Europa League Play-offs: Model Holds Its Own Amid a Mixed Bag of Results
The Fipster model clocked up five TICKs today in the UEFA Europa League play-offs, showing it can still pick winners even if it struggles with exact scores and BTTS calls. Four misses remind us it's not infallible, but a 7-0 thrashing by Lech Poznan was among the more confidently predicted outcomes.
Today’s Europa League play-offs brought a mixed bag for the Fipster model, which managed to notch five TICKs but no STAR performances. The standout result was Lech Poznan’s 7-0 demolition of FC Thun — the model called the winner right but underestimated the goal glut, proving it’s better at picking victors than exact scorelines.
FK Crvena Zvezda, Benfica, Beşiktaş, Jagiellonia, and Lech Poznan all earned TICK grades. The model nailed the match outcomes and halftime results for Crvena Zvezda’s 3-0 win and showed appropriate confidence on Benfica’s 3-1 victory, though it missed on exact scores and BTTS calls in several cases. It seems our friend here is quite happy to back winners but less so when it comes to predicting goals galore or both teams scoring.
On the flip side, Kairat Almaty vs Anderlecht, Mjallby AIF vs Red Bull Salzburg, Trabzonspor vs Ferencvarosi TC, and Universitatea Craiova vs Ararat-Armenia all ended as misses. The model struggled particularly with these fixtures’ outcomes and BTTS predictions — perhaps a reminder that football loves to keep us humble.
Overall, the day’s record of 0 STARs, 5 TICKs, and 4 MISSes reflects a solid if unspectacular performance. The model tends to get outcomes right more often than not but has room for improvement on exact scores and both-teams-to-score calls. Confidence ratings ranged from underconfident to appropriate across fixtures — maybe next time it’ll be braver with those goal tallies.
Model record: 0 STAR · 5 TICK · 4 MISS. Day grade: B+.
