MLS GW20 – Tips Fantasy Major League Soccer

MLS GW20 – Tips Fantasy Major League Soccer

This weeks deadline is Fri 22nd July 11.00PM EDT. That’s American time – add 5 hours here in the UK to make it Sat at 4.00AM

Well, it’s finally happened. The FPL game has opened up and you can already feel the apathy towards the MLS game gaining momentum. I get it, no judgements here. Who doesn’t want to finally get their hands on a shiny new FPL squad? Who doesn’t want to try to balance Aguero’s salary against a budget defense? Which of you can’t wait to prove your genius by getting that newly transferred player that’s actually going to produce in GW1? I count myself with all of you.

But we do have this MLS game to see out. If you’ve made it this far into the year, what’s another 14 rounds? With that being said, the MLS game didn’t do itself any favors by having Keane go for a single point last round. Even I wanted to rage quit with my Keane captaincy. But alas, I can not. I will not. The MLS fantasy game, even the MLS in general, doesn’t compete at the same level that the Premiership does, but it’s a challenge that must be met. To arms, gentleman!

#1) Pay attention to the US Open Cup on Wednesday
We have 8 teams left in the Open Cup competition, and they may prove to be the bane of your fantasy week depending on how the coach of your players decides to play his squad this week. The 4 matches this week are:

New England v. Philly
Chicago v. Ft. Lauderdale
Houston v. Dallas
LA v. Seattle

The hope here is that the teams still doing well in the MLS standings won’t be pressing too hard for a win in these fixtures, and that they will reserve their key players for the weekend’s league matches. But this is the MLS, so you never know.

Chicago, Houston and Seattle aren’t doing great in league play right now, so you might see them actually play a more stout squad than you’d expect at this stage of the tourney. But keep an eye on Philly, Dallas and LA – if one of your owned players goes a full 90 midweek, it could spell disaster for you on Saturday and Sunday. I’m not saying that a professional athlete shouldn’t be able to go 90 minutes twice in a week, but we know that MLS coaches think that their star players simply shouldn’t even attempt it most times. Before you plan your transfers this week, check in on the minutes played of the players you currently have, and then plan (gamble) accordingly.

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#2) Key Match Breakdowns
Friday kicks off with RSL at home against San Jose. The home and away records for these two clubs are nearly the perfect inverse of each other. San Jose are 0-5-4 on the road and RSL are 5-0-4 while at home. This should be an easy victory for RSL – so if you’re thinking of picking up an attacking option for them this round (or even a defensive replacement), this is the spot to do it in. There really isn’t any good reason for you to own a San Jose player at this point, and if you do, I’d drop them now.

Saturday starts off with Portland at home against LA. This is a game that’s giving people a bit of pause because they’re not sure what to make of it on its surface. Even the bookies aren’t taking any strong stance on the game; Portland are a +135 to win and LA are +190. The one thing that is sure is that the game is slated to be high scoring – all of the money is pouring into the ‘over 2.5 goals’. Valeri is still key for any team, but your LA attacking options should still be considered good plays. If you picked up Rowe or Gleeson for your keeper though, it may not be a bad time to select your alternate keeper in this spot.

Next up we have Columbus at home versus Orlando. Orlando are still in flux without a head coach. Even though Kreis is rumored to be the man to take over the club, nothing official has yet come together for them. Columbus are the clear betting favorites for this game and you should strongly consider Ola Kamara as one of your key options up top.

Toronto go back home to take on DC United this round, and even though they’re the betting favorite to win the match, the bookies aren’t taking a strong stand either way with the goal tally pool. And that probably makes sense. Toronto haven’t been nearly as dynamic lately, and Giovinco (though he takes a lot of shots) hasn’t featured on the scoresheet for some time. But DC are just 1-3-6 on the road this year, and this probably isn’t the spot for them to figure out how to play better away. Giovinco has “slumped” a bit in the scoring, but he’s still a marquee talent for generating points via bonuses. Giovinco is a must-start for this game, the other 21 players on the pitch for this match aren’t worth worrying over too much.

