We’ve pulled together all the relevant set-piece data for the World Cup including who the takers are likely to be for every country.
Analysing qualifying and friendlies data we have worked out which nations are the most likely to score from dead-ball situations.
Members can find out the fruits of our research below.
Your front 3?
Cavani, Werner, Lukaku
I'd get Jesus in there and pick Eriksen
As stated below I would go Eriksen if you can plan a possible transfer for the France game. Might be worth keeping for that anyway if France are through already and Denmark are not
I'm also now looking at going without Brazil attack and pretty scared about it...
But realistically, the attacking points are going to be shared between Neymar, Jesus, Willian, Coutinho and Paulinho (with a weighting towards Neymar and Jesus) and are they going to score enough goals to make all of the them good options? We can always transfer one in later
Indeed it's scary!! Am also perhaps looking at downgrading my GK and defence and upgrading my 3rd mid to Cout?
Which do you prefer here?
A - Muslera, Kimmich & Ziyach (currently have)
B - El Kajoui, Godin, Coutinho (Would give me a much weaker defence but Brazil attacking cover and a midfield of J.Rod, Eriksen, Coutinho, Aldawsari & C.Sanchez).
Thoughts? Thanks.
true, neymar or none of em 😉
which one would you select from below option?
1.Coutinho+Werner
2.Muller+ Jesus
1
2 IMO
Easy 2
Eriksen v Coutinho
Coutinho gives me an extra captain (but already have Lukaku, Griezmann, J-Rod, Suarez + could captain Kimmich instead of Cout)
Eriksen I won't need to captain but dominates all set pieces + pens. How tough will Peru be?
Eriksen if you have a plan to shift him for France last fixture. Not impossible that he wont pick up points in that game either.
Will wildcard in the group stages at some point for sure
Take out your balls.
No Argies
No Brazil
No Frenchies
Pfft. Griezmann for life.
Eriksen is the best option if you plan to WC GW3
Im planning a GW3 wildcard but can't get myself to drop Muller for Eriksen
Look at Muller's scoring over the years for NT - that will help
He's done a fine job in qualifying this around itself though. Strong team. World cup pedigree.
Sometimes a strong team isn't necessarily the best thing. I wouldn't be surprised if Germany put 3/4 past Mexico and Muller didn't have a single goal involvement.
Not really. His goals have dried up for club and country in the last two years.
4 goal contributions in the last 6 he'd started for Germany.
Drop Griezmann, get Jesus and you get strong captain in Eriksen for that round.
True that but then I don't have Griezmann.
Still not convinced I need more captain options than:
Suarez - Griezmann - Kimmich - Lukaku - James
Werner instead?
Managed to pull together the following team in a 12 man draft.
However, its given me a real benching headache...
Pickford (TUN)
Hector (MEX), Sidibe (AUS), Miranda (SUI), Marcelo (SUI)
D.Silva (POR), Reus (MEX), Paulinho (SUI)
Smolov (SAU), Griezmann (AUS), Suarez (EGY).
Bench: Willy C (ICE), Gimenez (EGY), Grosicki (SEN), Khedira (MEX)
Is the first 11 and bench right in your opinion?
Much appreciated
Seems perfect to me. Nice team
Thought Sidibe is injured.
Its still a bit of a mystery as far as im aware. Someone posted a tweet yesterday which said he took full part in training.
All the more reason to get the bench right!
A) Carrasco + Cueva
B) Ziyech + Meza
I like A
A
B. Because Ziyech is the most likely to score. And Meza can assist Messi
Appreciated
Best 4.5m defenders besides Varela and the French guy...?
Mojica maybe
Dalsgaard
Mojica
Moroccan
Hakimi, Dalsgaard, Mojica all strong.. (Prefer all to the French guy)
Mojica, Advincula, Akanji, Dalsgaard all good - not sure who I favour the most
Thanks for this everyone - got called away but have read back and made some changes 🙂
Final draft... Good to go!?
Cabellero Uzoho
Meunier Trippier Mojica Valera Pavard
Eriksen J.Rodriguez Willian Belhanda Sanchez
Griezmann Lukaku Cavani
Very nice. Only comment is that your keepers play same day so you might want Schmeichel? El Kajoui? to have alternative to turn to
Good point cheers!
Probably very template but do you think gtg? (Decided to get Jesus/ Müeller over Mbappe/Coutinho thanks to advice here.)
