Another update from the best FPL Community Competition there is – the quarter-final results are in, and we roll on to the Semis! Every time I think we’ve seen a goalfest that won’t be repeated, sure enough a few weeks pass and another one comes along. 126 goals scored by strikers and squads combined, which is more than ten goals a game – clearly some teams thought we’d switched to rugby instead of soccer (ooh he used the ‘s’ word!).
Yes, De Bruyne’s 30 points caused mayhem as match results were turned on their head, as did Salah’s shock benching leaving him with a paltry three points from two matches. If FPL is a box of chocolates, variance is the coffee cream.
It’s a Knockout!
This week we had four Champions League quarter-finals, another four QFs in the You’re Ropey League of Shame (the lesser trophy as you may have guessed), and lastly the four QFs of the Wooden Spoon, where all teams still in contention do their very best to avoid remaining in it! Here are the highlights of the action…
Champions League Quarter-Finals
Defoe King Unbelievables 0 – 6 Shearer’s Bunch of Flowers
Going into the match armed with seven more Salahs, DKU’s manager Pirlo’s Pen must have thought the game was in the bag. His opposite number, Danelius, once again pulled a masterstroke of striker selection, naming Riot as their #9 who did a De Bruyne and scored a couple of braces on his own. Buoyed by their striker’s performance, the rest of the Flowers squad added two more goals to dump the reigning champions out of the competition.
Son of a Gunn 5 – 7 No Fuchs Given
Both managers got their strikers right – for the home team FPL_Gills scored five, while AA33 scored a vital hat trick for No Fuchs Given. Without it, their squad’s four goals wouldn’t have been enough to prevail. Having now dumped the #2 seeds out of the competition despite taking a collective 52 point hit in a 12 goal bloodbath, the question is will Mihir’s team have enough in the tank for their next opponents?
Catch me if U Kane 5 – 5 Fantastic Mr Fox
Having surged into an early lead, home team manager KIRAFPL will perhaps be rueing his H2H selections. The Foxes definitely got theirs right, Hari1290 scoring five goals on his own, which was enough to force a draw as the Kane’s squad scored five of their own. There must be a winner in the knockouts, and so combined FPL scores of all of the starters became the deciding factor, with the Foxes’ 1419 trumping the Kane’s 1390, and the away team march forward into the semis…
Free Britney’s Areola 4 – 5 Jimmy Floyd Hamsterbaink
The Britneys had nine more Salahs in their hand, and an extra 6 Nketiahs and Ramsdales down their pants – the Hamsters knew they were up against it. Even the aways team’s highest scoring, and handsomest, player had predicted a 3-0 thrashing to Darth_Krid’s team. Anuragkhetancfc was the home team striker, and his 142 score got him four goals. But Toblerone52 and his Hamsters do not know the meaning of defeat, despite having suffered them multiple times, and survived squeaky-bum-time during the North London derby to somehow make it into the next stage of the Champions League.
You’re Ropey League of Shame Quarter Finals
Too Krul for Siu 0 – 2 Toxic Seaman
Having lost to the Toxics way back in MW3, Chandler Bing and his team were out for revenge. They had five more Salahs afterall. But Greyhead’s determination to win the ‘League that matters’ saw him resort to bizarre Mourinho style tactics (CORF their second highest scoring player is rumoured to have been benched for ‘lack of heart’) which it seems paid off, and having pocketed two squad goals, the Toxics trundle on to the semi finals.
Ayew Lonesome Tonight 12 – 0 Hwang King in a Wood
Suddenly the home team show a ruthless side, Narcos again leading from the front and scoring a hat trick as striker. In contrast, FPL_Panda’s side look a beaten bunch and posted the third-lowest squad score of the week, allowing the Ayews to slot in another nine goals in this one way thrashing.
Carroll’s Christmas Island 4 – 0 Hey MaccaReina!
Armed with defenders who score, the home team’s six more James’ and four more Laportes seemed to be the deciding factor in what would have been a much closer game otherwise. Fplhints, the Islander’s manager, popped himself in goal and duly grabbed a clean sheet, in full knowledge that he’d be facing tedtalksfpl. Wily management at it’s best and the home side go into the semis.
