Hope you all had a great GW2 in Fantasy Allsvenskan and are now starting to really get into it!
We keep the coverage going with the second in our series of gameweek review/preview articles, hopefully this can be a weekly feature going forward.
GW2 threw us managers some curveballs with rotation, penalty misses and perhaps most crucially, a certain right back from Djurgården lifting and breaking hearts alike!
Witry with a monster haul – get it or bench it?
Djurgården’s Aslak Fonn Witry (5.0m, won’t be for long…) secured the biggest haul of the season yet for any player with his 19 points courtesy of 2 goals, 1 clean sheet and 1 defensive bonus. He has been talked about pre-season and has quite an ownership already (32.7% at the time of writing). A few of those owners elected to place the pacey Norwegian on the bench for this game though (myself included, regrettably), we might have to start some sort of a support group…
Aslak Witry won’t be found on many benches going forward and that’s probably for the best.
IFK Göteborg showing signs of life
A team that (presumably) won’t be feeling the hard sting of Witry’s bench points after this week is IFK Göteborg. Having spent all last season looking dreadful, with economic issues and other things going on in and around the club, losing the first game this season against newcomer AFC Eskilstuna – faith was understandably pretty low for the blue and whites as they entertained Elfsborg who looked very lively against Hammarby. This time around however, Göteborg was having none of it and bar the first 15 minutes or so they were on top throughout, comfortably achieving a 3-0 victory which honestly really flattered an uninspired Elfsborg side. 17-year old striker Benjamin Nygren (5.5m) was the talk of the town post game, as he calmly slotted 1 goal and 2 assists. If he retains starts with Lasse Vibe (8.5m) coming in, he can be incredible value!
How hard is it to score a penalty?
In GW1 there was 1 penalty awarded (for Malmö), 0 scored. In GW2 there were 6 awarded, 3 missed (Malmö, Falkenberg, Göteborg) and 3 scored (Sundsvall, Häcken, Falkenberg). Malmö might want to spend some time working on spot-kicks during the week as not even changing the penalty taker made a difference. Interesting to see though that last year’s top scoring strikers Linus Hallenius (10.6m) and Paulinho (12.0m) are at least able to pad the stats a bit, but an overall improvement in penalty taking really need to be had.
GIF Sundsvall beating rotation-prone Malmö
Tipped for a return to the top, Malmö has a squad that is incredibly deep by Swedish standards. For fantasy managers, that means a terrible situation not unlike another sky-blue squad currently involved in a Premier League title race. Malmö coach Uwe Rösler rang the changes against Sundsvall and suffered the consequences, 4 players from Malmö’s GW1 starting eleven missed out and midfielder Arnór Ingvi Traustason (8.5m) was shunted to left-back (but still nicked a goal). Sören Rieks (9.5m) and Marcus Antonsson (11.0m) was a surprise for many to see on the bench and particularly owners of Rieks will be left feeling disappointed, as he was an unused substitute when Malmö tried and failed to claw back the deficit.
Linus Hallenius is starting this season in great form with 3 goals from his first two games (also confirming in the process that he takes penalties, as expected). Unlike Antonsson there are no questions about him starting every game and he is very important for a Sundsvall team that is continuing to defy expectation, looking even better than last year when they emerged from nowhere to become quite a decent side. If he continues this way he won’t be owned by a mere 13.9% for long…
Preview GW3
First and foremost it’s important to note that it’s a Friday deadline, so don’t get caught out!
The gameweek kicks of with AFC Eskilstuna against Örebro, a struggling Örebro side that has started this season with two straight losses, shipping 4 goals and scoring 0. Eskilstuna looks a decent shout to record their first clean sheet of the season if Örebro continues to look as lacklustre as they did against Djurgården. Kadir Hodzic (4.5m) is primed to continue his solid start from a wing-back position.
On Saturday we have Falkenberg-Häcken and Kalmar-Norrköping. Paulinho and Jeremejeff (9.6m) owners will strongly be considering either one for the captaincy, even though there are quite a few good options this week. Kalmar and Norrköping have only managed a point each so far and will be starting to feel the pressure. Expect Kalmar to go for it in front of their own fans, but Norrköping should have enough quality to record their first win of the season. Can players like Sead Haksabanovic (9.0m) and Cristoffer Nyman (9.9m) get going? Norrköping certainly need them to.
Sunday has three fixtures with Elfsborg-Sundsvall, AIK-Sirius, and Malmö-Östersund. Elfsborg will be needing to show some fight and bounce back after being annihilated by Göteborg, Sundsvall will be looking to continue their brilliant start to the season. Elfsborg are traditionally very strong at home, but with Sundsvall showing impressive form, I’d not be surprised if both sides score in this one. Owners of Pawel Cibicki (8.5m) and Linus Hallenius could reap the rewards.
AIK beginning the season with two straight 0-0 draws will need to actually start scoring some goals to go with that defensive masterclass. Sirius is flying high after winning their first two games with 2-0 and 3-2. Sirius doesn’t tend to set up to “park the bus” and will have nothing to lose in this one. AIK to lose their first clean sheet of the season but still produce a much-needed win? Daniel Sundgren (7.0m) to score a goal from the penalty-spot perhaps…
Malmö desperately needs a win to avoid some questions starting to arise about their shape this year. Östersund are no push-overs however and this really could go either way. Antonsson should be restored to the line-up but perhaps even more interesting to see will be how Östersund perform in their second tough away game of the season already, their fixtures do ease up a bit after this and there are some good attacking players there, like Hosam Aiesh (9.5m) who got 3 goals and 14 assists last year.
The final two games are played on Monday and it will be Helsingborg-Hammarby and Djurgården-Göteborg. Hammarby need to start collecting wins if they are to repeat or improve upon last years “feat” (where they missed out on a top three spot to Malmö in the last round), Helsingborg has started off strongly and will put up a stern test. Hammarby can’t really defend but have been somewhat underperforming attack-wise – goal fest at Olympiastadion? Vidar Örn Kjartansson (10.0m) hasn’t performed for his price-tag and Rasmus Jönsson (7.6m) will look to repeat his GW1 heroics.
Djurgården will be entertaining an optimistic Göteborg, where Mohamed Buya Turay (9.5m) looks a solid captaincy shout. Witry will no doubt be feeling positive after his brace against Örebro and you’d be forgiven for hovering the vice-captaincy over him as a “pat yourself on the back for his inclusion in the discussion”-kind of punt; but perhaps we should temper our collective hubris on the attacking defender just a little bit. Still, I might just vice him for the above mentioned reasons anyway.
So there you have it!
What struck you as interesting from GW2?
How are you preparing for GW3?
And perhaps most importantly, where can I turn to for GW2 Witry-benching support group?
Meltens