Euro 2016 Fantasy Football – Group D

Euro 2016 Fantasy Football – Group D
This article comes to you much like my past season – full of the best intentions but ultimately hampered by time differences and life in general. Those of you playing the game outside of Europe who have managed to get a good handle on things, I do salute you as it has turned out to be harder than I imagined. Three days late or not though, here’s a quick perusal of the options in Group D.

Before we begin though let’s have a quick recap of the lead-up to the tournament. England were the only team with a 100% record, and it was tough going too with the likes of Estonia, Lithuania and San Marino in there… Rooney has to get his goals from somewhere mind you. Scotland will have a taste of independence as the other home nations will all be abroad for a bit. Ireland tasted karma in its sweetest and most ironic form after a dubious handball decision went their way in the playoffs, helping them secure qualification. Overall winners not so long ago, Greece finished dead bottom of their group (below the Faroe Islands…), presumably as the Greek FA couldn’t afford to take the squad to the away matches.

The format has been changed from a 16 team tournament to a 24 team one, but far from making it harder to progress from the groups it is now even simpler, with several third place teams progressing out of only four-team groups, in what can only be considered the footballing equivalent of participation medals. I think that about covers all the main news… don’t think I’m missing anything… Oh, yes. The Netherlands didn’t qualify. Runners-up and third place in the last two World Cups; champions and semi-finalists of Europe for 4 out of 5 tournaments between 1988 and 2004; home of Robben, Van Persie, Huntelaar, Sneijder… Yeah you get it. Cruyff must be turning in his grave.

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Croatia
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[/three_fourth]The Croats scored 20 and conceded 5 in the qualifiers, albeit in a group with Azerbaijan and Malta. Still, you can only beat the team in front of you, and qualify outright they did, although it was close at the end there as they finished just a point above Norway after being deducted a point for racist behaviour… They’ll all get on well in Qatar in a few years then! Dark humour aside, Croatia do offer you some decent mid-priced options that are certainly worth your consideration; the catch is that fresh manager Cacic still doesn’t seem sure of his preferred formation, so approach with slight caution. Fun fact: Liverpool would boast the highest representation at the tournament but for Lovren being omitted for throwing his toys out of the pram earlier in the season.

A few familiar names here to kick us off, and let’s start with main man Modric. His supremacy in midfield and influential passing were eventually appreciated at Real, where he is now recognised as one of the most important men on the pitch. If Croatia are to do well then you have to feel it will depend on the diminutive Modric turning up. Next up is their other huge name, Rakitic. Alongside Modric, they create a mini-taste of the whole Spanish national team as El Clasico rivals temporarily put aside their beef in search of international glory. He does pop up with the odd goal, and had 4 assists in qualifying. The standout star from qualifying though was Perisic, with an impressive 6 goals and 3 assists, and coming in at 7.5M he’s my main tip out of this lot. I suppose it would be remiss of me to not include Mandzukic here as he is undoubtedly a top quality player. Since leaving Bayern he never did quite set the world alight though, and this has translated into significantly poorer form still on the national team front. He doesn’t really seem suited to the way Croatia play, and frankly you will most likely find better forward options elsewhere.

Finally it’s apparently a requisite for Croatian defenders to have unique last names, as none of them sport the itchy suffix the other players all seem to have. If you fancy their clean sheet potential too, then look no further than the legend that is Darijo Srna, club and national team captain and defensive stalwart, and he grabs a goal every 6 or 7 games too.

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[/three_fourth]A solid qualifying campaign saw the Czech Republic finish top of their group, pipping Iceland and Turkey to the post, as well as the aforementioned Dutchies, though sources are unclear as to whether they passed them on the left hand side or the right. They have been known in recent years for their impressive versatility, which enables them to press high up the pitch or sit back and defend depending on what the situation calls for. Since their introduction to the tournament as the Czech Republic in 1996 they do have a decent record, making it past the group stage three out of five times and actually finishing as runners up once, so don’t necessarily be put off by the lack of superstar names in their team – just look at Leicester and Greece.

