Monday, April 16, 2007

Fantasy Soccer Bootroom - Week 2

Well, I had a very good week with 30 points. I am now up to 143 out of 2200+ overall. Even though I had the 26th highest overall point tally, Chowda United actually moved down in my division to 11th due to the great performance by the Revolution on Saturday. Although, the gap between my team and the top of the table was cut in two. Here's what I went with for week 2:



As you can see, I had a pretty solid week, but it could have been much better. Last week, I gave you my reason for starting two Red Bull players in the back. That seemed to work out perfectly because, just as I suspected, FC Dallas wouldn't be up for the game after the short break and cross-country trip. The monsoon didn't help, either. The problem is, Marvell Wynne didn't start and I have to find out why. I thought he was lock. If he isn't, I need to transfer him now. I lost 5 points with him sitting on the bench.

Although I wanted them to lose or tie from a sporting perspective, I felt very confident in the Chicago Fire from a fantasy perspective when they went a man up in the sixth minute in Colorado last night. Then they began to sleepwalk their way to two shots on net in the first seventy minutes. I still have faith in Justin Mapp, but he looked very sluggish.

I went with Fred instead of Olsen. I thought DC United would win their home opener. If you have been using Perkins as your keeper, I feel sorry for you. Teams do compensate, and I may be looking to get a DC defender a few weeks down the line and play them against the weaker teams.

Taylor Twellman was my top point-getter. He's a lock in my lineup unless the Revs have a bye or he's off on national team duty. Speaking of which, three teams don't have games this week. This will start separating the people who do this for fun and those who are serious about winning.

I'm definitely dropping Fred for now. There are a few players in his salary range that are guaranteed starters, and DC will probably be using a more defensive setup in the near future. I'll also likely be dropping Wynne. I have spotted a few cheap defenders. I'll let you in on one of them: Jeff Larentowicz. He plays a great holding mid with Shalrie Joseph in the game. He's listed as a defender, may be good for an assist here and there, and has a salary of 80. Just watch out for the yellows. There's a few others, but you will have to wait for next week to find out who.

As for team strategy, I'm going to have to take some chances if I want to move up the ladder in week 3. New England plays in Columbus on Thursday night. I'm going to bet the Revs win with my fantasy lineup. If they lose I may be in some trouble, but I don't think I'll be dropping too much in my Revs division. I'm also hedging that the Chicago-KC game will be low scoring. That may seem odd given KC's four goals this week. However, Chicago went into Colorado expecting to defend all night. They seemed out of place when they went a man up and had to carry the play. They will also be up for the task after that disappointing tie. I predict one team will get shut out, so I'm keeping Pickens and looking at lining up a KC defender to hedge that bet.

The other risk I will be taking is I think Houston will win in New York. New York may have an issue as to who their keeper will be and Houston is due for a breakout. I'm not positive on this one, but the key to taking risks is to not have the rewards cancel out when they pay off.

Chivas host Salt Lake and Colorado is in Dallas to round out the week. I'm keeping Guevara because he's due for some scoring. That Dallas-Colorado game looks to be a shootout by popular consensus, which probably means it will go scoreless. Regardless, I'm looking at those two teams for some possible attacking player acquisitions.

Remember: DC, Toronto, and LA are all off this week. For you fellow Revs fans out there, we have a week off next week, so don't box yourself into a corner.

PSC United had the best overall week with an astounding 55 points. They used three Revolution players and they all paid out big. Halmstad Swedes leads my Revs division after another solid week. That manager takes a more well-rounded approach. He's one of the few teams at the top of that table who didn't have Twellman, the top performing player on the week (12 points).


That's it for this week. I tried to join another league last week, but there were technical issues. It's scoring system is even more in depth than MFLS, so I hope to review that next week.

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