S7M30 results + FA Cup R6: Homenatge a Pep

I've previously written about my love for watching this City side. I'm a huge fan of the Guardiola school of possession based football. Love the ball, keep the options open with an easy pass, perpetual motion to move the space around and then *BANG* - the vertical passes with support runners to maximise the efficiency of any chance. It's made even better by having the best players in the world, but in my opinion, the core tactic is so good as to be effective even lower down. It relies on a defense who can cope with the inevitable counters when a move breaks down - and this has often been the downfall, but no system is perfect and I've always preferred the proactive to reactive schools of football.

You then add in players like KdB, David Silva, Aguero, Jesus and my current favourite, Sane and you have a near perfect attacking machine - pace, skill, finishing, dribbling, shooting from distance. Whatever defensive plan you have is likely to fail due to the skill and flexibility in their attack. It's mesmerising, and I think the best attacking unit since that Chelsea side who were also free-scoring - 2010? Liverpool could argue that the Suatrez/Sturridge/Sterling triumvirate was equally thrilling, but I don't think they offered the same cover-all-bases approach that City have. Seriously...throw a heading machine in to the mix for set pieces and we're done.

This is watching one of the great sides in action, and I'm going to enjoy it. It might be unfair to put them above say, the Utd side of 2008 with the Tevez/Ronaldo/Rooney front-line, and the superb Vidic/Ferdinand/VdSar defence but I don't remember getting the same thrill from watching them that I get from watching City - arguably they shouldn't have won the league that year too (come and hear about my Eduardo theory another time...) leaving them only with the CL win, you know, in Moscow, when John Terry slipped and missed the "winning" penalty. Any excuse...

Anyway, City could wrap up the league next week which would be record-breaking - along with being on course for most goals, most points and so on. The major difference this season compared to 10 years ago is the number of good sides - previously you'd argue it was a 2 or 3 horse race. This year, there are 5 good sides and Arsenal who should be a better side but City have just blown them out the water. Relentless, and frankly I could wax lyrical for longer if I didn't have to get on with the rest of the blog. I'm sure I'll have opportunity in a few weeks.

The weekend started with Man Utd putting in a classic Mourinho performance holding Liverpool at arms-length for a relatively comfortable win. Everton arrested their recent wobble with a win over Brighton who are approaching flip-flop territory. Huddersfield & Swansea drew - they should both be ok on the "3 worse teams" principle. Newcastle should be in the same boat - a big win over Southampton creating more space and costing Pellegrino his job. WBA lost again - they're done and it's incredible Pardew hasn't been sacked. He's been useless. Similarly, West Ham are in crisis and if they don't rally you can see them sinking without trace. That should be the end of Moyes' career too.
Chelsea & Spurs with relatively comfortable wins. This just leaves Arsenal, who won easily against Watford too; the game remarkable for the events immediately after Arsenal's second goal.

A lazy, dangled leg from Maitland-Niles gave Peyrera the penalty and up-stepped 'Cojones' Deeney - motormouth and "scourge" of Arsenal in recent times.

Cech yourself mate.

200 PL clean sheets. First penalty save since the Middle Ages. An important lesson for all young kids watching - don't run your mouth fool.

Loved this too:

Have to admit I'm deeply disappointed no Arsenal players went full 'Martin Keown' on Deeney after that penalty

— Alastair Brookshaw (@albrookshawAFC) March 11, 2018

Let's get statty:

This week, 21 people played
Most popular predicted results: Chelsea & Man City WINS (21/21)
Most disputed result: Huddersfield vs Swansea (7-7-7 split, <3)

Highest odds: Steven Daniels ( 4434/1)
Lowest odds: Doron Salomon  (2351/1)
Average odds: 3393/1

Best predictor: Dagmar (9/10) - she must really hate Jose...
Worst predictor: Matt Abbott (4/10)
Average score: 6.95/10

Best predicted results: Chelsea & Man City WINS (21/21)
Worst predicted result: Burnley WIN (3/21)

