MLS GW15 Tips – Fantasy Major League Soccer

MLS GW15 Tips – Fantasy Major League Soccer

We love MLS. We love Fantasy MLS. We’ve played it for years. Many of us have had relative success in doing so. We’ve just never committed to actually writing about it… Until now that is! Well, sort of. Let us explain. Despite having a well full of writers who all love and play MLS we could never nail one down to actually write a regular article. So we went on a talent hunt. And as ever we came up with fantasy gold! It’s our pleasure to introduce our new friend and new ‘MLS guru’ Guy Sanchez…

Guy has a long history of covering American sports and previously wrote for a now defunct site (not his fault, we hope!) but in doing so he gained a press pass for the Portland Timbers, which in his words ‘got me hooked’ on MLS. He’s so well thought of in MLS circles he will in fact be featuring on the MLS Fantasy Insider podcast this week. Oh and he’s pretty good at the fantasy thing too. He’s currently ranked in the top 30 overall this season so far. Guy does have his own MLS blog and it’s well worth a visit as it expands upon the current GW – http://www.footyfantastic.com/

Anyway without further ado let’s hand you over to the man himself to talk us through GW15 and the challenges ahead, thanks Guy…

Welcome to the first regular weekly FMLS article on FF247! What a week we chose to start giving advice on fantasy MLS, right? GW15 is undoubtedly the hardest week of the year to this point. It’s not difficult because of the many choices it’s giving us – it’s difficult because of everything that it’s taking away. But we’re reasonable people, no? Surely there must be something that we can do to ensure success in this mid-season drought of a gameweek. Let’s take this step by step and work our way towards a solution to this puzzle. [clear]

Know the facts

First off, everybody in the game gets a free wildcard this week. This wildcard needs to serve two purposes; it needs to build a squad that can compete this week, and it needs to set a base for a squad that can compete in two weeks in GW17. GW17 is when we have no bye weeks and 12 MLS teams are on a DGW. Tall order, right?

The second thing we need to take into account is that in building for the future, we start with a severely restricted pool of teams for GW15 – only 10 teams are playing this week while the rest are on a bye. The teams to choose from this week are Chicago, Columbus, DC, Dallas, L.A., Montreal, New England, New York FC, Orlando and Seattle. That is not a long list – and those are not all quality teams.

The third problem is that fact that two teams that play this week in GW15 will have a bye in GW16. It’s kind of hard to build for the future if your present team is not fully… well, ‘present’. The two teams that are providing us with this headache are Chicago and Columbus.

And the fourth major problem is that of the 10 teams that we can choose from this week, 4 of those teams won’t be part of the 12 teams that take part in the big DGW in GW17.

So like I said earlier, we picked quite the week to start doling out advice on fantasy MLS. The main thing to remember is that you have to know that you’re in one of two groups. The first group still has their one yearly general wildcard available to them. People in this group are rare at this point, but they hold a decided advantage. These people can choose the best players from this week and then use their yearly wildcard in GW17 to build the best possible team.

The people in the second group (which are now many) have already used their general wildcard and have to not only build a team to compete this week, but will only have a total of 4 free transfers to build the best possible team for GW17. If you find yourself in this second group, there is hope. You just have to plan very carefully, and here’s where we are going to help doing just that…

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Look to Seattle to form the base of your team
Seattle are the pick of the litter for this week since they’ve get a very favorable fixture at home against FC Dallas. Not only that, they follow up this week with another home fixture against San Jose and then get to participate in the DGW that next round. This really is the best of both worlds since having Seattle players on back to back weeks with home fixtures ensures that your team stays competitive. And when the DGW rolls around, even though they have back to back fixtures on the road, they play in Portland as part of the Cascadia Cup rivalry which always produces big points.

Since the limit in FMLS is 4 players from any squad, you may want to strongly consider using 4 players from Seattle and riding them out for the next several weeks. Seattle have two players in the Top 10 for fantasy points on the year; Stefan Frei (GK, 86 points, $5.9) and Clint Dempsey (MID, 85 points, $11.8) are both players that should feature on every squad this round. The only problem for Dempsey right now is that he missed his last match due to paternity leave – so we’ll have to keep an eye on that going forward.

Up front, Obafemi Martins (F, 60 points, $11.6) is now confirmed to be back to full training following surgery on his broken nose. When healthy, Martins is a key attacker in the game. His 6 goals and 3 assists in 10 appearances on the year are a testament to that. Rounding out your Seattle selections, you could choose another midfielder or take a defender. Brad Evans (D, 68 points, $7.8) is probably the best selection on the board. He’s been part of a defending crew that has now produced 7 clean sheets through 14 matches.

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Invest (wisely) in the other “best of the rest” available to you
Outside of Seattle’s great setup for fixtures, there are actually 4 other teams that play in GW15 and GW16 and play twice in GW17 – but the options simply aren’t as clear as they are with the Sounders. These teams are: DC United, L.A. Galaxy, Montreal Impact and the New England Revolution.