El Kajoui
Danilo Pavard Varela
Müeller Eriksen Meza Belhanda
Lukaku Jesus Cavani
Uzoho JRod Meunier Sabaly
Interesting that most of your team is alike.
The difference? You have Eriksen, Uzoho, Sabaly where I have Carrasco, Carrasco, Trippier and Caballero. Really reconsidering.
Alike to mine I mean.
CAN SOMEONE PLEASE ANSWER ME IVE ASKED 10 TIMES NOW.
best 2 midfielders for 4.5?
None.
Inui, C.Sanchez (Colombia), Ndiaye, Hamed
Avila and Cartagena.
Just go look at % selected
Do not get any 4.5 mids. You're team needs completely reworking if you're at this point
*Your - oh dear, how embarrassing
Dan, you're going to need a whole new internet identity I'm afraid. This will haunt you forever.
dont agree with this. there are only premium midfielders that are worth spending money on (muller, rodriguez, willian, eriksen and countinho) and the rest i prefer to spread on attack and defense.
My team is
Lewandowski, Lukaku, Cavani,
Eriksen, Rodriguez, Willian (two 4.5s)
Kimmich, Varela, Danilo, Meunier (Hegazi)
El Kajoui (Uzoh)
You can have one. Don't go for x2 4.5ms
They're all balls. Inui, A. N'Diaye most likely to get an attacking contribution but also not nailed
You asked once before.
Your team is going to be trash with 2 4.5m mids, so may as well just click autocomplete.
dont agree with this. there are only premium midfielders that are worth spending money on (muller, rodriguez, willian, eriksen and countinho) and the rest i prefer to spread on attack and defense.
My team is
Lewandowski, Lukaku, Cavani,
Eriksen, Rodriguez, Willian (two 4.5s)
Kimmich, Varela, Danilo, Meunier (Hegazi)
El Kajoui (Uzoh)
Makes your bench completely useless then, which is an option.
Making use of subs is the best way to go, and you aren't giving yourself that option.
Which one?
A: Cavani
B: Werner
have no mids and fwds from both teams
Cavani
El Kajoui, Uzoho
Danilo, Dalsgaard, Meuner, Pavard, Lindelof
Erisken, Isco, Rodriguez, Meza, Aldowsary
Griezmaan, Jesus, Lukaku
Thoughts would be very highly appreciated.
Very strong
Thnx
uruguay?
Have to keep Lukaku and Greizmann, so can't fit in either their attacking players
Max Captain activated. Can't see better fixtures for big hitters in any other rounds. Brazil and Spain maybe from round 2, but then other options are limited
Why though? You get 6 shots at getting your captain right. You are getting 1 or 2 shots in semis/finals.
This.. That chip is made for the quarters onwards imo
also agree
Surely the games would be much tighter then? And no minnows to punish then. Would you rather have less options against stronger opposition? Sorry if I'm daft, but I really don't get it?
Strong options now means you have more chances to get it right. Too late now anyway. Max captain doesn't increase your captain score, just auto-picks the best one.
Yep. Disgusted now. I hope I can get it right later on then...
I'm sure it'll be fine 🙂 Good luck
Well Brazil v Germany in the last semi final wasn't too tight.
Seriously though, it's in the tighter games that captain choice makes all the diiference.
Let's say Spain, Germany, France and Brazil are in the semis, we'll all have Greizmann, Neymar, Willian, Werner, Isco, M'bappe etc, all viable captain choices, but chances are in a closer game, only one of them will be the right choice.
In the early group games, several attacking players will get point returns and being able to stick or twist with your captain choice lessens the risk of getting it wrong.
Better fixtures for point hauls now.
Yep, and more choices to manually choose from throughout the week. Therefore a higher chance of getting a good captain manually. QFs and later are more unpredictable, with fewer opportunities to change your captain choice
Ooooo now I get it. I can manually get 6 shots at it! Dammit! And I cant undo!!
I'm probably going to save max captain until the later stages.
With the set up allowing you to change your captain daily I'm confident at least one of my players will score double figures.
The issue is how many points do I consider successful enough not to put the armband on Lukaku before Panama.
Fark! This makes sense now
oh crap i didn't saw you could change....
Can we change from game to game (not much time betewn them) or only day to day?
Day to day
Open the world cup 1st gw with maximum captain worth?
My plan is 1st game max capt,
2nd game maybe wild card & benchboost
3rd game wildcard if not spent on 2nd game
Why benchboost and max capt in early games? Easy 3rd game might have rotation... and after group stage everything gets harder so first two games seems the best for maximum points.
what do you think?
