Competitions

World Cup of FPL – Group D

The Fantasy Football Scout World Cup of FPL is now in full swing, as we drop into a tough to call Group D.

Vying for the title of the ‘Group of Death’, today we’ve got a Liverpool derby, Lionel Messi’s favourite rival and a man that, until recently, arguably divided opinion in the Fantasy community.

To keep you in the loop, here are the first-round groups in full detail, including the latest results.

Group AGroup BGroup CGroup D
1. Frank Lampard1. Thierry Henry1. Harry Kane1. Cristiano Ronaldo
2. Robin van Persie2. Gareth Bale2. Didier Drogba2. Trent Alexander-Arnold
3. Branislav Ivanovic3. Steven Gerrard3. Gylfi Sigurdsson3. Eden Hazard
4. Patrice Evra4. Carlos Tevez4. Romelu Lukaku4. Andrew Robertson
Group EGroup FGroup GGroup H
1. Wayne Rooney1. Luis Suarez1. Kevin De Bruyne1. Sergio Aguero
2. Marcos Alonso2. John Terry2. Leighton Baines2. Mohamed Salah
3. Raheem Sterling3. Clint Dempsey3. Jamie Vardy3. Alexis Sánchez
4. Nemanja Vidic4. Gareth McAuley4. Cesc Fabregas4. Petr Čech

As you can see, we’ve now got a fierce clash battle between Andrew Robertson, Cristiano Ronaldo and Eden Hazard.

Take a closer look at each option before voting in the poll below or in the side-bar.

ANDREW ROBERTSON

Now one of the most expensive defenders in the game, it is almost unbelievable that three years ago, you could purchase Andrew Robertson for under £5.0m.

At the start of 2017/18, the former Hull City man was sharing minutes with Alberto Moreno at Liverpool but made the left-back position his own after the turn of the year.

Having depreciated from the rotation, a select number of FPL managers were able to bring Robertson in for a staggeringly low price of £4.6m before he lit up the end of 2017/18.

In his final 13 appearances of the season, the Scottish international racked up a goal, four assists and a clean sheet, registering a mega-haul on the final day of the campaign to boot.

Starting the next season at £6.0m, Robertson still provided excellent value, held through all 38 Gameweeks by many in the Fantasy community as he smashed the all-time FPL score for a defender.

Knocking Joleon Lescott’s previous total off its perch, Roberston got to 213 by May 2019, combining 12 assists with 21 clean sheets and 29 bonus.

So, in less than three years, Robertson went from a sub-£5.0m defender to a £7.0m as one of the crucial pieces of the Liverpool puzzle in Fantasy Football.

CRISTIANO RONALDO

It’s been a long time but since Cristiano Ronaldo graced the Premier League with his presence, but we still fondly remember his final three seasons at Manchester United.

By the time the Portuguese superstar left Old Trafford, he had become an essential £14.0m midfielder who simply delivered (almost every week).

Ronaldo’s Fantasy dominance began in 2006/07, his fourth in Manchester. After 16 attacking returns in 2005/06, he flexed his muscles by finishing the next campaign with 17 goals and 15 assists.

That was enough to earn him the first of three back-to-back appearances in the end of season Dream Team.

The following year, Ronaldo hit a 31-goal season adding seven assists into the mix before providing a Red Devils swansong of 25 goal involvements in 2008/09.

During this period, Ronaldo was a lynchpin in our Fantasy teams. It was never quite Ronaldo and 14 other players, but even £14.0m was a price worth paying for someone who delivered as regularly as he did.

EDEN HAZARD

Eden Hazard is a true Fantasy great, who displayed exceptional explosiveness and longevity, even if his latter years in the Premier League were a little topsy-turvy.

The Chelsea midfielder hit double-figures for goals scored in five of his seven years in the English top-flight, scoring over 200 points on four occasions.

In fact, he appeared among the season’s top 10 FPL points scorers five times between 2012/13 and 2018/19, was in the top five players on four occasions, proving the outright top-scorer in 2014/15.

It was only Mohamed Salah that stopped Hazard from being the top-scoring player in his final year at Chelsea, in which he smashed his personal best score.

Scoring 16 goals and assisting another 15, the Belgian amassed a 238-point campaign, beating his previous record of 233 (2014/15) by five.

There were some in the Fantasy community, of which this author is one, who felt a little trolled by Hazard at times, perhaps accentuated by Chelsea’s changeable form from one season to the next.

