Quantum theories of score prediction won’t help you now, Mr Bond

December 12, 2009

In a week of Nobel Prize presentations, our thoughts here at Reuters Soccer Blog have naturally turned to Niels Bohr, and we can’t help agreeing with the Danish physicist’s observation that prediction is very difficult … particularly about the future.

We’ve tried everything to get better at predicting the weekend scores but no matter how much we study the form, no matter how many statistical models we, erm, model, no matter how many random numbers we generate or pins we stick in, we remain at least as uncertain as any Heisenberg principle you care to mention.

Let’s recap: All you have to do is predict the scores of the weekend matches in English football’s top flight. If you get the score dead on, it’s five points. If you get the right result, wrong scoreline, it’s one point. Easy, huh?

Well, not for us. The Reuters Soccer Blog panel continues to be more Call My Bluff than QI. Here are the scores as they stand:

Reuters Soccer blog panel: Patrick Johnston 146, Mitch Phillips 132, Paul Radford 122, Simon Evans 113, Mark Meadows 112, Mike Collett 111, Kevin Fylan 100, Neil Maidment 100, Miles Evans 89, Julien Pretot 89, Asia Sports Desk 79, Martyn Herman 74, Justin Palmer 41, Sonia Oxley 37

Rest of the World: Chipking is on at least 112, sean harrison is up to 104 (after a late start, too) and there are plenty of others, slightly shier with their declarations, comfortably beating the likes of me.

Remember, this is all done on the honour system, so send us your predictions in the comments, count up your scores, let us know, and you get to lord it over us here.

Double points this week on … Liverpool v Arsenal.

And don’t be put off by the new registration system for comments. It only takes a second and, if the cookie monster doesn’t show up to wreck everything, you’ll be golden.

This weekend’s fixtures:

Birmingham v West Ham: Patrick Johnston 3-2, Mitch Phillips 2-0, Paul Radford , Simon Evans , Mark Meadows 1-1, Mike Collett 2-0, Kevin Fylan 4-1, Neil Maidment , Miles Evans 3-2, Julien Pretot , Asia Sports Desk 1-1, Martyn Herman , Justin Palmer , Sonia Oxley

Bolton v Man City: Patrick Johnston 1-2, Mitch Phillips 0-2, Paul Radford , Simon Evans , Mark Meadows 0-2, Mike Collett 1-3, Kevin Fylan 3-3, Neil Maidment , Miles Evans 1-3, Julien Pretot , Asia Sports Desk 1-3, Martyn Herman , Justin Palmer , Sonia Oxley

Burnley v Fulham: Patrick Johnston 1-2, Mitch Phillips 1-1, Paul Radford , Simon Evans , Mark Meadows 1-2, Mike Collett 2-2, Kevin Fylan 2-1, Neil Maidment , Miles Evans 2-2, Julien Pretot , Asia Sports Desk 0-2, Martyn Herman , Justin Palmer , Sonia Oxley

Chelsea v Everton: Patrick Johnston 2-0, Mitch Phillips 3-0, Paul Radford , Simon Evans , Mark Meadows 3-1, Mike Collett 2-2, Kevin Fylan 4-1, Neil Maidment , Miles Evans 1-0, Julien Pretot , Asia Sports Desk 2-0, Martyn Herman , Justin Palmer , Sonia Oxley

Hull v Blackburn: Patrick Johnston 1-2, Mitch Phillips 0-1, Paul Radford , Simon Evans , Mark Meadows 1-1, Mike Collett 4-2, Kevin Fylan 1-1, Neil Maidment , Miles Evans 1-3, Julien Pretot , Asia Sports Desk 1-1, Martyn Herman , Justin Palmer , Sonia Oxley

Man United v Aston Villa: Patrick Johnston 2-2, Mitch Phillips 2-2, Paul Radford , Simon Evans , Mark Meadows 3-0, Mike Collett 3-0, Kevin Fylan 2-1, Neil Maidment 2-1, Miles Evans , Julien Pretot , Asia Sports Desk 3-1, Martyn Herman , Justin Palmer , Sonia Oxley

Stoke v Wigan: Patrick Johnston 1-2, Mitch Phillips 2-1, Paul Radford , Simon Evans , Mark Meadows 2-1, Mike Collett 1-0, Kevin Fylan 1-2, Neil Maidment , Miles Evans 2-2, Julien Pretot , Asia Sports Desk 0-0, Martyn Herman , Justin Palmer , Sonia Oxley

Sunderland v Portsmouth: Patrick Johnston 1-2, Mitch Phillips 2-1, Paul Radford , Simon Evans , Mark Meadows 2-0, Mike Collett 2-3, Kevin Fylan 3-0, Neil Maidment , Miles Evans 2-3, Julien Pretot , Asia Sports Desk 2-1, Martyn Herman , Justin Palmer , Sonia Oxley

Spurs v Wolves: Patrick Johnston 5-2, Mitch Phillips 3-1, Paul Radford , Simon Evans , Mark Meadows 4-1, Mike Collett 9-1 (yes, really), Kevin Fylan 6-0, Neil Maidment , Miles Evans 1-1, Julien Pretot , Asia Sports Desk 3-0, Martyn Herman , Justin Palmer , Sonia Oxley

Liverpool v Arsenal: Patrick Johnston 1-2, Mitch Phillips 2-1, Paul Radford , Simon Evans , Mark Meadows 1-1, Mike Collett 2-0, Kevin Fylan 2-5 (possible bonus points for style here), Neil Maidment , Miles Evans 1-1, Julien Pretot , Asia Sports Desk 1-3, Martyn Herman , Justin Palmer , Sonia Oxley

PHOTO: Liverpool’s Fernando Torres stands in the rain during their Champions League soccer match against Fiorentina at Anfield in Liverpool, December 9, 2009. REUTERS/Darren Staples

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