Technology Partner


Community Partners

A Bunch of Fives

So when all is said and done we translate the number of times a ball has landed in the back of a net, past and present, and somehow work out why it was so obviously going to be so and what will happen in the future!! That’s the unenviable task of our resident expert Professor Statto, Nobel Prize Winner in waiting, who’s been explaining the meaning of football life and giving comfort to his followers for years.

He’ll tell you why your predictions were bound to be wrong. He’ll tell you about the most outrageous possibilities to come. He’ll tell you…But whatever he says remember:

“98% of all statistics are made up.” ~Author Unknown

Professor Statto and his amazing statistics.

======================================

Previous analysis

Week 16.... Week 15.... Week 14.... Week 13.... Week 11 - 12.... Week 10

The first Eleven and the Other Half

Hello again, pals

The top division of the Football League has been in existence for 120 years. There have been several sides who steamrollered all opposition for years at a time – Huddersfield in the ’20s, Arsenal in the ’30s, Liverpool in the ’70s and ’80s, and more recently, Manchester Utd – but none managed to do what Chelsea have now done; that is, win 11 away games on the bounce. Following victories at Man. City, Everton and Newcastle at the end of last season, Scolari’s team have added eight more since August, setting their new record with last Saturday’s 0-2 success at Bolton. During this run, their Goals For/Against is a staggering 26–1! Congratulations are certainly due to John Terry & co.

Their fantastic sequence now betters Tottenham’s 10 consecutive successes spread over the end of the ’59-’60 season and the start of ’60-‘61. This is all the more remarkable given Chelsea’s recent home form. After four-plus years and 80 games unbeaten to the start of this season, they’ve gone into something of a slump, winning only three times and losing twice in eight games at Stamford Bridge. Despite having what most people consider to be the Prem’s strongest squad, some Bridge regulars (including their owner) expect too much of their team. Maybe they play with more freedom away. Let’s not forget they’ve had a bad time with injuries this season: losing Carvalho, Ballack, Joe Cole and Drogba for a combined 36 games must have an effect. The influential Michael Essien has been out since the end of August and won’t be fit until the New Year. As I write (10pm Mon. Dec 8) Essien is celebrating his 26th birthday, which reminds me….

Happy birthdays?
When’s your birthday? July? Chances are you’re not a professional footballer then. It’s well known among teachers that kids who are born close to the start of the school year in September are the ones most likely to be high achievers – they’re that bit older and more mature than the other kids in class. Did you know that something similar applies to footballers? The Association of Football Statisticians analysed the birthdates of more than 175,000 footballers. There was a surprising pattern to the results:

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec
18,000									X	X
17.5
17
16.5
16	X											X
15.5
15								X			X
14.5		X
14			X
13.5
13				X	X
12.5
12						X
11.5							X
11
10.5
10,000
Births	16,272	14,518	14,094	13,050	13,198	11,820	11,428	14,960	18,084	17,838	14,874	16,276

A disproportionate number of players are born in the period August to January, with September and October being the peak months. If you were born in June/July, it doesn’t exclude you from becoming a player, even a great one, but it’s less likely. June/July birthdates account for 13.2% of footballers: September/October have 20.4%.

If the chances of you becoming a pro are slim, maybe you can look forward instead to having a son who will star in the World Cup of 2034. If so, now is the time to be having a word (or perhaps more), with your Other Half about an imminent conception….September’s only nine months away.

Top Players
After several weeks of low scoring, we finally got a bonanza, as most of the 10 matches went with form and the total goals scored was a spot-on average 26. Dozens of you piled up the points with the first five fixtures (including Graeme Duncan with 21!) but after that, Newcastle/Stoke and especially Everton/Villa conspired to limit those of you who might have had visions of matching those Opening Day fireworks. Nevertheless, most of you picked up 20 pts, and we had a select few with 30+.

At this point, I have to confess I can’t see your final scores, as the ScoreFive Supremo is still waiting for his minions to deliver him the updates after the West Ham/Spurs game, so I’ve paged through all the leagues and done my own calculations. Subject to confirmation, I think we can say the Major Dudes this week are as follows:

Name	League	Supports	Points	Comments
Graeme Duncan	Liverpool GS	Liverpool	33	8 results, 4 x Perfect 5’s
Go Behind Seagulls	AMNAS 1	Brighton	32	8 results, 4 x Perfect 5's
Kevin Meywin	Man U GS	Man Utd.	29	9 results, 2 Perfect 5's
Ra1anne	Man U GS	Man Utd	29	8 results, 3 x Perfect 5's
Big Phil's Army	Chelsea GS	Chelsea	29	8 results, 3 x Perfect 5's

+ at least five players with 28 pts: Gilberto’s Goldmine, 128 break, brownie, nigel ball & Titian

By the way folks, do drop in at the ScoreFive Forum and leave a comment to say whether you prefer to see the week’s top scorers in the above format, or say anything else you feel like.

In the Top 20, You’ll Never Walk Alone
Graeme Duncan is the latest in a line of Liverpool fans who have topped our weekly Roll Of Honour.
Many of them are still to be found loitering with intent near the top of the Global Leaderboard. I did a check of the Top 20-ish* and discovered they can be divided as follows:

7 Liverpool supporters: Simoscy, Damo Shanks, PmcCulloch, Athlone, Lano23, Don Alfauzi, Katona
4 Man. Utd, supporters: Alcock, Nick 1, nigel ball, Kevin
4 Arsenal supporters: Patrick Ho, Cockney Blue??? Jew, Antomeno, Gilberto’s Goldmine
2 Tottenham supporters: Brownie, Bertie
1 supporter each from West Ham, Newcastle and Everton: Mark Taylor, Sarah Lou, Gareth

* There are two other highly placed players – john w, Angelo – who do not appear to have a team. Gents, this defies logic. Everyone has a team, or even two. We look forward to you updating your profiles…..Macclesfield, Cagliari, it doesn’t matter, but please let us know….

 

 

Good luck for the weekend, pals.

Regards,
Prof. Statto