Welcome to the weekly Economy Corner where I suggest the Best Bang for the Buck options at each position (Points Earned/Price $ Paid). Most of us probably won’t crack the top 100 in the Global Overall league. In fact, I’d be happy to just hit the top 1,000. However, we all have the capability to achieve #1 in our private leagues against our friends, coworkers, and fellow club supporters. I am here to help you achieve that.

It is a DGW for 8 teams this week (COL, DC, LA, ORL, POR, SEA, ATL, MINN), Montreal and Toronto have Leg 1 of Canadian Championship and their MLS games, and Confederations Cup continues. Rosters are due Wednesday.

Value Play Examples (Points/Cost $) from Week 16 (Week 16 prices)

Goalkeeper: Getting 8 pts from Bono TOR for only $5 compared to paying $6 for Rimando RSL who scored 8 pts too.

Defender: Getting 10 pts from Zavaleta TOR for only $5.0 compared to paying $7 for Besler SKC who scored 10 pts; you get the same score for $2 cheaper.

Midfielder: Getting 10 pts from Roldan SEA for only $7.4 compared to paying $10.7 for Valeri POR who scored 5 pts.

Forward: Getting 7 pts from Badji COL for only $6.4 compared to paying $10.5 for O. Kamara CLB who scored 6 pts.

Recap of Week 16 Suggestions



Big Win: Not the best week for Economy Corner. Only two suggested players scored over 4 pts: Bono TOR and Almiron ATL who both scored 8 points.

Swing and a Miss: I missed on both forwards last week. Picault earned 4 points in a 0-2 loss and Wondo scored 1 point in a 0-0 draw. Even worse is that for Midfield I suggested Rusnak RSL who did not play, but I’m counting that as more of a Push as 7 different Real players scored over 5 pts in their 1-0 win.

The Push: Last weeks defenders were average. While Cole LA, Callens NYC or Fabinho PHI didn’t scored over 4 pts, none of them had a negative price change.

Biggest Regret: Not suggesting Roldan SEA. I’ve been noticing his weekly scores, but didn’t suggest him last week as Seattle was on the road against New York City.

*Weekly disclaimer: I’m not saying these choices will perform better than high priced Bingham, Besler, Lodeiro or Villa; these are simply value plays so that you can still squeeze Bingham, Besler, Lodeiro and Villa all into you starting XI.

Week 17 Value Suggestions

It is a DGW for 8 teams this week (COL, DC, LA, ORL, POR, SEA, ATL, MINN), Montreal and Toronto have Leg 1 of Canadian Championship and their MLS games, and Confederations Cup continues. Rosters are due Wednesday.

Goalkeepers: Cropper is starting the week owned by 0.8% more teams than Melia. Cropper is at 23.1% and Melia is at 22.3%.

Lampson CHI SGW $4.7 – I’m considering the schedule and I don’t see many DGW goalkeepers I would choose over Lampson and Fire at home against Orlando. It will Orlando’s second of two games on the road this week, and Chicago is on a 8 game undefeated streak that includes 4 CS.

Hamid DC DGW $5.7 – I know Hamid is currently $0.1 more than Melia, but do you think Melia and Co. keep a second away clean sheet in a row against Alessandrini? DC is playing at home against Atlanta (they scored 3 goals in their last 4 away games) and away against Philadelphia (who scored 1 goal in their last 3 games). You still think I’m joking don’t you. Consider Hamid has 33 points from the last 5 games including 2 CS. He scored 13 points in DC’s last DGW.

Defenders: Medranda is currently at 28% and Opara is at 20%.

Lima SJ SGW $4.5 – San Jose is hosting Real Salt Lake. It will be Earthquake’s second game at home in a row. Real scored in their two previous away games, but they were shutout in the three away games before that.

Jones SEA DGW $5.2 – Seattle’s first game is at home against Orlando. Did you know in Seattle’s last three home games they have a total of 3 clean sheets? Now you do.

Thiesson MIN DGW $5.0 – Minnesota has two home games this week. Of the Loons 7 home games played, they recorded a CS in 3 of them. Don’t be surprised if they get a 4th home clean sheet this week.

Midfield: Valeri is currently at 34%; Almiron, Alessandrini and Gressel are all above 20%, but I think Gressel will drop some; Godoy is at 17%.

Roldan SEA DGW $7.5 – If Roldan hasn’t been on your radar, you need to start paying him some attention. Seattle is at home against Orlando, and then play the Timbers in Portland. Roldan has a total score of 92, the crazy thing is that 41 of those points are from Seattle’s last 5 games. In comparison Lodeiro only scored 25 points in those 5 games. Jump on the band wagon. He played a full 180 mins during Sounders’ last DGW.

Dzemaili MTL SGW $8.8 – Dzemaili has only played in 3 MLS games this season. In those three games he has 2 goals, 2 assists, and 28 total points.

Trapp CLB SGW $7.2 – Meram and Higuain are really the better options, but if you want to save $3 Trapp will suffice. He has 29 points from Columbus last five games. With Montreal playing in the Canadian Championship, I doubt this game is their first concern.

Forwards: Villa is currently at 34%. Adi and Giovinco are at 25% and 21%. For some reason Nikolic is only at 16%

Ramirez MIN DGW $7.9 – The last two weeks weren’t good for Ramirez as he scored a total of 4 points from those games. I doubt that trend will continue this week as Minnesota has two home games. Ramirez is Minnesota top goal scorer with 8 goals. If you’d prefer to save money in the midfield, take a look at Ibson $6.7 who has 33 points in the Loons last five games.

Torres HOU SGW $8.6 – Torres has not scored less than 6 pts when Houston is at home. Houston is at home this week.

That’s XI value plays for you to consider for Week 17.

Constructive feedback is appreciated.