New points system to reward holding midfielders with the new ‘Kante Rule’.
A new fantasy football game has introduced a novel points-scoring system to boost the impact of holding midfielders, such as N’Golo Kanté.
Despite playing a key role for their club, the likes of Player of the Year Kante, Victor Wanyama and Nemanja Matic have been rendered almost useless for fantasy managers, due to an emphasis on goals and assists in the scoring system. These players, who’s strengths lie in tackling, breaking-up play and winning loose balls, were also unable to take as much credit for their team’s clean sheets.
Kante – acknowledged by his peers as the standout player of the 2016/17 season – scored just 82 fantasy points across the whole campaign, which is 120 points less than the previous PFA Player of the Year, Riyad Mahrez, during the 2015/16 season.
However, Draft Fantasy’s newly introduced Kante rule gives added worth to the all-important tackles and interceptions that these players make – the Frenchman’s total fantasy score would have been 133% higher if the rule was in place last season.
So how does the Kante rule work?
A player scores one bonus point for every combination of four tackles or interceptions and also scores a bonus point for every four recoveries made.
For example, a player who makes three tackles, two interceptions and two recoveries will score one point for their tackle and interception combination. This would also be the case for a player who makes one tackle, two interceptions and four recoveries, due to the number of recoveries made.
The Kante rule is applicable for all players but is likely to benefit holding midfielders the most. Some notable stars who could benefit, based on relatively low scores last season include:
- N’Golo Kante – scored 82 points across 34 games, but would have 109 more points with new rule
- Idrissa Gueye – 71 points across 33 games, 106 more points
- Ander Herrera – 86 points across 31 games, 96 more points
- Danny Drinkwater – 66 points across 29 games, 89 more points
- Victor Wanyama – 96 points across 36 games, 81 more points
The ruling is especially significant for new draft-style games, where each player can only be selected by one manager, meaning that once all of the attacking midfielders are snapped-up, managers would have been left with low-scoring holding midfielders. The new points system aims to overcome this issue.
Elie Steinbock, Draft Fantasy founder and CEO said, “Gone are the days of the ‘two points specialists’, where a defensive midfielder would struggle to score more than the two points awarded simply for playing. This new rule means that these players have a genuine value in the fantasy world, equal to the impact that they have for their club sides.
“We believe the Kanté rule will alter the way managers pick their squads for the new season. There is now real incentive to select this type of player during a draft, rather than feeling like you’ve drawn the short straw by getting Kanté.”