In the latest article from our team of Hall of Famers and guest contributors, two-time Indian FPL champion Lateriser provides a Matchday 3 Limitless team reveal for Euro 2024 Fantasy.
He also talks through the best options on each calendar day of Matchday 3.
Matchday 3 will soon be here, so I’m thinking about my first draft. I am writing this article on Saturday morning and by the time the deadline comes around, we’ll have got the line-ups for Germany, Switzerland, Hungary and Scotland. We should also have the press conference for Spain, which might give us some insight into the Spanish XI before they face Albania.
I’ve had a really good Matchday 2 so far. I netted a 22-point haul from my captain Christoph Baumgartner (€6.5m), who I’m sticking with now, and have had some tidy returns from Ilkay Gundogan (€7.0m), Maximilian Mittelstadt (€4.0m), Manuel Akanji (€5.0m) and Harry Kane (€11.0m).
It is a big day for me today as I have Cristiano Ronaldo (€10.0m) and four substitutes coming in, namely Romelu Lukaku (€9.0m), Bruno Fernandes (€9.0m), Vladimir Coufal (€5.0m) and Jindrich Stanek (€4.0m).
LESSONS LEARNED SO FAR
I’ve made a couple of casual mistakes so far already while playing Euro Fantasy. I want to just cite them and note them down so I don’t make them again.
Firstly, I was very close to getting Florian Wirtz (€7.5m) and Wout Faes (€4.0m) in my Matchday 1 squad over Maxim De Cuyper (€4.5m) and Gundogan, which cost me 10 points. I did wonder pre-Matchday 1 if we are undervaluing ball recoveries for centre-backs over ‘attacking’ wing-backs. Two Matchdays later, this is definitely the case.
Secondly, after watching Matchday 1, I did have the inkling that Hungary would sit back versus Germany and that would not leave as much space for the ‘runner’ Wirtz that he got against Scotland. I thought that it would be more of a Jamal Musiala (€8.5m) and Gundogan game. While I did get Gundogan, I had a brain fart and captained Wirtz.
What happens when you are tinkering right at the end and are thinking about player A + B + C vs D + E + F, you forget these finer points that you clocked. This is not the right way of picking players. You need to objectively remember the thoughts in your head when thinking about matchups. That said, I am sitting at 86k with five players to go, so cannot complain. The purpose of playing this game was to maximize fun and gain knowledge, which has definitely been achieved.
MATCHDAY 3 ODDS
Now before I tinker with my squad, let’s cast an eye on Matchday 3 odds, via @robtfpl, and see what stands out to us.
GOALKEEPERS AND DEFENDERS
The top clean sheet odds for this Matchday are for Portugal, France, England and Spain. Germany and Belgium also have healthy clean sheet odds. France still have something to play for and both Theo Hernandez (€5.5m) and Jules Kounde (€5.0m) have really impressed me, so that is a good place to start.
With Germany, we will know their line-up and I am expecting those on a yellow card to sit out this game. You do have to wonder if that game is good for clean sheets since Germany won’t necessarily be playing a first-choice team.
As for Spain, Rodri (€6.5m) has a ban so he will miss this game, which objectively weakens Spain’s clean sheet potential. However, they have been one of the strongest teams in the tournament so far and will definitely be on everybody’s radar as they face Albania. Dani Carvajal (€5.5m) and Robin Le Normand (€4.5m) are on one yellow each, so I’m expecting them to be rested in Matchday 3 as well. If we get a hint of a starting defender in Matchday 3, we can go there. The likes of Alejandro Grimaldo (€5.0m) and Marc Cucurella (€4.5m) are on my mind this Matchday. If you are picking a couple of rotation risk players, you need to balance that out with 12-13 other nailed assets from nations that have something to play for, in my opinion.
England are one of those countries. The likes of Jordan Pickford (€5.0m), Marc Guehi (€4.5m) and John Stones (€5.0m) are definitely on my mind for Matchday 3. The English defence seems more reliable than the attack and I am not going to take a chance on Trent Alexander Arnold (€5.5m) this Matchday because I think that experiment might well be over. Plus they have the highest clean sheet odds.
Portugal also have a very good-looking tie against Georgia and based on how tonight goes, their defenders could be of interest to us. If they do win the game, you wonder about rotation in Matchday 3, though.
From the other teams, Jeremie Frimpong (€5.5m), who started against France and did really well, could be a good option against Austria.
I still really like Federico Dimarco (€5.0m) as a pick from Italy, who will definitely field a very strong team against Croatia. He has points potential at both ends of the pitch and has a healthy ball recovery rate as well.
Joakim Maehle (€5.5m) remains an enticing punt against Serbia. Belgium will definitely have something to play for so Faes and Timothy Castagne (€5.0m) are definitely a part of my thinking.
MIDFIELDERS AND FORWARDS
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