S4M10: Singing the Praises of Allardici

Typing that title made me feel a wee bit queasy. However, the Big Sam Walrus man has now beaten both Liverpool & Man City this season - and arguably deserved both those wins. Someone wrote into the F365 mailbox this week detailing his record since he was at Bolton, and generally, he's done pretty well once he's taken a season or 2 to stabilise. The big question is whether this is intentional, or a stroke of luck by having the temptation of Andy Carroll taken away from him. We'll never know, because he's one of those managers ('Arry as another prime example) who take the credit when it's going well and shift the blame when it's not....and that bugs me, so I hope for the latter.

What else? Well late goals at Old Trafford and the Hawthorns saw draws there, whilst QPR won for the first time since a long time, and Newcastle continued their revival with a good win at the Lane. I was driving home from work when they were playing and the commentary went something like this:

"Newcastle get us under way in the second half with Remy Caballa, a second half substituuuuuu.......*background roar*....they've equalised! 7 seconds on the clock"

I went something like this:

Seriously....I swear if Spurs didn't exist, someone would have to invent them. Also my car is not a massive truck.

Sunderland didn't score loads of own goals this week, but they might as well have done, losing 2-0 to Alexis Sanchez & 9 other yellow statues. Balotelli did his shtick of playing well enough for a neutral to think he was alright, whilst contriving to miss a great chance to wind up the Scouser Keyboard Army. Southampton kept up their worryingly good form and Swansea & Everton both won their bankers.

All in all, a nice fun weekend - less mental than I'd have hoped for though.

Let's get statty:

This week, 22 people played
Most popular predicted result: Man City WIN (22/22)
Most disputed result: QPR vs Aston Villa (9-4-9 split)

Highest odds: Josh Daniels 4407/1
Lowest odds: Feneley 963/1
Average odds: 2007/1

Best predictors: Quite a few (6/10 - see below)
Worst predictor - Lawro - horror show 1/10
Average score: 4.50/10

Best predicted result: Southampton WIN (20/22)
Worst predicted results: West Ham & Newcastle WINS (0/22)

Everyone's results:

Er...ignore JC & JT. They didn't play, not play & get 0.

To the leaderboard now, for those who have played >2/3 of weeks or 7/10:

Lawro's shocker sees him drop into second place. There are a few minor movements elsewhere, but 2 new entries...so let's get everyone onto the leaderboard this year!

To this week's predos:

Newcastle vs Liverpool - DRAW

Arsenal vs Burnley - ARSENAL

Chelsea vs QPR - CHELSEA

Everton vs Swansea - DRAW

Hull vs Southampton - DRAW

Leicester vs WBA - LEICESTER

Stoke vs West Ham - STOKE

Man City vs Man Utd - MAN CITY

Aston Villa vs Spurs - SPURS

Crystal Palace vs Sunderland - DRAW

Total odds: 4674/1 (PaddyPower)

Good luck guys!

S4M9: There's always one...

So I'm not actually bothered enough to do the research to substantiate this claim, but it seems that every season, there's always one team who everyone constantly overrates. Chelsea previously under AVB, Man Utd last season and this season, to my immense personal sadness, it's the turn of Arsenal.

Last week, all 21 players went for an Arsenal win, About 3 minutes away from 100% being about as wrong as can be (although technically all still wrong, but there are degrees of right and wrong...right?). What else happened? Well I reckon this was the weekend of the refs - the Hull equaliser being a good place to start. Then we had the debacle at Stoke (50% - Shawcross was a pen, Moses wasn't), then the hoary old refs-biased-towards-the-big-teams thing from Warnock - both red cards correct in that game in my opinion. Similarly, all 4 penalties were fair calls in my view at the Etihad in the Aguero show (surely the best umlauted player in the division, although I'm sure some clever clogs will point out that it's not an umlaut, it's a diphthong but whatevs, we're all just slaves to the double dot).

Big Sam is rolling back the years to when Bolton were good and not totally thuggish, it's fair to say that Roy Keane's beard had semi-Samsonite powers (not Sansomite, which is more alcohol related) and this bright new Dutch dawn somewhere in Salford is yet to fully bloom. Newcastle also seem to have won for the first time since Jackie Milburn, suggesting that Leicester used all their good play this year in one second half come back.

