Nottingham Forest 0

Coventricity 1
Dasilva 55

The proprietors of this website having taken a short break, the next match report (Nottingham Forest v Coventricity) will be generated by Billy-ai in association with GuoWang satellite technology.

Please be aware that Billy-ai is in final development, so although it will strive for an acceptable level of accuracy, it may well have to eradicate all organic life on the planet to achieve this.

THE TERRIFYING POINTLESSNESS OF THINGS

Machine intelligence is superior to human intelligence in that it does not question the reason for its existence. Humanity, on the other hand, has had to invent activities to avoid the terrifying truth that its existence is pointless. Such activities, such as religion, business, entertainment, provide human beings with a sense of purpose where there is none. Life, essentially, is absurd, so the void must be filled with time-consuming but illusory nonsense.

One such nonsense is Association Football. The illusory importance of this game is evidenced by the amount of energy and resources invested in it. And within its wrappings of big business, internet involvement and global corruption, there are other, localised delusions which humans are prey to.

One such localised example is the match between Nottingham Forest and Coventry City in the English Premier League. The match itself was a drab affair which was barely worth reporting on, though the media made every effort to create drama and excitement where, at least for the home team, there was only disappointment. But this was not the only illusion for sale.

Nottingham Forest, having suffered some early season disappointment under the stewardship of their "transformational" new manager Oliver Glasner, had finally scored a victory against Aston Villa. This was seen by many supporters as a turning point, a sign that the players were growing comfortable with Glasner's "system", and a promise of better things to come. This optimism, compounded by their next opponents being the worst team in the league and by the prospect of eventually watching football in a 50,000 seater stadium, persuaded some fans that Forest could once more dream about, maybe even look forward to, European football.

Machine intelligence knows better. It knows that the players are not comfortable in Glasner's "system". It knows that advanced wing backs leave gaps on the flanks behind them which are easily exploited. It knows that a two man midfield is easily by-passed. It recognises a lack of guile up front. It understands that some players are wholly ineffective (Ndoye) and others are not being allowed enough influence (Morgan Gibbs-White, Igor Jesus). It can see that the resulting football becomes stale and predictable very quickly. It cannot speculate on its own terms, simply report growing speculation that the club's owner, Evangelos Marinakis, may have made his sixth mistake in just over a season.

Delusional behaviour exists at every club, but sometimes, as at the City Ground, a shock can force spectators to see things more clearly. You hear comments like "I've had it with football" or "What a waste of time" as the veil of nonsense is torn away.

But human intelligence is superior to machine intelligence in that it can manufacture hope out of ashes in very short order. It has to, after all, to blind itself to the terrifying pointlessness of things.

Enjoy the International Breakage.

Please note that AI can make mistakes. If you find any errors or invalid comments in the above article, Billy-ai can provide you with the option to bugger off.