Fog Dude
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Posts posted by Fog Dude
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On 5/28/2022 at 9:49 PM, Shy Dad said:
Thankyou for putting this on and I have to say I'm never finishing that high again.
If you want any help collating all the information, putting it into tables and stuff but yourself picking the fixtures and being the face of the game, I'd be happy to pick up some of the admin side and send you over the stuff you need each week? It's a favourite part of my week so anyway I'd be able to help.
The pleasure is all mine, friend. Especially when I hear that it's the highlight of somebody's week! I'll remember that if I'm ever struggling for motivation to make a post on time. Feel free to DM me if you have any detailed ideas for how a joint running of the FPL might work. Preparations for next season are too far gone (plus, the unique nature of it presents an intriguing logistical challenge) but that might be a precursor to me relinquishing control of it the following term after a whopping 15 years by that point.
Anyway, as promised, here's how it all ended up:
This version of the standings tells us a smidgen more that we couldn't glean from the main regular update. MVP RULZ got the most outcomes right, 225-223 over TildeGuy, and so was a worthy winner. Vegeta was still one of the better players but failure to convert correct guesses into three-pointers cost him dear. Rory and Briefcase both receive accolades on the left side of the classification, but the latter ends up on the right-hand side of the board as well thanks to the smallest number of single-point guesses overall.
I was the worst player by three different metrics and the only participant with a mean score below 7. If ultimo had picked on time every week, he'd have finished a place higher, above Stinky, since he has a better average. Then again, his real problem might have been a shortage of bonuses too. And yes, I count everyone as having played to the end because Briefcase never missed 3 rounds in a row.
So, now back to the elephant in the room: what to do about the World Cup in November and December. I've gone back and forth about what to do regarding that, but this is what the relevant part of the spreadsheet currently looks like. It might be a tad optimistic to presume people will come back after a five-week break, even if everybody did so once before after the unexpected hiatus caused by the first lockdown in 2020. On the other hand, that summer people possibly didn't have a lot of better things to do.
If the regulars are fine with stopping while Qatar 2022 is on and various top flights are suspended, then things are quite straightforward. If the usual suspects are in favour of carrying on in some form, then it raises a few more questions. Should it still count towards the main competition? Should those just be FPL Cup rounds? Or perhaps a one-off secondary Cup tournament? Will the cards consist of 'hybrid' rounds featuring international and domestic fixtures, or will only club matches be included?
Let me know if you have, because if not it'll be left to my best judgement instead and you might not like that come the late autumn. I'll also set up a poll on the initial dilemma.
Lastly, let's look ahead to a tentative schedule for the start of 2022-23: I'm moving into a flat at the start of July, then I've got my much-delayed Masters graduation and am jetting off to the continent for a long weekend straight after that. Sorry for the triple humblebrag, but I mention all that because it does mean the sign-up thread won't go live until around 10 days before the Community Shield. There will then be a fairly swift turnaround with the big season-long thread being published on the 3rd of August and the first new table appearing on the 16th of that same month, by which time I ought to be comfortably settled back in North Wales again.
In the meantime, enjoy the Nations League and the women's Euros, or – if you understandably don't like international football – take a break and I'll see you when the EPL is on the verge of coming back.
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The results went into the opening post on Monday morning, and I just put the final regular table update in there too. I appreciate everyone's patience with this. Let's deal with the most important bit of business first:
Congratulations to @MVP RULZ who is the 2021-22 UKFF FOOTBALL PREDICTIONS LEAGUE CHAMPION!
Some decent scoring saw Shy Dad, Vegeta and top performer Rory all move up a place, the latter at the expense of worst scorer Stinky Dad. Briefcase sat it out for whatever reason and dropped down to the middle of the pack. I was a full 21 points adrift of ultimo in the end. TildeGuy led for much of the run-in but was ultimately the runner-up as MVP RULZ overtook him in the penultimate round and then held off his challenge last week. Well played or, as the kids say these days, "GG"!
Victories for (*deep breath*) Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City, Spurs, Sunderland, Rangers, Sevilla, Inter, AC Zlatan, Marseille, Porto – against a relegated side – and Berne all proved fruitful (*exhales*). Score draws in Lens, Lille and Bruges were generally good for at least one-pointers too. Nobody thought the German Cup final would go all the way to a penalty shootout beforehand and to be fair, it very nearly didn't but in the end Freiburg missed a golden opportunity to take home a first ever DFB-Pokal.
