Doing the double: European leagues compared
Borussia Dortmund achieved the double seven times en route to winning the Bundesliga last season
Here’s a question: is a league that consistently sees teams ‘doing the double’ over opponents – beating them home and away in a single season – a strong or a weak league? Or does it tell us nothing?
That’s the basis of this post; I’ll provide a few numbers, and you can suggest some conclusions.
Newcastle exceed early season expectations
With an arguably straightforward fixture list, Newcastle have still progressed on last season (Flickr: World of Good)
Perspective is always in short supply in the opening weeks of the season, but last week Liverpool fan Dan Kennett provided an interesting take on the race for fourth.
He suggests that based on last season’s results, Liverpool and Spurs are exceeding expectations, whilst Arsenal are faltering. The measurement is simple: what is the difference in points between results this season and the exact same games last season?
The metric somewhat accounts for difficult fixture lists to start the season (see Bolton), and is essentially a simple way of assessing a team’s progress.
Is goal difference important?
Should Spurs have hurt Liverpool's goal difference even more on Sunday?
It was suggested in some corners that Tottenham might live to regret not embarrassing Liverpool even further on the weekend; with both sides likely to be competing for the final Champions League spot in May, Spurs could have dealt Liverpool’s goal difference an early blow.
“It might come down to goal difference” is straight out of the Premier League phrasebook, suggesting title candidates, European hopefuls and relegation scrappers would do well to keep an eye on the next-to-last column on the league table.
Do promoted teams struggle to take chances?
Danny Graham excelled in the Championship, but has struggled for top-flight Swansea
Watching Shane Long miss a good chance to equalise for West Brom against Swansea on the weekend, it got me thinking – would he have scored an identical opportunity in the Championship?
You can extend the thinking to promoted teams; so often we see high-scoring Championship sides struggle to translate their strike rates into the Premier League.
The stats behind Arteta’s influence
Everton collected fewer points without Arteta in the team
The closing of the transfer window tends to throw up a collection of statistics aiming to quantify the influence of certain players on the teams they have left.
Here’s a few of them: Samir Nasri, Cesc Fabregas, Denilson and Phil Jones. Opta have also tweeted similar statistics on non-movers Gareth Bale, Antonio Valencia, Nemanja Vidic and Frank Lampard.
Do Manchester United get easier cup draws?
Have United consistently had the luck of the draw?
A new season, but the same old grumbling about perceived bias towards Manchester United continues.
Sometimes opposition fans have a case – think the now defunct ‘weakened team’ rule – but are claims that United consistently receive favourable draws in any way justified?
Do goals from midfield matter?
Does Luka Modric, compared to midfielders like Frank Lampard, score too few goals?
If there’s been any criticism of Luka Modric during his time in England, it’s been a lack of goals. The Croatian midfielder has nine to his name in three seasons, a sub-par total for some.
The Mirror’s Darren Lewis recently wrote that he felt this low return, in comparison to some of the Premier League’s historically clinical midfielders, would have been a fair justification for Tottenham to sell Modric:
A defence of the FIFA rankings
Spain: the world's best side, but not top-ranked
It seems no release of the FIFA rankings can go without widespread scoffing in England. The system has consistently overrated the national team, and appears equally flawed in assessing other top nations.
The rankings are used as a stick to beat the much-maligned governing body; it’s a sign of their overwhelming incompetence.
Should Man City be concerned by their European scheduling?
City will play six away matches, including a trip to Chelsea, after their Champions League group stage games
Manchester City look set to compete on a number of fronts this season, not least in the league after a thoroughly professional display against Swansea in the opening round of matches.
After some unfortunate scheduling, however, it seems as though City are already short on the luck required to become a successful team; the Premier League fixture computer coughed up six away matches for Roberto Mancini’s team after each of their Champions League group stage games.
United beat Blackpool after being 2-0 down in one of the Premier League season's most exciting games
A couple of months ago I compared the competitiveness of Europe’s top leagues, which sparked some fascinating debate and suggestions in the comments.
A couple of those comments suggested I look at comebacks, and fortunately there’s data available on points gained from losing positions, which I’ve looked at below.
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