Everyone's scores:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 21/30)

No PL game this week as too few fixtures due to the FA CUP

FA Cup Round 5 Results:

6/9 people played
Most popular predicted results: Leicester, Chelsea, Spurs Man City & Brighton WINS (6/6)
Most disputed results: Sheff Wed vs Swansea & WBA vs Southampton (4-2 & 2-4 split respectively)

Best predicted results: Leicester, Chelsea, Spurs & Brighton WINS (6/6)
Worst predicted result: Wigan WIN (0/6)

Best predictor: Me (7/8)
Worst predictors (of those who played): Feneleys & Steven Daniels (5/8)

FA Cup R6 predos:

Swansea vs Spurs - SPURS
Man Utd vs Brighton - MAN UTD
Wigan vs Southampton - WIGAN
Leicester vs Chelsea - CHELSEA

Good luck guys

S7M30: Nearly there

 Folks,  you have my apologies. 

I said I'd get back to ya last week and never did. Life has been all over the place in the last couple of weeks as some of you may know...blogging isn't the most compatible of hobbies! Hopefully things will quieten down a bit & I can get this back on track. 

So it's fair to say that between the above stuff & the Thierry ennui of supporting Arsenal at present, I've not really kept that up to date with the PL happenings.  City look phenomenal,  Liverpool & Man Utd are keeping the pressure on each other & Spurs are also a lock for top 4. Chelsea are more consistent than the chasing pack although equally apt to lose a game. Arsenal are in freefall and need a nice P45 shaped parachute. Burnley will soon be hammering on that glsss ceiling with whatever gets made in Burnley. Hotpots or something.

Below that I'm ashamed to say my attention has waned. I'm just proud of WBA's commitment to driving Pardew out of football; a cause we can all get behind. 

So yeah,  without further ado.....let's get statty

Matchday 28 (pro rata scores)

21 people played
Most popular predicted result: Liverpool & Spurs WINS (21/21)
Most disputed prediction: WBA vs Huddersfield (7-7-7 split respectively - rare that)

Highest odds :  Doron (502/1)
Lowest odds: Doron (502/1)
Average odds: 502/1

Best predictor: Josh Daniels (7.78/10)
Worst predictors: Joe Abbott, David Brickman & Steven Daniels (3.33/10) 
Average score: 4.92/10

Best predicted result: Liverpool & Spurs WINS (21/21)
Worst predicted result: Leicester WIN (2/21)

Matchday 29

23 people played
Most popular predicted results: Leicester, Spurs, Watford, Liverpool & Man Utd WINS (23/23)
Most disputed prediction: Burnley vs Everton (11-9-3 split)

Highest odds: AFM 684/1
Lowest odds: Doron (259/1)
Average odds: 520/1

Best predictors: WhoScored.com, Matt Abbott & Steven Daniels (8/10)
Worst predictor: Joe Abbott (4/10) - unwanted double
Average score: 6.26/10

Best predicted result: Spurs, Watford, Liverpool & Man Utd WINS (23/23)
Worst predicted result: Leicester vs Burnley DRAW (0/23)

Everyone's results



Sorry ECI... that's on me. Again. 

The leaderboard (>2/3; 20/29)



This week's predictions

Man Utd vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL
Everton vs Brighton - BRIGHTON
Huddersfield vs Swansea - DRAW
Newcastle vs Southampton - NEWCASTLE
WBA vs Leicester - LEICESTER
West Ham vs Burnley - DRAW
Chelsea vs Crystal Palace - CHELSEA
Arsenal vs Watford - ARSENAL
Bournemouth vs Spurs - SPURS
Stoke vs Man City - MAN CITY

Good luck guys

S7M29: Unseasonable

Placeholder service has returned. New blog to be fully updated later on this weekend

Burnley vs Everton - EVERTON
Leicester vs Bournemouth - LEICESTER
Swansea vs West Ham - SWANSEA
Spurs vs Huddersfield - SPURS
Southampton vs Stoke - DRAW
Watford vs WBA - WATFORD
Liverpool vs Newcastle - LIVERPOOL
Brighton vs Arsenal - ARSENAL
Man City vs Chelsea - MAN CITY
Crystal Palace vs Man Utd - MAN UTD

Good luck guys

S7M28: 4 week's worth - bonanza

Given that I've got 2 PL week's to get through & an FA Cup blog, I'll give you all a pass on the chat this week.

