A couple of weeks back our UEFA Champions League coverage kicked off. Unfortunately reports seemed to follow that the updated game platform had its fair share of bumps in the road under its new guise this season -which I somehow managed to miss entirely- but we here at the Scout will soldier on regardless. Resolute and true as always…
SCOUT LEAGUE
We’re happy to see that at least over a thousand European Fantasy managers have decided to join our league ahead of the coming season. We’re not so happy that some of the aforementioned bumps mean that we cannot, as of yet, look at the teams of our rival managers.
jj4eva186 is more than deserving of full praise for being top of the league (and 76th in the world) after the first round. We only wish we could spy on his team to see exactly how he did it! There’s more than a handful of folks clawing at the heels of our early leader with lesegom just a mere 2 points back in second place and Wazza & Gunnervision tied for third another 2 points back.
Seeing as we can’t see everyone’s team I asked my colleague Anorak (32nd in the Scout League) to share a shot of his 74 point strong team to show what a reasonably successful first week looked like. He duly obliged and this screencap is evidence of his Matchday One endeavours. Even with relatively slim seven points from his three midfielders he’s got a healthy start to his European campaign. Good job Anorak, he says through gritted teeth.
If any of you did happen to forget to join our league it is still, of course, open for your entry should you so desire (code: 191091-421065). We’ll sing your praises if you do well and hopefully we’ll be able to see teams sooner rather than later.
MARKET FORCES
Fernando Muslera is the most transferred in goalkeeper this Matchday, with over 1200 Fantasy managers picking up the Galatasaray keeper. The Uruguayan has two back-to-back home clashes with Braga and Cluj up next and priced at 4.5, looks a decent bet for clean sheets. Valencia keeper Diego Alves is next most popular option between the sticks since the end of Matchday 1. He costs the same as Muslera and has a home clash with Lille, followed by two matches against FC Bate Borisov on his agenda to follow.
Thiago Silva leads the way for defenders. Having returned 13 points in Matchday 1, the 6.0 priced PSG man sits second in the overall standings. Real Madrid’s raiding left-back Marcelo is next most popular backline choice – over 3,000 Fantasy managers have snapped up the Brazilian after he produced a double figure points haul in his side’s opening fixture.
Chelsea’s Oscar has picked up the most new suitors overall. The summer signing grabbed a glorious double in the 2-2 draw with Juventus and has persuaded over 5,000 teams to pick him up – priced at 6.5, he’s looking a strong mid-price option for out midfields. Malaga’s Isco is next up. Having returned a 14 point haul in the opener against Zenit St Petersburg, he sits top of the overall leaderboard so far.
Up front, it’s no surprise to see Ronaldo and Lionel Messi the most transferred in forwards in the current Matchday, with the latter now in over 74% of all teams. Lukas Podolski is next most popular, though. The Arsenal man has back-to-back home games against Olympiakos and Schalke to justify his new suitors’ show of faith. Next up is Henrikh Mkhitaryan. We’d highlighted the 5.5 priced Shakhtar Donetsk forward in our “Ones to Watch” for Matchday 1 and he produced the goods with a double against FC Nordsjaelland. We can’t help but notice that he scored, again, in the league at the weekend. The man is one fire this season but with a trip to Juventus and home and away showdowns against defending champions Chelsea to follow, he may struggle to replicate such returns.
Andres Iniesta leads the way for transfers out; perhaps unsurprisingly, given that he’s the priciest midfielder in the game. Over 3,000 Fantasy managers have parted company with the 10.0 priced Barcelona midfielder in the Current Matchday, with Santi Cazorla a distant second for midfielders – nearly 1,500 have sold on the Arsenal playmaker since the Matchday 1 win in Montpellier. United’s injured skipper Nemanja Vidic and Bayern’s sidelined striker Mario Gomez have also been offloaded by plenty – a combined 5,000+ have parted company with the pair.
ONES TO WATCH
Arturo Vidal – we’ve taken just about every window available to mention the Juventus midfielder and ahead of a fixture at home to notoriously poor travellers Shakhtar Donetsk, Vidal’s name was bound to turn up again. Misclassified as a defender (priced at just 5.5) in the game, the penalty taking Chilean is a shoe-in for our ones to watch this Matchday.
Toni Kroos – after a couple of trophyless seasons at the Allianz Arena (last season’s defeat to Chelsea on penalties in the final of this very competition most poignant of them all) Bayern Munich have come out of the traps at full pelt, looking to make amends for this unexpectedly long dry spell. With Kroos, a recipient of much praise this season, inexplicably priced at just 6.5 still he stands out above his team-mates as the one to invest in ahead of Munich’s trip to Belarus to face off with BATE Borisov tomorrow evening.
Isco – Malaga were a club in turmoil off the park this summer and ahead of their first season in the Champions League things weren’t looking good when the likes of Santi Cazorla was sold to Arsenal in order to keep the club solvent. On the pitch, however, the team have somehow managed to go from strength to strength and the jewel in their crown is this up and coming Spanish starlet. After scoring two at home to Zenit last time round, there’s no reason to believe he can’t continue in the same vein as his side travels to Belgium to face off against Anderlecht.
Klaas Jan Huntelaar – now that Raul has moved on to pastures new in Qatar, the Schalke hitman has the mantle of big man on campus all to himself. Though, to be fair to him, following a 2011/12 season which saw the Dutch international notch 44 goals in 47 appearances for his club, there never was really any doubt about that in the first place. The German outfit have a home game against a Montpellier side that are still taking their first baby steps into the world of European competition and Huntelaar looks poised to carry on exactly where he left off last year in this fixture.
Please note that deadline for your UEFA Fantasy Champions League team selection will be at the earlier time of 17:45 CET tomorrow. This is due to Celtic’s trip to Spartak Moscow kicking off earlier than the seven remaining scheduled fixtures.
