A Fantasy Premier League manager for over 10 years, FPL Austria has reached two top-2k finishes as well as top-100 finishes in UEFA’s Fantasy games.
The EURO 2020 Fantasy structure in UEFA’s official game has convinced me that spending big money up-front is the way to go.
A large chunk of this summer’s most exciting attacking players have been afforded the classification of forwards, so I am looking to these for my money and captain’s armband.
Meanwhile, as I continue to debate the best chip strategy, I have a keen eye on some of the value options from my home nation of Austria as well as Denmark, who play all three of their group-stage matches at home.
Strategy and Chips
As a long-time player of UEFA’s Champions League Fantasy game, judging when to use the chips was a familiar decision in my head.
While there are a couple of possibilities, in my opinion, there are basically two stand out strategies available.
- Strategy A: Set up the team for Matchday 1 and Matchday 3, use Limitless in Matchday 3 and Wildcard ahead of the quarter-finals.
- Strategy B: Limitless + Wildcard (or vice versa) in Matchday 2 and Matchday 3.
I’ve not finally decided which way I go yet, but currently I’m on option B. The reason here is that this is a very short Fantasy format and, same as in UCL Fantasy, having a strong start is absolutely key.
The downside with strategy B is that we may see some rotation in Matchday 3 and it could be quite tricky to have a full playing squad for the quarter-finals as well.
Strategy B has another advantage though. If things don’t work out well early on I can just go back to the original plan: Forget the Fantasy game and enjoy the summer…
MY CURRENT DRAFT
GOALKEEPERS AND DEFENDERS
Since I’m currently looking to set up for Matchday 1 only, I can concentrate on picking players from a couple of standout fixtures.
In defence, the team standing out for me is Denmark, so at the moment I’ve opted for a double up of Joakim Maehle and Simon Kjaer (€4.5m each).
They have only conceded six goals during the European Qualifiers and look very solid. As another bonus, their Matchday 1 matchup against Finland will be played at home turf in Copenhagen.
Against Sweden, Spain do offer a potential clean sheet at home in Sevilla, but Robert Sánchez and Pau Torres (€4.5m each) aren’t nailed on yet, neither for my team nor for the Spanish one.
Ricardo Rodríguez (€5.5m) and Owen Wijndal (€4.5m) are there for their attacking potential, with the former even being Switzerland’s likely penalty taker, even if he missed his most recent spot-kick.
MIDFIELDERS
Ferran Torres (€8.0m) was in my XI since the very first draft. He seems nailed-on to start for Spain and has scored five goals in his last four starts for his country.
Out of my midfielders, he’s probably the most sensible pick, with three of the others being just 1% owned at the time of writing.
Marcel Sabitzer (€8.0m) appears very expensive, but is one of Austria’s standout players in attack ahead of an enticing fixture against North Macedonia.
Marko Arnautovic (€7.0m) is a cheaper alternative up front and could well end up in my Fantasy squad if he is fit enough to start in Gameweek 1 and able to shake off competition from the in-form Sasa Kalajdzic (€7.5m) for Austria’s centre-forward jersey.
Next in line is John McGinn (€7.5m) which may raise a few eyebrows, but the prospect of having him for a fixture in front of the Scottish home crowd in Glasgow is quite tempting for me at the moment.
Domenico Berardi (€6.0m) is my Italy midfielder of choice for now. He’s the cheapest one out of their attackers but actually has quite a good record recently on international duty. The downside here is that Berardi isn’t a nailed on starter, but since we get to see Italy’s line-up ahead of the first deadline, I’ll keep him for now.
My last midfield spot goes to another Austrian, David Alaba (€5.5m). Under the current manager he usually starts on the left wing, which, at the very least means he ends up in dangerous positions a lot.
FORWARDS
Up-front I’ve opted for three premium assets for now, which should give my several good captaincy options over the course of the first Matchday.
The most expensive one here is Cristiano Ronaldo (€12.0m) who faces Hungary in Budapest. Having at least one Portugal assets seems like a good move, and playing on the last day of the Matchday, he could come into play as my “emergency captain”.
Romelu Lukaku (€11.0m) is another player who hasn’t left my team at all. Belgium seem like the big favourites to win their group and from an attacking point of view, their opening fixture against Russia looks good as well.
Memphis Depay (€10.0m) is one of my latest recruits and plays a home fixture against the Ukraine.
Depay has a great record and is the Netherlands main source of Fantasy points, taking free-kicks and penalties as well.
STILL IN THE MIX
There are a couple of players that haven’t made my current draft but are still very much in my thinking. Most of them are midfielders, with Christian Eriksen (€9.0m) and Georginio Wijnaldum (€8.0m) especially being in and out of my team.
As mentioned above, Arnautovic may well find his way back into my squad, switching funds back into the midfield, while Harry Kane (€11.5m) is still in the mix as well.
In defence, I am pretty pleased with my picks but North Macedonia’s potential penalty taker Egzijan Alioski (€4.5m) is still a big temptation. I’m also looking at the likes of Jordi Alba, Joao Cancelo (€6.0m each) and Andrew Robertson (€5.5m) but the budget restriction is the big problem here.
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