Just a quick post this week of the picks and results
And the weekly standings. Its a bit cheeky really because the winners this week didn’t actually pick but took Mark Lawrenson’s default picks. I’ll have to rethink this as it seems unfair to reward people for not thinking…. then again, it seems week after week there are predictions which clearly show we aren’t thinking!
Another round another dollar – quite literally for the Premier league.
This week Manchester City wrapped up second place and, more importantly, won their appeal against the Champions League ban. Apparently a corrupt organization calling a team corrupt based on illegal hacking didn’t win enough support.
The posts since the restart have been mostly lackluster but that reflects the season as a whole. Matches are like pre-season friendlies and lack any true intensity or atmosphere. The games seem tedious and boring and perfunctory.
I think Liverpool’s season reflects 2019-20 as a whole.
We’re going to win everything. Aston Villa 5-0 We’re going to be the invincibles. Watford 3-0 We’re going to win the treble. Chelsea 2-0 We’re going to win the double. Atletico 2-3 We’re going to score 100 points. Arsenal 2-1
We won the league!
One of the interesting things I’ve noticed this year in doing this picks is that the weekly scores of people is inversely proportional to the amount of guesswork taken. That is, when people finish towards the top of the weekly table there’s a lot of skill involved and when they finish bottom “had no time and just guessed”.
The scoring for the week was a little bit up and it’s still tight with just two games left to go.
I think there’s a lot to be said for the randomness of picks when you see that first place this week was a 11 spot jump from last week and the top two spots plummeting down the table! Super-computers are spread across the table but once again #2 leads the pack.
Other News
Real Madrid won the Spanish league. They said he was crazy. They said he should be fired. They said he couldn’t do it with a second rate squad. Bow down to the great Zidane.
Weekly Comments
ME: “Tough calls again. VAR is still causing issues…. when are referees going to view the incidents for a better informed final confirmation?”
That’s what they’re what they are doing every time. They’ve done it against every team and, I guess, just recently got around to Spuds. That said, everyone agrees: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/53357841 except OGS who has been well advised on how to comment by his mentor and doubling down on what everyone else knows to be wrong.
I am fairly confident that I had posted the results to this week but looking through my site I see no such evidence so I assume I must have had a dream where I could actually manage to keep up with all the games.
This was a train wreck of a week. Supercomputer 1 managed to correctly identify one result which not much worse than my attempt to get more than 2 results. I’ll have to look at records but I am fairly confident that this is a weekly total aggregate low score record. The Watford game accounted for roughly over one-third of the total points!
Weekly Comments
AA: “Probably shouldn’t change, but I will. To be fair, I have no idea what I picked last time.” I won’t score your old picks so you’ll never know how well you would have done!
AM: “First time in a while I’ve been back through my selections and changed nothing. This surely means BIG points this week!? :-)” Not big points but you’re sitting on top of the pile this week
Fast and furious and unable to keep up. Week 33 seems so long ago because it’s been about a week which is an awful long time in Coronavirus Premier League time.
This week Mark Lawrenson had his best week of the year. Unfortunately for everyone involved, this a week that BB and LJ decided to default their picks to the pro.
More picks and more results and more things to post
I could say that I spent ages picking results this week but are you kidding? No chance. I do think that AM is going to be disappointed at a 10 point differential on the week!
Weekly Comments x 2
ME: “We all hope Watford will stay up and I expect this will be a hard fought 3 points..fingers crossed!”
BE: “Must win for Watford! And for IOTJ…”
JE: “Cmon moosemen!!!”
Look at that. A little love and they pull out a victory
This is one of those weeks where no one really knocked out a great score, with BE scoring a solid victory, and AM and ME fought it out for last place.
The wheels seem to be falling of the Watford season but the season is a nonsensical mess. Chelsea look like a great team until they lose to West Ham. Sheffield United look like the wheels are falling off and then beat Spuds 3-1. I expect this coming week Manchester United will somehow lose a game they should win after a few back to back trouncings.
Mourinho was on top form but who can blame him:
‘I used to disagree with decisions, I used to complain, I used to go to the fourth official. But the man on the pitch is not it w the assistant referee and the man and, today, the lady with the flags they used to be the assistant referees. Now they are the assistants of the assistant referee. The referee is in the office.”
I actually agree with him wholeheartedly and doubt he would be fined but then he adde:
“And especially when a referee that is not very good on the pitch, we cannot expect that he’s very good in the office.”
Slam on MIchael Oliver – the most overrated referee in the business and making decisions from London. There is some argument that the decision was correct based on the laws of the game but I can stand the implementation of VAR….adding it to matches that have the intensity of training and I’m struggling to care.
With games coming think and fast sometimes it feels like a blur and if you bring or write a post you might miss something.
The only thing left before the weekly comments is to talk about Liverpool. I think it’s fair to say at this point that they’re not the best team to ever win the league. Two losses at 3-0 and 4-0. Champions League exit to Atletico and no appearance in the QF of the F.A. Cup.
