Euro 2016 Fantasy Football – Group B
Welcome to Group D. Oh no, sorry E. Oh hang on no it’s D and E. Yeah? No?! B?!?!?! But I’d prepped D and E… Hey, ok, no worries. Gun for hire and all that. B it is then I guess… Let’s get the important info out of the way here (the only info I actually know about B as I sit down to write this. I can tell you all you’d ever need to know about D and E if you like though!). Apparently Group B comprises of England, Russia, Slovakia and Wales. That’s where I’m at. Let’s write this ‘live’ then and see how that goes and you can join me on my journey of discovery as I research the article and literally write what I find!
As ever I’ll go a bit stat heavy here but it comes with a warning, as do other groups analysis as we go through each one, as all we really have to base the conclusions on here are the competitive games, which are of course the recent qualifying groups for this particular tournament. And therein lies the problem because clearly not every nation is created equal in footballing terms so any strong team who had say a Faroe Islands or a Gibraltar in their group may fare much better in the goals scored column than they would have done had they had a tougher and more competitive group. It’s just something to bear in mind as it’s very different to when we lay on Premier League stats over a period of time as pretty much most games in that (not you Villa) are at least competitive.
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Engerland
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[/three_fourth]Full disclosure on this one – I’m very English. Which probably isn’t much of a revelation. What may be is the fact that I actually don’t watch us play that much. I’m an avid fan, don’t get me wrong, but really only in tournaments these days. You see, I’m way past the point of watching pointless friendlies and in all honesty the majority of qualifiers these days are pretty much just glorified versions of those, with the same inevitable outcomes, and so my interest in those has dimmed too as the years have gone by. So in truth my knowledge of the team is thorough enough in that I know the players because I see them in the Premier League every week and I see and hear all the coverage of them in the media day in and day out. In terms of actually watching them though I can honestly say I’ve seen as many full Slovakia games since the World Cup as I have England ones…
So a quick google search on Engerland’s chances has revealed that we are definitely going to win this / we may make the semis / we’ll be lucky to make the quarters / we have no chance of even qualifying from the group / this is a new golden generation… And that’s the trouble with England – you just never know. Personally I feel we have a good chance if Woy just puts out the likes of Vardy, Kane and Alli and says ‘no pressure’, just go do what you do week in, week out. Let them cut loose and go at it like they do for their club sides and who knows. The elephant in the room is of course the defence. Which looks as suspect as can be and will be found out for sure. Two very attacking full backs doesn’t really help when you have at least one centre half who isn’t interested in defending (Stones) or one who is but is too slow to do actually do so (Cahill). Good luck holding that lot together Mike! Well at least until you get sent off yourself anyway and then God help us.
Their qualifying stats looked like this –
Played 10, W10, D0, L0
Goals For: 31
Goals Against: 3
So as we can see England are pretty much just about the best team in the world on the basis of this. Well ok, Europe maybe. Well ok, a reduced Europe then. One with say just the likes of powerhouses Estonia, Lithuania and San Marino in it. You’re starting to see why I don’t even bother to watch this nonsense any more now aren’t you!
On the face of it then England are both potent in attack and miserly in defence. Only Poland scored more goals in the qualifying campaign and England averaged 3.1 per game. Likewise only Romania conceded less with just 2 past them. Can we trust these stats and actually put any weight behind them? No not really. See the teams listed above and consider that I missed out the main two opponents in the form of…. Slovenia and Switzerland. Enough said.
Player Picks
Lies, damn and statistics then. As strong as that defence looks statistically, in reality it isn’t, and their opponents look pretty capable at the goal getting thing as they’ve scored 49 between them all in qualifying games. Hart may arguably be the best keeper in the tournament but with that lot in front of him as we described above then it’s difficult to pick him.
As for the forward players then it all depends if they click and don’t freeze. Their opponents all boast admirable defensive records (5, 8 and 4 conceded) and so none will be a rollover in theory. Kane would be my main England pick if anyone. Maybe a small punt on Alli but that’s only if he’s given an advanced role like he is for Spurs and Rooney could yet ruin that, which would be a shame. Beyond that we wouldn’t go for much else really despite actually fancying them to do well. If they do then we feel the points could be well spread as the likes of Vardy and Lallana may well fill the other forward roles and play a significant part also.
Given as I’m writing this ‘live’, as such, then it’s maybe worth noting that Rashford scored the other night as did Rooney. Rashford is irrelevant really as even if he gets on the plane he won’t be first choice. Rooney is more so given that he will on both counts. It’d be a brave man that relies on him though as his explosive days are behind him. Will he grab the odd goal in the tournament? Yeah, most likely. Is he likely to supplement that with another one or two and assists to boot? Probably not. Would you pick him ahead of say Ronaldo, Lewandowski or Bale who are all more likely to do so? No.
