Fantasy MLS 2015 Round 7 Review (Part 1)

New York City FC 1 vs. Philadelphia Union 1

Highlights

Not what anyone expected going into this. I didn’t foresee the guy, who skyed a beautiful lay off from Villa early in the game, scoring NYC’s only goal, nor the scoreless Sapong coming on for my main man Ayuk to score Philadelphia’s only goal. Villa and Hernandez’s injury put an even bigger dampener on the mood for the night.

Fantasy Standouts & Fantasy Letdowns

Only thing to say for this is Khiry Shelton should be starting every game and should subsequently be on your fantasy team. He’s too dangerous and exciting, especially if he gets to continue to play with David Villa. He just needs to finish. More will be said about these two teams under their weekend game reviews.

New York Red Bulls 2 vs. San Jose Earthquakes 0

Highlights

The Red Bulls continued to prove they don’t need Henry or Petke by playing a phenomenal game absolutely dominating the Earthquakes. With twice as many shots and corners as well as the majority of possession, the only thing to lament over is missed chances. The game easily could’ve been 5-0. As for the Earthquakes there’s not much to take from this. Many people want to see some flair from Thompson, but Kinnear insists there’s just people ahead of him on the depth chart. Although he may be keen to experiment one of these games given a badly needed creative touch.

Fantasy Standouts

• Red Bulls Offense: With Bradley Wright-Phillips ($11.0), Lloyd Sam ($8.9) and Felipe Martins ($8.3) all on the Red Bulls roster take your pick from this in form Red Bulls offense. With a DGW coming it wouldn’t be a bad idea to grab one or two of these guys next week. LA’s defense is good, but I don’t see them shutting out NY so snag one or two of these guys. If you’re looking for bargains to throw on your team then look to Grella ($6.2). He’s not the focal point of this attack, but with the offense heating up Grella is going to be a benefactor of it and should get some goals or assists in the coming weeks.

Fantasy Letdowns

• Matt Miazga ($5.6): He’s not on this list, because he’s played poorly, but because he just got called up to the under 20 men’s national team and because I think that he is going to return to an occupied center back spot and the bargain defender will return to the bench. I hope this doesn’t happen, since he’s looked solid all season, but all we can do is wait and see. At the very least his call up means he’ll miss next weeks game so drop him or move him to the bench. Update on Miazga availability for LA game.
• San Jose Earth Quakes: In a game this lopsided there wasn’t much to take away from it. The Quakes did have a couple of decent chances, but that was it and they were out possessed for the majority of the game. Innocent has been guilty this whole season of not applying his promise to the San Jose goal scoring woes and MPG has been waiting for someone to show up and take some of the weight off his shoulders. As for the defense…without an offense clicking on all cylinders, regardless of if the defense is bad or good, it’s hard to have any faith in them. You can feel good about Bingham, just because he was standing on his head in that game against the Red Bulls to keep them in the game, but don’t pick any of these guys any time soon for your fantasy team.

DC United 1 vs. Houston Dynamo 1

Highlights

The game was largely even despite the possession being in favor of DC United. Both sides struggled for ideas and became much more dangerous after the introduction of new attacking options later in the game. Will Bruin made a case to earn a starting spot back providing an outlet and some brute force up front the Dynamo were in need of. The game ended 1-1, but saw several chances for both teams miss the mark and with how well subs were playing we could be in for some lineup changes next week if the managers are bold enough to do so.

Fantasy Standouts

• Ricardo Clark ($7.0): I plugged Giles Barnes last weekend, since he’s a midfielder playing up top for the Dynamo and looked to be very dangerous. He still is, but at $9.1 and on a Dynamo team that’s still figuring out its identity, Ricardo Clark is an option that’s showed two weeks in a row he knows where to be to get involved in the attack and allows you to get on the Dynamo team for a much more reasonable price. With a DGW in week 10 and a SKC defense next week that’s still figuring out how to deal with Opara’s injury, either of these guys would be good pickups.
• Luis Silva & Nick Deleon: These guys both subbed into the game, but with the way they’ve been playing it would be foolish for them to not be in the starting 11 come next week. I want to recommend someone from DC United, but these guys are the only genuine consistent threats when they come on so it’s only a matter of time. For now there’s no one to pick up from DC United given the price tag being too high for inconsistent play or just because no one person is reliable yet. Watch DC next weekend and don’t be surprised when Deleon or Silva finds the net.
• Tyler Deric ($5.1): Houston lost and he still put up 6 points. He’s one of the leading goalkeepers in the league fantasy wise and performance wise. The problem with this, however, is it means his defense is giving him too much to do. The Dynamo needs to sure up their defense in order for clean sheets to become a more consistent thing for Deric.

