MLS GW8 Tips – Fantasy Major League Soccer

MLS DEADLINE GW8 – THURSDAY 28TH APRIL 00:00AM- UK GMT Time (Ergo, Wednesday at Midnight!!!!)

If MLS Fantasy was a dog, I would’ve kicked it this weekend. If it was a sacred ancient text, I would’ve lit a match and set it on fire. And if it was a perfect plate of food from the finest restaurant in the land, I would’ve set it on the floor and crapped on it. You get the idea. I was not a fan of MLS Fantasy this weekend – and I’m sure most of you weren’t either.

I think Kaka’s injury report AFTER the round locked was the real kicker for everybody. Obviously Orlando and the league knew he wouldn’t be playing much sooner than the report, but the MLS has never been a fan of doing anything with good timing (just look at the monstrous delays in their Sunday kickoffs this week). And so we’re faced with only two options this week. The first option is that we all quit playing this wicked game. The second option is to simply forget how bad this last round was and ignore it as we try to move forward.

And honestly, I’m sure there are a few people out there that will quit playing the game. I have work mates here that simply refuse to play MLS Fantasy now after a couple of years of abuse. But those of us still here are so addicted to the game, so attached to the idea that we can crack the MLS code when nobody else can, that we can never walk away. So this article is for all of those people that choose the second option – so let’s all give ourselves a bit of amnesia in regards to this last round and move forward to get those points we lost.



#1) Another DGW is upon us

Well, we’re back in the rodeo. Another round full of DGW options is here and we’re all going to speculate and try to manage to get a decent player who actually plays 180 minutes – and we’ll probably hit one or two picks and completely whiff on a few as well. It’s the nature of the beast. Let’s quickly go over each team playing twice this week, and then later we’ll cover a few items for the other teams on the docket this round.

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#1A) Montreal Impact v NYC (A), COL (H)

On the surface, it looked to many people like Montreal were going to be the main team to key in on when their DGW rolled around. But that notion might be in a bit of turmoil now that Montreal are coming off a blank at home this past weekend. I would wager though that Montreal aren’t bad, it’s just that Toronto’s defense has just been very good. So the problem for squads heavy on Montreal is the fact that another defensive powerhouse, Colorado, are coming to town in the second match of this round. Montreal should win that game, but it’s good to prepare yourself now for limited scoring regardless.

Having Piatti is a given. It’s a foolish move not to take the chance on him. Will he 100% play both games and score three goals? Nothing is that certain. Unlike other teams though, this is Montreal’s one and only DGW of the year, so the chances of them being overly concerned and resting players isn’t so much an issue. Drogba finally played 90 minutes this last round – and he may be a good candidate to start this next round since he’ll be playing in Yankee Stadium grass. Whether or not he plays both games is the real concern. And defensively, go safe and get Ciman if you have the funds. He’s $8.8, but in weeks with no clean sheet he’s still managing a 5 point average per game. That counts for something.

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#1B) New England Revolution v POR (H), ORL (H)

I’m not really high on New England this week – so that probably means that they’ll fill the stat sheets and have stellar scores. New England have a pair of home fixtures, and typically that would be an awesome start to deciding you team selection. But New England don’t really have a strong striker right now and their defense is banged up (Tierney was an early sub off this last round). So the bold play is drafting in Fagundez if you have a bit of funds to throw around. The truly bold play would be to pay the premium for Nguyen and hope for fireworks. Or you could spend elsewhere and save yourself the headache.

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#1C) NYCFC v MTL (H), VAN (H)

I guess this game comes down to how much faith you have in David Villa – and how much faith you have in his coach to play him 180. NYC are the second and final team to get a pair of home fixtures, and you at least have to concede that if there was a premium player to take a chance on, Villa would be that player. Villa hasn’t been all that consistent this year though; twice he’s had a brace in a match, but he’s blanked in his other five matches.

The midfield is a bit of a minefield for NYC. Poku finally made an appearance this last week, and now there are all of the signs of a rotation showing for this DGW coming up. Between Pirlo and Mix, I’m not sure a person could confidently say that they fully know who will play a complete pair of matches this week. And defensively, if you pick Saunders or any defender from NYC, you deserve whatever happens to you. And I mean that for both a positive and negative outcome.

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#1D) Portland Timbers v NE (A), TOR (H)

This could be a tough round for Portland. Diego Valeri is still suspended for his prior red card, so he won’t be joining the team in New England. Darlington Nagbe is still out as well, and this means that they may be defaulting to the likes of Jack Jewsbury(?) for free kicks. Without Valeri, it really doesn’t matter who takes the free kicks and corners, because it will be worse than what he provides.

Defensively it’s not looking much better. Keeper Adam Kwarasey is out after injuring his finger – and Liam Ridgewell is still listed as out along with Alvas Powell. The silver lining here is that you could pick up back-up keeper Jake Gleeson for $4.5 on the cheap if you were looking to really spend some money elsewhere. All in all though, unless Adi (or Lucas Melano…fingers crossed) start to generate their own chances, this is shaping up to be a bleak week for Portland.

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#1E) SKC v VAN(A), LA(H)

Who’s ready to get slapped in the face by the SKC shuffle again this round? Listen, at least now we know what SKC are capable of doing to your fantasy team with their rotation and their cautious approach to playing too many minutes inside of a week. So this week, instead of getting mad about how many players of yours didn’t play full minutes, limit your risk and use this information to your advantage.

