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This Thursday and Friday have been tough without any European Championship football. So it’s probably a good time to assess the official FFScout Team taking part in FanTeam’s free, no-deposit ‘Beat the Pundits League’.

A review of the first three Gameweeks, plus our transfer plans ahead of Saturday’s 17:00 (BST) deadline.

As a reminder, every manager who finishes ahead of this squad will receive a free month of our Premium Membership.

In case you missed it, FanTeam also has a ‘Round of 16 Monster’ game that offers free entry to everyone who signed up to the site between the 5th and 20th of June, provided they’re from an eligible country.

WHAT IS FANTEAM ‘BEAT THE PUNDITS’?

This free league has over 1,500 managers competing to win a bunch of exciting prizes. Not only are Scout Premium Memberships up for grabs but the top 160 will share £2,000 (as seen above). And there’s the chance to defeat some well-known FPL content creators, too.

A 15-man squad fits within the £100m budget. Four Gameweeks remain and deadlines go right up until the first kick-off but decisions can’t be tweaked afterwards.

Each manager gets one Wildcard to use. Points are similar to FPL, except slight tweaks for things like saves, shots on target and giving away decisive fouls.

SCOUT TEAM SO FAR

So far, our biggest problems have been captaincy picks and having the wrong Germany coverage. It was fine to own Florian Wirtz (£7.5m) for his Gameweek 1 goal but staying loyal to him rather than top-scoring midfielders Ilkay Gundogan (£6.0m) and Jamal Musiala (£8.0m) – owned by 49% and 24% of managers – is causing damage.

Additionally, this is a game where the armband can’t switch daily, which doesn’t collaborate well with the poor fortunes of premium forwards. Romelu Lukaku (£10.0m) began with two disallowed goals versus Slovakia and Harry Kane (£11.0m) blanked against Slovenia, although he did reward us when purchased for Gameweek 2.

Between the sticks, Jordan Pickford (£6.0m) has been a solid player. At least five points each time – our only Gamekweek 3 starter to reach that low level – yet it’s been frustrating to see benched goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili (£4.5m) outscore him. The Georgian made 11 saves in one match and kept a clean sheet in another.

Portuguese duo Bruno Fernandes (£9.5m) and Joao Cancelo (£6.5m) bagged a goal and clean sheet in Gameweek 2 but were ruthlessly sold straight after. It’s just a shame that Kevin De Bruyne (£9.0m) and Diogo Dalot (£6.0m) did nothing.

In fact, the Gameweek 3 defence totalled a measly two points, emphasising another notable absence. Nobody from the Spain or France backlines has been chosen.

Currently sat in 1,066th, there’s thankfully still time to shoot up the rankings.

GAMEWEEK 4 TRANSFERS

There are four free transfers to use for this Round of 16, rather than an unlimited amount.

Four of our 15-man squad have been eliminated, too. Dominik Szoboszlai (£7.0m), Marcelo Brozovic (£4.5m), Botond Balogh (£4.0m) and Ivan Balliu (£4.0m).

However, as we intend to Wildcard before the quarter-finals, this round requires getting by without any outfield substitutes for just one Gameweek.

Szoboszlai makes way for bargain midfielder Fabian Ruiz (£5.0m) and Kylian Mbappe (£11.5m) replaces Lukaku. In defence, Dalot and David Hancko (£5.0m) depart for Nathan Ake (£5.5m) and Daniel Carvajal (£5.5m).

This way, we finally have ample Spain coverage before they face Georgia.

As of now, Kane is the captain and no extra transfers will seek to replace the disappointing Jude Bellingham (£8.5m) or goalless Gianluca Scamacca (£6.0m).

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