Guesses for the matches at Brentford, Reims and New York turned out to be more of a mixed bag, while losses for West Ham and Burnley (both claret and blue sides who needed to win), reverses for heavily favoured Wrexham and Barcelona Women in finals plus the two Austrian outcomes caught most people out. That leaves only the match at Selhurst Park... which was a thing that happened, I suppose.
Now for some housekeeping: I don't want this to turn into too much of a personal blog post, however: I started a new job in late November, and it's great and all but it's also been tough at times. And you've probably noticed that things here have been slipping in terms of timing and accuracy. I plan to make my hours more manageable in time for the start of next season but that will still involve Tuesday nights, when I usually do these updates, being right in the thick of things between two full working days.
On top of that, my grandfather passed away in March. And his funeral took place a few hours after night 2 of Mania finished, so I didn't bother watching that this year. In turn, I've had little inclination to keep up to date with wrestling news, and therefore less incentive to check this forum in my free time unless I'm in this thread, even though Off Topic is still a mostly sound place.
All in all, some difficult moments thus far in 2022. I'm confident the second half of the year will go better though. As is the norm, there'll be one further post from me in this thread with an embedded 'definitive' version of the standings which should hopefully be ready in a few days. We'll also take that as a chance to discuss how sign-ups are likely to go and what we're gonna do about a mid-campaign World Cup. Until then, enjoy what little remains of club football this season and thanks again for playing and for being understanding.
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On 5/18/2022 at 1:02 PM, Shy Dad said:
@Fog Dudegenuinely I found the draft. 3 of them were 3-3 draws, the cup final had Liverpool winning 5-1 and Watford Leicester just had the number 2. No score. Just definitely 2 goals.
Well, I'm sure there was some kind of logic behind that thinking at the time! Anyway, here are my picks:
Premier League
Arsenal 4-0 Everton
Brentford 1-1 Leeds United
Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 West Ham United
Burnley 2-1 Newcastle United
Crystal Palace 2-2 Manchester United
Liverpool 3-0 Wolves
Manchester City 3-1 Aston Villa
Norwich City 1-2 SpursLeague One Play-off Final
Sunderland 2-0 Wycombe Wanderers (@ Wembley)FA Trophy Final
Bromley 0-1 Wrexham (@ Wembley)Scottish Cup Final
Hearts 2-3 Rangers (@ Hampden)German Cup Final
Freiburg 1-0 RB Leipzig (@ the Olympiastadion)La Liga
Sevilla 3-1 Athletic BilbaoSerie A
Inter 3-0 Sampdoria
Sassuolo 2-1 AC MilanLigue 1
Lens 0-0 Monaco
Lille 1-1 Rennes
Marseille 1-2 Strasbourg
Reims 0-1 NicePortuguese Cup Final
Porto 3-0 Tondela (@ the Estádio Nacional)Proper Bundesliga
Austria Vienna 2-2 Sturm Graz
Red Bull Salzburg 1-3 Austria KlagenfurtBelgian First Division A
Club Bruges 2-0 AnderlechtSwiss Super League
Young Boys 1-1 GrasshopperMLS
New York City 1-0 Chicago FireUEFA Women's Champions League Final
Barcelona 3-1 Lyon (@ the Juventus Stadium) -
On 5/14/2022 at 4:13 PM, Shy Dad said:
Bloody hell I had hoped very drunk me had made some wild predictions last night. Luckily I think I've only missed 1 game?
Ha, presuming you didn't just imagine or dream that, I'd like to have seen what delights awaited us all if you'd pressed 'Submit Reply' on a drunken guesses post! And yeah, these final two rounds lean heavily towards Sunday fixtures, which is one of the reasons I was in no hurry to get this write-up done before midnight. The bias towards Sundays in the last two weeks of the campaign will probably be the norm in future years now that the Cup Final is no longer the last showpiece occasion of the season, but the FA (rightly) still want that to be a day without any EPL matches on, following recent examples from France and Spain.
