2023 Round 7 DiffeRANCHals

Every week, I’m going to go over my suggestions from last week, and determine if they were a good or bad pick based on position and points. To describe in detail the ranking system here is the metric: bust = 4 or fewer points (or not starting/on the bench), average = 5-6 points, good = 7-8 points, great = 9+ points. Players not available for selection I am disregarding and not counting as a positive or negative in the article.

• Nathan Harriel – Did not play
• Franco Negri – Great! (12 points & Dream Team)
• Luquinhas – Bust (2 points)
• Eryk Williamson – Bust (4 points)
• Chris Mueller – Great! (10 points)
• Talles Magno – Bust (2 points)

Week 5 Final Results: 2 Greats, 3 Busts

2023 Full Season Results: 6 Great, 6 Good, 6 Average, 13 Bust

 

Hello and welcome to week seven of the 2023 diffeRANCHals: Special Edition! You read that right, special edition. For this week, I will be picking 3 players from two different teams and justifying the picks. The teams of choice for this week are DC United and Charlotte FC – one home team, one away team. Let’s get into it!

Ruan, $5.8m (DC United Defender)

Let’s start with the negatives: Columbus loves to score goals against DC United, Columbus has scored 15 goals this year, and DC United have allowed 10 goals this year. Now that those facts are out of the way, I am going to focus on the positives. Ruan is consistently in the attack every game, regardless of the score. Additionally, DC United very rarely gets shut out at home. In fact, the last time Columbus kept a clean sheet against United in DC was March of 2017. Yep, you read that right – 6 years ago. Maybe Ruan can get a sneaky assist, because I highly doubt they hold a clean sheet.

Jaylin Lindsey, $6.1m (Charlotte Defender)

Now let’s address Charlotte FC. First off, I would like to personally thank Tinkerman for suggesting the Lindsey pick. I honestly did not consider Charlotte defensively until I heard from the pod that Tinkerman was considering a Lindsey play. That got me interested and I started researching. What did I find? Well, not many good stats for Charlotte. They have conceded 11 goals in 6 games. Additionally, they have not had a single shutout this season. The bright side of their defense comes from their wing backs Lindsey and Afful. Both of them have been producing assists and bonus points, making them fantasy relevant. Between bonus points and the fact that RSL has only scored 3 goals in 5 games puts Lindsey in a good position for this upcoming road matchup.

Mateusz Klich, $9.2m (DC United Midfielder)

Staying on the theme of getting sneaky assists, Klich is the go-to player to look for in that regard. Klich has been on all corner kicks and free kicks all season long – even with Fountas returning last week. As previously stated above, DC United rarely gets shut out at home. They have a good record of scoring goals against Columbus. Klich may seem a little bit of a “chalkier” pick compared to most of my differentials, but he is the only DC mid that I would trust at the moment. 

Nuno Santos, $5.3m (Charlotte Midfielder)

I know what you are thinking: “Who is Nuno Santos? Some crazy differential?” Then you go and look up his stats and become impressed, right? Wrong. Just trust me for a second and do not, I repeat DO NOT look at Nuno Santos’ stats. It is not worth your time. What is worth your time is understanding that Nuno is good at understanding the correct position to be when a ball is sent forward. His finishing definitely could use some work, but at least he knows positioning. Baby steps! Maybe he can convert one of those attempts against a pitiful RSL defense.

Christian Benteke, $8.8m (DC United Forward)

With the ball being distributed either wide from Ruan or on sets/central from Klich, the players who are likely to receive the ball and score a goal are either Christian Benteke or Taxiarchis Fountas. I normally would pick Fountas here given his cheaper price and performance from last season, but I am unsure of his health status. Fountas did play for 90 minutes last week, so he has that going for him. If you happen to see Taxi is starting, I would suggest starting him over Benteke; Christian is the tall target forward on set pieces and the true #9 striker, however.

Kerwin Vargas, $7.4m (Charlotte Forward)

Speaking of pitiful RSL defenses, the hot forward for Charlotte right now is Kerwin Vargas. Charlotte have been lining up with a 3 forward setup – sort of like LAFC – where Vargas plays on the left, Copetti middle, and Jozwiak (or whoever else fills in) is on the right. This setup seems to be working well for the wide players, while nerfing Copetti. Interesting, I know! If there is someone that you want to pick up in fantasy each week, it is the player who is contributing the most offensively against RSL. Salt Lake has been so bad that they are averaging about 2.5 goals against per game. They are literally the worst defense in the league statistically thus far, and they have 1 less game than most teams.