This blog is very delayed. Basically, since this game I've had an absolutely hectic schedule and when I've been off, the last thing I've wanted to do was sort out the blog - so took advantage of the fact that there were no further games to stick it on the back burner. Apologies for those of you waiting with baited breath to find out how the season ended.
The final day threw up no surprises - at least, none that changed the trajectory of the season. Man City very briefly went behind at Brighton, so for one minute, Liverpool were winning the league. However, they hit back instantly and were in front shortly after and that was that. Chelsea and Spurs held on to get top 4.
There seems little sense in rehashing the events of 3 weeks ago, so instead let's rattle out the stats, get straight to the leaderboard and then review the predictions made at the start of the season! We'll then move on to the FA Cup game for those who played.
Let's get statty:
This week, 18 people played
Most popular predicted result: Liverpool & Southampton WINS (18/18)
Most disputed result: Watford vs West Ham (6-6-6 split respectively)
Nobody submitted odds...
Best predictors: Steven Daniels & Joe Machta (7/10)
Worst predictor: Andrew Feneley (2/10)
Average score: 4.67/10
Best predicted result: Liverpool WIN (18/18)
Worst predicted results: Cardiff WIN & Southampton vs Huddersfield DRAW (0/18)
Everyone's scores:
And now...to the leaderboard...
Usual rules apply (>2/3; 25/37)
Congrats to the ECI, who, like Man City, just held off their closest rival to take the title. They become the 1st player to win multiple titles - number 2 for them. Congrats to Joe Abbott who was the best human player. Adrian Daniels brings up the rear, quite a way off the pace. Of note, Lawro had a shocker, which given he usually goes for a Liverpool win every week, and they actually won nearly every week is quite impressive.
The remainder - those who didn't play enough weeks to get onto the main leaderboard, in order of games played.
Let's look at some of the pre-season predictions. 14 of you were kind enough to furnish me with your predictions before Matchday 1 which I was prescient enough to tabulate in August, saving me loads of time now. Some people can feel pretty happy with their work, others...less so:
League Champions: 13 correctly went for Man City (RD, DS, JA, DSIL, JG, DB, TN, AK, SR, DWIG, JK, JMAC, WOD). Josh Daniels was more than slightly optimistic that Unai would come in and take the title.
2-3-4: Nobody got this totally right, although everyone had Liverpool to finish in the CL places. Lots of misplaced optimism for Arsenal & Man Utd. AK gets special mentions for being the only person who thought Spurs would still get top 4. 7 votes for Chelsea (RD, TN, JD, SR, JK, JMAC, WOD). On Mastermind scoring, I'm giving it to Will O'Doherty, who got LFC & CFC in their correct places (4 points). He thought Mourinho would have a decent season though...
Relegated: Everyone had Cardiff to go down. 12 had Huddersfield to join them (RD, DS, JA, JG, TN, AK, SR, DWIG, JK, JMAC, WOD). The 3rd team was trickier - Wolves (RD) was a bad call in hindsight, Spurs (DSIL) might have been wishful thinking. Brighton, Bournemouth and Southampton were all popular choices, but kudos to Joe Abbott who went for Fulham to get the perfect hat-trick.
FA Cup: Interestingly, and maybe it's a sign of priorities/squad size, but there was a big difference in predictions for the 2nd cup. Joe Abbott the only person to go for Man City, and therefore the only person to correctly predict a Man City domestic treble, to go with his 2nd place in the Leaderboard and getting all 3 relegated teams correctly. We might have to rename him from Yo to Auracle, after his favourite Ivorian Right Back. Several thought this would be the trophy to end the Klopp drought - I think with hindsight, he'll live with the disappointment. The usual smattering of Arsenal/Man Utd/Chelsea, which is mandatory when talking about the FA Cup, but some blue sky thinking from Will O'Doherty saw him pick 1995 winners Everton. They of course went out in the 4th Round to Milwall, after squeezing past Lincoln City 2-1 in Round 3.
1st Manager to go: Let's start with the atrocious choices. 4 (& 1/2) people went for Javi Gracia who ended up having a pretty good season all things considering. Nobody actually went for the correct manager which was Slavisa Jockanovic at Fulham. Next up was Mark Hughes, correctly predicted by David Brickman. Mourinho was the most popular option with 5 guess (and the next to go), whilst Hodgson and Warnock had 2 votes each. He of course, wasn't fired but did that weird Ostrich thing so should have been...
