MLS GW15 – Tips Fantasy Major League Soccer

MLS GW15 – Tips Fantasy Major League Soccer

This week gets back to ‘normal’ in a sense. We have four DGW teams to choose from and the week starts on Wednesday (7pm ET). Enjoy this week while you can. We have a couple of DGW selections next week – and then we have to try to play the standard game for a while without a boost of double-match action. And if this last round is any indication of the types of scores we might be seeing going forward, it’s a bit worrying.

#1) Know your DGW teams

This week we get (what we thought were) some good teams to choose from for our DGW rosters. LA, NYRB, Philly and RSL are all playing twice. Philly and New York are 1 and 2 in the Eastern Conference, and RSL and LA are both in the playoff spots in the West. So it’s good to remember that you’re not loading your team up with garbage scrubs as we move forward to a standard schedule. That being said, there are a couple of issues we need to work through with these rosters.

#1A) LA Galaxy v COL (H), SJ (A)
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[/three_fourth]The real problem with LA is their injury list. We honestly don’t know if Gerrard and/or dos Santos will feature this week in either game. The LA coach is being cagey about the injuries because the MLS doesn’t enforce any type of disclosure clause that teams have to communicate a certain level to the media. So we really don’t know.

Here’s what we do know, LA without Keane, Gerrard and dos Santos are just an average team. That sounds obvious, but when you see the stats from their last game (a 0-1 loss in Toronto), it’s blatantly obvious that simply picking up Magee or Alan Gordon isn’t the solution. LA only managed two shots on goal in the entire game (Sebastian Lletget had both). And so what do we do with that? With Colorado’s stout defense coming to town, if at least one of their true stars doesn’t start, we could see a repeat type of performance.

So honestly there isn’t much advice to give on this squad. If you get a good sense that either Gerrard or dos Santos will start, they are definitely worth a pickup. But we may not know what either status is prior to rosters locking. The Philly v Chicago match locks us out at 7pm ET, but the LA game won’t kickoff until after 10:30pm ET – so unless a clear announcement is made ahead of time, you may want to pass on buying these guys and avoiding the risk altogether.

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#1B) NYRB v RSL (A), CLB (A)
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[/three_fourth]This would be an ideal team to pick from if it wasn’t for the fact that both of their matches are going to be road fixtures. The MLS, being what it is, has a notorious habit of making great teams look mediocre on the road. And if you remember nothing else from this article, remember this stat: NYRB are 1-5-1 on the road this year. 5 losses out of 7 matches is more than just a statistical outlier, it’s becoming their rule.

Now that’s not to say that you shouldn’t pick up the players from NYRB – but just don’t go overboard with it. Bradley Wright Phillips has 3 of his 7 goals on the road this year, and Kljestan doesn’t have any road goals yet, but he has 4 assists on the road. The point is that these guys are talented enough to give some return, but don’t expect them to absolutely blow up the points. The real wildcard will be Grella. Given his recent outburst, it may not be the worst idea to hedge your bet a bit and slot him in with Kljestan to save a bit of money. Not ideal, but a steady conservative move nonetheless.

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#1C) Philadelphia v CHI (H), VAN (H)
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[/three_fourth]Chicago are 0-4-2 on the road this year and Vancouver are just 2-5-0 away. Suffice to say, combining those lines with the fact that Philly haven’t lost at home yet this season (they’re 5-0-2) should mean that the best bet to get positive results will be with this team. In typical MLS fashion, I wrote an entire section on CJ Sapong last week just to find out that he was being held out due to injury – but my point still stands, he’s worth owning while at home. The key for this week will be waiting until the Philly roster is revealed prior to making your transfers. If Sapong is in, he should be on your squad.

As far as mids go, there isn’t a truly bad pick out of their starters. Pontius is probably the best bet in my thinking – he has the best price and greatest returns of their mids. But I’d like to think that Barnetta also shows up in some capacity this week and could produce a surprising result. Le Toux should only be owned if you already have him. There no sense in paying his price to bring him in new when others on the team are so much more affordable. But any of these guys are serviceable.