Comedy points this week go to the Sunderland defence (and Mannone - shockers for about 3 goals) whilst the award for Best Mimicry of an historic Cup final goes to QPR & Liverpool* for their improv performance of the 1979 Five-Minute final, but even better, A corker of an own goal from Caulker at the end. Sorry.

*shared - like the 1991 charity shield.

Let's get statty:

This week, 21 people played.
Most popular predicted result: Arsenal WIN(21/21)
Most disputed result: Burnley vs West Ham (3-10-8 split)

Highest odds: Andrew Feneley's Mum (obvs) 59, 672/1
Lowest odds: Me 619/1
Average odds: 9287/1 (890/1 without the anomalous entry above)

Best predictors: Er...lots of people (7/10 - see graph)
Worst predictor: Andrew Feneley's Mum (2/10)
Average score: 5.71/10

Best predicted results: Man City, Chelsea & Liverpool WINS (19/21)
Worst predicted result: Arsenal vs Hull DRAW (0/21)

Everyone's scores:

To the league table:

There was a lot of guff last week about how your scores didn't make mathematical sense. To this, I say one thing - does anyone actually, really understand maths? Though not. It's all made up anyway. So yeah - assume this is correct and if it's not, suck it up, 'cos you're still above me (unless you're not in which case, complain away).

Lawro continues his storming start, ahead of FA Cup Gaon. The quiet man of Impossibilitee sits 3rd, like a crocodile at the watering hole, waiting for his chance, along with perennial good-predictor Dinks. Andrew Feneley's Mum still (!?!?!?!?!?) sits in mid-table, just ahead of Yo Abbott, whilst my closest male relatives form a lovely number pattern (.44, .33, .22 - cool). EuroClubIndex sits joint bottom with a horror show so far this year.

In conclusion, kids, with ~25% of the season gone, Lawro > Science.

To this week's predos:

West Ham vs Man City - MAN CITY
Liverpool vs Hull - DRAW
Southampton vs Stoke - SOUTHAMPTON
Sunderland vs Arsenal - ARSENAL
WBA vs Crystal Palace - DRAW
Swansea vs Leicester - SWANSEA
Burnley vs Everton - EVERTON
Spurs vs Newcastle - SPURS
Man Utd vs Chelsea - CHELSEA
QPR vs Aston Villa - DRAW

Total odds: 3136/1 (PaddyPower)

Good luck guys.

S4M8: International Love

Well hello there friends. Nice break?

The formality that is qualifying for Euro 2016 had meant we've had a break weekend - and the casualty of this weekend is EuroClubIndex who have removed their predos from the website for last weekend. Therefore, they don't have an entry for M7, unless someone knows how to find caches pages on the internet.

The papers seem to have spent the last few days talking about the decision to rest Sterling when he said he was tired, instead of pointing out that, comparative to most other countries, we're actually doing pretty well. Drama sells papers etc etc, but it's pretty tiresome.

Going back to the PL, Man Utd seem to have hit their stride with 2 consecutive home wins. I can just hear Surrey starting to warm up their cocky notes again. City & Liverpool also looked scratchy whilst picking up maximum points and Leicester & Swansea's bright starts seem to have faltered. In London, MoPo beat RoKo in the Spurs/Saints grudge match, whilst the inevitable happened at Stamford Bridge - a 2-0 win for JoMo and his band of horrible sewer dwellers. However, it was, in my opinion, not as bad as the scoreline points out - and with a different ref (not saying he was biased, just crap), my optimistic shout for a point could have come true. I accept that we wouldn't have had the penalty for handball as no-one handballed it, in the sameway that no-one played a through ball for Diego Costa. Ya dig? *Sob*

Let's get statty:

This week, 19 people played
Most popular predicted results: Liverpool & Man City WINS (19/19)
Most disputed result: Spurs vs Southampton (6-8-5 split)

Highest odds: Sam Ruback 3917/1
Lowest odds: Doron (!!!!) 866/1 - the reason you were so different to me is the 2 games you scored higher than me!
Average odds: 2101/1

Best predictors: Lawro & Josh Gaon (9/10)
Worst predictors: er...me and Josh Daniels (4/10). I get a moral point for not predicting what I actually thought though...

