GW 3 – Review

Welcome back to your weekly TUG stats analysis and in particular the goalscoring action – not quite on a par with last weekend mind! It’s just my luck that the week I go on holiday resulted in a truly remarkable gameweek, but I’m back and ready to report on all of the GW 3’s most notable scores and points tallies. Let’s go!

To put it bluntly, the summit of the Weekly Global League table was nowhere near as swollen with high scores as week 2’s triumphant takings. In fact, the heady heights of the 100 point barrier, which many players simply strolled past last week, remained untouched for the first time this season. Last season’s 3rd place finisher, Oliver Norman, came closest to a ton with a powerful score of 96 points; Kelty Hearts (47 selections) and Manchester City (72) the most notable picks here, scoring 4 and 5 goals on x6 and x8 respectively. Positioning was all that prevented three figures for Oliver, with Tottenham Hotspur’s (67 picks) 1 goal on x7 blocking his entry to Club 100. Interestingly the next five players in the queue for the Club scored 95 (Ady Bell), 94 (Andy Jones), 93 (Paul Roome), 92 (Karl Norman) and 91 (Lee Thacker) to make up a rather unusual looking ‘score chain’! It’s the little things that make you smile in a gameweek that somewhat failed to live up to the extremely high standards that have already been set this season!

Speaking of high standards, Michael Richard’s score of 62 kept him top of the overall leaderboard, also becoming the first player to break into the 300‘s, with his running total of 321 making his average weekly tally a commendable 107 points! However, there’s a long way to go and one bad gameweek will almost certainly see you get swallowed up by your rivals!

In terms of goals scored, the previously mentioned and consistently reliable Manchester City were the only team to net a fantastic 5, doing so for the second gameweek running and occupying the x8 spot in the Perfect 7. They’ll take some stopping this season – that opening week ‘hiccup’ at Tottenham where they failed to score is long forgotten by our players and rightly so! Huddersfield Town (just 2 selections!) and Dagenham & Redbridge (just 2 again!) joined Kelty Hearts as the other teams to bag 4 goals, with the rest of the P7 matrix made up by 3 goal sides to help build up a reasonably challenging highest possible score of 139 points.

Pep Guardiola’s steamroller of a side were the most selected side overall this week, as well as bookending the most popular matrix on x2 and x8. There’s no denying that they are a formidable outfit and a great choice as either a ‘banker’ side or that of chief breadwinner, although city rivals Manchester Utd may become just as heavily backed now that the Red Devils have re-signed superstar Cristiano Ronaldo…….you’d be brave to rule out the Portuguese goal-machine hitting the ground running on his return to Old Trafford! Tottenham’s great start to life under Nuno Espirito Santo continued at home to Watford, making it three 1-0 wins from three games as they sit top of the Premier League – 1 goal from The Lilywhites was enough to keep the 67 players who backed them in business, which was great for building some healthy scores as they were the most popular choice on both x3 and x6. West Ham Utd’s fixture with Crystal Palace drew even more of you in, with 69 selections for the Hammers meaning they occupied the x4 spot. David Moyes’ side returned the faith with 2 goals in a draw with the Eagles, but the same cannot be said for Forest Green Rovers (44 total picks), who were the highest picked side to let players down – unfortunately it was a 0 goals returned for the most picked x5 side. There’s nearly always that team to cause mischief! National League side Chesterfield (also 44 picks) were the most selected side on x7 and The Spireites gave their backers a decent 2-0 win over Wealdstone.

Now the international break is looming and that can only mean one thing; it’s time for the some of the lesser known outfits from the lower reaches of the National Leagues to step up to the fold! Without Premier League, Championship and all Scottish league fixtures to put your faith in, you’ll perhaps have to do a little more research than usual! But to make up for the shortfall, we do have every match from the National North and South divisions AND the Scottish Challenge Cup to whet your appetite! These gameweeks are devilishly tricky but always throw up some entertaining and extraordinary scores and results, which could dramatically change your seasons (for better or for worse!) Take extra care in making your selections this week, or if you’re rally unsure about which direction to head in, you might even want to put your faith in that ‘Random’ button! Good luck!

Sam Brooke-Wilkinson