After a five month long winter break the new season of Norwegian’s top flight football kicked off with a bang with two Gameweeks within a few days.
With Gameweek 3 starting on Saturday there is little respite for the clubs, and more importantly, us Fantasy managers. Gameweek 2 saw a lot of frustration as key assets were either benched or taken off early with the tight schedule in mind.
FFScout League Standings
The FFS community has shown an overwhelming interest for this fringe league, with 476 already having entered the FFScout main league (3769-1041).
On top with 135 points we find Norwegian Red (Oieiao) – perhaps fittingly – an Englishman.
In the FFScout H2H league 16 managers have won both their matchups, with Ned Ryerson and Riski Virksomhet being joint top thanks to their superior points tally. Ned Ryerson features again on top of Phil Dagger’s Last Man Standing.
Stock Check
Ahead of looking at the risers and fallers from the two Gameweeks so far it is worth checking out Goktugerce‘s excellent statistical review of the first two Gameweeks, looking at team statistics, average positions and expected goals & assists. Meanwhile, Niemi took an in depth look at the good and bad players so far in every position.
Rising
Vegar Hedenstad (6.5) – Two clean sheets and an assist. On some set pieces.
Mike Jensen (10.5) – Two assists. Easy on the eye, which means he will be a favourite of ‘the man in the stand’. Already has 4 bonus points.
Milan Jevtovic (7.6) – A goal and an assist. A possible injury to Elbasan Rashani means Jevtovic could be nailed on going forward.
Nicklas Bendtner (12.5) – Two goals. The Dane is yet to find the groove but nonetheless has managed to find the back of the net in both games. Will score a lot of goals purely because of the sheer amount of chances Rosenborg create every game.
Sigurd Rosted (5.6) – Two goals. Not only is he a massive threat from set pieces, Sarpsborg play 4 out of their next 6 fixtures at home. Last season they kept an impressive 9 clean sheets in 15 games at home.
Patrick Mortensen (6.6) – Two goals and an assist. Sarpsborg have scored the joint most goals so far and the fixtures are favourable.
Gilbert Koomson (7.5) – Dubbed ’Siggy of Eliteserien’ by some of the FFS posters, Koomson showed some of his potential by scoring a penalty in GW2. The top assister from last season is yet to assist this campaign but that looks like a matter of time.
Bendik Bye (5.5) – Two goals and an assist. After a potential season ending injury for strike parter Ole Sveen, Bye should have done enough to nail down a permanent starting place.
Ifeanyi Matthew (6.1) – A goal and an assist. 4 bonus points already, including full points in a game his team lost.
Ibrahim Shuaibu (5.0) – Two goals and two assists. Incredible form and value.
Frederik Gytkjær (7.5) – Three goals. Mistaken for his brother who was the league’s top scorer last season, a lot of casuals have enjoyed the early investment of the younger Gytkjær.
Ohi Omoijuanfo (7.0) – Hat-trick in the first home game. 3 of the next 4 fixtures are at home.
Marco Tagbajumi (7.6) – Two goals. Going somewhat under the radar compared to his expensive strike partner Marcus Pedersen. Favourable fixtures.
Jylian Ryerson (4.5) – One goal. Listed as a cheap defender, Ryerson has played both games in an advanced midfield position. Will probably drop a bit deeper once Adegbenro is back. Ryerson is a jack of all trades and due to Viking’s extremely thin squad we could hope to see him OOP for longer parts of the season.
Falling
Ghayas Zahid (10.5) – Tipped by many to be in contention for player of the year, Zahid has nothing to show for so far. Consistent returns are vital for players with a premium price tag. Does however face the bottom team at home in GW3 so those patient enough to keep could finally be rewarded.
Mohammed Abdellaoue (9.4) – An impressive pre season was followed by an anonymous opening GW before being ruled out for GW2 with an injury. Is very injury prone.
Lars Vilsvik (6.0) – Viewed as a full back with big attacking threat, the only thing Vilsvik has produced so far is an own goal. The fixtures are however still good.
Rafik Zekhnini (8.5) & Fredrik Nordkvelle (9.0) – Although the former registered an assist after coming on as a sub, he was benched due poor work ethic in the previous match. The latter is yet to return attacking points.
Samuel Adegbenro (7.5) – After missing the first game through illness, Adegbenro returned to training ahead of GW2. But he missed the second game as well, and now await four of the toughest games Viking will play all season.
Gameweek 3 Picks
Scoring the winner in his debut game, Bård Finne (9.1) will look to continue his good home form when Vålerenga welcome the bottom team Sandefjord. With Abdellaoue being a doubt for Sunday, Finne might benefit from a central striker role.
When it comes to attempts, midfielder Ifeanyi Matthew (6.1) is second only to Bendik Bye with 4 shots per game. The Nigerian will certainly fancy his chances at home against what currently is the joint worst defence in the league.
Marco Tagbajuni (7.6) is on top for average xG (expected goals) per shot. Although a small sample size, this suggests he has so far been on the right place at the right time. Up against a shambolic Aalesund defence, the rather budget friendly striker could potentially even be trusted with the armband.
Key links
WhoScored – results, table, detailed player and team stats
7 years, 1 month agoJust played my wildcard. Pretty similar to Niemi's team, but numbers showed that it's a good squad. Here's my team with some quick comments:
Leciejewski - McDermott
Hedenstad - Rolantsson - Ryerson - Kirkeskov - Moe
Haugen - Svendsen - Midtsjo - Adegbenro - Njie
Omo - Mos - Lindberg
2.0 ITB.
I have been planning to double up on Brann defense so Leciejewski and Rolantsson is the way to go. McDermott is nailed on for 4.1 so it's an easy choice. I still think Hedenstad is the best choice from Rosenborg with potential set-piece duties to come (thanks to Niemi for the info), and Ryerson is an OOP attacking midfielder who's playing for one of the best defenses in the league. I really believe Viking will start getting some good results soon. Moe is another easy pick. Kirkeskov may look like an interesting choice here but his numbers are really good. He has 0.38 expected goals + assists per 90 (by far the best among defenders) so I'm getting him for potential attacking returns.
I feel pretty good about having 5 of 8 defenders with most expected goals + assists per 90 in the league.
Kirkeskov 0.38, Rolantsson 0.3, Moe 0.26, Ryerson 0.24 and Hedenstad 0.22. Defenders I didn't choose are Haugen (0.3), Norbye (0.28), and Nasberg (0.24) but they are not nailed on so no loss here.
As for the midfield, I'm pretty happy with Njie (0.36 xGA/90) as 5th mid, Haugen (0.45) and Svendsen (0.36) are doing pretty well. I got Adegbenro (0.45) last week and I believe he will be good. Midstjo (0.45) looked like the best choice from Rosenborg and nailed on. I believe it's a good midfield. When Helland comes back I will try to get him in again though. Probably for Midstjo. Braaten (0.52) may be another good choice here.
I took Shuaibu (0.42) out just because he was dropped, his underlying numbers are good. Though Lindberg (0.55), Omo (0.62) and Mos (0.55) are much better. I don't like Omo's fixtures actually but whatever, he's the most owned player in the league. Mos has some nice fixtures at home.
I guess that's it. I'm pretty satisfied with what I have right now.