MLS Fantasy 2018: Gameweek 11 - Captaincy Picks
Picking a Captain to double down on in MLS Fantasy is the most important choice ahead of each of the 34 regular season Gameweek's in MLS's season. There's a lot of self-help out there for MLS enthusiasts, with our Hype Team providing three major considerations for the armband for each and every Gameweek. We'll be detailing the top choice for captain in home and away matches, and a Wildcard pick of our choosing to add to the chaos. All aboard.
MLS Fantasy: Gameweek Deadline
For the 2018 MLS Fantasy season there is a 'Rolling Lockout', which means you can make substitutions and transfers until the second a player's game kicks off, which means you can chop and change your lineup as any Gameweek progresses.
You can view the schedule and a real time Gameweek deadline countdown clock (in the London GMT timezone) on our dedicated MLS Fantasy page.
Captaincy in MLS Fantasy
There are a few differences with picking a captain in MLS compared to playing other games such as FPL. The major element to note with our Captaincy article is that we'll be picking a captain who is playing home and away, as well as a Wildcard player of our own choosing.
We've listed the differences below that make captaincy in MLS Fantasy unique:
- With the Rolling Lockout, you can change your captain until the selected captaincy pick plays
- Once the team your captaincy pick takes to the field, you can no longer change your captain
- If your captaincy pick doesn't play, then you'll end up with nothing
- There is no option to select a vice captain
CAPTAINCY HYPE: 2018 SEASON PERFORMANCE
In each Captaincy article we track our progress throughout the 2018 MLS Fantasy season. Below you can check how our captaincy selections have performed by week to week in Major League Soccer.
GW1
Home: Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto 0-2 Columbus Crew) - 3pts
Away: Josef Martinez (Houston Dynamo 4-0 Atlanta United) - 5pts
Wildcard: Nicolas Lodeiro (Seattle Sounders 0-1 LAFC) - 9pts
GW2
Home: David Villa (NYCFC 2-1 LA Galaxy) - 10pts
Away: Yamil Asad (Atlanta United 3-1 D.C. United) - 2pts
Wildcard: Alberth Elis (Houston Dynamo 1-2 Vancouver Whitecaps) - 9pts
GW3
Home: David Villa (NYCFC 2-0 Orlando City) - 0pts
Away: Nemanja Nikolic (Minnesota United 2-1 Chicago Fire) - 2pts
Wildcard: Miguel Almiron (Atlanta United 4-1 Vancouver Whitecaps) - 10pts
GW4
Home: Gyasi Zardes (Columbus Crew 3-1 D.C. United) - 2pts
Away: Maxi Moralez (New England Revolution 2-2 NYCFC) - 4pts
Wildcard: Bradley Wright-Phillips (New York Red Bulls 3-0 Minnesota United) - 13pts
GW5
Home: Felipe Gutierrez (Sporting Kansas City 1-0 D.C. United) - 6pts
Away: Carlos Vela (LA Galaxy 4-3 LAFC) - 15pts
Wildcard: Alberth Elis (Houston Dynamo 0-2 New England Revolution) - 3pts
GW6
Home: Miguel Almiron (Atlanta United 5-0 LAFC) - 20pts
Away: Carlos Vela (Atlanta United 5-0 LAFC) - 3pts
Wildcard: Zlatan Ibrahimovic (LA Galaxy 0-2 Sporting Kansas City) - 2pts
GW7
Home: Miguel Almiron (Atlanta United 2-2 NYCFC) - 10pts
Away: Sacha Kljestan (Philadelphia Union 0-2 Orlando City) - 8pts
Wildcard: Maxi Moralez (NYCFC 4-0 RSL // Atlanta 2-2 NYCFC) - 23pts
GW8
Home: Bradley Wright-Phillips (New York Red Bulls 1-2 Chicago Fire) - 10pts
Away: Miguel Almiron (LA Galaxy 0-2 Atlanta United) - 14pts
Wildcard: Alberth Elis (Houston Dynamo 5-1 Toronto) - 8pts
GW9
Home: Miguel Almiron (Atlanta United 4-1 Montreal Impact) - 15pts
Away: Dom Dwyer (Colorado Rapids 1-2 Orlando City) - 2pts
Wildcard: Carlos Vela (LAFC 1-0 Seattle Sounders) - 5pts
GW10
Home: Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto 3-0 Philadelphia Union) - 12pts
Away: Miguel Almiron (Chicago Fire 1-2 Atlanta United) - 10pts
Wildcard: Darwin Quintero (Minnesota United 1-0 Vancouver Whitecaps) - 3pts
Totals
Home Total: 3 (1), 10 (2), 0 (3), 2 (4), 6 (5), 20 (6), 10 (7), 10 (8), 15 (9), 12 (10) = 88 points
Away Total: 5 (1), 2 (2), 2 (3), 4 (4), 15 (5), 3 (6), 8 (7), 14 (8), 2 (9), 10 (10) = 65 points
Wildcard Total: 9 (1), 9 (2), 10 (3), 13 (4), 3 (5), 2 (6), 23 (7), 8 (8), 5 (9), 3 (10) = 85 points
Gameweek 11: Home Captain
Fixtures: LAFC vs. Minnesota United & LAFC vs. New York City FC
Player: Carlos Vela
Position: Forward (CAM)
Player Price: $13.1 million
First up for selection is a Double Gameweek player who features in 2 home games during Gameweek 11, first up against Minnesota during midweek, before hosting Patrick Vieira's NYCFC side at the weekend.