Fantasy Letdowns

• Dynamo Defense: The only guy I trust back there is Beasley. Right now they’re still trying to adjust to Rodriquez coming back and the offense is still building up its confidence so I don’t trust clean sheets from these guys. Sarkodie and Taylor aren’t good looks for bonus points right now leaving Beasley a guy able to get defending and attacking bonus points as well as assists potentially. He should be the only guy getting looks right now, although I’d rather take my chances elsewhere.

Columbus Crew 3 vs. Orlando City SC 0

Highlights

Hmmmmm…. This was an unfortunate game. Orlando City’s youth has come to bite them in the butt. Ramos’ frustration earned him a red card and cost his team the game. I genuinely thought there was a goal coming for Orlando with Molino, Kaka and Ramos combining dangerously down the left. Then Columbus turned on the jets and ploughed through Orlando. I don’t know how they’re going to recover from this one, but regardless of 10 or 11 men in the opposition, the one thing we did see today was a dangerous Crew offense in their 3-0 trumping of Orlando.

Fantasy Standouts

• Federico Higuain ($10.3): He was a man possessed this weekend. My goodness. A goal, assist, 1 defending and 4 attacking, added on to his minutes played left him with 15 points. He easily can claim his role as heart of the offense. I like the Crew’s schedule coming up and see Higuain as someone whose going to earn your team a lot of money in the following weeks.
• Kei Kamara ($8.3): If you don’t want to spend on Higuain then grab Kamara. He’s going to be involved, score goals, assists, etc. This weekend was an example grabbing a goal and an assist and what potentially could’ve been more if not for missed chances.
• Hernan Grana ($6.6): The defense looked good, and although Grana wasn’t as involved as he’d like to be we know he will be. With the clean sheets that are likely to come as well he’s a pick up you won’t feel bad about.

Fantasy Letdowns

• Orlando City: It’s hard to take much from the rest of the performance given Ramos’ early red, but they still weren’t able to put too many good chances on target. With a bye week coming up week after next, take a break from these guys. Drop Kaka and use his money for better options in the coming DGWs for guys like Bradley Wright-Phillips and give them a chance to earn back your trust after the bye.

FC Dallas 3 vs. Toronto FC 2

Highlights

This was a very exciting week for MLS. Lots of goals and lots of drama. FC Dallas imposed themselves on the game from the second the whistle was blown. Fabian Castillo continued to earn the praise I’ve been heaping on him since before the season started and Toronto proved they were still trying to get the momentum they had prior to all these bye weeks. It only took Toronto until the last 10 minutes of the game to figure it out, so, for Toronto’s sake, let’s hope it’s a sign of things to come. As far as Dallas is concerned the last 10 minutes were a big concern for their defense and the holes in the defense continue to be exposed, despite the huge offensive threat they pose. Oh yeah and Giovinco… he’s good…

Fantasy Standouts

• Fabian Castillo ($10): He’s going to score goals, assist on goals, and his price will increase, as it has already. Guys like Perez can go silent in games, but someone like Castillo is going to scare the pants off our defenders at least once or twice in a game. He’s earned the Bartels (my name) Seal of Approval, which means pick him up.
• Sebastian Giovinco ($11.4): If you’re just realizing how good this guy is now, you’re a little late to the party, especially with his price increase. As some big DGWs approach, there may be no space for this guy on your team, so all I request is that you don’t forget about him. Toronto isn’t as horrible as they looked and they will find their stride and start to score goals through this guy.
• Nick Hagglund ($5.8): Alright I understand this guy is only starting because of red cards/injuries, but he showed last year he’s a dominant force on defense and this weekend, once he was put back into his proper spot as a center back, he looked the part again. In a game he received a yellow card in and that his team lost 3-0, he had 8 points. He showed his dominance in the air on set pieces and with defending and attacking bonus points. If this guy earns his spot back at center back he deserves a look.

Fantasy Letdowns

• FC Dallas Defense: FC Dallas started strong defensively, but holes have been popping up along their back line in recent weeks and this is a problem. To be fair to them, they have had some movement and interchanging of parts among the back line, so they may just need a bit more time. However, they haven’t done enough to earn my trust just yet.
• Toronto FC Defense: I don’t know what Vanney was doing putting Hagglund up against Castillo at fullback. That isn’t on Hagglund; he didn’t stand a chance. The back line has promise, but needs time to mesh and get back into form. The two bye weeks really messed with them, so keep an eye on them and wait to see how the next couple games play out.

That’s the breakdown for the first half of Round 7. 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.