Blech's Eliminator Cup - 2021-22

I will circle back in a few days with a full recap on rules, erc, but the Eliminators will be back again this season and follow the same format as last year, with the BE-Cup starting in gw1. Here is a link to last season:
https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/blechs-eliminator-cup-s-2020-21.2111388/#post-38933869

Note - There was a tie breaker added - points earned from playing a chip count, but if you end up tied, those points are removed as the first tiebreaker.

And, there is BE-Cup immunity based on last season's results (in league standings and the eliminators) using the same award system as last year. If I have the list right:
3 gws - Sasha Jrs (Small 1st)
2 gws - blechs_dawgs (VSR 1st), kicking & screaming (Sand 1st), Lokomotiv Lewisham (SE-Cup winner)
1 gw - Glorydaze, (Small 2nd), FC St Pauli (VSR 2nd), and Virgil Reality (SE- Cup runner-up) - Lokomotiv was Sand 2nd, and already has immunity from SE- Cup

 

Rules! The Rules are simple. The team with the lowest score in a given gameweek is eliminated. You do not get to carry additional points forward, so a high score one week guarantees nothing as you can still be eliminated the next week just as easily as anyone else. Again: "Just don't be worst."

To count toward the BE-Cup, a GW will generally require at least 6 games be played. I will decide, and will announce in advance if possible if a GW will not count or how a shortened GW will be handled.

Tiebreakers! In the event two or more teams are tied, then we will go through the following tiebreakers until the tie is broken:
1. Which team scored more after removal of any points from chips (i.e., triple captain, bench boost).
2. Which team scored more points without captain points being doubled.
3. Which team scored more points without the benefit of auto-subs.
4. Which team had more points scored by its bench (after any auto-subs are processed).

If still tied, then the tied teams will both/all be eliminated, unless that would result in fewer than 10 teams remaining, in which case no teams will be eliminated that GW and an extra team will be eliminated the following week, unless this would result in no teams remaining, in which case a replay would take place if there are remaining gameweeks and, if not, the winner shall be determined by total points for the season (more is better), followed by a coin flip if they are still tied. Got it?

Immunity! As noted above, immunity was awarded to teams who finished 1st and 2nd in the division last year, and to teams who won the BE-Cup, DE-Cup, and SE-Cup last year. A more realistic way to think about this if you don't like the term immunity is that those teams do not enter the competition until a later round.

Rule Supplementation Discretion! Unforeseen and/or unusual things may happen, and I'll consider making adjustments if I deem them appropriate.

 

24. Soccer Steve - [27 points; GW1]

"I thought we were starting in GW2..."

Asked if he is concerned about what this means for the season, management remained optimistic: "This is a strong team, built for the long run. Did we perform the way that we wanted or expected? No. But this is a solid group and they are going to need a little time to gel. We have a few returning from injuries and others battling for playing time. We're not going to knee jerk this thing over something as silly as the BE-Cup and we're going to give them the time they need. And, if that doesn't work, then we'll clean house. But I'm not expecting that to happen."

The danger zone for any newcomers are the 2 or 3 teams who are closest to elimination but who survive. For GW1, those teams are the Sand trio of FC Epikoinis (30), Parraraiders (31), and Aviators (34). Perhaps it was scariest for FC Epikoinis, with 5 players who didn't get any minutes. The gaffer sent the team out for a midnight training session and sent the scouts out to find players who will get some playing time. But for this week, FCE and all of the other move on.

Fortunately, things moved forward with Dr. Heckle (or anyone else) leading any protests outside Blech HQ on opening day. Dr. Heckle said: "Immunity remains silly, but I'm too busy to protest this year."

Speaking of, the immunities played no role in GW1, and FC St. Pauli, Glorydaze, and The Rising Son (formerly Virgil Reality) will now join the competition in GW2. As we head to GW2, Sasha Jrs., blechs_dawgs, Kicking & Screaming, and Lokomotiv Lewisham still have immunity.

 

23. ChrisSuttonsSlippers - [31 points; GW2]
24. Soccer Steve - [27 points; GW1]

"The Fix Is In..."

