Heartland

Nikolas Vitus Lagartija wrote:It's taken me four rounds to realise that a keeper from the underdogs is likely to have the opportunity to gain more points than one from a top team so that has freed up some transfer budget, but can still only afford a couple of Costa Ricans for the bench.

Eh?

limur wrote:

Nikolas Vitus Lagartija wrote:It's taken me four rounds to realise that a keeper from the underdogs is likely to have the opportunity to gain more points than one from a top team so that has freed up some transfer budget, but can still only afford a couple of Costa Ricans for the bench.

Eh?

Is that supposed to mean, the points I've invested in Manuel Neuer from round 1 on should have better spent on an - for example - Iranian goalkeeper and some better / pricier other players

Victim of Circumstance wrote:

limur wrote:

Nikolas Vitus Lagartija wrote:It's taken me four rounds to realise that a keeper from the underdogs is likely to have the opportunity to gain more points than one from a top team so that has freed up some transfer budget, but can still only afford a couple of Costa Ricans for the bench.

Eh?

Is that supposed to mean, the points I've invested in Manuel Neuer from round 1 on should have better spent on an - for example - Iranian goalkeeper and some better / pricier other players

That's the realisation I have come to. A clean sheet is worth 4 points. Saves are worth one point each. So Tim Howard will have accrued more points last night than Thibault Courtois. My benched Algerian cheapie scored more points than my expensive Argentinian certainty in the last round. Just sayin'. However, having now ditched the Argentinian, I won't be able to re-sign him for later rounds so my Costa Rican is a bit of a gamble.

So next up is the QFs:

04Jul FRA v. GER
04Jul BRA v. COL
05Jul ARG v. BEL
05Jul NED v. CRC

Looking back to page 8 of this thread and the R16 fixtures, I can't help noticing that all the teams listed first progressed. Each match-up is of course simply listed in alphabetical order, but one for you conspiracy theorists to ponder, whilst casting your dried chicken bones on to the floor looking for omens.

For those of you still tinkering with your squads (I haven't even started yet) the following players are suspended from the QFs:

Marcos ROJO (ARG)
Luis GUSTAVO (BRA)
Oscar DUARTE (CRC)

McFIFA doesn't tell you this, so I thought I would.

Over in Nigel-land, there are the predicted starting line-ups for each match. If anyone feels this may aid their squad selection, I'm more than happy to 'borrow' the info and post it here.

Victim of Circumstance wrote:You're doing really well, Johnny. What's your overall position at the moment?

Currently #1838 overall and #19 in Germany. Flying the HL flag wherever I can.

I can see the 'cheap' GK/DF discussion going on as I type this, so I'll post my thoughts later, as I'm off to make dinner.

Again, as McFIFA don't post the data, you can find all the points scored in the R16 matches on this Google spreadsheet which the Nigels voluntarily contribute to. Any player with no data simply means no one had him in their squad.

You're welcome.

oh arse. i forgot i had to buy a new squad. i'll get no work done tonight!

Johnny Rev 7.0 wrote:So next up is the QFs:

04Jul FRA v. GER
04Jul BRA v. COL
05Jul ARG v. BEL
05Jul NED v. CRC

Looking back to page 8 of this thread and the R16 fixtures, I can't help noticing that all the teams listed first progressed. Each match-up is of course simply listed in alphabetical order, but one for you conspiracy theorists to ponder, whilst casting your dried chicken bones on to the floor looking for omens.

The teams listed first were the group winners. First time I can remember every group winner winning their R16 matches.

right, done, with 1m to spare. De Bruyne is my captain, so heaven help us all.

Mav787 wrote:The teams listed first were the group winners. First time I can remember every group winner winning their R16 matches.

Spot on! I'm talking bollox.

As usual.

emilystrange wrote:De Bruyne is my captain.

Hmm... still following the scientific order of play, and switching the alice band as appropriate? Or do you simply have no FRA, GER, BRA or COL players in your squad?

dammit. why did i say de bruyne? Kroos is captain!
the other options are neymar, mueller, oscar and rodriguez, but i'm not that convinced. am taking your advice about not having defenders as captains - luiz is the one i'd have out of those

So following the fixture trail...

Kroos/Müller ---> Neymar/Oscar/Luiz/J-Rod ---> Who?

I've bolded the bit in the middle as that's too many eggs in one basket for me. How can you pick a (c)?

If they all fail after day 1 you'll be struggling for day 2.

If you fancy Luiz for the alice band, go for it.

i've got dutch, columbians, argentinians and a belgian or two to be considered in the mix as well. captain might be a last min thing - see what the starting lineups are

Hmm... Klose starting up top for Germany. One goal away from creating a new WC record and a snip at 7m. Could be a huge differential. Still 45mins to ponder that one...

muller's after the golden boot, though. his 43 points against klose's 9 - bit of a gamble? if i didn't have muller in, i would

Right, I've decided to go for it.

Goodbye Arjen 'The Dive' Robben, and hello Miroslav 'Record Breaker' Klose (c).

The 2m saved helped me beef-up elsewhere. My 15-man squad is now a CRC free zone.

It could be a move of such Nigelness, that you'll be shocked and awed and recanting the story to your grandchildren in later life.

Alternatively, in a couple of hours, you'll all be pointing and laughing as I lay sobbing in the corner.

But, I'm having fun.

emilystrange wrote:muller's after the golden boot, though. his 43 points against klose's 9 - bit of a gamble? if i didn't have muller in, i would

GER are playing 4-2-3-1. Merts has been dropped, Lahm pushed back to RB, and Müller wide left mid.

I never had Müller either, hence the punt.

Unbelievable. I drop Hummels because of his nil points no-show last match and replace him with Mertesacker. Not only is the latter not playing but the former is back in and has just scored !!

FF is a cruel mistress at times.

I have no French players at all.
So I hope Germany seriously gub them

Is it me, or does Benzema (with beard) bare a striking resemblance to Chris Catalyst?

Nikolas Vitus Lagartija wrote:Unbelievable. I drop Hummels because of his nil points no-show last match and replace him with Mertesacker. Not only is the latter not playing but the former is back in and has just scored !!

Me too. Same swap

McFIFA now lets us see each others' teams from previous rounds. But not the live round in progress.

There's some eclectic picks in there.

Simply click on the username.

Damn, the Klose (c) was a punt too far, but the beauty of this game, is that it lets you move on.

Hello Limahl (c).

And commiserations to NVL and PiB

Hummels is currently on 21pts with no alice band.

hmmph. kroos got only a few more points as captain than neuer did without doubling. muller crap, so out for tomorrow.

the captain swapping tactic doesn't work how i thought it would. i had mueller as captain in the german game, doubling his 4 pts to 8. but now i have changed it to oscar (my only brazillian) for their game and mueller's gone back to 4. so whats the point? oh yeah, and i cant swap back. not that it matters really as messi was my captain for this round anyway so i'll reinstate him.