Anyway, the results went into the opening post on Sunday night, and the table was updated shortly afterwards. Despite some more low scoring, there was some movement among the top 4, including the lead actually changing hands for the first time in a while. MVP RULZ now leads by a point over TildeGuy to ensure us a grandstand finish. At the other end, ultimo was the best performer and the only participant into double figures this time out, which seems to have stuck the final nail in my coffin. Although there are a whopping 78 points up for grabs next week, the notion of me making up a 22-point deficit still feels more than a tad far-fetched.
What happened to the bonuses and the closing 'wildcard' fixture of the season, I hear you ask? Well, it was randomly selected as match #7, Wolves v Norwich, which turned out to be a dud outcome. A few people thought that it'd just be a narrow home win, but nobody thought off-form Wanderers would be weak enough to let the Canaries escape Molineux with a draw.
Elsewhere, victories for Spurs, Leicester and the Chelsea women's side were generally good for one-pointers, alongside a score draw in a largely meaningless kickabout at Villa Park. A couple of players did, to be fair, bet on the men's final going all the way to penalties, but nobody quite saw a stalemate coming even though the Carabao final should've already given us a clue how it'd go back in February.
A poor home reverse at Goodison Park and dramatic (and crucial) draws at the Olympic Stadium and Elland Road ended up tougher to foresee, as did Stuttgart's last-gasp escape from the prospect of a relegation play-off against Hamburg.
Right, that's almost it. A new set of (checks notes) 26 will be up at the top of the thread very soon. Can't guarantee how quickly the blurb for that will be up but I will at least try to be thorough when it's done so that nobody gets short-changed. Then we'll have to start discussing how a season with a World Cup slap bang in the middle of it is actually going to work. In the meantime, best of luck to the two main title contenders...
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FA Cup Final
Chelsea 1-2 Liverpool (@ Wembley)
Premier League
Spurs 3-1 Burnley
Aston Villa 2-1 Crystal Palace
Leeds United 0-1 Brighton & Hove Albion
Watford 0-0 Leicester City
West Ham United 2-3 Manchester City
Wolves 1-0 Norwich City
Everton 2-0 BrentfordFA Women's Cup Final
Chelsea 1-3 Manchester City (@ Wembley)German Bundesliga
Stuttgart 0-2 Köln -
The final scores were up in the initial post on Sunday night, and the updated table followed soon after that. Safe to say it was a low-scoring round.
Although Shy Dad could still take the title (despite his denial above), it's MVP RULZ who's really putting the pressure on by closing the gap at the top to two points. The other Dad in this competition, Stinky, was the best performer as he was the sole participant into double figures, the only one to get more than one exact score right and the singular nabber of both wildcard bonuses too. That randomly selected fixture was match #6 in Dingwall, ending in a 1-0 success for the visiting Lanarkshire side. A few people managed the right result but didn't get the scoreline spot on.
Joint lowest scorers were Tilde and Vegeta, the former's slipping up just at the right time, which helps to make it a proper race for the championship in the run-in. Because the final week will be a 'bumper' round, at this stage I don't know precisely how many points will be at stake, but I think it's becoming clearer I'm likely to finish dead last as defending champion this season with a 13-point deficit to make up just to catch ultimo. He completed another miserable campaign by losing the FPL Cup Final to Rory, who in turn was the one player who dropped down a place this week. Still, a win's a win so congrats are in order, I suppose. 🥳
Speaking of wins, the home victory for Crystal Palace that confirmed Watford's second relegation of the season was generally good for three-pointers, alongside a score draw involving the Europa Conference League finalists in Rotterdam. A further score draw at Easter Road also proved fruitful, but the same outcome at Anfield turned out to be tougher to foresee. Equally difficult to guess beforehand were comfortable triumphs for Villa and Brighton and three points on the road for Porto.
A five-goal thriller in Metz and – last but not least – Nantes nicking another Coupe final via a penalty ended up catching most people out. At least it wasn't in the last minute against an amateur side, like what happened 22 years ago!
Right, I've had a lot more thoughts lately about what to do with the awkwardly scheduled World Cup next season, but we can save those for the end-of-term round-up in a couple of weeks time. In the meantime, it's the last ordinary card of 2021-22 coming up, from which the final wildcard fixture will be randomly selected. That'll be going live in the first post shortly.