Immunity conveniently plays a role in GW2, as Cup founder blech ends up with 31 points (and would have lost the tiebreaker but for immunity). It took a special defensive effort for blech to pull this off, with 5 defenders tallying a combined score of -1 (with two not playing and the other three going 0, 0, and -1). The -1 from Ricardo P in the GW's last game dumped the dawgs from a safe score of 32 back into the tie at 31, leading CSS's FraserMac believing for a moment that they had achieved the great escape. "Sure, we were following the scores, and knew what we needed to happen in that last game, and no one even thought to check for immunity. It's complete heartbreak. You think you're out. Then the score you need pops up and you're in. And, then then you're passed a note that you needed something different and you're out again. Just brutal. Thankfully, this isn't on me. Tarv picked this team, so he's responsible for the early exit!"

The danger zone sees Tangers (35), FC Epikoinis (36), and Stormin Gunners (37). It was a second danger zone in two weeks for FC Epikoinis, who for the second week in a row had 5 players who didn't get any minutes and certainly welcomes positive news about a potentially quick Robertson return to the Liverpool starting lineup.

On the subject of immunity, Sasha Juniors is the only team safe for GW3 and will enter the competition the next GW.

 

it wasn't me dabbling in the dark arts, but the voodoo dolls and dusty potions have apparently been working so far this year, huh? little did @frasermc know when he agreed to let you assist in picking his team that you've had some curse sent in your general direction.....

 

22. Stormin' Gunners - [22 points; GW3]
23. ChrisSuttonsSlippers - [31 points; GW2]
24. Soccer Steve - [27 points; GW1]

"Arteta Out..."

Following GW2's danger zone visit, Chairman Norm was under as much scrutiny and pressure as a certain Arsenal coach. And, things only got worse in GW3, as Stormin' Gunners set a new low mark for the season with 22 points. GK Mendy was the team's high scorer with 3 points, and it was 2s and 1s everywhere else. Cornered post-match, Norm was pointedly asked: "You've publicly stated that Henry might motivate Arsenal in a way that Arteta can't. What about Stormin' Gunners? Do you think that Henry could motivate this squad and get it to the top 4?" Norm paused: "I suppose that I should defend myself. But, that's difficult to do at the moment. And, reality is that if anyone can quickly turn this group around, it is Thierry. How cool would that be? I'm going to give him a call right now. and I have already reserved the user name TheRealThierry on Big Soccer just in case."

The danger zone "welcomed" Rising Son (25), Kicking & Screaming (40), and FC St Pauli (42). It was first visits for all, with K&S and FCSP being about as safe as we have seen, with a roughly 20-point spread from the elimination score. For the Rising Son, 7 points from Fornals was the difference (with Mahrez's 4 points as the only other score above 2 points). After two straight danger zone appearances to start the season, FC Epikoinis got things sorted with a healthy 66.

Tarv didn't have to play the immunity card, but would have been in the danger zone this week but for being the sole team with GW3 immunity. And, with that, immunity is over and everyone still alive is now at risk. Enjoy your International Break, play your wildcards, and we'll pick up in a couple of weeks.

 

21. Glorydaze - [30 points - GW4]
22. Stormin' Gunners - [22 points; GW3]
23. ChrisSuttonsSlippers - [31 points; GW2]
24. Soccer Steve - [27 points; GW1]

With player of the month of August -- Antonio -- a worthy candidate for the captaincy, it is no surprise to see the Antonio owners scrambling at the bottom this week with the Antonio red card. Heading into the final match, GDaze (Small's Antonio owner) knew that there were 11 points coming from autosub to boost the week's tally up to 30, but Keysersoze (VSR's Antonio owner) had 10 coming in from autosub to get to 25, and then still had Pope and Keane to play in the GW's final match. The Burnley goal ended Keane's clean sheet hopes, but the suspense as to whether Keysersoze would or would not get to 30 ended shortly thereafter, as Pope/Burnley conceded, but with Keane as the goalscorer. The GDaze statement was short: "This hurts. I've always liked this competition and was looking to make a deep run this year. And, this is an extra whammy to finish at the bottom after playing the wildcard this week as I had thought the tinkering we did was enough. But, we're basically playing this season without our first, second, and fourth round picks so far, and now saw our third round pick go negative. Add in midgame injuries to Elliott and Llorente, and it's no surprise that I'm stuck here today answering these questions. It's actually an achievement with this group to get to 30. Until next year."

The dangerzone: Ryan's Reds (35), Keysersoze (36), Parraraiders (36), and Sasha Juniors (36). It was the second visit for Parraraiders and first for the other three, with the asterisk that it would have been Tarv's second visit in a row but for immunity last GW.