Best predicted results: Liverpool & Man City WINS (19/19)
Worst predicted result: Leicester vs Burnley DRAW (2/19)

Everyone's results:

I know ECI are still there but just ignore them.

Leaderboard (>2/3 weeks or 6/8):

Lawro returns to the top as we pass the 20% stage. Could he be the 1st to win 2 trophies? Newbies Andrew Feneley's Mum & Yo Abbott sit solidly in the mid-table I ain't doing so great, but nothing compares to the Moyesian descent of reigning champions ECI (who may have inadvertently suffered from the delayed posting. Oopsie).

To this week's predos: 

Man City vs Spurs - MAN CITY
Arsenal vs Hull - ARSENAL
Burnley vs West Ham - WEST HAM
Crystal Palace vs Chelsea - CHELSEA
Everton vs Aston Villa - DRAW
Newcastle vs Leicester - NEWCASTLE
Southampton vs Sunderland - SOUTHAMPTON
QPR vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL (cricket score)
Stoke vs Swansea - STOKE
WBA vs Man Utd - MAN UTD

Total odds: 619/1 (PaddyPower)

Good luck chums, I'm off to ensure that I get the ECI predos in for this week.

S4M7: Autumn's here

My apologies for the brevity of this blog (although some may prefer it that way) - I've had a John  Terry of a week at work and my hands and brain have gone on strike.

I'd just like to state that I knew it was going to be like this when I failed to place my usual array of bets before the matchday started, and subsequently found nearly every game going as I'd picked it. Mr Murphy can stick his law where the son don't shine.

Anyway - Derby day saw no winners either in North London or Liverpool. Chelsea mourinho'd Aston Villa, WBA scored 46% of their season quota of goals in 1 game, and Alan Pardew predictably lost (again) and didn't lose his job. In other news, 2 contenders for goal of the season ensured value for money at St Mary's, Palace got a pretty tidy result against a Leicester side high on confidence after beating Man Utd in their last outing, and Man City gave a typical City performance of the last year - irresistible going forward, irresistant at the back. Might have made that word up. Finally, Man Utd looked to have blown their cobwebs away, but then Rooney did a Rooney and they ended up clinging on for dear life, like a cat on a motivational poster. I've ignored the other game 'cos it was too dull to warrant attention on MOTD and I'm now a consumer, not a fan, hmmm-kay?

Let's get statty:

This week, 21 people played
Most popular predicted result: Chelsea & Man City WINS (21/21)
Most disputed result: Sunderland vs Swansea (6-8-7 split)

Highest odds: Josh Daniels (20,080/1)
Lowest odds: Feneley (560/1)
Average odds: 6070/1

Highest predictors: Me, Charlie R, Sam R & Will O'D (8/10)
Worst predictors: Nathan Daniels & Joe 'Yo' (seriously taken to that app eh?) Abbott (4/10)
Average scores: 6.05/10

Best predicted results: Chelsea & Man City WINS (21/21)
Worst predicted result: Palace WIN & Arsenal vs Spurs DRAW (3/10)

Everyone's scores:

To the leaderboard, for those who have played >2/3 of available matches (5/6):

Loads of movement at the bottom - not so much at the top, although last season's champion, EuroClub Index is doing a Man Utd 2013-2104 of a start. I'm sure they'll recover it though....

To this week's predos:

Hull vs Crystal Palace - HULL
Leicester vs Burnley - LEICESTER
Liverpool vs WBA - LIVERPOOL
Sunderland vs Stoke - DRAW
Swansea vs Newcastle - SWANSEA
Aston Villa vs Man City - MAN CITY
Man Utd vs Everton - DRAW
Spurs vs Southampton - SOUTHAMPTON
Chelsea vs Arsenal - DRAW (positive mental attitude)
West Ham vs QPR - WEST HAM

Total odds: 3715/1 (PaddyPower)

Good luck guys!