Starting with DC, we have a bit of a mixed bag as they’ve given owners a ton of trouble with surprise rotations with their very congested schedule. The one shining position for DC though is their now healthy squad of forwards. Jairo Arrieta (F, 53 points, $6.5) is the real value option for this group. He has trouble getting consistently high minutes, but he does make the most of the time he is given. In his second to last match he gave owners 12 points with his 2 goals scored. The bigger surprise has been the return of Fabian Espindola (F, 28 points, $10.4). Now that he’s seemingly fit, he’s making a case to be included in lineups everywhere after his score of 16 points in the last round via 3 assists.

For L.A., it’s a bit of a tougher ask. Do we trust that Robbie Keane (F, 25 points, $11.0) will be back from international duty and fit enough to produce again? Maybe not. He’s really not found any kind of form in league play this year. A safer bet may be Gyasi Zardes (F, 44 points, $9.6) now that he’s found some good fortune in both league play and the international stage. L.A. may not be the best choice for your defenders this week given that they’re going to Columbus – and Kei Kamara will be looking to regain his scoring form. But any attacking option against Columbus’ porous backline wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Montreal turned many heads last week with their play, and their run could still continue. They take on a team in NYCFC that really can’t keep a clean sheet to save their lives. And this is a perfect scenario to take a chance on bringing Ignacio Piatti (M, 45 points, $9.8) or Andres Romero (M, 39 points, $7.9) into your squads. It’s important to remember that all of Montreal’s points leaders will look a bit below the standard, but that’s only because Montreal have only played 10 fixtures to this point in the year. If nothing else, Montreal have (relatively) fresher legs than any other squad in the league, and their attack looks like it’s really coming together.

Finally, New England also play this week and take part in the DGW on the horizon – but their prospects aren’t nearly as appealing. Jermaine Jones (M, 25 points, $9.9) is hurt once again, and his status is still looking pretty grim for this week. Not only that, but Lee Nguyen (M, 43 points, $10.6) has been absolutely horrible this year. When you can’t count on your two biggest names to compete week in and week out, the whole squad is going to struggle. One of the lone bright spots for New England has been the play of Scott Caldwell (M, 71 points, $7.5). Caldwell has 2 goals and 4 assists on the year, but he’s more of a poor man’s version of Benny Feilhaber in that he gets a lot of his fantasy scoring through bonus points.

Don’t forget the league’s two newest superstars
Theoretically, you could choose 4 players each from Seattle, DC, LA, Montreal and New England and field a complete team for the next three weeks. But that would leave you a bit short of variety — and would leave you short of some truly big names come GW17. The better strategy would be to bulk up on those five teams to ensure you have coverage, but leave yourself in a good position to make key big-money transfers in the DGW. And a good way to do that is to look to David Villa (F, 47 points, $10.4) and Kaka (M, 79 points, $11.7).

Neither Orlando nor NYCFC have a DGW in GW17 – but that doesn’t mean they won’t produce something for you over the next two rounds. Picking up a couple of big priced players like this will guarantee that even if you did build the majority of your team around the 5 teams mentioned above, you’ll still have a large transfer budget if you ship out these two players in GW17. If you want Giovinco and Bradley Wright Phillips in GW17, players like Kaka and Villa are great placeholders to make sure the money is there to make that happens.

And it’s not like these two players are without merit. David Villa is finally healthy and is playing with a bit of the confidence that he had earlier in the year. Villa has 12 points over his last two games. He not only scored a goal in that time, but he added 2 attacking bonus and 1 defending bonus as well.

Kaka, who plays at home this week, has really made it clear that he’s a better player when not on the road. Kaka’s last two home games have seen him score tallies of 13 and 8 points. Even with Seattle being the odds on favorite to dominate their match this week, Kaka’s numbers warrant some consideration for a possible captaincy.

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So let’s talk about the captain picks
On the surface, there are just two really strong candidates for the armband this week. Dempsey, if available, is a no-brainer. And Kaka, like I just mentioned, has the statistical backing to also be included amongst the obvious choices. If you’re not looking to rock the boat, stick with a proven commodity playing in his home park.

On the second tier of top-choices would be Obafemi Martins and David Villa. The home fixtures and their recent run of play would make them easy contenders for the cap depending on how you decide to build your team.

But what if you’re looking to make up some ground with a differential pick? You have to look at Piatti as a great choice this week for a sneaky uppercut against your head to head opponent. Piatti was able to get a goal and an assist in his last round and he’s easily the most dangerous player in the Montreal side. A road fixture in Columbus last round didn’t seem to phase Montreal, which gives the belief that they can be productive in New York this weekend as well.

And finally, before the league catches up, you may want to consider Espindola this week. Let’s face it, he had a great week. But he doesn’t have a lot of history this year to let us know if he’s going to continue on any kind of form. Chances are many people will still be leery about putting too much faith in him, so you may look like a genius on Monday if he can pay off for you.

There you have it. Good luck everybody!

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MLS GW15 Tips – Fantasy Major League Soccer This article was written by Guy Sanchez (FootyFantastic)

Follow @Guy_M_Sanchez