Euro 2020 MD-2 Rate My Team: MiQ

Match-Day 1:

The Euros have had a couple of surprises so far: Finland defeated Denmark 1-0 and Slovakia defeated Poland 2-1. Both results had prequel episodes leading to them. The collapse of Christian Eriksen right after his attempt on goal shocked the Danish team enough to miss a penalty and concede the only goal of the match. In group E, Poland was admittedly the better team in terms of control, possession and on an individual level. As soon as Linetty scored the leveling goal, the excitement of the whole team lead to a careless tackle by Garegorz Krychoiak that deserved a second yellow card and eventually giving up the three points. I must admit that I missed points from Slovakia’s Skriniar goal as well as the save made by Hradecky since I transfered both out of my initial lineup. Here is my fantasy team at Italy vs Turkey kickoff:

In goalkeeping, G. Donnarumma earned a clean sheet and six points in MD-1, so I left substitute T. Courtois on my bench. Honestly, if I’d left Finland’s Hradecky there, I’d be feeling much worse now.

My forwards did well in the first couple of days, captain Immobile raking in 2x9=18 points. With no bonus points in play, I thought leaving the armband would cause me to lose a mere point only if Lukaku scored two goals. Isak did well yesterday with how little time he had the ball, which might be the most among Swedish players. Spain’s control brings out memories of a recent Barcelona team.

In midfield, I had Mason Mount, Phil Foden and N. Barella start in their respective matches, but they all crapped out despite some strong attempts on goal and near-assists. As a result, I will not be dropping any of them, especiall considering both Italy and England have relatively controllable ties against Switzerland and Scotland. Two midfielders are yet to play tonight (Bernardo Silva and N’golo Kante) in group F, but I do not see myself replacing any of them for MD-2 anyway.

All of this takes me back to the defense and how I have two players who did not play a minute in MD-1: Boilesen from Denmark priced at 4m and Azpilicueta from Spain priced at 5m (I seriously thought that the captain of the club that won the UEFA Champions League would be a sure starter for his country!). In addition, I do not expect Lang from Hungary to start against Portugal tonight, which will lead to at least one of my fantasy players returning 0 points by the end of MD-1. As Lang is priced at 4m, I will be using my two free transfers to replace Azpilicueta plus either Lang or Boilesen. With only 9m to spend, the possible combinations of defenders was not appealing. Also, I have a few names in mind that I would really like to bring in. To do that, I will have to give up on one of my midfielders.

Option 1

Replace 2 defenders with 2 defenders:

• Azpilicueta out, Trippier in (Both priced at 5 m)
• Boilesen out, Toivio (Finalnd) in (Both priced at 4 m)

Option 2

Adopt a strategy of two match-day transfers by buying players who will save me free transfers later on. Meunier (Belgium) and Spinazzola (Italy) are both priced at 5.5 m. Considering Italy’s MD-2 opponent Switzerland is more likely to score than Belgium opponent Denmark, I should wait until the round of 16 to buy Spinazzola (MD-3 will be my limitless). This option will put me in a tough spot of having 3 defending starters out of 5 and if anything goes wrong then I will be stuck again with a zero among my 11. Considering the factor that Foden and Mount play in the same team, then one of them has to go so that I am able to bring in Meunier for now:

Unfortunately, Llorente is being played in a more defensive role but hopefully his attacking nature will prevail in the coming match-day making his price of 5 m an outstanding points differential to make up for my defensive mishaps in MD-1. In addition to that, I will be saving 1.5 m for the Round of 16 transfer window.

Captains

Looking into captains for MD-2, to make sure the line-up stands solid:

• 16 June: Immobile - Italy: Scored 9 points in MD1 and hopefully will repeat against Switzerland.
• 17 June: Lukaku - Belgium: There is no other option but to depend on Lukaku if Immobile does not manage 9+ again.
• 18 June: If Immobile and Lukaku strike out, then I will be divided on this day between Foden of England and Isak of Sweden. I hope it does not get to that!
• 19 June: I cannot say that I can decide this early, especially since this day has difficult matches. Gosens - Germany plays against Portugal which put Bernardo Silva in doubt as well. I guess Llorente - Spain will make more sense to pick as a captain when Spain take on Poland. There is also Kante of France against Hungary.

~

Be sure check out our fantasy Euros tips and tricks article if you haven’t yet. Also read our group previews (Group A, Group B, Group C, Group D, Group E, and Group F) and our fixture difficulty ratings. And don’t forget to join our mini-league!

Then be sure to log in at www.nevermanagealone.com throughout the tournament. We’ll have player picks and rate-my-team articles, as well as a Live Chat ahead of each round!

~

~

How’s your own team shaping up? Are you playing a chip? Please share your strategizing and your questions in the comments below!

~