Joel Oberstone writes about David Beckham's impact on the United - AC Milan Champions League match today in the Wall Street Journal.
Statistical analysis like this is an interesting exercise but no predictor of future performance.
Oberstone is a super statistician. Funny stuff.
This is why Wall Street Journal footie articles are so off the wall sometimes. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez will reportedly ask Spanish national team coach Vicente del Bosque not to strain his star striker Fernando Torres in La Roja's upcoming international friendly against France, according to Marca.
The match, which is set to take place on March 3rd, comes on the heels of Torres competing in just two matches with his club team, Liverpool's Europa League tie against Unirea Urziceni and a Premier League match against Blackburn Rovers. Click to continue reading...

Since there have been lots and lots of comments elsewhere on the progress of our club, I would just like to post an article by Tomkins, which I am sure took a very very long time to produce. Hence it should be given its due respect. The article is at his membership site but this one is free, so I thought I would just copy and paste the whole thing.

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I get gruff from many football/soccer fans for my fascination with data based analysis. They claim that I focus on the wrong things, that statistical analysis of the sport is impossible. These are often the same arguments that applied at various times to baseball, basketball, hockey, football, rugby, cricket, etc.

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We controlled the game yesterday with 65 percent possession. The opponents didn't create much and had only one shot on target. But they took three points and we got zilch! And that's the most important number. Nothing else matters at the end of the season.

Now there are many different ways of looking at this result.

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He ain't pretty, but he gets the job done as much as Gerrard does
Liverpool's season is on the line today as they travel to France to take on Lyon. Without their influential captain Steven Gerrard, and having already lost two straight in the Champions League, things don't look good for Rafa Benitez's club in crisis. Click to continue reading...

Listen to Emmanuel Petit, David Dein and Lee Dixon during a special programme, Arsene at 60, on BBC Radio 5 live at 2000 BST on Thursday.

I wonder what Dein will have to say. He has had a complex relationship with Wenger, being responsible for his arrival but his business dealings clashed with Wenger's philosophy of developing low budget talent.

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Sir Alex Ferguson on the win:

"We gave three goals away today. It could have been an embarrassment - we could have won 6-0 or 7-0 today. But in the end we still we won one of the best Manchester derbies. We have a neighbour, and sometimes neighbours are noisy, but we showed our power today and we get on with life.

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Since he signed for United nearly a month ago, there has been a fair amount of back and forth regarding Michael Owen. If you were to believe every Asian that has seen him in a United kit thus far, one might tend to believe that he was the second coming of King Eric Cantona. More neutral observers have, however, been slightly less enthralled with the signing.

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Castrol GTX May Not Let Your Engine Break Down, But They Know How to Break Down A Game

In case you weren't aware, the ever-prescient governing body of soccer has partnered with Castrol GTX to develop the "definitive system" to rate player performance. Not only does it rate performance, but it rates performance objectively!

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I was recently asked by ESPN the Magazine writer Chris Sprow whether I paid much attention to statistics in football. My answer was pretty abrupt, and didn't exactly highlight me as a scholar of the statistical side of the game. "I honestly hardly ever look at stats," I told him, and he quoted me with that in this look at statistics and the appeal of soccer in the States.

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DC United fans on the east coast might need to take a nap on Saturday afternoon to make sure they stay up for the 11pm EST kickoff of the match between the East's and West's best, DC United and Chivas USA.

In case you didn't know, Chivas are pretty good. Their 7-1-1 record is good for 22 points and an eight point cushion on Seattle, who are 2nd in the West.

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We're back with MLS Statistical Analysis, this time looking at defense and goalkeeping. First we'll look at defense. Think of it this way, Chivas' opponents have scored 3 goals. Here's our data, organized alphabetically by team (games, goals, shots, shots on goal, record, points I eliminated fouls because the data would be the same) all stats as of Thursday morning:

From that, this, sorted by PPG (goals per game, shots per game, percentage of shots on goal, percentage of shots that result in goals, percentage of shots on goal resulting in goals, points per game):

Chivas are far and away the premier team in the league in the overall standings, 8 points clear of 2nd place DC United.

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I did not get to see a minute of the DC United match on Saturday. Instead of our usual recapping here, it's time for the first installment this year of MLS Statistical Analysis. Here's the data we're working with, organized alphabetically by team (click to enlarge):

From left to right: games, shots, shots on goal, fouls committed, fouls suffered, and then there's the record/points.

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By SEAN RUBIO

With the European leagues winding down, the majority of today's stories deal with the domestic game, from the message behind wearing your favorite team's jersey in public, to how to US soccer scene will look in 10 years time:

A look at the "soccer jersey" culture in the US [Offside]
Fun With Statistics [Inside MN Soccer]
American Soccer in 2019:Â A Roundtable Discussion [Match Fit USA]
How To Watch Soccer Online [Advantage Played]
Interview with Leeds and South African great Lucas Radebe [USA Today]
Roman (Riquelme's) Empire [The Run Of Play]

What do you think the American soccer landscape will look like in 10 years?

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Minnesota Thunder are the thick green lines

PART -1
Near the end of the 2008 regular season for the Minnesota Thunder, a fellow Dark Cloud supporter brought this website to my attention. It's called Sports Club Stats run by Ken Roberts. It's fun to view and even more fun to play with as it's interactive.

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Minnesota Thunder are the thick green lines

PART -1
Near the end of the 2008 regular season for the Minnesota Thunder, a fellow Dark Cloud supporter brought this website to my attention. It's called Sports Club Stats run by Ken Roberts. It's fun to view and even more fun to play with as it's interactive.

Click to continue reading...

I've always had a weird interest in uniform numbers, I don't know why. Maybe because it's the only part of the kit that's somewhat personalized (aside from their name). It makes you wonder why a player would choose a particular number. Like why does Salt Lake's Clint Mathis wear 84?

Here's a brief statistical analysis of the chosen MLS digits:

- The lowest number not worn by any player is 35.

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I was there, in the stands in Giants Stadium, and now I'm back. There is a lot to do to catch up around here, and here's what's on the coming agenda:

- Preview of DC United v. FC Dallas
- Four Fs of DC United v. FC Dallas
- Analysis of Washington Freedom to this point
- MLS Statistical Analysis 2.

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Spotlight on the rivalries of this weekend.
It looks like another jam packed weekend of interesting and even historic match ups as long time rivals resume hostilities and traveling fans make the trip.
It all kicks off at 7pm Eastern time when Chicago Fire and many of their Section 8 fans visit long time and historic rivals Columbus. Click to continue reading...

The Premier League's new slogan -- Good 'til the last drop?It's been absolutely stunning how many late winners/equalizers have been scored during the 2008-09 season. A couple weeks ago I brought up the idea of sabremetrical compared to soccer. I'm still not sure if statistical analysis will yield a secret formula to win games. Click to continue reading...