Season Predictions and Reviews on Top 100

Season 28 Division 5 Stats and Facts

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 15:36:25 +0100

Santos the clear favourites who will join them.

Quick note, there were 2 obvious ABDs that I noticed and actioned as they may well have gone through before publication.

Santos have a top team in most of the important categories of D5 and would be at least playoff contenders in the division above. Fiorentina have that rare thing in D5 a 90 rated attacker who will strike fear into the heart of the opposition defence. Palace could achieve great things if they exchange that 86 rated keepers for an 87and gathered up a bit of depth but they are ranked 3^rd.

Celta the first playoff team, attack and midfield are the main strengths Torino a favoured top and tail team a potent 89/89 sandwich perhaps lacking a bit of filling. If 217.5 is needed to survive D4 then Lazio, Olympiacos, Twente, Fenerbahce and AZ could all push for promotion with little fear of future problems. Stuttgart continues to be pretty much the worse team in the history of T100 despite the early point which may be few and far between. Spartak also sit adrift of everyone else. Lyon and River Plate at least can see the opposition in the distance.

Quick hint you don’t need to pick up all the best grains of sand to build the best brick wall worth thinking about. All teams could have 11-12 decent players and then the rest could be whatever you make of it to stay competitive.

What does the A.I. make of all this? More or less thinks the same. Torino are predicted to finish lower due to lack of depth, AZ are predicted to be closer to the playoff spots due to the balance in the side and strong keeper.

Giant killers in the cup Lazio or Brugge

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	A.I.
Santos FC	89.0	88.8	88.8	89.0	85.0	88.1	220.77	1	1
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	88.3	87.6	90.0	86.0	88.0	220.06	2	3
Crystal Palace	86.0	88.0	89.0	89.0	85.0	87.4	219.97	3	2
Celta Vigo	87.0	87.8	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.72	4	4
Club Brugge KV	89.0	87.8	87.2	88.0	86.0	87.6	218.16	5	5
Torino	89.0	87.3	87.0	89.0	85.0	87.5	218.13	6	10
SS Lazio	87.0	87.0	88.0	88.0	87.0	87.4	218.08	7	6
Olympiacos	86.0	87.0	88.2	88.0	85.0	86.8	217.88	8	7
FC Twente	87.0	87.3	87.8	88.0	84.0	86.8	217.76	9	9
Fenerbahçe SK	87.0	87.0	87.3	88.5	86.0	87.2	217.69	10	11
AZ Alkmaar	88.0	87.8	86.8	88.0	85.0	87.1	217.60	11	8
Villarreal CF	87.0	86.8	87.0	88.0	86.0	87.0	216.96	12	13
PSV	87.0	86.8	87.0	89.0	80.0	86.0	216.89	13	16
Schalke	88.0	87.0	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.51	14	12
US Sassuolo	88.0	86.5	87.0	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.23	15	14
Atalanta BC	87.0	86.3	86.8	87.0	85.0	86.4	215.63	16	15
Shakhtar Donetsk	87.0	86.0	86.4	87.0	85.0	86.3	215.11	17	17
Girondins Bordeaux	85.0	85.5	86.4	87.0	82.0	85.2	214.11	18	18
Spartak Moskva	84.0	85.0	86.6	85.0	83.0	84.7	212.57	19	19
Stuttgart	85.0	83.3	82.6	87.0	75.0	82.6	208.43	20	20

Season 28 Division 4 Stats and Facts

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 15:07:17 +0100

Napoli or Valencia which place in sun will be champs.

Napoli are a cut above any other team in the league, a 90 rated keeper, strongest attack, strongest mid should be game set and match even at this early stage. Valencia perhaps a keeper short of challenging their Italian rivals but they should have the defence to lock out most rivals. Lokomotive also sit pretty in 3^rd spot a mighty midfield perhaps shields a lack of depth in parts of a team but nothing unexpected in D4. That is obviously the point, in D4 an 86 can’t be classed as a week player and an 88 would be considered a strong one.

The playoff places should be contended by 4 of 6 teams which the A.I. and I agree on. PSG a decent attack but weaker in goal are favoured over Dynamo who are a similar team with a stronger defence gut weaker attack. Montpellier are up for the top and tail approach so favoured in lower league with Marseille and Celtic trying the same tactic. Independiente are a more balanced squad but do they lack a little depth especially if they get to the playoffs where that is more vital.

You need 219 to survive in division 3 so Partizan should not be discounted if their lack of depth doesn’t hamper them. Anything less than 218 and you are looking to be served some relegation steak with a side order of sour grapes. Bremen sits above that cut off. Kazan looks beyond help at the moment, too weak all round, they will get relegated if nothing is done. Athletic club really do now need a better keeper to avoid returning to D5. Lyon are counting on a potent attack out scoring the opposition in high scoring fixtures but this hasn’t gone well so far. River Plate could just survive. A keeper and defence that is decent for the league with a midfield screen and an ok attack. Feyenoord even more so than River Plate with Chievo going for the balanced approach. Up for the cup, well Valencia, Dynamo and Marseille should be.

Only one really noticeable disagreement with the A.I. and that is Dynamo Kyiv, I see them mid table or maybe better with that top and tail combo. The A.I. though prefers the more balanced defensive approach of Newcastle to finish in the top half.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	A.I.
SSC Napoli	90.0	88.8	90.2	91.0	85.0	89.0	223.31	1	2
Valencia CF	88.0	90.5	89.6	89.0	87.0	88.8	222.93	2	1
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	89.0	90.2	88.0	86.0	88.2	221.44	3	3
Independiente	88.0	88.5	89.0	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.73	4	5
Paris Saint-Germain	87.0	88.8	88.6	89.0	87.0	88.1	220.61	5	6
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	89.3	88.8	88.0	87.0	88.0	220.52	6	4
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.8	88.8	90.0	85.0	87.9	220.50	7	8
Olympique Marseille	88.0	89.0	87.8	89.0	87.0	88.2	220.29	8	7
Celtic	88.0	87.3	88.2	90.0	85.0	87.7	219.62	9	11
FK Partizan	88.0	87.8	88.0	89.0	84.0	87.4	219.09	10	10
Dynamo Kyiv	88.0	87.0	87.4	90.0	84.0	87.3	218.66	11	15
Newcastle United	89.0	87.3	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.7	218.56	12	9
Beşiktaş JK	87.0	88.0	87.4	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.28	13	12
Bremen	88.0	87.0	88.4	88.0	83.0	86.9	218.04	14	14
Chievo Verona	88.0	87.5	87.6	87.0	86.0	87.2	217.51	15	13
Feyenoord	89.0	87.0	87.4	88.0	84.0	87.1	217.48	16	17
River Plate	89.0	87.0	87.4	87.0	85.0	87.1	216.95	17	16
Olympique Lyonnais	86.0	86.3	86.6	89.0	85.0	86.6	216.65	18	19
Athletic Club	85.0	87.0	87.6	87.0	83.0	85.9	216.39	19	18
Rubin Kazan	84.0	86.5	86.0	88.0	82.0	85.3	215.12	20	20

Season 28 Division 3 Stats and Facts

Sun, 28 Jun 2026 15:39:25 +0100

Too tight to call at the top of D3

In division 3 unless you inherit a D1 team a compromise has to be made. So in the block of 9 teams down to Ajax you have every variety and combination of strength and weakness that you could encounter.

