Well, I think that was the wildest Fantasy NWSL deadline of the season so far. Neither Hailie Mace nor Kayla Sharples were available, and when lineups for the first two matches were released, we found out that Izzy Rodriguez, Sarah Schupansky, and Lilly Reale all were starting their matches on the bench. That meant that, going into the round, four of the five top scoring FNWSL DFs were not starting, leaving yours truly and most other FNWSL managers scrambling. As asked by Jeremy just before the deadline, my estimate is that around 20% of FNWSL managers (including me) had both Rodriguez and Reale.
Fortunately, because these announcements came in for the two early Friday matches, we were able to make some adjustments to our lineups before the deadline. I brought in Sofia Huerta and Hanna Lundkvist for Sharples and Rodriguez, then started Kenza Dali (which admittedly does contradict my point last week about not adding Wave players to my roster, but you know, desperate times…) Considering that Kansas City doesn’t have too much left to play for for the rest of the season (other than the points record, which they’re likely to set no matter what), I likely won’t be in a rush to bring both KC DFs back, but I’ll wait for this week’s availability updates. I also ended up captaining Esther over Chawinga, only to see her depart at halftime.
Anyway, I’ll stop complaining and get on with it! This week, we only have one Friday match: the Space Derby between Houston and Orlando, which kicks off at 8e/7p/6m/5p. There are also only two matches on Saturday, meaning that we won’t see the majority of the official availability reports before the deadline. Also, keep in mind that Orlando will be on a short week following their trip to Mexico City in the Champions Cup on Tuesday, while Gotham and Washington play each other in the Cup on Wednesday in Philadelphia.
So what do we do about last-minute transfers?
We talked earlier in the season about general strategy for using more than one transfer in a week. I generally avoid extra transfers if possible, but in Round 21, four of my typical eleven starters were not starting in real life, so I used two. (I even considered three, but was able to put together a decent team with a third transfer. As the regular season winds down and the Champions Cup heats up, we could see more and more popular FNWSL players get fewer minutes. So make sure you have a backup plan or three!
Remember that substitutes on your FNWSL team will automatically be added to your starting XI in the order in which they are listed on your bench if a player in your original XI does not play at all, and you still have a valid formation. If the top player on your bench doesn’t give your team a valid formation, the next player on the bench who does will be added to your lineup. I usually list a FW as my first sub even if I’m starting three FWs, with the assumption that goal scorers usually have the highest upside, and then follow her with a DF or MF to make sure that I’ll have a valid formation if the player that needs a sub isn’t a FW. As much as I want to, I never carry a fifth forward, since DFs and MFs are so much more likely to give valid formations as subs.
Last week was especially confusing, as even with my subs, I wouldn’t have had a valid formation and therefore wouldn’t have had 11 players scoring fantasy points – if you’re ever in this spot, this is the time to make extra transfers! Real life NWSL lineups are usually posted an hour prior to kickoff, but it can vary quite a bit how, where, and when they are shared. Make sure you keep an eye out for those, especially during rounds like last week when a lot of popular FNWSL players are all playing the first matches of the round.
Which teams have the most favorable schedules remaining for defense?
Last week, we talked about which NWSL teams have the most favorable schedule for attackers (based on the season GA of their remaining opponents. As promised, this week we will take a look at the other side of the coin, and see which teams have favorable matchups for their DFs and GKs in fantasy
This list ranks each team by the average Goals For of their four remaining opponents:
Here are my thoughts:
- The first thing to do with this list is to take a look at the teams with the more favorable defensive schedules, and use it as a data point when comparing between the premium DFs. They’ll continue to have their typical high ceilings with defensive points and involvement in their teams’ attack, but also have a better chance at a clean sheet or two. In this case, players like Sofia Huerta, Tara McKeown, and Sam Staab may have more upside for the rest of the season than other premium DFs like Ryan Williams or the KC trio.
- If you are doing some significant changes to your team, you may be looking for a cheap DF to fit into your lineup. If that’s the case, a player like Jordyn Bugg (who appears to be locked back into the Seattle starting XI), could be a better choice than say, Lilly Reale.
- From a goalkeeping perspective, it may be time to move on from Ann-Katrin Berger for the rest of the season and open up $50k or $75k with a switch to Aubrey Kingsbury or Claudia Dickey. Personally, I’ve been rotating between the Jordy/ans (Bloomer and Silkowitz) for the better part of the season, and, considering all of the other things going on with my team and the fact that they collectively cost only $150k, I probably won’t make any GK transfers for the rest of the season.
How did you handle the Round 22 chaos? Comment or Bluesky @MansersAnswers!