Only 2 days until the Round 7 deadline, so let’s just dive in!
Who are the must-have players for the upcoming double rounds?
We’ve talked multiple times about the necessity of having Sophia Smith and and least two members of the KC attacking trio on your team. Portland doubles in Round 7 and Kansas City doubles in Round 8, so all of these players should be just as essential for the immediate future.
Two other players have entered the “must-have” conversation recently: Angel City’s Claire Emslie ($350k) and Louisville’s Uchenna Kanu ($150k), both of whom have logged four goals so far this season. Emslie looks to be especially dominant in her team’s attack, as she’s scored two-thirds of all Angel City goals so far this season and has by far the highest expected assists per game of any member of the team.
Unfortunately for FNWSL managers, both Emslie and Kanu are FWs and therefore are joining a VERY crowded FW landscape. I think you could make a good argument that the premier FNWSL front line would include Emslie, but with so many excellent FWs available, there’s probably not a need to restructure your team if you don’t have either Emslie or Kanu right now. Furthermore, Angel City and Louisville are the only two teams that DON’T double in Rounds 7 or 8, so I’d recommend spending your transfers elsewhere for now and take another look at Emslie and/or Kanu in Round 9.
I’d say the key add this week is Orlando’s Summer Yates (who I mentioned last week), who is NOT a FW and costs only $75k. She’s scored in each of the last two matches and totaled five shots, and is second in the league in total expected goals with 3.3.
Speaking of the Pride…
Speaking of the Pride, they’ve been flying a little under the radar so far this season, but are one of only two unbeaten teams (along with KC) and are trailing only North Carolina in expected goal difference. Orlando plays three home games across the next two rounds, including a double Round 7, so this is the perfect time to bring in Yates as well as any other Orlando players you’ve had your eye on.
The Pride are especially dangerous on set pieces, having scored five goals through six matches. Angelina ($100k) takes about half of the free kicks and half the corner kicks. Yates takes most of the other corner kicks, and has converted the only Orlando penalty kick so far.
The tricky part with Orlando is that their FNWSL stalwarts like Adriana, Marta, and Kylie Strom have all missed starts this season and, of the outfield players, only Angelina and DF Kerry Abello ($250k) have started every game. The addition of Barbra Banda ($300k) brings another exciting dimension to the Pride attack, but may make it a little bit more difficult to predict the lineup on a weekly basis. It is worth considering though that Orlando players are not popular in FNWSL so far, with Angelina having the highest TSB% on the team at 6% through five rounds. That means you could see a considerable differential benefit by adding two or three Prides (Prouds? Priders?) to your roster.
What about the Spirit?
I mentioned last week that I don’t love Washington’s schedule for the next two weeks (three road games, including travel to Chicago and Portland in Round 7), but three matches are three matches, and it looks like some recent tactical adjustments may pay dividends for Washington players in FNWSL.
Trinity Rodman ($350k), Ouleymata Sarr ($125k) , and Croix Bethune ($75k) are the top three in the league in one of my favorite stats from FBref, Non-penalty expected goals + expected assists. As a team, the Spirit trail only KC in this statistic, even though they’ve only scored 11 goals to KC’s 20, so I would expect the Spirit to start scoring more goals soon (especially those three players). Also, Ashley Hatch appears to be moving back from the wing to her more traditional #9 role and has found the back of the net in each of the last two matches.
Rodman and Bethune have been hovering around 20% TSB (both in the top 15 most selected players in the league), and they should both be deservedly popular picks for Round 7. If you’re looking for a more differential option for the double round, Hatch and Sarr were only selected by 6% and 1% of FNWSL managers respectively in Round 5.
