I started thinking about expected goals (xG) recently after seeing this video shared by James Tippett on Twitter.
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Life after Coutinho
Liverpool can't afford complacency and need someone to steady the ship immediately
I’m not going to lie; I’m gutted about Philippe Coutinho leaving. Not as gutted as Suárez leaving, obviously, but still like 60% as much. I’ve tried calling on righteous indignation using the ‘no player is bigger than the club’ mantra; I’ve tried saying good riddance and calling him a snake;...
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Robin Hood teams (Pt II)
Taking points from the top of the league and giving them to the bottom
My last post looked at Robin Hood teams - taking points from the top teams only to give them away to the lower teams - and tried to quantify Hoodability as the difference in points per game (ppg) against the top 6 teams and ppg against the bottom 6. However,...
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Defining 'Robin Hood teams' and measuring 'Hoodability' (Pt I)
Teams that take points from the top and give them away to the bottom
Liverpool’s 2016-17 season was a bit of a Jekyll & Hyde one. They went unbeaten against the other teams in the top 6 and sat comfortably on top of the intra-top 6 league table with 2 points per game (ppg). ## team GP W D L gf ga gd Pts...
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The death of Saturday football?
The effects of declining fixture density on reducing the number of matchday goals in the Premier League
My last post looked at the highest number of goals scored in the final fixtures of a season, but this got me thinking: what about the highest scoring single matchday? In other words, what was the best Match of the Day ever? In this post I’ll examine trends showing a...
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