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Premier League
Burnley 3-1 Aston Villa
Crystal Palace 2-0 Watford
Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 Manchester United
Liverpool 3-2 SpursScottish Premiership
Hibs 1-0 Aberdeen
Ross County 1-1 MotherwellFrench Cup Final
Nantes 3-0 Nice (in Saint-Denis)Ligue Un
Metz 1-2 LyonEredivisie
Feyenoord 2-2 PSV EindhovenPrimeira Liga
Benfica 0-0 Porto -
The results were put into the opening post on Monday night, so there was a bit less time than usual to recalculate the table. In another high-scoring round, best performer Briefcase moves up a place to third, whilst lowest scorer ultimo slips down one but remains a healthy 15 points clear of last place. TildeGuy still leads, but now only by six points, so we might have a title race on our hands after all. The 'wildcard' fixture was match #2 at Vicarage Road, which four participants got spot on following a late Burnley turnaround to claim two bonus points each.
Elsewhere, when Shy Dad wasn't trying to call upon knowledge of 90s cult footballers from the forum's hive mind, wins for Villa, Man City, Arsenal, Samp, Milan and Inter all proved fruitful. In fact, that late clarification prevented Shy Dad from being the outright worst performer this time out. A stalemate at Dagenham caught most people out, whilst a score draw in Borehamwood and a crucial home victory for Everton also turned out to be tougher to foresee.
The penultimate set of 10 for the season will go up at the top of the thread very soon, and it'll feature the finals of both the Coupe de France and our own FPL Cup...
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1 hour ago, Shy Dad said:
Just so I don't edit the post and look like I've cheated at all, the Inter result was supposed to be 2-1 to them against Udinese, apparently I couldn't type earlier.
Okay, I'll accept that as your pick. Thought perhaps it was a reference to Iván Zamorano's old "1+8" Inter shirt!
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Premier League
Aston Villa 2-1 Norwich City
Watford 1-3 Burnley
Leeds United 0-3 Manchester City
Everton 1-2 Chelsea
West Ham United 1-1 ArsenalNational League
Boreham Wood 0-2 Wrexham
Dagenham & Redbridge 2-2 Torquay UnitedSerie A
Sampdoria 1-0 Genoa
AC Milan 3-1 Fiorentina
Udinese 0-0 Inter -
The final scores went into the original post on Sunday night, and the table was updated soon after that. Despite some high scoring, there wasn't quite any movement this time, and mid-table was where it came closest to happening in any case. The gap at the foot of the standings is closed by one point, which probably isn't enough at this stage, whilst at the other end, weekly best performer TildeGuy is closing in on the title with a haul of a dozen in this round to move a further five points clear. Rory was the worst scorer and the only participant not to get at least one exact scoreline right, as the top 5 have now quietly crept a whopping 25 points ahead of him and the bottom 4 players.
The 'wildcard' fixture was almost superfluous this week, apart from raising the average score by one. It was match #2 – Man City v Watford (which I admit was a last-minute addition once I realised Palace-Leeds had been moved to Monday night, since it was such an obvious nailed-on home win). Some people thought Watford would get a consolation goal, and others correctly foresaw that the winning margin would be 4 goals, but nobody quite put those two things together into one guess to nab two bonus points for themselves and deny them to everybody else. Still, preferable to a dud outcome, I suppose.
Anyway, victories elsewhere for Newcastle Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool all proved fruitful, alongside a score draw at the AmEx. Stalemates in Leicester and Brentford were generally good for one-pointers. A crucial success for Burnley and the Aussie result were understandably more of a mixed bag. Lastly, most people seemed to think Valencia would win la Copa as a backdoor route into Europe for next season. I was not among them, but I still scored nothing on that game as it went all the way to penalties. Tilde took a risk in betting that it would finish in a shootout and he was duly rewarded with 3 points for that fixture where the rest of the field got nothing.
Right, next week is a fairly ordinary week with one caveat: it's another Bank Holiday again, so soon after the last one. Fortunately for ultimo, it's the sort where we include some Monday matches, but not any early ones. That new card will be appearing in the initial post shortly...
