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Footy

  1. Wiggles Administrator

    Hi

    I created a league on fantasy.premierleague.com. It's maybe a bit late to join for the first round, but there'll be 38 in total, so it's not a complete loss to join one round late. Just ask me in chat or whenever I'm online for the code (janet, sok and curtis also have joined, maybe they'll also remember the code) and you can join the mighty little league.
  2. jw HI. I'M ADAM SCOTT.

    Wiggles likes this.
  3. Wiggles Administrator

    Since the season has just crossed the half-way line, I thought I'd post a little update on proceedings.

    The teams in our little league are:
    Yugosokia, played by Sok,
    Ewok's XI, played by BAS,
    At Sea, played by Wiggles,
    PFS, played by Janet,
    Curtston Ashton, played by Curtis, and
    TeamEmpel, played by Nick

    The cup was not a successful venture, the cup is a competition the fantasy league starts in gameweek 18, using the top ≈2.1 million teams in gameweek 17. That gameweek was bad for most of us in our minileague, so only Yugosokia and At Sea qualified. Yugosokia went out already in GW18, and At Sea went now in GW20, so the cup is of no further consideration for anyone.

    Here's the table of escChat Conference North as it stands. 20 gameweeks have been played, but I'll focus on the first 19, since it's the first half and it rounds up nicely with the end of the year.
    [IMG]
    TeamEmpel deserves a footnote, it was only founded after 2 rounds had already been played, so it was at a disadvantage from the start.

    Now for some statistics of what has happened so far:

    A table of GW by GW score, shows us that Sok's 1st placing is no single-round fluke, she has consistently had the lead from the early-round chaos. However, the top points in each round are a bit spread around so the others do get some small victories. After those early rounds, the places have settled a bit, but no one is safe in their current position though. There are not going to be any quick changes in placings now, but this is like cricket, and you must think of the possibilities until the end of the last over.
    [IMG]
    (Upper table is week by week, lower table shows cumulative total by week)

    The current league standings tell us some things about earlier proceedings. For example, At Sea has been the most transfer happy. I usually use up my weekly transfers, and I made some extra transfers at the cost of 8 points early, after my good start of the season started to turn really bad. This transfer activity plus having some badly chosen subs in the early rounds means that At Sea's team value depreciated early on, but has steadied and the total budget is the same as PFS. Nick seems to have abandoned his team, having not made any transfers since joining. Still, his dormant team did have a great score in GW20, so maybe he'll stage a comeback for the second half of the season. There are still a lot of points to play for, and some late-season dynamics to look forward to. As for the "chips" that the teams have played so far, Sok has used her Triple Captain, Sok, BAS and Curtis have used the Bench Boost, and everyone except Janet and Nick used the first Wildcard. (I would use the Bench Boost if I didn't always have a useless bench. Maybe later in the season)

    Here's a quick graph of the ranking changes so far. As can be seen here, there haven't been any place changes since GW8.
    [IMG]

    A graph of accumulated points minus the average amount of points shows better how the league is developing.
    [IMG]

    Yugosokia ascends steadily while Ewok's XI and At Sea try to keep up. PFS and Curtston Ashton have fallen behind a bit, but a period of good rounds could easily see them back near the top. TeamEmpel is in slow decline (probably with no one at the helm), but maybe if Nick started doing some Van Gaaling and a bit of Ruud Gulliting, he could try to catch up with the teams above. Hope is not lost for the teams that seem to be falling behind. When the difference is still just tens of points, it's easily possible to overcome it in a few rounds with some luck and some good managing.

    Globally, these are the current places of our teams:
    179,289th: Yugosokia
    652,364th: Ewok's XI
    865:481st: At Sea
    2,391,681st: PFS
    2,483,643rd: Curtston Ashton
    3,571,659th: TeamEmpel

    In addition to being the highest of us, Sok had the best individual gameweek place when she placed 25,521st in GW7. No one else here has managed to be in the top 100,000 in a GW.

    The nature of this game is such that we're not that stressed about it, it's more like something to watch with one eye, but I will be continuing to follow the statistics.
  4. sokrates1988 I HATE EUROVISION

    Fascinating stuff Wiggles :up:
  5. Wiggles Administrator

    The Premier League season has ended, and with it the Fantasy season ended as well. As a result I can now present the final table and some other results from the season.

    [IMG]

    Firstly, I'll do a small reminder of the teams in contention since I use the names of teams and their managers interchangeably in the text and graphs:

    At Sea - played by Wiggles, affiliation: Man Utd
    [IMG]

    Curtston Ashton - played by Curtis, no affiliation
    [IMG]

    Ewok's XI - played by Adam, affiliation: Arsenal
    [IMG]

    PFS - played by Janet, affiliation: Liverpool
    [IMG]

    TeamEmpel - played by Nick, affiliation Everton
    [IMG]

    Yugosokia - played by sok, no affiliation
    [IMG]

    As far as I know, the team affiliation is solely for the purpose of being in the fan league for that team. Still, it can be interesting to see what people choose.

