S8M10: Bunching

Regular readers will know my active research is limited but I can't remember a time where we had 5 bunched clubs so close after 9 games of the season. 5 clubs within 2 points of each other. Feels very exciting not to have a runaway leader already, even if 1 of the 5 is just so superior to the rest.

The standard mid-table candidates - Everton, Leicester, Man Utd etc are all doing their thing in an almost perfect sequence - if Wolves had drawn one of their victories you'd have positions 6-12 with points 11-17. This makes me happy, but unfortunately it's not true. Bet you're glad you read that paragraph.

Then the dross has started to separate. Burnley and West Ham just about haul themselves up, along with Palace and Southampton. This is a shame, as the 4 utter dross clubs are preferable to many in the division, but frankly they're all awful and so can't really look beyond 3 of these 4 to go down even at this early stage. Obviously, change of manager and some learning to shoot (Huddersfield) or defend (Fulham) might change matters.

Oh - I've looked it up on 11v11.com and it was only 2 years ago that we had 5 clubs bunched by 1 point after 2 years. By my count, that makes both the first and second paragraph nonsense. I really do try...

Let's get statty:

This week, 26 people played
Most popular predicted results: Man City, Liverpool & Arsenal WINS (26/26)
Most disputed result: Cardiff vs Fulham (6-7-13 split)

Highest odds: Doron Salomon (1287/1)
Lowest odds: Steven Daniels 472/1
Average odds: 880/1

Best predictors: Eli Daniels & Andrew Feneley (7/10)
Worst predictor: Joe Abbott (3/10)
Average score: 5.23/10

Best predicted results: Man City, Liverpool & Arsenal WINS (26/26)
Worst predicted result: Bournemouth vs Southampton DRAW & Watford WIN (1/26)

Everyone's scores:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 7/9)

To this week's predos:

Brighton vs Wolves - WOLVES

Fulham vs Bournemouth - BOURNEMOUTH

Liverpool vs Cardiff - LIVERPOOL

Southampton vs Newcastle - SOUTHAMPTON

Watford vs Huddersfield - WATFPRD

Leicester vs West Ham - LEICESTER

Burnley vs Chelsea - CHELSEA

Crystal Palace vs Arsenal - ARSENAL

Man Utd vs Everton - MAN UTD

Tottenham vs Man City - MAN CITY

Good luck guys

S8M9: Boycott all things Algerian

As a general rule, I don't write a huge amount after an international break because it's not current and I can't really remember what happened before. As it happens however, this week I've remembered as I did my statty bit and recalled that godawful penalty at the end of the last game of the weekend. It was a crime against my predictions and a crime against humour as the same yawn-inducing jokes were rolled out from their post-Waddle/Baggio/Beckham hibernation. So yeah, this week's title is less cryptic than others are.

More Nations League stuff over the last 2 weeks and I've still not really bothered to look up what the benefit of winning your group etc is, so yay them. Unless you're Germany in which case, ouchy. Maybe the problem with the team isn't really due to great players not being Aryan after all...

Not a huge amount more to say - let's just get statty already:

This week, 26 people played
Most popular prediction: Spurs WIN (26/26)
Most disputed prediction: Palace vs Wolves (9-8-9 split)

Highest odds: Me 2114/1
Lowest odds: Doron 1150/1
Average odds: 1551/1

Best predictor: Joe Machta (8/10)
Worst predictor: 9 (NINE) of you (4/10)
Average score: 5.15/10

Best predicted result: Spurs WIN (26/26)
Worst predicted result: Bournemouth WIN (2/26)

Everyone's results:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 6/8)

This week's predos:

Chelsea vs Man Utd - CHELSEA

Bournemouth vs Southampton - BOURNEMOUTH

Cardiff vs Fulham - DRAW

Man City vs Burnley - MAN CITY

Newcastle vs Brighton - BRIGHTON

West Ham vs Spurs - SPURS

Wolves vs Watford - WOLVES

Huddersfield vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL

Everton vs Crystal Palace - EVERTON

Arsenal vs Leicester - ARSENAL

Good luck guys

S8M8: The Mourinho boxset is compulsive viewing

Regular readers will know that over the years, I've been forthright with my opinions with Mou. The breath of fresh air seen 14 years ago has long since gone stale & rancid. The siege mentality, the media manipulation and the simple but effective football has long gone, and the old emperor is left standing, naked and bitter, screaming abuse at passersby as he searches for a half-empty extra-strong cider bottle amidst the rubble at his feet. 

Scrumpy Jose amirite?

That said, he's nearly always been good value for a 3rd season meltdown, and Series 6 of Mou is not disappointing. Sure the plot is getting a bit predictable and formulaic, and we all know how the series ends, but it's still a great watch and the suspense is building.

This week's protagonist was West Ham, who have had a good little run since the last international break. Only ardent Hammer, Brad Allix backed them to beat Man Utd though - the power of faith eh?

No major shocks involving Spurs or Man City, whilst Arsenal defeated recent bogey team Watford with more comfort on the scoreboard than on the xG scoreboard. Cry me a river on that one. Everton & Leicester also picked up simple victories with Wolves continued their brilliant start to the season. Champions' League? You're sort of having a laugh...

Burnley & Bournemouth got back to winning ways, and finally, Liverpool managed to hold onto their unbeaten start with a cracker from Daniel Sturridge, who seems back in both fitness & form. City go top now, and will look to consolidate at Anfield on Sunday.

Let's get statty:

This week, 22 people played

Most popular predicted results: Spurs & Man City WINS (22/22)

Most disputed result: Cardiff vs Burnley (4-8-10 split)

Highest odds: Me 2453/1

Lowest odds: Steven Daniels 1454/1

Average odds: 1942/1

Best predictors: 6 of you (8/10)

Worst predictor: Gaj Thiru (3/10)

Average score: 6.5/10

Best predicted results: Spurs & Man City WINS (22/22)

Worst predicted results: West Ham WIN (1/22 - Well done Brad)

Everyone's results

Leaderboard (>2/3; 5/7)

This weeks's predos:

Brighton vs West Ham - WEST HAM
Burnley vs Huddersfield - BURNLEY
Crystal Palace vs Wolves - WOLVES
Leicester vs Everton - DRAW
Spurs vs Cardiff - SPURS
Watford vs Bournemouth - DRAW
Man Utd vs Newcastle - MAN UTD
Fulham vs Arsenal - ARSENAL
Southampton vs Chelsea - CHELSEA
Liverpool vs Man City - MAN CITY

Total odds: 2114/1

Good luck everyone