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Premier League
Leicester City 2-1 Aston Villa
Manchester City 3-1 Watford
Norwich City 0-0 Newcastle United
Brentford 2-2 Spurs
Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 Southampton
Burnley 1-0 Wolves
Chelsea 2-0 West Ham United
Liverpool 3-0 EvertonSpanish Cup Final
Real Betis 0-1 Valencia (in Seville)A-League Men
Adelaide United 1-2 Perth Glory -
On 4/16/2022 at 2:49 PM, ultimo the great said:
Week 37A fixtures – Good Friday
Championship
Birmingham City 0-1 Coventry City
Sheffield United 2-0 ReadingLeague One
Doncaster Rovers 1-1 Bolton Wanderers
Portsmouth 3-1 Lincoln CityLeague Two
Bradford City 0-0 Tranmere Rovers
Leyton Orient 2-0 Scunthorpe UnitedOh, mate... maybe after another 2,000 years you'll finally get the concept of Easter, yeah? You know, when a rabbit died on the hot cross bun so we could eat more chocolate and have extra football for one weekend a year? These picks are all null and void, none of them's got an exact score and two of them are outright wrong anyway. Appropriately enough, you did redeem yourself somewhat on the Sunday and Monday to avoid being the round's worst performer.
Speaking of Monday, last thing that night is when the results were put into the opening post and an update to the table followed shortly afterwards. Scoring was about what you'd expect for a double round, and at this late stage there was only one bit of movement as MVP RULZ re-overtakes Shy Dad in second place. All that allowed TildeGuy to consolidate his lead so he's now ahead of the pack by 8 points with 5 rounds left to play. I've closed the gap to Stinky at the other end, but by just two points which is probably not enough by this point.
It was nice to be top scorer, though, albeit largely thanks to my own invention of the 'wildcard' fixture. The first this time was match #10, Partick v Raith, where nobody got the exact scoreline correct and only Rory bet on away win, whilst the second was match #17, Salford v Barrow which sounds more like a rugby league fixture in all honesty. A 2-2 outcome would be pretty low-scoring in that sport, but that's what I went for and I was the sole participant to get it spot on, so I'll keep both those bonus points for myself, thanks.
Elsewhere, victories for (deep breath) Coventry, Bolton, Pompey, Orient, Millwall and the Chelsea men's and women's sides all proved fruitful. Those results saw near-neighbours Doncaster and Scunthorpe exit their respective divisions at the wrong end, although Monday's scores have now rendered the five-goal thriller at Fratton Park immaterial. Triumphs for Liverpool, Dunfermline, Carlisle, Rangers and Benfica produced more of a mixed bag of guesses beforehand, whereas successes for Saints, Reading and Posh turned out tougher to foresee. Last but not least, a score draw at Valley Parade and stalemates at Home Park and The Priestfield were all generally good for one-pointers but did catch some people out.
Right, do please let me know if there are any mistakes in the standings, since it required a tad more concentration than usual this time. Bit of housekeeping: Week 41 is an ordinary round where the card is already fixed to be a relatively straightforward one, but Weeks 39 and 40 before it still have parts of them up in the air, so those might have the odd trick up their sleeve yet. The next set of 10, however, is all ready to go as a rare ordinary round, so that'll go live in the first post sharpish.
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My Week 37A picks
FA Cup Semi-final
Liverpool 0-1 Manchester City (@
Old TraffordWembley)Premier League
Southampton 1-1 ArsenalChampionship
Birmingham City 0-3 Coventry City
Sheffield United 3-0 ReadingLeague One
Doncaster Rovers 0-2 Bolton Wanderers
Portsmouth 3-1 Lincoln CityLeague Two
Bradford City 2-2 Tranmere Rovers
Leyton Orient 1-0 Scunthorpe UnitedScottish Championship
Dunfermline Athletic 2-1 Ayr United
Partick Thistle 0-0 Raith Rovers
My Week 37B picksFA Cup Semi-final
Chelsea 3-1 Crystal Palace (@
Villa ParkWembley)Championship
Barnsley 0-0 Peterborough United
Millwall 2-0 Hull CityLeague One
Gillingham 1-1 Fleetwood Town
Plymouth Argyle 2-1 SunderlandLeague Two
Carlisle United 1-2 Mansfield Town
Salford City 2-2 BarrowScottish Cup Semi-final
Celtic 0-1 Rangers (@ Hampden)Women's FA Cup Semi-final
Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea (@ Boreham Wood)Primeira Liga
Sporting Lisbon 3-0 Benfica -
The final scores went into the original post last night (Sunday), and the table was recalculated soon after that since there was no movement in a low-scoring round. Vegeta got his D2D right and claims the maximum of 16 bonus points as all 8 other participants wrongly disagreed with him. I was the only competitor not to go for a home win at The County Ground, but sadly that doesn't get you any extra points in this league so I'm still 17 points adrift at the foot of the standings.
