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A Bunch of Fives So when all is said and done, we analyse where, when and the quantity of times a ball has landed in the back of a net, past and present, or failed to, and somehow deduce why it was destined to be so. That’s the unenviable task of our resident expert Professor Statto, who brings us the benefit of his incisive intellect allied to half a century of football scholarship. And not least, his wry sense of humour.  He leaves the predictions to others, but he’ll provide you with the ammunition to sustain your challenge through your Score Five campaign. He’ll keep you up-to-date with what’s happening in the competition. He’ll lead you along byways exploring weird and wonderful facets of the game past and present, but always in his own inimitable style. Some comedian once suggested that “98% of all statistics are made up”, but the Prof. cordially invites you all to verify any information he presents – if only because he does most of the calculations in his head. Professor Statto and his amazing statistics. ====================================== Visit the Prof's 2008/09 season archives. Previous analysis Rewriting the record books, and a family affair Hello again pals, and welcome back. We're four rounds and 39 games into the season, which is just about 10% of the total. What's happened to date? As is normal in the early stages of any season, there are a few teams who seem to be defying gravity (Newcastle, Wolves) and a couple of big names (Arsenal, Spurs) loitering at the wrong end of the table. While I expect those pairs to swop places before long, the rest of the division, especially the top three and the bottom five, look like they have found their level. There are currently 11 teams who are scoring less than a goal a game. As most of the Prem defenders are the same ones who conceded a record 1063 goals last season, this is a bit perplexing. It's teams playing at home who are having particular difficulty finding the net, as demonstrated by the home FTS (Fail To Score) statistic already reaching 25% of last season's total – or, if you prefer, away clean sheets doing exactly the same. The first of the 'title deciders'? Their games at Old Trafford on Sunday and Stamford Bridge on 4 Feb may by the season's end be eclipsed by the all-Manchester affairs (23 Oct and 28 April) following the emergence of Man. City as credible contenders, but it would be a brave man who wrote off Chelsea. I'm hoping all six games between the three of them will be deciders. And if Liverpool get involved, great, we'll have 12! The Incredible Round 2 Those are the two highest quality rounds in the history of ScoreFive. There has been a higher score (49 pts by Legend) but that occurred in a 15-game week. In addition, Kickboxer set the all-time best for Perfectos with his eight! JoshTz had the distinction of having all 10 results right, which makes him this season's first qualifier for the elite Tenners Club. Josh also joins Danbert, Obi Van Kenobi and Numba1 (2008-09), Akinto, Iliaras, Marietta, Sarajevo, AndyinHolland and GI (2009-10) and Muskir (2010-11) as a Pure Tenner.....all 10 correct results from the weekend's 10 games. The five players with 43 pts occupying positions 3-7 in the Round 2 Top 10 also join the leading pair in the All-time Quality Top 10. (You'll find the updated list below). It's a measure of how good the top scores were that anyone scoring 40-41 pts didn't make the Top 10! That's another first, as was the six Perfectos by every member of the 10. As for the two families, they were four Tziortzises and three Zahid Alis – more about them later. All these records are the more remarkable for the fact that Round 2's scores were otherwise undistinguished, with an average of 21.15 pts and one P5 per player. Let's move on and check the details of the other Rounds. Season Tracker
It's going to be a while yet before we know the identity of Round 1's winner. The remaining game (Spurs v Everton) hasn't yet been rescheduled because of the home team's Europa League commitments. There was one exceptional forecast here: Gamidovi's choice of a Liverpool-Sunderland draw as his Banker. Top work, sir! Leading the way in Round 3 with 37 pts was Aussie Bowla – he's also joined the Tenners, along with Adie65 from Ireland. Though Adie couldn't find a single P5 and was only #14 for the round, his 30 pts included all 10 results. The only tipping coup came from Lithuania's Ash2Ash who picked up 10 pts for his Wigan 2-0 QPR Banker. We got another wonder from Down Under in Round 4, with Warrenator coming out on top. The top tip came from