These FIFA dates are hitting everyone hard.
With Major League Soccer set to play through the March international window, nearly every fantasy manager is scrambling to plug holes. Including youth team call-ups, the number of MLS players who will be unavailable this weekend stands at an astonishing 58 and will likely continue to rise. To make matters worse, players who are out are generally the some of best players in the league.
You can shift this situation to your advantage, though, by using the international absences to build a strong base of contributors by snatching some lower-priced value picks. Then, when the big boys come back next week, you’ll still have the budget to go back and grab the Robbie Keanes of the fantasy world.
Remember that in the beginning of the season, I mentioned that becoming fluent in stats filters will be key to your long-term success. This column will zoom in on what I consider to be one of the most important statistics: Value (form).
Before we look at players, we should briefly look at how this metric is calculated. We’ll start with Form (a player’s average score over the last 30 days):
Since the season is less than a month old, this metric will currently include all games from 2015.
With that in mind, Value (form) – a player’s form divided by their price – adds an additional wrinkle by taking the player’s value into account.
Currently, Colorado defender Axel Sjöberg is the highest scorer in this category. He’s played twice and scored 8 fantasy points each time, so his Form – which, again, is his average score over the past month – is 8.0.
He’s currently priced at $4.7m, so his Value (form) would be 8.0/4.7=1.7. In other words, he’s worth 1.7 points per million fantasy dollars, which is the best rate of return in the game. There seems to be a lot of upside there, so consider adding him.
Now, let’s take a look at the rest of the high scorers and see which ones are worth a flyer.
| Top Fantasy Players on Form | ||||||
| Player | Team | Cost | Sel. % | Form | Pts | VF |
| Axel Sjoberg | COL | $4.7 | 34.4% | 8.0 | 16 | 1.7 |
| Chris Seitz | DAL | $5.1 | 15.8% | 8.0 | 24 | 1.6 |
| Clint Irwin | COL | $5.1 | 3.7% | 7.0 | 14 | 1.4 |
| Evan Bush | MTL | $5.1 | 3.0% | 6.0 | 12 | 1.2 |
| Donny Toia | MTL | $5.0 | 9.6% | 6.0 | 12 | 1.2 |
| Jose Villarreal | LA | $6.3 | 39.5% | 7.3 | 22 | 1.2 |
| Kemar Lawrence | NYR | $6.0 | 0.0% | 7.0 | 7 | 1.2 |
| Clint Dempsey | SEA | $11.3 | 25.0% | 13.0 | 26 | 1.2 |
| Michael Harrington | COL | $5.5 | 6.6% | 6.0 | 12 | 1.1 |
| Hernan Grana | CLB | $6.6 | 8.2% | 7.5 | 15 | 1.1 |
| Davy Arnaud | DC | $6.6 | 12.1% | 7.0 | 14 | 1.1 |
Of these players, the ones I like besides Sjöberg are Donny Toia, Jose Villareal, Michael Harrington and Hernan Grana.
Toia, a reliable member of the 2014 Chivas USA backline, has played every minute in the MLS season for the Impact. It remains to be seen if Montreal can continue their defensive performances, but they have only conceded once in two games and, at any rate, a starting defender with bonus potential is a rare commodity at $5.0m.
Villareal’s early season successes are no secret; he is passing on an international call-up to solidify his spot in the Galaxy’s midfield and has notched at least seven points in each match. The Rapids may not play the most exciting brand of soccer yet, but Michael Harrington looks to have secured a spot on a Colorado back line that hasn't conceded through two games in 2015.
In Columbus, Grana, the Argentine defender, has pumped in seven crosses in two games from his outside back position. I love Grana going forward. If he can continue his production, the newcomer may take the mantle as the best attacking back in MLS, and is criminally under-owned at 8.2 percent – especially considering Crew SC’s upcoming double game week in Round 6.
So those are my suggestions for bolstering your squad with value players. If you do this right, you can build a strong contingent of bench players who have the ability to post great scores and increase in value, while still holding enough cash reserved to add the big guns next week.
And finally, always remember to check the running list of international call-ups and the latest MLS Injury Report before making any moves.
Best of luck on the transfer market this week!
How have the international dates affected your fantasy team? Do you have a favorite metric you use to identify potential adds? Let us know in the comments below.
