Scottish Premiership GW#343 Capped Mode Preview

The second Game Week of the new Sorare reality kicks off on Friday and all eyes will be on the the newly minted English Premier League. The other British covered league, the Scottish Premiership, is also playing and offers some great value players to earn the Threshold rewards in Capped Mode. In this article, I’ve rounded up some of my favourites at all positions and discussed how I’ve put my Cap 240 team together.

In the interest of openness, I do own cards of some of the players I’m recommending (you can check out my gallery here) and will mark them with an asterisk (*). But, I’ll also try and include some players I don’t have. As always, do your own research when picking up players.

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The Games

Aberdeen-Motherwell I had Aberdeen pegged for a solid performance in mid-week and they lost 3-1 to St Mirren. Although a contentious early red for Ross McCrorie didn’t give them much of a chance. Having said that, I think they have a chance here against a Motherwell team that lost to the worst form team in the league. Jay Gorter should replace Joe Lewis in goal and hopefully add some stability to the Dons defensively.

Hearts-Dundee United Hearts should bounce back from their mid week defeat to Rangers here. Dundee United are struggling and have no depth up-front after Sorare-player Tony Watt moved to St Mirren on deadline day. It’s really looking grim for United, and relegation seems a real possibility! It’s hard to see Dundee doing much this week, so I’d stay away from all players.

Livingston-Kilmarnock Livingston were brushed aside by Celtic in Glasgow mid-week but should be much more competitive against Kilmarnock. Kilmarnock on the other hand got a huge home victory to send Dundee United bottom of the league. Livingston are really solid defensively at home and managed a clean sheet against high-flying Hearts last weekend. I’d expect a low scoring affair here.

Rangers-Ross County Rangers are fresh off the back of a comfortable win against Hearts at Tynecastle. A home date with relegation threatened Ross County shouldn’t pose much of a challenge. I guess this will be a theme for Rangers games, but there aren’t many players I like for this game with most Rangers players not having cards. Obviously Ross County players should be avoided.

St Mirren-Hibernian St Mirren are one of the strongest defensive teams in the league at home conceding just 8 goals in 12 games – so it’s hard to see Hibs scoring as freely as recent weeks. Offensively, St Mirren aren’t lighting the world on fire scoring 16 at home (1.33 per game), so don’t expect a lot of goals and assists from either sides despite Hibs’ struggles on the road.

St Johnstone-Celtic St Johnstone might have got their first win in 7 against Motherwell on Wednesday, but it’s hard to see them getting anything from this one. Obviously staying away from St Johnstone players will be a given. From the Celtic side, there are some clear starters and as always a full Celtic stack will be a strong play in uncapped competitions. The real value for Capped Mode comes from picking players who make a mixture of starts and sub-appearance when they do start.

Goalkeepers

Shamal Lewis*, Livingston – Livingston are really strong at home, perhaps due to oppositions not being used to playing on their artificial pitch. In particular they are great defensively, conceding just 10 in 11 games. Lewis does have quite a high L15 price (53), but outside of the Old Firm he’s got the best chance of a clean-sheet and a 60+ score.

Trevor Carson, St Mirren – Carson is a cheaper option that Lewis (L15: 38), and again one that benefits from a team much stronger at home than away. Hibs aren’t necessarily the best match-up, but St Mirren are so strong at home it wouldn’t be a surprise if he does manage a clean sheet. Even with a single goal conceded, Carson can still outscore his price with a modest AA score.

Other Thoughts: Joe Hart is an obvious option for a clean sheet this week as he is most weeks. Hearts obviously have a good match-up and Zander Clark should bounce back from a poor game against Rangers. Outside of Celtic, I’d stay away from all the away goalkeepers.

Defenders

Morgan Boyes*, Livingston – 21 year old Morgan Boyes has earned a run in the Livingston first team recently starting each of the last 6 games. Operating as a centre-back he’s shown the ability to put up 60+ scores through decisives or pure AA scores. If Livingston do manage to keep a clean sheet, Boyes shouldn’t have any issues outscoring a price of 36.

Scott Tanser, St Mirren – Tanser plays as a left wing-back for St Mirren and has taken the majority of corners for them over the last 5 games. Against Hibs he should have his opportunities to get forward and contribute attacking actions as well. Like Carson, he has paths to outscoring his L15 if they do concede a goal and with a clean sheet he could have an excellent day.

