GW 17 – Review

Well gameweek 17 got off to an absolute flier didn’t it?! Liverpool’s 7-0 hammering of Crystal Palace at lunchtime on Saturday set the tone for a glut of goalscoring action, just what
we like here at TUG! Let’s delve deeper into this GW……

We should start at the summit of the Weekly Global League table and Rahin Bakar, whose mighty 146 points shot them to the top of the pile. Astute picks of 5 goal Aldershot Town (24 selections) and Dagenham & Redbridge (just 1 pick) on x7 and x8 hauled in 75 big points, while Liverpool (34) brought in 42 points on their own on x6! A mixture of one, two and three goal sides from x2 to x5 got Rahin to the more profitable multipliers and that huge haul of points in this impressive table-topping score.

Rahin also chose three out of four of the named sides in the weekend’s Perfect 7 matrix, with only Manchester Utd (17 picks) and their six goals missing from a very impressive selection of sides. With the Red Devils on x7, Liverpool on x8 and then Aldershot and Dag & Red on x5 and x6, all you would have needed is 4 goal sides down to x2 to hit 189 points and win the £7,777 perfect 7 jackpot! You could have chosen Middlesbrough, Gillingham, Lincoln City, Oldham Athletic, Walsall, Bath City, Solihull Moors, Wealdstone, Montrose and Stranraer, all of whom netted four times.

As you can see, the goals were flying in across all divisions and also the FA Trophy, which usually produces some big scorelines. However, despite the goal tally swelling dramatically as the weekend progressed, the number of Club 100 entrants remained fairly low at just six, and the average reached a rather underwhelming 32. There were a disappointing 15 minus scores this week, but as that number has already reached 37 this season I don’t think that’s too bad going! The major culprits in terms of minus/low scores appears to be Falkirk, who failed to score in a league match for the first time this season, and Dartford, who succumbed to a shock 1-0 defeat at home to Isthmian Premier side Haringey.

So the chance was there for some great scores but some of you missed out on a glorious week of points and it’s pretty clear to see how this happened. Rangers were the most picked team (this almost goes without saying this season!) with 106 selections, but I’m sure many of you were expecting them to net more than three at home to Motherwell, while the numbers of Liverpool and Manchester Utd backers only reached a combined 51 players. 21 of you backed Bournemouth who failed to find the net, so The Cherries were another side who sone of you will be pointing the finger at! Rangers were the most selected outfit on x2 as a banker and as a big points builder at x6, x7 and x8, while Stranraer, Bournemouth and Aldershot Town occupied the x3, x4 and x5 spots respectively.

That’s it from me in my final review before Christmas, should you fancy taking a punt on the early kick-offs in our ‘Boxing Day Bonus’ round be sure to get your selections in well before Saturday’s deadline! Leicester host Manchester Utd in a spicy looking Premier League encounter, while Rangers host Hibs in the Scottish Premiership. Elsewhere there’s a handful of 1pm kick-offs in England’s League Two and also a solitary Scottish League One game with a noon start – it’s a top versus third clash between Falkirk and Partick Thistle, both of whom will be determined to bounce back from surprise home defeats on Saturday. It’s also worth noting that the Scottish Cup First Round fixtures will all be available; no sooner has last season’s delayed competition ended, this season’s is getting underway. Good luck and Merry Christmas to everyone!

-Sam Brooke-Wilkinson