Gameweek 16 review

Another gameweek in the rear-view mirror and big scores for many managers, as Hammarby put five goals past Elfsborg with point returns from Muamer Tankovic (9.3m), Nikola Djurdjic (10.2m), Imad Khalili (6.8m) and Alexander Kačaniklić (8.5m). Another disappointing day for owners of Hammarby defensive assets however, as they again conceded twice. With a goal difference of 14-6 from the last three games, all-out attack seems to be the way Hammarby operates currently. Coach Stefan Billborn is understandably happy about the quality of the attack but says that there is a lot left to work on, as the defence is being carried by the forwards. First choice keeper Johan Wiland (4.9m) is still recovering from his shoulder injury that required surgery, if he’s not fit soon Hammarby will have to go looking for a new keeper in the transfer window.

Anders Christiansen (10.1m) provided his owners with another goal against Sirius, bringing his tally up to 6 goals from his last 6 home-games. Filip Rogic (8.2m) netted a hattrick for his Örebro side as they steamrolled Falkenberg at home, 4-0. We’ll take a deeper look at this player in the preview and try to work out if he’s on the brink of becoming a staple in our teams, or if this was just another bad day at the office for Falkenberg who look increasingly likely to crash out of Allsvenskan at the end of the season. There was another clean sheet and three points for both AIK and Djurgården, as their defensive assets continue to deliver points across the board. Marcus Danielsson (5.9m) popped up with his second goal of the season and his second 14-pointer, in just 4 GWs.

The three most popular captains in the top 1k for gameweek 16, courtesy of GoktugErce:

1. Muamer Tankovic; Captained by 42.3%, Effective Ownership of 130.6%, scored 15 points.
2. Anders Christiansen; Captained by 13.2%, Effective Ownership of 67.8%, scored 9 points.
3. Nikola Djurdjic; Captained by 10.3%, Effective Ownership of 44.0%, scored 9 points.

Top 1k average gameweek-points were 81.6, compared to the overall average of 55 points.

Gameweek 17 preview

Blank GW18 is just around the corner and it’s high time to look at what blankers you want to keep in your team for this GW, and the next. AIK, Norrköping, Malmö and Sundsvall all blank in GW18. As for GW17, a lot of managers will be looking at the fixtures and noticing their players are facing each other, which rarely feels great. Falkenberg now faces two weeks essential to their survival, as back to back home-games versus bottom of the league colleges Sundsvall and Helsingborg need to be won if there is to be any hope of a crawling above the relegation spots. Given their recent away form (goal difference of 2-10), games at home appear even more important.

AIK starting eleven, rotation issues

As long as AIK keeps progressing further in the Champions League qualifiers, it seems that we’ll be stuck with a fair amount of rotation. I’ve done some digging and asked around to try to work out what their current first-choice eleven looks like, keep in mind though that this is not an exact science and perhaps even more importantly – if a player is first-choice that might just make him even more likely to be rotated for the Allsvenskan-games where coach Rikard Norling deem it possible/necessary.

Goalkeeper will always (barring injury) be Oscar Linnér (6.0m) and Swedish clubs don’t tend to rotate keepers. Firstchoice for the centre of the defence appears to be Karol Mets (6.5m), Per Karlsson (6.5m) and Daniel Granli (4.6m). The ones likely to rotate in and out are Panajotis Dimitriadis (5.5m) and Rasmus Lindkvist (6.2m). The obvious value there is Granli and he’s being snapped up in increasing numbers.

Right wingback is a semi-tricky position as there seems to be a lot of competition between Robert Lundström (6.0m) who’s getting back to fitness from a long-term injury, and Herardi Rashidi (5.7m). Anton Salétros (7.3m) is also an option, although he’s mostly preferred on the left-hand side. Salétros is currently on loan from Russian side Rostov, a loan-deal that expires on the 31st of July but AIK are keen to at least try keeping him at the club. Sebastian Larsson (8.9m) can cover at a push, but neither he nor AIK really wants that to be a regular occurrence. Left wingback first choice seems to be Anton Salétros, with Rashidi second in line. Rasmus Lindkvist appears to be third choice, he’s fallen out of favour and now looks to be relegated to the role of backup.

Central midfield first choice is Enoch Kofi Adu (5.9m), Tarik Elyounoussi (9.2m) and Sebastian Larsson. Since moving back to midfield, Eyounoussi has blanked in 6 straight games (after scoring 8 goals in 5 games) and to further annoy his owners, now gets rotated in Allsvenskan in pretty much every game. Bilal Hussein (4.5m) is starting to get some game time in Allsvenskan when rotation hits, but he’s only really offering the CS point and some defensive bonus. For 4.5m at a top club, could be worse though and he’s potentially a cheeky Gustav Jarl (4.3m)-replacement for future wildcards.

