MLS GW17 – Tips Fantasy Major League Soccer
This weeks deadline is Sat 9th July at 1am GMT. (So Friday night going into Saturday morning basically for our UK users)
As of the writing of this article, the New England v. NYC game has yet to go off to close out the previous round. But does it really matter at this point? Chances are that somebody you need from the last game of Round 16 may get benched or play limited minutes anyway, so I won’t get my hopes up (or put off writing the article any longer than I have to). And, while we’re on the subject of chances, it’s highly doubtful that you took a chance on several of the players currently on the Dream Team. In all of our preparations for the DGW and for the byes, the MLS slapped us once more in the face with players scoring big points that simply shouldn’t be.
In short, we got Alberg’d again this week.
Currently on the Dream Team (again, before the final match of the round) we have Ola Kamara for the Crew. Did you pick him up? Probably not, he’s only owned by 2.6% of the league. But 2.6% of the league are pretty pleased with his 14 points. How about Jack Harrison from NYC? Harrison is owned by 1.9% of the league and is on 12 points. You know who else made the Dream Team? Try Michael Salazar and John Goosens, with 12 and 10 points respectively. If you combined their ownership percentages together you would get 0.7% owned by all players in the game.
I’m still a bit confused why anybody would read this article when a dart board and a few dice rolls could probably pick a better Dream Team than I could. But I’ve been told that if I don’t write the article I’ll get Jozy Altidore highlight gifs sent to my Twitter stream until it’s done. So here we go.
#1) Enjoy the break in DGW’s
This week we have a full roster of games going off – and each team will just play the one time. Imagine that. Granted, it won’t be fully calmed down yet because teams are still going to enter GW18 next week after just 2-4 days rest… but it’s a start. We’ll probably still see some roster rotation during this period, but we can now pick players based on their own merit and on the strength of schedule. We no longer have any DGW’s to plan for during these next five rounds.
This is kind of a weak and obvious bullet point, but I wanted to float this out there because the game is going to drastically change now. Maybe more of us would’ve had Ola Kamara on our squads if we didn’t have a pair of DGW’s to skew our choices in the rounds leading up to this. And conversely, maybe more of us wouldn’t have had BWP in the middle of three straight road fixtures just because he was on a double.
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#2) Prepping for the GW18 bye weeks
In GW18 we’ll have 8 teams on a bye. The game will try to trick you and inform you that you have a brand new wildcard ready to use in this round – but you’ll have to resist the temptation to do something stupid. We’re already going to get a universal wildcard in GW19, so there really is no reason to burn your second-half wildcard in GW18. If nothing else, just take zeroes instead of burning a ton of -4’s or using the wildcard.
The only excuse for using the wildcard in GW18 would be to win a bet. And even then, it better be a big bet.
Just so that you start to plan appropriately this week in your buying and selling, the teams that are on a bye next round are: Colorado, DC, Houston, LA, New England, NYC, Philly and San Jose. Obviously the worst of these are New England and NYC because you’ve no doubt bought a player or two that you’ll be forced to sell. But having LA on a bye isn’t great either because they’re finally rounding into form on both sides of the ball. But no worries, you’ll be able to buy them all at your to your heart’s content starting in GW19.
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#3) Who to buy/hold this round
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The first thing to point out is that if you’ve already invested your money into NYRB players, you’d do well to just hang onto them for the next couple of weeks at this point. The Red Bulls have no bye to worry about in GW19, and they’ll be returning home this week to play Portland. NYRB are 6-2-0 at home this year and the Timbers are 0-4-5 on the road. The records pretty much speak for themselves in this spot, keep the Red Bulls players in your side.
Vancouver come into this round starting a 3-game home stand – so they’ll definitely be worth a look. Like most MLS teams, the Caps play best at home, and three dates with no travel will probably net you some points. Now that Octavio Rivero has been sold, the situation up front for Vancouver has changed considerably. In their last match, Hurtado and Mezquida started up front for Vancouver – and both of these players are actually listed as midfielders for cheap prices. Could be some value there.