 

20. Real Newark - [25 points - GW5]
21. Glorydaze - [30 points - GW4]
22. Stormin' Gunners - [22 points; GW3]
23. ChrisSuttonsSlippers - [31 points; GW2]
24. Soccer Steve - [27 points; GW1]

It's two eliminations in a row for Small Rocks, as Real Newark comes up short in GW5 (with the low score also counting as a DE-Cup elimination for good measure). With autosub kicking in for two players, coach Bob managed to field a full squad of 11, but just barely as the bench was left a foggy haze of red and dark orange triangles that may signal more trouble on the horizon absent some shuffling. And, it's always going to be an uphill battle on the occasional weeks when Captain Bruno blanks. For better or worse (sometimes the losses are easier when it's a blowout), it was a full 8 points until we found the next teams in the mid-30s, so no easy or quick solutions to blame this one on.

Asked if he had any regrets or parting words, Bob was matter of fact about it: "We just haven't been able to keep everyone healthy this season, and things are just not clicking the way that I'd like. There isn't much time to dwell on it as we've got to lace them up again in a few days. These side comps are nice, but at the moment we've got to focus on relegation, and it's truly crazy to be saying that in September. But, there's no time like the present. We know that Tarv and Glory and Blech are working furiously to get back to the top half of the table and we've got to work twice as hard. Keep an eye on the transfer window. I've got some things in mind."

The dangerzone: Keysersoze (33), Game of Ohhhs (37), and Morning Glory (38). It was the second visit in a row for Keysersoze, while it was first visits of the season for GoO and MG.

Only 7 of the 19 teams remaining have not been in the dangerzone at this point. Of those 7, two of them have had a score in the 30s and 3 of them have had one or more scores in the 40s. Only 2 (ColdDogSoup and Kopite) have been in the 50s or above every week!

Also, perhaps worth noting that GW5 was the first GW all season where the average score for all of the All Rocks teams dipped below 50 -- landing at 49.6. Overall, scores seem to be on the higher side this year.....

 

First 1/4 -- The First Six
19. FC Epikoinis - [25 points - GW6]
20. Real Newark - [25 points - GW5]
21. Glorydaze - [30 points - GW4]
22. Stormin' Gunners - [22 points; GW3]
23. ChrisSuttonsSlippers - [31 points; GW2]
24. Soccer Steve - [27 points; GW1]

FC Epikoinis follows up a gold medal performance in gw5 with a BE-Cup elimination in GW6. 9 points off the bench in the form of a late, late goal from Maupay made up over 1/3 of FCE's points this week but the calm and collected tally was not enough to save FCE. A swap of goalkeepers could have changed the outcome and have caused some cries from supporters that it is time to make some changes, but there is no indication that anyone is listening. Manager Eric brushed it off: "You have to respect the supporters. They pay for their seats and they're entitled to their opinions. But I'm going to make the best decisions that I can each week based on what I see in training each week. As it is, I've set my personal preferences aside and you'll note that there isn't an Arsenal red jersey in sight in this roster, which makes it all the more painful that we (FCE) head out the door during the week that we (Arsenal) see the goals flowing aplenty at the Emirates. I'm not sure if this is irony, or if it's just a sacrifice that I had to offer as part of helping the Gunners turn the corner. But it certainly eases the pain of this blow to hit rewind and play on those Gunners goals, again, and again, and again."

The dangerzone: Lokomotiv Lewisham (29), FC St. Pauli (33), and Top Shelf (35). As noted above, Lokomotiv would have been out if FCE had played Martinez (9) in goal against MUN rather than Ramsdale (3) in goal against TOT. While Eric is correct that there are no Arsenal "red" jerseys in the FCE roster, the re is an Arsenal "green" jersey on the roster and the decision to play Ramsdale was the difference maker. In fairness, to get this one right, he would have had to predict that Ole would have Bruno take the PK and not CR7, predict that Martinez would talk smack before the kick (ok, this one was foreseeable), and then predict that Bruno would send the kick to row Z. It was a second visit for FCSP in the DZ, while first visits for Lokomotiv L and the high-flying Top Shelf. We are now down to only 5 teams who have not been eliminated or finished in the dangerzone. Last week there were still two teams that had never scored below 50; now there are none, but both still avoided the DZ.

As we close the books on the first quarter of the competition, the FCE elimination evens everything out between the leagues -- two each.
And, the overall fantasy points continued their downward trend. Last GW, the All-Rocks average dipped below 50 for the first time at 49.6, and in GW6, the downward trend accelerated all the way to 44.7, perhaps confirming that the scores are all going to even out over the course of the season....

