One week is in the books, and what a start to the season it has been. We have teams that we thought would be contenders, losing games. Teams that can't score, winning games. Teams that refuse to win or lose, and only draw. It has been a competitive week top to bottom. Let's break down the table and see how things have shaped up thus far. 1. Sunderland: Bitetto has led his team into first place as the only undefeated team left in LGFA. Sunderland finished with 14 points, going 4-2-0 in Week 1, scoring 12 goals while only allowing 4. Bitetto02 has linked up nicely once again with Collier l 11 l as they have each potted a league leading four goals in the first week. Brisan66 is the facilitator so far dishing out three apples to help keep the offense healthy. Defensively, The Coal Cats have managed three clean sheets. Joker l 1 l has been a wall, leading the league in saves with 34, at an impressive 89.5 % save percentage. Sunderland looks like they are going to be a team to be reckoned with all season. A good balance of offense and defense has the rest of the league playing catch up after Week 1. 2. Newcastle: Newcastle finds themselves in a familiar place currently sitting second in the table after Week 1. A strong first week that saw them going 4-0-2, with those two losses coming at the feet of Hull City and Southampton. 9 goals scored with 3 goals conceded is a winning recipe. Season 9 showed us a Newcastle team without the ability to keep a clean sheet. While only keeping 5 clean sheets last season, the new and improved Season 10 Magpies have already kept 4 in the first week. Austin McA and Beckenbauer l6l are leading a strong, consistent defense in front of the difference maker this season, zMayhemIV. Mayhem is tied for the goalie lead in clean sheets, with an impressive 30 saves, and a 91.9 save percentage. eLeX Lazer and MUTxMASTERxKING share the team lead with 3 goals each, with two assists coming from Jabo l 9 l. We knew that this team could score, and it seems that they have put more of an emphasis on defense this season. Through some late week moves, CKlassen and l Money l have found their new home in the Toon. Look out for Newcastle to have their best season since the departure of Santiago Munez. 3. Hull City: The reigning champions also kicked off season 10 with a 12 point Week 1 outing. The Tigers went 4-0-2 this week with a pair of 1-Nil losses to Chelsea and Manchester City. Unsurprisingly the Hull defense has looked strong only allowing 3 goals this week. The high powered offense found the net seven times. EcF Rodriguez is the leader with 3 tallies, and the assist leader is Unlucky Duke who has been lacing up his striker boots in the latter part of the week. Always eager to trade, Soccer SM 10 has once again brought Unlucky Evo to Hull City. The third time was the charm as this time around the trade was approved, sending King x Neymar, GeriatricPickl3, and Officer Nastii to Man City. The trade seems to be the fairest of the three attempts, and will benefit both teams. Hull City already has a great roster, and when Evo and the offense starts firing they will be hot on the heels of first place Sunderland. 4. Manchester United Defense wins championships. We have heard it time and time before. The Red Devils are doing everything in their power to show us that this statement rings true in LGFA. United finished Week 1 with a 3-2-1 record for 11 points. An impressive week. An even more impressive week when you realize that they achieved that record despite only scoring 3 goals. How? How did they do that you ask? By only allowing 1 goal all week. A lone goal to Chelsea to open the season. l Vendi l is the leader of this defense, with gateteo contributing at both DM and CB, and tsuifa being a rock at RB. A defense that leads LGFA in clean sheets with 5. Itz Hotpants has been there for 4 clean sheets, saving 24 out of 25 shots faced for a league leading 96% save percentage. This defense has been great, but as some point they will need some goal support. TIMBORULES has found the back of the net twice, which is two thirds of their total goals. This is a defensive team that plays defensively. If they can find some firepower, this team could very well be a contender. 5. Liverpool: Out of the three teams sitting 3-0-3 with 9 points, Liverpool boasts the best goal differential with 10 goals scored and 11 conceded. They beat the teams they should have beat, and lost to the teams they should have lost to, which leaves them the best of the middle of the table. Reigning Ballon D'or winner l Murked l has had a strong start to his Reds career, scoring two goals and assisting two more. He is getting some offensive help from CB/ST VanB Matthias, as well as TnTin0 who leads the team in assists. Despite the efforts of owner and part time goalkeeper bu11dog91, Liverpool has allowed the second most goals in LGFA. The acquisition of xCr4ckx Ochoa will immediately help out this problem, which puts the second highest scoring offense in an interesting place going into Week 2. 