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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 It's almost as good as the '60s! Hello again pals, and welcome back. The lad kept the paper and later showed it to me, thinking I would be interested in what was clearly a a freak set of results. I knew that it wasn't, and gave him my two-minute lecture about Ye Olden Days when teams played with five in attack. He didn't seem convinced, so I went away and did some digging. He was even more surprised when I told him that three weeks earlier there had been 47 goals, and the week after, Oct. 7th, saw 49, (including Sheff. Wed. 5-3 Chelsea and Birmingham 3-6 Wolves). The average goals-per-game for that season was above 3.50. After Round 10's 39 net-busters I was reminded of the old paper by a couple of articles in the football press musing on the causes of the recent 'flood' of goals in the Prem: 201 in the last six rounds, bringing the season average to 2.98. A flood in modern terms perhaps, but in the context of history, our feet won't even get wet. If there is a secret to the current spate, shall we say, I hope no-one discovers it. I don't want managers rediscovering how to 'park the bus', in Mourinho-speak, and spoiling the excellent entertainment we're getting. Around this time last season, the GPG did creep above 3.00 for a week or two, but like the temperature, it dropped as winter arrived. I fear the current 1960s-impersonation won't last, but I'll be very happy to be wrong. It's the four English Champions League teams who we have most to thank for boosting the GPG. The four games between them have produced 29 goals. Only Man. City have avoided a tonking.... Season Tracker
Round 8 When we get a heap of goals, the Perfecto count usually slips, but despite 32 it was a high 12%, with all three games in London proving very profitable for you. The hardest result to locate was Norwich's 3-1 win, foreseen by only Elaine and Punjabi – well done, both. Despite that, my Tip Of The Week went to 'Toon fan Gazza179 for his Newcastle-Spurs 10 pt Banker draw. It proved to be a doubly good weekend for Man. City fan Colui72. His team went top of the league and he was one of only 10 players with nine results, but his five Perfectos were enough to propel him through the 40 pt-barrier into the Weekly Winner's spotlight. Round 9 Five games didn't have a single correct Banker. Naturally, no one predicted the 1-6 demolition of Fergie's men, but Dani Khan's keying error of 1-11 was closer to reality than 99% of the other predictions. Four other games had Perfectos in single figures. Kudos to Nikita, Barclays Bank and Maikankan who all did the unthinkable, Banking on Man. Utd. to lose at home – and they were right! Also, to Jack Frost who was unique in predicting QPR's 1-0 defeat of Chelsea – Tip Of The Week to you, Sir! When the average results percentage is in the low thirties, anyone with 70% looks like a wizard – take a bow GeorgeH, 27 pts and the only player to snare seven results. Suparoja's four Perfectos weren't matched, but with a failed Banker, his score of 29 wasn't enough to keep PieEater, with 30, off the top step of the podium. Round 10 All your Banker faves (Man. Utd, Man. City and Spurs) won, but when eight teams score three or above, the P5 count is bound to be low. No one foresaw the 3-3 thriller at Carrow Rd, and only two players tipped the 1-3 for Stoke's first home defeat of the season. I reckon that's worth Tip Of The Week for Hong Kong's DramaQueen and Aussie LDMcLeay With Perfectos hard to find, three (and seven results) were sufficient to give 'Pool fan Adie65 a margin of four pts in Round 10's top performers list over Andrew Watson of the AMNAS League who shared second spot on 30 pts with my good friend Count Zloli Bachvortz, Germany's premier fussballstatistiker and beer expert. Who's hot, who's not? Among the others closing in on the leader were #7 pieeater and #9 Ladyinred, both of whom featured prominently in October's high scorers, with over 70 pts against the average of 57.6. Here are the Top 10 of Rounds 8-10:
When you click the Top 20 link above your league table, you only see one of the players who are tied for #20. Going into Round 11, Micko.8, Frankod, LynchM and GraemeDuncan are all disputing #20 with 4inarow. When I surveyed the Top 20 after four rounds, there wasn't a single Brit among them. Aussies dominated, holding positions #1 – #4 and four others, with Pakistan as the second most represented nation. Only eight of those 20 players are still among the leaders, and the new entrants include seven Brits. The other 13 are made up of five from Down Under, two each from Hong Kong and Nigeria and one each from Norway, Ethiopia, Ireland and Malta. Next time, I'll take a look at who the front runners support. Speaking of Mike, after opening the season with Round 1's best score, he has slipped down the rankings in recent weeks. Is Bolton's poor run beginning to affect our sage? Predictions help In the Premier League era, scores of 0, 1 or 2 have accounted for 70-75% of all results. In an average week, there have been two or three scores of 3 or over, of which one would be 4 or above. Below are the details of the last three seasons, from which you can see what an exceptional season this has been to date:
Around the leagues The Cyprus Liverpool Supporters League has never had problems attracting members. Over a hundred have already predicted this season, but their early enthusiasm is waning – all bar a dozen have already exhausted their MM Lives. Cyprus is a warm and sunny place: are our Mediterranean Kopites fair-weather fans? At the top of the Supporters League table, it's a North-West 1-2-3 with the fans of Wigan, Bolton and Blackpool showing the rest how it's done. By the end of the season, all of them could be second-tier teams. Ironic, eh? More than 40 years later in 2009, Martin Palermo of Argentina's Boca Juniors took possession of the Longest Headed Goal title. Standing in the centre circle (about 40 mtrs out) he stuck his head in the way of a bullet clearance from Velez Sarsfield's 'keeper and was rewarded with a goal to compensate for a headache. After that, I didn't expect to see ownership of this curious category ever change again. Ha! Little did I know.... No: Samuelsen's feat has already been eclipsed. Last weekend in the Japanese 2nd division, defender Ryujiro Ueda of Fagiano Okayama jumped to meet a goal kick and saw his 58-mtr header bounce over Yokohama's stranded 'keeper Kentro Seki, who frantically chased the ball back and got a hand on it....behind the line. Until next month, pals, look after yourselves. Prof. Statto Division 1 results on Sept. 30th, 1961
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