Only LAFC and Columbus Crew play twice at home, and with LAFC's form in recent weeks surpassing the recent slump that Columbus Crew have endured, of course our top pick is Carlos Vela.
Vela heads into a brace of home fixtures with 19.58% ownership, and will be buoyed by a first assist at the Banc of California Stadium against FC Dallas during Gameweek 10. Minnesota are much improved under Adrian Heath this season, but still look vulnerable on the road, with NYC's bright start to the season has massively dipped in recent weeks, and his a low-note against rivals the New York Red Bulls in a 4-0 defeat.
Of course, logic doesn't sometimes mean anything anything in MLS, but top quality players tend to rise to the occasion in this league regardless of a scoreline. Carlos Vela's 5 goals and 4 assists highlights his obvious qualities, especially playing a free role for Bob Bradley's side, and in truth this is an easy pick, so Vela's inclusion shouldn't be much of an issue, even with a $13.1 million price-tag.
We expect that Vela will most likely score his first home goal in the next 2 matches, so he's one not to ignore. Ask Ignacio Piatti owners from last week. Omission can sting.
Gameweek 11: Away Captain
Fixtures: Atlanta United vs. Sporting Kansas City & Orlando City vs. Atlanta United
Player: Miguel Almiron
Position: Midfielder (CAM)
Player Price: $13.8 million
We move to a captaincy contender who will be playing away from home this Gameweek, and even though Atlanta feature at home, they finish the Gameweek with an enticing away day at Orlando City, who have won 6 consecutive MLS fixtures, their best run of form ever in MLS.
It's also an opportunity to parade the continued form of play-maker Miguel Almiron, who became the first MLS Fantasy player to reach 100 points this season, a feat that was managed in just 9 matches. Almiron is currently averaging 11.33 points-per-match and recently added 10 points to his tally in a 2-1 away victory at Chicago Fire, assisting Ezequiel Barco's first goal for the club.
Atlanta are positioned at the top of the MLS table, collecting 22 points from 9 matches, and have now gone 8 matches without defeat, only losing 4-0 to Houston Dynamo on opening day, a loss that in hindsight has helped Gerardo Martino's side onto the straight and narrow.
Almiron's 6 goals is only 1 behind Josef Martinez's 7 this season, the most by a player in MLS this season, and with 5 assists is only 1 shy of Kaku (Red Bulls) and Piatti (Montreal).
With Almiron in such fine form this season, he's become the safe bet for captaincy every week, and the prospect of doubling down on his recent Fantasy returns is probably going to be a hurdle to high to ignore.
Gameweek 11: Wildcard Captain
Fixtures: Toronto vs. Seattle Sounders & New England Revolution vs. Toronto
Player: Sebastian Giovinco
Position: Forward (CF)
Player Price: $9.5 million
Last up, there's no bigger wildcard entity in MLS right now than Toronto, who are fresh off a 3-0 trouncing of Philadelphia to open Gameweek 10, and now face the prospect of a Double Gameweek against potentially tricky opposition.
Seattle Sounders have started the season in slow fashion and are rooted to the bottom of the Western Conference with 5 points from 7 matches. The subplot to this fixture could potentially be the story of the match, with Seattle and Toronto meeting in the MLS Cup final last season, with Toronto running out 2-0 winners. Seattle will be without Nicolas Lodeiro and Clint Dempsey, which won't help the cause in front of goal, with The Sounders scoring 5 goals, the fewest of any team in MLS.
Toronto then hit the road in an Eastern Conference dual, travelling to Brad Friedel's New England Revolution, with the Canadian side already 7 points behind the hosts. The Revolution will look at this match as an opportunity to consolidate their place in the Top 6 of the East, and could potentially give themselves breathing room over the current MLS Cup holders with a win.
With two interesting hurdles to jump, there's no better time for Toronto to find form in the league, and will hope that their win over Philadelphia last weekend will jump-start a period of good form for Greg Vanney's side.
Sebastian Giovinco has been impressive in his last 2 home matches, and scored his first of the season against Philly last time out, and priced at $9.5 million in MLS Fantasy, there's no better time than now to snap up the Italian at a reasonable price for a Forward option who could definetely add to his tally in the coming fixtures.
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All aboard.
