This article is part of our The Armband series.
It was almost getting too easy to pick defenders the first couple weeks in MLS Fantasy Manager, with all of the home teams going against weaker opposition and producing clean sheets. Needless to say, that wasn't the case in Week 3 when only three sides secured clean sheets, and two of them on the road.
To recap, there were nine clean sheets on the first weekend, six in Week 2 and then just three last week. Unfortunately, I jumped on the 'captain a defender' bandwagon a little too late. But even with that being the case, Diego Valeri once again showed everyone up by securing his second brace of the season. Fanendo Adi helped out as well in Portland's third straight win. The other team to focus on is Atlanta, which has started the season looking like one of the best in the league. The expansion team dominated Chicago on Saturday, with Josef Martinez pushing his goal total to five.
The biggest let down from last weekend was easily David Villa, who didn't capitalize on his performance from the previous week. Without a goal or assist, he likely led a number of fantasy owners to less-than-ideal weeks.
Getting on to Week 4, it's a bare slate with just three matches due to international games, so finding a rare gem to captain is doubtful. Most people will rush to Portland's attacking line led by Valeri and Adi, but nothing about a trip to Columbus is easy, considering the Crew are coming off a road clean sheet in D.C. Last road match the Timbers scored just one goal, so while Valeri and company will be solid options, they won't be the best ones. Ola Kamara has found the back of the net in the last two and might be easier to trust in his home stadium. Teammate Justin Meram is slightly behind if you're looking for a differential play in a small week.
In the first match of the weekend, the two sides sitting in last place in their respective conferences face off. The Revs have scored just once, while Minnesota has allowed 13 goals. I suggested backing Colorado's forwards last match and it worked for the most part in a 2-2 draw. The obvious guys to consider this round are Kei Kamara and Juan Agudelo, though Lee Nguyen could be easier to trust given how the other two forwards have looked early on. For Minnesota, Kevin Molino has scored in the last two, but he is on international duty so Christian Ramirez should be the most coveted from the squad. That being said, the last thing I'd be comfortable about is captaining any Minnesota player on the road.
And if you don't like any of the options above, a lot of people will turn to the Red Bulls at home against Real Salt Lake. It hasn't been a great start to the season for Bradley Wright-Phillips, but he headed one in last weekend in a tough environment at Seattle. Sacha Kljestan would be in this spot, but he is another top armband option on international duty. Felipe Martins and Daniel Royer have been as inconsistent as Wright-Phillips early on, but they still warrant consideration. RSL fell to Chicago 2-0 in their first road match, so backing the Red Bulls makes the most sense, unless you're a big Revolution fan.
