By CASEY CANNON
Hello and Welcome to the Soccer by Ives Fantasy Corner – now with less accountability!
Every week I dig through statistics, news, and rumors to provide the reader with the kind of fantasy advice that only a certified internet journalist can provide.
Big Gratz to this weeks SBI winner Freemont FC with 119 points! Damagedgoods displayed his mastery of Daes Dae’mar by maintain the SBI and overall MLS fantasy lead with 599 points.
Be sure to check the injury reports this week. Lots of players are somewhat hurt like Brad Davis. Personally I am holding onto him but not by choice. New names are showing up on the injury list all the time. So read my suggestions below but don’t consummate any trades until the deadline.
Here are our suggestions for Week Eight:
TEAM PICKS
Take Three – Sporting Kansas City. Sporting KC hasn’t allowed opposing teams to score at Livestong park this year. We all have three players left over from last week; just keep them and don’t worry about it too much.
Take Three – Maybe. Columbus Crew. There are two real possibilities with the Crew v DC United game this weekend. DC hasn’t scored on the road yet this season. The Crew beat DC United at RFK. So most signs point to a Crew home win.
Except for the conspiracy theory. Guillermo Barros Schelotto recently announced he wants to coach in MLS. Meanwhile D.C. United has been playing like a classic candidate for a new head coach. The Columbus players terrified by both the prospect of seeing a Massive icon coaching for their dreaded rival and the specter of more seasons with interim coach Warzycha began to Suck for Schelotto. (#SuckforSchelotto) Watch the tape. Last week in Chicago the one-win Fire dominated the Crew; did the Fire turn the corner or are Crew players trying to get a new coach?
Avoid – Colorado Rapids. Well, their players are hurt. Their best field player is 77th overall in PPG. This team that isn’t very good for fantasy points is on the road against Houston. I expect Colorado to get shut out while giving up at least one.
INDIVIDUAL PICKS
Take a moment to check out the teams playing week eleven. See all those points for the taking? Now note that Seattle is off this week while FC Dallas and DC are off next weekend. This week all of my player recommendations are confined to the teams that are playing two games week eleven but not on a bye before that: San Jose, Ivy Funds, Red Bulls, Portland Zips, Montreal, RSL, Houston, and New England Step Children. Don’t drop players from the Union or Galaxy in vein either. They have the double in week 12.
Captain – Aurelien Collin, Sporting KC. Collin continues his hiatus from Midnight Oil to lead the KC defense. As I mentioned above the Ivy Funds are the only team to score at Livestrong park this season. It’s possible Portland gets one, but I am betting against it. Zusi is also a correct choice but an absurd 46% of us have him rostered as opposed to 34% for Collin.
Value – Jose Goncalves, New England. When was the last time I recommended a Revolution player? I think it was Steve Ralston. Anyhow Goncalves is 15th for value this week and 14th for expected points. Only 4% of the league has him selected. On an unrelated note I am incredibly disappointed that Goncalves isn’t Portuguese for Iron Cankles.
Overpriced – Jermaine Taylor, Houston. Yes, the dude has a Red Card and isn’t playing this week. I want to use him as an example. A starting defender from Houston just sounds like a slam dunk pick. He is the 77th value overall and last among defenders that meet today’s criteria. Don’t be fooled by heuristics. Do the research before making the pick.
THREE-PLAYER MONTE
The three player Monte game has two elements selecting three players to score goals and creating a streak of picking a captain who scores every week. The players can be awful, tossed out of the game for reprehensible fouls, and single handedly responsible for costing his team the game but like an episode of Saturday Night Live there only needs to be one glorious moment over the course of 90 minutes.
1. Captain: Di Vaio, Montreal
2. Bruin, Houston
3. Earnshaw, TFC
Tiebreak: 21
That’s all for today. Come back next time for more MLS fantasy notes.
Performance last week :
Jealous fit when the good folks at the MLSFI podcast coined the phrase “Chris Squanderolski” – 1
Pulls to get my %#$@ Lawnmower started – 57
Moments of panic when Olave when down – 1
On Jermaine Taylor, he’s overpriced for this week because of the red, but he has played 6 matches while most CBs have played about 8. So if you do the research, then you’d realize it’s unlikely for him to get another red which killed his points last week, and he’s going to be a pretty valuable defender from next week on. Very short-sighted to call him overpriced, I think.
I wouldn’t pick him up yet, but I think for 5.4 (or less if he continues to drop), you’ll get good value from him going forward.
Maybe I’m crazy, but I would put Olave as the overpriced pick of the week. NY is not great defensively as a team so they won’t be getting a ton of shutouts (they let NE score), and Olave isn’t going to keep scoring goals which has his points so high. Obviously, if you’ve had him the past few weeks you got a ton of points out of him, but I doubt that will continue.
I base overpriced on PPG so the six games is accounted for. I agree his PPG took a hit last week but not enough to make him the best defender on his team. Better defenders for the money.