15/10/2016 MOTD Kickabout

It has been the international break so we

have been away from your screens for two whole weeks.

We are making up for it with a jam-packed show this week.

We predict the future or at least the future of this weekend's

With the help of a football supercomputer.

Some young fans are surprised at training when two Man

And with it being officially FA girls football week,

we take a look at some great goals from the pros.

All that and loads more but first, let's quickly catch up on the

Since we last saw you, England have a new manager,

they have dropped their captain and could only manage a draw in

Wales got two draws, one good and one bad, if

Austria away was always going to be tough but Georgia

at home should really have been a win.

Things are not looking good for

Scotland either, only a point from their two

games has left manager Gordon Strachan's future uncertain.

And Northern Ireland had a great win, followed by a defeat

to the world champions so, on balance, not all

Off the pitch, there has been some fun and games too so time now

Notice something weird about the Wales

Surely this is a bit of a private joke, don't you think?

We all know it is six at the top and five

If you look closer, you can just about see the smirk on their faces.

Check out this training drill from the Norwich keepers.

They call it spike ball and as you can see, it

Now, your eyes don't deceive you, a team in Argentina have been

ordered to fix their wonky pitch which has been

No, it is not April Fools' Day, that pitch is really like that.

OK, the Premier League is back this weekend

and already, we have a change to our managerial merry-go-round.

Yes, Francesco Guidolin has paid the price for Swansea's

poor start to the season and in comes the league's first American

Oh, I have just seen him, come on, where are you?

And I'm sure that won't be the last time I refer to the

Anyway, here are today's Premier League

Loads of great games, including leaders Man City hosting

But there is a real standout one for me and that is

Not only is this the mouthwatering match but

there are loads of interesting links between these two for a statto

Take N'Golo Kante for example, one of the

players of last season for Leicester, now of

Bridge and playing against his former club for the first time.

You all know about Kante bid did you know that Leicester boss Claudio

Ranieri used to manage Chelsea over 15 years ago?

And he was in his Chelsea squad back them?

None other than a very youthful looking Robert Huth.

Now, of course, with Ranieri at Leicester, all

highly confusing and I couldn't talk Chelsea versus Leicester without

watching this amazing strike one more time.

Last season, of course, this is at the King Power, he goes one

Great goal and it was of course I probably got

people thinking that Leicester could be title contenders.

Right, you all know how much I like predicting

match results here on kickabout and you all know how bad they can be

Not today though because I have enlisted the help of a professional

who uses a supercomputer to make his predictions.

So, this supercomputer done, how does it work?

the results of matches and on playing ability of players

that we feed into a statistical novel of

football matches to try and answer some interesting questions.

Companies now collect data on the location

events that go on during a football match so the pass origin, the pass

destination, for example, is just one of the things that we include so

we run these algorithms across Europe, all the top leagues in

Europe so we know which players are playing the best at the moment.

I know this supercomputer uses algorithms but what exactly are

An algorithm is basically another word for equation.

We have inputs which, in this occasion, the

player ratings and outputs which, on this occasion, are the estimated

So an algorithm basically turns input into output that you are

Oh, well, don't keep us in suspense, Ian.

He will be looking at as the top names, your Messis, your Renaldos?

The people you would expect are up there but at the

moment, Son of Tottenham is actually play the best football of any

The basic task of predicting the results of a football

match is to try and estimate the number of goals

Well, I'm going to put that to the test now, Ian, because we

have asked you to predict some of our games,

some of the big games of

this weekend and the first one is Chelsea versus Leicester.

See you have crunched the numbers, let's see

Based on the players that are on each

team, we expect them to score about the same

number of goals but the

I know you have got all this data on everything from every player but

does it take into account, let's say, someone has a late night the

night before or has a dodgy tummy the next morning or how can you

possibly encounter and encompass that in the predictions you make?

All we can take into account is how the players

have been playing in the recent past.

