring form for the national team hasn’t exactly caught fire yet with him still only having the five goals to his name for his country so far and he will be playing more as a winger rather than a out and out forward so his price tag does come with one or two pitfalls but the man must be oozing confidence right about now.

Giroud (8.5) – Right let’s just get this one out of the way with as no doubt all of us have at one time or another been burned by signing Olivier Giroud for a fantasy team and I know you might roll your eyes and say ‘not him again’ but trust me, this time it’s legit. He’s on his best run of scoring form (Arsenal appearances not included) that he’s ever had and he’ll be the lone striker of what looks like being a 4-5-1 formation. I mean come on, apart from his name being Giroud, what’s not to like about this situation.

Fantasy Tactic

France have the potential to be one of the highest scoring fantasy teams and I’d be very surprised to see many teams going without some form of their attacking coverage. However if you are going to double up with the mids and forwards it might just be a good idea to cover yourself with some defensive rotation from the other Group A teams in case the worst should happen and they draw a blank.

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Romania
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[/three_fourth]This team makes me feel old just hearing their name as I was a big fan of a few of their players back in the nineties – Hagi, Dumitrescu, Popescu and Petrescu were awesome back then in the earlier World Cups of that decade. Few stars have made it out of the country since that golden era and having not qualified for a major tournament since 2008, success has been a lot thinner on the ground. They are however very difficult to beat these days having not lost an international game since 2013 and although they don’t seem to score many goals they are very difficult to break down.

The qualifying group table proves this point no end as no team managed to match the Romanian record of conceding only two goals (eight clean sheets) in their ten games. However the flip side to this statistic is that only Albania managed to score fewer goals in the qualification games as well, an undefeated record was also attained but that still only managed them second place as the lack of a serious goal threat led to many drawn games rather than outright victories.

So far they’ve got a twenty eight man squad selected for the upcoming friendly games but that will be getting whittled down to the twenty three men needed shortly.

Goalkeeper

Tartarusanu (5.0) – A former Romanian footballer of the year Tartarusanu looks likely to be the starting goalkeeper for Romania. This won’t be the first time that Pantillimon has been in a direct competition for a number one spot but I’d imagine that Tartarusanu would have to make a pretty big mistake to lose his place at such a late stage.

Defenders

Rat (5.5) – Although Romania only managed eleven goals in qualifying the old man of the Romanian back line was still able to attain a highly credible three assists. At 34 years of age this looks likely to be his final swansong in the side but with over a hundred caps to his name I’d be shocked to see him not making the starting line up for all three of the group games.

Chiriches (5.0) – Chiriches club career seems to have stalled as of late as he’s swapped from being on the fringes of the Tottenham side for being on the fringes of the Napoli team as he only made eight appearances for the Italian side in Serie A this season. He is the captain for Romania now though so he’d be a nailed on starting option.

Midfielder

Torje (6.5) – Torje has a bit of a quirky statistic as compared to all the other midfielders in the side. He is technically the highest scoring option available to us with nine international goals to his credit, however he hasn’t managed a single goal since 2013 – in fact his dry spell has somehow managed to coincide with Romania’s best run of form in nearly twenty years, so look for him to actually score when Romania get beat.

Forwards

Stancu (6.5) – Rather than leading the line Stancu will offer the main supporting role to the sole striker, he will likely suffer for this because of the Romanian style of play.

Keseru (6.5) – Keseru will likely be the main striking option for the Romanians and he has a half decent record of scoring four goals in eleven starts so far. I’m not really expecting Romania to set the goal scoring charts on fire in the summer but Keseru would be my top target from the attacking options available if I so needed one.

Fantasy tactic

I would probably look to avoid attacking coverage from this team as they’ll be opening up the tournament against what looks like the two toughest teams from the group. I would however recommend a defender to be taken as part of a rotational back five as more than likely nearly everyone will be taking attacking options from either the French or the Swiss sides. A cheeky pick for that defensive spot could be Matel who at 4.0 could be the starting right back but I’d really like to see the friendly line ups before confirming on that one.

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Switzerland
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[divider_1px]The Swiss don’t seem to ever have their best performances when the European competition roles round as in three separate attempts they’ve still never managed to make it out of the group phase and that includes the time when they were themselves hosts back in 2008. They do however have an attractive style of play this time around and although they seem to lose as many as they win things are never boring when the Nati come to play.

Qualification was also a topsy turvy affair as the Swiss got off to a poor start losing both of their opening games and if it wasn’t for a Roy of the Rovers injury time winner against the Slovenians it could of well been Switzerland who would of had to go through the lottery of a play off game rather than the Slovaks.

They currently have a twenty seven man announced for their coming friendly games but that will soon be whittled down to the twenty three needed for the tournament.

Goalkeeper

Sommer (5.0) – Sommer looks to be the cheapest safe route into the Swiss defensive options with a price tag .5 cheaper than most of the other defenders who look nailed on starters.

Defenders

Schar (5.5) – Even though he’s a centre half Schar seems to have a certain knack of being in the right place at the right time as he’s managed five goals in his nineteen appearances so far, unfortunately though that means that he’s scored more goals then help keep clean sheets as part of the national set up. Be mindful as it seems Schar may have picked up an injury this week.

Lichtensteiner (5.5) – A virtual ever present in the Swiss squad for over the past decade, the Juventus full-back will be nailed on to start all of the opening group games and although he might be in the twilight of his international career he can still be relied upon to make them lung busting runs down the right flank.

Midfielders

Xhaka (7.0) – Apparently now a Arsenal player, however only one goal and one assist in qualifying might make me wary of splashing out seven million on the Swiss youth. The potential must be clearly there though if you have Arsene willing to open the cheque book to bring you in.

Behrami (6.0) – It’s tough to pick out relevant Swiss mids with the likes of Shaqiri and Mehmedi being listed as forwards but the Watford play maker looks like he’ll be a safe play for making the starting line up in the three group games, he’s never been rated as a high goal scorer through out his career though.

Forwards

Shaqiri (8.0) – I’m a little gutted that Shaqiri managed to make the forwards list as I’d of loved to have him in my squad as a midfielder. He tends to play all along the front line for the Swiss and is regularly the most outstanding player that they have, four goals and four assists would have placed him in the top three fantasy scoring mids from the qualifying round but the new label of forwards manages to see him drop outside of the top ten.

Seferovic (6.5) – The potential lone striker for the Swiss who was able to bag three goals in the qualifying rounds. Derdiyok will see game time but the Frankfurt star looks to be the favourite for now in the race to lead the line before the tournament begins.

Fantasy tactic

The Swiss have what looks like one of the easier opening games on paper against Albania so Shaqiri might be a good option for those who are pre planning their first free transfer. I’m unsure if I’d be willing to leave him in there for all three games yet though, defensively they’d be one of my teams to avoid as they do seem to be rather expensive for what is normally a leaky defence.

Thanks for reading Euro 2016 Fantasy Football – Group A. This article was written by Andy

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