We do tend to feel more comfortable with what we know, so we’ll begin by looking at Rosicky; more than a few eyebrows were raised when club team-mate Wilshere was included in the England squad after hardly playing all season, but Rosicky was picked despite being injured for pretty much the whole season too. Where Jacky boy is not integral to his national side’s performance though, the creative Czechster most certainly is, where he boasts a significantly superior scoring record than for Arsenal; some people are just suited to being a big fish in a small team, relatively speaking. Next up is Dockal, who was their top scorer in qualification. Football Manager players are possibly already very aware of him and may be cursing his appearance here as they were onto a well-kept secret… He is also likely to be key in anything they do going forward. Necid is most likely to get the nod up front; Milan Baros he is not, but he could be a decent option at 7.0M if you’ve blown all your cash elsewhere. Lastly in the attacking players section a quick mention for Brighton’s own Skalak, who has impressed since joining the play-off-losing specialists last season and scored a beauty against QPR. By no means a guaranteed starter but a risky punt for any mavericks out there.

Kaderabek has recently been moved to right back, but has evidently not lost his attacking instincts as he scored 2 and assisted 2 in qualifying. Then there’s everyone’s favourite helmet-wearer, Petr Cech, who is a well-known entity in these parts so needs little introduction. Probably a bit pricy but a solid option nonetheless.

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Spain
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[/three_fourth]Moving swiftly onto the heavyweights now; Spain are our reigning champions of course. They’ve won the last two Euros, and added a World Cup win in between them just because they could. It’s not all been a fairy-tale though as they failed to make it out of the group stage at the last World Cup after a very forgettable campaign, and are thus likely to be eager to prove themselves once more on the international stage. Still, there is a cloud of doubt hanging over them currently, and whether this will serve as a boot up the proverbial or just to bring them closer to their previous status of perennial underachievers once again, only time will tell.

Now there is a plethora of great options on the table here, so we’ll just go over a few of the choicest cuts. Man City’s own Silva probably offers the best attacking return potential, as his significantly higher price suggests. 3 goals and 3 assists in the qualifying stage were no indicator of just how much he is really capable of, and he has kept up the scoring in friendlies since then as well. Iniesta’s quality is not in doubt for a second, as he is the beating heart of that midfield. While this does not always translate into fantasy points though, he does have a knack of turning up in the big games so could well be worth a punt here, as could Fabregas even though he is unlikely to always start. Yet another player who tends to do well on the big stage is forward Morata, who scored in an Italian cup final and the Champions League final a couple of seasons ago (as well as sticking it to former club Real in both legs in the semis, awesome!), so he should not feel out of his depth here.

Spain’s defence right now is arguably even better than their potent attack. De Gea has simply been on fire for the past couple of seasons, and is worth every penny of that 6M price tag in my opinion. Ramos is an astute and solid centre back, and should probably get your pick ahead of the similarly capable Pique due to his added goal threat from corners. If you are to get one Spanish defender though it should be Alba, who has been given licence to roam up and down the left flank, and as such contributed a goal and 3 assists on route to the finals.

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Turkey
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[/three_fourth]Lucky to be here in all honesty, as a last-minute goal just tipped the balance in their favour to claim the automatic best third-place team spot. But qualify they did, and with the laughable format of these finals they could very conceivably see themselves going through in third place once again. Due to their poor start to the qualifying campaign though, many back in Turkey are reportedly just happy that they are there and there is considerably less pressure on them to perform from both fans and the media, which will allow them to play freely and could well have a positive effect on them. I call it the anti-England effect.

There is no doubt as to the first name on the Turkey team sheet: Turan has become a living icon back in his homeland and even has a street named after him. He had an imposed ban for five months due to Barca’s iffy transfer activity, but this could maybe mean he is actually fresher than most others at the tournament… possibly… Following on from Turan is one of the new crop of German-born Turkish stars, Calhanoglu, who grew up benefiting from the technical aspects of the German system. It’s almost impossible to see his name in an article without it being accompanied by the words ‘free kick specialist’, and if you are still unaware of this then you should quickly check out a couple of videos on YouTube. Reaching double figures in assists over the past couple of seasons too, he is no one-trick pony. Up front, Yilmaz is still likely to be the first choice striker, though his following in Turkey has been severely slashed since he made the money move to Beijing. He previously tore it up for both Trabzonspor and Galatasaray however, and has a respectable record of 19 goals in 43 games for Turkey, so he’s certainly more than capable of producing the goods.

In theory the Turkish defence is a bit of a shambles at the minute, with long-term keeper Demirel dropped for the past couple of years after throwing a strop in Kazakhstan, and also no defensive pairing settled on this close to the tournament. The Turks went on a run of conceding just 6 goals in 12 games after getting their act together in qualifying though but given the strength in attack of most of their group opponents here then you could be forgiven for looking elsewhere.

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Thanks for reading Euro 2016 Fantasy Football – Group D. This article was written by Calvin Clyne

Follow @SharpyBoy86