We round up the main Fantasy talking points and notable statistics from Friday’s games in Matchday 2 of EURO 2020, including England’s 0-0 draw with Scotland.
ENGLAND 0-0 SCOTLAND
England moved onto four points in Group D after a spirited Scottish performance earned Steve Clarke’s outfit a well-deserved draw.
Scotland outshot their hosts on the night, though Gareth Southgate’s team did create higher-quality chances.
In Fantasy terms, those holding defenders from either side will have been pleased but any ‘Limitless’ chip users may be disgruntled with England’s failure to score.
Harry Kane (€11.5m), who sits in a third of all squads, was hooked after 73 minutes following another fairly anonymous performance. On being taken off, he said:
“It’s part of the game, the manager felt that was the right decision so you just have to take it. It is what it is.” – Harry Kane
On that topic, Southgate stated:
“We needed more runs behind. I felt Marcus (Rashford) would give us that energy. We needed to win the game at that point. We can look at ourselves – it starts with me – and do better. We didn’t do enough to win the game tonight.”
Scotland exerted a lot of pressure on England early on but it was Southgate’s side who came closest to opening the scoring.
John Stones (€5.5m) hit the crossbar with an excellent headed effort after 11 minutes from a Mason Mount (€7.0m) corner.
In the 29th minute, Kane – who may have been offside – got his head on a peach of a cross from Reece James (€5.0m) but couldn’t direct the diving effort on target.
At the other end, Stephen O’Donnell (€4.5m) forced a good save from Jordan Pickford (€5.5m) after Kieran Tierney (€5.0m) combined well with Andy Robertson (€5.5m) before crossing from the left flank.
From the rebound, Che Adams (€6.5m) could only direct his header wide as the ball cannoned at him from Pickford’s save.
England started brightly in the second period after a difficult first half, with a low Shaw cross cut out before Mount tested David Marshall (€4.5m) from distance.
A Kane dummy left the striker with a shooting opportunity after 58 minutes but Scotland blocked another shot as Steve Clarke’s men put their bodies on the line.
At the other end, James cleared a Lyndon Dykes (€6.5m) shot off the line after a period of Scottish pressure.
The introduction of Jack Grealish (€7.5m) and Marcus Rashford (€9.5m) failed to have the desired effect, with Scotland giving as good as they got until the final whistle.
“You can see Jack Grealish’s ability to take players on one on one. I felt the team that started against Croatia deserved to go again so we have to review now and make the right decision for the Czech Republic game. The games are intense and you have fresh legs to bring into play, we have a squad and have to use it. We took the captain Harry Kane off but the types of players on the bench, we have to use them. We have to look at how we operated in the final third, there was little space. A little bit of anxiety as the game went on because of the desire to win. We will see how the other groups play out to see if we already have enough to need more.” – Gareth Southgate
England XI (4-3-3): Pickford; Shaw, Mings, Stones, R James; Mount, Rice, Phillips; Sterling, Kane (Rashford 73′), Foden (Grealish 62′).
Scotland XI (3-5-2): Marshall; Tierney, Hanley, McTominay; Robertson, McGregor, Gilmour (Armstrong 75′), McGinn, O’Donnell; Adams (Nisbet 85′), Dykes.
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The average position of England players against Scotland
Kane’s (9) position was behind that of Sterling (10), as the Tottenham Hotspur frontman looked to drop deep to influence play. By design or because of Scotland’s formation, Kalvin Phillips (14) ended up playing much further back than he did against Croatia.
Team attacking stats from England v Scotland
As mentioned above, Scotland (11) outshot England (9) though Southgate’s troops did rack up double the Scots’ ‘expected goals’ tally.
Player sorted by total attempts
It was Adams who took the majority of Scotland’s shots, leading the charts for attempts (5) and efforts inside the box (4).
SWEDEN 1-0 SLOVAKIA
- Goals: Emil Forsberg (€7.5m)
- Penalty won: Robin Quaison (€7.5m)
- Penalty conceded: Martin Dubravka (€5.0m)
An Emil Forsberg (€7.5m) penalty in the 78th minute left Sweden with one foot in the Round of 16 on Thursday.
“It’s good to have four points after two games. We’ve played seven games this year, and conceded just one goal. Our attack deserved more today, they were fantastic at times.”- Sweden head coach Janne Andersson
Newcastle United goalkeeper Martin Dubravka (€5.0m) was the villain of the piece, fouling substitute Robin Quaison (€7.5m) after a delightful through ball from Alexander Isak (€8.0m).
“It feels absolutely amazing. I am extremely happy. It’s very nice to win. We only played half a first half, but were better in the second. We know we’re mentally strong. It was a fantastic piece of play from Quaison that led to the penalty.” – Emil Forsberg
The 1-0 result leaves the Swedes on four points after two rounds, while Slovakia remain on three. Both sides may struggle to drum up Fantasy interest in Matchday 3, however, after a lacklustre affair produced little in the way of encouragement.
Depending on Spain’s result against Poland on Friday, there could be an argument for those using a chip to target Spanish attackers such as Ferran Torres (€8.0m) for their clash with Slovakia.