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Russia
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[/three_fourth]Oh dear, that’s my actual real knowledge out of the way then. Hellooooo Mr Google. Looks like Russia qualified in 2nd place here. Behind Austria. Now as recommendations go that doesn’t sound too promising for starters. They did however finish above Zlatan who sneaked in in 3rd. Digging deeper though it seems that a certain Fabio Capello did his best to see that they weren’t going to actually qualify initially with him guiding them to just 8 points from their first 6 games. So what to do? Well of course, bring in a slut. And no we don’t mean the legendary Lothario Sven. Leonid Slutsky guided them to 12 points from their remaining 4 games and so they are here with us. Maybe not with the best Russian team we have seen recently but certainly with a functional one who are capable of qualifying from the group and certainly one who will make life difficult for their opponents.
Their qualifying stats looked like this –
Played 10, W6, D2, L2
Goals For: 21
Goals Against: 5
As per above it’s worth pointing out that 11 of those 21 goals came against Liechtenstein alone. Which basically means they managed just 10 in the other 8 games. And that includes games against the likes of Montenegro and Moldova. Hmmm… Not really fancying their attack much then. Defensively it’s a goal against every other game which looks ok in theory. So basically they’ll be out for keeping things tight and nicking a win if they can.
Player Picks
In all honesty I wouldn’t really bother with Russia other than maybe considering either Shatov or Dzyuba. With the likes of old fantasy favourite Dzagoev being injured then midfielder Shatov will be the main man charged with providing the chances to Dzubya and he comes in form having got 6 assists and 8 goals in his domestic campaign. And the striker himself is lethal to be fair to him as 8 goals in qualifying would suggest and many will have picked him for their CL teams too so will be familiar with him from there and he got 6 goals in that campaign too ending the season for Zenit with 23 goals in 43 appearances in total.
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Slovakia
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[/three_fourth]The Slovaks qualified here in 2nd place behind Spain from a group which included Ukraine but beyond that they weren’t really pushed as the others were Belarus, Luxembourg and Macedonia who only managed 20 goals between the lot of them in 30 games. It looks like it was a relatively straight forward qualifying campaign for them then and did actually include a win over Spain themselves which isn’t to be sniffed at.
Their qualifying stats looked like this –
Played 10, W7, D1, L2
Goals For: 17
Goals Against: 8
A pretty decent 1.7 goals per game but as we say the opposition wasn’t exactly much of a barometer here and they really are hampered by the lack of any star strikers.It looks like they did manage 4 clean shhets in their 10 games but in the latter stages they did somehow concede 2 to Luxembourg who’d only scoted 4 prior to that in 9 games so we wouldn’t be overly confident on them keeping out their group opponents here.
Player Picks
As we just said there’s no real striker to hang your hat on and the defence doesn’t really interest us given the opposition. The only real one to consider here is midfielder Marik Hamsik who got 5 goals in qualifying. He’s a consistent scorer at club level and is now vastly experienced, boasting over 400 appearances for Napoli and 98 goals in that time.
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Wales
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[/three_fourth]Wales will fancy their chances here despite it being their first ever appearance at the Euro’s and their first major finals appearance since back in the 50’s. A lot will rest on the shoulders of a certain Real Madrid star but don’t be fooled into thinking that he is their only weapon. He’s their main one of course, and more often than not their match winner, but he comes backed up with plenty of experience and a solid spine behind him.
Their qualifying stats looked like this –
Played 10, W6, D3, L1
Goals For: 11
Goals Against: 4
They qualified in 2nd behind Belgium and for once from a relatively tough group with the likes of Bosnia and Israel providing some genuine opposition. Quite how they managed to qualify by scoring just 11 goals though is another matter! Only Andorra managed to score less than them in that group. And they finished bottom. Their qualifying then seems to have hinged on keeping games tight, as only 4 goals against would suggest, and then hoping Bale would somehow push them over the line which he invariably did.
Player Picks
With such a strong showing defensively in qualifying then maybe the likes of Collins or Williams could come into your thinking here as we’d expect them to run Slovakia and Russia close in probably low scoring affairs. Other than that though it’s all about Bale as he scored 7 of those 11 qualifying goals and if they are to progress then it’ll be courtesy of him really. Ramsey may also pitch in as he’s their one other player with star quality but we’d like to have seen more from him in an Aresnal shirt to convince us that he’s a worthy pick.
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Thanks for reading Euro 2016 Fantasy Football – Group B. This article was written by Inittowinit
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Courtesy of Jamie @fplbet
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Cheers everyone Zielinski must give some att threat stats
•Piotr Zieli?ski is pushing hard for a starting berth after a fine season with Empoli. He is a more creative alternative to Krzysztof M?czy?ski in midfield.