That's very interesting to

know, we are going to do it one more time.

This game is the big match on

Monday night, Liverpool versus Man United.

Let's see what the supercomputer thinks to that one.

Can you tell us why the supercomputer

There we go, perhaps it not controversial to you, then.

But the supercomputer is neutral, he's unbiased.

Liverpool and United have both got strong

attacking lines and Liverpool forcing the three players and do the

same side, they are scoring lots of goals and we

expect them to carry on

scoring lots of goals the way they are playing at the moment.

Well, it's absolutely fascinating, Ian.

And in the lead up to this game, you will

never guess what your manager has been up to.

Well, Ian, as great as your supercomputer

is, I am just a tad disappointed it couldn't have predicted Jurgen Klopp

going bowling, I mean, what a guy though, right?

It's more evidence that he is one of the greatest

Now, whilst Jurgen was meeting some senior

football fans, two Man United players this week decided to

surprise some fans of the younger generation.

Jenny Buckley was there for Kickabout.

When I was at school, PE was one of the highlights

of my week and it looks like it is for these girls.

What they don't know is that their week is about to

What would you say to me if I said we have got

two Man United players coming to join yesterday?

They are going to come and take you on now.

You can join any team you like, boys.

We're just going to do some dribbling.

Show me what your faces did when you saw them.

I never actually thought they would be that massive.

It's the first time I have ever seen a player.

I just thought we were going to have like a

Then for those legends to come in, it was just unbelievable.

Young against McNaughton and still Ashley

Yes, it was very good, it was nice to the see the girls

and I think they were pretty surprised that we

had turned up today but it is always nice to see smiling faces.

What do you think, you have been having a

kickabout with them and watching them?

Dribbling around the cones and seeing the different

It's all about giving back and coming

down to see it first hand is fantastic.

To see the girls smiling, happy, being out there.

Obviously the weather is not the best but it happens and

the girls, they are loving it so it is good to see.

It's nice because as you know, is more famous for men and

everything but I think in the last four years,

getting promoted and the football is getting better so it is nice to see

them play and enjoy ourselves as well because I think women can do

It's just lovely watching them have a kickabout with

It's amazing, you see the faces when they come in as

To get an actual professional coming to play with

them today, they won't have stopped talking about it forever.

Some of the girls, the older girls, they

have been with me three, four years and just to give

that I had when I was playing and stuff like that, it's

Amazing to see two United stars helping celebrate

girls' football week, an FA intiative to get more

There's certainly inspiration at the top level so let's revel

at some of the best goals at this year's women's superleague.

Great goals and judging by what we are about to see, there are some big

stars of the future in the making as well. First up, here is Isabel.

Great goal. Look about celebration. She is loving it. Here is Charlotte

and she deserves a pot of gold because that is not one but two

rainbow flicks. It is catching because Brooke has done one write to

the back of the garden and she should be pleased. Brilliant stuff.

Those rainbow flicks also caught the attention of a certain kickabout

trickster. Well, Charlotte Lambrook, those rainbow flicks were

incredible. I tell you what, because you are so good at that, why did you

give this a try? -- why don't you give this a try? OK, I hope you

enjoyed about rainbow of the nation. Keep working hard and keep

practising. I will see you soon. Only John could tell the brain

befitted Ray combo. Make sure you had to be kickabout website to

upload your skills and to see more of John. On the subject of skills,

have you ever wanted to interview the phenomenal freestylers? Now is

your big chance. Just imagine yourself as a hotshot reporter like

me, film yourself asking your best question and upload it to our

website. We will show it to them, they will answer and it could

feature on a programme in the next few weeks. All this talk of skills

has got me even more excited for this week in's Premier League

matches. I will leave you with a selection of the best show voters in

the business. See you. -- showboaters.

Just Kidding is coming up next, so do not go anywhere.

And, Katie, I wonder if you can help me with a little something. Yeah?