    I showed the league standings at the halfway point in a previous post. The rank of the league has mostly remained the same, but that doesn't mean nothing has happened. At Sea made some plans after a Moyes-like form in the latter part of the first half and aimed to topple Yugosokia from the top spot. Curtston Ashton also had some ambitions to rise in the league and the fight was not over. Except for TeamEmpel. They were settled in a relegation spot already and didn't pay attention to fans' pleas for new signings.

    [IMG]

    Firstly, I'll show some general graphs and tables from the season, then give a short summary.

    Every gameweek score (with transfer costs deducted when applicable) and total cumulative score
    [IMG]

    Month-by-month score
    [IMG]

    Cricket-style worm graph
    [IMG]

    Since the worm graph is not very readable, here's a graph showing each gameweek's total score with the average score deducted. The same information is shown, but this is a better indicator of when teams did well or badly.
    Total points minus average league points
    [IMG]

    Ranking graph, shows more clearly the place changes.
    [IMG]

    Overall rank graph, showing each team's rank compared to all players in the world (ca. 4.5 million)
    [IMG]

    Final overall rank of all teams and their highest and lowest positions
    [IMG]

    Highest and lowest points for each team and the gameweeks those were achieved
    [IMG]

    Extreme high and low points can depend on a variability in the number of matches in a gameweek, so another good indicator is the highest and lowest gameweek ranks, as the success is relative to how everyone else did.

    Highest and lowest individual gameweek ranks
    [IMG]

    Season Summary

    The year started with good performances from At Sea and Curtston Ashton, with the latter being the best in January and the former in February. In gameweeks 21-26 Curtston gave PFS a fight for the 4th place, especially with a great score in GW25. Sadly, they then had one of their worst weeks in GW26 and slumped back to 5th. As seen in the averages graph, these two teams remained close for the rest of the season and the battle for 4th was far from over.

    Gameweek 24 saw At Sea take the 2nd place off Ewok's XI after losing it back in GW8. Around this time, Ewok's XI started to slump in form, possibly due to being neglected by their manager. For the rest of the season, there was an occasional change in captain, but no more transfers, and the team sank steadily in the overall rank. At the end of the season, PFS won the wrestle with Curtston Ashton, and came close to challenging Ewok's XI for the 3rd place.

    In the fight for the top spot, At Sea came close to Yugosokia twice but both times fell back and 4 rounds from the finish line, the difference between the teams was 97 points. At Sea's manager was plotting, however. There had been a blank gameweek in 28 and a few double gameweeks were coming up. (A blank gameweek is when several teams don't play and therefore many players can't score points. Conversely, a double gameweek has teams play their games in hand and therefore many players get two games)

    The big double week came in GW37. The difference at the top was down to 62 points, and most of At Sea's players should have two games. The plan worked brilliantly and shortly before the end of the week, At Sea had overtaken Yugosokia and led by 20 points. Yugosokia's manager had no choice but to put on her headphones and start ranting.

    [IMG]

    Enter the Hurricane.

    [IMG]

    Yugosokia didn't give Kane the captain's armband, but his 4 goals, plus the other spurs players sufficed to hold the lead at the end of the round, but before GW38, the difference was only 10 points. The strategies were different, Yugosokia with a captain from a team with nothing to play for, At Sea hoping Arsenal wanted the Champions League. At Sea managed a decent showing on the last day, but another FIFA game in the easiest setting for Kane resulted in a hat-trick and a good day for Yugosokia. This meant Yugosokia held the lead they had taken in GW5 and were crowned champions, so unlike '96, the rant was successful.

    [IMG]

    The Fantasy Cup

    No team from our league managed to get far in the cup, but it was still played, so it deserves a small mention. Yugosokia and At Sea met the threshold to qualify, but were knocked out quite early. At Sea managed 3 rounds while Yugosokia got only 1, which hands the cup title to At Sea. Due to the feebleness of the achievement, this cup competition is equivalent to winning an egg cup. So the Egg Cup Champions: At Sea.