Country Poland
Position Midfield
Caps 14
Goals 3
It kind of depends who those three goals were scored against as well though mate
Two of the goals were scored against San Marino
Exactly! I was thinking it was going to be someone like that but was thinking Gibraltar.
ok who else is there for 5m ?????? I had Renato Sanches & Rafa Silva at one point but both none starters
I’m the wrong man to ask Silvers, I still haven’t picked a team
Robbie Keane has scored nearly 60 international goals!!! 😉
OK what do we thk of swapping Alaba for Junuzovic save .5m much needed cash
Having completed the 2014–2015 season with six goals and 15 assists – only Kevin De Bruyne and Thomas Müller achieved more assists –, Junuzovi? was voted “Player of the Season” by Werder’s fans.
2006–
Austria 46 (7) goals
I’ve never heard of him but his stats sound good.
whilst there are a few people about which 3 fwds have we gone for ?
Hi silvers, Regardless of their names, I think we should follow the teams and their respective opponents. At that light, attack from France, Germany and Portugal (in this case, there’s only one name to consider) seem sensible enough. If you look for individuals, then Lewandowski of course and probably an inform Bale could be good shouts. At least for gw1 which is when they play the worst team in their respective groups.
Yes here what your saying I thk France could be held to a 0-0 draw on the opening game usually pretty tight & Rom have a sold def
Giroud, Shaqiri & Arnie to start with, Silvers.
Tom, Dick & Harry
I’ve gone with Ronaldo, Long and trying to decide between Greizmann and Giroud.
Matt, we’ll really struggle to score more than one goal in each game. Therefore I’m not sure if Long is a viable option.
Cheers Kop, I just have a feeling Long will have a good tournament, Belgium defence is all over the place right now, the Swedes arent the best defenders either it’s just the Italians that I think will be strong at the back. My best example for Longs influence is the other night against Belarus he came on as a sub and the first thing he did was set up Wards goal and then narrowly missed himself so I think he could be a bargain.
You’ve more confidence in Ireland & Long than I do!!
Someone more confident in Kop’s team than Kop. Whatever next?!
haha maybe I’m just too confident in them!! Might have a rethink over the team and see what I come up with.
Cookie, my realism tends to be correct most of the time
This is true Kop, but still amusing to witness
at the moment i’m on Ronny, Muller and Vardy
Lew, Ronny and Giroud.
Here you go then, RMT the **** out of this thing of beauty. Don’t forget I’m only selecting from players who play or have played in the Premier League….
Hennessey, DDG
Boateng, Dier, Koscielny, Giaccherini, Carvalho
Alli, Fabregas, Ozil, Pogba, Siggy,
Giroud, Shaqiri, Arnie
I like it mate. Only thing is I’m not sure if Giaccherini or Carvalho will start or even play. Carvalho should get gametime but I don’t think Giaccherini will. How much money would you have for Giaccherini??
Cheers all.
Giacc is 5mln and has played the last few friendlies OOP in midfield. I think Carvalho will defo start.
Kane is interesting, though I’d only have 5mln to spend on a midfield replacement for Alli.
Ah right well maybe Giacc will be a good pick then I honestly haven’t a clue. Like I said belong the only 5.0 mil mid I’d pick would be Whelan and he’s not going to get many points I don’t think.
I’d get Kane up top in an all prem team instead of Arnie, I’d ditch Alli for an Irish mid to do it if I needed extra funds.
Alli to Brady, Arnie to Kane??
I don’t think Brady’s been added yet, the game still needs to be updated with all the final squad players i think.
Brady is in there at 6mln
Aye I had a 5m filter on so no wonder most of the players werent showing
Ah right well then the only 5 mil Irish mid I can think of is Whelan
Cookie nothing wrong with your def or MF in fact the MF looks awesome not sure about your front 3 although Sha & Arnie have good opening fixtures , Im sure Giroud will do ok but maybe it will be a tight opening game.
Silvers, I fancy France to do well mate. Your point about a tight game is something I feel for the whole tournament, hence I think a good defence is vital and worth spending money on. I’m probably wrong, I normally am
Hey Cookie what I learned from doing the under 21 is that the group stages tend to give the most points away there are always couple of teams that are crap sorry about that the further in the less goals & teams start to look the same. 😉
True, there could be some pastings for a couple of teams, you’re right. Who do you consider the weakest teams there / ie the most likely to receive a good old spanking?
I thk these teams will get a kicking Albania , Hungary , Romania and Northern Ire
My strikers (Giroud, Shaq & Arnie) play Albania, Romani and Hunagry in GW1…….
did I not say they had good opening games come on Cookie
You did Silvers! Wildcard in GW2 then!!
Will you hold out that long?
Very unlikely 😉
Right, I made a team ….
Of course, I selected the wrong screenshot!
