The Morning Rekrap: August 4, 2017

Hey gang, the Rekrap is back after a slight pause to relocate, I have advice about moving: either don’t do it or become one of those weird minimalists that just has one plate and bowl that are made of titanium so will never get broken and would be the only thing surviving if their house caught fire. After crossing seven state lines I’m getting settled, but am learning that the of central Pennsylvania hill country isn’t Atlanta by a long shot.

Anyway, MLS is back from the All-Star game and what a game it was. The match included David Villa looking every bit one of the best players in the league while simultaneously looking like a player who wouldn’t be able to cut it in La Liga. Miguel Almiron had a standout match which hopefully wasn’t so good against the Champions League winning Real Madrid that far afield club presidents come knocking. Of course, the MLS All Stars lost in part because $2 million transfer Dom Dwyer couldn’t hit his penalty, but I’m sure he will live up to the promise of a player that has five goals at this point of the season for Orlando.

Anyway, Fantasy MLS comes roaring back at 7PM EST on Saturday so it’s onto the Rekrap...

Giovinco Goes Goal Getting

Hey everyone, Giovinco is a must own at home going forward and should be looked at closely on the road. He isn’t the fixture-proof goal scoring jumbo shrimp that he was in his first few seasons in the league, but since returning from injury in week 14 at home he’s only scored less than five points at home once and has notched 17 points in two matches, including this week against NYCFC.

Justin Meram Goes Missing

I had a pretty decent week, 107 points is nothing to complain about with the average at 65, and I jumped about 70 spots in the overall rankings. But Justin Meram played a total of 119 minutes, including missing the hour mark and losing value in the Crew’s 3-0 loss to Philadelphia. Meram has been decent this year but overall a boom and bust type player who has mostly busted as of late.

The Dystopian Reality of the Philadelphia Union Season

The Union are having an odd year, they began the year completely flat and looked incompetent in nearly every facet of the game and then looked like they might turn things around in late June and early July. The team promptly returned from the Gold Cup break and lost three of four. Despite that they had three defenders, a midfielder, and a striker in the dream team. Having good fantasy options but bad real players is about as good as Philly can hope for to finish the season.

Rekrap’s Roster

Here’s how I’m lining up my team this week:

Other players to look out for:

In case you can’t tell, I rather like San Jose’s matchup against Columbus and Tommy Thompson could be a sneaky good pickup for a switcheroo this week. Defensively, I’m not a big fan of the schedule this weekend, aside from teams I’ve selected from, take a look at Toronto who will be away to a DC team that just failed to score on Minnesota. My budget wouldn’t permit me to get him, but Piatti has a decent matchup against an Orlando team that still won’t have an answer for how to slow down a team that likes to push the ball through the midfield.

Rekrap’s Rejects

The New York Red Bulls Daniel Royer has six goals in his last four games and the Red Bulls are riding a four game winning streak. I still don’t know if they are good now or just have played four of the most pathetic teams in the league over that stretch. They have a real test going to NYCFC this weekend, a team that beat them 2-0 at Red Bull Arena before they began their winning streak. This game should show if they are legit contenders in the East or just played marginally better against pitiful sides recently and I want nothing to do with their players in fantasy because of it.