Fantasy MLS For XI: Your Questions Answered

Baltimore 351

Greetings, fellow Fantasy MLS managers! I’m fielding questions this week to help players prepare for what’s likely to be another unpredictable year of soccer. I don’t know the future, but I can definitely offer some advice based on my experience from years past. Without further ado, here we go!

It’s going to be next to impossible to have 18 truly valuable players on your roster within the constraints of the budget given, unless you have special, secret Garber bucks that I’m not aware of. My current strategy involves having only 12 or 13 players that are above the minimum value. I’m going to try and field the best XI as I possibly can, and have one reliable but fairly cheap backup player, just in case. The rest of my squad will be worth $4.0 or $4.5 million.

As far as a best formation goes, it really depends on how prolific you think the goal scorers are going to be this season. In 2013, starting four or five defenders was commonplace, because teams were getting plenty of clean sheets. Last year, midfielders and forwards outscored defensive players by a wide margin, and most fantasy teams ran with only three defenders. I’m leaning towards a 3-5-2 or a 3-4-3 to start my season. It will be easier for me to offload some value up top to bring in another defender than it would be to try and find a forward on a defender’s salary.

Generally speaking, a center back will generate more consistent points than a fullback, but there are a few variables at play. If you’re paying the same amount for a center back or a fullback, you should almost always choose the CB. The only exceptions to that would be a fullback that is a serious scoring threat or one that is playing out of position, like Michel was for FC Dallas last season. I’m going to be loading up mostly on CBs for my team at the start of the season.

If you come up with more questions, feel free to tweet them over to me:@travi_the_rabbi.Best of luck to everyone as you continue to tweak your rosters!

(image courtesy of AP)

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