It's been a busy few weeks at Impossibilitee Towers, and I'd like to thank you all for your patience and good wishes.

Let's get statty:

M26:
23 people played this week
Most popular predicted game: Chelsea WIN (23/23)
Most disputed predicted result: Brighton vs West Ham (10-7-6 split)

Highest odds: AFM 1632/1
Lowest odds: Steven Daniels 310/1
Average odds: 758/1

Best predictor: David Silverman (7/10)
Worst predictor: AFM, Eli Daniels & Yo Abbott (2/10)
Average score: 4.09/10

Best predicted result: Man Utd WIN (22/23)
Worst predicted result: Burnley vs Man City DRAW & Watford WIN (0/23)


M27:
25 people played this week
Most popular predicted game: Man City & Chelsea WINS (25/25)
Most disputed predicted result: West Ham vs Watford (7-11-7 split)

Highest odds: AFM 4382/1
Lowest odds: Steven Daniels 943/1
Average odds: 2118/1

Best predictors: 4 of you (7/10)
Worst predictor: Me & AFM (3/10)
Average score: 5.52/10

Best predicted result: Man City & Chelsea WINS (25/25)
Worst predicted result: Newcastle WIN (0/25)

Everyone's results:

To the leaderboard (>2/3; 19/27)

FA Cup Round 4:

7 people played
Most popular predictions: Sheff Wed, Man Utd, Huddersfield, Swansea, Millwall, Spurs, Liverpool, Chelsea & Man City WINS (7/7)
Most disputed prediction: Sheff Utd vs Preston North End (4-3 split)

Best predictor: Sam Ruback (12/16)
Worst predictor (of those who played): Tarek Najm (9/16)

Best predicted result: Sheff Wed, Man Utd, Huddersfield, Swansea, Spurs, Liverpool, Chelsea & Man City WINS (7/7)
Worst predicted result: Rochdale WIN (0/7)

Round 5 stats can't be done just yet as waiting on a replay...

FA Cup graph:

Any outstanding monies, please pay ASAP. I'll start chasing soon...

To this week's fixtures:

Leicester vs Stoke  - LEICESTER
Bournemouth vs Newcastle - DRAW
Brighton vs Swansea - SWANSEA
Burnley vs Southampton - DRAW
Liverpool vs West Ham - LIVERPOOL
WBA vs Huddersfield - HUDDERSFIELD
Watford vs Everton - WATFORD
Crystal Palace vs Spurs - SPURS
Man Utd vs Chelsea - DRAW

Good luck guys

S7M27: The comeback is on :-P

I have an exam next week and so have been a little distracted. On call over the weekend too, so can't promise an update then either.  I've sort of done the stats but not there for publication just yet so the classic placeholder blog until I can get round to uploading it properly.

Just quickly though - Raheem Sterling's miss :D :D :D

Here's another picture of Giroud to tide you over



He's been happier...

This week's predos:

Spurs vs Arsenal - DRAW
Everton vs Crystal Palace - DRAW
Stoke vs Brighton - STOKE
Swansea vs Burnley - SWANSEA
West Ham vs Watford - WATFORD
Man City vs Leicester - Man City
Huddersfield vs Bournemouth - BOURNEMOUTH
Newcastle vs Man Utd  -MAN UTD
Southampton vs Liverpool - DRAW
Chelsea vs WBA - CHELSEA

Good luck guys. Check back for the actual blog at some point over the weekend/Monday

S7M26: Blue Moon Rising + Transfer window SLAMS SHUT

Placeholder blog - check back tonight/tomorrow for my thoughts on the midweek games & the transfer window!

