Fantasy Bundesliga: Template Team for the Rückrunde

Fantasy Bundesliga is finally back after the World Cup break, but which players are expected to be the most owned among managers for the Rückrunde? We take a look in this article.


Forwards

 

Jamal Musiala

The brightest talent to come out of Germany in recent years, Jamal Musiala rightfully earns the first spot in the template team. He has grown from strength to strength every year and has already surpassed his tally of five goals and five assists in 30 matches last season, with nine goals and six assists in just 14 matches so far. All of this at the age of 19. The top-scoring forward in the game will be the go-to Bayern attacker for most managers, and not having him in your team is just asking for a red arrow.

 

Randal Kolo Muani

One of the best additions from the summer transfer window, Kolo Muani has quickly turned into one of Eintracht Frankfurt’s best players with 14 goal involvements in the same number of matches. He also has the most assists in the league so far, with nine assists, despite being a striker, and has seen his value skyrocket after an impressive World Cup with France, even though he played limited minutes. With a game against Schalke right off the bat, he is expected to be the most-owned forward in the game after Musiala.





Midfielders

 

Vincenzo Grifo

Most of the best midfielders so far have been template picks, with a few exceptions, such as Bellingham, Baumgartner, and Kainz. The departure of Kostić hasn’t helped, but managers can always rely on Grifo to deliver consistently with an average of 10 points per game which is bettered only by the currently injured Christopher Nkunku’s 12 points per game. His opening fixtures aren’t the best with games against Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt, but if the second-place team wants to challenge for a UCL spot and possibly the title, they will rely on Grifo and his pin-point accurate set-pieces.

 

Jesper Lindstrøm

Although Kamada has more goal involvements (10G+3A) than Lindstrøm (7G), most sharks will own both at least with a game against Schalke before consecutive games against the top two—Bayern Munich and Freiburg. His form towards the start of the break also gives him a slight edge as he was more involved in the attack and averaged 12 points per game over the last six matches of the Hinrunde compared to Kamada’s seven points per game.

 

Marco Reus

Injury has kept him out for a long time and forced him out of possibly the last World Cup of his career, but it is easy to forget how good Marco Reus was before his injury. In the first six games of the Bundesliga season, he was averaging 10.1 points per game and should be the best pick from BVB’s attack for the opening game against Augsburg, with Bellingham now expected to play in a deeper role and Haller not yet fully fit.

 

Jonas Hofmann

He has been a bit inconsistent this season but has already racked up five goals and four assists in 13 games, and sticking around with him almost always works out as he is able to get double-digit scores against any team in the league. BMG have a favourable schedule for the restart with potentially high-scoring games against Bayer Leverkusen, Augsburg, Hoffenheim, Schalke and Hertha in the first five matchdays. So, it is no surprise that Hofmann will be a popular pick among Bundesliga Fantasy managers.


Defenders

 

Alphonso Davies

While Davies and Pavard will be a 50-50 decision for some, it shouldn’t be. His form hit a downward spiral after the first five matchdays, and he was replaced by Mazraoui soon, who can return from his Covid-related illness at any time. Also, his tussle with the management to play as a center-back hasn’t helped his case. When Mazraoui is fully fit, he won’t feature much, so Davies is the safest and most obvious choice from the Bayern backline.

 

Jeremie Frimpong

Adding the defender with the most goal involvements (5G+2A) in your team is a good bet for points and Frimpong has quickly turned into one of the best defenders in Bundesliga Fantasy under Xabi Alonso, averaging 11.5 points per game in seven matches even though it included two games with scores of -1. He has the highest ceiling among all defenders in the game, and even though the first fixture against BMG isn’t the best, he faces Bochum, BVB and Augsburg next.

 

Mitchell Weiser

Who would’ve expected the third-choice Bayer Leverkusen left-back to join a promoted team and become the highest-scoring defender in the game? Weiser has 140 points so far at an average of nine points per game and is joint fourth on the assists leaderboard with six. And with a price tag still just 5M, he is the budget enabler that every manager must have.

 

Christian Günter

This spot was first reserved for Julian Ryerson but he is now a mystery box because of his transfer to Dortmund where he might possibly be benched against Augsburg. Christian Günter isn’t a half-bad replacement, playing for the second-best team in league with the most cleansheets and eight double-digit scores in 15 matches.





Goalkeeper

 

Sven Ulreich

A goalkeeper from the best team in the league that has conceded the least goals so far for 3.2M is a massive bargain, but day by day, it looks more and more likely that Sommer will sign for Bayern and be the man between the sticks against RB Leipzig.

