Fantasy Allsvenskan 2020 might have started out four weeks ago, but to me at least, it has yet to really kick-off. With the ongoing pandemic throwing a gigantic spanner in the works, it seems like most teams have lost track of who they used to be and it’s evident that no crowds in the stands is affecting the way some of the bigger clubs are performing.
Hammarby used to be a defensive catastrophe but made up for it by scoring a boatload of goals (2.5 goals a game to be precise), so far, they are averaging just 1 goal a game.
Djurgården used to be fantastic defensively but have already let in 8 goals in 6 games, last season they conceded just 19 all season.
AIK used to be a bit boring in attack, solid defensively, and a tad bit on the old side in their lineups. Now they’re trying to be more attacking, they’re letting in goals most games and they have an incredibly young starting eleven – filled with potential fantasy bargains.
Malmö used to be hyped up ahead of the season, have a way too deep squad (if there is such a thing), rotate like crazy, depend on Anders Christiansen to get things done and still somehow fall short of the mark… Well, I guess some things stay the same.
With gameweeks flying by all the time it’s easy to start feeling a bit fatigued, especially when they’ve been so low scoring in general so far. The highs of a good score and a rank boost feel so much better when you’ve gathered 80+ points instead of eking out 45 when the average was 30. It also seems rotation will continue to be an issue all summer so the players on our benches need to be ready to step up, however, we’ve also seen a lot of 1-point cameos due to five substitutions being allowed this season.
The start of the season has been a weird one for sure and I’m hoping I’m not the only one struggling to get a hold of just what football without fans in the stand means for the fantasy game around it. Sitting just inside the top 10k might be an achievement in FPL, in Allsvenskan however with 28k managers, it’s considerably less so. Still, it’s early doors and once the games stop coming three times a week (roughly in September), chances are we’ll get into more of a regular groove.
What seems evident is that Norrköping have got some really good things going for them this season and if the other clubs don’t pick up the pace soon, they’ll struggle to catch up.
Recently becoming a dad has thought me that you can make all the plans you want but in the end, how that pans out, is not necessarily a reflection of the plan itself, but rather circumstances, luck, and adaptability. Adaptability is the only one of those that seems possible to affect and it’s something I intend to incorporate into my season.
Starting this gameweek I’m trying to let go of old adages like players needing to be nailed on for 90 minutes, by getting in Gustav Ludwigson for Nils Fröling. That temporarily takes my Hammarby double up to a treble up which seems ludicrous given their performances so far, however, Ludwigson has demonstrated he can be relevant this season given Aron Jóhannsson‘s continued fitness struggles. Muamer Tankovic could also very possibly be leaving both Hammarby and my squad in a few weeks, so I’m not too fussed about the overexposure.
As for the captaincy, I’m leaning on Tankovic, though I suspect Sead Haksabanovic will continue to deliver even with Malmö away on the menu. If I’m willing to adapt to changing circumstances, I’m hoping Hammarby are as well.
Finally, the latest set of Scout Picks are now up on the official Fantasy Allsvenskan site for your consideration, which I hope you enjoy.
As always, if you want to chat about fantasy football either comment here below – or hit me up @FF_Meltens on Twitter!
3 years, 9 months agoThank you Meltens!
Again - the latest set of Scout Picks can be found here (https://www.allsvenskan.se/fantasy/fantasy-football-scout-gw7-scout-picks), love that they're going up on the official website
More importantly, congrats on becoming a dad Meltens! Hope everyone is doing well 🙂