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Back in September, we launched the free-to-play Sorare Academy @ Fantasy Football Scout for the new season.
Since then, we’ve grown to thousands of weekly players and given out thousands of pounds in prizes to 10 weekly winners, courtesy of Sorare.
It’s totally free to play and takes just a few minutes to enter a team; you have all the best stars across Europe to pick your best five from each week.
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The Premier League is back and we’ve got a full slate of football across the five big leagues for the Sorare Academy this weekend.
This week, we’ve got some tips from guest blogger, Ligue 1 expert Genesis, which should help you whether you’re participating in our free-to-play game or dipping your toe into the main Sorare game.
Over to you, Genesis!
No matter the Sorare tournament, be it here at the Academy or on Sorare proper, when I am setting up my line-ups I always try and anchor my team selections with at least one ‘foundation’ player and sometimes two. This is a guy who can rack up very solid all-round scores. A guy who allows the other, more boom-or-bust players in your team to be a bit more… boom-or-bust. The foundation player gives the team some room for error. A solid start. A foundation to launch from.
However, for me, my foundation player is not simply a 50-points-per-week merchant. They are not regular goal scorers or assist providers but they are above average for their position. So, in addition to ensuring that you have a guaranteed weekly haul of points to anchor your tournament total, when they get those decisive actions you can start dreaming of hitting major scores and earning prizes!
If you’ve been playing Sorare for any amount of time it has probably become clear that ball-playing centre-backs are masters of building up heavy all-round scores. Dayot Upamecano is amongst the prime under-23 examples. Large passing volume, long balls, duels and some defensive actions can see modern centre backs like Upamecano hoard major points hauls. He is a strong weekly pick for the Academy tournament and equally so in the Sorare ones themselves. The same can be said for youngsters like Benoit Badiashile and Jules Kounde. However, they are missing a key facet of what makes a foundation player.
As noted above, we are looking for our foundation player to be able to amass these high all-round scores but, unlike most centre backs, have an above-average chance of a decisive action such as a goal or an assist. Better to look to another position group to find your foundation stone.
Let’s look at midfielders. And specifically the all-action midfielder. Guys who can quickly pile up point-scoring actions, especially defensively. Guys like Bayern’s Joshua Kimmich. I love this sort of player. Just as likely to crunch into a tackle as they are to roar into the box late and rifle the ball home. They combine all that’s key for me on Sorare. Solid SO5 tournament utility and I love watching them. Owning them on Sorare enhances my enjoyment of football. It’s fun
However, with Kimmich being a popular pick (and an expensive one on Sorare), you might seek to be a contrarian, to pick against the masses, hoping to score points where they don’t. And there is one young monster in this category that we can take as our example. An under-23 French midfielder who is a scorer up and down the matrix – Monaco’s Aurelien Tchouameni. Not quite Joshua Kimmich in SO5 just yet but with stacks of potential and a very solid points-scoring history. Passes, tackles, interceptions, duels, shots – look up his stats and I think you’ll be impressed.
His work rate translates well on the Sorare scoring matrix – similar to Upamecano and not that far off Kimmich. He’s all but guaranteed to hit 50 and can reach big scores without a goal or assist. Take his performance against Nantes at the weekend for example, where he scored 72. He also has the ability to hit those much sought after perfect 100s.
Tchouameni is my guy. The player I rely on in the best team I put out each week to act as my foundation. The base from which my players more reliant on goals or assists like Moussa Diaby or Sofiane Diop can launch and hopefully combine to hit big overall scores and win prizes. Something like the below. A pretty aggressive double forward lineup with Tchouameni as the foundation.
However, what if you want to find someone different? Your own foundation player. Well, the template above is the start point from which we work back and this is where the fun starts. The part of Sorare that keeps me really engaged. Scouting for players to fit my SO5 requirements. Time to do a little digging and find some statistically similar players. I will be dropping some of my tips in a future article. In the meantime, I would love to hear about your strategy for the weekly tournaments, whether you employ a foundation player and, if you do, who are your go-to options?
Don’t forget to enter your team on the Academy for free, with a chance to win a card to start your trading journey. Make sure you don’t miss the 11am Friday deadline!
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2 years, 4 months ago
Amyone else thinking KDB in for Son ?
Great captain option for next three after Chelsea (sou,BRE,nor)