MLS DFS Targets - Saturday March12th 2016
We’ve had a lot of soccer this week, between the Champions League, the Europa League, EPL this morning, then this afternoon with both MLS and Liga MX, some might say we’re over saturated with soccer contests. I however, disagree. While the demand for Liga MX and Europa league are probably not as high as to warrant a full commitment to them on your part as a player, playing these obscure games is where some of the edge lies, provided you have the time to fully invest into the research that it requires you to build quality lineups for these games. This article however is focusing on the Saturday slate of Major League Soccer, and I’m not going to spend too much time discussing Liga MX games which happens later today. I will however offer these pointers for those of you who wish to play LMX later tonight.
First, make sure to go by the odds, winning teams tend to hold more of the possession and thus have more passes. The only exception to this is when a team is slightly favored to win, and score an early goal then the opponent can tend to pressure the other side and attempt to score. So favored teams tend to cross more, but if a team is a slight underdog they can produce a decent number of crosses and corners if they concede an early goal and depending on the game flow.
Second point to take notice of, while starting lineups may be tough to find for obscure leagues, almost every team has a twitter presence, and spending some time to compile a twitter list of all the teams in play may yield positive results that can help you confirm the lineups prior to lock.
Third and final tip I can give you for the Mexican League games today, is to take a look at my “guide on how to play Daily Fantasy Soccer”: https://rotogrinders.com/articles/how-to-play-daily-fantasy-soccer-1182692 as I go into more detail on certain strategies to employ while building your lineups and doing your research.
Now for our MLS picks
Goalkeepers
Tim Melia, Sporting Kansas City $4,100 – Last week in Seattle, SKC held the home team to just 10 shots and only two on target. This week Melia and his the SKC defense face the Vancouver Whitecaps at home. Vancouver were involved in a back and forth match with Montreal last weekend that ended in a 3-2 loss on the road. Vancouver managed 21 shots in that matchup, but since this week they are playing on the road, I expect the shot total to diminish, but not to a drastic event. This puts Melia in a good spot to get a few saves, and with SKC favored, it gives Melia a good chance to get the win bonus as well.
Steve Clark, Columbus $4,300 – Opponents of Philadelphia this season may end up having one thing in common. They will all be the heaviest favorite, as well as having the priciest goalkeeper of every slate. Steve Clark and Columbus get to welcome Philadelphia this week in what will probably amount in a big win for the MLS cup runnerup last season. He’s a bit more expensive than Tim Melia but he’s in a good spot and unless we see some goalkeeper value for a favored team, I recommend paying up for goalkeeper in the early portion of this MLS campaign.
Defenders
Ambroise Oyongo, Montreal Impact $3,200 – With nine crosses, two tackles and two interceptions, Oyongo displayed a type of floor that we can be happy with in daily fantasy games. On DraftKings he managed 11 points in the opening matchup at Vancouver. With a home opener against New York Red Bulls, the challenge will be there, but the potential for Oyongo is high. Last match he ventured up the flank for Montreal and had five dribbling attempts with three of them successful.
Amadou Dia, Sporting Kansas City $3,100 – The left full back started the last match for Sporting Kansas City and had 12 points by way of four crosses, the clean sheet, three tackles and four interceptions. Dia has the potential for filling the stat sheet and with SKC expected to win this match, he has another good shot at a clean sheet at home.
Chris Tierney, New England Revolution $4700 – Priced this high most people will look past Tierney, but he’s the best defender in this slate in terms of fantasy value. Tierney has corner kick duty as well as the responsibility to take some big crosses and help on the offense for the Revolution.
Midfielders
Christian Maidana, Houston Dynamo $5,200 – I hope you read this space last week where I heavily recommended Maidana due to both his ability and his price. Well, he proved his ability last match scoring a goal for Houston and delivering 12 crosses in game where he tallied 26 fantasy points at just a 4800 price tag. This week his price rose just slightly to 5.2K and he’s in another decent matchup where he’ll have to do a lot of crossing against the interstate rivals from Dallas. Maidana will be a staple in all my cash games this weekend.
Andreas Ivanschitz, Seattle Sounders $4,600 – He set up behind the striker in the last match as the number 9 and was on corner kick duties. His price tag is very appealing given the responsibility in the Seattle offense that he holds. I like Ivanschitz in cash games today as well as GPPs as he has the chance for a goal given his role in the offense.
Federico Higuain, Columbus Crew $6,400 – He scored on opening day and will look to do so again as his Columbus Crew take on the hapless Philadelphia 76ers Union. On top of his goal he also had 7 shots and 9 crosses. So even if he fails to score he’s still got plenty of floor as well as the upside that goes with being part of a dynamic offense.
Mauro Diaz, FC Dallas $6,900 – He started his season with nine crosses and 2 assists against Philadelphia. This week Dallas travels to Houston where they take on another team in transition and that they are expected to beat. Dallas plays great defense and that helps fuel their offense which is powered by Diaz’s creativity on and off the ball. Expect a big performance from the Argentine.
Mike Magee, LA Galaxy $3,500 – Magee is a former MLS MVP and showed his worth last game scoring twice and getting an assist after subbing on at the half. He should get the start this game with an injury to Dos Santos for the Galaxy. Don’t expect multiple goals and assists this week from the LA midfielder, but you can predict that he’ll be involved enough to pay off his salary.
Forwards
Kei Kamara, Columbus Crew $9,400 – He’s extremely expensive, and I recommend finding a way to pay up for him this week as the Crew are in a great position for fantasy production. Kamara did not find the back of the net last time against Portland and that dipped his price a little. I expect his ownership will dip as well given that people don’t want to be burned twice in a row. He is the best option on the slate though and has a very good chance of scoring. If you choose to not spend on Kamara I recommend going with Robbie Keane as the Galaxy take on the high flying Colorado Rapids.
Joao Plata, Real Salt Lake $5,000 – Plata is a good option for your teams this week as he faces Seattle who have looked vulnerable on defense in the pre-season and on opening day. In addition, Plata scored twice for RSL and will be looking to put on a show for the home fans in the home opener for the team in the high altitude of Salt Lake City, Utah.