 

Fantasy Bundesliga Template Team


Bench

 

Niclas Füllkrug

Another player on this list having a career season is Niclas Füllkrug. His career-best Bundesliga season was when he scored 14 goals to go with three assists in 34 games for Hannover, but he already has 10 goals and two assists in 14 matches this season. Only Nkunku has more goals with 12, and to cap it all off, he was one of the star players in Germany’s dismal World Cup tournament. To summarize, he is full of confidence and in the form of his life, so most Bundesliga Fantasy managers will be backing him against FC Köln—the team with the worst form in the league with no wins in their last five games and 12 goals conceded in that period.

Possible alternatives: Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Marcus Thuram, Moussa Diaby, Jonas Wind, and Andrej Kramarić.

 

Daichi Kamada

Alternative to Lindstrøm with a higher floor and cheaper price tag. Schalke are still bottom of the table and have won just one of their last nine games, so this double-up will still be popular among managers chasing upside.

Possible alternatives: Joshua Kimmich, Christoph Baumgartner, Florian Wirtz, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Florian Kainz.

 

Ramy Bensebaini

Frimpong is scoring at a free rate, and the only defender who has matched his tally of five goals is Bensebaini. He is a reliable source of bonus points as he wins a ton of duels and also shoots at will. Add to that the fact that he will be taking penalties every now and then for the team, and you cannot go wrong with this pick.

Possible alternatives: Raphael Guerreiro, Paulo Otávio, Niklas Süle, Christopher Trimmel, Aarón Martín, and Evan Ndicka.

 

Alexander Schwolow

The keeper is usually the only viable option from teams at the bottom because even though they concede a lot, there is always the potential for a ton of saves. Schwolow’s ceiling so far has been limited with just one double-digit score, but he rotates in each of the next eight matchdays with Ulreich and is, most importantly, cheap.

Possible alternatives: Janis Blaswich, Manuel Riemann, and Jiri Pavlenka.

 

Fantasy Bundesliga Template Team Bench


You can find additional Bundesliga Fantasy resources for the 22/23 season here.

Bundesliga Fantasy: How Matchday Deals Work

To make the Bundesliga Fantasy manager game more interesting, the team has added a new feature called “Matchday Deals,” but what is it, and how does it work? In this article, we will explain all your questions.


Matchday Deals are a new feature on the transfer market in Bundesliga fantasy. Every matchday week, select players will be offered at reduced prices. These deals will be highlighted on the transfer market and can also be accessed through the Matchday Recap. Initially, one player from each Bundesliga team will be on sale.

It’s important to note that players on sale can only be sold for a reduced price by managers who already have the player in their squad. Once the sale period is over, the player’s price will return to the full value. This means that by trading, managers can quickly build a strong team value and gain an advantage over other managers.

It is designed to keep the managers from selecting template players and putting on differentials, possibly those available at a discount. The Matchday Deals feature is not live yet, but it is expected to be activated soon before the Rückrunde begins.

 

How are players selected for matchday deals?

Up to 18 players can be selected for matchday deals according to the following criteria:

  • They are returning from injury.
  • They transferred from another league to the Bundesliga.
  • Made the Fantasy Team of the Week for the first time.
  • Editorial selection based on statistics and milestones.

A player will be on sale for the entire duration of the transfer window between two matchdays and the number of players on sale might vary during unlimited transfers.

 

Tip: With the discounts possibly being as high as 10% of the original market value, it might be a good idea to hold your players for a week and sell them at full value if they get selected for Matchday Deals unless absolutely necessary. On the other hand, it might be a good idea to pick up a good player for the long term if they are on discount like Wirtz above. You can also buy some players at a discount and sell them later if you want to afford more premiums, such as when Bayern face Schalke.





Other Updates

 

Matchday Recap

With the Matchday Recap feature, you get a summary of how your team has performed in a matchday every time you open the app. It is available from midnight after the final game of the matchday.

 

Guest Mode

Managers playing on Guest Mode will now have a countdown on the dashboard until they have to create an account to be able to continue playing. So once the countdown is over, you won’t be able to continue playing until you register and save your progress.


You can find additional Bundesliga Fantasy resources for the 22/23 season here.

FPL Tips: Planning for DGW20 and Potential DGW21

With plenty of potential double gameweeks in FPL, there will be a lot of questions on your mind. FPL Bakchod is here to answer all of them in his latest article.


City and United Top Picks? Liverpool attackers – hold or sell? Should we consider any Spurs players? Read on for these answers and more.



We will be looking at one team at a time before sharing our final recommendations. Metrics we are looking at:

Team stats:

  • Home/Away performance.
  • xG/xGC.
  • Fixtures and doubles.
  • GW17-GW19 performance.


Players:

  • GW17-GW19 mins.
  • xGI.
  • Comparison with other players for shots, CC, xA, xG.


