2024 Round 3 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.

DGW Scoring: Bust = 6 or fewer, Average = 7-9, Good = 10-12, Great = 13+

 

Week 2 Final Results: 

• Dagur Thorhallsson – Bust (1 point)
• Noah Eile – Average (4 points)
• Damir Kreilach – Bust (2 points)
• Haile-Selassie – Bust (2 points)
• Federico Bernadeschi – Bust (3 points)
• Teemu Pukki – Bust (1 point)

 

2024 Full Season Results: 1 Great, 1 Good, 3 Average, 10 Busts

After a look at average scores over these first 2 weeks, we have made a unanimous decision to change our “average” baseline to 4-5 points as an average instead of 5-6.

Going into this week, the guys and I took a closer look at bonus point generators as well as matchups. With these in mind, we think this may be our best week yet. Let’s check out the picks!

Tim Parker, $6.2m (Defender – St. Louis)

As Austin’s attack continues to struggle without Driussi, I don’t expect their home field advantage to help them score this week against St. Louis. Tim Parker not only has a decent Clean Sheet shout, but should be able to collect a fair amount of Clearance BPs and potentially even some passing BPs.

– Matt

Andrew Privett, $5.5m (Defender – Charlotte)

Okay hear me out. Toronto has had two games in a row now where they gave up a massive amount of possession, and therefore passes to the opposition’s center backs. In week 1 versus Cincinnati, Robinson had 66 passes, Murphy 77, and Keller 56. In week 2 versus New England, Romney had 102 while Kessler had 99 passes. All of this means that Toronto likes to give up possession (at least on the road) and let the center backs pass the ball around. Should this happen on Saturday, Privett and Malanda, who already are getting clearance bonus points, will have a hayday with passing bonus points too.

-Ranch

Santiago Rodriguez, $8.0m (Midfielder – NYCFC)

New York City FC has struggled to create so far this season. That being said, games at Yankee field are a different animal. Santi currently leads the team in Shot Creation Chances and Portland has given up the 9th most SCAs in the first two games of the season (home against a meh Colorado team and a Benteke-less DC United team). Seeing that this is Portland’s first away game of the season, we should expect a ton of SCAs for NYC and their main man Santi Rodriguez.

-Matt

Santiago Moreno, $7.4m (Midfielder – Portland)

Coming off a stellar 12-point Dream Team performance in a 2-2 draw against DC United, taking Santiago Moreno on the road at NYCFC may seem to be no more than point-chasing against a slow-start team. However, digging deeper into this matchup, Portland are 4-0-0 when NYC have been the home team (albeit, these teams last having played at Yankee Stadium in 2019, with the fourth win being during the Covid-abridged 2020 season) and, most notably, have never been shut out. For a team scoring as many goals as they have, even if they haven’t come against top opposition, lightning may well strike twice for Moreno this week.

-Brandon

Giorgos Giakoumakis, $7.7m (Forward – Atlanta)

Are you looking for a relatively cheap forward who has a good matchup? Look no further than the Greek God, Giakoumakis. Although Atlanta has only played 1 game so far this season, I do still think that Giakomakis has potential to score multiple goals against a New England team who has allowed 4 goals to start the season. Should Atlanta come out swinging in their home opener, I fully expect Giak to be involved in one of the goals that are created.

-Ranch

Elias Manoel, $7.5m (Forward – NYRB)

Although many have zeroed in on NYRB defenders this week, with the likes of John Tolkin, Noah Eile and Dylan Nealis all getting shouts, it’s up top that we look to for our final player of the week, Elias Manoel. Much like our Moreno pick earlier, the Red Bulls have lost just once in 13 league meetings between the two sides, with that loss coming all the way back in 2012, via one of Ricardo Villar’s two career goals for Dallas. Powered by the likes of Emil Forsberg and a returning Lewis Morgan behind him, Manoel’s already found the back of the net once this season and has a decent chance to make it at least two in their home opener against FCD this week.

-Brandon