Zenit while well balanced are reliant on a strong attack and must be favoured to overpower most weaker-keeper teams. Liege have the top an tail approach of the strong keeper decent attack in 2^nd spot along with some depth. Boca are the one trick pony of super strong attacker, little or no depth. The A.I. chooses to punish this approach seeing them as relegation contenders this year. Hoffenheim are an evenly balanced team with loads of depth very similar to Monaco who sit just below them

Sampdoria sacrifice depth for attack , unlike St Etienne who trade in depth for defence. Last but not least Ajax with a well balanced starting team lacking depth and a strong keeper.

You would need 221.5 to survive in D2 so other than the top 2 all the rest have plenty to do.

218.4 was the relegation cut off last season and only two teams sit below that level, though if we consider the quality of the teams promoted to D2 that is not a great shock as the quality in D3 has dropped by around 0.25 pt per starter this season. Even so only Dnipro who are the eternal survivors and Malaga look sure to drop. Basel are predicted by both the A.I. and myself to also fall but the A.I. thinks Southampton will survive in 14^th replaced by Boca who it predicts will drop.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	A.I.
Zenit Saint Petersburg	89.0	88.5	89.0	91.0	86.0	88.7	222.15	1	5
Standard Liège	93.0	88.5	88.8	90.0	87.0	89.5	221.94	2	2
Boca Juniors	89.0	86.5	87.4	95.0	84.0	88.4	221.63	3	19
Monchengladbach	88.0	88.8	88.6	90.0	87.0	88.5	221.38	4	6
Hoffenheim	89.0	89.0	89.8	88.0	87.0	88.6	221.36	5	1
AS Monaco	89.0	88.5	89.4	89.0	87.0	88.6	221.29	6	3
Sampdoria	87.0	88.3	88.5	91.0	85.0	88.0	221.19	7	10
AS Saint-Etienne	90.0	88.5	89.4	89.0	85.0	88.4	221.17	8	4
Ajax	87.0	89.3	88.2	90.0	85.0	87.9	221.10	9	7
AS Roma	89.0	88.3	88.6	89.0	84.0	87.8	220.09	10	11
Liverpool	88.0	88.3	89.2	88.0	86.0	87.9	220.04	11	9
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	88.3	88.8	88.0	87.0	88.2	219.96	12	8
Lille OSC	87.0	88.3	88.4	89.0	86.0	87.7	219.93	13	12
Swansea City	88.0	88.3	88.4	89.0	85.0	87.7	219.93	14	13
Tottenham Hotspur	88.0	88.3	88.6	89.0	82.0	87.2	219.73	15	15
Sunderland	88.0	87.8	89.0	88.0	83.0	87.2	219.12	16	16
Southampton	86.0	88.3	88.8	87.5	85.0	87.1	219.00	17	14
FC Basel	89.0	87.5	88.4	88.0	86.0	87.8	218.92	18	17
Málaga CF	87.0	88.0	88.6	87.0	84.0	86.9	218.35	19	18
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	86.5	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.3	217.68	20	20

Season 28 Division 2 Stats and Facts

Sat, 27 Jun 2026 16:36:49 +0100

Double bounce for Genoa, stats say so.

As alluded to last season Genoa have a mighty team in strength and depth. The one weakness is at the back but they still are almost 1.3 pts over the 4^th place team meaning promotion at least should be guaranteed. That team are Inter, who go for a midfield approach at the expense of the back line. Stoke sit at the head of 3 other teams over 224, which if you remember is the cut off for D1 prosperity. Stoke really are a rounded team and should last the pace with their depth. Cruzeiro sacrifice some depth for a more attacking line up, expect a strong start to the season and the potential to challenge the top 2 if they stay free of injury and suspension. Milan makes up the trio very similar all round to Cruzeiro. Time to introduce the A.I. because our robot overlords disagree with my findings and see Leverkusen as key title contenders perhaps it is their greater defensive prowess that is seen as important. Flamengo are the last team predicted for the playoffs a very strong front line, but it is hard to ignore WBA who did so well last season and still sport a powerful squad.

Up for the cup, well beyond those mentioned West Ham and Sevilla seem to have plenty of depth combined with a decent keeper.

Last season 221 put you in serious relegation danger. This must mean that Galatasaray are in serious trouble, Augsburg may have a good enough attack to overcome their rivals. You really could perm any 2 of Anderlecht. Udinese. Madrid, West Ham, Man Utd or Sevilla. Looking more carefully it is likely that Man Utd will be the wild card, low top 18 but stronger squad. If they get behind early on in the season and get injuries, they would find it hard to progress, conversely a good start and a bit of luck could find them well clear before the relegation battle begins.

