Much has transpired in the world of soccer statistics over the past four years since I first published: Possession with Purpose - An Introduction and some Explanations. Three years ago I published my Possession with Purpose - Revised Introduction. In 2014 the concept was presented at the World Conference on Science and Soccer 2014. Last year the concept... Continue Reading →
Possession with Purpose Total Soccer Index What is it?
In 2014 I created an Index to measure team performance; my goal was to create one number (exclusive of points scored) that could help me tell a story about team performance that isn't just about goals scored and goals against (Goal Differential). While I can't share the internal data points and algorithms anymore I can... Continue Reading →
Possession with Purpose – Prozone – and more…
No detailed statistics today - just a narrative to pass on a few tidbits as I prepare my End of Season analysis for Europe. The news: The European Season is ending. There's the winners, the losers, and those that stay afloat to live another year. I'll peel back the results on the English Premier League,... Continue Reading →
Real Madrid and Barcelona – Two Horse Race
For me, it's not the top two that peak my interest this week, it's the prime movers from mid-table - downwards while looking at the League Table from Week 12 to Week 19. Here's how they stand comparing Week 19 to Week 12: The teams highlighted in Green and Red I''ll get to in a... Continue Reading →
Expected Wins 4
Republication/update: My intent, this past year, was to update my series on Expected Wins, with EW-5 - that has changed. After conducting research and analyses, and seeing my work published in London, England I've decided to rename this series Expected Losses instead of Expected Wins. Why, because my data analyses is beginning to show it's easier... Continue Reading →
Malaga and Almeria – Two Teams going in Different Directions?
My next installment on La Liga takes a look at Week 12 and compares how things have progressed or digressed for teams since Week 6. If you've not followed my Possession with Purpose analyses in the past here's a quick link to an Introduction. Some movers to be sure, so to give the Index some... Continue Reading →
La Liga – The Comforts of Home?
In a recent article published about Major League Soccer there were clear indications (read here) where Home teams pretty much dominated the win column. Here's a few quick takeaways from that article to give a starting point for La Liga - whether or not the two leagues behave the same - I don't know -... Continue Reading →
Valencia – Formula Won… La Liga
Most of the Headlines speak to the Real Madrid victory over the vaunted Barcelona; mine obviously don't. For me Valencia is showing strong, and in my view, seems to have struck a great balance in attack and defense as they continues to impress. And even though this early season run of form might not... Continue Reading →
UEFA Champions League – Bundesliga Throws down the Guantlet
FC Bayern Munchen and Borussia Dortmund take a big leap in working towards the knockout stages as each sit on six points, along with Real Madrid. Others falling in line for a push into the knockout stages include Roma, Chelsea, Monaco, Paris Saint Germain (stunner that was), Zenit St. Petersburg and FC Porto. In seeing... Continue Reading →
La Liga…. Thru Week 6; Establishing a stronger position or early signs of fading away?
Being mid-table - a glass half-full - or a glass half-empty? Still just six weeks in, but there are trends that can be offered with six games, so for this week's focus I'll look in on Rayo Vallecano, Almeria (who I looked at in Week 3 also), and Granada. Respectively those teams are 9th, 10th,... Continue Reading →