Welcome to the GW36 REVIEW – FOCUS
We need to FOCUS on exactly what we are doing here. Are we in touch of any prizes? What can we win? Can we still triumph in our side bets? For some the season is over, these FFUKers have lost FOCUS but there is nothing we can do about that now. They will be back next season. For the hardcore we continue. Two weeks remain and who knows what magic will occur in the impending double. So in terms of a tune for this week how about we go all the way back to 1971 and Focus’ Hocus Pocus. A veritable classic. If you think you don’t know it give it a listen you may just recognise it especially if you saw the chase scene in the excellent movie Baby Driver.
CUPDATE
Before we look at the gameweek just gone the semi finals of both cups were concluded in GW36. Let’s check out who won these and therefore who will be taking part in this season’s finals. Firstly the premium cup competition the FFUK Cup – In the first semi Paul Browne defeated our leader Jamie Stewart by 5 points. Jamie with a valiant effort in the final week to overturn the deficit but Paul held on and takes his spot in the final. He will be up against Tom Shepherd who defeated by Sam Blake by 8 points. Both semis were hard fought but Tom Shepherd vs Paul Browne is the final lineup in this one.
In the Challenge Cup the semis were even tighter. Tim McEwan turned around his tie with the use of his bench boost chip and defeated Sean Galsworthy by 6 points. In the other semi it was even closer. Joe Warrington was defeated by Sam Breen by just a single point. Well played Sam and Tim and good luck to both of you in the final of the Challenge Cup!
Now for GW36. It was a nervous affair as it was sandwiched in between doubles and blanks so for many of us it was just about getting an XI out and hoping for the best. We were all saying our best magic words and crossing our fingers. Especially all those who decided against giving the armband to Salah (3). It was a nervous watch in the early game but we were rewarded with the Egyptian blanking. It could all have been very different if his early chance had gone inside the post rather than outside (above). This game swings on such moments. As you can see below 71 FFUKers were on Salah. That left an awkward wait until MNF for 79 FFUKers on Kane…
In between there were a lot of clean sheets. 9 in total over the weekend which is about as good as it gets. So defensive points were readily available. There were also points further forward of course so it was about getting the balance right. The top scoring player of the gameweek was not a particularly popular pick this season although he has been in the past. With everything to play for I wonder if a few might gamble on the prodigious talents of Dusan Tadic (15) for his double in 37. The Southampton man made a fight of it at the bottom of the table with a brace and max bonus just when we thought it might be over. Can he be relied on to plunder further points in the double?
Then onto Monday night. It was a long wait and for many of us our gameweek totals to this point were pretty pathetic. We needed Harry and co to deliver. Or not in some cases. The Spurs and England main man has looked a shadow of himself recently and many of us were hoping this game gave him the chance to play himself into form. In reality it didn’t happen but he did score so that was enough to satisfy some. Kane (6) did the business but still looks short of form. If he was he would be a shoe in for TC for those that are holding it for 37. As it is there are other options. A big decision is ahead. FOCUS.
FFUK TOP 50 AFTER GW36
After just one week off the top he is back. Jamie Stewart (1st) returns to the summit with a very impressive 70 after just a week away and managed to even build a bit of a lead again over Dan McBrearty (2nd) who struggled this week managing just 37 points which was in fact the 2nd lowest in the top 50.
Biggest mover in the top 10 was Danny Burgess (10th) who scored a massive 75 points via his TC chip on Jesus (9 x 3). John Harper (3rd) also had a solid week with 64 scored, could have been even better as he had Ryan (10) benched.
However the high score in the league this week was Marc Speer (21st) with 77 points. This was despite captaining Salah (3 x 2). Fortunately for Marc he had the 2nd highest scoring player of the week in Zaha (14) to rely on as well as Sterling (11), Jesus (9), Kane (6) and his defence/gk was a clean sweep of 6’s which always looks good. Well played Mr Speer – is there time to make it into the top 10?
At the other end of the scale was Barry Clarke (89th) who low scored with just 17 scored. It all started badly for Barry with captain Lukaku (1 x 2) then it didn’t get much better with none of his other players getting attacking or defensive returns! ouch, at least Liverpool had a decent week 😉
The FPL average was 44 points this week whereas the FFUK average was 49.6. Have a pat on the back for that one.
At the end of the season moving upwards is no easy task. It takes FOCUS. These 3 FFUKers are ending the season is flying form:
- Tom Stacey (132nd) rose 19 places after scoring 72
- Duncan Galloway (126th) rose 15 places with 67
- Alex Thomas (125th) rose 15 places with 60
However these 3 are not exactly flying, check out the 3 Zeros who fell furthest. These guys have lost their FOCUS and may not find it again until next season, as you can see it doesn’t matter where you are in this league a big fall can be just around the corner:
- Barry Clarke (89th) fell 18 places with 17
- Glenn Johnson (136th) fell 14 places with 26
- Alastair McNeil (104th) fell 11 placed with 41
We were down to the final 3. Then we lost another. It is now down to two but lets check out what happened…
Daron Russell (43rd) once again was big on the hits and went -16. It was a sensible move and meant he scored a whopping 76 points seeing him safely through to the final two. Job done Daz. That left Mark Turnbull (13th) and Peter Cronin (37th) to fight it out for the other spot. In reality it came down to captain pick or perhaps if Pete had been brave enough to take a hit. Pete went with Salah captain whereas Mark went with Kane. That was enough to see Pete lose out by 2 points as he scored 51 to Mark’s 53. Close but no cigar. Daz is now in control and has removed Pete from the league. Pete scoops 3rd place prize as a consolation but it is now down to the final two to decide who wins the big prize and who gets sloppy seconds. Good luck boys!
Finally, as always thanks for reading, we are down to just two weeks remaining and this next one is a biggy. The final DGW of the season. Keep focused FFUKers, not long to go. Then we have the World Cup to look forward to. Not forgetting the END OF SEASON DO on 26th May where we will watch Liverpool vs Real Madrid in the final. Let us know if you can join us…
Cheers
Chris
FFUK 