Manchester City

GW20 and GW23 double.

  • Fixtures (double in GW20 and GW23): MUN (A), TOT (H), WOL (H), TOT (A), AVL (H), ARS (A).
  • Arsenal and United will be difficult games, Arsenal are still unbeaten at home (7W 1D), meanwhile United have just one defeat at home (6W 1D 1L).
  • City have a good home record as well, 7W 1D 1L – 3/6 are home fixtures and two of these are against bottom-half teams (Wolves in fact is 19th).
  • City highest for shots (54), SiB (39), and xG (8.2) since the restart.


Performance of City assets from GW17-GW19:

  • From GW17-GW19, only six City players have played 265+ out of the possible 270 mins – Ederson, Ake, Stones, KDB, Rodri, and Haaland.
  • In this period, KDB is highest across City players for xA (1.9) and chances created (12); he is second only to Haaland for shots (11, Haaland has 13) and xGI (2.7, Haaland at 3.5).
  • Mahrez and Grealish are next for xGI, 2.5 each; Mahrez is second for City for chances created (11).
  • Cancelo and Foden have only played 67 and 79 minutes respectively.
  • Stones and Ake look like the only City defenders that can be considered, however, they are low for xGI from GW17-19 (0.1 each); there are 45 defenders in this period with an xGI > 0.1.
  • At the same time with the fixtures coming up, clean sheets could be difficult.


Should one triple up on City? If already tripled up, should one continue?

  • Without Cancelo, should one triple up on City? The ideal triple-up would be three attacking assets – Haaland, KDB, and Grealish/Mahrez/Foden; however similar to the difficulty in clean sheets, these fixtures could be low scoring as well.
  • While they did beat United 6-3 in the first half, this is a different United now and the match is also at Old Trafford.
  • Also, this will mean 3/7 forward players in your team will be City players.
  • At the same time, there will always be the fear of rotation for the third asset.
  • However, of the three, Mahrez is definitely the best pick at the moment; he was excellent in the FA Cup win vs Chelsea.
  • Personally, I was thinking of moving from Cancelo to Ake earlier; however, now I am reconsidering it. I don’t think I will be continuing with the City triple-up.
  • I am considering another Newcastle defender (they don’t have doubles, but good fixtures till GW23) or Dalot or a punt like Doherty.


Manchester United

GW20 and potential GW21 double.

  • Fixtures till GW23: MCI (H), CRY (A), ARS (A), LEE (H). Potential Double in GW21 – CRY (H), LEE (A).
  • They could effectively play Palace and Leeds twice in the next six games; Palace is 12th while Leeds is 14th in the table.
  • Since the restart, Palace and Leeds are 17th and 18th for xG for; they are 5th and 1st respectively for xG against.
  • United have won their seven last games across all competitions, they have scored 18 goals and conceded only four across these fixtures.


Performance of United forwards:

  • Only four players have played all 270 mins since the restart – De Gea, Shaw, Fernandes, and Casemiro.
  • From GW 17-19, Rashford is highest for United for shots (8), SoT (5), and goals (3); Fernandes is highest for chances created (11), xA (1.7), and xGI (2.3).
  • Rashford has played only 220 mins vs 270 for Fernandes, also he is 2.8m cheaper than Fernandes.
  • Martial and Casemiro are joint 3rd for xGI after Fernandes and Rashford (1.6) at 1.5 each.
  • GW17 onwards, Martial and Casemiro have the same number of shots (6), SoT (2), goals (1), and xGI.


United Defenders?

  • From GW17-GW19, Shaw is the highest-scoring defender across the premier league in FPL – 32 points (15 in GW19 vs BOU).
  • United have had three cleansheets in each of the last three games.
  • Dalot vs Shaw stats/90 from GW1-GW19: Shots – Dalot 0.9, Shaw 0.4; chances created – Dalot 1.6, Shaw 1.3; equal for xA (0.1), xGI (0.2).
  • I don’t mind a United double-up on defence given the form and fixtures; there could be three clean sheets in the next six, also Dalot and Shaw could give attacking returns as well.


United Triple up?

  • United triple-up can strongly be considered if you don’t already have three United assets; they could get another double game week and overall fixtures are not as tricky as the other top teams.
  • Personally, I am inclined towards two attackers and one defender; Shaw and Rashford are essential picks.
  • For the third attacker, Fernandes > Martial > Casemiro; however getting Fernandes in won’t be as easy as Martial (easy move from Mitrovic).


Liverpool

Potential GW21 double.