Even though I poked fun at a few people for picking up Giovinco last week, I think this is the time to buy him. Chicago travelling to Toronto is best case scenario for Giovinco to get back into form. In this post-DGW era of the game, many final rankings will probably be decided more by who bought Giovinco and who didn’t than anything else. He’s the best player in the league, and this is a matchup that deserves his inclusion into your squad.
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#4) Who to sell
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If you haven’t already, start to queue up your bye week players. That sounds obvious, I know. But before you start selling a player you’re simply mad at for underperforming, start to get rid of the players that actually have zero chance to score for you. And if you’ve already done that…
Start by selling your Chicago players (ie, David Accam). The Chicago Fire don’t have a bye week next round, but they’re starting a run of schedule that will see them play 4 of their next 6 matches on the road. They look like a great value team on paper, but the worst team in the East needs a bit better schedule for me to take a chance on them for anything long term.
FC Dallas overtook first place in the West over the weekend, but they may not be the best buy for the next several weeks. Dallas are just 3-5-1 on the road this year, and 3 of their next 4 matches will be road fixtures. Mauro Diaz is probably the only man on their roster that is undroppable, but he’ll probably not put up numbers like he had at home this week while travelling away.
Lastly, maybe ‘sell’ isn’t the right word for Seattle since not many people own their players yet, but it should be said that they wouldn’t be a good buy for a few rounds. Maybe Seattle is riding high after beating West Ham in a friendly this week – but they played against reserve players in that match. The truth is that Seattle will play twice at home in the next couple of rounds against LA and Dallas, two of the best teams in the West. After that, Seattle will be on the road for a pair of rounds. They’re best left untouched by your squad until the conditions become more favorable.
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#5) Captain picks
I think Giovinco has to come first again. Now that the DGW nonsense is over with, it becomes much easier to captain the best player in the best fixture. Giovinco v. Chicago is that matchup.
Sacha Kljestan is my second pick here. NY at home against a Portland side that doesn’t travel well is a pretty easy pick. If Valeri remains out for Portland this becomes an even easier pick if you couldn’t afford Giovinco before the next unlimited transfer window.
Kaka probably isn’t a bad pick at home against Houston. Orlando had a rough go against Dallas in their last match, and it was never close. But use that to your advantage. Kaka was pulled out after 45 minutes in a losing effort and should be good to go this round for an even better score.
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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 GW17 – Tips Fantasy Major League Soccer This article was written by Guy Sanchez (FootyFantastic)
Great stuff Guy – many thanks as usual – good luck this week.
Okay, having second thoughts here. SKC have lost / drawn as many home games as they have won and NYC have the best away record in MLS just now. Starting to think i should maybe keep Lampard, start Rowe over Melia and bin Valeri & Felipe for Molino and Kaka (if fit) as Houston are utter pants on the road, and if Kaka doesn’t make the 11 then bring in Benny. What do you make of that, Guy? Smart, or downright donkey-ish?
I like those moves mate but I wouldn’t risk it with Kaka if he’s ruled himself out then I’d be inclined to sell him. Maybe you could have Benny instead of Kaka from the start.
Orlando v Houston is first up so we’ll see that lineup. Benny will do nicely should Kaka miss out.
Just seen on the site that Kaka has been ruled out of the game against Houston but should be fit for the game against Red Bulls so it looks like Kaka won’t be playing on Friday
Might be time for him to hang them up, he’s forever injured these days. Cheers :thumbup:
I think a good few players are like that but money is a miracle healer haha
True story 😉
Haha sure isn’t there a bunch of players that came out of retirement like Scholes, or the likes of Deco and Alessandro del Piero who are still playing for some new league in Asia I believe.
Yeah but at least Scholes returned to United to help out. The god that is Paulie Scholes. Legend.
Oh I’m not saying anything about when he came out of retirement the first time because he did the job but he’s come out of retirement again for this new Asian league so obviously he was offered a good bit of money. 😛
Just looked it up again and seen it’s only a futsal league in India that him and Deco are taking part in but it’s still for money I assume
He’s out of retirement? First i heard of it!
Aha, that’s not too bad then i suppose.
Yep at 41 he’s back out of retirement for a 2nd time but granted it’s only for a futsal league so not as bad as I thought
It’s not bad, but it puts you in a bind for the bye week. But bringing on Benny and Molino is a good plan. Lampard may be worth the risk if you can manage to move him out next week.