Footstock Alumni 0 – 18 The Nameless Ones
Lagdon82 will remember this week as the wrong time to play the Nameless Ones – Linnbee’s squad players had seven more KDBs and Nketiahs, six more Laportes and five more Mounts. FrankWalsh82 in goal for Linnbee’s team, made mincemeat of fplgeneral and scored four, which added to the 14 goals(!!!!!) from their squad, make The Nameless Ones the favourites to win this competition.
Wooden Spoon Quarter Finals
Flying Without Ings 1 – 0 The Rooney Tunes
And into the WS quarter finals, where it’s the loser who progresses into the semis, and sreethe1, manager of the team who dominated the H2H stage of the previous tournament, gets a much needed win to release him from the possible fate of having to grasp the dreaded wooden spoon. With both goalkeepers keeping a clean sheet, it came down to a single squad goal for the Ings, who’ll be off to the beach as they prepare for next season. Speedy’s Rooney Tunes, still on holiday themselves after dominating phase 4, will need to muster up some points…
Lloris the Hounds 11 – 6 Shot to the Hart and Yorke to Blame
The Hart’s manager, Autoselect, would have seen the 104 points hit his opposition had taken and the nine more Salahs his own team boasted and would be forgiven for thinking that this match was perhaps already in the proverbial bag. Then when he watched his striker, Stemania score a record six striker goals, one imagines he opened the champagne. Then came the city game, and the realisation that FPL Differential King’s side had eight more De Bruynes, and the slippery bottle slipped from his hand shattering onto the floor. That’s right, the H2H League Champions, Shot to the Hart and Yorke to Blame, are still in the Wooden Spoon competition.
The Hairy Henry 13 – 3 Hanging by a Fred
GuaravGharge did a Linn and benched himself, while the away team manager, richardsp93, put on his goalie gloves, and put Harvard up front. Harvard had KDB, Matip and Son and calmly grabbed a hat trick for his team. Sadly, it turned out that the Henrys had ten more KDBs, four more Matips, one Son and several more differentials that had big GWs, and recorded the biggest squad score of the week with 1463 points, enough to get them a massive 13 team goals. The Freds stay in, the Henrys escape!
Bachmann and Robben 11 – 8 Krul Intentions
Tets McGee, a big, brave veteran of this competition, found himself facing one of the top FPL players of the season, and Tets’ knees were heard a’knockin’ when he found out that Suvansh had also put himself as striker. Perhaps attempting mind games, Tets named his own player called Krul Intentions between the sticks, and while it didn’t put off Suvansh who broke the striker goals record set by Stemania three paragraphs up, by scoring 8 goals in one game, it DID distract the rest of the team enough as he watched his squad score nine goals. To rub salt into the wound, home striker Rasping Drive scored a brace for the lols.
Full results can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VYVwEQm4QBVqe7ceBmUnF2tgV4iM4EyoYAxEbWea9bQ/edit#gid=0
Player of the Week
Two of the Hairy Henry’s scored a massive 165 points, namely AndriyBallack and Bombastic. Just behind them with 158 was Suvansh, who has finally risen to the top of the golden boot race, having scored 18 striker goals in total. The golden glove award will go to the player with the most clean sheets, and currently that is Haydn Owens of Ayew Lonesome Tonight with 5.
Semi Final fixtures
Champions League: Having won their respective quarter finals, Shearer’s bunch of Flowers will face Jimmy Floyd Hamsterbaink in the first of the Champions League semis, and the winner of that one will face whomever prevails between No Fuchs Given and Fantastic Mr Fox.
You’re Ropey League of Shame: The Toxic Seaman have the unenviable task of trying to beat The Nameless Ones in the first YRLOS semi. The winners of that one will face either Ayew Lonesome Tonight or Carroll’s Christmas Island.
Wooden Spoon race: The Rooney Tunes take on Krul Intentions, while Shot to the Hart and Yorke to Blame will face Hanging by a Fred, all looking to win their first game in the knockout stages and avoid the dreaded wooden spoon.
SKLW Podcast
Boris and Greyhead discuss all things community tournament, and other subjects, and this week are joined by Suvansh, captain of Krul Intentions, who is currently just 8 points away from being #1 in FPL.
Good luck to everyone, except of course Shearer’s Bunch of Pansies, who will be knocked out in due course 😉
1 year, 11 months agoTrust Boris to catch Suvansh playing with himself.