After what seems a very long time thanks to the international break, the NMA-11 cup finally came back to life in GW-32.
The unusual single-game week still produced some surprises, so those who banked on Arsenal and Man United players were disappointed. Tottenham continued their recent excellent form and their attacking threesome of Kane, Kulusevski and especially Son scored nicely. But it wasn’t all good there either, with the highly-fancied Doherty picking up an early injury and returning only one point.
Chelsea players were picked with caution, bearing in mind that the game was squeezed within the vise of Champions League matches — yet Havertz and especially Mount rewarded those who gambled. Reece James on the other hand featured only briefly.
The big match of course was the supposedly title-deciding match-up between Man City and Liverpool, which in the event was quite entertaining but didn’t decide anything. It finished a 2-2 draw that left the title race as tangled as ever. A few players returned decent results just into double figures, including TAA, KDB and Cancelo. Most others disappointed, with only Gabriel Jesus really earning well at 21 points. Well done if you picked him — I haven’t seen anyone who did!
With a wide range of players to pick from, scores might have been expected to vary a lot. Indeed, while 40 teams earned 120 points or better, quite a few highly-placed teams failed to reach 100, with one of the highest-placed teams in the league tallying only 50.5 points; selecting seven players from Man United and Arsenal did not pay off at all!
Sixteen teams entered the cup round, mostly coming as expected from the higher reaches of our league. As it happens, the two highest scoring teams were the two ‘League 1’ sides left: Team redstoglory (aka. Charlton Athletic) earned 150 points, and Team ivangyc (aka. Oxford United) earned 144.4. Each defeated higher seeded opposition in AREIRTE HELLAS (aka. Millwall) and Team paulys_dreamteam (aka Everton).
Half of the eight ties were decided by more than 40 points, but there were two very close matches. Team Chris_Manfredi (Fulham) defeated Team sakiv 123.5 to 120, but the closest game was DISCO ARGYLE (Brentford) just squeezing past Team SouthHorizons (Middlesbrough) 126 to 124.5.
Last seasons’s league champions and Blog Cup winner 183168 is also forging ahead at the top of this year’s league, now with an 81.5 lead over everyone — and they’re still going in the cup too, having beaten Team JCUnited1 141.5 to 96.5. Can anyone beat them?
Team SouthHorizons picks up the award for the unluckiest team of the round — not for losing by the smallest amount (although they win that award too), but for the highest losing score. The most fortunate team of the round award (lowest winning score) goes to my own team, The Motley Crewe (Southampton) who scraped through with 116 points, thanks to Team durotrulo (West Bromwich Albion) managing only 103.5. That’s a slightly embarrassing prize, but you have to have some good fortune in a competition like this!
Here are the results in full:
NMA-11 Cup Round 5 results
Eqivalent team | Team | Score | : | Score | Team | Eqivalent team |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Eqivalent team | Team | Score | : | Score | Team | Eqivalent team |
Sutton United | Team stormtrooper84 | 119 | : | 130 | OGZ Hall Of Fame | Birmingham City |
Everton | Team paulys_dreamteam | 101 | : | 144.5 | Team ivangyc | Oxford United |
Brighton and Hove Albion | Team JCUnited1 | 96.5 | : | 141.5 | 183168 | Manchester City |
Brentford | DISCO ARGYLE | 126 | : | 124.5 | Team SouthHorizons | Middlesbrough |
West Bromwich Albion | Team durotrulo | 103.5 | : | 116 | The Motley Crewe | Southampton |
Burnley | [TyF] SAROMAGDEN84 | 84 | : | 124.5 | Team DavidBrian | Coventry City |
Blackpool | Team sakiv | 120 | : | 123.5 | Team Chris_Manfredi | Fulham |
Charlton Athletic | Team redstoglory | 150 | : | 105 | AREIRTE HELLAS | Millwall |
Quarterfinals Draw
Just eight teams remain, so we’ve reached the quarterfinal stage. We have three ‘Premier league’ teams, three ‘Championship’ teams and two from ‘League 1’.
This is how the quarter finals draw looks:
NMA-11 Cup Quarter Finals fixtures
Equiv team | Team | v | Team | Equiv team |
---|---|---|---|---|
Equiv team | Team | v | Team | Equiv team |
Southampton | The Motley Crewe | v | Team Chris_Manfredi | Fulham |
Brentford | DISCO ARGYLE | v | OGZ Hall Of Fame | Birmingham City |
Manchester City | 183168 | v | Team ivangyc | Oxford United |
Coventry City | Team DavidBrian | v | Team redstoglory | Charlton Athletic |
As usual there are some noteworthy fixtures:
First up is a blog authors match-up between my own The Motley Crewe and Team Chris_Manfredi. Only 16 points separate our teams, in 7th and 8th places in the league respectively, so this could be a close match. But I’m well aware what excellent form Chris’ team has been in recently, and I’ll need to make some much better decisions than I’ve been if I’m to win through.
Another sees DISCO ARGYLE against OGZ Hall Of Fame, remarkably even closer in the league than the first pairing, separated by a mere 1.5 points in 20th and 21st! It’s another tie that is impossible to predict.
The third tie sees runaway leader 183168 take on Team ivangyc. This is first against 46th, a gap of 521.5 points, so at first glance looks one-sided, but if it had taken place this week then the underdog would have won through!
The final tie sees another blog author in action, Team DavidBrian taking on Team redstoglory. This is 15th against 57th — and the second round in succession that David’s team is pitted against the lowest-ranked team left in the competition. Are the fantasy gods smiling on David this year? There are 270 points between these teams in the league, but this one also would have gone the way of the underdog if it had taken place this week.
These ties will take place in GW-34 which runs from April 23rd to 25th. At the moment, it’s a “normal” single-game week with a “normal” Saturday deadline — quite a rarity this year!
Did you take part in Round-5? If so, how did you fare? If you made it into Round-5, let’s hear from you about your chances — come on, you are one of the final eight, don’t be shy! And which of you who were eliminated earlier would’a could’a should’a beaten most of this week’s winners? Please log in and share in the comments.
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