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Hello all and welcome! I’m here to bring you more advice on building a team for the Sorare Academy.
In the free-to-play Sorare Academy, there are 15 cards to win each week. You can enter a team here; it only takes a few minutes and it won’t cost you a penny.
This week we will look at picking the right type of forwards for your team, outside of the obvious options like Kylian Mbappe. Although, at the moment Mbappe is, in my view, a ‘must start’ option in the Academy weekly tournament. However, if you want to shoot for the aggressive double forward strategy then I’ve got some ideas of the sort of player you can plug in alongside the rampant young Frenchman.Â
In general, I tend to obsess about players’ all-around scores. That is why my team builds tend to be made up of ball-playing centre backs, foundation midfield players like Aurelien Tchouameni and forwards with high game involvement. I like forwards who are the hub of a team’s attacking play, the fulcrum.
A classic fulcrum is a guy like Neymar or indeed Lionel Messi. They play as a no. 10 or second striker dropping deep to try and link play and even dictate the game. The fulcrum will also, ideally, take set pieces and even penalties. This high game involvement has seen Neymar secure an all-time average all-around score of 21.7 per game. Aside from Neymar, my current obsession in this department is Real Betis fulcrum and one of my favourite players out there, Nabil Fekir. He has an all-around average of 18.3 in his last 40 games.Â
What do Neymar and Nabil Fekir do over the course of a game to secure such high all-around scores? Neymar averages 62.5 passes attempted per 90 minutes, Fekir 49. They love to dribble, too, with Neymar attempting over six per 90 and Fekir just under four. And they create a lot of goalscoring opportunities. Neymar generates 5.39 shot-creating actions per 90 and Fekir 5.41. They do this by both taking over 30 touches in the final third per 90.Â
As we’ve discussed in every part of this miniseries so far, being a contrarian can secure high finishes in tournaments like the Academy weekly game. However, when it comes to forwards who fit the mould of the fulcrum, they are few and far between. Being contrarian is therefore quite difficult here. But the template is clear. And so while the likes of Karim Benzema, Antoine Griezmann (when on international duty) and Amine Gouiri (for the future) are all solid statistical options to partner Mbappe, there’s one kid I cannot fail to squeeze into any piece of writing I churn out……
RAYAN CHERKI
You didn’t think I’d leave him out of the discussion, did you? My favourite player in Ligue I. The most talented kid to come out of the French development system since Mbappe. His natural game is made for Sorare scoring. And when I was doing the stats work for this piece it confirmed this. Now, the sample for this season is small. Issues with coach Peter Bosz and then a foot injury has curtailed Cherki’s game-time. He’s only had six starts but played a part in 20 games overall. It’s a small-ish sample at 726 minutes.Â
However, his total of 2.7 shots per 90 places him between Neymar (2.3) and Fekir (2.8). His 52.1 attempted passes per 90 sit him ahead of Fekir (49). He averages more corners taken than Fekir per 90 and almost double that of Neymar. He does lag a little on shot-creating actions per 90 with 4.3, compared to Neymar and Fekir at 5.4. Cherki does, though, best Fekir for touches in the attacking third per 90 with 35 compared to 34. And he also attempts 5.9 dribbles per 90.Â
He’s likely on the move this summer unless Lyon do a stunning job of persuading him to stay. If he does stay, he’ll get a lot of game time. He’s absolutely one to watch as a potential fulcrum in your weekly tournaments next season – just like I said last summer… ahem.Â
Anyway, the above is how the final team might look in an aggressive build with the goalkeeper (select based on fixture) and then some of the players noted in this series. The ball-playing centre back, the boom and bust midfielder, the fulcrum and Mbappe. What do you think? What would you change? Do you have a completely different strategy? I would love to hear about it.Â
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!