The big A.I. differences are. Atletico Madrid. The A.I. see’s them relegated due to the lack of depth, which I think it is over egging and West Ham it predicts as 7 places higher, maybe their well-rounded team will finish better than expected with the level of depth they have.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	A.I.
Genoa CFC	88.0	91.0	90.0	92.0	88.0	89.8	225.72	1	1
Internazionale	88.0	89.8	90.6	92.0	87.0	89.5	225.08	2	4
Stoke City	89.0	90.3	90.8	90.0	88.0	89.6	224.54	3	2
Cruzeiro EC	89.0	90.0	90.4	91.0	86.0	89.3	224.47	4	5
AC Milan	89.0	90.0	90.2	91.0	85.0	89.0	224.19	5	7
Leverkusen	89.0	90.5	89.8	90.0	87.0	89.3	223.86	6	3
CR Flamengo	88.0	89.3	89.4	92.0	87.0	89.1	223.72	7	10
West Bromwich Albion	91.0	90.0	89.8	90.0	87.0	89.6	223.70	8	6
Atlético Madrid	90.0	88.5	89.8	92.0	84.0	88.9	223.32	9	17
SL Benfica	89.0	89.5	89.4	91.0	86.0	89.0	223.27	10	9
Wolfsburg	88.0	89.8	89.4	89.0	86.0	88.4	222.05	11	11
Everton	88.0	89.5	89.6	89.0	86.0	88.4	222.01	12	12
SEVILLA FC	89.0	88.5	88.6	91.0	87.0	88.8	221.95	13	18
Manchester United	91.0	89.3	89.4	89.0	85.0	88.7	221.89	14	13
West Ham United	89.0	89.8	89.2	88.0	88.0	88.8	221.60	15	8
Real Madrid	89.0	89.5	88.8	89.0	86.0	88.5	221.49	16	15
Udinese Calcio	89.0	89.5	88.8	89.0	86.0	88.5	221.49	17	16
RSC Anderlecht	89.0	89.0	89.8	88.0	86.0	88.4	221.24	18	14
Augsburg	89.0	87.5	87.8	90.0	86.0	88.1	219.74	19	19
Galatasaray SK	88.0	87.3	87.4	88.5	86.0	87.4	218.13	20	20

Season 28 Division 1 Stats and Facts

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 12:50:40 +0100

Chelsea the highest ranked team just above Porto, is balance the key to all things?

How it all work. I calculate the average rating in the four main positions, the top 18 and the average. A formula calculates the ETOT which is the ranking each team gets based on each position. If for any reason the lowest ranked top 18 player is much lower than anyone else I adjust that using common sense so as not to skew the results.

The only thing Chelsea lack is depth. It would be possible for 2 or 3 injuries to break them down sufficiently for others to challenge. Porto, Barca and Hellas have a strong attacking line but too often the rip each other apart leaving Chelsea unscathed. Hellas have great depth but an 89 keeper doesn’t cut it in D1.

Juventus have the top and tail approach of great keeper and attack, a few players of the highest quality in midfield and they could challenge once more. Leicester joins them in the strongest lead pack again a well balanced

What about relegation prospects? Last year under 224 meant a 75% chance of relegation. So there are 4 clear favourites. Espanyol not really built for D1 will struggle at all levels. Internacional do have a strong keeper and more depth. CSKA did so well last season to stay up but this season it will be even tougher. Man City will be 100% reliant on their tough keeper. Hamburg are the only other team close to 224 but they are now much more balanced and have great depth, this could leave Cologne vulnerable with a few injuries.

The A.I. has also made its own ranking and it does closely agree with me. Berlin and Arsenal are predicted to swap places but all the others are + or – 1 at most.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	A.I.
Chelsea	94.0	93.8	94.0	94.0	82.0	91.6	232.42	1	1
Dortmund	93.0	92.5	93.4	95.0	87.0	92.2	232.07	2	2
FC Porto	92.0	92.8	93.2	94.0	87.0	91.8	231.34	3	3
Barcelona	92.0	92.3	92.2	96.0	85.0	91.5	231.20	4	5
Hellas Verona	89.0	92.0	92.8	95.0	89.0	91.6	230.95	5	4
Juventus	95.0	91.8	91.6	93.0	88.0	91.9	229.09	6	6
Leicester City	91.0	91.0	93.2	93.0	86.0	90.8	229.05	7	8
Levante UD	91.0	92.0	92.6	91.0	85.0	90.3	227.95	8	7
Bayern	92.0	90.8	91.2	93.0	88.0	91.0	227.61	9	10
Sporting CP	90.0	90.5	92.8	92.0	86.0	90.3	227.56	10	9
H. Berlin	92.0	89.8	90.8	94.0	87.0	90.7	227.02	11	13
São Paulo FC	91.0	90.0	91.4	92.0	87.0	90.3	226.28	12	12
Arsenal	91.0	90.8	91.6	91.0	85.0	89.9	226.15	13	11
Aston Villa	89.0	90.3	90.2	93.0	87.0	89.9	225.93	14	14
Cologne	92.0	89.0	91.4	92.0	83.0	89.5	225.12	15	16
Hamburg	90.0	89.5	91.0	91.0	87.0	89.7	224.79	16	15
Manchester City	93.0	88.5	89.8	90.0	85.0	89.3	222.50	17	17
CSKA Moskva	90.0	89.0	89.0	89.0	85.0	88.4	221.25	18	19
SC Internacional	91.0	89.3	89.2	88.0	86.0	88.7	221.20	19	18
RCD Espanyol	88.0	88.0	89.6	88.0	85.0	87.7	220.04	20	20

Season 27 Division 5 Stats and Facts review.

Mon, 15 Jun 2026 11:51:56 +0100

Bilboko Athletic Kluba estatistikaren txapelduna.

In honour of my wife and kids basque heritage, indeed Athletic club were the champions of the stats. +11 VA and +6 PVA leading to automatic promotion as part of a long term project. They are narrowly ahead of Kazan and PSV on +7 and +8 VA , the two playoff finalists (sounds familiar over achieving teams triumphing in the playoff while underachieving higher rank teams fail ).

Valencia were the hot favourites all year and can relax into D4 life knowing they are more than likely to go up again. Big positive scores go to Shaktar on +5 and Bordeaux on +6 VA showing that managerial skill plays an important part still.

No relegation of course so who stats wise did the worse. Brugge hold that record with -10 VA, they should have been playoff bound but narrowly avoided the sack race. Celta did little better with -7VA, Olympiacos and Spartak also did worse than expected.

3 of the lowest 4 landed where they should with 5th worse team Sassuolo joining them.

