It’s an international break for the NWSL this week, and dozens of Fantasy NWSL stars are in action worldwide! With friendlies across North America, South America, Australia, and Europe, it’s an exciting and globetrotting time for NWSL players.

I, though, am just sitting at home in the midst of a three-day rainstorm, so I may as well start preparing for FNWSL Round 11, which will kickoff Friday, June 7 in Louisville. Remember that we may see fewer minutes from national team players in this round, so that makes it a perfect time to talk about to prepare your substitutes in Fantasy NWSL!

So, how should you prepare your substitutes in Fantasy NWSL?

Sometimes, unfortunately, our favorite players don’t play. Last week, just as an example, both Sophia Smith and Summer Yates were late additions to their teams’ injury reports and were unavailable for their games. Since this was on Friday and the FNWSL deadline had already passed, many FNWSL teams used one or more substitutes to fill in for missing starters.

The order of the four subs on your bench is very important. If a player in your starting XI does not play during a round, they will be automatically replaced with the first player on your bench that creates an allowable formation. For example, if you start a 3-4-3 and your first sub is a FW, that sub would only be used if one of your three starting FWs does not play. If a DF or MF in your starting lineup sits out, the FW sub would not be used because it would create an illegal formation (four FWs). In that case, the next player on your bench that would create any legal formation would be used – even if it’s not the formation that you selected for your starting lineup. Got it?

So what should your sub strategy be?

The first priority is to make sure the players on your bench, or at least a couple of them, consistently get minutes, and thus fantasy points, on a weekly basis. The second priority is to not have too many players concentrated at one position, especially at FW.

Many FNWSL managers start three FWs every week. If that’s you, FW substitutes are significantly less valuable than those at other positions because they will only be able to replace starting FWs and not MFs or DFs. At the beginning of the season, I did keep multiple rookie FWs on my bench, but now that we have a better idea of what each team’s lineup will usually be each week, I only keep one FW on the bench to ensure that my subs can fill in for any position. MFs and DFs are far more flexible, as legal formations can have anywhere from three to five players at both position.

The short answer, no matter your lineup, is that you should make sure at least one, but preferably two, of your non-GK subs is a MF or DF that plays consistently each week, and your FNWSL team should be well-prepared for any unexpected post-deadline misadventures!

Who are the best differential options at the moment?

Speaking of unexpected post-deadline misadventures – if you (like me) are trying to make up some ground lost in the first couple of rounds of the season, or need to move up the ranks in your mini-league, you may be looking for a differential option or three over the next few weeks.

It looks like the FW landscape of FNWSL may be settling into a Big Three of Smith (42% TSB), Rodman (27%), and Banda (20% and rising fast), with the KC duo of Chawinga and Zaneratto just behind them. Almost all FNWSL managers likely have two or three of these players on their front line, possibly with Ally Sentnor or Jaedyn Shaw mixed in. An ideal differential selection would be Ouleymata Sarr ($125k), who somehow is only appearing on 1% of fantasy teams even though she is the fourth highest-scoring FW in the game and should have a good matchup this week in Utah.

There’s a little bit more variance at the midfield position, with must-have Croix Bethune leading the way at 39% TSB and DiBernardo, Coffey, Moultrie, and Flint being the only other players above 20% in Round 10. The best differential bet here is KC rookie Claire Hutton ($75k), who has started every match for the Current and consistently racks up tackles and interceptions (leading KC in both). She’s only on 4% of FNWSL teams, and her outstanding defensive ability mixed with the high-powered Current attack gives her a huge fantasy upside.

There’s currently an interesting paradox at DF, as none of the top six FNWSL defenders appear in the list of the top six most-selected FNWSL defenders. A big contributing factor was in the injury to FNWSL’s most popular defender by far, Naomi Girma, who appears to be back to full fitness and is always a good choice for your back line, but it also means you don’t really have to look that hard for differentials.

High-scoring and lower-cost DFs like Portland’s Marie Müller and KC’s Izzy Rodriguez are below 10% TSB, and no DF on the outstanding Orlando Pride back line is above 5% (though Emily Sams did see a 28% jump this week). Gabrielle Robinson has also been a standout option with a relatively low TSB, but unfortunately tore her ACL in last week’s match against Utah.

Like I mentioned last week, I’d go with Emily Sams or Kerry Abello (both $250k).

What are your plans for Round 11? Comment or tweet @MansersAnswers!