2015/16 was a memorable one when the Blues even battled against relegation for a time, and clashes with Jose Mourinho saw Hazard produce just five goals and four assists.

There were similar issues with Antonio Conte in 2017/18, which led to a slow start before Hazard was able to arrest the slide a little with a 173-point campaign.

However, despite those blips, over the course of a seven-year stay in England, Hazard’s numbers are very impressive indeed.

TRENT ALEXANDER-ARNOLD

What Liverpool win at Leicester means for FPL assets involved

Like his Liverpool colleague, Trent Alexander-Arnold experienced a rapid rise to the top of the FPL world.

It means that in a short space of time, the right-back has proved to be both an extreme budget differential defender, an arguably essential premium stopper and outside bet for captaincy.

Again, like Robertson, 2017/18 was the year that Alexander-Arnold arrived on the scene, scoring 83 points as a £4.5m defender.

2018/19 was his breakout year though. After starting at £5.0m, he broke the record for assists produced by a defender in a Premier League season with 13, ending it as a £5.8m option. That was even without playing the campaign in full, starting just 27 matches and outscoring Robertson in the latter half of his own record-breaking campaign.

What has been played of 2019/20 thus far has cemented Alexander-Arnold’s place in the history books though. After 29 Gameweeks, the right-back has already broken last season’s assist record, currently at 14. Furthermore, he went on a run of starts between Gameweek 14 and 27 when Alexander-Arnold went without a single blank, capping it off with a memorable 24-point haul at Leicester. That saw him register four attacking returns, a clean sheet and maximum bonus in one match.

Even more exciting is the fact that this young player is clearly at the very beginning of a Fantasy journey that, in five years time, could see him as one of the most reliable assets of all time. Hopefully, we’ll soon find out.

145 Comments Post a Comment
  1. The Polymath
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 12 months ago

    I am confident this season will go ahead and finish I'll be doing my transfers up until then and hopefully this will pay off when the time comes.

    1. Epic Fail
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 12 months ago

      You've got your WC and BB chip anyway so you're fine whether you make transfers or not.

      1. The Polymath
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 8 Years
        3 years, 12 months ago

        True. Still don't want them going to waste. ;-D

  2. Ógie
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 11 Years
    3 years, 12 months ago

    NBC news never lie about Trump of course GNU?

    I am sorry but a video montage of clips trying to sell a narrative and taking someone out of context is only going to convince me more of how bias the media has become.I am a bit long in the tooth to be buying that crap.

    At the end of the day it does not matter what me or you think of his leadership as neither of us are citizens of the USA.Looking at his poll numbers they seem to think he is doing a good job over there and that is what counts.Plenty of other real tyrants literally getting away with murder and not a peep out of these so called journalists.

    1. Ógie
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      3 years, 12 months ago

      Sorry for the reply fail GNU.

    2. Pumpkinhead - I'm ITK …
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 12 months ago

      He is a great man. He aint about to win another another election by being bad. Let's have our own Trump appreciation thread. GNU you are not invited . 😆

      1. Yank Revolution
        • 12 Years
        3 years, 12 months ago

        No, he's a psychopathic, egotistical idiot and anyone who defends him or his 'policies' is a moronic bootlicker.

        1. Pumpkinhead - I'm ITK …
          • 14 Years
          3 years, 12 months ago

          Touchy

          1. Yank Revolution
            • 12 Years
            3 years, 12 months ago

            If he was destroying the country and city you love by not doing ANYTHING useful, you'd be the same way.

        2. Ógie
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 11 Years
          3 years, 12 months ago

          Are not all of ye Yanks like that though?

          I am just calling it how i see it YR.

          What ye do and who ye elect in your own country and state is your own business.I am thousands of miles away and we have our own problems with some of our leadership.

          I have often voted fro the losing side in elections but respected the will of the people all the same.That is just part and parcel of living in a democracy.

    3. Gnu
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 12 months ago

      I'm sorry Ogie but a blind man on a galloping horse can see what a vile, deceitful piece of walking trash Trump is.
      Frankly I'm surprised.

      As for Pumpy's comment, that doesn't surprise me as he's a raving loon with bodies in his basement. 😆

      1. Pumpkinhead - I'm ITK …
        • 14 Years
        3 years, 12 months ago

        Get off my appreciation thread . The basement has room for one more

      2. Wild Rover
        • 13 Years
        3 years, 12 months ago

        😀

    4. Yank Revolution
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 12 months ago

      Well I am, and he's a piece of garbage. The most vile human I've ever encountered. It's criminal that he hasn't been removed from office already.