Other Thoughts: Sean Kelly* plays in the midfield for Livingston, but has defender cards on Sorare, like Boyes he should be in for a good score. Predicting who will play in the centre of defence for Aberdeen may be a challenge, if Liam Scales* returns after his suspension he would be a great play. If you’ve got more cash to spend, Alistair Johnson’s* L15 still hasn’t adjusted to his move to Celtic (more on him below).

Midfielders

Ylber Ramadani, Aberdeen – At home Ramadani averages 52 points per game, as opposed to his L15 of 47. He does it mostly through a strong AA game making him a more consistent option than some others (although he does add the odd goal or assist). Against a struggling Motherwell side, he should have no issue putting up a solid score.

Todd Cantwell, Rangers – New signing Cantwell has a low L15 average after making a mixture of starts and sub appearances for Norwich. At the weekend he started for Rangers and racked up a respectable 48 points in 60 minutes, before making an appearance from the bench against Hearts. I expect he’ll returning to the starting XI against Ross County and had a great shot at a first decisive score at Rangers. Until his L15 average adjusts he will remain a great pick for capped mode.

Other Thoughts: I don’t think it’s the easiest week to pick midfielders, Matty Kennedy is worth a look at Aberdeen. With Cameron Devlin having missed the last two games and Halliday returning from a concussion – Robert Snodgrass is the only Hearts midfield I’d look at (sadly he doesn’t have limited cards). Stéphane Oméonga has started the last few games for Livingston and should provide some good value.

Forwards

Bojan Miovski*, Aberdeen – Miovski was in the other thoughts section of this article last week, partly because he takes penalties for Aberdeen. He duly scored from the spot against St Mirren and hopefully that can help him to kick on now. At home to Motherwell, the opportunities should be there for Miovski to add another goal.

Curtis Main, St Mirren – Curtis Main isn’t the most prolific scorer, but he has managed a couple in the last two games. When playing at home he has managed to score 50+ without a decisive at couple of times this season. Despite Tony Watt’s arrival at St Mirren, he’s probably the best bet for a St Mirren goal and at an L15 of 44 he’s pretty affordable as well.

Other Thoughts: The Hearts forwards are all interesting, Lawrence Shankland is the obvious option but Joshua Ginnelly is worth a look as well (be careful he has Midfield and Forward cards). I was going to recommend staying away from Kevin Nisbet before his injury, and I would extend that to Elie Youann playing a tough St Mirren side. Aberdeen have been shaky defensively, so Kevin van Veen isn’t the worst play.

My Cap 240 Line-Up

As mentioned above, Livingston at home is a spot to target defensive stacks. So Shamal George and Morgan Boyes go into the line-up and will hopefully do better than the Motherwell defensive stack I used last week.

I’ve added Alistair Johnson of Celtic as a second defender in the line-up. He is pretty expensive at 57 points, but since moving to Celtic in January he’s only scored below that against Rangers despite not having a single decisive. He’s a great bet for a big score again this week.

Ryan Strain takes the corners for St Mirren that Scott Tanser doesn’t giving him a little bit of extra decisive potential. Playing as a right wing back he’s been in great form recently, scoring 3 decisives in his last 4 games. Against a Hibs team that isn’t great defensively, he’s got the potential to add plenty of attacking actions and possibly another decisive.

Bojan Miovski got his first goal since the World Cup in mid-week and should get some more chances against Motherwell. With him being on penalties, that adds some extra potential for decisives.

This line-up comes in 4 points under budget, but in my gallery I don’t think there are any changes I’d like to make. As with last week, I think defensive stack will make or break the line-up. Johnson and Strain should be really solid, and if we get a Livingston clean sheet I should be able to hit 250 regardless of whether Miovski bags a goal.

Gameweek #342 Recap

My midweek line-up was a bit of a dud, scoring just 215 points. It got off to a bad start we Kevin Nisbet going off injured in the first half for Hibernian. Motherwell’s awful performance resulted in a terrible performance for Liam Kelly, although defender Ricki Lamie did manage a solid 53 point score. Kevin van Veen couldn’t grab the goal he needed to put up a strong score. Finally, Daniel Armstrong scored for Kilmarnock but also conceded a penalty to give him a neutral decisive score.

I actually had a much more success in Cap 220, topping the 300 point mark (just) with Paul Bernadoni of Angers joining 4 Scottish Premiership players. Two defenders with clean sheets in Andy Considine and Lewis Mayo resulted in 70+ scores from both. Joe Newell had a pedestrian 45 points, and Daizen Maeda managed a goal and not much else for Celtic.