Season 26 Division 1 Stats and Facts.

All looks set for a Hellas repeat?

First the preamble for any new managers

I look at the average ratings for GK, DEF,MID,ATT, the top 18 player

Then using a tried and ( mostly ) trusted formula work out the ETOT the cumulative score.

Occasionally I have to add a little human common sense if formations look odd or a team has loads of goalkeepers etc..

This year I have also involved A.I. in developing a new prototype formula to include balance and depth , the finishing position according to me is Pre, according to A.I. is A.I, all my comments below are on my predictions we will compare with A.I. at the end.

There is little doubt that strength and depth hard to beat and Hellas have that, they have the best defence in the league and one of the best attacks, crucially any injury is easily covered.  Dortmund sit a little way behind them but well ahead of the rest , they have a better attack but do lack in depth.  Chelsea in 3^rd have less depth but a great keeper and midfield should keep out the opposition while creating chances.

Barcelona have the joint strongest attack in the league ,maybe their defence is a little weak for a title run. Porto are a well balanced team , no real weakness which places them just above Leicester.  Juventus are the only remaining strong challenge at least 1 whole point above their rivals.

As for relegation , around 223.5 would have been a cut off last season.  This place 3 teams in the direct line of fire. Zagreb are a point adrift of the rest and they will struggle for possession and have a weak defence. Malaga another 1.5 points from their rivals are more balanced but an 89 keeper won’t cut it in D1.  Hamburg sit just under the cut off but are by  no means relegation fodder.  Milan with a weaker keeper and defence could struggle more.

For the first time in a while D1 is slightly weaker than last season by 0.07 points.

So what does the A.I. do different. It flips 3 and 4^th Chelsea and Barca around., similarly with Leicester and Juve.  Levante get bumped down 3 spots  . The 3 lowest teams remain the same but the AI sees Stoke being relegated rather than Milan.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	A.I.
Hellas Verona	93.0	93.0	93.0	95.0	89.0	92.6	232.39	1	1
Dortmund	92.0	92.5	92.8	96.0	85.0	91.7	231.88	2	2
Chelsea	95.0	92.5	93.6	94.0	83.0	91.6	231.34	3	4
Barcelona	92.0	91.3	93.0	96.0	84.0	91.3	230.92	4	3
FC Porto	93.0	92.8	93.2	93.0	87.0	91.8	230.81	5	5
LEICESTER CITY	91.0	92.0	93.2	94.0	85.0	91.0	230.38	6	7
Juventus	95.0	91.8	92.0	93.0	89.0	92.2	229.53	7	6
Levante UD	91.0	91.8	93.2	91.0	85.0	90.4	228.23	8	11
Bayern	93.0	89.8	91.0	95.0	87.0	91.2	227.95	9	8
Internazionale	92.0	90.0	91.4	94.0	87.0	90.9	227.70	10	9
São Paulo FC	90.0	90.8	92.0	92.0	86.0	90.2	227.12	11	12
H. Berlin	92.0	89.3	90.8	94.0	87.0	90.6	226.62	12	10
Arsenal	91.0	91.8	90.6	91.0	86.0	90.1	226.27	13	15
Aston Villa	88.0	90.0	90.8	93.0	86.0	89.6	225.97	14	14
Manchester City	93.0	90.0	90.2	92.0	86.0	90.2	225.44	15	13
Stoke City	90.0	90.0	90.8	90.0	87.0	89.6	224.34	16	17
AC Milan	89.0	89.3	90.2	91.0	88.0	89.5	223.95	17	16
Hamburg	90.0	89.8	90.0	90.0	86.0	89.2	223.42	18	18
Málaga CF	89.0	89.0	89.2	90.0	86.0	88.6	222.06	19	19
Dinamo Zagreb	90.0	88.5	88.4	90.0	87.0	88.8	221.26	20	20