Joint worst performer Stinky Dad was the sole remaining player not yet mentioned to get a bonus point from the randomly selected 'wildcard' fixture, which was match #2, Saints v Chelsea. At one point it looked as if it could be Southampton's third (and presumably last) 9-0 reverse with Ralph Hasenhüttl in charge before Chelsea eased off in the final half hour. Equally incredibly, it wasn't the only 6-0 away win on the card this week as Salzburg ran rampant by the shores of Lake Wörther*.
In fact, the only three-point guesses at all this time out were Rory and Briefcase both foreseeing that the top-of-the-table clash at The Etihad would finish two goals apiece. No surprise, then, that the gap among our leading pack of 3 title chasers stays the same. Victories on the road for Leeds and Spurs were generally good for one-pointers but home triumphs for Brentford, Norwich and Graz produced more of a mixed bag of guesses, whilst a triumph for Brighton at The Emirates proved toughest of all to plump for beforehand and caught everyone out, thereby producing a dud outcome.
That was the last of the D2Ds for the season. At one optimistic point in November I thought we might squeeze a third go-around in. Then weather and omicron-related postponements started to happen, the schedules for teams people had selected suddenly got less convenient, I noticed I'd made an error, and fate intervened to make my life a lot busier too. All of which means we're left with everybody getting just the two D2D turns each as usual.
So, of the last 6 rounds this season, half will be plain old ordinary weeks, but we do still have the FPL Cup Final and a bumper last round to come. In the meantime, a new card will be in the initial post shortly. Because of aforementioned postponements, instead of suspending the 'wildcard' rule for a double round, there'll be two such fixtures next time, so don't hesitate to post your guesses, because it could be one of the 6 Friday matches we're including! That's why this is going up a day early. Don't say you weren't warned, frequent late pickers...
*I've been to that ground and despite the name, it isn't actually right by the lake at all.
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Premier League
Arsenal 2-0 Brighton & Hove Albion
Southampton 2-2 Chelsea
Watford 3-2 Leeds United
Aston Villa 2-1 Spurs
Brentford 1-0 West Ham United
Norwich City 0-0 Burnley
Manchester City 3-1 LiverpoolLeague Two
Swindon Town 1-1 Newport County w/VegetaProper Bundesliga
Austria Klagenfurt 1-2 Red Bull Salzburg
Sturm Graz 0-1 Austria Vienna -
The results were up in the opening post on Sunday night, and the table was updated in short order afterwards. In a remarkably high-scoring week, there was only one bit of movement since almost everyone did so well, and also partly because the standings are beginning to become fossilised at this stage of the season. Vegeta moves up a place, Tilde leads by three and I'm now seventeen points adrift as one of only two players who failed to make it into doubles figures for the round.
The real story this time out, though, was in a preview of next month's Cup final as ultimo outscored Rory by a factor of nineteen. Let's not treat it as a dress rehearsal, though, else the real thing could end up terribly one-sided. It all started when Rory bet incorrectly on a home win in his D2D game. I made the rare mistake of agreeing with him and won't be doing that again in a hurry. Everybody else didn't do so and thus claimed their first lot of bonuses.
The randomly selected 'wildcard' fixture was match #8, the Derby d'Italia in which the side from Lombardy saw off their Fiat-funded zebraic hosts by a single goal. Three people got that spot on, including myself which at least allowed me to salvage what would normally be a respectable weekly score.