      1. Pumpkinhead - I'm ITK …
        • 14 Years
        3 years, 12 months ago

        Most of America can't be wrong. All politicians are psychopaths. Don't bully poor Donny

        1. Yank Revolution
          • 12 Years
          3 years, 12 months ago

          1) It isn't most, I can guarantee you that. His approval ratings are always in the low 40s (out of 100 pct).

          2) No, they're not.

          3) Bully? Poor? What the hell are you on about?

          1. Pumpkinhead - I'm ITK …
            • 14 Years
            3 years, 12 months ago

            Well ya better get used to him buddy

    5. Monkey Hanger
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 12 months ago

      Cuomo coming across as the true leader of the USA imo.

      1. Pumpkinhead - I'm ITK …
        • 14 Years
        3 years, 12 months ago

        They should be thankful they didn't end up with Hilary.

      2. Ógie
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 11 Years
        3 years, 12 months ago

        New York is the worst hit state and Cuomo is the governor that presided over it.

        If he is coming across as a "true leader" then i am really missing something MH.

        The only person that thinks that is probably his brother who is an anchor at CNN news.

        1. Ógie
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 11 Years
          3 years, 12 months ago

          Maybe even Chris Cuomo is having his doubts about his brothers leadership now in fact as he has just announced that he has tested positive for Covid19.

        2. Gentle_Turks
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 6 Years
          3 years, 12 months ago

          Yes you really are missing something, or you are biased.

        3. The Polymath
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 8 Years
          3 years, 12 months ago

          Yep. I'm impressed with governor Cuomo.

    6. GreennRed
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 12 months ago

      He's streetwise. Obama got on the social media train to get elected twice. Trump is on a the social media space shuttle. Was there a worse candidate the Democrats could have have run against Trump than Hilary Clinton? Amazing still that his opponents react to his tirades rather than be proactive and positive about their own plans. Their reactions to whatever he says or does are just buying Trump more votes. I lived in New Mexico in 2011 and 2012 and laugh every time when I hear the term 'liberal Americans'. This side of the world a lot of liberals are socialists, supporting workers rights and social justice. The way I see the US, which is probably wrong but here goes, the so-called liberals vote Democrat. They're educated because most of them have money. They're centrist, not liberal. They class a lot of Republicans, particularly Trump voters as fools. Being uneducated because you don't have the money to educate yourself isn't the same as being a fool or stupid. They hated Obamacare, why should they subsidise a system to give freebies for people with no health insurance. Trump tapped into this heretofore silent part of the electorate. Sore Democrats underestimated him and continue to do so. If they don't have a better plan than bashing Trump he's guaranteed a second term and they'll put him there. The John Terry of politics, you don't like him but he'll do what he has to to get elected. Time for the Democrats flto put away their arrogance and complacency and realise they need to to a wider audience but also that they need to get them to vote. In a weird way they could look how Sinn Féin ran their general election campaign here and wiped the social media loving Fine Gael. A million likes, a million tweets, a million dislikes won't add up to a single vote in a democracy. The Democrats should know this.

      1. Ógie
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 11 Years
        3 years, 12 months ago

        That is a very astute summery of the situation over there GR.

        I followed the DNC primary debates and was shocked by the lack of quality in what was a very large field.
        The only candidates i felt i could have lent my vote to if i were over there were Tulsi Gabbard or Andrew Yang neither of which had a snowballs chance in hell of getting picked.

        1. The Polymath
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 8 Years
          3 years, 12 months ago

          For someone who aint even voting you know a lot about the candidates. 😀

  3. Amey
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 12 months ago

    I think Taa after few years would win this group !!
    Modern FB's are wingers with benifit of CS points i guess.
    Looking at this and last season Taa/Robbo have proved that they are far better value than those attackers in the same team.

    Maybe after 5/6 years we'll see Taa/Robbo/Doherty/Pereira fighting for the prize ...

    1. Amey
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 12 months ago

      Alonso
      Mendy
      Could have been there if they were nailed 😮

  4. tucaoneo
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 12 months ago

    Seems 25 goal involvements in 2008/09 for £14.0m wasn't really *that* great. More of a FOMO thing I guess?

    1. Nightcrawler
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 12 months ago

      Yes he wasnt that great a pick that year.