S10M15-17: Merry Blogsmas

 Results bit to go here. You know the drill. Give us a minute

Festive predos:

Good luck guys - have a lovely weekend & get vaccinated ASAP

There will be no FA Cup game this year because frankly I can use the rest weeks x

S10M14 & all the results: Xmas ramp off

 Too many results - no time for prattling

Thanks to all those who've sent lovely messages etcn since we last spoke. I speak on behalf of all my family when I say thank you x

Let's get statty:

M9

28 people played
Most popular predicted result: Man Utd & Everton WINS (28/28)
Most disputed predicted result: Liverpool vs Leciester (12-9-8)

Highest odds: Steven Daniels 10719/1
Lowest odds: Aron Kleiman 3919/1
Average odds: 7319/1

Best predictors: Joseph Machta & Raffi Kleiman (7/10)
Worst predictor: Loads of 3/10s
Average score: 4.64/10

Best predicted result: Man Utd & Everton WINS (28/28)
Worst predicted result: Brighton WIN (1/28 - AF)

M10

22 people played
Most popular predicted result: Man City WIN (22/22)
Most disputed predicted result: Chelsea vs Spurs (10-6-6)

Highest odds: Aron Kleiman 2772/1
Lowest odds: Aron Kleiman 2772/1
Average odds: 2772/1

Best predictors: Aron Kleiman, David Silverman & Zoe Daniels (5/10)
Worst predictor: WSC (1/10)
Average score: 3.32/10

Best predicted result: Man City WIN (22/22)
Worst predicted result: Brighton vs Liverpool,  Everton vs Leeds DRAWS & Fulham WIN (1/22)

M11 (out of 9, New vs AV called off for Covid)

21 people played
Most popular predicted result: Man City WIN (21/21)
Most disputed predicted result: West Ham vs Man Utd (6-4-11)

Highest odds: Aron Kleiman 544/1
Lowest odds: Aron Kleiman 544/1
Average odds: 544/1

Best predictors: Feneley, David Brickman & Natan Kleiman (8.89/10)
Worst predictor: Zoe Daniels (2.22/10)
Average score: 6.83/10

Best predicted result: Man City WIN (21/21)
Worst predicted result: Burnley vs Everton DRAW (3/21)

M12 

21 people played
Most popular predicted result: Liverpool WIN (21/21)
Most disputed predicted result: Man Utd vs Man City (9-3-9)

Highest odds: Aron Kleiman 361/1
Lowest odds: Aron Kleiman 361/1
Average odds: 361/1

Best predictor: David Brickman (5/10)
Worst predictor: Loads of 2/10s
Average score: 3.24/10

Best predicted result: Leicester WIN (20/21)
Worst predicted result: Burnley WIN & Fulham vs Liverpool DRAW (0/21)

M13

19 people played
Most popular predicted result: Man City WIN (19/19)
Most disputed predicted result: Arsenal vs Southampton & Fulham vs Brighton (10-3-6 & 6-3-10 respectively)

Highest odds: Aron Kleiman 5994/1
Lowest odds Aron Kleiman 5994/1

Average odds: Aron Kleiman 5994/1

Joe Abbott Odds: London (?!?)

Best predictors: 4 of us (5/10)
Worst predictor: Steven Daniels (1/10)
Average score: 3.32/10

Best predicted result: Man Utd WIN (18/19)
Worst predicted result: Man City vs WBA DRAW (0/19)

Everyone's scores (apologies for the megagraph - no legend for some reason so M9-13 L-R)):

Leaderboard (>2/3 weeks; 9/13)

To this week's predos:

Check back on Tuesday for the Xmas-NY megablog

Good luck all & have a lovely end to a rotten year!

S10: Megablog 1

 Hi all

Unfortunately, I'll be taking a short break from blogging duties due to family reasons. I've put a few weeks worth of Matchdays up here but probably won't be doing weekly reminders for a while, so please set your own reminders.

Results to be updated in the future

Good luck all

S10M9: Pedal Down

Another international break, another spate of COVID positive players and another chance for me to fluff over stuff that happened 2 weeks ago. The problem with the concept of time is that I'm no longer a youthful Season 1 blogger, and now in my wizened state, I can't remember what happened in the last run of games, and giving you a peep behind the curtain at the "Wizard", I did the stats bit 2 weeks ago but leave the blurb and the new predos until now, so basically, with minimal effort, all I can say is people really expected more of Arsenal than they should, and Chelsea did what they were expected to.

And De Bruyne missed a penalty. I think that was last time out.

Dunno. Good news is, none of this nonsense now until the spring

Let's get statty:

This week, 29 people played

Most popular predicted result: Chelsea WIN (29/29)

Most disputed result: Man City vs Liverpool

Highest odds: Zoe Daniels (2011/1)

Lowest odds: Josh Daniels (785/1)

Average odds: 1488/1

Best predictors: ECI, Joe Abbott & Natan Kleiman (7/10)

Worst predictor: David Graniewitz (2/10)

Average score: 5.03/10

Best predicted result: Chelsea WIN (29/29)

Worst predicted result: Aston Villa WIN (3/29)

To the Leaderboard (>2/3; 6/8)

 BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

This week's predos:

Good luck all

S10M8: Demonkeyed

Hello all once again

Since we last spoke we've had a little bit of cold, which was annoying having to de-ice the car and whatnot, along with, as I write to you, a little bit of heat coming from across the pond.

I of course, refer not to the relatively inconsequential matter of some election or other, but the formation of the UK fan club of the premier sports team in the entirety of the Americas. North, South, Est, West -  nobody can hold a candle to New Amsterdam Football Club, bastions of the 3rd tier in the American "Soccer" Pyramid. Which of course isn't a true pyramid, 'cos it's a closed shop with no relegation or promotion but whatever.

Yours truly is now the proud owner of this cheeky little number and is "De President" of the NAFC UK Fan Club so if you want to join me....all are welcome

Look at the detailing. Manhattan city grid on the body. Liberty's crown on the sleeves. Woof Woof Woof. Many thanks for the gift @DH. No bonus points for you though

Some football happened too. Wolves won, so did Man City and Chelsea and Liverpool. Villa and Everton both lost again, as did Leeds. Spurs won with a disgusting show of cheating from Harry Kane who should be imprisoned, if not disembowelled for his heinous behaviour. There were shock wins for Fulham against a woeful West Brom, and Arsenal, away at Man United, due to penalty from Mike Dean. Awarded against Man Utd. At Old Trafford.

2020. Whatever next.

Let's get statty:

This week, 29 people played

Most popular predicted result: Liverpool WIN (28/29)

Most disputed prediction: Man Utd vs Arsenal (12-9-8 split respectively)

Highest odds: AFM (5417/1)

Lowest odds: AF (850/1)

Average odds: 3075/1

Best predictor: Feneley (9/10)

Worst predictor: Daniel Wigma  (3/10)

Average score: 5.93/10

Best predicted result: Liverpool WIN (28/29)

Worst predicted result: Newcastle WIN (4/29)

Everyone's results:

 

To the leaderboard now (>2/3 matchdays; 5/7)

Uh oh

Good luck all

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

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

S9: Pre-season Predos Recap

 So, now the dust as settled (although the season STILL isn't over from a UEFA standpoint), let's have a recap of some of the predictions made about how the season was going to pan out.

These predictions were made 54 weeks ago. Blimey. Let's dig in...

Well 2/3 of us got that wrong eh? Standard optimistic Gooner got that VERY wrong. Emery to win a league sounds hilarious

This is more interesting. Nearly everyone saw the LFC/MCFC duopoly continuing. However, Chelsea certainly weren't favourites for top 4 - Arsenal & Spurs over represented (is that a function of most players coming from North London?) Man Utd got 4th eventually - 20% saw that, which is interesting given upcoming predictions....There was 1 vote for "other" too but I can't see who that was so nobody gets to claim Leicester prescience anyway.

More dreadful predicting. Norwich we all saw coming. Nobody saw Bournemouth nor Watford going down. 1 wag thought Spurs might. Or Fulham. Who weren't even in the correct division. 


So this was also the least sackingy season for yonks, but it doesn't affect this look at the first manager to go....Solksjaer was the favourite, even if some thought he'd get top 4. 2 people correctly predicted Pochettino who set off a little run of sackings before Xmas, with only Pearson then going later on.

Man City have a fearsome grasp on the League cup and most saw that continuing. Some thought Liverpool might want an early season taste, Spurs was an optimistic shout, whilst Arsenal, Everton and Chelsea were all hopeful punts with no real expectation. Bournemouth - er....well cool guys, cool cool



The Arsene Wenger Invitational was a much more realistic affair. Obviously everyone knew that the trophy belongs in N5, but some thought Liverpool might want their first proper trophy in 14 years, with a few straggly votes for no hopers like Man City, Chelsea, Man Utd and Spurs. Sorry lads. Mikel Knows (in the merry month of August)

Wide range of predictions here. Scores plotted from WhoScored.com and I'm happy to go with them and say Pulisic deserves the plaudits. Maguire, Haller & Pepe maybe scored surprisingly well, so maybe we should all ignore the headlines. Wag who called Rob Holding LANS will be regretting that, as will anyone who thought Moise Kean would do well...

...cos he didn't. He was also predicted to be the worst signing, and you can see just how bad he was. Gomes too....Everton had a good summer....

But another Italian wonderkid takes the plaudits - Patrick Cutrone lasted 5 minutes before going back to Serie A on loan. Milan was no Wolverhampton. Funny people also put in Saliba and any Spurs signings so I had a look at them too - Saliba did ok in Ligue Un in an injury hit campaign, and the Average Spurs Summer Signing Score (ASSSS) was 6.48, which was in fairness, rubbish. That ranged from Ndombele at 6.71 to Gedson Fernandes (remember him) at 6.12 which is woeful.

Finally to the Golden section:

We all thought Auba was class and he came pretty close. Aguero and Kane had slightly disappointing seasons, disrupted by injury, Salah regressed to the mean and Mane shared the spoils. You are all very funny now with your historic bantz there (Nick). Jamie Vardy didn't get a look in....

Alisson the clear favourite here. Brav-o was a Brav-e call, as was Kepa who showed nominative determinism isn't always a thing, keeping as many clean sheets as the geriatric Lehmann. In the end, it was Ederson this year, from Pope, so we all got that wrong.

FA Cup results blog to come and then we'll be set for the new season

S9: League Completion

It's been a while since the usual blogging routine.

Project Restart, Impossibilitee, work & personal lives are not compatible blog-fellows, and for that you all have my apologies. I know lots of you were in the same boat, and the numbers really tailed off - which was partially on me for reducing the reminders, but there was only so much to do.

Given the situation, I thought I'd do it like this - continue as normal, so matchday results below, one large graph and then tables as normal - >2/3 of games as usual. The trophy will go to the winner because the rules shouldn't change halfway through the season just because of a once in a century pandemic that causes life as we know it to come to a shuddering halt. Seems the fairest thing given that, ultimately, it's about predicting results and the matches went ahead, and we were all in the same boat with regard to information shared.

However, to reflect that ~25% of the season was disrupted, and this may have impacted on the leaderboard standings, I'll be asterisking the historical record tab and posting the pre-COVID leaderboard for perusal. Any other ideas, hit me up.

I'll post another blog with the FA Cup results and another blog looking at the predictions made last summer but this one will be plenty long enough so, let's just crack on...

Let's get statty - mega blog so done in table form!

And then everyone's results in a very big messy graph that irritates my DataViz part of my brain 

So, to the Leaderboards now. Firstly, a reminder of the Pre-COVID Leaderboard

And now the Final Leaderboard* for those who've played >2/3 of all matches

Eesh. Gavzey the big loser from Project Restart. Life mimicking the football club he purports to support? Nick's also had a bad time, but David & Joe have done well to leap into the top 2 and ensure the trophy returns to what I can only assume is the weekly Friday ritual of drinking from the trophy after close of play whilst singing "Campeones, Campeones, Ole Ole Ole"

EuroClubIndex the best modeller (again), some absolute dross in the middle but avoiding relegation on the final day of the season, is yours truly, which is fundamentally the real win here. Bottom 3 made up of Hillel, Doron and the cherry on the horror-week for Chelsea is Joseph, hamstrung by Frank Lampard eating his fixture list

Leaderboard for remaining participants who didn't meet the threshold for the above leaderboard. Silverman, Gaon & Ruback don't make the leaderboard because they didn't RESTART properly

So that brings the League season to a close. Congratulations to David, trophy will make its way to you shortly.

Prediction review blog & FA Cup blog to follow

Thanks for playing! See you in September...

FA Cup 2020: Final

Just the Final placeholder here whilst I plan for the big results post next week


Good luck

S9: Last 3 Games

I think I speak for everyone when I say Covid, Project Restart and 2020 in general can get in the bin




FA Cup Final blog & Season results to follow

S9M33-35 + FA Cup SF

Results blog to come separately but thought I'd get the next round of predos up





Good luck all!

S9M30-32 + FA Cup QF

Think I'm all written out. Have some predos - good luck all!

S9: Return of Sorts

12th March.

That was my last blog. It was an example of me being organised and preparing for the weekend - I was aware of the uncertainty ahead, and discussed the possibility of football being held behind closed doors in the future, or even postponed.

It's a salutary lesson to young aspiring football prediction game runners out there that organisation is your worst enemy. Phone it in. Be last minute. Churn out whatever guff your consumers will lap up. Minimal effort for minimal benefit. That's the maxim for life.

Because only THIRTY FOUR MINUTES after the blog was posted, the news broke...

Absolutely infuriating. Made me look like one of those eedjit ITKs on Twitter saying their best mate's son's dog walker's girlfriend saw a certain ginger-bearded Argentine buying a Brie & Grape baguette at the Upper Crust concession at Birmingham New Street station so oy oy get down to the Holte End sharpish with your newly printed shirt and your favourite recreational silicone toy because things are about to get MESSI <eyes emoji ad nauseum>

You only have but one reputation and San Mikel has gone and buggered mine.

There is an argument that given the number of deaths attributed to the Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid game the day before, and the subsequent regional spike attributed to the Gold Cup at Cheltenham, Mik saved lives. Which only boosts my Arteta love to a 5. I forgive you all your transgressions

So football was postponed, starting with that weekend's fixtures. It's now been 3 months without any football (Bundesliga doesn't count you hippies). Even if you discount international football, which I strongly do, it's been the longest period any of us have gone without football since we gained sporting consciousness. I don't know the upper margin of everyone playing Impossibiliteee, but I'm making the assumption that nobody here was collecting Panini stickers for the 1939-1940 1st Division season...

It was obviously the right thing to do. Have I missed it? Nope. Not even a tiny bit. My bandwidth has been utilised, and even exceeded with other things. I usually enjoy my summer break from football, dipping in with some podcasts but enjoying liberty from the schedule, and this has been that, but with the added benefit of endlessly mocking Scousers for the reverence with which they hold former Chief Scientific Advisor to the Premier League manager Bill Shankly. Perspective well and truly gained for many of us.

What about the return? Well I've made no great secret of my opposition to the league restarting. I make my case on 3 pillars:

• Sporting
• Health
• Economic

Let's deal with the easy one first. Any talk of sporting integrity can go and take a running jump into a Costa Rican island lake containing the reanimated incarnation of the Late Cretaceous period's most fearsome aquatic predator

What integrity? Any momentum has evaporated. The Home/Away advantage reduced if not removed. Fitness and squad management changes - players out for the season now returned and fit, whilst the rest of the squad levels drop. They've literally changed the laws of the game - allowing an additional 2 subs. Contracts and loans - what a mess that is...This is a new mini-tournament, and is in no way a genuine end to the 2019-2020 season. Whatever happens, asterisks will abound. Liverpool's title is going to have a teeny tiny asterisk, but the CL places, relegation and so on will be forever controversial.

Now that doesn't mean that any of the other options were any better from an integrity purpose - null & voiding the league 75% of the way through seems brutal, stopping play and finalising the table based on current position or points-per-game also have their huge downsides - but my point here is that the idea of integrity should not come into play when we talk about completing the season. Beautifully illustrated by the decision to end the season in the WSL, League One and Two and so on. If sporting integrity was imperative, these competitions would be continuing too.

Health wise - my concern is one of unnecessary risk. What is the likelihood of a very fit athlete, or comparatively very fit coach etc getting seriously ill, or dying? Pretty small. But what about all the other cogs that go into restarts - the backroom staff, the team getting the ground sorted and the demands on public services - police and paramedics still need to be assigned, even with no fans. Why are journalists needed to come to matches - famously in shape as many of them are...

What if say Jamie Vardy gets COVID, and takes out 4 teammates and Leicester drop from a deserved Champions League place to 5th or 6th? Touches back to my integrity issue there. Of greater likelihood, as seen in Germany, is the drastic increase in muscle and ligament injuries because of the destruction of any elite level fitness - 10 weeks on an elliptical trainer whilst watching The Last Dance might get you beach body ready but doesn't replicate 90 minutes of Premier League football. So a ruptured ACL here, for no real benefit to anyone, could derail a career. Players are now being asked to play an extended Christmas fixture list, with now proper warm up or recovery period.

There's talk about the boost to the nation's mental health to have some football on TV. Forgive me for my insensitivity, but that can't be the national fillip hoped for when we're by basically any metric, one of the worst countries in the world at dealing with the pandemic, which of course is placed in the context of over a decade of economic instability, huge political turmoil both domestically and abroad and social divisions riven across generational, geographical and social lines now rapidly fracturing into crevasses.

But yeah, watching Andriy Yarmolenko spank a ball into an empty row Z and hearing the echo of a plastic chair rattling reverberating around the cavernous Olympic Stadium is for sure going to give me the pick-me-up I need right now.

So to my mind, this is a purely economic argument. Now I don't purport to have a PhD in economics, nor really understand anything in the Financial Times but I have listened to the Freakonomics podcast, started Economics for Dummies over the lockdown and got in on the ground floor beofre the Sky Digital boom in the early Noughties, so my CV should at least get me shortlisted for the next Chair of the IMF.

Let's be honest. He who pays the piper, calls the tune, and in this case, Sky & BT Sport have locked out the jukebox. Pretty sure that's how the metaphor goes. The Premier League is nowhere near the size industry it likes to think it is BUT we're still talking a several billion pound sector which directly or indirectly employs thousands of people. How many of these people could be redirected into similar fields is academic in the short term - data analysts, sports scientists,  retail staff and so on might be able to find new work but won't currently and the government schemes are limited in scope, by political design and economic necessity. Now isn't the time to go into my anarcho-communist rant about how money is all pretend anyway, so we'll take as read that people got billz to pay and leave it there, until the revolution comes. Income streams across most Premier league clubs are heavily biased towards TV money when compared to matchday/sporting revenue or commercial sponsorship deals, and both these areas have taken huge hits, so clubs are reliant on not rebating that lovely TV lucre to, in some cases, literally keeping the lights on.

I do think it's slightly overblown - TV companies go too hard and they kill the goose that had laid their golden eggs but ultimately the threat outweighs any real objections clubs have because their raison d'etre now is to play football AND make money. Global game, global business and all that. Would I be adverse to a reorienting of the sport back to a more local horizon? Nope - I'm not advocating a return to the 1920s of 11 local lads with hobnail boots, but a middle ground of elite sport rooted in local communities, run on not-for-profit models where big money can be spent, but used to boost local sport, community organisations and so on - would that be a bad thing? Lower ticket prices, lower (although still enormous) wages, less banal razzmatazz? I sound very old and ludditey, but I think we've jumped the shark, and Coronavirus has provided us with an opportunity to blow it all up and think about what's dear to us as football fans, and hand-on-heart, even if Arsenal win all their remaining games and sneak 4th and win the FA Cup, I think I'd struggle to genuinely get up for this in the way I would have done 3 months ago.

Bookmark this page and make me eat my words in a few months' time.

So what's going to happen here? Firstly, none of my above issues with restarting the football are applicable to this game - so if they start, so do we. Any M30 predictions already entered will be cancelled and we'll do a redo of that round.  I'm looking at the fixtures list and I'll probably put up 3 matchdays at a time as the games come pretty thick and fast, starting on Friday 19th June.

Results posts will be done infrequently to keep everyone updated and we'll keep the FA Cup game going too. If you're not in the Impossibilitee WhatsApp group (strictly business) and want to join, let me know - it'll likely be the fastest and most agile way to stay up to date. 

I hope you've all been well over lockdown and continue to stay safe. Check back next week for the predictions blog. And remember:

S9M30: The last blog for a while?

It's rare that my day(night) job and my blog truly merge, but hey, we're due a new virus every decade or so, so here's the opportunity.

I'm writing this, expecting that PL football is about to be, as a minimum, played behind closed doors, and more likely, postponed as a result of Covid-19. It's pretty difficult to justify taking drastic measures to reduce the spread of disease and then allow thousands of people to stand in pretty close proximity to each other, and as more footballers test positive for the virus - which will happen, it'll make the daily operation of a football club near impossible. So we're on for suspension in my opinion which will of course put this blog into hibernation - fortunately as I'm likely to be handed a whole lot of extra work if reports are to be believed.

So, let's all hope for a speedy resolution we can all get behind - the season being cancelled and no winner being declared, and European football being awarded to clubs based on proximity to Impossibilitee Towers. Oh, and clubs can unilaterally add an extra on to the contracts of any world class Gabonese players on their books too.

Let's get statty:

This week, 24 people played
Most popular predicted results: Wolves, Liverpool & Leicester WINS (23/24)
Most disputed prediction: Burnley vs Spurs (8-10-6 split)

Highest odds: Aron Kleiman (3134/1)
Lowest odds: Steven Daniels (547/1)
Average odds: 1413/1

Best predictor: Josh Gavzey (9/10)
Worst predictors: Me & Joseph Machta (5/10)
Average score: 6.75/10

Best predicted result:  Liverpool & Leicester WINS (23/24)
Worst predicted result: Wolves vs Brighton DRAW (1/24 - Gavzey the only one to get that one)

Everyone's scores:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 20/29)



This week's predos:

Wash your hands and good luck

S9M29: Vincible

Both domestic cups led to a truncated PL programme but that threw up a whole load of fun.

Friday night saw upset number one, where nailed on relegation candidates Norwich beat CL candidates Leicester - their campaign really has hit the skids of late. They're just hoping there's enough inertia left for them to stay the course. Well, that and the fact that nobody else wants to win either. Norwich enjoyed their little fillip enough to carry on their success into midweek, dispatching Spurs from the FA Cup so hilariously that the Spurs players decided to go to war with their fans

*chefs' kiss*

Palace won the El Gatwicko derby to guarantee bragging rights in the South Downs or whatever First Capital Connect commuter village you want to include in this horrific construct. I once had a colleague from Haywards Heath so let's choose there. Bournemouth also had a good result on the South coast, holding Chelsea to a draw, which was also the outcome in the Northeast, with Newcastle holding on for a famous 0-0 against Burnley in the match so last on Match of the Day that it came after the test card. 

West Ham beat Southampton but the main event, the Fillet Mignon, the Balthazar of Bollinger was served at a packed Vicarage Road. The Hornets' very own Rocketman scored a brace before Captain Deeney went breaking scouse hearts leaving the 2003-2004 Invincibles record still standing. I'm not apologising for any of that - Sorry seems to be the hardest word. Cost me a few quid to charity but I'm not complaining because WE ARE INVINCIBLE. Not gonna lie - I was getting scared there for a while.

Sunday gave us our mandatory VAR moment with a late Everton winner ruled out for something about sightlines and Carlo Ancelotti being sent off at full time for an aggressively raised eyebrow.  Finally, Spurs lost at home. Again. To Wolves this time, dropping a lead twice. Spursy

Let's get statty:

This week, 21 people played

Most popular predicted results: Leicester & Liverpool WINS (21/21)

Most disputed result: Everton vs Man Utd (3-9-9 split)

Highest odds: AFM (1006/1)

Lowest odds: Feneley (427/1)

Average odds: 740/1

Best predictors: Gaj Thiru & David Silverman (3/8; 3.75/10)

Worst predictors: Loads of you (1/8; 1.25/10)

Average score: 1.52/8 (1.9/10)

Best predicted result: West Ham WIN (10/21)

Worst predicted results: Norwich & Watford WINS (0/21)

Everyone's results:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 19/28)

This week's predos:

Good luck all

S9M28 & FA Cup R5: March Madness

Normal PL service resumed at the weekend and wasn't it so delightful to get right back to it with a little bit of VAR. Definitely hasn't got boring writing that acronym every week.

In the early game, Mourinho's return to Stamford Bridge went pretty poorly, with a late own goal from Rudiger making the scoreline closer than it deserved to be. His record in the bigger games is poor these days so he's doing the usual patented Mou Deflection which, incredibly, Spurs fans seem to be buying. Yes, injuries suck, but nobody forces him to play dinosaur football when you have plenty of attacking talent you could unleash in a different mode of play. Of course, they should be shorn of one of those talents with Lo Celso escaping punishment in a novel screw up for VAR. I have no idea how on review he escaped red. I then have no idea how before the match had finished, they'd come back on themselves. I don't know why a retrospective ban can't be applied. It's just galling how we got her.

Burnley had another good result at home to Bournemouth whilst Palace did the usual and beat Newcastle. Who are Rubbish. Like actually Awful. Sheffield United drew with Brighton to lose ground in the currently important but lawyer dependent race for 5th.

Otherwise, it then all turned predictable with Man City winning at a Leicester team on a bit of a slide, Man Utd likewise comfortably holding off Watford and Wolves thumping Norwich. Arsenal made harder work of beating Everton - the surprise form team since Ancelotti took over and Liverpool unsurprisingly beat West Ham, but surprisingly did a good job of nearly not beating West Ham. Fabianski making sure of all 3 points there.

Let's get statty:

This week, 25 people played
Most popular predicted result: Liverpool WIN (25/25)
Most disputed prediction: Leicester vs Man City (5-7-13 split respectively)

Highest odds: Aron Kleiman (4367/1)
Lowest odds: Steven Daniels (795/1)
Average odds: 2306/1

Best predictors: Hillel Chemel & EuroClubIndex (9/10)
Worst predictor: Joseph Machta (4/10)
Average score: 6.84/10

Best predicted result: Liverpool WIN (25/25)
Worst predicted result: Sheff Utd vs Brighton DRAW(3/25)

Everyone's results:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 19/27)

This week's PL Predos:



Results to be pro-rata'd


FA Cup action too however, so read on if relevant. Actually, read on anyway. Midweek Round 5 which should be illegal.

Round 4 results however:

9 people played - 1 no show
Most popular predicted results: Arsenal, Liverpool, Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea & Newcastle WINS  (9/9)
Most disputed predictions: QPR vs Sheffield Wednesday & Southampton vs Spurs(5-4 splits)

Best predictor: AF/AFM (14/16)
Worst predictor: Sam Ruback (9/16)

Best predicted results: Arsenal, Liverpool, Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea & Newcastle WINS(9/9)
Worst predicted result: Norwich WIN (1/9 - Aron Kleiman with the correct prediction)

Everyone's results:

Round 5 predos:


Good luck all

S9M27: Blossoming

Right, so after all that, let me say I'm a huge fan of split matchweeks and as far as I'm concerned, this should be the new normal. Rather than football 7 days a week which is hard to keep a handle on, and is murderous for the blogging schedule, we should be looking at this bipartite system. Plus, 5 games is easy enough to pay attention to, I can catch up on some other aural treats and it halves the (blog) workload intensity of yours truly.

Storm Ciara of course ensured further elongation of the matchday but conveniently, meant we could still score out of 10 so yay Transatlantic Atmospheric Depression Affect. TADA!

So what happened? If we cast minds back, Everton continued their excellent series of results under Carlo Ancelotti, beating Palace 3-1. Watford are also enjoying their new manager, defeating a Brighton side looking slightly lost. Sheffield United continued their push for Champions League football next season - a realistic dream now Man City have been slapped on the wrist, buttock, cheek and everywhere else for being deceptive little cheaters. They beat West Ham though, so that's nice.

In the second round of games, Wolves and Leicester played to a draw in the Canine Derby. Burnley won down on the South Coast with 2 spectacular goals overcoming Southampton. Liverpool also won away but enough's been said about them. At Villa Park, Engels and Alderweireld decided to play a little 1-on-1 and were heading for a draw until Spurs cheated and threw on another player, surprising Engels who just let him run through and score the winner. Cheaters. Throw them in prison with Man City too. Arsenal had their best win since early-era Wengz against absolute Banter club Newcastle, who you'll recall from the previous statty blog, have been even worse than their abysmal results and position show. They are woeful and Alain Saint-Maximin has been added to my list of players who irritate me for being so bad when they should be so good. He also runs like a guy I used to train with in a Sunday league team in a moment of biomechanical deja vu. Finally, Chelsea lost to Man Utd for the third time this season which is Frankly a sackable offence. Geddit.

I missed out on that fun however, as the Impossibilibaby arrived so I was spared the VARgument again. It's more tedious than Brexit became by now.

Let's get statty:
This week, 22 people played
Most popular predicted results: Man City, Liverpool & Arsenal WINS (22/22)
Most disputed prediction: Brighton vs Watford (8-7-7 split respectively)

Highest odds: Doron Salomon (1133/1)
Lowest odds: Steven Daniels (245/1)
Average odds: 619/1

Best predictors: David Brickman & Gaj Thiru (8/10)
Worst predictors: Loads of you (5/10)
Average score: 6.32/10

Best predicted results: Man City, Liverpool & Arsenal WINS (22/22)
Worst predicted result: Burnley WIN (1/22 - well done Gaj Thiru)

Everyone's score:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 17/26)



On this note, I'd like to congratulate JMAC on trying to bribe his way up the leaderboard by cooking a delicious meal for yours truly and so am proud to aware him an extra 0.001 point in thanks. If you'd like extra points, I'm FIFA levels of corrupt, so please either send me food, gifts or cash and you will be rewarded with levels of generosity previously unknown on this planet....

To this week's predos:

Good luck all