A middle level of variaion in D5 , I out did the A.I. again by around 4 pts total. Once again the A.I. slipped up more predicting under performing teams.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Athletic Club	85.0	86.5	88.2	87.0	83.0	85.9	216.47	13	2	11	6.00
Rubin Kazan	86.0	86.5	87.8	88.0	82.0	86.1	216.80	12	5	7	1.60
PSV	87.0	87.3	86.2	87.0	83.0	86.1	215.71	15	7	8	1.29
Valencia CF	89.0	88.5	89.8	88.0	87.0	88.5	220.96	1	1	0	1.00
Shakhtar Donetsk	86.0	86.3	86.4	88.0	85.0	86.3	215.84	14	9	5	0.67
Girondins Bordeaux	86.0	85.0	87.0	87.0	84.0	85.8	214.55	19	13	6	0.54
Villarreal CF	87.0	86.8	87.6	88.0	86.0	87.1	217.44	10	8	2	0.38
Atalanta BC	87.0	86.0	87.0	87.0	86.0	86.6	215.71	17	17	0	0.06
Stuttgart	85.0	83.3	84.4	85.0	78.0	83.1	208.93	20	20	0	0.05
Olympique Marseille	88.0	89.3	87.8	89.0	87.0	88.2	220.49	2	3	-1	0.00
AZ Alkmaar	88.0	88.8	88.6	88.0	85.0	87.7	219.84	3	4	-1	0.00
Santos FC	88.0	88.5	87.8	89.0	85.0	87.7	219.65	5	6	-1	0.00
SS Lazio	87.0	86.8	87.2	88.0	86.0	87.0	217.16	11	12	-1	0.00
FC Twente	85.0	86.0	86.8	88.0	80.0	85.2	215.24	18	19	-1	0.00
US Sassuolo	88.0	86.5	86.8	87.0	83.0	86.3	215.71	16	18	-2	-0.06
Torino	88.0	87.8	87.8	89.0	85.0	87.5	219.05	7	10	-3	-0.20
Spartak Moskva	89.0	87.8	87.8	87.0	85.0	87.3	217.87	9	15	-6	-0.33
Olympiacos	88.0	87.0	88.4	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.28	8	14	-6	-0.36
Celta Vigo	87.0	88.3	88.2	89.0	86.0	87.7	219.77	4	11	-7	-0.55
Club Brugge KV	88.0	87.5	87.8	90.0	85.0	87.7	219.50	6	16	-10	-0.56

Season 27 Division 4 Stats and Facts review.

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 14:05:58 +0100

Ajax win the league and the stats.

+5VA pushed the Ajax team from playoff team to champions. A great performance from Moenchengladbach saw them come in 3^rd with a +8VA, in the stats they just lead the other promoted team Liverpool who on +2 VA came 2^nd in the league. Highest VA goes to Lyon on +10 , they just missed out on the playoff spots. Big shouts outs to Bremen on +8 VA who climbed well safe of relegation, +6 Chievo who came 20^th.

In a similar way to D3 two of the most underperforming teams Napoli and Celtic on -4VA and -6VA got into the playoff but were dumped out by Lokomotiv and Liverpool in the Semi-finals. Palace on -11VA were rightly relegated , isn’t hard to look beyond the keeper with them as 87 rated keepers are freely available. Fenerbache will also be disappointed to be relegated on -6 VA where as Dynamo Moscow must count themselves lucky to avoid it.

Overall a middling level of variation +/- 4 per team, I again did slightly better than the A.I. The A.I. correctly worked out Palace would finish much lower than I thought but did less well on the majority of the lower ranked teams, which does seem to be a theme.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Ajax	89.0	88.0	89.0	89.0	85.0	88.0	220.33	6	1	5	6.00
Monchengladbach	87.0	88.0	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.92	11	3	8	3.00
Liverpool	88.0	88.3	88.6	90.0	87.0	88.4	220.98	4	2	2	1.50
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	86.5	87.5	88.5	85.0	86.9	217.37	18	8	10	1.38
Bremen	86.0	86.3	87.6	88.0	80.0	85.6	216.20	19	11	8	0.82
Chievo Verona	88.0	87.5	87.4	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.00	16	10	6	0.70
Paris Saint-Germain	85.0	88.3	88.2	90.0	85.0	87.3	220.06	9	7	2	0.43
Besiktas JK	87.0	87.8	87.4	88.0	86.0	87.2	218.08	15	14	1	0.14
Feyenoord	87.0	86.8	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.76	17	16	1	0.13
Schalke	87.0	85.8	86.8	88.5	85.0	86.6	216.17	20	19	1	0.11
Dynamo Kyiv	88.0	86.5	87.4	90.0	85.0	87.4	218.38	13	13	0	0.08
AS Monaco	89.0	88.5	89.0	89.0	86.0	88.3	220.85	5	6	-1	0.00
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	88.0	88.8	87.0	86.0	87.6	218.87	12	17	-5	-0.24
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	88.8	89.6	90.0	86.0	88.5	222.06	2	4	-2	-0.25
Independiente	88.0	88.5	88.4	89.0	85.0	87.8	220.13	8	12	-4	-0.25
Fenerbahçe SK	87.0	87.8	87.6	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.24	14	20	-6	-0.25
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	88.5	88.0	88.0	87.0	87.7	219.28	10	15	-5	-0.27
Celtic	88.0	89.0	89.0	90.0	86.0	88.4	221.78	3	9	-6	-0.56
Crystal Palace	86.0	87.5	88.2	91.0	85.0	87.5	220.23	7	18	-11	-0.56
SSC Napoli	90.0	88.5	89.6	91.0	87.0	89.2	222.87	1	5	-4	-0.60

Season 27 Division 3 Stats and Facts review.

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 13:41:29 +0100

Two playoff finalists lead the stats.

Perhaps it is not a surprise that the two playoff finalists are the two most over performing teams. Galatasaray +11VA and relegation candidate lead the stats just beating +6 VA St Etienne in 2^nd spot. My own Sevilla come 3^rd in the stats, the only automatically promoted team to over perform. While tied on PVA with WBA the superior VA gives us the edge into 3^rd. Having said that WBA and Genoa did what they must in 1^st and 2^nd and should do well in D2. Dnipro have to get a shout out on +3VA avoiding relegation just.

In reality no one did really badly. Hoffenheim failed to make the playoff when they should and hence are the lowest in the stats, just above Sampdoria who also will look to better next year. Montpellier’s -5VA dropped them into the relegation zone along with Partizan. 2 of the 4 predicted teams were relegated and no one outside the lowest 6 teams escaped which is food for thought.