Fair point, cheers. Maybe i could just soak up a 0 for a defender in the blank, or swap out both PHI defenders and punt a -4 for a mid who has a good chance of recouping it. Things are coming together here i think.
Guy if you don’t mind would you have a quick look at post 2.2 above I’m kind of in the same boat as NIN.
There you go NIN someone with a bit more sense than myself to help you haha
So that would be your WC team? It’s not bad. I would say that not having any NYC coverage could be problematic – they are playing like a team in first place now, and they’ll probably get their fair share of goals. Also, Valeri is just bruised from the sounds of it, by the time the WC comes around in 19, do you have a plan of who to swap out to bring Valeri back in?
Hey Guy cheers for having a look at my team every time I look at it I just get more confused as to what to do haha
Having no NYC is a problem I feel as well that’s why I’m thinking Feilhaber to Lampard. As for Valeri I’d sell Molino to open a spot for him. Right now I have Abdul-Salaam and Pontius on my bench so Movsisyan and Harvey can play but I’m not sure whether having Pontius on the bench is worth it as I’m thinking of bringing in one of either Hurtado or Mezquida but I’m not sure which is the better option?
Not sure yet on the Vancouver players. I’ll have to see what they do again this week to see who is favored. Also, Alberg may not be a bad play at some point.
Yeah that’s why I plan on choosing the Vancouver players next week gives me a chance to see who plays longer /better against Colorado. I would prefer Alberg but I only have 8.2 mil when I sell Pontius so he’s just out of reach unless I downgrade Harvey to Parker then I could change Pontius to Alberg but that still leaves me with the selection trouble for this week do I play Yura and bench a mid or bench Yura and play 5 midfielders
Guy,
Thank you for this article mate. I’m unsure yet what I’m doing but your words will be at the forefront of my mind when it comes to scheduling my transfers and locking in my team.
Got 102 this past week which I thought was brilliant until I saw some others in the FF247 league. Tough crowd, the bar is so high!
Quick question who would you play this week: Pontius or Movsisyan?
I probably play Yuro
Cheers Mito that’s the way I was leaning
Yes indeedy :thumbup:
Many thanks Guy, I have message for you from the site team based on them having Accam. :finger:
Is he still your pick up for your own team? I need to replace Valeri. Benny maybe? Might take a Hail Mary on one of those 2 OOP mids Guy mentioned even. Just to mix it up. It’s all feeling a little too template right now.
I can see the potential upside of picking Accam; low ownership and can be explosive. I went for Benny myself though as his numbers are getting better and NYC defence is usually, well, you know.. arse
Alonso is another i considered quite a bit. Tough games but that may well play into his hands as he’s almost strictly a BP guy as we know. If he does manage an attacking return it’s gonna be a good score. Still prefer Benjamin though.
Not sure yet, I am only fixing to go on the site now, I am on the hotel PC
Benny, Piatti and Accam were my intial thoughts without having looked at it yet. Benny seems the best bet to me.
I haven’t seen Accam do much for a while but like NIN says he has the potential to be explosive so that’s always good to have on the team.
Right now I’ve gone with Lampard because NYC are playing well right now but Benny is playing great lately so Im thinking of picking him over Piatti for the next two weeks just unsure if that’s the right move?
Init I’m probably going to bring in one of those Vancouver lads but not this week want to see which one of them gets more time plus I don’t know anything about them so want this Colorado game to see what they are like
I went Piatti.
Piatti over Accam?
Last quick question if you guys don’t mind hah
Which 2 of these 3 mids would you pick:
Piatti, Kljestan or Benny??
Going to keep Lampard I think
Sascha and Benny, for me.
Sascha hasn’t been doing too well lately though like in the last 3 games he’s only got 8 points where as Piatti has got 17 in his last two. Benny I think will definitely come in though.
Why is it a decision then?
I don’t know…. haha
Well I bought Piatti so there’s your answer on him. I have KJ already and wouldn’t swap him for Benny so that’s that I guess. Nothing wrong with Benny except he always seems to flop when I get him so I may be biased against.
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