Pro-tip: there's nothing original as usual

Here's a lovely picture of Giroud to tide you over until then



Edit:

As if I was going to delete Oli

So we've entered February and what's really changed?

City - dominant. Defensive woes (all things relative eh? - splash £60m on France's answer to John Stones. Comfortable win midweek.

Man Utd - Looking to inject some fury and unpredictability with Alexis - but at what cost? Can't imagine Pogba et al will not want wage parity, which is reportedly 5% of their turnover solely on Alexis. 3 or 4 in the squad, plus the attendant rise in "2nd tier" player salaries and you can see some big changes as they try to keep pace with the noisy neighbours. They can't pull clear on the pitch though, with 2 recent Martial winners papering over poor performances, before a disembowelling (figuratively) by Spurs

Liverpool - lost arguably their Talisman (though Salah has a fair crack at that title this season) but spent big money to sort out their defence. Liverpool are just Arsenal but Northern however, so their issues aren't personnel related but systemic, as shown by the drastic improvement in performance since VVD signed.

Chelsea are what happens when people stop pulling in the same direction - this squad is the work of different visions (Mourinho, Conte, Emenalo, that Marina director etc) and frankly you can see that Conte is phoning it in at times. Was starting to thaw towards them since Terry, Mourinho etc left, but after stealing Oli, I'm glad to state that I would happily burn the entirety of Stamford Bridge to the ground. Cracking work to get Barkley for £15m given the homegrown status alone is probably worth that. The English Tiemoue Bakayoko they call him.

Spurs - actually pretty stable. Ticking along in the league, Moura an exciting signing. The 2 clouds on the horizon are the Real Madrid interest in Poch (which he may well turn down but would have to have cojones gigantes to do so) and the fact that their stadium is apparently behind schedule and might not be ready for the new season, thus extending their stay at Wembley...

Arsenal - champions already. Of the basketcase trophy. Losing Alexis is a blow but expected. Sentimentally difficult to see him go to Utd, but clearly a good outcome in 1) getting Mkhitaryan and 2) freeing up wages for Ozil's new deal. This was supplemented by the loss of around 15 first team players, leaving us with only double-barrelled academy graduates for back up. We've also cleverly sent Giroud over to Chelsea ("Go West" we said. Geddit) to saboutage their season and try and mean that we have a chance at top 4 if we remember that the point of football is to score more goals than the opponent, not have more difficult surnames to spare.

Burnley - season's regressed to the mean slightly. Have invested in Spurs reject wingers

Leicester - season's taken a turn for the exicting with the RESISTANCE to the Mancunian petrodollar. Went predictably well as the rest of the season being a game of "where's Riyad?" Lost to...

Everton - the Allardici renaissance continues with panache. £45m on strikers & Mangala adds both the sharp end of the spear & the grunt needed to thrust it deep into the thorax of....well, Leicester and Burnley really. Shipped out a load of unwanted players and managed to end the Barkley tedium. Walcott's first goals midweek got them the W.

Bournemouth - couple of big wins. Felt a bit stale before but may be reinvigorated to ride Everton's coat-tails into...upper midtable.

Watford - New manager their big news. Same results though

20 clubs. Bloody long list that. I'm all for going down to 18.

West Ham: Done a racist (shocker) to enliven things up now they're safe

Crystal Palace: I'm sure stuff happened but regretting my decision to write a blog like this now

Newcastle: The great white hope got on her takeover horse and rode off into the distance. The living embodiment of treading water.

Brighton: Ulloa back. That's emosh. They need to kick on  a little

Stoke: New manager, bounce arrived. Bit of money spent, never heard of any of them

Huddersfield: would it be fair to suggest that they are following the time honoured tradition of prudently preparing for next season in the championship?

