Hello ladies and gents, the privilege falls to Pete Cronin this week, so here’s the GW34 review.
The seasons change, and every season is different, but seemingly there is one thing that we can rely upon every season, and without fail… There will be double gameweeks and there will be HYSTERIA. Yep, true to form, we go mental, every year, about this time of year, and we get Burnley players that were pure jokes last season, or we go triple Leicester, we get Southampton players in (JWP anyone?) and every year we get rid of (almost) all our most reliable players for someone who might have half a decent game.
Don’t worry guys, West Ham have a double in a few weeks, so then we can begin to look at triple captaining Andy Carroll seriously once more. But let’s get back to the HYSTERIA.
DGW34 2017/18 lived up to expectations, in that there was hysteria from start to end. I’d mentioned to Chris that I thought we’d been blessed with double gameweeks the last few seasons, they almost seemed too easy. Remember when your captain getting 5 goals was standard? Most of us were lucky to get a team out this time round. Numerous rotations and omissions caused by injuries (Schmeichel) and bans (Alonso) caused managers big headaches, and when we throw him a United loss at home to West Brom, an Arsenal defeat to Newcastle, only 2 goals scored by Spurs and hardly any clean sheets at all things start getting a bit desperate. Oh and of course City won the league by proxy in the middle of it.
In a nutshell, DGW34 wasn’t what we’d hoped for. Last season’s Best GW score came in the ‘big’ gameweek, when Lester Deeble (8th) rose to 192 points. Many scored 150+ and centuries all round were a given, or so it seemed. This season the DGW34 average was just 64, but a little higher in the FFUK league at 76. Still most went away disappointed.
As you can see from the GW34 Dream Team above most weren’t even picks – notably there are 0 big hitters in this team, unless you count Moses (15). Anyone own Bednarek? Should have gambled on that Southampton player. Bah, anyway, I won’t go on about it but this gameweek, FFUK’s highest scoring player earned 121 points. An excellent score I’m sure everyone will agree, but it’s 71 less than Lester’s last year.
So a lot of it comes down to luck, as always, which is exactly why we should never assume that a Kane, an Aguero, or a Sanchez is gonna turn up with big scores. And for those of us with a chip yet to wield, the situation underlines the potential that is DGW37… let’s hope we can second guess the correct rotations for that one.
First let’s look at the FFUK TOP 50 AFTER the double gameweek that was GW34…
Jamie Stewart (1st) is still top after scoring 88 points but he needed his TC to get him there. This was certainly not a score to be sniffed at, but there are now a pack of FFUKers straining at the leash below. We were expecting a challenge from Dan McBrearty (3rd) but in fact it was John Harper (2nd) who made the biggest charge with 101 points via his bench boost. What a time to lay down a score like this.
There was more… James Amar (4th) wielded his TC on Kane (10 x 3) and Sam Breen (5th) also used his BB to join the hundred club. That was big. If you think that was big then check out the aforementioned Lester Deeble (8th), a hot new entry into the Top 10, after bagging 114 points with the use of his bench boost. A cracking gw score but not the biggest this week.
It is about to get Hysterical.
Well I said I wouldn’t go on about it but unfortunately I have to point out that a certain player earned 121 points this week (see image above), the highest in the league this GW, and 1 more than Alex Kassner’s (107th) current leading score of 120 from GW31. This means Alex moves into the runner up position in the BEST GW SCORE league, with £180 worth of prizes (£100, £60, £20). So my own submission feels a little awkward, and was an incredibly pleasant surprise. So I’d like to thank Jack Stephens, who got a red card last week, without whom I wouldn’t have made a sub, and Ben Davies was my player of choice. Unfortunately I couldn’t afford Bavies so stumped for Chris Smalling and a United triple up at the back. Nice one. But really I thank Johann Berg Gudmundsson, who I’ve got to know quite well this season, and he sealed my score with his 2 bonus on the final day. Thanks Guddy. Now we wait to see how high the scores can get on GW37 when many have bench boosts and triple captains still to play…
This weeks Ashley Barnes are:
Jim Wheat (91st) rose 23 places with 113 points
Neil Gordon (125th) rose 22 places with 98 points
Loz Kelly (119th) rose 20 places with 105 points
And this weeks Giles Barnes are:
Jack Pound (129th) who fell 17 places with 43 points
Kevin Trotter (143rd) fell 15 places with 53 points
and Anthony Pegg (147th) fell 14 places with 51 points
Incidentally this week’s low score was Rob Harding (211th) with 37 points, though I suspect he might not read this.
CONTS EVICTION
And that brings me to the exceedingly brutal Conts League. It could be said that Myself and Big Daz Russell (34th) have had somewhat of an advantage the past few weeks, as hits don’t count towards Conts League scores meaning that to stay in the game you can make as many hits as you need to. Had hits been a factor Mark Turnbull’s (15th) -8 would have drawn him level with Paul Baker (16th), and things might have ended differently. As it happened, Paul was hit hard by rotation, missing Alonso, Willian and Morgan on the final night alone. Paul has now been removed from the Conts League, and just 4 remain.
John Harper (2nd) took runner up spot in the main league this week, 30 points behind top spot with a triple captain still to use. He may have player issues for GW35 and I expect he is judging his moves very carefully. This leaves Mark Turnbull who has a free hit he can play in GW35, Daz Russell who will take 4 or 5 hits, and myself who is already -16 in preparation for this week.
It’s sure to be another brutal gameweek in this competition but crucially, it is the last prizeless week. Next week the final 3 will be in line to receive the £100, £60 and £30 prizes up for grabs….
And that’s it from me,
Watch out for Chris Galloway’s (33rd) league place vs mine (37th) as we are fighting hard for the £30 seasonal bet we play each year. This one is more about pride than cash, and is already getting feisty.
GW35 starts in a matter of hours, so just enough time to check your teams!
Best of luck,
Pete
FFUK 