 

Second 1/4 -- The Next Six
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18. Top Shelf - [18 points; GW7]

Top Shelf still has a healthy lead at the top of the table, but exits this week with an 18 after a dangerzone visit the prior GW. One auto-sub got processed, but it was colored triangles across the bench and only 10 players in the end, with a top score by a single player of just 3 points and the captain's armband only doubling a score of 2 to make it 4. The manager D.Thomas said, "I'm not going to speak about square pegs and round balls and the like this year. This is a solid squad but we've hit a bit of an injury situation and we've got to find a way to fight through it. We are out of the BE-Cup but this is an opportunity for several lads to step up. Do you hear me? It's an opportunity not a crisis."

The dangerzone was Sasha Juniors (22), Kicking & Screaming (26), and Kopite Jrs (28). These were second visits for Sasha Jrs and K&S, while the first time that Kopite Jrs found itself anywhere close to the bottom. We are now down to just 4 teams that haven't been eliminated or been in the dangerzone.

For those interested in the numbers, the scoring average for the Rocks teams continued its downward trend, hitting a new low of 40.2, and finishing under 50 for the third consecutive GW.

 

A quick pre-final-match look in... Of the teams under 30, there are two still alive....

FC St Pauli - 27 points, with 1 point to come from auto-sub, and Tomiyasu (vs CRY) to play
Kopite Juniors - 29 points, with 2 points to come from two 1-point auto-subs

If it ends in a tie, Kopite would prevail, based on fewest points (Lukaku-2*2) < (Cancelo-6*2). So, assuming that I've got this right and no points adjustments, it will take 4 or more points for Tomiyasu to get FCSP off the chopping block.

And, the teams in the mid and upper 30s are safe....

 

Second 1/4 -- The Next Six
13.
14.
15.
16.
17. FC St. Pauli - [29 points; GW8]
18. Top Shelf - [18 points; GW7]

FC St Pauli's chances to avoid the elimination went up in smoke when Arsenal conceded to eliminate Tomiyasu's shot at a clean sheet. This was the 4th elimination of a Small Rocks' team in the last 5 GWs. FCSP got the captaincy right, but was done in by Dier's own goal in the Spurs' defeat and by bench injuries that meant only 10 active players this week. Manager Scott seemed exasperated: "Aaaaaarghhhh!!!! What do you want me to say!!!! I've heard that management has begun to speak with Zidane about taking over . I'd like to see him do better with this sorry lot."

The dangerzone was Kopite Jrs (31), Morning Glory (42), Sasha Juniors (45) & Parraraiders (45). It was two weeks in a row for the two Juniors. It was also the third visits of the season for Sasha Jrs and Parraraiders, while second visits of he season for Kopite Jrs and Morning Glory. And, still 4 teams that haven't been eliminated or been in the dangerzone.

On the positive side for those who like fantasy scoring, the downward trend finally ended and we saw a rebound in the scoring average for the Rocks teams as we bounced from last week's low of 40.2, all the way up to 50.2!

 

Second 1/4 -- The Next Six
13.
14.
15.
16. Bigger Boat - [22 points; gw9]
17. FC St. Pauli - [29 points; GW8]
18. Top Shelf - [18 points; GW7]

After a nice run in GWs 3-6 with four consecutive weeks in the 60s, the shark-hunting Bigger Boat has floundered..... But always a good opportunity to revisit a classic clip....



Bigger Boat ended up fielding 10 players, but might have preferred if Pogba had just stayed on the bench rather than make a 15-minute cameo that ended with a leg-crunching tackle and VAR-assisted red card. No doubt, the low score was particularly frustrating given that Chilwell scored 12, while the rest of the team scored a combined 10. Dr.H. spoke briefly and focused on the good and bad. "I'm not going to talk this year about the organizer of this silly cup making up crazy rules and rigging things in his favor. I need to talk about the squad's performance. Chilwell? Phenomenal. The rest? Chum. They deserve to be fed to the biggest shark we can find. Pogba? You have got to be kidding me. We had a good patch earlier in the season but I don't know what to make of this group. The way they're playing, we're not gonna need a bigger boat, 'cause I'ma gonna toss each one of them off of it if this keeps up."