The variation in D3 was very similar to D1, less than +/- 3 positions per team, I did slightly better on 56 pts out vs 58pts the A.I failed to spot the mild under-performing teams as well as I did.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Galatasaray SK	88.0	87.3	87.6	88.0	86.0	87.4	217.96	18	7	11	1.71
AS Saint-Etienne	90.0	88.5	89.2	89.0	82.0	87.7	220.65	11	5	6	1.40
SEVILLA FC	89.0	88.3	88.6	91.0	87.0	88.8	221.75	5	3	2	1.00
West Bromwich Albion	91.0	90.3	90.8	91.0	86.0	89.8	225.23	1	1	0	1.00
Genoa CFC	88.0	89.3	89.6	92.0	88.0	89.4	224.00	2	2	0	0.50
Lille OSC	87.0	88.8	89.0	90.0	86.0	88.2	221.46	7	6	1	0.33
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	86.5	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.3	217.52	19	16	3	0.25
AS Roma	89.0	88.0	88.6	89.0	84.0	87.7	219.89	14	12	2	0.25
River Plate	87.0	87.0	86.4	87.0	85.0	86.5	215.91	20	17	3	0.24
Zenit Saint Petersburg	89.0	88.5	89.0	91.0	86.0	88.7	222.15	3	4	-1	0.00
Tottenham Hotspur	88.0	88.3	88.4	91.0	83.0	87.7	220.99	8	9	-1	0.00
Sunderland	88.0	88.3	89.6	89.0	85.0	88.0	220.89	9	10	-1	0.00
Southampton	87.0	88.5	88.8	89.0	86.0	87.9	220.45	12	13	-1	0.00
Newcastle United	88.0	87.0	88.2	88.0	87.0	87.6	218.36	17	18	-1	0.00
FC Basel	88.0	88.0	88.4	90.0	85.0	87.9	220.38	13	15	-2	-0.07
FK Partizan	88.0	88.0	88.2	88.0	85.0	87.4	218.92	16	19	-3	-0.11
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.3	88.2	90.0	85.0	87.7	219.62	15	20	-5	-0.20
Swansea City	88.0	88.5	89.2	89.0	85.0	87.9	220.77	10	14	-4	-0.21
Sampdoria	87.0	88.5	88.6	91.0	85.0	88.0	221.47	6	11	-5	-0.36
Hoffenheim	89.0	88.8	90.0	89.0	86.0	88.6	221.85	4	8	-4	-0.38

Season 27 Division 2 Stats and Facts review.

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 14:40:32 +0100

Espanyol +14VA +5PVA the stats winners.

Some big winners and some big not winners in D2. Espanyol were a potential relegation team at the start of the season but true grit, good management and transfers pushed them to promotion. Playoff team Wolfsburg had +10 VA and could have gained promotion over Espanyol had they slipped up. Internacional came 2^nd in the league and 3^rd in the stats. Other great over preforming teams were Augsburg on +10 VA, Everton on +6 and Atletico Madrid on +5. Arsenal did all they could and won the league.

At the wrong end. Flamengo who should have been promoted slipped to 12^th and -9VA and the worse PVA, Liege on -11 VA managed to get relegated with a great squad with Malaga on -8 VA suffering the same fate. Anderlecht can also count themselves lucky on -7 VA to stay up.

There was a much bigger variation in D2. My total was 102 and the AI 100. The A.I was generally more optimistic about the over performing teams but not pessimistic enough with the underperforming teams.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
RCD Espanyol	90.0	89.5	89.0	88.0	86.0	88.5	221.12	17	3	14	5.00
Wolfsburg	88.0	89.3	89.2	89.0	86.0	88.3	221.49	14	4	10	2.75
SC Internacional	91.0	89.0	90.0	91.0	85.0	89.2	223.47	4	2	2	1.50
Atlético Madrid	90.0	89.3	89.0	90.0	83.0	88.3	221.86	10	5	5	1.20
Augsburg	89.0	87.3	88.0	90.0	85.0	87.9	219.58	20	10	10	1.10
Arsenal	91.0	90.5	91.2	91.0	85.0	89.7	225.63	1	1	0	1.00
Everton	88.0	89.0	89.2	89.0	87.0	88.4	221.41	15	9	6	0.78
West Ham United	89.0	89.3	89.8	88.0	87.0	88.6	221.56	13	11	2	0.27
Manchester United	88.0	89.3	89.0	89.0	86.0	88.3	221.33	16	15	1	0.13
Boca Juniors	89.0	86.5	87.0	95.0	82.0	87.9	221.07	19	18	1	0.11
Cologne	90.0	89.3	88.6	92.0	84.0	88.8	222.96	6	7	-1	0.00
Dinamo Zagreb	90.0	88.5	89.0	89.0	87.0	88.7	221.09	18	20	-2	-0.05
Real Madrid	89.0	89.0	88.6	90.0	87.0	88.7	221.70	11	13	-2	-0.08
Udinese Calcio	89.0	89.5	88.8	89.0	87.0	88.7	221.61	12	16	-4	-0.19
SL Benfica	90.0	89.0	89.8	91.0	85.0	89.0	223.19	5	8	-3	-0.25
Málaga CF	88.0	89.0	89.2	90.0	87.0	88.6	222.06	9	17	-8	-0.41
RSC Anderlecht	89.0	88.8	89.0	92.0	85.0	88.8	222.88	7	14	-7	-0.43
Stoke City	90.0	90.5	90.4	90.0	87.0	89.6	224.46	2	6	-4	-0.50
Standard Liège	93.0	88.8	89.4	90.0	87.0	89.6	222.62	8	19	-11	-0.53
CR Flamengo	88.0	89.3	89.4	92.0	86.0	88.9	223.60	3	12	-9	-0.67

Season 27 Division 1 Stats and Facts review

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 14:19:49 +0100

Chelsea well deserved champions and leaders in the stats.

Usual reminder. At the start of the year, I calculated the ratings in the 4 main positions, Top18 and Average. This is plugged in a magic formula and finishing position calculated. This is used to work out the Positional value added, which is based on the value added and finishing position.

Chelsea finished a position higher than expected and overcame their closest opposition. Barcelona in 2^nd spot in the league and the stats, also showed distinct improvement this season, with Leicester in 3^rd place also showing that a new boss can continue the good form.

Highest value added goes to Hertha predicted 11^th they came 6^th and get a slightly higher value added than Sporting who came 5^th. CSKA had the only other largish VA on +4 avoiding relegation.

Biggest underperformance, probably this goes down to Dortmund who slumped to 7^th spot, but could also be with Juventus on -7 VA or Inter on -5 VA and relegation.

3 of the predicted relegation teams went down.