6. Chelsea: There is something to be said about a team that is out to prove themselves. There is no doubt that Chelsea is out to prove me, and all of their early neighsayers wrong this season. Chelsea came out strong in Week 1 with 9 points, a 3-0-3 record, and two big wins against Manchester United and Hull City. They finished the week with a -2 goal differential, scoring 8 and conceding 10. Offense by committee seems to be the tactic of choice with six different players hitting the back of the net. It is still too early to see how this Chelsea team is going to progress as the season plays out, but as of Week 1 we know they are coming to play. 7. Manchester City: Man City has had a good week on the field, and a rough week off of it. Let's start with the positives. 3-0-3 with 9 points is a solid week for the team with the most drama of Week 1. Season 10 has seen it's first owner casualty as ANGELSKYWALKER3 has been issued a three season ban. Stepping up to save the team is xCFx l GATOR l, and he is immediately making changes. A series of trades has brought in his new GM, goalkeeper The Worthy 1, as well as King x Neymar, Top Schneck, and GeriatricPickl3. Gone however are arguably the three best players of his inherited roster in l Money l, Unlucky Evo, and Elusive Khalifa. City goes into Week 2 with a new owner, new roster, and the same title dreams. It will be interesting to see which direction this new City team will go. 8. Southampton Our Preseason Cup Champions have had a tough first week of the season. An undefeated preseason was followed up by a 7 point 2-1-3 Week 1. Despite being blown out by Sunderland, and blowing out Chelsea, all of the other Saint's games have been one goal battles. KCNightshade leads the team with two goals, with Nedved l 11 l leading the way with two assists. Nubsy004 has brought in defensive help as a trade brings center back Ozzyy M4L in to help out XGN MapleSyrup. Goals is having a difficult start defending his Golden Gloves, boasting 19 saves at a disappointing 42.9 save percentage. Southampton is going to have to dig in and start winning these close games if they want to make a run up the table. 9. Watford The Hornets had a disappointing start to the season going 2-0-3 with a game in hand. The defense which was tied for the lead in clean sheets last season, has now allowed 12 goals through Week 1. The offense managed 7 goals with rF Owen leading the way with way with a pair. xJettx seems confident with his team as he made no roster moves, and will continue to trust z Uh Oh and Shenanigan10 to lock up the defense. Availability seems to be the big question after Week 1, as two of their losses came after fielding only eight players. Watford is going to have to find their form quickly if they want to keep pace with the top of the table. 10. Arsenal Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. Unless you are Arsenal, in which case you only draw. One of the two winless teams in LGFA, the Gunners managed 5 points this week, with an impressive 0-5-1 record. They have only scored 5 goals, with 4 of those coming from CrYoGeNiiKs FX who carried the offensive burden. A bright spot is that this defense only conceded 5 goals. With GM goalkeeper Psycho7Clutch yet to play, CreepyKlepto has turned to Scott Swag City to protect the Emirates. Scott has 24 saves with an 80.8 save percentage since arriving in a trade from Watford after preseason. Arsenal has played every team close this season, and if they can close out some of these games, their spot on the table could be higher. 11. Everton An early favorite, has turned into an early disappointment. Everton finished the first week of the season with only 4 points, and an underwhelming 1-1-4 record. H4VENS is leading the offense with three goals in Week 1, and Bauer l 43 l has shut the front door with 30 big saves at a 78.9 save percentage. Seemingly unhappy with their performance, Fatal Enjoyment has called in some reinforcements. rF Shiek, dT l Weigl, and Elusive Khalifa have all found a new home and will be looking to make an immediate impact. Everton has a roster that looks better than it performed. So it is time for them to live up to their expectations, or they could end up being one of the biggest disappointments in recent seasons. 12. Tottenham Spurs sit winless at the bottom of the table, but do have a reschedule against Watford in hand. The offense and the defense have each let each other down with only 5 goals scored, and 10 conceded. Owner JLANE91 led by example this week netting himself a team leading 3 goals. Tottenham will start Week 2 with an upgraded roster as Unlucky Dustin and Unlucky DBlock have both joined the North London side through Blind Bidding. This team finds itself at the bottom of the table this week, but has made an effort to strengthen it's core. Tottenham and Everton are going to be coming out strong in Week 2 to improve their spot in the standings. This has been one of the more balanced weeks in LGFA as of recently, and it is shaping up to be a strong Week 2. There is a lot of talent, and a lot of brewing storylines that we look forward to exploring next week. Stay tuned for Week 1 TOTW coming next.
