In the latest of our articles from our team of contributors, Tom Freeman discusses his Euro 2024 Fantasy Matchday 5 team.
He’s ranked 44k in the world and still has a Wildcard to use.
MATCHDAY 4
A solid if unspectacular Matchday 4.
It was notable for Diogo Costa (€5.0m), Jamal Musiala (€8.5m) and Nico Williams’ (€7.0m) hauls, who were contributors to a score of 75.
Others let me down, however, like Spain duo Pedri (€7.0m) and Alvaro Morata (€8.5m), who Luis de la Fuente chose to hook on 52/67 minutes respectively.
They’ve been subbed off in each of their three Euro ’24 appearances so far, so it’s starting to feel like bringing them in was a mistake.
Yet overall, it’s been a pretty decent tournament, as I’m currently sat at 44,070 and still have my Wildcard chip to use.
MATCHDAY 5
I have 14 active players for Matchday 5, so can easily navigate my way through it with free transfers.
That said, I do have quite a few issues in my squad:
- Marc Guehi (suspended)
- Maximilian Mittelstadt (lost his place)
- Pedri/Alvaro Morata (minutes risks)
- Lack of Saturday options
- I only own Nathan Ake from the Netherlands
Three free transfers would sort some of it out but I do want to attack Matchday 5, so I have considered using my Wildcard.
It might even be the last chance to get some decent differentials.
Of course, keeping it back for the semi-finals is the sensible play, given that two of Germany, Spain, France and Portugal will be out.
That’s probably where I’ll land, I’m just not sure it’s the best solution for my squad.
CAPTAINCY
France’s three goals at Euro ’24 have come from two own goals and a Kylian Mbappe (€11.0m) penalty.
The mask is clearly affecting Mbappe, so the quarter-finals might present an opportunity to look elsewhere.
“It’s horrible playing with a mask. I keep changing masks because every time there is something that bothers me, there’s something that’s not quite right. It’s quite difficult playing with a mask because it limits your field of vision, your sweat clogs up and you need to let the sweat out.
“The first few days I felt like I was wearing 3D glasses and it wasn’t me who was playing. If I get to take the mask off I will, but now I don’t have a choice. I hate it. It’s really annoying. I’ve had to change it five times.” – Kylian Mbappe
I don’t think I’d captain Mbappe on Friday, either.
Aside from Cody Gakpo (€7.5m), no other forward has delivered a double-digit haul at Euro ’24 so far.
Midfielders have more routes to points, so I feel like this position should be the focus for captaincy.
| Position | Double-digit hauls | Players |
|---|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | 3 | Casteels, Oblak, Simon |
| Defenders | 12 | Bastoni, Carvajal, Cucurella, Demiral, Janza, Karnicnik, Kounde, Pepe, Mittelstadt, Muldur, Rudiger, Schlotterbeck |
| Midfielders | 20 | Ruiz (2), Aebischer, Baumgartner, Bellingham, Bernardo, De Bruyne, Eriksen, Guler, Gundogan, Kvaratskheila, Musiala, Rodri, Sabitzer, Shaparenko, Stanciu, Tielemans, Vargas, Wirtz, Williams |
| Forward | 2 | Gakpo (2) |
Instead, I’d probably look to Spain v Germany on Friday. It’s a hard match to call, but these are the two top-scoring teams at Euro ’24, with Williams and Musiala both looking sharp.
On Saturday, I prefer the Netherlands v Turkey fixture for captaincy, but my favoured pick, Memphis Depay (€7.5m), is a forward.
Still, he carries appeal. Turkey looked particularly vulnerable defending set-pieces against Austria, which could play into Depay’s hands, knowing he is on corners and free-kicks.
Austria also had 21 shots to Turkey’s six and recorded 3.14 xG to their opponents’ 0.92, so there should be opportunities in open play.
MATCHDAY 5: WILDCARD DRAFT TEAM
3 months, 23 days agoDid anyone ever play Olympic Soccer (1996) on PlayStation? I used to handicap myself against my older brother by disallowing myself from scoring diagonally from the corner of the box, which almost guaranteed a goal. And it wasn't in the instructions, but if you pressed the opposite direction to where you were shooting, immediately after shooting, the ball would go long and far, and you could kind of steer it like a homing missile, meaning you could pull off spectacular, 100% legit and realistic goals from the halfway line to really frustrate my friend who hates the game so much hahaha in your face, Nick.