Scout Notes – Matchday Two – Day Four

Danny Welbeck’s sublime back-heel hands England victory and sends Sweden crashing out of Euro 2012. Andy Carroll and Theo Walcott also pick up the plaudits in the five-goal thriller while, in the storm-delayed earlier kick-off, France see off tournament co-hosts Ukraine 2-0, with Karim Benzema setting up both goals for Les Bleus:

France 2 Ukraine 0
Laurent Blanc made two changes from the side that drew against England for last night’s game, with Jeremy Menez and Gael Clichy replacing Florent Malouda and Patrice Evra respectively. The alteration up front allowed France to line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Samir Nasri behind Karim Benzema and Menez on the right. Benzema provided the assists for both goals, with Menez notching the opener – the latter’s classification as a forward in the McDonald’s game may cause many Fantasy managers to overlook him, however, despite his 7.4 price tag. Benzema looks the forward of choice but Menez clearly offers a differential option if he can maintain his place in Blanc’s starting XI, with a mere 0.2% ownership.

Benzema has three shots and provided a trio of goalscoring chances, though Nasri and Franck Ribery were rather disappointing in the change of system. Both had just a shot apiece, though the Bayern man was the better creator, laying on four opportunities to find the net for his team mates. Alou Diarra’s role in the double pivot looks under threat after Yann M’Vila returned to action midway through the second half. The latter is a firm favourite of Blanc’s and, with Yohan Cabaye grabbing a goal and hitting the post, the Newcastle man’s starting role also looks assured.

The French now need just a point in their final game against Sweden to progress – indeed, as this handy guide indicates, the only way they can be eliminated is if Ukraine beat England and France lose to the Swedes by a margin that would make their goal difference inferior to that of Roy Hodgson’s side.

The tournament co-hosts fielded the same starting XI that defeated Sweden 2-1 in their opener on Monday evening. Once again, Yevhen Konoplyanka had more attempts than any team mate – after producing five shots against the Swedes, he fired three efforts last night, though has failed to muster a single attempt on target. Andriy Voronin was hauled off at half-time, allowing Marko Devic to line up alongside Andriy Shevchenko up front but Ukraine’s failure to find the net meant that France were one of only two sides – along with Spain – to return a clean sheet for their Fantasy owners in Matchday Two. Given that they now need to beat England to qualify, yesterday’s lack of goal power is a real worry for Oleg Blokhin and he may well consider ringing the changes for Tuesday’s crucial encounter.

England 3 Sweden 2
Roy Hodgson make just one change to the XI that started against France, with Andy Carroll coming in for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. The move saw Ashley Young shift out left, with the Liverpool man partnering Danny Welbeck up top – both forwards grabbed a goal apiece in the 3-2 win and, with Wayne Rooney’s suspension now served, the England manager has a selection headache ahead of the final group game against Ukraine. Rooney will surely play and, with a mere 1% ownership, looks a strong differential captaincy choice for the showdown, leaving Carroll and Welbeck to likely battle it out for the other slot.

Theo Walcott’s goal and assist contribution from the bench also makes him one to consider and perhaps places question marks against James Milner’s place on the right flank. Coming in at just 7.9 in the McDonald’s game, the Arsenal man made a more than persuasive case for his first-team inclusion next time round. Steven Gerrard once again picked up the points – the Liverpool skipper has now returned an assist in back-to-back games after Carroll nodded home his cross for the opener.

Erik Hamren made three changes from the side that slumped to defeat against Ukraine in the opener. Johan Elmander started in the lone forward role last night, with Markus Rosenberg dropping to the bench, Jonas Olsson came in at centre-half, which allowed Andreas Granqvist to move to right-back and, in midfield, Anders Svensson was given a start in the centre, with Rasmus Elm moving to the left and Ola Toivonen dropping out.

Olof Mellberg’s goal and assist helped the 5.0 priced centre half to a 10 point haul, while Seb Larsson’s owners picked up a five point return after the Sunderland man provided an assist for Mellberg’s goal. Zlatan Ibrahimovic had six efforts against Hodgson’s side but failed to find the net last night as his side were stunned by a Walcott-inspired comeback. With 22.7% ownership and a game against France up next before he boards the flight home, the Milan man is the most susceptible of Hamren’s men to a price drop over the next day or so, bearing in mind that knockout stage wildcards are available once the final couple of Group A games kick off at 7.30pm tomorrow.