  • Fixtures till GW23: BHA (A), CHE (H), CHE (A). Potential double in GW21 – WOL (A), EVE (H), NEW (A), CRY (A), WOL (H). Potential double in GW23.
  • Two potential doubles for Liverpool, currently a 50% chance for a double in GW21 and a 10% chance of a double in GW23.
  • If both doubles go ahead, that will be five away fixtures and three home fixtures for Liverpool till GW23.
  • Liverpool don’t have a good away record (2W 2D 4L), they have been better at Anfield (6W 2D 1L).


Salah and Núñez – hold/sell?

  • Núñez and Salah are 1st (tied with Haaland) and 2nd respectively across all players for xGI since the restart; Núñez at 3.5 and Salah at 3.2.
  • In this period, Núñez is highest across all players for shots (16), SoT (6), and SiB (7); however he has returned only eight points in these three games.
  • With the law of averages, it is high time that Núñez owners should get rewarded for their patience.
  • In case you own both Salah and Núñez, I would keep Núñez and move Salah out. With doubles for City and Spurs, moves to KDB or Kane (or even Son as a punt) can be considered.
  • Liverpool have the second-highest shots (53) and xG (6.9) though since the restart, they could start scoring and it will be safer to keep at least one of the two.
  • I own Núñez in FPL, I will be keeping him for now; there are other priority transfers at the moment and there is still a chance of a double in GW21.
  • I am not looking at any other Liverpool players at the moment, TAA is looking better but I still don’t think he is worth the price.


Spurs

GW20 double.

  • Fixtures till GW23: ARS (H), MCI (A), FUL (A), MCI (H), LEI (A).
  • Only one confirmed double for Spurs, GW20 – however, they play the best two teams in the league; also they play City again in GW22.


Second Premium – Kane vs Son vs KDB vs Salah?

  • xGI/90 from GW1-19: Salah (0.8), KDB (0.7), Kane (0.6) and Son (0.5).
  • xGI from GW17-19: Salah (3.2), KDB (2.7), Kane (1.7), Son (1).
  • In the 18 games till now, Kane has >5 points in 13 fixtures in FPL; double-digit points in four fixtures.
  • The only Spurs player I am considering is Kane; he has been very consistent, he is owned by 30% of teams and I would like to hedge the risk of not having him.
  • Kane is on four yellow cards though and just like Mitrovic in GW19, it could happen that he plays the first fixture, receives a yellow, and is unavailable for the second fixture against City.
  • Mitrovic captainers (us included) got lucky this week because Haaland didn’t return; however, I am not looking at Kane as a captaincy option for GW20.


Which other Spurs Players?

  • Since the restart, Doherty is highest across defenders for touches in the penalty area (12), second highest for shots (7), and fourth highest for xGI (0.9).
  • Currently owned by only 0.7% of teams, priced at 4.6m.
  • Perisic meanwhile has 10 touches in the penalty area (second highest across defenders), one shot, and an xGI of 0.7.
  • Son numbers haven’t been good, KDB is preferred over Son.


Arsenal

Potential GW21 double and confirmed GW23 double.

  • Fixtures till GW23: TOT (A), MUN (H), EVE (H). Potential double in GW21 – EVE (A), BRE (H), MCI (H).
  • 4/6 home fixtures, Arsenal are still unbeaten at home this season. Of the two away fixtures, one is against Everton (18th in the league).


Arsenal Trio for DGWs?

  • xGI/90 from GW1-19: Jesus (0.8), Odegaard (0.6), Saka (0.6), Martinelli (0.5), Nketiah (0.5).
  • I have Martinelli and White, currently inclined towards upgrading Almiron to Odegaard for the DGWs.
  • The optimum Arsenal trio at the moment will consist of two midfielders and one defender.


Other teams – Brighton, Leeds, Palace

Players that can be considered in FPL (and TSB):

  • Brighton and Hove Albion – Mitoma (0.8%), Gross (11.5%), March (0.9%), Mac Allister (2.9%).
  • Leeds – Rodrigo (6.9%).
  • Crystal Palace – Zaha (11.8%).


Recommendations:

  • United triple-up in FPL looks like a clear decision, Shaw and Rashford are essential picks; Fernandes > Martial > Casemiro in case of attackers, and Dalot the clear pick in defence.
  • City triple-up is not recommended, however in case one does want to triple up on City then three attackers can be selected – Haaland, KDB, and Mahrez/Grealish/Foden; Mahrez is definitely the best pick of the three at the moment.
  • In the case of both Salah and Núñez, Salah can be sold and Núñez can be kept given the chance of a double in GW21.
  • Kane and Doherty look like the only Spurs players that can be considered in FPL at the moment, Spurs don’t have a good run of fixtures though.

You can find Fantasy Premier League (FPL) resources for the 22/23 season here.