Best new signing: I was going to use WhoScored.com data to decide this but there are a lot of players and it all became a bit complicated. So it's decided by me, by the powers invested in me by me.
Will O'Doherty got sucked into the post-World Cup fever that always happens and went for Yerry Mina. He played only 13 games. The Toffees clearly were highly rated going into the season, with Josh Daniels also picking from their squad - Bernard his choice. Josh Gaon the other wildcard, choosing Seri. In fairness, at the time this could have been a blinder. Narrator voice: it wasn't
Everyone else went for a big club signing. In third place, I've gone for Lucas Torreira (DSIL) who looked brilliant when he played, but missed a couple of chunks of the season. As runner up, Naby Keita (DS, SR, DWIG, WOD) who we'd waited a year for, and then took a while to get established, but ended the season showing what the hype had been about. However, for me, there was a clear winner - correctly picked by Joni Kleiman & Tarek Najm, and that was Alisson who was such a significant improvement on his predecessors that he took Liverpool to 1 point off a League & European double.
Special mentions to Jorginho and Mahrez who were both good but didn't revolutionise their sides as hoped.
Worst new signing: Mahrez (JG, DWIG, JK) and Seri (JD) managed to get themselves in both categories. Fight it out amongst yourselves kids. I went for Deulofeu which wasn't a great look, whilst Mitrovic (DS), Sokratis (WOD) & Richarlison (TN) were all fine enough. Actually, I'm upgrading Mitrovic - he was pretty good.
So, my top (bottom) 3: in 3rd place, Kepa (AK) who was fine, but not £70m good. He was the most expensive goalkeeper to arrive, and was overshadowed by many others. In 2nd place, Fred (JA, DSIL, SR, JMAC) - the popular choice before the season. £50m did look poorly spent initially and he was quickly out of favour. A late season comeback of sorts under OGS suggests there might be a future for him at Old Trafford though. The winner however, in an inspired bit of predicting is Joe Hart, as called by David Brickman. He's gone from England & Man City no.1 to the Burnley reserves via Turin in little over 2 years. Sterling work from the big man - head & shoulders above the rest.
Top Scorer: A little easier to call here: Aubameyang was popular (RD, DSIL, JD, SR, JMAC & WOD). Salah has fans too in Tarek Najm & Aron Kleiman, Nobody saw Mane coming. Kane & Aguero the other nominees.
Golden Gloves: 6 calls for De Gea to repeat his past heroics fell on deaf ears and clubbed feet. 5 went for Ederson who was level on 20 clean sheets going into the last game, but conceded from Glenn Murray whilst Alisson kept a clean sheet at Wolves to win outright. Tarek Najm saw this coming. Single votes for Leno & Lloris were optimistic at best.
Will Harry Kane score in August? 9 correctly called this to be the year that the streak was broken (RD, DS, JA, AK, JD, SR, DWIG, JK, WOD). Josh Daniels gets an extra half a point for correctly predicting that it's be against Fulham, which he promptly loses for predicting that it'd be an own goal...
Overall, Tarek & Auricle had the best predictions, Josh Gaon the worst, only predicting Man City to win the league correctly.
Congratulations to all.
FA Cup Game
Now, I thought I was updated to the QF, but I can't find that post, so will go from there:
R6:
6 people played
Most popular predicted result: Man City WIN (6/6)
Most disputed prediction: Millwall vs Brighton (2-4 split)
Best predicted result: Man City WIN (6/6)
Worst predicted result: Wolves WIN (1/6 - Feneleys)
Best predictor: Feneleys (4/4)
Worst predictors: Steven Daniels, Josh Daniels & Joe Machta (2/6)
SF:
6 people played
Most popular predicted result: Man City WIN (6/6)
Most disputed prediction: Watford vs Wolves (2-4 split)
Best predicted result: Man City WIN (6/6)
Worst predicted result: Watford WIN (2/6)
Best predictor: Doron Salomon & Steven Daniels (2/2)
Worst predictors: The rest (1/2)
Final:
6 people plated
Most popular predicted result: Man City WIN (5/6)
Best predicted result...
Best Predictors: All those who weren't Steven Daniels (5/6)
Cumulative graph:
Total scores therefore:
So joint winners were Doron & I (2 trophies in a year), with the Feneleys & Josh Daniels joint 3rd place.
Monies to be transferred across imminently.
Thank you all once again for playing this season, enjoy your summers and we'll be back, full of sunburn and optimism in August.
