4 things I would change about MLS Fantasy for next season

Much of MLS Fantasy is working, but there are four things I would change for next season.

1. PARTIAL CLEAN SHEET BONUS

Justice for Matt Besler! There’s nothing more frustrating than losing clean sheet points because your player played just less than 60 minutes. I call it the “Zimmerman syndrome”. It’s an absolute sickener. One way to soften the blow is to introduce a partial clean sheet bonus like Telegraph Fantasy Football offer. The new rule would be very simple:

• 4 points = not conceding a goal whilst on the pitch and playing at least 60 minutes.
• 2 points = not conceding a goal whilst on the pitch and playing at least 30 minutes.

2. AN EXTRA POINT FOR CONSECUTIVE GOALS IN A MATCH.

How does this work? If Martinez scores a hat-trick in a game, he gets 4 points for his first goal; 5 points for his second goal; and 6 points for his third goal. This rewards players who have an exceptional performance in a single game. After all, it is much harder to score 3 goals in 90 minutes than it is to score just a single goal.

3. REDUCE THE MINUS BPS FOR SHOTS OFF TARGET

Is attacking intent and forward-thinking play really something that you should be penalised for? Vela is famous for this – lots of goal attempts, many off target, hence the lack of bonus. Exciting players who go for goal shouldn’t get less BPS than unadventurous, sideways pass merchants who are dull to watch. I would tweak the bonus points system and remove the -1 BPS for an off target attempt. Or maybe introduce a +1 BPS for every shot on target. If you get penalised for a shot OFF target, then why not balance things out and reward players for a shot ON target?

4. COOL NEW CHIPS 

I love the thought of chips and would happily see them added to the game. During double gameweek season, they get the blood pumping and the heart racing and make for some exhilarating gameweeks. Norwegian FPL has some great chips, such as “Two Captains”, were both your captain and vice-captain score double points.

The one I really like is the old “Park The Bus” chip. This provides double clean sheet points for your starting defenders in a single gameweek. I would also add your starting goalkeeper to this. This would require a lot of planning (which is always worth encouraging in the game), as you look for a gameweek with a number of teams with a favourable home fixture and a likely clean sheet. You then you plan your premium and budget defender transfers around this to take full advantage with a 5-at-the-back formation.