    Other season awards:

    The most amount of gameweeks won: Yugosokia (13)
    Most months won: Yugosokia and At Sea (4 each)
    Most points in a gameweek: At Sea (131 - GW37)
    Highest gameweek rank: Curtston Ashton (16,676th - GW25)

    Fewest gameweeks won: TeamEmpel (2)
    Fewest months won: PFS and TeamEmpel (0)
    Fewest points in a gameweek: Yugosokia (12 - GW28)
    Lowest gameweek rank: TeamEmpel (4,318,180th - GW36)
    Derby County award for an abysmal showing in a league competition: TeamEmpel
    sokrates1988 likes this.
  6. sokrates1988 I HATE EUROVISION

    What a fab read that was and loved the pic accompaniments, Now ill spend a bit in the summer and then resign in january to be replaced by King Kenny. Thanks for arranging the game Wiggles it made the premier league exciting for this championship fan. See you next season and i would love it if we beat them love it :music: Where are richard keys and Andy Gray.
    Wiggles likes this.
  7. Merjan BOSOPOFO ELSIE

    Well, stuff me, haven't you been busy :D And all I worked out was that there were only 15 points between you and Sok but 60,202 places. (Alphabetical order or some other determiner must have come into play.) And didn't I have a spectacular fall from grace from week 1 to week 2.

    Congratulations to Sok and thank you, Wiggles, it was fun.
    sokrates1988 likes this.
  8. sokrates1988 I HATE EUROVISION

    UEFA Cup for Planet Janet
    Merjan likes this.
  9. Wiggles Administrator

    The first few gameweeks aren't a good indicator for anything, I remember Bolton Wanderers topping the Premier League once after a few games. Still, thanks all for playing, I hope there's an interest in another season come August.
    Merjan and sokrates1988 like this.
  10. sokrates1988 I HATE EUROVISION

  11. Curtis Belgium is a non country.

    Incredible read wiggles, i'll definitely be in next season
  12. Wiggles Administrator

    This time, I'll give people more than a single day to react. On the 11th, the premier league will start again. I have renewed our conference north and I think the old members will be added automatically if they become active again. Otherwise let me know (also if you have been added and don't want to be in the league).

    If anyone else cares to join, then just let me know in chat or via conversation on this site, in case I'm offline.
    sokrates1988 likes this.
  13. sokrates1988 I HATE EUROVISION

    Im sorted all done and now looking forward to the 11th :up:
  14. Wiggles Administrator

    Now, a new season has opened for the fantasy premier league, and I'll open the new season in the next post shortly. First, I need to write about the season that just ended.

    I did keep statistics round-for-round, and here's the season summary:

    In the first round, we were 5, just like last season, but then we were joined by norman in the 2nd round. now, one round means nothing in the grand scheme of things, as long as you do some managing throughout the season, so joining a round or two late shouldn't be a hindrance. Leaving your team unattended however will be of some detriment, and norman wasn't the only one.

    As can be expected in the early stages, the ranking was volatile in the beginning. curtis led for the first two rounds, then janet had a great round and took the lead in gameweek 3. This was followed by a disastrous round where, if memory serves, her captain got a red, and she fell somewhat behind in GW4. Sok started modestly and rose towards the 1st spot, which she finally occupied in GW6, and it looked like it might be a repeat of last season.

    Last season of course, sok led for the most part, while I bided my time with all chips in hand during the last few rounds. Sok tends to spend chips early, which means that last season my team almost caught up with her at the end. This season's pattern was a bit different though.

    The cup was short for all of us, and I forgot to save the information for each team. What I remember however is that I lost in the first round as I had my worst GW exactly when the cup started. Janet was the one who won the most rounds, so she wins the johnston paint egg cup trophy this season.

    Here's a graph of the ranking throughout the season.

    [IMG]

    From GW4, it's a wrestle between me and sok for the first spot, until the last few rounds when curtis takes the 2nd place. This is made more significant if we look at a similar ranking graph while taking points into account.

    [IMG]

    Here we see a graph with the following calculation - number of points/average points in the league. This allows for a better grasp of the difference between the places. we can see the long battles between me and sok for the 1st spot and the auld alliance curtis and janet battling for 3rd. After GW26, the pattern changes a bit. Curtis is channeling Brian Clough and shoots up in points relative to us mortals. Around GW30, he's comfortably in the top 3 and if it weren't for a few good rounds for me, i could easily have lost the 1st place.

    Around GW 31-32 I remember sok already congratulating me, but seeing curtis's form, I knew I couldn't relax (plus, sok could be luring me into a false sense of security). plan, plan transfers and chips, make the most out of the double and blank weeks, keep hold of that lead. My plan succeeded and I wouldn't have to call myself a moyes for the second season running. Love-it-if-we-beat-them Keegan might have been sacked though, and we'll see how Benitez will do in his place (or do you want to be Ruud Gullit player-manager, sok?). Janet finished 4th with a consistent form through the latter half of the season.

    Curtis had a great season, and if that good form had come a few rounds earlier, who knows what could have happened. This illustrates that even if you're more than 100 points from the top, as long as you keep fighting and play the long game, you can never be discounted.

