KFC’s Fantasy MLS Defender picks – Week 11

We’re finally here. Week 11. That big week that so many people have been trying, for so long, to plan for and that they hope will cause their point totals to runneth over. Even with all of the double games, only 1 team has two home games, Dallas. This makes then easy picks for the big 3 (Hedges and Michel are standouts). After Dallas, most people are leaning heavy on SKC (Collin and Besler) even SKC rested a few of their big guns last week against Chivas.

Olave is the final player on our list but I want to make sure people are aware that he might not lay against New England due to the field being turf. It’s not 100% and he still has great numbers, but just a FYI.

But not everyone is loaded up with two SKC and 2 DAL, so what do you do if you don’t have a lot of cash or you want to go for some differential picks? That’s what we focus on below.

Big 3
Kansas City (SKC v SEA & HOU v SKC), Dallas (DAL v POR & DAL v DC), and Jamison Olave (NY v MON & NE v NY).

Keep reading for the rest.

Jose Goncalves (New England) vs Real Salt Lake/New York
Price: $5.8m
Owned by: Under 6.8%

Well, I think it’s safe to say that nothing was more surprising than the performance put on by New England against Portland last week. I’ll leave it to each manager to decide if this was due to a poor Portland attack or New England playing tough when they needed to, because we have no idea! Whichever you decide, just know that Goncalves has excellent bonus point generation and New England have two home games. We can already expect some New York players to not play due to the NE field, perhaps it will give RSL some problems too.

Jermaine Taylor (Houston) vs DC/Kansas City
Price: $5.4m
Owned by: 4.6%

I think Taylor’s stats may be a bit misleading. Three other Houston defenders have more points than him, but we have to remember that he got a red card two games ago and did not play last week. That’s two games worth of 0 points. He should come right back in for the double games this week and I look for his to start racking up points again. If you have an extra $0.4m, you could also take a look at Boswell, but Taylor offers some good value.

Chris Schuler (Real Salt Lake) vs New England/Montreal
Price: $5.6m
Owned by: 9.0%

Even though RSL have had some defending problems this year, Schuler is still a great guy if you want a defender that is going to earn bonus points. If NE can’t muster much of an attack, he may have some low numbers, but his skills will be needed during the Montreal game. Just remember, both of RSL’s games are away.

Differential

Rodney Wallace (Portland) vs Dallas/Chivas
Price: $5.1m
Owned by: 3.4%

A defender who is playing as a forward…. What? Yup, that’s Wallace. The Dallas game might not offer many opportunities, but the Chivas game could have to good returns. Also remember, it takes fewer crosses and key passes to get bonus points than defensive actions.

These are our picks, if you think there should be more names on this list, please leave a comment or come to r/FantasyMLS and comment on the post. You can also leave a message on our Facebook page or you can find us on Twitter @FantasyMLSTips. Keep checking back for more updates through the week for other positions.