GW 36 & 37 – Review

How did you like that? Easter weekend’s special three-day gameweek was very special indeed, with some Scottish Cup magic thrown in too. Plenty of you put some smashing scores on the board and Club 100 was crowded for the second gameweek running. Here’s the stats review…..

Gameweek 36

Getting going with the GW 36 Global Weekly Table and Matt Kokins’ impressive total of 121 points. Selecting the weekend’s top scorers, 5 goal Motherwell (67 selections) on x8, along with 4 goal Rangers (the most chosen side with 86 picks) and Kilmarnock (33) on x7 and x5 respectively, was a stroke of genius from Matt, raking in 88 points from that trio of sides alone. 3 goal Celtic (78) on x5 pushed his score over the 100 point mark, with 1 and 2 goal sides starting off his multiplier ladder.  Dan Bowen and Robert Ramshall were within touching distance of top spot, each scoring 120, but were nonetheless in ‘the green’ in a gameweek where 33 players made it through Club 100’s doors. The illustrious club has been struggling for business since the turn of the year, but was noticeably busy on consecutive gameweeks for the first time since Boxing Day. Admirable stuff! 

Club 100’s liveliness was all thanks to a weekend where loads of goals found the back of the net. Both Motherwell and West Bromwich Albion (just one selection) bagged five, the latter stunning Chelsea, who themselves were chosen by 80 players. Any 4 goal team on x2 to x6, with these two in pole position, would have seen you walk away with 155 points and a cool £7,777! You could have gone for Bradford City (0), Cheltenham Town (0 again!), Montrose (only 6 selections), Kilmarnock and Rangers – all scored four and would have really helped you towards a big total. Plenty of you did back goalscoring sides over the weekend though, with 44% of you beating the very challenging average score of 55. With only 12 minus scores, we shouldn’t focus too much on the foot of the Global Weekly Table, but there’s a special mention for poor Stephen Cruise who recorded the third -80 of the season. That’s got to sting!

Despite losing, Chelsea still scored twice to prevent what could have been a very different looking gameweek, with the Blues being the most popular side on x2, x3 and x4 to get your scores going. Motherwell were the top x5 pick, while Celtic occupied x6 and x7 and of course Rangers rounded off the most picked matrix on x8 – a familiar tale!

Gameweek 37

WHOA! At last a decent bonus round (for most!) GW 37 was quite the game changer for some of you, featuring some bonkers scorelines that were reflected in some impressive scores in the leaderboard. Here’s how things went down…..

Commencing as usual with the top of the Weekly Global League Table and Marc Berresford’s brilliant 117 points. Three of Marc’s top four multipliers boasted 3 goal sides in Queen’s Park (the most selected side with 70 picks), Halifax Town (29) and Hibernian (45), with 7 goal Norwich City (65) the jewel in the crown on x7. Nice going Marc! The bonus round Perfect 7 was an eye-catching 177 points – we haven’t had those sorts of numbers since the Boxing Day bonanza – and of course featured the free-scoring Canaries at x8. Incredibly, Sheffield Wednesday (just two picks!) put five past play-off chasing Cardiff City (4) with Wealdstone (only 1 pick) also hitting a fantastic five. With these sides locked in at the business end of your multiplier ladders, any 4 goal team in your lower spots would have taken you to the fabled Perfect 7 jackpot of £7,777.

So which teams should you have chosen? Blackpool (only 2 selections), Oldham Athletic (0 picks!) and Inverness CT (0 again!) all bagged 4-1 wins, while Notts County (3) beat Woking 4-2. At 36 points, the average for the bonus round was surprisingly modest given the amount of high scores we saw recorded. A good 42% of players beat that score with, 8 other players joining Marc in a Club 100 that’s profited nicely from the Easter round of fixtures. It’s about time! 

The most picked side of the round were Scottish league Two leaders Queen’s Park, who were also the most popular points scoring side on x7 and x8. Norwich were highly undervalued in being the most picked banker side on x2, with 3 goal Hull City (69 picks) most selected on x3 and x4. Manchester City’s Champions League tie with Borussia Dortmund drew the eye of 61 of you, with The Citizens the most popular x5 side, while Edinburgh City (56 total picks) were the top x6 choice. In terms of culprits, goalless Brentford let 30 players down and were responsible for five of the 15 minus scores, while Pete Morris had a gameweek to forget, recording a minus 80 and firmly rooting himself to the foot of the table.

That’s a wrap for the review of this bumper week of TUG action. Normal service will resume this weekend, with early kick-offs including Leeds Utd’s trip to Man City and Millwall hosting Swansea City. Good luck and happy scoring!

-Sam Brooke-Wilkinson