The Scout: Essentials for putting your team together
My fellow Official Fantasy Bundesliga expert James 'The Coach' has already outlined his golden rule when it comes to putting together a team that will earn you maximum points. Keeping the fixture list and order of play in mind, as James recommends, is certainly an important factor.
Yet for me there are two even more crucial decisions when it comes to selecting a player: how safe is his place in the starting line-up and how frequently does his club coach rotate?
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More game time = more points
To date only 19 outfield players are yet to miss a single minute of action this season. Of those, only Christoph Kramer (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Kevin Kampl (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Benedikt Höwedes (FC Schalke 04) and Giulio Donati (1. FSV Mainz 05) are from clubs involved in European competition this term. Nobody at FC Bayern München or Borussia Dortmund has been an ever-present so far.
You need players with lots of time on the pitch in your squad if you are to be successful: they get three points just for completing 90 minutes! It goes without saying that a substitute cannot score goals or win any one-on-one duels, which are both fundamental factors in determining whether your team will triumph or flop.
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Want more Bundesliga Action?
Obviously I'm not saying that you shouldn't include Bayern and Dortmund players when putting together your first team for the Official Fantasy Manager Autumn League. For example, Robert Lewandowski is the only member of the Bayern camp to have featured in every Bundesliga match this season, and has only been a substitute once.
The same goes for Julian Weigl at Dortmund. Both are players their respective coaches, Carlo Ancelotti and Thomas Tuchel, prefer to have on the pitch. That knowledge means they are excellent choices for your side.