Also, there’s good news in the back with the return of Blake from international duty. Philly should bounce back from the NYC game and be back to their old selves at home this week. I say it every week, and it surprises me every time, but Philly are in first place. They are doing something right, and that something right just gets better when they play at home.

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#1D) RSL v NYRB (H), DAL (A)
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[/three_fourth]RSL are a bit of an enigma for me going into this round. I’ll fully admit I’m not confident of my picks with them given the fixtures. They are 4-0-1 at home this year, and this should bode well for them given NY’s record. But watching them last round play against Portland didn’t really fill me with a ton of confidence. Sure, they were able to net a pair of goals, but the pair of goals they gave up weren’t particularly stellar efforts. The good thing about RSL is that they’re tied for second place in the West in the goals forward category, so if you’re going to build a roster with some RSL flavor, start at the front.

The main issue is which of the three forwards do you take? Joao Plata, Burrito Martinez and Yura Movsisyan are like a rotating carousel of scorers. You really never know which of these guys will bag a goal on any given night. One thing that is for sure is the fact that RSL haven’t really had that breakout game yet this year – but they’ve been steady. The norm for this team seems to be right around 2-3 goals per game on a good day (they average 1.7 gpg on the whole) – but they’ve never scored more than 3 goals in a match this year. Maybe that’s what they’re missing from a fantasy perspective. You can look at NY or LA and take a chance that they’ll get 5+ goals on a great day, but you can’t say the same with a team like RSL.

Of course, looking past the trio of strikers, you have to consider Javier Morales – but at $10.6, he’s a big gamble. He only has 48 points on the year, well below any of the three main strikers, and you never know when he’s going to come up injured. He has the potential to be productive, but he also has the potential to rob you of funds for a less than stellar return. Buy somebody from the main RSL lineup, but like NY, just be careful with how much you spend.

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#2) Quick Takes
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[/three_fourth]For the first time ever, NYC had all three of their Designated Players score a goal in the same match. Villa, Lampard and Pirlo all came through in the fashion that they’ve been expected to since the team was conceived. In typical NYC fashion, they still nearly gave the game away because they spent all of their money up front and had about $10 left to spend on the keeper and the defense. But it makes you wonder: are the Big 3 from NYC finally starting to meld into something potentially dangerous? Villa has been a proven commodity, but are Pirlo and Lampard going to be worth another look now that we’re moving into a standard schedule? Keep an eye on the trio this week as they play away to Seattle; if they play well there could be extra incentive to snatch them up for the double and possibly keep them going into the single-game run of the schedule.

Houston are 0-6-2 on the road this year, and they are travelling to Portland to take on a team that’s finally staying healthy and logging some good play. Granted, Portland’s two goals against RSL over the weekend weren’t amazing efforts, but they were opportunistic and timely. If Lucas Melano can get anything going this year, he just makes Adi and Valeri that much more dangerous. Either way, Portland players are a great HOLD for this week against an inferior road team.

Maybe the best bet this week is to scrap all of your plans and get Lee Nguyen on your team before doing anything else. If you go to browse his scores, you’ll see that he’s never settled for 2 points or fewer in any of his matches. More importantly, he already has 4 rounds that scored in the double digits, and he has 4 goals and 6 assists on the year. New England will play twice next week, so if you’re not a fan of taking a chance on too many RSL or NY players, just pick up Nguyen ahead of time and be ready to crush it next week. That’s right, I just said ‘crush it’. I don’t know why, and it’s too late to take it back.

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#3) Captain picks

If the obvious choice is to pick DGW players, I would start in LA if we truly think that dos Santos starts. It’s a huge risk, but it could pay off. Outside of dos Santos, I’d leave LA alone. It’s tempting to throw the armband to Lletget, but without the star talent around him, he just won’t be productive enough.

Pontius / Sapong would be my next selection. I actually like Sapong more if he’s healthy, but if not, Chris Pontius has as good a chance to score this week as anybody else. Philly at home are just too good to overlook because of former bias about their performances from years gone by.

Diego Valeri is my representative from the single game contingent. Playing at home against Houston is too good to pass up. Valeri is due a big game – and you already own him anyway – so he may be worth a shout just because he’s a sure thing to play.

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

Follow @Guy_M_Sanchez