January 2012 Archives

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking 'There's been a lot of draws recently, hasn't there?'. I'm thinking it, too. I pace up and down the living room on a Saturday waiting for Jeff Stelling to say words like "equaliser", "parity", "comeback" and "Jeff Hughes penalty". Nobody wins games any more; they just seem finish level on points, after a fairly tepid slugfest - I'm looking at you, Scunthorpe.

But are we wrong, those of us who are getting caught up in the one-point hype? Is League One really descending to a level where X gets the square every week, and ones and twos are becoming rarer and rarer? I thought it was time somebody investigated it, so I picked up my magnifying glass, rolled out my spreadsheets, and had a closer look at the draws of League One.

2.00 points per game; that's what you need to be promoted according to Lee Clark. Huddersfield Town are two points behind that ratio at the moment (50 from 26 games). Over the last six games - for that is the way form is traditionally judged, it is 2.00 exactly - 12 points; P6 W3 D3 L0. The problem with that two point ratio is that, once you falter and drop from it, it becomes incredibly difficult to catch back up.

Now, Town need to win at least one more game than that two points per game ratio to get back on course - win the next game, 53 from 27 is still one short, win the next and 56 from 28 is bang on, but then you have to win the next one, to get 59 from 29, else you lapse again - 57 from 29, or 56 from 29. It is a relentless pace to maintain, so hats off to Charlton for keeping not just on it, but way above it - 57 from 25 is 2.28 points per game - they could lose the next three games and still stay above 2; Sheffield Utd might catch them, but they sit only just above (53 from 26 is one above (2.04))

As I mentioned after the Brentford, and the Charlton games, I don't often get to see Huddersfield Town play any more - but this game marked a run of three I'll be able to see, and it was a decent one to start with. I tweeted the club before kick-off about the formation (assuming it would be a 4-2-3-1) and was told it would be the same as for the Chesterfield and Carlisle games - which I admit I was pretty distant from; both mentally and geographically. Seeing as I'm involved in these three, I'll write little reports on each of them, starting with Wycombe, and starting here.

During my self-imposed Christmas break from statistics, I was asked to write a piece for TheSeventyTwo.com about Jordan Rhodes. I had a few ideas of things I wanted to do in the future, but my Jordan Rhodes spreadsheets were pretty easy, and pretty fun, to update; find that here - the numbers alone make impressive reading. I've always thought that any positive publicity for Town is a good thing, so I'm happy I got to do a little bit in that direction. Having tackled the glamour of goals, though, I found myself hankering for my true love within football; things that aren't goals, which is where this post comes in.

If you've watched a football match with me, you'll have noticed my predilection for the men between the sticks. I spend a large proportion of my time at games doing just that - very much a union man in that respect. Most of my favourite players are goalkeepers; Casillas, Mandanda, Buffon (I saw him as a civilian when I was in Turin last year - it was amazing), I could go on and on. There's very few goalkeepers I dislike - Fabian Barthez, mainly, and that's more of a personal problem that came to a head in the UEFA Cup Final in 2003. I've even developed a bit of a soft spot for Reading because of the quality of their academy production line - Andersen, Federici, Hamer come to mind for starters. The man I'm going to talk about today, however, is possibly my favourite current Premiership player, and I want to explain something about his game. How is he relevant to Town, you might well ask. Hopefully I can explain that, too.