Elsewhere, victory for Man City, Wolves and Roma proved fruitful, as did score draws at Dens Park and Elland Road. Triumph on the road for Celtic in the Old Firm derby produced more of a mixed bag of guessed, whilst a stalemate at the AmEx caught all participants out, producing a dud outcome. Lastly, a home reverse for Cincinnati generally turned out to be good for one-pointers, but nobody managed to foresee that Montréal would succeed by the odd goal in seven!
A new set of 10 will go live at the top of the thread very soon.
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Premier League
Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 Norwich City
Burnley 0-3 Manchester City
Leeds United 3-2 Southampton
Wolves 1-1 Aston VillaScottish Premiership
Dundee 2-0 Aberdeen
Rangers 0-0 CelticSerie A
Sampdoria 1-2 Roma
Juventus 0-1 InternazionaleMajor League Soccer
Cincinnati 3-1 Montréal no-longer-ImpactArgentine Apertura
Defensa y Justicia w/Rory 3-0 River PlateNunca River.
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The final scores went into the original post on... well, Monday morning, as it turned out. But that last match in San Salvador finished pretty close to midnight, so I think I can be cut a little slack there. Then at the third attempt, the latest table was successfully uploaded. Top scorer TildeGuy regains the lead over Shy Dad by two points. MVP RULZ, with double figures and more than one exact score this time out, remains in contention too. I was the worst performer and am now adrift by a full 10 points, and there's no other movement at all.
The randomly selected 'wildcard' fixture was match #9 in Holland, the Dutch vs the Danes, and although nobody guessed there'd be 6 goals involved, 7 out of 9 participants did at least foresee a home win to claim a bonus point each. Turns out we could've had a few more competitive games as there were pre-qualifiers for the next Afcon already over the weekend, but sadly I didn't notice them when scouring for interesting internationals a week ago. Oh, and the Croatia match took place at a neutral venue in al-Rayyan which I should've spotted beforehand, so sorry about that too.
As for the FPL Cup – yeah, the nightmare scenario is upon us. Briefcase and ultimo drew once again and per my ruling before the round began, that means ultimo goes through as a tiebreaker to face Rory in May. If Briefcase and others massively object then we can arrange a semi-final second replay (when was the last time one of those happened in the FA or Scottish Cups... gotta be over 30 years ago now, right?) but we're fast running out of wriggle room if the deadlock can't be broken properly.
Right, housekeeping over. In my opinion the scoring was actually on the low side for an international round. Victories for Canada, England and Guatemala generally proved fruitful, with results elsewhere being a mixed bag at best. Ireland twice coming from behind to earn a draw against Belgium, in particular, caught everyone out.
A new card will go into the initial post shortly, including a D2D that only had its start time confirmed about 36 hours ago. It's the business end of the season, and we're flying by the seat of our pants even more than usual at this point.
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Men's World Cup Qatar 2022 – CONCACAF octagonal qualifying group
Canada 3-0 Jamaica
El Salvador 1-1 Costa RicaInternational
snoozefestsfriendlies
Croatia 2-0 Slovenia
Finland 0-0 Iceland
Gibraltar 2-1 Faroe Islands
Ireland 1-2 Belgium
England 1-0 Switzerland
Qatar 3-2 Bulgaria
Netherlands 2-2 Denmark
Guatemala 3-1 Haiti -
The results were put at the top of the thread on Sunday evening, and the updated table was figured out shortly afterwards. It turns out Shy Dad wasn't a one-week wonder after all as he skyrockets back to the top as best performer this time out. And, for the second time in three weeks, it was a tale of two Dads since Stinky was the one bringing up the rear, albeit on a respectable 7 points in a high-scoring round. He slips back to eighth again.
Briefcase and ultimo, who face each other again in the FPL Cup in the next round, were right behind him. The latter made a strange decision to bet against his D2D team, with his only bonuses coming from 'pity points' thanks to Rory backing a draw after ultimo had already picked. More bonus points were scored thanks to the 'wildcard' fixture, which was match #7, the Women's Cup tie. Three players got the scoreline spot on as Super League side West Ham scraped through at third-tier Ipswich by a single goal.
Elsewhere, wins for Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool proved all too foreseeable, with victory for Ajax also turning out fruitful. Successes for Palace and Barcelona were far more emphatic than anybody expected beforehand, but home triumphs for Leicester and Spurs ended up as more of a mixed bag of guesses.