Sebastian Larsson (€6.0m) had the only effort on target of the first half of this game after just three minutes, if there was any doubt over the dour nature of proceedings.
The former Premier League regular set up another of Sweden’s on-target efforts, with his cross headed at goal by Ludwig Augustinsson (€5.5m)
Apart from the penalty, star performer Isak was the only other Swedish player to hit the target with a goal attempt.
“It’s really good to see him on the pitch, he’s a huge talent. He’s a young player who’s still got a lot of room for improvement. I think there is a lot more to come from him. He played really well today.” – Andersson on Isak
Slovakia failed to get any of their 10 goal attempts on target over the 90 minutes.
“Attacking is a team dynamic. We didn’t get the movement we needed in the first half. Sometimes, perhaps he needs to take initiative more to bring the ball forward but he played well. Perhaps we can create chances for him, give him the ball more so that he can help the team.” – Andersson on Forsberg
Sweden XI (4-4-2): Olsen; Augustinsson (Bengtson 88′), Danielson, Lindelöf, Lustig; Forsberg (Krafth 90+3′), Ekdal (Svensson 88′), Olsson (Claesson 63′), Larsson; Isak, Berg (Quaison 63′).
Slovakia XI (4-2-3-1): Dúbravka; Hubocan (Hancko 84′), Skriniar, Satka, Pekarík (Haraslin 63′); Hrosovsky (Duris 84′), Kucka; Mak (Weiss 75′), Hamšík (Benes 77′), Koscielnik; Duda.
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Players sorted by total attempts
The lively Isak mustered up five goal attempts in an impressive performance, with the striker an outside punt for Sweden’s Matchday 3 tie against Poland.
CROATIA 1-1 CZECH REPUBLIC
- Goals: Ivan Perisic (€8.5m) | Patrik Schick (€8.2m)
- Assists: Andrej Kramaric (€6.5m) |
- Penalty won: Schick
Patrik Schick (€8.2m) continued his fine EURO 2020 campaign by adding his third goal in two matches in a Matchday 2 draw with Croatia, earning some additional points along the way.
After Dejan Lovren (€5.0m) was penalised for an elbow on the Czech Republic striker inside the area, the bloody-nosed striker slotted away the resulting penalty.
With points awarded in Euro 2020 Fantasy once a penalty has been won, rather than converted, Schick reaped the rewards of both on his way to an eight-point score.
“Patrik Schick is our No 1 penalty taker, he is in great form; it would have been a pity not to use him. He felt well to take it and converted it. We say the fouled player should not take penalties but the rules are here to be broken sometimes.” – Czech Republic head coach Jaroslav Silhavy
Ivan Perisic (€8.5m) levelled matters with an absolute thunderbolt into the top corner just after half time, after being moved to his favoured left-hand side of the attack.
“We are not playing well, simply not. I don’t know the reason. We had a bad start to the match, we scored that goal later, but we have to show much more against Scotland. Everyone in the team has to give more that this, otherwise we will go home after the group stage. We have a chance, we can go through, but we need to be better.” – Ivan Perisic
Both halves of the Czech Republic’s West Ham duo Vladimir Coufal (€5.0m) and Tomas Soucek (€6.5m) had efforts on goal within the first three minutes, with the right-back having a shot blocked while his clubmate headed a corner just over the crossbar.
Coufal created a decent chance for Schick after 17 minutes but the striker couldn’t find the target from the West Ham man’s pullback.
Croatia momentarily came alive with a training-ground routine from a corner in the 23rd minute. Modric played the corner short before re-taking possession and firing a ball along the ground into the box.
“I must say that I was surprised how much possession we had in the first half, the opponents did not press us that high and let us play, we had some half-chances and scored a goal from the penalty.” – Jaroslav Silhavy
Perisic appeared in the path of Modric’s pass but could only shoot straight at Czech keeper Tomas Vaclik (€5.0m).
The winger’s goal came after a double half-time substitution which saw him switch over to the left of the Croatia attack. The strike came after Perisic had twisted and turned to leave Coufal on the deck.
Substitute Nikola Vlasic (€6.5m), once of Everton, fired just over the crossbar from a Perisic knockdown after 71 minutes.
The latter could be hot property for Croatia’s Matchday 3 showdown with Scotland, where a win is required to make the knockout stages.
However, Perisic’s comments and those of his manager Zlatko Dalic don’t overly inspire confidence.
“We need energy. We are struggling, we looked better after the break, but that was not enough for our win. It will be difficult against Scotland, but this is (the Euros), every match is difficult. We still keep everything in our hands and we will try to be better and win in the last match.” – Zlatko Dalic
Croatia XI (4-2-3-1): Livakovic; Gvardiol, Vida, Lovren, Vrsaljko; Kovacic, Modric; Brekalo (Ivanusec 46′), Kramaric (Vlasic 61′), Perisic; Rebic (Petkovic 46′).
Czech Republic XI (4-2-3-1): Vaclik; Boril, Celustka, Kalas, Coufal; Soucek, Holes (Kral 62′); Jankto (Sevcik 73′), Darida, Masopust (Hlozek 63′); Schick (Krmencik).
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Players sorted by shots on target
No player on show could match Perisic for shots on target (2), while he also created one chance.
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