Another quick Squawka link. Cardiff City Football Club have been a bit of a basket case in recent weeks. The chairman, Vincent Tan, while not sacking the manager, Malky Mackay himself, seems to have been pantomining a display of what ‘constructive dismissal’ looks like, briefing against him in the press, before growing bored with his performance art and sacking the manager outright.
Cardiff fans at the 2012 League Cup final, wearing their traditional colours of not red.
One of the mad chairman’s more legitimate complaints was that Mackay overspent on summer recruitments. So, writing for Squawka, I’ve taken a statistical look at their summer signings.
Hello again! After more than a month without updating the blog, I’m back again, to write a quick ‘what I’ve been up to’ blog post.
Over the Christmas period I’ve written four stats-based articles for Squawka, one of them written while obeying the writer’s stereotype of being very tipsy and having a drink in my hand.
Before Liverpool played Manchester City, I compared David Silva and Philippe Coutinho, the flair players dribbling in from the left for both sides.
Also on Liverpool, I looked at the style of play and impact of Liverpool’s Joe Allen and Jordan Henderson at Liverpool, asking if, between them, they could compensate for the missing Steven Gerrard.
On Boxing Day, I covered the Tottenham v West Brom match for Squawka, taking a statistical look at the events leading to a 1-1 draw in Timothy Sherwood’s first match as Tottenham’s permanent manager.
I haven’t done any research, but I assume Tim was named after the forest. It can’t be a coincedence.
And finally, published on the 27th, I took a look at three players who the Express reckon Manchester United are trying to sign – Borussia Dortmund’s Marco Reus, Atletico Madrid’s Koke, and Southampton’s Adam Lallana. (This is the piece I wrote when tipsy, which might be evident by the fact that one point I asked the reader “who do you think you’re looking at? Eh? Eh?”. Or maybe I got away with it.)
A new article I’ve written has been published on Squawka today.
With players away from their clubs for the international break, I’ve looked at an English player who never seems to be even mentioned as a possible international – West Ham’s Mark Noble.
Mark Noble, preparing to launch a cross into a penalty area populated mainly by sentient socks. Possibly.
Writing for Squawka, I’ve looked at Noble’s strengths: creating chances for team-mates; keeping play ticking over by consistently maintaining possession; his talents as a defender and his all-round consistency.
If reading about the all-round consistency of a footballer who plays for a team you probably don’t support doesn’t sound like a good time, then I’m very sorry, and I’ll try and entertain you more next time.
If it does sound like the kind of thing that would interest you, then
Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke handed in a transfer request on Monday, with a host of clubs linked with a move for the Belgian striker.
It’s always a risk when a player changes club – will he be able to adapt to the new environment, to his new teammates, to the new tactics? There’s a lot more to consider than just the paycheque on offer.
Christian Benteke, running away from Aston Villa
I’ve helped Christian to make his decision, by looking at the tactics of the four English clubs linked with him – Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea and Liverpool, and how he’d likely be used by those clubs.
This one’s from a few weeks ago, that I forgot to link.
However, it’s a look back to the last Premier League season, so nothing’s out of date. I looked at Reading striker Adam Le Fondre, looking at when he’s scored his goals, whether he was better deployed from the bench or when starting – basically an overall look at his season.
Adam Le Fondre, earlier in his career. Between matches, I think.
With Le Fondre being a major part of Reading’s campaign to return to the top flight, as well as being linked with moves to Leeds, Hull and Leicester, he should be a key player for someone next season.
Over at Squawka, I’ve just written two articles, both of which went up on Thursday.
With Arsenal’s Lukas Podolski a year into his career at the Emirates, a year in which he’s scored a pretty respectable 11 goals, bids have come in, from Borrussia Dortmund and Atletico Madrid.
I took a statistical look at Podolski’s season, his strengths and weaknesses, as well as his style.
Also, with Manchester United’s Nani being linked with bids from Monaco and Galatasary, I took a look at how he’s performed this past season. I was surprised how often he was available but not selected in the big matches, and how long he’d been out injured.
In October, with QPR rock bottom of the Premier League, Mark Hughes was replaced as manager by Harry Redknapp.
Despite some big name signings in the summer who’d be underperforming under Hughes (Jose Bosingwa, Esteban Granero) existing talent (Adel Taarabt, Djibril Cisse) and January signings of Redknapp’s (Chris Samba, Loic Remy), QPR went down. Redknapp is well known as a social guy with friends in the media, so the common angle has been that Redknapp couldn’t do enough to save them.
Maybe SeagullMan could have saved QPR?
But how true is this? Writing for Squawka, I’ve taken a statistical look at different parts to QPR’s style of play, looking at how they’ve performed under both men.
Writing for Squawka, I’ve written a statistical analysis of Sunday’s match between West Bromwich Albion and Manchester United – a mad game that ended in a five all draw.
Too many more games like that would probably have given him a heart attack.
New on Squawka today, I’ve taken a look at Manchester City’s captain, Vincent Kompany. Absolutely dominant last year as City inched ahead of Manchester United for the Premier League title, he’s looked a little disappointing to me this season.
Not bad in any way, just disappointing, compared to last year.
I’ve broken down the various aspects of his game, this year and last, looking for differences and similarities.
New today on Squawka, I’ve taken a statisitical look at three English players based abroad in major European leagues. That’s David Beckham, Joey Barton, and Michael Mancienne.
David Beckham, pictured moments after a teammate told him his shirt was edible.
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