Trends From The Top Gameweek 8
Welcome to this week’s edition of Trends From the Top. It’s always fascinating to see the ways in which the leader board changes as well as the trends that evolve just over the course of a couple of weeks! Did you know for example that for GW 7, only two of the top 10 players had Aguero on their team? So… what trends did we see this week? What are the leaders doing and will they continue to maintain their leads?
Who was the most captained player by the top ten for Gameweek 8?
This week, 100% of the top ten managers selected… AGUERO! As many of you know, captaining him would have brought you 50 points but for the three top managers who decided to play their triple captain chip, kudos to you! At the time of writing only 33.9% of managers have been able to bring Aguero onboard as he carries a very heavy price tag of £13.2m but if this week’s performance is indicative of what’s to come, Aguero may be the one man up front to permanently invest your money in. (Next three matches are BOU (H), MUN (A) and NOR (H)).
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What recent trend have most of the top managers been deploying?
In researching this week’s leaders, it was interesting to see that once again, most managers have used many if not all of their chips! What’s even more fascinating, however, is the fact that Struthious D, currently holding position #2 has neither used a chip nor a wild card! His game play therefore may be more ‘credible’ and reflective of good managerial skills than others. (Struthious D has played for 10 seasons and his highest rank was 39,890). And, as the week’s progress, I do believe we will see the downfall of those who were eagerly ambitious to deploy and exhaust their chips within the first few weeks of the season.
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What are some other interesting findings regarding the leaders?
– NONE of the top 10 for this week were in the top 10 last week! This may be the new norm with all the new additions and modifications to the game but it is indeed very interesting to me as last year’s leader, stayed at the top for the last 15-20 weeks.
– Our leader brought in 145 points (ranked 72nd for GW 8) and was savvy enough to use his triple captain chip. While I do suggest above that they deployment of all your chips so early in the season may not be wise, the use of the triple captain chip for this week was clearly most fortuitous.
– Our leader also ranked 1,505,612 in GW 2! (There’s hope for us all?)
– Our leader went from 896th to 1st in one GW.
– Our current leader finished 408,298 for the 2014/2015 season.
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Goalkeepers: For this past gameweek 50% of the top managers selected Cech while 20% had Hart and 10% had Boruc and Butland.
Defenders: This week we saw 19 defenders make the cut for top managers. Interestingly enough, Kolarov (70%) was the only defender with an ownership rate of over 50%. Azpilicueta came in at 40% while Alderweireld was the next most popular pick with 40% ownership followed by Bellerin with 30%, Dann, Souare and Darmian with 20% and Hangeland, Morgan, Clyne, Williams, Mertesacker, Cedric, Cresswell, Skrtel, Fonte, Gabriel, Walker and Reid each with 10%.
Midfielders: When you look at midfielders, the top 10 managers had 20 different picks with several getting only 10% of the vote such as Morrison, Walcott, Mata, Sinclair, Countinho, Silva, Navas, Bolasie, Wanyama, Hazard, Eriksen, Puncheon, Barkley, Matic and Ozil. Payet was the most popular pick with 90% ownership followed by Sanchez at 40%, De Bruyne, Ayew and Cabaye at 30%. On a personal note, this is the most variety I have ever seen for midfielders while doing this piece over the past 3 years. The fact that only one player has an ownership of 50% or higher suggests that the midfield is ever evolving and/or has yet to plant stable and reliable choices.
Forwards: This week, the front line consisted of a 8 picks among the top managers which again seems to indicate that such spots are not yet solidified. Aguero came in with 100% while Vardy was the next popular pick as he received 70%. Ighalo was selected by 40% of the top managers with Pelle receiving 20% and Jerome, Sakho, Lukaku and Martial each receiving 10% a piece.
In summation, the Must-Haves for top managers for Gameweek 8 were not many. They were Cech, Kolarov, Payet, Vardy and Aguero as they all had an ownership rate of 50% or higher.
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Other interesting facts:
Other interesting facts:
– The average score for Gameweek 8 among the top 10 was an insane 123.5 points which is 68.5 points above average for the week. Yes, that’s 68.5 points above the average!
– England dominated the leader board once again as 50% of the top 10 were from England. The remaining three countries were Turkey (currently in 1st), Scotland, Northern Ireland, India and Indonesia.
– The average team value was £102 with £103.3 being the highest team value and £101.1 being the lowest value.
– 19 points separates 1st place from 10th.
– Best of luck in Gameweek 9 and a special birthday shout out to my #1 fan…
Happy Birthday Dad!
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Many thanks for this Beka, great read. I’m always intrigued to see how these chip munchers are faring! Fair play to the bloke in 2nd who’s got there without using any.
Anyway more importantly – Happy Birthday to your Dad!
Brilliant stuff Beka, huge thanks for putting this together – it’s a great read watching what is happening far, far above where I am looking from!
Now, get celebrating with your Dad – and happy Birthday to him!
Great article Beka very interesting these chips are confusing matters I thk we probably should of all used the treble Cap this wk even in a DGW we will be hard push to get that score cheers again.
Top Stuff Beka !
I was super close to pressing the “Triple Cpt chip” button this week…
Oh well…Guess I should start listening to my inner voice more often…
Kun’s crazy goal fest will make us now even more insecure in our chip activating decisions…
Should we really wait for a DGW ? Should we hit the button when nobody expects and play a “Russian roulette” & take a risk ?
Not sure many people can now count on activating the “Bench Boost” chip, as all of us have 4.0 non-playing defenders…
Low budget at this point of the season will also not push many managers to use the “All Attack” chip to play 2-5-3 as we all have a playing 5th mid and/or a 3rd low budget striker (depending on the formation used) – who I’m sure do not play all of the time…
Decisions, decisions…
p.s. not sure we were ready (at elast I wasn’t) for such changes which can have a big impact on the final score…come season end…
Great stuff Beka, thanks for this.
I must admit, on his current form playing the triple capt chip on Aguero didn’t cross my mind but thankfully i did have him as captain and moved up as a result of his bumper haul.
I guess it goes to show that these chips are more luck than judgement in reaping rewards. I doubt anyone will get anywhere near 75 points when they come round to playing their triple capt chip
wonderful work Rebekah
cheers for that
just when things started to get normal, we have the INTERNATIONAL BREAK
just as Louis Van gall said yesterday- The players will leave for their National team. they will come back on Wednesday or thursday. We need to see how they are mentally fit, if there are injuries
it was something like that. lol
the only thing I fear is a Sergio Aguero injury.
hope he remains the fittest he has ever been