MLS GW12 – Tips Fantasy Major League Soccer

MLS GW12 – Tips Fantasy Major League Soccer

If you were one of those few people out there who absolutely knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that NYRB were going to have one of the most explosive weeks, then you should probably just hang it up now and move on. It won’t get any better than that. They had two shutouts and took the NY Derby to the tune of 7-0. I think we’re all a bit baffled by how good they really were. And as proof, they have 7 members of their squad in the week’s Dream Team. As for the other three teams on a double? Only Will Johnson from Toronto is represented (no way you saw that coming). And the other 3 slots on the Dream Team went to single-game players.

Was GW11 a disappointing round then? Yes and no. The math of the DGW situation held true – 8 of 11 players that scored the most points in their position came from a DGW team. But it can be such a trap because a lot of players really went deep into NYC and Chicago and are probably kicking themselves right now (or they rage quit the game).

I bring this up because we have another pair of DGW teams this week to consider – but I’m going to break from tradition and tell you that getting DGW players shouldn’t be your top priority this week. We have a massively jumbled schedule coming up here and there really isn’t any good way to navigate through it. But we can at least pretend to know what we’re doing here.

#1) The lay of the land

GW12, our current week, isn’t such a big issue as GW13 is going to be. We have 8 teams on a bye next week – and for whatever reason, the MLS team isn’t giving us a wildcard before or after those byes to help fix the situation. You’re on your own here. And the real kicker is that there isn’t going to be another DGW team until GW15 – so there isn’t any truly redeemable way to take a negative hit here to ensure that you field enough players next week.

And if that wasn’t enough of an issue to consider, international camps open this week. So those players that you already have on your roster are probably on their way out as well. Before I move on from this point, you should make a point to go to mlssoccer.com at some point this week to get a look at all of the final international rosters. As of the writing of this article, players in the game haven’t been marked as absent yet for international duty. Whatever you do though, hold off on making your transfers for as long as possible this week (even though the round kicks off in two days). You never know when a provisional roster player is going to get called up to take the place of another player injured in camp.

It’s really a mess, if I’m being honest. If I had to wager a guess, I think most people get overly frustrated and stop playing FMLS in spots like these. No matter what anybody tells you, there really isn’t a good reason that the league doesn’t take off international dates like most other leagues in the world. And playing the fantasy game in a spell like this can be near impossible to predict. But at the same time, there are those hardcore players out there that love the challenge of solving puzzles like this. The key to surviving this stretch with your fantasy team is to lower your expectations. You’re not going to make a major move up the ladder in the next three weeks. But you can do a lot to not slip and lose places at the same time.
While you’re considering your moves this week though, you should know that the teams that will be off next week are: Chicago, Colorado, Montreal, New England, NYRB, Orlando, Toronto and Vancouver.

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#2) Speaking of those DGW’s this round
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[/three_fourth]Philly and Orlando play twice this week – and in all honesty, picking Orlando (like I listed above) isn’t going to be a real viable option because they are off next round. If you still have your personal wildcard, picking up Orlando players (assuming they’re not called up) isn’t the worst idea, but picking those players just to sell them leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

So that leaves Philly to consider. And here’s a fact that’s gone under the radar: Philadelphia are in first place in the East with two games in hand. On the surface, Philly look to be the team to key in on. They have a double this week, no bye next week, and they play straight on through to GW15 when they’ll have a double again. And their roster is pretty insulated against international players getting scooped up.

The bad news is that Philly are set to play both of their matches on the road this week, and their road record is a dismal 1-3-1. Not only that, but their opponents this round are Orlando and Colorado. Orlando haven’t failed to secure at least a point in every home match they’ve played this year, and Colorado are a perfect 6-0-0 at home.

That being said, a first place team is still a first place team, so investing in a player like CJ Sapong or Chris Pontius isn’t necessarily bad. And at their relatively cheap prices, you could invest in them without being overly worried about getting a bad return on your dollar.

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#3) Rounding out your squad

Even though 8 teams are off next week, that still leaves 12 teams to gravitate towards to ensure that you have a sound roster going forward. The first thing that jumps out at me, and nobody is going to want to hear this, is the fact that NYC will play 3 straight home matches. Did NYC show up this week in any way, shape or form? No, they didn’t. But this is the MLS. How bad did NYRB look at stretches this year? And they turned it around didn’t they? Villa isn’t getting called up anymore, and he’s starting to show a bit of age. But you have to assume he’ll score points somewhere in the next three rounds. Whether or not you have the faith to ride out the pain you’re in from this last round with him is entirely up to you.

LA Galaxy are also going to play next week, and the major storyline there is that Giovani dos Santos declined his invitation to the Mexican National Team. Even if Keane and Zardes are gone, LA will still have one of the Top 5 players in the league leading their attack. You really can’t do better than that given the circumstances.

Portland may be in a bit of flux with Nagbe getting called up and Valeri being potentially injured, but a player like Jack McInerney could be serviceable for you in a pinch. Likewise, Diaz in Dallas was rested this last week due to concerns with New England’s pitch, so he’ll be well rested and ready to play this week.

The only team that I might avoid this week would be Seattle since they’re starting a 3-game road trip. I can normally find a handy reason to hate Seattle, but given they’re the only team with no home games for the next few rounds, I can say that my hesitation with them this week is coming from a sincere place.

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#4) Try to learn from this week

As we head into GW13 and all of the byes, try to figure out what works for you and what doesn’t. Take note of the effect of possibly not having a bench is going to have on your final score. And check your strategy against the other players around you. Did another person take a couple of point hits just to field XI players? Was their net point total worth the hit? Or did another player prepare poorly and only field 7 players? Try to find what works and what doesn’t.

I only say this because we are going to have three more rounds coming up in the future that will have 8 teams on a bye – and we’ll have a round with 14 teams on a bye much later on. Some of those weeks will have an automatic wildcard attached to them, some won’t. Maybe you’ll find that you’ll start to think that saving your personal wildcard to navigate bye weeks pays off better in the long run over using it to prepare for DGW’s.

This next round is going to be great practice for the type of game we’ll see in the second half of the season. We’re nearly done with the first 17 rounds of the 34 round schedule – and the difference between the front and back halves couldn’t be more stark. The front half of the schedule has/had 8 rounds that included a DGW team (for a total of 36 instances) – and only 3 rounds on the front half have bye weeks scheduled in (for a total of 12 byes).

The back half of the schedule is nearly the inverse. We’re set to only have 5 rounds with DGW teams after GW17 (for a total of 16 instances) – and we’ll have 6 rounds that will have byes (for a total of 40 byes). So yeah, this round and the next round will be ones you want to have as a reference moving forward.

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#5) Captain Picks

I’m going to start off with Giovinco here again. He’s back on the road this week and he rarely ever blanks twice in a row.

As a backup, I do like CJ Sapong on the double, even against the stiff competition. He has 5 goals through 11 games and Philly wouldn’t be in their position without him.

Lastly, I’d go with Mauro Diaz on fresh legs. Sure people were upset when he didn’t show up last round, but let that be your silver lining going into this round.

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Don’t forget to stop by mlsfantasyboss.com to catch up on their great weekly articles that lead into the deadline.

Or if you are after listening to more of Guy himself then be sure to drop in and give his Married Man’s Guide to Sports Addiction a listen!

To play the MLS game itself it’s fantasy.mlssoccer.com that you need.

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And last but not least, don’t forget to join the FF247 MLS League, Code is: 123-361

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MLS GW12 – Tips Fantasy Major League Soccer This article was written by Guy Sanchez (FootyFantastic)

Follow @Guy_M_Sanchez