Fantasy MLS 2015 Round 11 Review (Part 2)

Houston Dynamo 3 vs. Portland Timbers 1

Highlights

The game wasn’t exactly a shootout despite the score and for most of the game we watched Portland possess in their own half and Dynamo get the occasional counter. However, the counter works wonders for the Dynamo when you have speedy fullbacks and a guy like Giles Barnes wreaking havoc on for the oppositions back line. Will Bruin also continued to make his case to maintain his starting spot with 2 goals and great hold up play for Barnes to feed off of. In the Meantime, Valeri showed why he’s his team MVP and didn’t let the Timbers go out without throwing a punch by assisting on Adi’s goal.

Fantasy Standouts

• Giles Barnes ($9.3): I’m expecting Barnes to go cold, but he’s been pretty consistent apart from his penalty miss a couple weeks back, racking up 6 points in his last two games.
• Will Bruin ($8.1): Will Bruin has retaken his starting spot in the Dynamo lineup and it’s been good for all parties with Bruin playing as the target man the Dynamo needed to partner with Barnes. With 7 and 12 in his last two games and the Dynamo rounding into form this could be good news for the Dynamo forward.
• Diego Valeri ($10.1): This guy should be on a lot of peoples’ radars with a Timbers DGW coming up in GW13. He’s undoubtedly the heart of the Timbers attack and he’s also just what they’ve been missing. We’ve seen the Timbers struggle to find consistency, but now after having him back for a couple games he will soon become a must have.

Fantasy Letdowns

• Dynamo Defense: They just can’t keep a shutout and expensive guys like Beasley aren’t worth the money. There are much cheaper players elsewhere that will allow valuable money to pick up DGW studs.
• Darlington Nagbe ($8.4): I was hoping with Valeri back Nagbe could turn into an attacking force, however he still can’t find the aggressiveness or scoring prowess to be just that, so it’s not time to grab him up yet.

Sporting Kansas City vs. Colorado Rapids

Highlights

Everyone in Fantasy was probably enraged. Just goes to show you maybe you should start checking the weather forecasts as well when looking at players to pick up. That may sound like a joke, but I’m seriously considering making this a part of my routine… Thanks to Dillon Powers, Clint Irwin and Sjoberg for being apart of this postponed game…

Orlando City SC 4 vs. LA Galaxy 0

Highlights

Whoa! So this is where Orlando has been all season. They just got seriously lost in the beginning of the season I guess. However, I do have to make excuses for the Galaxy considering they had a last minute defensive change to their all-star center back and had the dreadful Husidic playing fullback. Not to mention there was no Keane again. There’s not to much to say about this game for the Galaxy though, Bruce Arena already said enough when he said his team was horrible. But let’s not take away too much from Orlando. It looks like Orlando has found their striker with Larin scoring in 3 consecutive games. Not to mention this Brek Shea on the wing thing could be a good idea with Boden looking very comfortable at left back.

Fantasy Standouts

• Cyle Larin ($5.9): You know why he’s here and he’s cheap.
• Kaka ($11.5): Kaka Finally had a game to be proud of although his goal still came off of a PK. With his price and high ownership you may want to look at dropping him because he won’t be the way to gain ground on others. But this looks like it may have been Kaka’s coming out party in which case he’ll be a must have.
• Rafael Ramos ($5.3): After Ramos’ price drop from the red card and such this could be a good time to snatch up the young and talented full back. He had a tremendous game against LA picking up an assist and defending bonus showing why the coaches have been putting their faith in the youngster.

Fantasy Letdowns

• LA Galaxy: Google Bruce Arena quote for this weekend. “We were awful” –Bruce Arena

Philadelphia Union 1 vs. DC United 0

Highlights

Everyone insisted prior to this weekend that DC was a must have if for nothing else other than their Philadelphia Union game. Well it proved to be their demise in the DGW this week outside of consistent performers like Bill Hamid. The Union managed to stuff the DC attack for the whole game and get a late goal through youngster Zach Pfeffer. Never underestimate desperate teams. Desperate teams are dangerous teams and the Union is very much that.

Fantasy Standouts/ Fantasy Letdowns

• Bill Hamid showed he can provide good bonus points in goal, but I can’t justify giving any standouts. DC didn’t look a sharp against a Union team that hasn’t shown strong for most of the season and the Union, despite getting the shutout doesn’t have a defense worth banking on with a game against an offensively potent NY Red Bulls team. I’m still waiting on the likes of Espindola to come back for DC and return some formation consistency to DC.

With plenty more DGWs coming up for DC it’ll be interesting to see what the rotations look like and when Espindola will be back. Your best bet is to keep checking out reddit or the mlsfantassy boss chat on mlsfantasyboss.com to stay updated and get more in depth opinions as we get closer to game time. For now I’m going to sit back and see what happens with DC this week.

That’s the breakdown for the first half of Round 11. What do you think? Did any players jump out at you who you think deserve to be highlighted? Mention them in the comments below, or send me or Tyler a Tweet and let us know. Also, don’t forget to get involved with the get community her at MLS Fantasy Boss and over at /r/FantasyMLS.