GW 38 – Review

Another fantastic week of TUG action came our way in GW 38. There were some great scores both in the actual fixtures, and subsequently on the leaderboard, that led to a very profitable weekend for many of you. Here’s how the round played out…..

As ever, we’ll start at the summit of the Weekly Global League table and Julie Murray’s excellent score of 112. It’s Julie’s THIRD appearance at the leader of the pack this season, but it was a bit touch and go for the table topper. Dundee FC (23 selections) were Julie’s x7 pick and The Dark Blues left it until the 88th minute to find the net, allowing her to reach the extremely valuable x8 multiplier, which held 6 goal Celtic (45 picks), raking in a massive 48 points alone! A sigh of relief for Julie there, the fine margins of this game once again coming to the fore! Other smart picks in Julie’s lineup included 4 goal Chelsea (28 selections) on x4, 3 goal Hull City (16) on x5 and Peterborough Utd (26) on x6. Hot on Julie’s heels was Carrie French, just a point behind on 111 with another solid looking lineup, but crucially free-scoring Celtic were lower down her order on x5. On another decent wekeend for Club 100, the total number of party-goers in was 11.

In scoring six times, The Bhoys were of course one of the named Perfect 7 sides at the weekend, joined by Oxford Utd (1 pick) who routed Crewe Alexandra (also 1) 6-0! AFC Wimbledon (1 again!) and Brentford (7) each netted five apiece to occupy the x6 and x5 spots, while x2, x3 and x4 could have been filled with any 4 goal side to take your score to a blistering 181 points and that £7,777 jackpot! As well as Chelsea, you could have gone for Bournemouth (32 picks), QPR (2), Wigan Athletic (0), Exeter City (0) or Albion Rovers (0) to boost your scores. Despite most of the top-scoring sides not being heavily backed, the average score for the weekend was still a challenging 53, which 55% of you managed to beat.

Calculated selections of ‘sure-to-score sides’, like Manchester City (the most picked side with 79 selections), who lost 2-1 at home to Leeds Utd (1 pick), meant that the number of minus scores reached a season low, at just three! Commiserations to Rahin Bakar, Kate McBride and Daniel Ciampa who each recorded minus 20s and propped up the weekly table, but could we possibly achieve a gameweek where no minus scores are recorded before the conclusion of the season?

Man City may have been the most selected side of the round, but they were predominantly used banker side on x2. Liverpool were the most common x3 choice, while Norwich City, Torquay Utd and Cove Rangers held the x4, x5 and x6 spots respectively. And, of course, Rangers were the most popular x7 and x8 choice – I should just copy & paste this last bit each week shouldn’t I?!

That’s your fill for another week. Remember GW 39 will feature lots of early kick-offs in various leagues and cups, including Newcastle Utd v West Ham Utd in the Prem at 12.30pm and Kilmarnock taking on Montrose in the Scottish Cup at the unusual time of 11.45am. Loads of matches are yet to have their start times decided at the time of writing, so do keep an eye on proceedings and be ready to submit earlier than you might otherwise do to ensure you have a full fixture list to go at. Will you back the FA Cup Semi-Final sides this weekend, two very intriguing ties and both are available for selection! Good luck!

-Sam Brooke-Wilkinson