Finally, strikers! There are two spots and five players vying for game-time, with three of them more likely to get it than the others. Henok Goitom (9.7m) appears to be first-choice but that (along with his age) also means he gets rotated in some of the Allsvenskan games right now. The second spot is tightly contested between Chinedu Obasi (8.5m) and Kolbeinn Sigthorsson (9.4m), with no one really the favourite as things stand. Sigthorsson has shown flashes of brilliance but is still getting back to game-fitness a bit, while Obasi seems to have been putting in some more effort now that Sigthorsson is a threat to his spot. Forward Nicolás Stefanelli (7.0m) is a bit of a dark horse, he’s back from his loan and unless he goes somewhere again, will be pushing for some game time. Last season he scored 6 goals and 3 assists (in 18 games), following 9 goals, 3 assists (in 16 games) the year before that. Because of all the options available to AIK, Tarik Elyounoussi is mostly going to be back in midfield, unless there is a serious need for rotation.

Filip Rogic, the real deal or not?

Third in the rankings for midfielders, Filip Rogic finds himself in a surprisingly low number of teams. After his GW16 hattrick, he’s now on 8 goals and 3 assists from 16 games. As far as bonus points go, he’s on 5 offensive and 5 defensive so far, often missing out on a defensive point by a margin of just one clearance or ball recovery. Of his 8 goals, only 1 has come from a penalty. However, in the popular “shots on target”-category, he’s doing worse. Out of a total 32 shots, only 11 have been on target, giving him an incredibly high conversion rate that’s quite possibly not sustainable. We’ve seen counter-points to this in FPL (Aaron Ramsey and Yaya Toure springs to mind) but overall it’s a bit worrying. Fixtures are mixed with Helsingborgs (a), Göteborg (H), Kalmar FF (a), Häcken (H) and Sirius (a).

His contract expires on the 31st of December this year, and rumours of him leaving are understandably starting to arise. He’s not doing much to dispel them either, as he was recently quoted in Örebro-TV saying “I’ll play against Falkenberg, after that we’ll see”. Örebro coach Axel Kjäll responds to the questions regarding Rogic that “there are no concrete offers as of right now, of course there is interest from other clubs. We’re working on an extension as we have been for a while and we really don’t know at this point in time, hopefully he stays but we know he has ambitions to go abroad”. Should he stay he’s definitely interesting but he needs to get more shots on target or his rate of goals will be hard to sustain.

Players to target

Alexander Kačaniklić gets the nod for the third straight week, as you really should try finding a way to get him in soon. Showing no signs of slowing down and an excellent pairing with Tankovic for Hammarby-points. Managers who are currently on Tankovic and Djurdjic will be forgiven for hesitating a bit on the treble-up, but the way Hammarby are playing right now along with their schedule, goals are likely to continue coming. Imad Khalili got the nod up front last time around and responded with two goals, should that kind of form continue he’ll be an absolute bargain at 6.8m!

Falkenberg defender Jacob Ericsson (4.8m) is interesting in the short term as his bonus-game really is outstanding (11 offensive and 9 defensive so far) along with a solid attacking threat. After the two games at home though, things get a bit more dicey with Göteborg (a), Malmö (a), Hammarby (H), Häcken (a) and Sirius (a).

The final recommendation is Elliot Käck (5.6m) who is increasingly challenging Aslak Fonn Witry (5.2m) as the most attacking fullback for Djurgården. He’s now also taking corners and in general very involved for Djurgården, who like to use him and Witry on the flanks for crosses into the box. While Witry is in 29.4% of all squads, Käck finds himself in only 4.5%.

Captaincy thoughts

It’s starting to get repetitive but you can’t really look past Muamer Tankovic, yet again. 8 goals and 7 assists from 15 games, on penalties, attacking team going up against AFC Eskilstuna. To be fair to Eskilstuna, they haven’t been horrible at home but I don’t think they’ll be able to stop an in-form Hammarby attack. Beyond that, it’s a bit slim pickings and you’d probably have the best chance of returns by just sticking it on any of Hammarby’s attacking options, with Kačaniklić and Djurdjic also options for the captaincy.

Good luck and don’t forget about the blank that’s just one GW away!

Meltens