The dangerzone was Lokomotiv Lewisham (30), Sasha Juniors (32), and Parraraiders (37) and Ryan's Reds (37) (tie for the last spot - more on that in the DE-Cup...). That's now three weeks in a row for the Sasha Juniors, who stay alive while continuing to search for last year's Midas touch. Parraraiders joined Sasha Jrs for the second time in a row, and the two squads are now tied at four for most DZ visits for the season, while Lokomotiv and Ryan's Reds made their second visits of the season.

Bigger Boat was one of the teams that had not been in the dangerzone, so with that elimination, we are now at 3 teams (blechs_dawgs, ColdDogSoup, and Journeymane) that haven't been eliminated or been in the dangerzone.

And, a consolation shout out to FC St. Pauli, who followed last week's BE-Cup elimination with a silver medal 94 this week. If only points could be reallocated....

The scoring for the week continued the upward trend, hitting a league average of 53.4, the second highest total behind only the 53.6 that we saw in GW3.

 

Looking ahead to the GW's Monday finale and who's at risk in the BE-Cup, I've spotted the following teams:

Ryan's Reds - 19 points + Jiminez + Traore (autosub)
Sasha Juniors - 20 points + 1 (autosub) + Semedo (OR 13 pts via autosub if Semedo doesn't play)
Kicking & Screaming -- 28 points + 4 (autosub)

Interestingly, the players who will have the final say in elimination #10 will be only in orange tomorrow. Good luck to all.

 

Starting rosters are out. Semedo starts, which eliminates Tarv's easiest path of using the bench points to escape via a final autosub. Meanwhile, Jiminez starts but Traore does not. I'll let others opine on whether they'd rather be Semedo +2 or Jiminez and non-starting Traore.

 

Second 1/4 -- The Next Six
13.
14.
15. Sasha Juniors - [23 points; gw10]
16. Bigger Boat - [22 points; gw9]
17. FC St. Pauli - [29 points; GW8]
18. Top Shelf - [18 points; GW7]

Apologies to Tarv but I don't have time for a true write up this week. The final battle as it went to the last day was noted above. Jiminez was gifted a goal on a bad backpass, and while in trouble at that point, Tarv was still in it until the Wolves and Semedo conceded.

Dangerzone was Ryan's Reds (28), Kicking & Screaming (32), and Kopite Jrs (35).

The weekly average score was 41.4, and the range of scores from 23 to 59 was one of the smallest ranges that I recall.

 

Second 1/4 -- The Next Six
13.
14. Kopite Jrs - [24 points; gw11]
15. Sasha Juniors - [23 points; gw10]
16. Bigger Boat - [22 points; gw9]
17. FC St. Pauli - [29 points; GW8]
18. Top Shelf - [18 points; GW7]

As we approach the midway point, we have a run on teams using the name Jrs.. While Kopite Jrs picked up a healthy 9 points from Raphinha, it was an otherwise frustrating GW, marred by a red card to GK Sanchez (a tactically smart soccer play for which the fantasy owner must be punished) and yellow cards to Toney (doubled for his being the captain) and Raphinha (for celebrating his goal). Asked for a comment, kopiteinkc said: "We just weren't good enough this week. We really haven't been good enough for weeks. I think it's been 3 dangerzone visits in the last 4 GWs, so this isn't a surprise. But it's frustrating as we got off to a good start. And now we've lost our way. They will learn but there are no second chances in the BE-Cup. And I told this is also our exit from the DE-Cup. We've got ground to make up in Sand and that's got to be the focus."

Dangerzone was ColdDogSoup FC (35), Keysersoze (35), and Ryan's Reds (36).

The weekly average score was 40.7, and the range of scores was even smaller than last week as it went from 24 to 57. The 40.7 is the second lowest average of the year, only ahead of the 40.2 in GW7.

 

Second 1/4 -- The Next Six
13. Keysersoze Wanderers - [33 points; gw12]
14. Kopite Jrs - [24 points; gw11]
15. Sasha Juniors - [23 points; gw10]
16. Bigger Boat - [22 points; gw9]
17. FC St. Pauli - [29 points; GW8]
18. Top Shelf - [18 points; GW7]

With the second group of six now completed, we have hit the competition's midway point.

On the plus side, Keysersoze nailed his captaincy pick of Cornet for 7*2 and had van Dijk for 6, but the rest of the squad disappointed with a random collection of scores of 0, 1, 2, and 3. That said, Keysersoze actually still had a slim lead 32-30 over The Rising Son until auto sub kicked in. Keysersoze added Iheanacho (1) and Gabriel (0) while TRS added Cash (5) to jump (barely) to safety. Keysersoze pushed past BE-Cup reporters and declined to comment.