How did the A.I. do. From 20 teams my total variation for 58 and the A.I. 60, so I did slightly better. The A.I. did get 2 teams spot on but I got more than half the teams within +/- 2 positions.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Chelsea	94.0	93.5	93.4	94.0	82.0	91.4	231.74	2	1	1	2.00
Barcelona	92.0	91.8	93.2	96.0	85.0	91.6	231.60	4	2	2	1.50
Leicester City	91.0	92.5	93.4	94.0	87.0	91.6	231.18	6	3	3	1.33
H. Berlin	92.0	89.5	90.8	94.0	88.0	90.9	226.94	11	6	5	1.00
Sporting CP	90.0	91.8	92.2	92.0	87.0	90.6	228.20	9	5	4	1.00
Bayern	93.0	90.0	91.2	94.0	87.0	91.0	227.66	10	8	2	0.38
Hamburg	90.0	89.8	90.8	91.0	87.0	89.7	224.83	15	12	3	0.33
CSKA Moskva	90.0	89.0	88.8	89.0	87.0	88.8	221.33	20	16	4	0.31
Manchester City	93.0	89.5	89.8	92.0	86.0	90.1	224.72	16	13	3	0.31
São Paulo FC	91.0	90.3	91.6	91.0	86.0	90.0	225.87	13	11	2	0.27
Hellas Verona	91.0	92.5	92.8	95.0	90.0	92.3	231.71	3	4	-1	0.00
Levante UD	91.0	92.0	93.4	91.0	85.0	90.5	228.59	8	9	-1	0.00
Aston Villa	89.0	90.0	90.2	93.0	87.0	89.8	225.73	14	15	-1	0.00
Leverkusen	89.0	91.0	89.4	90.0	87.0	89.3	223.94	17	18	-1	0.00
AC Milan	89.0	89.8	89.8	91.0	87.0	89.3	223.91	18	19	-1	0.00
Cruzeiro EC	88.0	89.8	90.0	91.0	86.0	89.0	223.83	19	20	-1	0.00
Internazionale	92.0	90.0	90.8	93.0	87.0	90.6	226.57	12	17	-5	-0.24
FC Porto	92.0	92.8	93.4	94.0	87.0	91.8	231.50	5	10	-5	-0.40
Juventus	95.0	91.8	91.8	93.0	89.0	92.1	229.37	7	14	-7	-0.43
Dortmund	93.0	92.5	93.0	95.0	87.0	92.1	231.75	1	7	-6	-0.71

Division 5: The Season Nears Its Conclusion

Thu, 04 Jun 2026 22:24:33 +0100

The title is settled, the playoff race is anything but, and a few managers are already checking whether their contracts contain a severance package.

With just two matches remaining in the Division 5 season, the campaign is entering its final days. While Valencia have already wrapped up the championship, several important battles remain unresolved as clubs prepare for the final six points on offer.

Valencia Crowned Champions

The title race is over.

Valencia CF are mathematically confirmed Division 5 champions after opening up a 13-point lead at the top with only six points left to play for. It has been a dominant campaign from start to finish, built on a combination of attacking quality and defensive discipline.

Their record of 26 wins from 36 matches, alongside 93 goals scored and a league-best goal difference of +59, leaves little room for argument. They have simply been the best side in the division.

With promotion already secured and the trophy effectively polished and waiting, Valencia can approach the final two fixtures knowing the job has been completed.

Marseille And Athletic Club Secure Promotion

The automatic promotion places have also been decided.

Olympique Marseille's 71 points and Athletic Club's 68 points mean both clubs are guaranteed to finish inside the top three and will join Valencia in Division 4 next season.

Marseille's consistency has been the foundation of their success. Twenty wins and eleven draws have ensured they remained among the leading contenders throughout the campaign.

Athletic Club's route has been slightly different. Their season has contained more highs and lows than their rivals, but 22 victories have provided enough points to secure promotion with games to spare.

The only remaining question is who finishes second and who settles for third.

Four Teams, Three Places

While the automatic promotion spots are settled, the playoff race remains alive.

Santos FC currently occupy fourth place on 60 points and have arguably been the division's form side in recent weeks, winning five of their last six matches. Their late surge has put them in a strong position to secure a playoff berth.

Rubin Kazan sit level on 60 points, while Villarreal CF are sixth on 59.

AZ Alkmaar currently hold seventh place on 58 points, but their position is far from secure. Shakhtar Donetsk are level on points and PSV remain only two points behind on 56. Torino with an outside chance sit on 54.

With seven clubs separated by just six points and only four playoff places available, the final week promises to be one of the most competitive periods of the season.

One good result could be enough to secure a playoff place. One bad result could end a promotion dream.

Mid-Table Security

Celta Vigo, Girondins Bordeaux, Lazio and Olympiacos all appear destined for mid-table finishes.

Their seasons have produced moments of quality, but not quite enough consistency to challenge for promotion. With little left to play for in terms of league position, pride and finishing as strongly as possible become the primary objectives.

The Fight To Avoid The Sack

With no relegation in Division 5, the battle at the bottom still bears consequence.

The managers finishing in the bottom three positions will lose their jobs at the end of the season, creating a nervous finish for several clubs.

Sassuolo currently occupy 18th place on 33 points. They sit 18 points clear of 19th and only 4 behind Atalanta.

That leaves FC Twente and Stuttgart already condemned to bottom-three finishes, with Twente collecting only 15 points and Stuttgart enduring a miserable campaign that has yielded just 11.

The final dismissal spot is effectively a battle between Atalanta BC, Club Brugge and Spartak Moskva.

Spartak currently hold a five-point cushion over Atalanta and appear to have done enough to preserve their manager's position. Club Brugge sit four points clear of danger and remain favourites to survive.

Atalanta, however, remain vulnerable. Sitting on 37 points with only six available, they need a strong finish to avoid ending the season in the bottom three and facing an uncomfortable conversation with the board.

Two matches remain.

For some clubs, they are little more than a formality.

For others, they will define the entire season.

Season 27 Power Rankings

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 21:41:27 +0100

Bayern back on top! After relinquishing the top power ranking spot to Hellas Verona last season, Bayern is back on top, with Chelsea also leapfrogging Verona.

Holding down the basement for the 3rd year in a row is Stuttgart. Those poor supporters!

My club CSKA climbed 8 spots to #45. Our first season ever in D1 looks statistically impossible.

Biggest Risers from S26: Celta Vigo moved from 97 to 66 while Cologne/Koln moved from 52 way up to 25.

Biggest Fallers from S26: Boca Juniors and Man United both fell almost 25 spots. Must be a Cavani thing.

How does everyone look compared to S20 when I first started tracking?

