Review – GW 32

Every now and then this wonderfully capricious game throws up the odd head-scratcher of a gameweek, not least where the stats are concerned! Incredibly (and thankfully!), only one player recorded a minus score, while at the other end of the table just one player built a team matrix that took them to Club 100…..with lots of variables in-between those two extremes! 

This week we’ll start at the bottom of the weekly table and work our way up to that sole triple-digit score. It was a miserable round for Alistair Derrick, who not only propped up the table with the only minus score of the GW, but did so with a minus 80 to his name – oh dear!! In most games that sort of setback would take weeks to recover from, but one of the beauties of TUG lies in the opportunity to profit when many other fail and so make up that lost ground in double-quick time. Hibernian (a single selection), East Fife (two picks), Morecambe (1) and Altrincham (3) all failed to score between Alistair’s x2 to x5, before Rangers (73 picks and the most selected team of the round) stopped the rot with a single goal, saving the unluckiest player of the round from sinking further into ‘red score’ territory. 

Moving on up and away from the misery down at the bottom, GW 32 brought a very commendable average score of 56 points. 63% of players managed to beat this challenging average, which was no doubt boosted by a lack of minus scores. However, sitting pretty at the top of the Weekly Global League Table on a very tidy score of 106 was Julie Murray! Julie chose 4 goal Oxford Utd (24 picks) and Manchester City (34) in her lineup, which also included one of just TWO named sides in the Perfect 7, that side being 5 goal Cove Rangers (43 selections). 

6 goal Barnet (NO selections, despite facing regular whipping boys Dover Athletic!) were the spearhead of the Round’s P7 lineup on x8, helping the perfect score reach a fairly intimidating 163 points. The other P7 spots could have been filled with any other 4 goal side…..Aston Villa (2 selections), Chelsea (18), Cheltenham Town (2), Portsmouth (6), Eastleigh (0), Ayr Utd (1) and Annan Athletic (1) all slotted into this bracket. Rangers, as well as being the highest picked team overall, were also the most selected side on x2 (and they made plenty of players sweat before finally breaking Aberdeen’s resistance!), while Kelty Hearts were clearly the perceived points builder of the round, being the most picked x5, x7 and x8 team, although they were something of a letdown with just a solitary strike against lowly Cowdenbeath. Wigan Athletic, Cove Rangers and Solihull Moors were the most popular sides at x3, x4 and x6 respectively and all three teams found the net, with Cove clearly delivering the best return for their backers.

That’s the stats review for another week. The next round’s early kick-offs see Liverpool take a trip to Brighton and Hove Albion in the top flight, while Barnsley have the immense task of stopping the Fulham steam train at Oakwell in The Championship. Make your choices wisely….!

 Sam Brooke-Wilkinson