During their last DGW, Zusi was fully rested for a game while Feilhaber and Dwyer were both late subs in one of their two matches after starting on the bench. If it’s happened before, it will happen again. Don’t be a sucker for the trap.

Defensively it’s going to be tough also. Traveling all the way to Vancouver may not prove to be the easiest game after Vancouver woke up this last week and beat Dallas to the tune of 3-0. And LA coming into SKC? Not an easy win by any stretch. I honestly don’t think that either of these games has a real potential to be a clean sheet for SKC. So unless you’re chasing bonus points, you can safely get away with just 1-2 SKC players on your squad.

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#1F) Vancouver Whitecaps v SKC(H), NYC(A)

Now even though I just mentioned that Vancouver beat Dallas handily in their last game doesn’t mean that I think they’re a great team. They have a lot of parts that work some of the time. As far as we know, Pedro Morales is still injured (in his brief MLS career, it seems like he’s injured more often than not). And a further worry is the fact that Octavio Rivero, the team’s number one forward, hasn’t scored a goal at all this year.

You could look at Manneh for a forward option as a crazy differential – but it would be a gamble. It’s also hard to see Vancouver getting a single clean sheet in this series of fixtures – but that’s kind of what we all thought about their last game against Dallas. You could take Ousted or Harvey in defense, but it’s going to be an uphill climb for those two to replicate the success of last week.

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#2) Or…we could all just forget the DGW and load up on Toronto

Toronto went into the last round tied for the lowest goals-allowed total in the league with Colorado and LA. And after all the dust has settled, we see that Toronto are the only team of those three to keep a clean sheet and now are the only team that can claim that best defensive statistic. And this is no small feat – Toronto have played seven straight road games and have come out with an astounding defensive record.

After this week, Toronto will play four straight matches at home – and they’ll have a DGW in there to boot. So not only can you feel good having Giovinco in your squad, but you can also feel pretty decent about having some Toronto defense hanging around too. And let’s not discount the midfield; Will Johnson provided an assist this week to Giovinco and posted a decent score for himself. But the big winner in my mind is Michael Bradley who pulled in 8 points with 4 being Defensive Bonus tallies. There’s a lot to like in that Toronto squad if you can look past Jozy Altidore.

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#3) Odds and Ends

Sacha Kljestan and Bradley Wright Phillips both scored 15 points this week in a game that was…controversial. It’s good to see these guys scoring points again, but they need to do this a few more times before I start to trust them. NY simply haven’t looked good this year. This was their second win of the year, and all of their other matches were outright losses. Keep an eye on how they do this week against Dallas before you decide to start picking them up in preparation for their next DGW in three rounds.

The LA Galaxy are supremely frustrating. Just when you think that they’re going to be more predictable with Robbie Keane on the sidelines, they throw another wrinkle at you. We all assumed that Giovani dos Santos was going to be the man this week, and we were right to a certain extent – he did score 14 points. But what nobody saw coming was Emmanuel Boateng playing 90 minutes and scoring a goal while providing two assists en route to the round’s highest score of 16 points. So there you go. As long as LA continue to score 3-5 goals per game, picking up their players is a decent gamble. But when they are held to only 2 goals or fewer, it’s no longer as clear who the main goal scorer is going to be. I guess it’s a good problem to have – but fantasy is much easier with a bit more definition.

Kaka’s condition is still not listed on the MLS Fantasy site. It’s anybody’s guess as to what his health is and whether he’ll play or not this weekend. You almost get that feeling that if you drop him now, he’ll crush it this weekend and make you cry. He might be the sneaking ‘hold’ this year in fantasy going into this weekend.

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#5) Captain Picks

I’m starting off with David Villa for the simple fact that he’s playing twice at home and I’m hoping for magic in one of the two matches. He scores in bunches or he doesn’t score at all. Maybe the warmer weather will be good for him – or it could just be my wishful thinking.

Next I’m going with Giovinco. He’s not on a double, but when has that stopped him from casually turning in a brace at the end of 90 minutes? He’s consistently the only man that can score DGW points without worrying about the extra minutes. And he’s playing a banged up Portland squad this week that doesn’t have an answer for him unless Diego Chara is assigned to shadow him for the entire match.

Lastly I’m going with Fanendo Adi. Sure, the Toronto game will be tough to score in, but I feel like Piatti is a trap-pick and SKC are just waiting to turn the roster over on us all once again. I think Adi logs the minutes and gets the shots. Hopefully a few of those shots convert into goals.

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The MLSFI Podcast

We mention this every week and we hope you’ve had a chance to listen in but if you haven’t then be sure to try and check out this weeks edition below. The guys know MLS inside out but more than that they’re just a great listen every week and you get to follow their teams, their successes and their woes. Pretty much the same soap story that unfolds on our FPL comments on here every week, only in a podcast format! And if you just don’t have the time then the guys have a handy chalkboard with their picks on which is below. (Or will be as and when they post it!)

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 GW8 Tips – Fantasy Major League Soccer This article was written by Guy Sanchez (FootyFantastic)

Follow @Guy_M_Sanchez