Napoli, Zenit, and Sevilla have all climbed almost 50 spots! On the opposite end Schalke, Sassuolo, and Werder Bremen supporters are all left in tears from the on-field product moving down close to 50 spots (Schalke is down 62 spots in the power rankings!!).

It should be a good season for West Brom, Genoa, and Napoli as they far outrank their opponents. Augsburg and CSKA appear to stand almost no chance of survival.

Season 27 Division 5 Stats and Facts.

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 15:31:17 +0100

Two strong favourites for promotion, who can join them?

A division of contrasts to be sure. Some ruinously bad teams, that are for some reason uncompetitive, despite higher rated players being freely available, this could cause some skewed stats in this division if they make a number of purchases during the season. On that note I have capped Stuttgart’s top 18 to 78 as I believe that 70 rated players will not feature much in the first team.

Valencia is an easy side to get promoted strong all-over best keeper in the division best midfield, best depth. Marseille may be the best defence in the league and have a great attack but will lack in possession at times. AZ a more balanced team are in 3^rd spot but they lack more depth than their 2 rivals. Celta Vigo currently managerless are the 4^th best team in the division and have a potent front line. Santos, Brugge and Torino should make up the top 7 with very little disagreement from the A.I.

In fact, with 1 exception of Shaktar the A.I. and I (sounds like a Christmas musical for about 20 years’ time) agree very closely. The A.I. maybe thinks the weak keeper and lack of midfield strength will be more of a problem.

No relegation of course, Stuttgart is dire and utterly uncompetitive, Bordeaux makes more of an effort and if they could swap a few midfielders for defenders could soon have a decent squad. Twente just need to sort the keeper and defender.

Possible outliers: Brugge could drop to 10-12^th due to a large depth gap, Kazan are predicted to be vulnerable to injuries of suspension with a possible low point of 16^th. Atalanta could push up as high as 11^th due to a small depth gap and balance within the squad.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	A.I
Valencia CF	89.0	88.5	89.8	88.0	87.0	88.5	220.96	1	1
Olympique Marseille	88.0	89.3	87.8	89.0	87.0	88.2	220.49	2	2
AZ Alkmaar	88.0	88.8	88.6	88.0	85.0	87.7	219.84	3	3
Celta Vigo	87.0	88.3	88.2	89.0	86.0	87.7	219.77	4	4
Santos FC	88.0	88.5	87.8	89.0	85.0	87.7	219.65	5	5
Club Brugge KV	88.0	87.5	87.8	90.0	85.0	87.7	219.50	6	7
Torino	88.0	87.8	87.8	89.0	85.0	87.5	219.05	7	6
Olympiacos	88.0	87.0	88.4	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.28	8	9
Spartak Moskva	89.0	87.8	87.8	87.0	85.0	87.3	217.87	9	8
Villarreal CF	87.0	86.8	87.6	88.0	86.0	87.1	217.44	10	10
SS Lazio	87.0	86.8	87.2	88.0	86.0	87.0	217.16	11	11
Rubin Kazan	86.0	86.5	87.8	88.0	82.0	86.1	216.80	12	13
Athletic Club	85.0	86.5	88.2	87.0	83.0	85.9	216.47	13	12
Shakhtar Donetsk	86.0	86.3	86.4	88.0	85.0	86.3	215.84	14	17
PSV	87.0	87.3	86.2	87.0	83.0	86.1	215.71	15	14
US Sassuolo	88.0	86.5	86.8	87.0	83.0	86.3	215.71	16	15
Atalanta BC	87.0	86.0	87.0	87.0	86.0	86.6	215.71	17	16
FC Twente	85.0	86.0	86.8	88.0	80.0	85.2	215.24	18	18
Girondins Bordeaux	86.0	85.0	87.0	87.0	84.0	85.8	214.55	19	19
Stuttgart	85.0	83.3	84.4	85.0	78.0	83.1	208.93	20	20

Season 27 Division 4 Stats and Facts.

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 15:36:58 +0100

Solid agreement on the top 3 in this division.

There is certainly a growing trend of 2 or 3 top teams followed by a close pack of teams. Napoli are favourites with the usual top and tail technique that works well in the lower divisions. Lokomotiv are a well-balanced outfit and they are just a little more solid in midfield to close rivals Celtic who should make up the top 3.

Liverpool or Monaco look set for 4^th or 5^th just a variation of keeper and attacking strength. Ajax look set for around 6^th spot, no big 90 ratings but a well-rounded squad maybe lacking a bit of depth. Palace are the first team with a big difference between me and the A.I., the weaker keeper is a major concern for the A.I. as is the lack of depth. Independiente is the A.I.s last playoff spot team and I can see why with a well set up balanced squad. A can see Dynamo Moscow making a good cup run with their strength in depth. If you assume around 219 to survive D3 then they would be the last team who could get promoted and not immediately relegated again.

The two German sides Schalke and Bremen hold up the table, good enough attacks but defence and midfield lack enough depth to handle the better teams. Lyon look to be in trouble half a point away from anyone else defence and keeper are too weak Then comes some disagreement, Feyenoord also are really vulnerable at the back I see them in 17^th spot, the A.I. says that Dynamo Kiev lack depth meaning their advantages in attack and midfield could come back to bite them.

What about possible outliers? Palace are seen as attack heavy with a large depth gap possible low point of 15^th, Kiev may not even make 17^th if their lack of depth has a serious impact. Dynamo Moscow could go as high as 5^th if that huge depth helps them out.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	A.I
SSC Napoli	90.0	88.5	89.6	91.0	87.0	89.2	222.87	1	1
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	88.8	89.6	90.0	86.0	88.5	222.06	2	2
Celtic	88.0	89.0	89.0	90.0	86.0	88.4	221.78	3	3
Liverpool	88.0	88.3	88.6	90.0	87.0	88.4	220.98	4	5
AS Monaco	89.0	88.5	89.0	89.0	86.0	88.3	220.85	5	4
Ajax	89.0	88.0	89.0	89.0	85.0	88.0	220.33	6	6
Crystal Palace	86.0	87.5	88.2	91.0	85.0	87.5	220.23	7	12
Independiente	88.0	88.5	88.4	89.0	85.0	87.8	220.13	8	7
Paris Saint-Germain	85.0	88.3	88.2	90.0	85.0	87.3	220.06	9	10
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	88.5	88.0	88.0	87.0	87.7	219.28	10	8
Monchengladbach	87.0	88.0	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.92	11	11
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	88.0	88.8	87.0	86.0	87.6	218.87	12	9
Dynamo Kyiv	88.0	86.5	87.4	90.0	85.0	87.4	218.38	13	17
Fenerbahçe SK	87.0	87.8	87.6	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.24	14	13
Besiktas JK	87.0	87.8	87.4	88.0	86.0	87.2	218.08	15	14
Chievo Verona	88.0	87.5	87.4	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.00	16	15
Feyenoord	87.0	86.8	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.76	17	16
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	86.5	87.5	88.5	85.0	86.9	217.37	18	18
Bremen	86.0	86.3	87.6	88.0	80.0	85.6	216.20	19	19
Schalke	87.0	85.8	86.8	88.5	85.0	86.6	216.17	20	20

Season 27 Division 3 Stats and Facts

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 14:37:22 +0100

Who will win the battle for 3^rd place.