Dangerzone consisted of The Rising Son (35), Game of Ohhhs (37), and Morning Glory (39). It was the third DZ visit for Morning Glory and second visits for TSR and Game of Ohhhs.

The weekly average score was 52.6.

Tallying up the eliminations by league at the midpoint, 5 have been eliminated from Small, 4 from VSR, and only 3 from Sand.

"24 enter, one survives. 24 enter, one survives." There are still 12 battling. Congrats to those who have made it to the second half of the competition. Keysersoze's 33 points this past GW represent the highest score to be eliminated this season, and we can expect to hit new high marks as we continue.

 

Third 1/4 -- The Third Group of Six
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12. Ryan's Reds - [19 points; gw13]

While ColdDogSoup lost Son due to the cancelled game and had to sweat out the rest of the day waiting for autosubs and bonus points to get processed to find a few extra points to scramble to safety, Ryan's Reds were hammered by the decision not to play the BUR/TOT game. Well, hammered by that, and perhaps Coach Ryan's decision(s) not to make any transfer moves since gw4. A deeper bench to bring in more autosubs or the shifting of the captain or vice-captain armband to Trent Alexander-Arnold (rather than the combo of Son and Ings) might have provided multiple routes to get the additional 2 points that ended up being necessary.

Manager Ryan wasn't accepting any of the blame: "Oh, I see what you're trying to do. You're trying to pin this on me. Fact is that I set challenges to bring the best out of my players. That is part of what it means to be one of the Reds. To battle through adversity. To know that results rest on your shoulders and you can't count on others to auto-sub in for you. And, now we have a league canceling a game because of a little snow. Get serious! ColdDogSoup had Son, but Son was my captain, and he would have taken care of business if they had just played the game. Reguilon too. And if for some reason they didn't score, I had Pope in goal. It was a perfect hedge play, and then they go and cancel the game because of snow. Get serious! How is it right that we don't play while Leicester and Watford battle it out in identical conditions? Heck, when I was a kid, we used to walk to school, uphill, both ways, in worse conditions. Sometimes I didn't even wear shoes! Here I am trying to help these players be the best they can be and games aren't being played. Don't talk to me about my lack of transfers and why I have players like Raya, Holding, and Doherty on my bench and didn't have any autosubs available. Let's get serious and talk about the real problem, which is that these games shouldn't have been canceled. Let them play."

Interestingly, in the midst of storm, there were multiple reports of purple smoke and tin foil hats in Burnley. Manager Lobo could not be reached for comment.

Dangerzone consisted of ColdDogSoup FC (21), Parraraiders (23), and Journeymane (31). It was a fourth DZ visit for Parraraiders (which ties the high mark for DZ visits before elimination this season, with the two teams that previously got to 4 DZ visits already having been eliminated). This was the second DZ visit for ColdDogSoup and the first DZ visit for Journeymane.

The weekly average score was 44.0, partially explained by the unexpected game cancellation.

 

Third 1/4 -- The Third Group of Six
7.
8.
9.
10.
11. Aviators - [23 points; gw14]
12. Ryan's Reds - [19 points; gw13]

Aviators is in the middle of a great season, but the squad's fans were left reaching for the oxygen masks as they encountered a bit of turbulence this past GW. Aviators fielded only 9 active players, and that included Keane coming in via autosub for a score of 0 as Everton conceded 4 goals to Liverpool. Dennis showed up big with 9 points, but that was it as the plane skidded in for a bumpy landing with all of 23 points on the board.

Manager Hal took it in stride: "If you've been doing this as long as I have, you've seen just about everything. Mind you, I haven't seen a goal scored with a keeper rolling around on the ground like that and I would have expected Mane to get at least a little piece of the pie when Liverpool scores 4, but we'll have a good night's sleep, refuel this puppy, and get this group airborne again in no time. I'm not going to sugar coat it. It was what it was and we're not celebrating on our way out of this competition, but we've got our sights set on much bigger targets this year."

Dangerzone consisted of Kicking & Screaming (28), Parraraiders (40), and The Rising Son (44). A little harsh to include the last two in the DZ given the margin, but bottom three is bottom three. Parraraiders returns for the second GW in a row, to make it five DZ visits on the season, while K&S is now right behind with four, and The Rising Son appears for the third time.

The weekly average score was 45.7.