This is the latest …
Prefer the first one 😉
I’d be a bit wary of that team mate a few players who may not be starters i.e Nolito, Payet, Can, Rudiger, Volkan
I’d look for a better keeper on match day 2 then Volkan, Almer has his hardest fixture on paper against the Portugeezers so I’d probably ditch the Turkish keeper against Spain, Akinfeev of Russia is the same price going against Slovakia although I hope he scores a big fat zero against England.
Rudiger a 4.5 German defender, you think he’s likely to start? I only really know Hummels from them.
GP, do yourself a favor and ditch nolito. He’s crap. Don’t let yourself fool by friendly matches. If he starts, which he wont, I’ll even double my gw1 gk capo bet for them to not qualify from the group stages. I mean, nolito?? FFS!!
Granted I don’t watch as much European football as I used to, but didn’t didn’t Nolito score nearly a goal every other game for Celta Vigo this season?
Kop, he has 12 in 28 but a quick search tells me Aduriz has 20 and people like Borja Bastón and Ruben Castro have 18 and 19 respectively (just to name the Spanish ones). I can’t believe this is where Spain is at the moment. He could now score a hatty in their first game, of course, but don’t be surprised if he doesn’t.
Cheers DMC. I was far too lazy to do a search
In fairness the Spanish have struggled for a decent #9 since Villa & Torres.
They still managed that 2012 euro with Torres out of favor at chelsea but 2014 was ridiculous and this one may be no different. They face mid-tough opposition and they have a typical Spanish team (in the sense that the 2008-2012 period was not typical), that is, with players from different clubs and regions of Spain, with no real bonding between them and with a Madrid minded coach. That’s all you need for this to go real badly. If you look at Spanish teams outside the “golden period”, you’ll find that they are full of star players that never worked as a team and thus failed miserably in final tournaments. The Pep influence made that go, but: no Xavi, no Pep influence.
Portugal also has that profile, with the difference that we don’t have star players, nor have we had a golden period but hey, if nolito is playing for spain then we might win the bloody thing
Thanks everyone!
Stirred a bit of debate there. I liked the coverage I had of the main teams. Nolito is a free hit – if he doesn’t play he’ll probably be my first transfer. The defence, if Rudiger doesn’t play, should be covered by the bench. Candreva has had a good season with Lazio and I actually fancy the Turks as my dark horse so that was my thinking behind Volkan. I could remove Almer for Sommer against Albania certainly. That’s a maybe.
That’s a definitely maybe, I’ll be targeting defenders against that Albanian attack in all three match days, fingers crossed them and Northern Ireland won’t be scoring many this tournament.
Hey GP GK good as I have the same pair don’t thk Mario or Bruno are starters are they ? wouldn’t have any Italy players they just struggle to score goals , forwards spot on and MF good don’t know much about Broz though. 😉
Current team:
Sommer (Rui Patricio)
Hummels Kaderabeck Koscielny (McLaughlin, Chester)
Ozil Perisic Alaba Alli (Rosicky)
Ronaldo Giroud Long
Possibly Kos –> Rami/Mangala (who is most nailed on?)
Or this team?
Sommer (Rui Patricio)
Hummels Kaderabeck Koscielny (Chester, McLaughlin)
Blazczykowski Rosicky Perisic Kroos (Brady)
Giroud Kane Ronaldo
I kind of prefer the balance to the first team but like Kop says Long may not do as good as I hope he does. Thoughts??
I have 0.5 itb on that top team
Matt, can’t remember where it was, but I read that Kroos’ stats weren’t great – then again, I’m hardly an expert here!
Has to be the 2nd team because of Kane over Long and your first midfielders name – love it!
Yeah I don’t really like Kroos either but I want German attacking cover so I could sell Kos to either Mangala or Rami I just don’t really know who’s nailed on then I could upgrade Kroos but I only have 8.0 so the only other German I could get is Schrulle and I’m not too confident he even plays
I could do Perisic to Modric and then Kroos to Ozil?
Modric plays quite deep though and doesn’t score many, so I’ve read.
That’s why I don’t really like the 2nd team because the middle of the pitch suffers
Kroos only got 1 goal in qualifying and 0 zero assists that I can see. The other Kruse – Max actually got 3 of each but he doesn’t even start. Muller is definitely the best bet to cover their attack but appreciate it’s a mid you want! Ozil came up with 4 assists as you’d expect. I haven’t got his price to hand though. Modric provides little in fantasy terms.
Cheers Init, Ozil is 8.5 so just out of reach in the second team and thats only when I sell Kos. Any ideas on who will partner him?
Matt, we’ll know more on Saturday when they play their final friendly. The guru behind me says Rami will partner Kos. I’d wait till Saturday though
Cheers Cook, I’ll be fiddling with this team anyway but I was thinking Rami could be the one to bring in to raise funds