    BAS had a decent first half, but seemingly lost interest, so his team spiralled out of control, and Norman had a captain for a long time who had been sold from the league. Still, he did make some modifications, which paid off, but the lack of managing still meant a steady decline compared to the rest of the league.

    This form graph shows who was doing best during different parts of the season.

    [IMG]

    This is calculated as the average of points during each round and the four preceding rounds. The clear patterns here are how I was doing well from round 12, sok then dominated from GW18 until curtis started his challenge in the late 20s. I then had a good end game which secured the victory.

    Another interesting factor was the difference in the value of players.

    [IMG]

    This season was characterised by the rise of Salah, and his consistent price increase. Fantasy economics work in a strange way, where when you sell a player, you only retain half of the value he has risen by (so if you buy at 8 million and he rises to 8.6, you sell at 8.3), which means your team easily loses value with expensive transfers and it'll be hard to buy players back if you sold them. In addition to battling for the top spot, my strategy was to also keep a high team value in order to afford the best team during the last rounds. While that's a valid strategy, it's important to remember that curtis almost caught me, and if sok hadn't had some bad rounds around GW30, she could have won as well, so value is definitely not more important than a bit of vision.

    The last graph I'll post is the global rank graph.

    [IMG]

    It shows the same rank as the ranking and point-average graphs, but on the scale of all the players in the game and where we placed. Sok was in the top million for a while, but narrowly missed out in the end. Curtis and I ended in the premiership million, sok and janet in the championship million, BAS in league two million and i think norman is playing keepie-uppie in the park.

    Final standings:
    Wiggles 2111
    Curtis 2050
    Sok 2006
    Janet 1907
    BAS 1671
    Norman 1534

    Awards:

    League title:
    Wiggles

    Cup title:
    Janet

    Smaller achievements with breakdowns:

    Most gameweeks won:
    Curtis

    Curtis 13
    Wiggles 7
    Sok 6
    Janet 5
    BAS 4
    Norman 3

    Most months won:
    Wiggles

    Wiggles 3 (November, February, April)
    Sok 2 (December, January)
    BAS 2 (September, October)
    Curtis 2 (March, May)
    Janet 1 (August)
    Norman 0

    Highest points in a GW:
    Curtis

    Curtis 104
    Wiggles 103
    Sok 97
    BAS 84
    Norman 81
    Janet 76

    Lowest points in a GW:
    BAS

    BAS 4 (Lack of attention meant most players weren't playing)
    Norman 8 (same)
    Janet 20
    Curtis 24
    Sok 24
    Wiggles 30 (just happened to be my cup week)

    Highest rank in a GW (total players 5-million-something:
    Wiggles

    Wiggles 35,799
    Curtis 45,733
    BAS 52,879
    Sok 68,565
    Norman 129,033
    Janet 699,050

    Lowest rank in a GW:
    Norman

    Norman 5,801,181
    BAS 5,679,223
    Curtis 5,380,485
    Wiggles 5,213,045
    Janet 5,167,710
    Sok 5,115,609

    Thank you for playing this season, I hope you're already joining for the next one
    Ronini and Curtis like this.
  15. Wiggles Administrator

    Hello and welcome to a new season of fantasy premier league.

    This is the 3rd season of our league. The first two seasons both had 6 teams. Sok, Janet, BAS, Curtis and Wiggles (me) have been in both, Nick was in the first season and Norman joined for the second. This time I'd like there to be more than 6 teams. If you're the least interested in football, do join even though you think you don't know anything. Fantasy football has nothing to do with actual football tactics. Just try to make sure your players are active in the teams and they'll be sure to score some points. People who tinker a lot (i.e. me) have no advantage over a well selected set-and-forget team.

    Nick could come back and try to do better than his Derby season. James, how about you? You could select a team out of an assortment of Belgians. Hazard there, Fellaini here, de Bruyne maybe running up the centre. Maybe a kompany of defenders such as Alderweireld and Vertonghen can feed the ball up the middle to Fellaini. Courtois (in case he's not sold in the next few days) will park a bus in front of any goal, but beware of Lukaku. And who could forget the Sideshow Bobish hair stylings of one Marouane Fellaini.

    Anyway, I'll start the league again, y'all can join again and if anyone is interested, just message me and you'll get the code. Maybe someone else who has joined can also remember the code.

    The site is https://fantasy.premierleague.com/, it's free to join, you get a budget of £100 million (not possible to spend in actual shops, sadly) and then go on to shop for belgians.
    Ronini, Curtis, Merjan and 1 other person like this.
  16. Wiggles Administrator

    Four teams have joined, but there's still one week until the deadline for the first round.
    sokrates1988 likes this.

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