Anyone noticed that I've swapped from hyphens to colons?

Southampton :-: They're very low in the table, aren't they? Sold VVD, bought a striker. Yoshida will save the day

Swansea: New manager, bounce. Still a long way to go for them

WBA: New manager, no bounce. Will be hoping for 10 Sturridge goal to save them and he'll be hoping to make a late dash for the World Cup squad.

That was a lot more tedious than planned. Won't be making that mistake again

Let's get statty:

19 people played
Most popular predicted results: Arsenal, Chelsea & Man City WINS (19/19)
Most disputed result: Newcastle vs Burnley (6-7-6 split)

Highest odds: Doron Salomon (2278/1)
Lowest odds: Steven Daniels 794/1
Average odds: 1536/1

Best predictor: David Silverman (5/10)
Worst predictor: Josh Daniels (1/10)
Average score: 3.53/10

Best predicted result: Man City WIN (19/19)
Worst predicted result: Bournemouth & Swansea WINS (0/19)

Everyone's results:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 17/25)



Predos:


Burnley vs Man City - MAN CITY
Bournemouth vs Stoke - BOURNEMOUTH
Brighton vs West Ham - BRIGHTON
Leicester vs Swansea - SWANSEA
Man Utd vs Huddersfield - MAN UTD
WBA vs Southampton - DRAW
Arsenal vs Everton - ARSENAL
Crystal Palace vs Newcastle - CRYSTAL PALACE
Liverpool vs Spurs - SPURS
Watford vs Chelsea - CHELSEA

Good luck guys

S7M25: Delayed Gratification

It's the little things in life that keep it smiling. First you get Man City losing to Liverpool - that glow has yet to abate. But then Liverpool lose to Swansea, which just serves to make the whole exercise funnier.

Spurs drew with Southampton which meant that the Great Arsenal Comeback started with an Alexis-less win  over Crystal Palace. Nacho Monreal scored all 4 goals, cured cancer & sorted out world peace before being subbed halfway through the first half to go and play the harp at an old age home. True story. Only time will tell as to whether this will be a fruitful chase or not.

Speaking of drugs cheat Alexis, Man Utd showed why they're paying him the GDP of Polynesia a week as they laboured to a win over Burnley. Martial scoring his 2nd delightful goal in as many games.

Easy wins for Man City, Chelsea and er....Stoke (new manager bounce?) kept the world spinning on it's axis. Leicester signed Silva's death warrant at Watford, edging the Pozzo's ever closer to Doug Ellis' record.

Moyes & Allardyce continued their 2 man reprisal of "Old Dog - Old Tricks" (you must see it before it ends, superb) with home draws. Both "doing a job" I suppose.

Let's get statty:

This week 19 people played. Technically it was 20 but I've mislaid my bit of paper with ECI's results which have now disappeared off their website so until I find it again....19.

Most popular predicted results: Man City & Spurs WINS (19/19)
Most disputed result: Stoke vs Huddersfield (12-5-2 split)

Highest odds: Feneley (881/1)
Lowest odds: AFM (2209/1)
Average odds: 1331/1

Best predictors: Tarek Najm & Doron Salomon (7/10)
Worst predictor: Sam Ruback (3/10)
Average score: 5.1/10

Best predicted result: Man City WIN (19/19)
Worst predicted results: Swansea WIN & Southampton vs Spurs DRAW (0/19)

Everyone's results:

Leaderboard (>2/3; 17/24)

This week's predos:

Swansea vs Arsenal - ARSENAL
West Ham vs Crystal Palace - DRAW
Huddersfield vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL
Chelsea vs Bournemouth - CHELSEA
Everton vs Leicester - LEICESTER
Newcastle vs Burnley - DRAW
Southampton vs Brighton - BRIGHTON
Man City vs WBA - MAN CITY
Stoke vs Watford - STOKE
Spurs vs Man Utd - DRAW

Good luck guys