The World Cup continues to dominate the Fantasy Football Scout community as we moved into Gameround 2 of the tournament.
The hands-on nature of the captaincy in McDonald’s official FIFA game has shaped discussions once again this week, while managers have been assessing their plans for the deployment of chips.
Elsewhere, there are encouraging signs for some World Cup assets who have yet to find the net, as the latest Community Tables suggest.
THE HOTTEST TOPICS
Argentina’s spectacular capitulation at the hands of Croatia on Thursday night inspired some interesting debate about their appeal in Gameround 3. I asked users what their plans were for their Argentina assets after the defeat, with some preferring to assess Nigeria’s performance against Iceland first, while others are looking to abandon ship completely.
Andy85wsm started an interesting discussion on whether or not there’s room for Lionel Messi to be considered the best player in the world, even if he has no leadership skills. That led to an insightful comparison between him and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Two of the main recurring themes this week have been how to handle World Cup Fantasy captaincy switches and whether or not the introduction of VAR should shape our squads a little more.
With several managers undecided whether to stick or twist on the six points Christian Eriksen registered against Peru and Antoine Griezmann’s eight-point haul in France’s win over Australia, LEGOMANÉ asked users on Sunday morning what their captaincy plans were.
User Karan14 suggested that two attacking returns should be the minimum required of a skipper, while NOQUARTERNT advised caution to those looking to move their captaincy on: “Don’t get greedy, if you’ve already got a goal and an assist- why risk it?”
Those discussions informed a later Hot Topic discussing captaincy plans for Gameround 2 and one on whether or not to stick or twist with Ronaldo’s six points against Morocco.
On the penalties front, I asked users if they’d be happy seeing VAR have a similar impact on FPL and the response was mostly positive, given that several managers have found success in putting spot kick-takers in their World Cup squads.
Toblerone52 added that the introduction of VAR in the Premier League would increase the appeal of often-fouled players such as Wilfried Zaha and Raheem Sterling, although there was criticism for the officials in charge of England’s win over Tunisia where Harry Kane probably should have been awarded two penalties.
There continues to be arguments put forward for the best time to deploy each chip with Bardo9 making the case for a Gameround 3 Wildcard this week. It centred on potential rotation of players who have performed well in their first two matches and helped their nations already bank six points.
In trying to predict the eventual winner of the tournament in Russia, Ludo pointed out the defensive records of former champions. Interesting reading for those using their Wildcard during the Group Stages instead of the knockout rounds.
We asked for your roughs and smooths so far in World Cup Fantasy and discovered that some of you are having a tough time, but we later had an inspiring pep-talk from Deulofail, advising those who have had tough starts to avoid tearing up their squads.
Lastly, we issued Conduct Reminder for comments which is worth making yourself aware of.
COMMUNITY TABLES
Those playing their Wildcards for Gameround 3 of World Cup Fantasy will have great interest in Joe’s latest table entitled ‘World Cup story so far’.
Using data for chances created, corners taken, goal attempts and shots inside the box it can help in predicting goal and assist potential. It has provided some hope for those still waiting for players such as Edinson Cavani (£9.5m), Mathew Leckie (£6.0m) and Isco (£8.5m) to get their first returns of the tournament.
If you’re a member and are yet to get to grips with the custom statistics tables, you can view this movie for an explanation of how they work. Also, remember to tag them so that people can find the tables with ease.
COMMUNITY TOURNAMENTS
There were no Community Tournament updates this week but do let us know if you want to start one yourself.
If you are running a community tournament or are thinking about starting one, and would like the latest scores included in future Community Round-ups, please email us summary of the current leaders and a link to your league, spreadsheet, or head to head competition at geoff@fantasyfootballscout.co.uk.
