It has been an enthralling first round of fixtures with all teams ready to go for the win rather than sitting back for a draw. This positive intent from almost all teams has given the fans a lot of entertainment and the end-to-end football on display has been a delight to watch. But as and when we go deeper into the tournament I expect a little more caution from the teams but nevertheless the skill, mojo and the superstars on the pitch are bound to make this event a grand celebration.
With regards to Fantasy as well it’s been a decent enough week and with players and managers settling into the tournament you are bound to get a hang of what players are being used in what roles.
Now, as we move into Matchday 2, the big question is whether to use the wildcard or not.
The Wildcard rule states that you can use it once throughout the tournament. Now, you get unlimited transfers between the group stages and the knockout and get 4 transfers before the quarterfinal, 6 before the semi final and 6 before the final. Thus, you shouldn’t be saving your wildcard for the knockout stages and should exhaust it before Matchday 2(which is right now) or should use it before Matchday 3
With most of my players stepping up during Matchday 1, I don’t feel the need to for any radical changes and hence I won’t be using the Wildcard, but I’ll be transferring out 2 players before the start of Matchday 2
The Wildcard will be used before Matchday 3.
Let’s get to business now!
Matchday 2
Four of my 15 players didn’t make an appearance during Matchday 1, due to which I lost out on at least 5 points and thus I would like to correct that by getting in sure starters (even if they are from fringe teams) rather than opt for big names who are sure to warm the bench.
Jamie Vardy, William Carvalho, John Stones and Onur Kivrak were the players who didn’t make an appearance and I’ll try and rectify that by transferring two of them out.
Onur Kivraj, who is my second goalkeeper, is just a dummy selection as I’ll always go with my first choice goalkeeper. I don’t want to be wasting money on a second keeper as the points scored by a goalkeeper are not limited to his skills alone, he has to depend on his defence a lot in order to get a clean sheet.
Predicting Roy Hodgson’s selections is something that not a lot of people can do, including Roy Hodgson himself, so let’s stay away from such uncertainties and lets transfer out both these Englishmen.
I get in Nolito for Vardy as he cost just 6 million euros and would definitely start for Spain. He looked bright for most part of the game against the Czechs and with Iniesta and Fabregas running the assist machine he should be getting a lot of balls to work with in order to get his name on the scroresheet.
Now, I have 5.5 million euros left to get in a defender and I need to make sure that he plays and gets a clean sheet as only then will be able to recover the 4 points that will be deducted for this transfer.
Italians are known for their defence but against Zlatan I wouldn’t want to take a chance and hence opt against going for Chielleni.
Germany face Poland and again the Lewandowski threat looms large and thus I opt against Howedes.
Spain’s defence looked rock solid in the first game and they play Turkey in the second round of fixtures, whose main star, Arda Turan, looked really out of sorts in the previous game and hence getting in a Spanish defender could work wonders.
It may look like I am putting all my eggs in one basket but when you see the opposition; you will understand that this is probably the most logical way to approach this ‘defender’ situation.
Now, if you are hell bent on not getting another Spanish player into your side, you could opt for a Swiss defender, who will play against Romania, later tonight. Schar and Leictsteiner both fit the bill and Schar was also on the scoresheet in the previous game.
Captain: Dmitri Payet
France play today and amongst Rami, Payet and Greizmann, I opt for Payet as my captain.
It is always better to go for a midfielder as your captain because they get 5 poitns for a goal as opposed to a striker getting 4 points. Also, Payet is used as an attacking midfielder by Deschamps and that increases his goal scoring chance and puts him at par with Griezmann
