Scout Notes – Matchday Three – Day Two

Bert Van Marwijk reshuffles his pack but a disjointed Holland crash out of Euro 2012 after a Cristiano Ronaldo-inspired Portugal hand them their third straight defeat. Germany maintain the tournament’s only 100% winning record after seeing off a valiant Denmark 2-1 to cement their place as Group B winners…

Germany 2 Denmark 1
Joachim Low made only one change to Germany’s starting XI last night, with Lars Bender coming in at right-back for the suspended Jerome Boateng. Despite needing just a point to clinch Group B, Low took no risks and rolled out his first-choice attackers, with Miroslav Klose afforded no more than a 16 minute sub appearance up front. Mario Gomez was amongst the points once again as he provided an assist for Lukas Podolski’s opener, while Mesut Ozil picked up his first attacking returns of the tournament by setting up Bender to notch the winner. Low’s side looked a little below-par and intriguingly it was Sami Khedira who proved to be their most creative player on the night, setting up a trio of goalscoring opportunities – in front of goal, Gomez was the most culpable, failing to hit the target with any of his three efforts against the Danes.

While Czech Republic and Greece’s progress to the knockout stages on Saturday night afforded Fantasy managers the chance of cut-price squad alternatives, Germany’s assets are far pricier. Bearing in mind they now face the Greeks in the quarter finals, Low’s side will be heavily backed and are likely to hand us strong captaincy options for Day Two of Matchday Four. Gomez’s consistency looks set to see him get the nod for the armband, while Ozil, Podolski and even Thomas Muller are all decent alternatives. In terms of general squad selection, Boateng is likely to return in defence and, at 6.5, is the cheapest of Low’s regular back-four, while Khedira’s cost of 7.5 has proven to be strong value thus far.

Morten Olsen was also forced into tinkering with his side, handing Jacob Poulsen a starting role after Dennis Rommedahl was ruled out with a hamstring injury. Michael Krohn-Deli was amongst the points yet again, nodding home the equaliser to bring his tally in the McDonald’s game to 21 points – his consistency saw him produce attacking points in all three of Denmark’s games, while Nicklas Bendtner again rewarded his Fantasy owners, providing the assist for Krohn-Deli’s goal to end the tournament on 17 points. In the end, though, their contribution proved futile as the Germans’ late goal and a win for Portugal in the other Group B game sent Olsen’s side packing.

Holland 1 Portugal 2
Paulo Bento kept the same starting XI that started the first two group matches – this meant Silvestre Valera stayed on the bench, despite his match-winning exploits against the Danes. With Holland needing to go on the attack to stand any chance of winning, the match unfolded in Portugal’s favour, with the speed of Bento’s side on the break tormenting the Dutch time and again. While Cristiano Ronaldo’s owners will be more than happy with a two goal return, the Real Madrid man could have had more, in all honesty – he had an incredible 12 shots over the 90 minutes and also hit the post twice, in addition to creating three goalscoring opportunities. With a game against Czech Republic on Day 1 of Matchday 4, Ronaldo looks the odds-on favourite for the armband in the first of the quarter-finals.

Nani picked up an assist for Ronaldo’s second and is just a single point behind him in the McDonald’s game – at 8.5 compared to 11.0, he offers an up-front alternative, though is somewhat less explosive in terms of a captaincy option. Overall, though, Bento’s consistency of selection is handy for Fantasy managers – the midfield three of Joao Moutinho, Raul Meireles and Miguel Veloso are all in the mid-price bracket, while Joao Pereira offers the cheapest route into the back-four at 6.0; his sublime through-ball assist for the equaliser served a reminder of his potential.

Holland make three changes to their lineup. Ron Vlaar took over from Johnny Heitinga at centre-back, Rafael Van der Vaart came in for Mark Van Bommel in midfield, while Ibrahim Afellay dropped out for Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. The latter’s inclusion was frustrating news for Fantasy owners of Robin Van Persie – the Arsenal man started the first half in a deeper role before moving to the flank after the break.

Van der Vaart vindicated his selection by grabbing a stunning opener and offering his side hope but, the more the Dutch moved forward, the more their backline became increasingly susceptible to counter-attacks. Wesley Sneijder offered the most threat, with three shots in addition to creating a trio of goalscoring chances but Van Marwijk’s decision to start Huntelaar failed miserably, with the Schalke man managing a single (off target) effort all night.

As Fantasy managers tinker with their knockout wildcards, we will now be quick to move on our Dutch assets. Van Persie, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben are by far their most popular players, with 28.2%, 19.5% and 11.1% ownership respectively. All three have already dropped in price since the start of the tournament and, given their high prices, offer plenty chances of freshening up our squads in preparation for the last eight.