S10M3: SPF50

You know what's an unrecognised casualty of COVID? Glorious August football. Disgustingly hot. Bright sunshine where the keepers wear caps. The shadow of the stands creating a contrast that the cameras can't deal with as they pan. Short sleeves shirts, without undershirts

 As I write to you under grey skies in the last week of September, I realise that I miss the visual changes in football across the seasons. Sure the orange ball in the snow is long gone as the winter colour ball in used for half the season so Nike can sell a few more spheres, but we've lost the summer PL which is grouch inducing.

Anyway, what happened this week?

Everton continued their fast start under Ancelotti by beating their second relegation contender of the season. New striker DCL seems much better than old striker DCL. Leeds picked up where Kevin Keegan left off with their second 4-3 in 2 games, this time leaving with all the spoils against already relegated Fulham. Man Utd made their first appearance of the season hilariously losing at home to Palace to a dodgy penalty. Regression to the mean much. There's also the farce of VAR and retakes, but that's a topic I'm sure I'll come back to another week. Arsenal beat West Ham to continue their 100% record this season, leaving it late to break Hammers' hearts. The news then came out that the COVID secure bubble was not as secure as thought, with Moyes & 2 players testing positive subsequently. This is going to be fun....

Spurs, Brighton & Liverpool all got comfortable away wins in their matches, special mention to Kepa for taking 50 minutes of the season to tank his career in London. £70m well spent there. Leicester beat Burnley handily whilst Villa held on to take maximum points against Sheffield United, with a debut penalty save to win 2 points for Emi Martinez. Finally, Man City started their season against bogey side Wolves, who they proceeded to swat aside with minimal fuss to get their juggernaut rolling.

Let's get statty:

This week, 27 people played

Most popular predicted results: Arsenal & Everton WINS (27/27)
Most disputed prediction: Aston Villa vs Sheff Utd (8-15-4 split)

Highest odds: Zoe Daniels (2895/1)

Lowest odds: Josh Brickman (300/1)

Average odds: 1273/1

Best predictor: ECI (9/10)

Worst predictor: Gaj Thiru (4/10)

Average score: 6.63/10

Best predicted results: Arsenal & Everton WINS (27/27)

Worst predicted results: Crystal Palace WIN (0/27)

Everyone's results:

No leaderboard until next week

To this week's predictions

Good Luck all

S10M2: Family Affair

So the season begins, and as quickly as talk of fans coming back after a few games started, it's all gone quiet as we prepare for the next wave of COVID. Fortunately, this time, we're well stocked for entertainment as the Jose Mourinho documentary is on Amazon Prime now. I've not yet seen it, but it's a bizarre narrative line to take. Sure, it's *A* story line, but there's also, I dunno, the whole Pochettino third of a season that might warrant bit more coverage. The sceptic in  me wonders whether that Mourinho was hired because of the TV cameras given that the rest of the season was non-unique in it's interest. Anyway, we shall see going forward....

To the football however, and it was a rude welcome back to PL life for promoted clubs Fulham & WBA, each going down to 3-0 home defeats. Leeds also lost on their return, but were involved in another classic Anfield 4-3 with Salah cheating his way to 2 pens. I've not seen the incidents, just don't like his face.

Away wins was actually story of the weekend, with West Ham doing a West Ham and losing pathetically - new signings bedding themselves in at Newcastle to win 2-0, and similarly, the new look Everton midfield went rampaging through the remains of Harry Winks to ensure that Ancelotti's first full season in charge started off with a victory. Wolves and Chelsea also took 3 points back home from Sheffield & Brighton respectively. The only other match to be played was at Selhurst Park, where an early Zaha goal was enough to settle it in favour of the Owl led Eagles. Manchester has decided not to play football yet.

Let's get statty:

This week, 30 people played. Lots of new faces including several NexGen players - welcome all

Most popular predicted result: Arsenal WIN (30/30)

Most disputed prediction: Crystal Palace vs Southampton (10-11-9 split)

Highest odds: Zoe Daniels (6552/1)

Lowest odds: Josh Brickman (4/1 - are you sure....)

Average odds: 615/1

Best predictors: 6 of us (6/8 - 7.5/10 pro-rata)

Worst predictor: Zoe Daniels (1/8 - 1.25/10 pro rata)

Average score: 5.75/10

Best predicted result: Arsenal WIN (30/30)

Worst predicted result: Everton WIN (0/30)

Everyone's scores:

No Leaderboard until after Matchday 3

This week's predos:

Good luck all!

S10: Predos & M1

 Welcome back all after the shortest Impossibilibreak of all time. Approximately 24 hours separated the end of the COVID season and the start of a decade (bloody hell) of Impossibilitee. Honestly. a decade. 10- years. 120 months. A very large number of days. More data points in my database than atoms in the universe and it's all gone in the blink of an eye. If you closed your eyes for 10 years and didn't open them.

Normally, the excitement would be peaking. New kits purchased. New signings hyped. Pitches pristine and mowed to the millimetre. First match of the season flutters - the smell of the fried onions at the burger van, little smile as you see the new gear the very unofficial fan paraphernalia seller has got, little look of disdain at the half-half scarf elves, a little peak at the new programme design, inside the ground early to savour it all in...

And this time - nada. Not even a TV deal (yet) to watch it on. So it'll be MOTD & illegal streams before a lucky few make their way through the autumnal leaves to sit far apart in what's probably a more pitiful experience than the empty stadia.

I don't know if things will every go back to the way they were - and whilst obviously I'm excited to see Mikel Arteta continue to lift a trophy/match and become the first manager in UK history to do the sextuple, it's tinged with sorrow that it won't happen like it used to.

Anywho - the show must go on and so, in time honoured Impossibilitee style, we'll kick off with some pre-season predictions and then go to Matchday 1 predictions.

Slight change this year: Choose your Top 6 in order - We'll be using Mastermind style scoring (3 points for right team in right spot, 1 point for right team, wrong spot) to see who's the best predictor here. And for best & worst signing - I know the Transfer Window won't close for ages, so feel free to predict who it'll be even if they haven't actually signed. Extra jeopardy there. 

As ever, please share, amplify and let's make the 10th season of Impossibilitee the biggest and best yet. The tech can now take it....

For anyone new - the Rules tab at the top has everything you need to know. 10 match accumulator odds are optional for those who wish to include - it's not a core part of the game

Season Predictions

Matchday 1 Predictions

Reminders

The blog has historically gone out weekly, ~2 days before the weekend games, but this year's fixture schedule might be more of a challenge to keep on top of, so there will likely be blog posts with multiple game weeks to ensure that the game doesn't fall apart when life intervenes with football.

I offer reminders in the following ways:

Email - Facebook (for real world contacts only, sorry) - Twitter & WhatsApp via the Impossibilitee Group (very quiet otherwise). If you're not already part of one or more of these methods and want to receive reminders to post predictions, please complete this quick form and I'll sort it out. All data is used only for the purposes of blog reminders until Amazon offer me serious money for your personal data. You listening Bezos?

Good luck all - looking forward to a great season