S10M7: Bang

 Regular readers will know that there are very few public holidays in Impossibililand. Avowedly French in the approach to secular norms, whilst Stakhanovite in the effort expected from the elves, providing you, dearest friends, with a regular product consumes all hours of the day.

With one exception.

Every year, on one special day, the office is padlocked up and Impossibilistaff skip merrily away to imbibe and toast to the fabled Arsene D'Or. My friends, the movable feast of Invincibles Day is the pressure release valve in the otherwise Lowryesque existence behind this shiny interface.

So, it is with great relish that the workforce, after a scare last season (God bless Troy Deeney) were able to celebrate so early this year. 2020 has been tough on everyone, but a double celebration of the end of the unbeaten run (both times, Merseyside clubs holding out) has no doubt recharged batteries of the drones, before the Gradgrindian management looks to eke out ever more.

Yes, Aston Villa and Everton both lost. Wasters. As did Fulham and Sheffield United who are also using up valuable oxygen. 6 games in and I've written them both off too. Irritants. Draws Galore with both Manchester clubs being held by London giants West Ham & FatCats Chelsea respectively, as well as late equalisers for Newcastle and Brighton securing points against Midlanders Wolves and WBA. Finally, it was a tale of 2 VARs at the Emirates as Leicester came away with all 3 points, as did Spurs from and equally waste of space Burnley.

We didn't touch on the Project Big Picture or whatever it was called, and I'm boradly opposed BUT there are a lot of clubs I wouldn't mind seeing the back of.

Let's get statty...

This week, 29 people played

Most popular predicted result: Liverpool WIN (28/1)

Most disputed prediction: Fulham vs Crystal Palace (4-9-16 split)

Highest odds: Zoe (2359/1)

Lowest odds: Doron (925/1)

Average odds: 1268/1

Best predictor: Gaj (6/10)

Worst predictor: Loads of you (2/10)

Average score: 3.55/10

Best predicted result: Liverpool WIN (28/1)

Worst predicted results: West Ham vs Man City DRAW & Leicester WIN (2/29)

Everyone's scores:

Leaderboard (>2/3 matchdays; 5/6)

This week's predos:

Good luck all

S10M6: Level Pegging

Unexpected results abound so far this season. The lack of pre-season? No fans? Regression to the mean for overperforming Liverpool & City sides and underperforming others reducing the range? Who knows.

What we do know is that the historic, statistically significant home advantage seems to have gone and that defensive organisation also has been suspect, with only 1 scoreless draw so far.

I owe you a rattle through of 2 weeks worth of football....

Matchday 4 saw big wins for Chelsea, Everton and Newcastle, as well as the Master-Apprentice game at Elland Road ending in a draw between Bielsa & Pep. West Ham continued their good form, winning away at Leicester whilst Arsenal, Southampton and Wolves all won at home. Big wins & big defeats followed - Spurs sticking 6 past a feeble Man Utd at Old Trafford was hilarious, but then trumped by Villa putting 7 - SEVEN - past Liverpool. Superb.

Then this week, it was all much tighter. Draws galore - the Merseyside derby, Chelsea & Spurs throwing away big leads, and the weird Palace/Brighton derby and Sheffield Utd/Fulham also ended in stalemate, as well as the aforementioned scoreless draw between WBA and Burnley. Both Manchester sides won, as with Wolves, late away at Leeds and Villa made it 4 wins from 4 beating Leicester away. Incredible scenes.

Let's get statty

M4

This week, 29 people played

Most popular prediction: Liverpool WIN (29/29)

Most disputed predicted result: Man Utd vs Newcastle (13-12-4 split)

Highest odds: Josh Brickman (3000/1)

Lowest odds: Josh Daniels (117/1)

Average odds: 821/1

Best predictors: AFM, Josh Brickman & Joseph Machta (7/10)

Worst predictor: Loads of you (4/10)

Average score: 5.31/10

Best predicted result: Chelsea & Everton WINS (28/29)

Worst predicted result: Aston Villa WIN (0/29)

Everyone's scores:

M5

This week, 29 people played

Most popular prediction: Chelsea WIN (28/29)

Most disputed predicted result: Newcastle vs Man Utd (9-7-13 split)

Highest odds: AFM (28,982/1)

Lowest odds: Doron (2442/1)

Average odds: 10178/1

Best predictor: Doron & ECI (5/10)

Worst predictor: Josh Daniels (0/10)

Average score: 2.62/10

Best predicted result: Everton WIN (18/29)

Worst predicted result: Chelsea vs Southampton DRAW (0/29)

Everyone's scores:

Leaderboard (>2/3 week, 4/5)

Very nice. More of this please

This week's predos:

Good luck all!

