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Round 18 of MLS Fantasy Soccer: Manager was similar to last week. This week’s high score was less than 100 points again, 96 to be exact, which is only two points more than the high score from last round. The average score this week was 42 points.
Eight players hit double-digits this week; five forwards, two midfielders and one defender. Since there’s only room for three forwards on the Dream Team, Kei Kamara (12 points) and Alan Gordon (10 points) were left off. This is the first time three forwards have made the DT since Round 14.
Round 18 Statistics
- Most-Captained player: Graham Zusi (2,884 people)
- Average Fantasy Score: 42 points
- # teams that scored 0 goals: 3
- # teams that scored 1 goals: 4
- # teams that scored 2+ goals: 9
- # clean sheets per round: 7, 2, 5, 6, 3, 3, 6, 6, 4, 7, 7, 4, 5, 4, 3, 5, 7, 3
- # goals scored per round: 24, 21, 17, 16, 22, 16, 14, 22, 27, 17, 41, 29, 27, 26, 16, 25, 17, 27
Dream Team formation: (3-4-3)
Top Player: Robbie Keane – 16 points
Defenders (3)
Sheanon Williams has had at least a goal or an assist in his last three matches and has eclipsed the double-digit mark in each of them as well (13, 12, 11). The Philadelphia Union do not have a bye until Round 31, so you can feel comfortable adding him to your team at any point. He’s still hovering at $4.9m. The Union have five clean sheets this season and four have come in the past eight games.
It wasn’t a huge week otherwise for defenders. Jámison Olave and Aaron Maund rounded out the group with nine points each. The next best score was eight points.
Midfielders (4)
It wasn’t an amazing week for midfielders either. Only two players (Shea Salinas, Dillon Powers) reached double-digits and only two others notched nine points (Amobi Okugo, Yordany Álvarez). All four players made the DT this week.
Forwards (3)
Robbie Keane stole the show this week with two assists and seven (attacking) bonus points. With five big chances created his score actually should’ve been much higher. The lack of finishing for LA hurt his score.
Daniele Paponi (two goals) and Claudio Bieler (one goal, one assist) grabbed the other two spots this week. Paponi is owned by only 0.2 percent of owners and a sleeper in my opinion at $6.6m. He’s going to be starting opposite of Marco Di Vaio now that he’s healthy. In 283 minutes this season, he has two goals and one assist. Keep your eye on him.
Bieler has two goals and two assists in his last four games. With some favorable matchups in the coming weeks, he’s a forward that you should consider adding to you squad, especially with Graham Zusi back in the mix. Here are some other forwards you should consider.
Goalkeeper – Brad Knighton (9 points)
One of the biggest surprises of the weekend, had it not been for their opponent, was Vancouver notching a clean sheet. Luis Robles also came away with a nine-point effort, but Knighton recorded his first. This was Knighton’s first clean sheet of the season and his first DT appearance as well. The Whitecaps recorded just their second clean sheet in 2013 and their first since March 2.
Congratulations to Steve Vasilevitski (Spartak) who finished Round 18 with 96 points. Steve got solid production across the board, but reaped major benefits by captaining Robbie Keane (32 points). His 10 remaining players averaged a respectable 6.4 points.
*Dream Team subject to change. All point totals are finalized Wednesday for Rounds ending on Sunday.