They are Champions and that cannot be denied… but the best ever? No. Even the excitement you might expect is gone – just seems to be an emotionally void in the Premier League.
Weekly Comments
AA: “A I may be late or this may be a do-over. I don’t know anything anymore. :)” The games are awful and seem pointless and no one seems to know what to pick or when to pick.
JE: “villa already played wolves right? I would have guessed 1-2 but think it was 0-1? Just spoke to mum and dad who reminded me to do the scores. No idea if there have been games today.” The games are awful and seem pointless and no one seems to know what to pick or when to pick.
ME: “Liverpool have done it. However, I don’t think they will beat Citeh… not sure they will lose either! I can’t say I like the way the chosen one Is setting up Spurs.. hope it will be good enough to win though. “ The games are awful and seem pointless and no one seems to know what to pick or when to pick. Oh wait… that doesn’t apply…
You like the way the chosen one is setting up Spurs ?! Hows the COVID-19 bar looking these days ?
KMFE: “Already bored with Liverpool ;-)” Isn’t everyone outside of Liverpool bored with them?
So the Premier League is restarting and it turns out I’m already behind! Two make up games this week and those have been factored in and week 28 is in the books. Started in February and ended in June!
Seems this week I forgot to plug in SuperComputer 2 and SuperComputer 1 stole all the horsepower from SuperComputer 3 as they went first and last (and always if you like the Sisters of Mercy)
Week 29 was already completed but I didn’t do the picks or the summary. I’m not going to do that this week either – I’m just going to present the table. How the Hornets beat Liverpool 3-0 and then lose to the Palace, I’ll never know.
A good week for many but this week I apparently gave all the horsepower back to SuperComputers 2 and 3 as SuperComputer 1 faltered terribly.
Looks like I forgot to put up picks, results, tables, analysis and any information regarding the fixtures from the 22nd of February… perhaps this is an indication that it’s getting harder and harder to care when one team is 20 points clear and the team you support barely has more than that in total.
And looks like a tie between LJ and JE with poor old AA languishing at the bottom looking like a forlorn Canary, Deer, or Hammer.
Weekly Comments JE: “Lots of 2-1s ok my and from memory I have quite a lot of those… what is the most common scoreline? Is it 2-1?” It’s not but looks like this week the tactic worked well!
AA: ” I never noticed how lovely Mikel Arteta’s eyes are. He’s not Gazzaniga, to be fair, but still “ That is important!
So the winter break that is really just one week spread over two weeks is finally over. What have we learned?
Liverpool can win the Premier League title with their eyes closed and don’t see to have any competition left yet lose in Europe to Atletico…. the Everton to Real Madrid’s Liverpool
Mourinho can take any team and force them into a defensive oriented mind and come away without scoring as Spuds lose to Leipzig.
Man City can get banned for 2 years but will appeal the decision on the grounds that it seems every team near the top has run afoul of the Fair Play regulations and that those regulations aren’t actually Fair Play. If it was fair, why would the biggest clubs be the biggest supporters of it? It’s like asking the Mexican cartels if they would approve of decriminalization of drugs (any quantities).
The new “power” team that apparently has no financial irregularities, Paris St Germain, could lose to lesser teams like Borussia.
Watford can now lead against everyone and still lose. Good grief – dropping 8 points in the last 3 games is not how things should continue. Nigel Pearson suggested that the team needed to fight for each point.
JCE is on a roll with back to back first places and this after a last place finish. I feel like Nigel Pearson just kicked me in the rear and put me into gear…. I expect one more top finish before a run of mediocrity.
Mixed bag from the Super Computers this week with SC2 and SC3 maintaining their consistent run towards the top and SC1 showing some weakness in the strategy that has in recent weeks paid off.
The overall lead is diminishing as ME failed to capitalize on an easy week.
Looks like SC2 has taken over the top spot! Why don’t I just copy those picks?
This year has been somewhat of a challenge in terms of picks and this week is yet another week where we had a last-to-first transition.
Last week I scored a massively useless 3 points (a total which should have been 11 points as explained in my post) that sunk me to the bottom of the table and this week a not too shabby 13 points led me to the heights of success.
The biggest indicator of the volatility of results is how positions have shifted with a top half of green arrows and a bottom half of red arrows.
ME continues to lead but LJ is nipping at his heals. The Super Computers are still performing well with all three sitting in the top half of the table.
Weekly Comments
JE: “I’m rubbish at predicting scores really crap!” AA: “Guessy McGuessersen of guesstown!” ME: “Because of time restraints I have had to guess the rest…”
There seems to be a common theme across comments this year. There is definitely a level of honesty and self-realization on the part of some but I tend to think that there is a level of humble-brag on the part of a few!
ME: “But Spuds will just pip Man Pretty as they have a very settled squad, no injuries and the best manager….not, not and not. “
But you picked Spuds to win like you do every single week. I think this does provide evidence that you do guess! You’re just luckier than all of us!