Man. Utd. fan Leigh05, who naturally predicted their 0-5 at Bolton. If your ranking is somewhere around 4200-4300, don't be disheartened. It may sound bad, but in fact you're somewhere near the average. The 3000+ inactive players who have had the benefit of Magic Mike's tips only have one more Life. (See my previous column for the full explanation). You may have noticed that the average round score that appears on your dashboard when you log in looks a bit high. That's because it's distorted by all Mike's piggybackers. When he has a good score – a regular occurrence – the average goes up. Not for much longer though.... Around the leagues: Pros ta empros Liverpool! The Global Top 20 As we head towards Round 5, the Global Top 20 is awash with Australians. There are eight, and four of them occupy the leading positions. The other countries with multi-representation are three from Pakistan, two from Ireland and two from Hong Kong – not strictly a country any more, but most folk thereabouts haven't yet got used to thinking of their home as China. We have one player each from Cyprus, Zimbabwe, the USA, Malta, Noway and the Maldive Is. What we haven't got is any Brits, or at least, Brits living in Britain. The highest placed, JohnW is knocking on the door at #22. This is an extreme change. When I did this same location check two seasons ago, 12 of the leading 20 were Brits. Where have they gone? And are those who are still here too close to the wood to see the trees? Does the Australian influx confirm that distance lends perspective? Another curiosity – we are without any Season 4 vets, though there's a large group competing. Pakistan's favourite sports are cricket, hockey and squash, but it clearly has some football fans who know a thing or two. Take the Zahid Alis, for instance – three of them are in the 20: #11 Afia, #17 Jafri, and #18 Kickboxer. Impressive as that is, there's an even more prominent family. In last season's FA Cup, the winner and runner-up were Australians, the Narracoorte Brigges. Two seasons back, there was a point where we had three Wallaces, all from Oz, in or around the Top 20. Now the Tziortzis clan of South Australia have gone one better. In the table below, you'll find #1 Josh, #2 Christina, #15 Zoe and #18 Julie. Meanwhile, loitering with intent just off the caption at #28 is Bill Tz. 'Records are made to be broken' as they say, but I don't foresee any other family getting five members into the Top 30 anytime soon. Of last season's high-fliers, only Zoe17, JollyRoger62 and Muskir are among the early contenders. Here's the Top 20 (actually the Top 21, as there are four players at =18) with a note showing how many seasons experience each has, and their location.
A ref gets it wrong We still get players who throw themselves theatrically to the ground without being tackled, but with experience has come more subtle tactics like the shot-by-a-sniper fall after an innocuous push, and the dive-forward-and roll-over-three-times by strikers who are pulled back. Still some work to do on that one, lads.... If you want to see a collection of bad actors masquerading as footballers, I recommend this bunch of fakers: All this season's previews and commentators wish-lists called on refs to get tougher with the cheats. I agree, and I'd give them some help via technology, because they can't see everything that happens. Here's a tragic tale from Croatia. Last season, Hrvatski Sokola hosted local rivals Mladost in a 5th division game. The ref spoke with both teams before the kick-off and told them he would not tolerate any play-acting. In the 35th minute, Mladost defender Goran Tunjic collapsed and fell to the ground after a tackle. The ref ran up and waved a yellow card at him as the home fans cheered, but the nearest players saw something was wrong. The ref agreed to call on the medics and the player was removed on a stretcher, only to be pronounced dead shortly after. Doctors decided that Tunjic, who had no previous medical problems, had suffered a massive heart attack – a rare event, but not unknown in football. (I remember Marc-Vivien Foe of Cameroon dying during an international match in a similar manner). On this occasion, I feel as sorry for the poor ref as the dead man and his team mates. The story was widely reported, but sad to say, it hasn't provoked any noticeable change of attitude from players. Goal of the season – before the season. And finally, as promised:
*in Scorefive's first season, when we didn't have Bankers. Actual score with 5 added. Until next month, pals, take care. Prof. Statto |
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