Not an awful performance in MLS Gameweek 8, but not anything to write home about either. 84 points was enough for a small green arrow and a weekly rank of 1034, and a new overall rank of 896 heading into gameweek 9.
What went right?
Honestly, most of my picks hit last weekend, but very few had multiple-goal contributions. Matt Freese in GK, and Dlyan Nealis and Tomas Totland in defense got me 7 points each. Ryan Gauld, Santi Rodriguez, Cristian Espinoza and Evander were all solid picks in the midfield, as well as Brian White and Christian Benteke up top, each scoring a goal.
Where did I miss in MLS Gameweek 8?
I thought the Red Bulls’ offense was the sure bet last weekend, but that’s where I missed the most. An early Red Card for Andres Reyes took Dante Vanzeir out of the game before halftime and resulted in just 5 points for Lewis Morgan who was my captain for the weekend. 10 points for your captain isn’t awful, but it could have been much better and could have contributed to a much better weekly rank if I had put the “C” on Evander
Housekeeping
Philadelphia Union are the team on a bye this week, so target their players for your Switcheroos, Autoroos and Keeperoos. No teams are on a double-game week.
Player Picks
GK
Kristijan Kahlina – $6.6m – Vs Minnesota United
Steve Clark – $6.9m – Vs Austin Fc
Tim Melia – $6.1m – Vs St Louis City SC
Zach Steffen – $5.5m – Vs Dallas Fc
Not a ton of great options this week. I’ll likely go with my favorite Saturday Keeper on my bench, with Kahlina as my backup in case he doesn’t work out
DEF
Brooks Lennon – $9.4m – Vs FC Cincinnati
Julian Gressel – $7.1m – Vs Nashville SC
Andrew Privett – $6.6m – Vs Minnesota United
Thiago Martins – $7.2m – Vs DC United
Micael dos Santos – $7.7m – Vs Austin FC
Malte Amundsen – $8.0m – Vs Portland Timbers
Like GKs, clean sheets might be few and far between in gameweek 9. I’m going for a mix of clean sheet potential picks and ones with offensive upside.
MID
Riqui Puig – $12m – Vs San Jose Earthquakes
Joseph Paintsil – $11.1m – Vs San Jose Earthquakes
Thiago Almada – $10.9m – Vs FC Cincinnati
Evander – $11m – @ Columbus Crew
Santi Rodriguez – $10m – Vs DC United
Amine Bassi – $8.7m – Vs Austin Fc
Djordje Mihailovic – $7.9m – FC Dallas
Diego Gomez – $6.1m – Vs Nashville SC
Erik Thommy – $8.5m – Vs St Louis City SC
Mateusz Bogusz – $8m – Vs New York Red Bulls
I’m really high on Galaxy’s offense this week and wouldn’t argue with triple-stacking there. Other good picks look to be Almada, Santi Rodriguez, Amine Bassi, and maybe even someone from Colorado’s midfield. Evander, even on the road, looks to be a safe pick week in and week out for solid point production even without scoring.
FWD
Lionel Messi – $12m – Vs Nashville SC
Cucho Hernandez – $11.6m – Vs Portland Timbers
Dejan Joveljic – $10.9m – Vs San Jose Earthquakes
Luis Suarez – $11.7m – Vs Nashville
Josef Martinez – $7.6m – Vs Orlando City SC
Denis Bouanaga – $11.4m – Vs New York Red Bulls
Raul Ruizdiaz – $8.9m – Vs Vancouver Whitecaps
Willy Agada – $8.1m – Vs St Louis City SC
Ibrahim Aliyu – $7.9m – Vs Austin FC
Rafael Navarro – $7.6m – Vs Dallas FC
The big names for me this week are Messi, Cucho, and Joveljic, but I think cheaper names like Josef Martinez, Willy Agada, Raul Ruidiaz and Rafael Navarro might bring returns in gameweek 9 and allow you to spend your budget elsewhere
Captain
Lionel Messi
Cucho Hernandez
Riqui Puig/ Joseph Paintsil
The best option for me this week is Messi at home against Nashville, as long as he starts. Cucho could be a solid pick at home against Portland, and I think Galaxy have a number of good shouts against San Jose. I’m between Messi and Puig this week
AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell
