S14: Done

 Another season done. Relief frankly. It's been a bit of a slog and my summer holidays is to upgrade the automation here. Some of you folks might remember the bad old days where I'd lovingly transcribe comments into a spreadsheet. We aren't going back there - but I'll have a play with the back end and publications - it's all in the Google world after all. I'm sure something can be done!

All the final day chat was, yet again, about refereeing and I'm honestly bored silly by it now. This error (the disallowed Morgan Rogers goal that would have put Villa 1-0 with 15 mins to play) is career, project and frankly club defining. It costs Villa CL football and allows Newcastle to limp over the line into a massive payday and there's no accountability at all. Rotten.

Of course, Unai Emery was going to find a way to fail, and Emi Martinez is *always* the main character, but even so....raging. 

Chelsea low-key came good after their mid-season wobble to win relatively comfortably at Forest, Woods misses weren't that egregious I thought.

Anyway, you're not here for the waffle. You're here for the leaderboard.

S14M38: Boarding Passes Please

Quiet week in the football calendar. Nice to have a bit of down time, space to reflect.

PL football wraps up this weekend, and the only thing to play for is the order of clubs 3-7, and accordingly, who gets CL, who gets EL and who gets ECL. Arsenal are all but mathematically done in 2nd, and City are highlight unlikely to fall lower than 6th. But Newcastle, Chelsea, Villa and Forest can call move around based on the final day results.

The last ever day at Goodison went by in a sea of Blue Smoke. Not the BBQ people, flares. About 18 years ago I spent several hours on the phone to Everton listening to their hold music -  Z cars - trying to get some tickets for Impossibilitee player David Graniewitz who was visiting the UK. I don't know why. I've had a Pavlovian hatred of that song ever since, so hoping the move to the new stadium brings a new song. The Wonder of You would do it.

We also said goodbye to Jamie Vardy, leaving relegated Leicester. His role and output have waned this season, but he'd said a few weeks back, he wanted to play this game - his 500th for Leciester - and score his 200th goal and then would be done, and incredibly, he's delivered on it. Matchfixing? He's openly said he doesn't want to play in the final matchday....

Finally, we have a tradition at Impossibilitee of following the FA Cup, and though the prediction game in the cup stopped years ago, it's impossible not to have your heart warmed by Crystal Palace winning their first ever trophy, deservedly over Man City last weekend. It's always wonderful to see fans, long starved of success getting their big day in the limelight.

Unless they're Spurs fans. Fortunately, that'll never happen, eh?

S14M37: Eyes elsewhere

Ok, I didn't even bother considering there would be Friday night games on the penultimate matchday of the season. Why do they do this? I don't know David Kogan, but if you do, tell him to regulate this sort of stuff when he starts his new role.

Last week - low scoring stuff if I'm honest. A Season Low in fact, coming on the tails of an all time high. It's a bit like the Christmas period - unpredictable when focus isn't 100% on each game. That's my read anyway.

For example, Southampton keeping a clean sheet vs Man City. Nobody had that. People having Man City bitch about stuff - probably 100% predicted but that's not on my form. Ipswich equally rubbish. Only Leicester emerge with any credit from the relegated teams.

The Moyesiah did his thing - imagine being worried about Everton going down now, with other away wins for Brighton at Wolves, Villa at Bournemouth and for both opponents of the worst Europa league finalists in history. Newcastle's home win against Chelsea the only  home win of the week incredibly.

Finally, to Anfield. A party was pooed on by the partiers. 2-0 in the sunshine, and not only did they drop the points, but they lost their heads, booing their (best ever?) youth product - the man who's won everything at the club and played a vital role in that side. And then the subsequent defence of this....

I consume a fair amount of football media. It's often an education in how rubbish most media is. How sensationalist, how shallow and how herd-like they are. Deep knowledge from club-specific experts tallies with your own eyes and beliefs far more often than the clickbait nonsense from Talksport and Sky Sports. HOWEVER, in this one instance, I think the Liverpool isolationism (from media, friends etc) is wrong. Sometimes - fans get it wrong (my lot and Eboue for example) and the maelstrom of emotion takes behaviour too far. This was one of those times in my opinion.

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Let's get statty:

This week, 18 people played
Most popular predicted result: Nott(s) Forest & Man City WINS (18/18)
Most disputed predicted result: Wolves vs Brighton (5-7-6 split)

Highest odds: Josh Daniels (2,958/1)
Lowest odds: Geoffrey Skolnick (538/1)
Average odds: 1,676/1

Best predictor: Joe Abbott (5/10)
Worst predictor: Loads of you (2/10)
Average score: 2.89/10

Best predicted result: Brentford WIN (17/18)
Worst predicted results: Southampton vs Man City & Nott(s) Forest vs Leicester DRAWS (0/19)

Everyone's score:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 25/36)

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To this week's predos:

Good luck all

M36: Belatedly I curse the Danish

Not gonna lie. I'm quite looking forward to the summer break. This season has been *a lot* - as a supporter but also with other distractions. So, apologies for getting this all out belated.

Especially as I had a whole thing I wanted to say last week. What a mad weekend. We've never had so many one-sided predictions. On Sunday afternoon, 14 people were on for a 10. 12 people were looking very happy - Bournemouth 1-0 up. Then Evanilson gets a ridiculous red card (oh hello VAR, nice to talk about you again). Man Utd sort of change the momentum and with the last kick of the game, maligned striker Rasmus Hojlund diverts a hopeful shot in, in an optimitic fashion. Dreams are shattered, but new ones are realised as 2 people went from agony to ecstasy. Our first 100%ers in several years.

I was one of the 12. Buggers.

That was also the weekend Liverpool wrapped up the title. So, short of a few place rearrangements, the season will peter out. And so, forgive me, but I'm not giving a blow by blow for what followed, becuase, frankly, *shrug*. And also, I'm writing at 1am and I can't really see straight anymore so...

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Let's get statty:

Matchday 34 - prorated (7 games)

This week, 21 people played
Most popular predicted result: Liverpool WIN (21/21)
Most disputed predicted result: Bournemouth vs Man Utd (15-5-1 split)

Highest odds: AFM (32/1)
Lowest odds: Geoffrey Skolnick (9.71/1)
Average odds: 18.9/1

Best predictors: AFM & Eli Daniels (10/10) - PARTY TIME. Although like a Liverpool league win, it's asterisked.
Worst predictor: David Graniewitz & Steven Daniels (5.71/10)
Average score: 8.37/10 - ALL TIME RECORD (Again with the asterisk)

Best predicted result: Liverpool WIN (21/21)
Worst predicted result: Bournemouth vs Man Utd DRAW (5/21)

Matchday 35

This week, 20 people played
Most popular predicted result: Man City, Aston Villa & Everton WINS (19/20) Most disputed predicted result: Crystal Palace vs Nott(s) Forest (11-7-3 split)

Highest odds: AFM (8,8781)
Lowest odds: Geoffrey Skolnick (651/1)
Average odds: 3,584/1

Best predictors: Chris Sutton, Hannah Daniels & Zoe Daniels (6/10)
Worst predictor: Loads of us (3/10)
Average score: 4.25/10

Best predicted result: Man City, Aston Villa & Everton WINS (19/20)
Worst predicted result: Bournemouth WIN (0/20)

Everyone's score:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 24/35)

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To this week's predos:

Good luck all