A set of 10 mostly (ugh) non-competitive (double ugh) internationals that disrupt the momentum of the club season and this competition will be up in the opening post very soon. The two people involved in the FPL Cup tie should pay particular attention to the blurb above the list of fixtures too.
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FA Cup Sixth Round
Middlesbrough 1-2 Chelsea
Crystal Palace 3-0 Everton
Southampton 0-1 Manchester City
Nottingham Forest 1-3 LiverpoolPremier League
Leicester City 3-1 Brentford
Spurs 2-0 West Ham UnitedFA Women's Cup last eight
Ipswich Town 0-3 West Ham UnitedLa Liga
Real Madrid 1-1 BarcelonaEredivisie
Ajax 2-2 FeijenoordPrimera División Chilena
Deportivo Palestino w/ultimo 0-2 Colo Colo -
The final scores went into the original post on Sunday night, and the table was recalculated soon after that. As Shy Dad predicted, his run at the top only lasted one week – although he doesn't get any extra points for that. TildeGuy and MVP RULZ have both overtaken him but still only 4 points separate the leading pack. Briefcase is a further 10 points back, almost playing himself into contention with a correct D2D bet but unfortunately for him, just 2 of the other 8 participants disagreed with him. And he, like Rangers, is still in the Cup too – more on that next.
At the other end, ultimo overtook me again and was also the only participant to get a bonus point from the 'wildcard' fixture, which was match #1, Brentford v Burnley. He and Briefcase are getting their second D2D turns over with and they're facing each other in another head-to-head before the month, is out, so that's why the FPL Cup reminder is back in the screenshot of the standings.
Anywhere, wins for Man United, Leeds, Stockport, Hearts and Hibs all proved more fruitful than outcomes at either the Community Stadium or Dens Park. Elsewhere, a stalemate in Metz (not just an alarmingly popular beverage from decades past), a five-goal thriller in Auxerre and a score draw in Dagenham turned out to be tougher to foresee, even if some people did back York to go through by other means.
A new card will appear in the initial post in short order, featuring a D2D that I only decided to include after some fairly short-notice swapping around over the past couple of days. Not the time this is being posted could indicate the competition is a totally slapdash operation this season, oh no...
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Premier League
Brentford 1-1 Burnley
Manchester United 1-2 Spurs
Leeds United 0-0 Norwich CityFA Trophy Sixth Round
Dagenham & Redbridge 3-0 York City
Needham Market 0-3 Stockport CountyScottish... Premiership? Or Cup??
Hearts 2-0 St Mirren
Motherwell 2-1 Hibernian
Dundee 1-0 Rangers w/BriefcaseLigue de Football Professionnel
Auxerre 2-2 Sochaux
Metz 0-1 Lens
FPL 2022-23 sign-ups
in Off Topic
Posted
Bloody hell, Champo kicks off in a week and we haven't even got this going yet! That came around quick. I haven't even made a Fantasy League team so far either. Early start this time, and probably a late finish too, considering the FA Cup Final's in June. Yeah, I realise it happened in August in 2020 but that wasn't exactly the original plan.
The first card will be up in a new thread on the 3rd, in 12 days time. I'll link to the final table from last time once I have better internet in my flat.
I've cleared some space in my inbox. The regulars know the drill. If there are any new players or participants returning after a multi-season absence, then I'll try to get a post with the rules ready, but otherwise I don't think there's any reason to bother people with a wall of text again this year.
I'm giving everyone more than a week to respond to the Qatar 2022 poll this time. It'll close at the end of next month, the same time as registration shuts. MVP RULZ was the only person who commented at the end of last season's thread, and he said we should carry on, so I'm counting that as champion's prerogative. The question is whether that 5-week EPL shutdown should be considered as 'Weeks A-E' or Weeks 16-20 as per usual.
It's your call. Of note: only Week B/Week 17 will actually contain men's World Cup matches. The rest will be a mix of League One & Two, the National League, Scottish Championship, early rounds of the FA Cup, Scottish Cup & Coupe de France, and the Segunda División. Hope all are okay with that. It's a scheduling thing. Oh, and best of luck to everybody too. On we go...