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Our latest guest writer is Genesis, a Ligue 1 expert, who talks about the appeal of centre-backs in the Sorare Academy.

Remember, there are chances to win a real Sorare card every week with this free-to-play game – so don’t miss the 11am Friday deadline for your latest opportunity.

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Hello all, I hope you are well. Last time out I wrote about my obsession with Aurelien Tchouameni and the importance of his player type for my team building on the Academy weekly game. I call him a ‘foundation player’. I said that the foundation player is not a 50-points-a-week grinder, rather an all-around powerhouse with a reasonable chance of decisive action (goal, assist). And, as if to help my argument, Tchouameni has continued his crazy run of form. He really is superb.

Today, continuing to think about how to build your teams each week, I will be talking about defenders.

If you have played the Academy weekly game you will know that fullbacks are more heavily punished by the matrix than their central counterparts. They get hit hard for lacking a high volume of touches and defensive actions and within their touches ‘losing possession’ a high proportion of the time via the more risky passes/crosses they execute.

As such, unless you gamble on regular matrix breakers, Achraf Hakimi or Trent Alexander-Arnold, then you absolutely must be looking to deploy at least one centre-back in your line-ups. And further, you need to be looking at ball-playing centre backs in possession-heavy teams.

These ball-playing centre-halves develop large all-around scores. And by that, I mean that their overall contribution to the game will be large, through volume of passing and defensive actions.

Now, as many users of this website will know, a key strategy when playing large participation (and in the Academy’s instance, near restrictionless) Fantasy Football games is picking against the grain. That means while everyone else will be looking at Messrs Upamecano, Timber, Van Dijk or Marquinhos, you should be looking to gain an edge through scouting and digging up similar players with a potentially lower selection volume.

So, if I want to go against the template, who am I looking at as lesser-known centre-backs who can grab scores that still put them up there with the best? Again, it is worth repeating, look for players in high possession, defensively sound teams with high passing volume. A centre-half who is a goal threat is also a big bonus.

SVEN BOTMAN

Despite their recent mauling by PSG, Lille have become a much more defensively sound team. Further, Sven Botman is having another huge season. And, as you can see from his recent scores, he is almost immune from his team’s less defensively assured performances. He has a very attractive level of passing and defensive actions and is a strong goal threat.

CASTELLO LUKEBA

Castello Lukeba Jr is having a surprise breakout season. Playing alongside Jerome Boateng in place of Jason Denayer, Lukeba has made himself near undroppable despite the big Belgian’s return from injury. Again, Lukeba has a good passing volume and he also excels in duels.

WILLIAM SALIBA

William Saliba is showing Arsenal fans what they can look forward to next season. He has been positively Van Dijk-esque for Marseille. He is the only member of their defence that is undroppable under Jorge Sampaoli. He exudes confidence and has all of the qualities we are looking for: passing volume, defensive actions and a target for Dimitri Payet at corners and free kicks. Plus, Marseille have become somewhat of a defensive behemoth recently.

EVAN N’DICKA

Evan Ndicka has gone from decent prospect at Auxerre to undroppable defensive machine in his fourth season at Frankfurt. His form this season has been somewhat of a surprise but he has been consistent enough for it not to be a streak. He has three goals in the league in 2021/22 and averages over 70 touches per game.

And so there we have it. Some ball-playing centre backs, somewhat against the grain, who could help you hit the big scores in the Academy’s weekly tournament. And as mentioned above, I do like the two centre-back strategy: when deployed alongside the foundation player, it can see your team hit very high base scores.

However, is the ‘two centre-back’ strategy enough to win you prizes in non-price capped and near restrictionless tournaments like the Academy’s? Maybe. Maybe not.

And so, next time around I will be looking at attacking players: a key component of any line-up and a position that, if you double up on, could see you hitting huge scores.

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