I recently reread Simon Kuper's column about statistics in soccer, in which he quotes Mike Forde, Chelsea's Performance Director, who has worked hard to find ways of making statistical analysis useful for his club. It's an interesting piece, but what struck me as particularly interesting for soccer analysts was this quote:
"The holy grail would be discovering the key to victory.

Photo by Michael Janosz/ISIphotos.com

By AVI CREDITOR

Six weeks remain in the Major League Soccer season, and although the focus is largely on the teams in the playoff hunt, the fantasy focus should shift to a team that's likely on the outside of the postseason picture for the first time.

Good morning and a very happy Friday to you.

After all the drama of the last few days, what with not signing a keeper and being accepting/outraged/super-mega-hella-outraged and so on, we haven't noticed the stealthy, lurking menace of the Interlull. And now it is upon us.

Like some kind of mist in a Stephen King story we're trapped inside the supermarket and outside the evil awaits.

Joe Hart has been the best English goalkeeper in the Premier League this season so far, saving a superb 94% of the shots fired in on his goal, a figure only one goalkeeper in the division can better – Chelsea's Czech stopper Petr Cech (100%).

The search for a new long-term goalkeeper has plagued successive England managers since David Seaman hung up his gloves, but now, after a number of false starts and calamitous errors, Fabio Capello may have found his permanent number one.

After another week of second-rate defending it's really no surprise to see that only three defenders made this week's Team of the Week. It should also not be a surprise to see certain strikers on the list following their contributions. What may be a surprise is that this is the first time some of these top-class players have featured in this JBM segment.

Manchester United haven't yet registered an away victory this season and speaking after the 2-2 draw against Bolton Wanderers, Nemanja Vidic revealed that their poor defensive records might be the reasons for the failure.

The center back and current captain stated that he and his teammates are very concern with the fact that they have concede lots of goals this season especially when they're playing away from home.

Before we go any further, just wanted to say how impressed I am with the attendance for the Men's Soccer Game between UCSB and UCLA, check out the story

Ok, so we may not have had quite as many fans for our last couple of home games, but we are really seeing a significant increase in fans.

San Jose is still fighting for their playoff lives and the Fire are just hoping to salvage something from 2010 before some difficult decisions will need to be made. The pill becomes harder to swallow after acknowleding the fact that former Fire 'keeper Jon Busch is now the main man in goal for the Earthquakes and Tim Ward is the starting right back.

The Premier League has been all about goals this year. Attack, attack, attack. The "striker" options in the Fantasy Premier League are better than ever, while clean sheets seem tough to come by... We're used to names like Rooney, Drogba, ... Continue reading →

Arsenal's Thomas Vermaelen marked his arrival into the Premier League last season with a few goals that, at one point, allowed him to be the club's leading scorer.

However, last season ultimately ended in disappointment for the Gunners and defensive weaknesses were once again blamed by the critics.

Starting a new job is not easy as my absence from any posting in the last 2 days have shown. I'm absolutely shattered today but enough is enough and I feel the need to fill my blog with a new post once again. Lot's have happened over the last few days and here are my compilations and my thoughts that goes with it.

I haven't seen a full summary of how Liverpool players fared during the international break (I admittedly might not be looking hard enough, but I'm also sick of the same post atop the page for almost a week), so here's a short one. The first number is the one most important to me – how many minutes each played this week.

The Stadium of Light, there's a misnomer. Anyone who has had the misfortune to travel to Sunderland away knows the drab, watery light that emanates from the cold North Sea and washes over the industrial wasteland that is Sunderland. They will also know how we struggled at TSOL last season, despite having 90% of the possession we got beaten by a late Darren Bent goal (plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose).

With another chunk of matching going into the books, once again, it's a massive surprise to see that some many clubs failed to keep clean-sheets. With Newcastle United the only side unable to score in their match against Blackpool, it was ironic that they were the side this week to keep a clean-sheet.

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Liverpool FC and Hull City have today confirmed that Daniel Ayala has extended his loan spell with the Tigers through until January 1, 2011.

The young Spanish centre back has made a big impression at the KC Stadium already on it's home fans and has so far been a key part of their new defence, which has kept two successive clean sheets after a 2-0 win over Derby County followed by a goalless draw with Nottingham Forest.

By AVI CREDITOR

Yes, the marquee match of the week is taking place at the Home Depot Center Friday night, but in Fantasy MLS circles, much should be focused on the teams playing two matches this week. FC Dallas, Kansas City, Houston and New England each play twice in Week 26, with the first three teams deserving your attention.

By AVI CREDITOR

Yes, the marquee match of the week is taking place at the Home Depot Center Friday night, but in Fantasy MLS circles, much should be focused on the teams playing two matches this week. FC Dallas, Kansas City, Houston and New England each play twice in Week 26, with the first three teams deserving your attention.

When picking your team for week six of the Soccerlens Fantasy Football Game, then anyone planning to win the weekly prize money (available to the top three teams in each 11 team mini-league) should have only one question: Who's hot? If you have a second question, it should be: Who's not?

Since last season Chelsea have been noted for the quality of their attacking play and things haven't change yet this season as until 5 matches, the Blues already managed to score 21 league goals.

However, for Peter Chech, despite of their impressive achievement the importance of his team's attacking department isn't more crucial than their defensive work as the keeper believes that getting a clean sheet could be more important than scoring four or five goals.