Finally, we get another edition of the NY Derby this week. And we should probably all just expect a letdown. How can the third 2016 edition of this Derby get better than the first two? In May, the Red Bulls beat City to the tune of 7-0. In early July, City beat the Red Bulls 2-0. Both home teams won their matches. This third round is in Red Bulls’s house, so the nod for the win should go to them. Either way, with City scoring better (and with real contributions from all of their DP’s) I think that neither side keeps a clean sheet and we see a good deal of scoring here. All of your attacking options on either team should be considered. Of course, that’s what I think. But knowing the MLS, it will probably be a 1-0 win to NYRB via a City own goal.

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#3) Buy / Sell
F – Buy Ola Kamara. At 10.6% ownership, he’s not a true differential player, but he’s still pretty low on the totem pole of players that are getting into squads. He’s still a decently priced $8.7, and he has 9 goals in the last 8 rounds. The kid is legit and shouldn’t be overlooked in this fixture.

M – Buy Michael Azira. I recommend this to you switcheroo players out there (you know I’m not of your tribe, but I understand why you do what you do). Azira is only $5.5, but he’s probably the most steady earner there is out there, especially for his price. Over his last 10 rounds he’s not scored under 4 points in any match, and he’s averaging 5.1 points per outing. Are those fantastic numbers? No. But they’re steady enough to be a good default option for you if your risky switch play doesn’t pay off.

D – Buy Drew Moor. Toronto have a nice fixture coming up here, and you need to set up for the eventual DGW on the (far) horizon anyway. Moor comes at a semi-premium price, but Toronto have good chances at clean sheets now, and Moor’s two goals on the year only help his cause as being one of your rotation in the back.

GK – Sell Josh Saunders. In an unfathomable turn of events, Josh Saunders is the 4th most owned goalkeeper in the game (and this is after the wildcard where you could right all wrongs). NYC play three of their next four on the road, and NYC’s 1-7-3 record on the road shouldn’t indicate that Saunders is one you want on your side.

M – Sell Ozzie Alonso. I’ve never been real high on Alonso, but now is the perfect time to sell him with his suspension coming this week. This might sound obvious to sell a guy on a suspension, but maybe I should say ‘don’t buy back Alonso’ as the key point here. Sure, Alonso can get on a goal or assist every now and again, but he’s not a hugely flashy player that can get you Valeri or Diaz type scores on any given night. The keyword people throw around with Alonso is ‘consistent’. And that’s true. His last 10 rounds have him on an average score of 6.9 points. But at $9.2, his 6.9 points don’t look quite as good as Azira’s ratio of points per dollar. You can buy consistency for cheaper and upgrade somewhere else to a top-tier talent.

F- Sell Cyle Larin. At $9.5, Larin just isn’t putting out the type of round by round numbers that you’d expect out of a starting striker. Not helping his cause are the turmoil in the Orlando coaching situation and Kaka simply not playing when he doesn’t feel like it. Until Kaka comes back into the fold 100%, and we get to see the type of offense the new coach implements, drop Larin. Larin is owned by 20.4% of the league – and that’s good for third highest ownership for all forwards in the game. This number is way too high and you can definitely find better options for the time being.

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#4 Captain Picks GW20 I’m going to go with Giovinco as my top pick here this week. On the FMLSFI podcast I had Giovinco as my second option, but after looking at the matchup and seeing how the game should play out, I’m going to slot him at the top here. Also take into consideration that Giovinco is owned by 65.4% of all players in the game. That’s astronomical. If you don’t captain him, you’re really betting against the popular wisdom. It could pay off for you, but you’ll really lose ranks if he breaks out and you’re the one who didn’t put the armband on him.

My second choice is Diego Valeri. Valeri at home, against anybody, is a good play. Valeri is getting into the attack at such a high level right now that it’s hard seeing how he doesn’t get at least an assist and a pair of bonus points – even against a team like LA.

Third pick, if you’re feeling truly adventurous, would have to be Robbie Keane. I’m serious. We all know that Keane absolutely gutted owners last week with a 1 point performance, but the math says that can’t happen again. True, with injury and international play this year, we’ve not seen a lot of Keane, but he’s yet to go two consecutive games without at least a goal or an assist. Portland’s defense isn’t the greatest this year, and Keane may have something special to give the owners who remained faithful to him 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 GW20 – Tips Fantasy Major League Soccer This article was written by Guy Sanchez (FootyFantastic)

Follow @Guy_M_Sanchez