2024 Fantasy NWSL: Answers from Round 5

Whooo! Now THAT’s what I’m talking about!

An action-packed weekend of NWSL madness gave us 27 goals and one of the highest-scoring rounds in FNWSL history. Several FNWSL superstars really lived up to their names in Round 5, as Sophia Smith, Mallory Swanson, and Savannah DeMelo all racked up big points. Many of the newer FNWSL stars showed out as well, with Bia Zaneratto, Taylor Flint, and Temwa Chawinga all scoring 20+ this week.

There were a lot of happenings across the NWSL over the course of Round 5 – notably multiple major player transfers and transactions. And unfortunately, there were also a lot of injuries this week.

So let’s catch our breath, dive in, and wrap our heads around Round 5…

What transactions occurred this weekend?

Perhaps the biggest transfer news was María Sánchez’s move from the Houston Dash to San Diego Wave FC for a package of allocation money, transfer funds, and international roster slots. Other deals we saw included MF Macey Fraser joining Utah Royals FC from Wellington Phoenix FC, and MF Amandine Henry traded to Utah from Angel City FC. Angel City DF Paige Nielsen was traded to Houston, while Houston backup GK Emily Alvarado was traded to Portland Thorns FC.

Alvarado wasn’t the only keeper on the move, as GK Ann-Katrin Berger signed with NJ/NY Gotham FC over the weekend on permanent transfer from Chelsea FC. Monday afternoon, Utah announced they’re also bringing in DF Ana Tejada from Real Sociedad.

In general, I always suggest taking a “wait and see” approach to trades and how they play out in FNWSL. Any or all of these players could really take off for their new teams, but it’s very difficult to predict. I’ll definitely be keeping my eye on Sánchez, especially considering the injury situation in San Diego (more on that below), and Fraser’s versatility at the midfield spot should translate into significant minutes for Utah in the near future, but I won’t be making any large-scale changes to my team based on these transfers quite yet.

What do we do about injuries in FNWSL?

It was a very tough weekend for many key players in the NWSL. To name a few:

• Alex Morgan and Tierna Davidson were both forced to leave their games.
• It was announced that both Alex Loera and Ava Cook suffered season-ending knee injuries.
• Claudia Dickey was out for Seattle after leaving the game in Round 4.
• Naomi Girma continues to see reduced minutes as she recovers from a thigh injury earlier this month.

When it comes to injuries, we wish all of these players and their families the best and are hoping for speedy recoveries for each one of them. Obviously, FNWSL is very low-priority in these situations, but if you need to replace injured players on your team, check out last season’s article regarding Mallory Swanson’s knee injury for some general strategies.

I won’t get too deep into specific replacement strategies for now – let’s see the injury updates this week and hope that all of these players are back as soon as possible! However, if you do need immediate help on your team for Loera or Cook, here are three names to take a look at: Taylor Flint ($150k), Joelle Anderson ($150k), and Ally Schlegel ($100k).

It’s also worth considering the importance of the four bench players on your roster.

Ideally, at least two of those four backups, including your second GK, should be consistent starters in the NWSL. We can usually prepare for Friday matches well enough, but you don’t want to be in a position on Sunday where an unexpected injury occurs and you don’t have a replacement player on your bench that fits into a legal formation. Admittedly, I only budgeted $300k for my four backups at the beginning of the season, but with the staggering number of high-value, low-cost players in 2024 FNWSL, you can probably afford to spend a little more money to make sure your bench is deep.

Helpful Hint from the Editor: Remember, the order of your bench matters! If you’re playing a 4-3-3 and a defender in your starting lineup doesn’t play, but the first player on your bench is a midfielder, that creates a legal formation! If that bench player sees the field, you’ll play a 3-4-3 and receive points for the midfielder, even if you’d rather have gotten points from a defender on your bench. The swap doesn’t have to be like-for-like, so choose wisely!

How do we plan for the upcoming double rounds?

Rounds 7 and 8 will be especially exciting for FNWSL, with 12 of the 14 NWSL teams doubling up and playing two matches in one of those two rounds. That means that we should see some very high scores in the first two weeks of May!

Remember that all points that a player accrues in the two matches will be counted for that round. Six teams play twice in Round 7, six more in Round 8, and only Angel City and Racing Louisville will play single games in each round (the full chart is below). This means that players from those two teams will be slightly less valuable for fantasy purposes over the next few weeks, so you may want to prioritize transfers from the other teams for now.

Of those other teams, North Carolina, Utah, and Washington are in the unenviable position of having all three of their games on the road – especially the Spirit, who have all three games away from the east coast. On the other end of the spectrum, the schedules for Chicago, Houston, and Orlando (who get all three at home) look pretty good, at least for fantasy purposes. If you’re looking for a good time to bring rising fantasy stars like Summer Yates, Diana Ordóñez, or one of the Red Stars’ DFs, Round 7 is the time. The Chicago back line has seen some rotation over the past couple of weeks, but of the four goals conceded so far this season, two have been own goals and two have been utterly extraordinary strikes from Seattle’s Ji So-Yun and Tziarra King, so I like the upside there.

Currently, there aren’t any more double rounds scheduled until Round 13, when we make up for the Challenge Cup, so feel free to go all-in on Rounds 7 and 8! Remember that both of these rounds begin on a Wednesday, so any changes to your lineups will need to be saved prior to the midweek kickoffs!

How are you preparing for the double rounds? Comment or tweet @MansersAnswers!