MLSFB Player Roundup – Round 20

There are far fewer games this week compared to round 19, but I think several of them are going to be great. We only have one double game this week and that’s for Montreal. They are not on a great run of form, so this may not be the week to stock up on double game players. Keep in mind, several players are still close to yellow card suspensions and that will need to play into your Round 21 plans. You can find the full list here.

Now, let’s break things down each position.

Keepers:

There are six keepers that I wanted to highlight round, but not all as recommended pickups. First, we need to talk about Troy Perkins ($5.0m @ 5.4%) who did not play last week. We saw this happen last year. Perkins fell into a slump near the end of the season and saw some rotating. The same things could be happening again and I would not rick adding or playing him. Another keeper to keep away from is Bobby Shuttleworth ($4.9m @ 4.3%) and this is purely based on form. New England has lost their last 7 games. They have a good record of not allowing goals at home (allowed 1 every 1.14 games), but that is not enough for me.

So who should you be looking at? Speaking of form, some people may be tempted to play Stefan Frei (4.9m @ 8.7%) because Seattle are on fire right now and have the best home defense right now (allowed 1 every 1.29 games) and I can’t argue with that. LA is in the bottom 1/3 of teams when it comes to away scoring (1 goal every 0.9 games). So Seattle has a good shot at a shutout. After Seattle, Colorado has allowed the next fewest home goals (1 goal every 1.25 games). They are playing Chivas this week who as average when it comes to scoring on the road. So if you are considering Clint Irwin ($4.7m @ 6.1%) you could see get a good result and then an increase in value with the upcoming DGW. Finally, If you have to use an away keeper, stick with Jaime Penedo ($5.5 @ 3.2%)  or Andy Gruenbaum (4.6m @ 3.7%). They have allowed the fewest away goals this season (allowed 1 ever 1.0 games).

Defenders:

If you’re making any significant changes to your defense this week, make sure to pay attention to who has double games in Round 21. If not, I assume most people are trying to replace Dan Gargan. If you have the cash to throw around, consider Char Marshall ($8.6m @ 9.2%), Drew Moore ($8.1m @ 30.8%), or Chris Schuler ($9.3m @ 0.8%).

If you’re looking for some cheap players with respectable point quality, then here are 4 players under the $6.5 mark that are worth considering. Tommy Meyer ($5.8m @ 0.9%) of LA, Nick Hagglund ($5.1 @ 9.1%) of Toronto, Heath Pierce ($6.4m @ 1.2%) of Montreal,  and Lovel Palmer ($5.9m @ 3.2%) of Chicago.

Midfielders:

Midfielders are racking up big points this year and I don’t see any reason to not go big with your midfield this week and next. If you have budget defense in place, you can easily field 3 premium defenders and someone over $7.5m. Seattle, Vancouver, Colorado, and Real Salt Lake have the three best home scoring records of the home teams this round (1 every 0.5, 0.56, 0.63, and 0.69) Toronto would be included in this list, but Bradley seems broken right now and I would not rely on him. But you are left with PLENTY of big names to fill your roster. Clint Dempsey ($10.4m @ 16.7%) and Pedro Morales ($9.0m @ 22.1%) top my list, followed by Dillon Powers ($8.0m @ 5.8%) and then Javier Morales ($11.1m @ 13.4m). There are also some good away options, but we are all familiar with the big names by now so I don’t think I need to go on.

If you need some on form players to fit a budget, Jeff Larentowicz ($7.0m @ 8.8%) of Chicago, Gonzalo Pineda ($7.5m @ 2.6%) of Seattle, and Gyaso Zardes ($6.7m @ 7.4m) of LA are all great options.

Forwards:

Here’s another position where you should easily be able to fill your roster with the cream of the crop, but first, please take note that Defoe will not play in Round 20 due to yellow card accumulation.

Your premium home players to look at this week are Jao Plata ($7.3m @ 16.2%) who has scored 2 goals in his last 3 games and the returning Obafemi Martins ($9.4m @ 11.8%) who scored 3 goals in the last 3 games he played in. For the away teams, Robbie Keane ($11.0 # 13.7%) seems to be finding the back of the net again, but has a tough match against Seattle and Dominic Dwyer ($8.6m @ 16.8%) who has scored 3 goals in 4 games and will be looking to continue the amazing away form that SKC is on right now. And no list would be complete without Darren Mattocks ($7.4m @ 3.2%) who has scored in his last two games and the ever popular Harrison Shipp ($7.0m @ 23.6%) who has been in a bit of a drought, but is very cheap and has a DGW nest round.

Did I miss any players that should be on this list? Please leave us a comment. You can also send a message to me on Twitter @MLSFantasyBoss, or join the Live Chat in the sidebar. Keep checking back for more updates throughout the week. Good Luck!