Review – GW 13

As gameweeks go, GW 13 was not as unlucky for many of you as its number suggests. A round of strong selections left plenty of you with very decent scores, thanks to a bit of a leg-up from the FA Cup in providing a couple of ‘no-brainer’ selections. However, the week was far from faultless as Club 100 again failed to draw the punters in. Here’s what went down in GW 13…..

As is usually the way of things in these reviews, we’ll kick this one off by casting a look to the top of the weekly Global League table and Mark Venn’s admirable tally of 99 points. Any player who’s landed on this total knows how galling it can be to fall one short of a ton, but it certainly softens the blow when you still end up top of the pile! 5 goal Hearts (just two selections!) were Mark’s highest points earner on x7, with 4 goals apiece for Rangers (72) and Celtic (31) the other stand out selections on x4 and x8. The rest of the victor’s selections each netted just the once, so one more goal from any of them would have made a massive difference in terms of dining out! Honourable mentions must go to Warren Elkes and Jason Flanagan who scored 98 and 97 respectively, as a three-way battle for top spot ensued. In total, six players notched up 90 points or more to go close to the magical three figures!

Despite Club 100 receiving no entrants for the second week running, there was still a very respectable average score of 51 points. This would have been a challenge to beat in any given gameweek on this season’s form, but especially this one given so many of the most popular sides failed to produce the number of goals anticipated. Prime examples of this would be Chelsea and Lincoln City; both teams were selected over 70 times, but only found the net once apiece, while Fulham and AFC Wimbledon (both selected 40 times) also only scored a solitary goal. 59 of you backed Portsmouth, but they too failed to produce more than one goal. So, while a lot of players avoided a negative score, they weren’t exactly pulling up any trees either! 

Analysing the Perfect 7 always seems to show where things went wrong for those trying to amass a century of points or more. Halifax Town may have hit seven past Maidenhead in the 1st round proper of the FA Cup (I distinctly remember them failing to score past Pontefract in the previous round!!), but it means very little in this game if only ONE person backs them! The Shaymen were the clear x8 pick for the P7, with four other sides netting 5 goals to be named in the matrix. Hearts, Shrewsbury Town, Yeovil Town and Port Vale all made the cut, but reeled in just 15 backers when combined. In total the P7 reached 186 points, the second-highest score of the season, but no player even came close as you can see.

The most selected side of the weekend was Chelsea with 73 (closely followed by Lincoln City on 72) and The Blues were also the most backed x2 side. Meanwhile, The Imps were the highest selected side on x6, x7 AND x8 – and clear favourites to score freely against part-timers Bowers and Pitsea in the FA Cup. That’s not how it panned out though!! Charlton Athletic (47 total picks) were the most selected x3 and x5 side, returning 4 goals, while Fulham were the most popular x4 choice. 

That’s the review for another week. Remember to take extra care in selecting your sides for the coming gameweek as it’s time for another international break. That means a return to the fold for the National League North and South divisions, just to help confuse and befuddle you even more!! These ‘International Weeks’ never fail to deliver in one way or another! Good luck!

Sam Brooke-Wilkinson