I wouldn't Max cap now - see the discussion above
oh crap i didn't saw you could change....
Can we change from game to game (not much time betewn them) or only day to day?
Day to day
Can you guys list the 4.5 mids I should look at?
C Sanchez (CDM?)
Inui (not predicted to start?)
Guzman?
thanks
A N'Diaye
But in reality, you don't want any of them
Anyone else taking a punt on Reus? So cheap for a player with the potential to do so much
Choose 2 for first 2 rounds
A) Meunier
B) Godin
C) Danilo
AB
Good time to bench boost?
I'd say so
I'm on it.
Only other options for me would be GW2 or 4.
Gw1 bench boost team with a GW3 wildcard:
Caballero El Kajoui
Meunier Trippier Pavard Danilo Varela
Muller JRodriguez Carrasco Meza Belhanda
Lukaku Jesus Cavani
Gw 1 bench boost makes sense to me.
Already active. Cheers!
Any glaring changes?
Sommer, Uzoho
Meunier, Godin, Varela, Granqvist, Sabaly
Eriksen, J.Rodriguez, Ziyach, Ljajic, Cueva
Mertens, Lukaku, Cavani
Better to downgrade Ziyach to get Willian/Paulinho? Other thoughts greatly appreciated.
Best Nailed 4.5M defender for Round 1??
Currently have Hegazi but looking at confirming BB on round 1.
Hegazi v Uruguay
Hakimi v Iran
Suggestions?
Hakimi is my preferred 4.5.
Cheers
Please rate my team out off 10
Muslera
Godin, trippier, munier
Hazard, muller, isco, sterling
Messi, mbappe, neymar
Need to see bench too.
Im doin the sun fantasy!
After number of trials, can i finally say this is a balanced team?
El Kajoui
Danilo/ Varela / Pavard
Eriksen/Cueva/Belhanda/Muller
Jesus/Cavani/Lukaku
Bench: Uzoho/Grosicki/Granqvist/Meunier
Any faults here? Other than cheap GK's of course
Almuaiouf, Uzoho
Meunier, Danilo, Godin, Kjaer, Pavard
Mueller, Eriksen, James, Meza, Inui
Lewa, Cavani, Mbappe
how can people possibly go without messi ?
Just don't click his name on the transfers list
a fantasy world cup team without him is a sin, still the best player at this tournament by a country mile
Too expensive!
Too expensive
Because Meza sounds Messi close enough
Jesus + Eriksen or Neymar + Ljajic?
A
J&E
Erik+Ljajic here
But then again I'm crazy.
Marcel or Ramos? (I have Jesus but no ESP players)
*Marcelo
Shameless repost, is it good?
Uzoho - Pickford
Kimmich - Trippier - Meunier - Varela - Danilo
Eriksen - James - Meza - Belhanda - Nandez
Cavani - Jesus - Lukaku
yeah it's fine
I tore myself apart on Kimmich, eventually ditched him to upgrade budget mids
I tore myself on Mueller, didnt want to go with 4,5 mids but on the other hand cant go without Germany cover, so went with Kimmich and upgraded mid Meza-Nnadez
Then we are the same, since i left Mueller in my team to have some Germany cover and ditched Kimmich for Belhanda and Cueva. But yes, going without any Germans is really hard
Cahill likely to play?
60-40 Cahill Maguire. Not worth the risk.
Okay, cheers.
No major holes/concerns with his team? R1 Bench boost followed by WC
Schmeichel- uzoho
Pavard - trippier - Kimmich - Pouraliganji - Meunier
Eriksen - Ziyech - Rodriguez- Al-Dawsari
Lukaku - Griezmann- Mitrovic
One midfielder short
Repost - missed a mid
No major holes/concerns with his team? R1 Bench boost followed by WC
Schmeichel- uzoho
Pavard - trippier - Kimmich - Pouraliganji - Meunier
Eriksen - Ziyech - Rodriguez- Al-Dawsari - Carrasco
Lukaku - Griezmann- Mitrovic
Sterling or erikson???
Easily Eriksen
Why?
5 years, 10 months agoEriksen v Coutinho with no other Brazil attack just Danilo...what to do?!! So tough!! Eriksen such amazing form both domestically and in Internationals (1st in line for all set pieces and on pens), everything revolves around him but going without Brazil attack? Is this just too folly? Any thoughts much appreciated?