The Recap
Gameweek 3 - What Happened?
Major League Soccer continues to be unpredictable well into it’s thirties and may it never change. Back to back weeks where FlavorTownSC failed to score seventy points or more and to be twenty points clear of the average. I didn’t want to look at my seasonal or weekly ranks as I knew they were terrible. The team recorded 58 points and now has a budget of $110.4M. FlavorTownSC is looking at first place through binoculars - being 79 points behind. Overall rank is 1,401. Things are tight at the top though, FlavorTownSC is only 41 points out of the top 50 and 35 points outside the top 100. Not ideal, however, what else am I gonna do? Not play fantasy MLS? Ha, no.
The Good, The Bad, and The MLS
The Good
Herrera (Columbus) - Columbus were Columbus and finished with a 0-0 draw on a cold day in FlavorTown. Herrera was rotated into the starting eleven and did the business as an affordable defender against an out of sorts Houston squad.
Najar (Nashville) - second highest overall score on the week with 15 points and he saved my team from being even more obscure and irrelevant.
Mukhtar (Nashville) - captain choice for the week and while he straddles the good and the MLS, he finished the week with 6 points and that’s a great score given that he didn’t play the full ninety minutes, didn’t have a goal contribution and missed a penalty.
I trusted Forsberg (NJ Red Bulls) on the road over Almada (Atlanta) playing at home and was rewarded with 5 points - two more than Almada picked up, good score given the match ended 0-0.
Benteke (D.C.) won’t stop scoring - he finished the week with 8 points and also won’t stop picking up yellow cards.
The Bad
Picking up a budget LA Galaxy defender instead of picking up a budget Vancouver defender, specifically Tate Johnson who scored 14 points.
Getting a combined 8 points from Suarez (Miami) and Segovia (Miami) who played with 10 players at home against Charlotte.
The MLS
Easily has to be having my captain pick Mukhtar (Nashville) and Musa (Dallas) missing penalties followed by my backup keeper Ustari (Miami) receiving a red card for day dreaming and sleep walking outside his own penalty area. Ustari finished with -2 points. The second layer of the because MLS cake, was Acosta (Dallas) and Musa combining for 3 points in a lopsided loss against Chicago at home - a fixture that Dallas was expected to dominate, not lose.
Strategy Lane
Three weeks have passed and what is to be known?
To begin with, there has been an average of roughly 6 fresh sheets per week for the clubs playing at home and until last week, there were only 2 to 3 per week for clubs playing on the road. Meaning 42% of the time, the home club is posting a fresh sheet and getting the right defenders is more important now that there are so many opportunities for fresh sheet bonus points.
When it comes to winning, 49% of matches have ended with the home team being victorious. Road wins are not easy to come by, there have been 13 (29%) so far. Not a surprise, given the history of home dominance in MLS. However, 46% of away wins have been by teams who are ranked higher in the Supporter Shield standings. Yes, the better teams often win in sports, but when determining which players to start and who to trust on the road, good to know how they stack up against their opposition no matter their form.
Looking at the top ten overall fantasy players in the game, the rankings explain how weird the season has been so far. There are 4 forwards, 4 defenders, 1 midfielder and 1 goalkeeper. Pantemis (Portland) is the sole goalkeeper - he’s also tied with Burki at 23 points, but he’s made the top ten because he saved two penalties in one match. Doubt that’s repeatable.
Which players are scoring? Defenders at the moment are picking up the most points - all of the top 10 defenders have 20 or more points this season compared to 9 of the top ten forwards and 5 of the top ten midfielders with 20 or more points. The low scoring for midfielders is troubling and if the trend continues after Champions League settles down, then it’s time to determine a better captain strategy and or putting more money into the elite forwards and taking chances on more budget friendly midfielders.
Did I say anything in the strategy line? Probably not, no. On to this week’s picks.