Plus/minus, Tottenham Hotspur, September 12th 2013

Player



G



Min



GS



GA



+/-



Scored/90



Conc/90





Lloris



3



270



2



1



1



0.667



0.333





Walker



3



270



2



1



1



0.667



0.333





Rose



3



266



2



1



1



0.677



0.338





Vertonghen



3

Read More

Plus/minus, Southampton FC, September 12th 2013

Player



G



Min



GS



GA



+/-



Scored/90



Conc/90





Boruc



3



270



2



2



0



0.667



0.667





Lovren



3



270



2



2



0



0.667



0.667





Fonte



3



270



2



2



0



0.667



0.667





Chambers



3

Read More

Plus/minus, Manchester United, 12th September 2013

Player



G



Mi



GS



GA



+/-



Scored/90



Conc/90





De Gea



3



270



4



2



2



1.333



0.667





Evra



3



270



4



2



2



1.333



0.667





Jones



3



217



4



2



2



1.659



0.829





Ferdinand



3

Read More

Plus/minus, Cardiff City, 12th September 2013

Player



G



Min



GS



GA



+/-



Scored/90



Conc/90





Marshall



3



270



3



4



-1



1.000



1.333





Connolly



3



270



3



4



-1



1.000



1.333





Caulker



3



270



3



4



-1



1.000



1.333





Turner

Read More

Plus/minus, Aston Villa, 12th September 2013

Player



G



Min



GS



GA



+/-



Scored/90



Conc/90





Guzan



3



270



3



4



-1



1.000



1.333





Baker



1



13



0



1



-1



0.000



6.923





Vlaar



3



270



3



4



-1



1.000



1.333





Luna

Read More

An introduction to Plus/minus calculations, season 2013-14

Plus/minus is a regular thing in hockey and its utility can be traced back many years.



However, it's used to display how effective a team is while a certain player is on the ice; the fluid substitution system employed by that sport demands a similarly versatile but telling measure of player and lineup efficacy.  The system has its drawbacks - especially in sports such as basketball - but it

Read More

Olympics no place for International Football

The United States attained a decisive
qualifying victory and the Dutch became the
first Europeans to begin planning in earnest for next year’s samba
fiesta.  Meanwhile in Asia, Jordan enters
a World Cup Playoff against
the fifth-placed South American team as they hope to make their first
entrance on the world’s gaudiest platform. 
World Cup qualifying week has come and gone.



Mexico’s El Tri,

Read More

Graphic: Transfer window MADNESS!!

The summer transfer window really is quite long.  Like, over 90 days long.  



But clubs still tend to make purchases late.  For some, like Arsenal, this was an absolute gift because Mesut Özil is better than others the club may have bought earlier.  However for other slackers - stand up, Ed Woodward and David Moyes - the laissez-faire posture displayed over the warmer months left them £4

Read More

United's laughable window ends with Fellaini serendipity

So one or both of Ed Woodward and
David Moyes screwed
up.  This much is certain.  



Entreaties to Cesc Fabregas, Luka
Modric, Ander Herrera, Mesut Özil and Juan Mata went thoroughly and brutally unfulfilled.
 The club is – rightfully – embarrassed by
three months of low-ball bids and beat-poet serenades below player balconies that hit all the wrong notes. 



And now, as it emerges that the

Read More

2013 Ashes draft: The Results

Two weeks after the conclusion of
the Ashes, it’s time to evaluate the Ashes draft that took place before the
series began.  In that draft, Dave
Siddall and I selected sides with the object of evaluating who the series’ best
players might be. 



The results and their
performances over the course of the five-match Test series are listed below.



Siddall’s Squad




Player


Draft no.

Read More

Short pitch: Sessegnon sale highlights new Sunderland

A fee has been agreed for the
transfer of Sunderland forward Stephane Sessegnon to Qatari club Al Jaish.  The deal completes a hasty exit from the
Stadium of Light for the Benin international, who has been probably the most
influential Mackem of the past two seasons – the player was arrested
for drink-driving only hours before the transaction was announced.





Questions must be raised about

Read More

Gareth Bale transfer to Real Madrid exposes disparity

As the narrative of Gareth
Bale’s transfer to Real Madrid careens towards its end pages, we look back
on its lifespan with the typical, ho-hum shrug of fulfilled prediction that
accompanies such uncomplicated, Cartlandian prose. 



This tricky situation evolved in
exactly the same manner as every other protracted move: larger club unsettles
smaller club’s player, player decides he likes the

Read More

EPL: Re-installing Arsenal

After a disappointing 3-1 defeat
to Aston Villa on the season’s opening day, speculative glare has fallen upon
Arsenal and their unsuccessful efforts to improve their squad.  Despite controlling the ball for long periods
against the Clarets, the Gunners seemed strangely faceless – perhaps a
side effect of Gervinho’s departure two weeks ago.



Over the past number of years,
Arsenal have

Read More

EPL finally overcomes offseason inertia

The most pressing questions facing the English Premier League as the offseason
began were:



Question: Will Luis Suarez stay
at Liverpool?

Answer, May 30th:
Likely, but we don’t know

Answer, August 14th:
Likely, but we don’t know



Q. How will David Moyes fare as
Manchester United manager?

Answer, May 30th:
Your
guess is as good as mine

Answer, August 14th:
Your guess is as good as mine

Read More

Guardiola may not be Bayern Munich's Man of Steel

The new Superman movie, Man of Steel, does some things
well.  It creates a plausible Superman
back story, introduces a new dynamic into the Clark Kent/Lois Lane relationship
and makes Kevin Costner somewhat likeable again after two decades of “meh”.  Despite making nearly $300,000,000 (or nearly
three
Gareth Bales) in its two-month run so far, the film pales in comparison
with Superman and

Read More

Graphic: Name quality vs. talent level, Seattle Mariners

click to embiggen

Read More

Book review: The Vincibles, by Gideon Haigh

On a lazy summer
afternoon with the cricket coverage in the background I completely galloped
through this incredibly entertaining work by Haigh. Within pages the fortunes
of the Australian test team paled into insignificance as I desperately read
onto the next chapter in the life of the ‘Yarras’ 2001-02 season.



As the title
suggests Haigh at no stage sought out to write a serious cricket book

Read More

Crazy Grandpa still runs world football

Recent noises from Geneva have suggested that world
football’s out-of-touch grandpappy, Sepp Blatter, has focused his attention on staging a Winter World Cup in
2022.



In some weird logic puzzle, this makes sense: the
tournament will be held in Qatar, which during the summer boasts
an average temperature of 38°.  But given most major leagues operate
during the northern winter, this change

Read More

Short Pitch: Squeezing responsibility from stones

Brad Haddin's second wind seems less gusty than his first.  During his near-game winning innings on Saturday and Sunday, the Australian vice captain batted with a responsibility often lacking during his first tenure in the Australian side and during his initial stint as the national team's vice-captain.


That was by some distance the best innings I've seen from Brad Haddin. He will be upset, but

Read More

How far we've come (part one of many)

Before the blogosphere, there were spreadsheets.

For me, at least.

The picture below comes from an exploratory dig into the darkened reaches of my computer's hard disk - a saved spreadsheet that documents my leanings at the time towards the All-Time teams for each major Test-playing nation.  And my, how long ago it was!

Now, many of these players would barely trouble the subs' bench while

Read More