S10M5: Placeholder returns

 Remember how organised and stuff I was before.

Well the good news if normal service has returned and I've spent an entire international break not doing the blog which menas that when I came back on night shifts, nothing's happened. I need to hire some lackeys.

So will update this bit with some results when I get a chance over the weekend, but for now, here are some predos

Good Luck!

S10M4: Thanks for Playing

Apparently we're in October already. 2020 is a black hole of a year isn't it. Time flies when you're dodging inanimate particles only nanometres across as the old saying goes. That means that this is the final matchday before a break for international football so there's that to look forward to...

Matchday 3 saw the return of some old friends. Fergie Time came out of retirement with a 2020 twist - this time, the game can finish before Man Utd score. Seems normal for this season. DCL scored again to give Everton another win - a hat-trick, followed up with another hat-trick in the League Cup midweek. Madness. WBA  showed up Chelsea's porous defence racing into a 3-0 lead, before £1bn worth of attacking talent was shoved aside by 3 academy lads who rescued a point. Danny Ings did a Danny Ings and scored the winner at Turf Moor. Side bet - I reckon Dyche will do an Eddie Howe at the end of the season. All feels very stale oop north.

The first Yorkie derby since 1990 or something was a Game of Thrones affair, with Ned Stark's Blades losing out to Jaime Lannister's er....Whites. *SPOILER*  - again. Another reffing howler occurred at Spurs where Eric Dier decided to cunningly handball with his back turned to Andy Carroll's header at him from 2mm away. Even Bruce felt they were hard-done by. Wilson still smashed it in for a point though, which made me reminisce of the good old days where Robbie Fowler dived to win a pen, had a fit of conscience and let Seamen save it, before McAteer smashed in the rebound to win the game. "Sportsmanship" eh? The second Jamie party happened at Man City where Vardy went full Madchester for a famous win. Leicester still in the mix for their 2nd title in 5 years. West Ham & Aston Villa also recorded very comfortable victories, before the refereeing shocker numero 3 at Anfield where Sadio Mane avoided a 3rd minute red card for a forearm smash on Tierney, who introduced the concept of a Glasgow kiss to the Senegal international after the game, Impossibilitee sources report. Mane of course then went on to have a stormer, scoring the equaliser in a 3-1 win for Liverpool, where another handball controversy occurred for the late guarantee goal for the hosts. Pretty sure they're all on the take

Let's get statty:

This week, 30 people played

Most popular predicted result: Chelsea WIN (30/30)
Most disputed predictions: Burnley vs Southampton & Fulham vs Aston Villa (14-11-5 & 9-6-15 respectively)

Highest odds: Josh Brickman (49,700/1)

Lowest odds: Aron Kleiman (472/1)

Average odds: 3340/1

Best Predictor: Natan Kleiman, Ray Sacks & Steven Daniels (5/10)

Worst Predictor: Zoe Daniels (0/10)

Average score: 3.3/10

Best predicted result: Man United WIN (23/30)

Worst predicted result: WBA vs Chelsea DRAW (0/30)

Everyone's results:

For the first time this season, the Leaderboard. For those who've never played before, to qualify for the leaderboard, you need to have played >2/3 of available weeks - so this week, it's olnly those who've played all 3 weeks.

DRUM ROLL

Daniels sandwich the table and the important thing to note is that, apropos of nothing, we should all focus on the preservation of life first and foremost, and nobody should take any risks with this whole pandemic thing, so we should just call the season off now and let thing's rest as they are. For the safety of all. No other reason.

Heavy lies the head that wears the crown

So, that concludes season 4, thanks all for playing.




















If only....

Matchday 4 predictions

Good luck all