West Brom and Genoa, should both be in Division 1 and would probably win Division 2 at a canter. The only thin holding back Genoa is their keeper and for West Brom maybe there could be even more depth.

Zenit are the clear favourites for 3^rd spot even if the A.I. sees it a bit different but with a good Keeper, Midfield and Attack that should be enough. Then there is the usually closely matched pack with 8 teams more or less within 1 pt of each other. Hoffenheim go for the midfield possession, the A.I sees them overhauling Zenit for that reason. My own Sevilla sit 5^th maybe the last gasp of an ageing squad, Sampdoria are the 6^th placed team in my stats but the A.I. sees the lack of depth as being more problematical than I do. Lille are my 7^th place team a strong attack and midfield, the A.I. is less bothered about the weaker keeper than I am.

If you assume 221.3 is survival in D2, probably no team lower than Lille would survive D2 , however the A.I. sees Sunderland as having a fighting chance with their strong midfield line.

There is much stronger agreement for the relegation teams, 6 of the lower 8 match with only 2 swapping 1 position. 218.1 was more or less the cut off last season, so River Plate much the weakest team look set to go down, Dnipro look to finish 19^th but you pick them for relegation at your peril. Galatasaray and Newcastle are well shy of the other teams with the possible exception of Partizan.

Who could be the outliers? St Etienne a lack of depth could drop as low as 14^th. Spurs may get off to a good start but likely to prove inconsistent during the season could drop to 15^th – 17^th if they have injuries or suspensions. Newcastle on the other hand have a good amount of depth and balance, they could finish as high as 12^th to 14^th and finally River Plate despite being weaker than anyone else they could reach 17^th as no one position is likely to suffer due to losing a player or 2.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	A.I
West Bromwich Albion	91.0	90.3	90.8	91.0	86.0	89.8	225.23	1	1
Genoa CFC	88.0	89.3	89.6	92.0	88.0	89.4	224.00	2	2
Zenit Saint Petersburg	89.0	88.5	89.0	91.0	86.0	88.7	222.15	3	4
Hoffenheim	89.0	88.8	90.0	89.0	86.0	88.6	221.85	4	3
SEVILLA FC	89.0	88.3	88.6	91.0	87.0	88.8	221.75	5	6
Sampdoria	87.0	88.5	88.6	91.0	85.0	88.0	221.47	6	11
Lille OSC	87.0	88.8	89.0	90.0	86.0	88.2	221.46	7	5
Tottenham Hotspur	88.0	88.3	88.4	91.0	83.0	87.7	220.99	8	12
Sunderland	88.0	88.3	89.6	89.0	85.0	88.0	220.89	9	7
Swansea City	88.0	88.5	89.2	89.0	85.0	87.9	220.77	10	8
AS Saint-Etienne	90.0	88.5	89.2	89.0	82.0	87.7	220.65	11	9
Southampton	87.0	88.5	88.8	89.0	86.0	87.9	220.45	12	10
FC Basel	88.0	88.0	88.4	90.0	85.0	87.9	220.38	13	13
AS Roma	89.0	88.0	88.6	89.0	84.0	87.7	219.89	14	14
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.3	88.2	90.0	85.0	87.7	219.62	15	16
FK Partizan	88.0	88.0	88.2	88.0	85.0	87.4	218.92	16	15
Newcastle United	88.0	87.0	88.2	88.0	87.0	87.6	218.36	17	17
Galatasaray SK	88.0	87.3	87.6	88.0	86.0	87.4	217.96	18	18
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	86.5	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.3	217.52	19	19
River Plate	87.0	87.0	86.4	87.0	85.0	86.5	215.91	20	20

Season 27 Division 2 Stats and Facts

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 15:21:57 +0100

Arsenal to win the league, human and A.I. agree but could they be an outlier?

Not as close at the top as D1, Arsenal has a clear division 1 squad and should get promoted with ease. Stoke in addition there is solid agreement that the well-balanced team with loads of depths should finish second well ahead of their nearest rivals. This is where things get tricky. Only 1pt separates the next 6 teams rather like the top of D1, so a small deviation from form could place the 3^rd place team out of the play off spots. Flamengo if they score enough should finish 3^rd but are they over reliant on their attack when they have a weak keeper. The A.I. sees them finishing 7^th and maybe lower. My 4^th place team Internacional are the A.I.s choice for 3^rd, seeing them as more balanced even if depth is slightly less. Benfica also a balanced team with a good attack should be 5^th or 6^th, before we reach another big difference in Cologne. I see them as coming 6^th, the A.I. says 12^th, even more so though Anderlecht who I see as a playoff team but the A.I. sees struggling to avoid relegation. If you assume 224 is needed to survive D1 all the teams except Arsenal and Stoke have plenty to do if promoted.

Liege is the A.I.s big winner finishing in 4^th rather than 8^th and it also see’s West Ham finishing as high as 5^th.

There is general agreement that current top team Augsburg will struggle finishing last or 2^nd to last with Boca Juniors. They should be joined by Dinamo Zagreb. I see Espanyol as relegation territory but the A.I. does not agree, with Real Madrid being unfavoured by the robotic calculator. Interestingly only Augsburg are below last seasons cut off point of 219.8 for relegation.

The four biggest uncertainties are around Arsenal if hit by injuries or a poor rotational policy could drop them to 4 – 6^th spot. Flamengo could lack consistency and the A.I. says in a worse circumstance they could drop to 10 – 12^th. Cologne has a big depth gap so with bad luck could finish 15 – 17^th. Zagreb has a small depth gap and that could count in their favour with a finish between 13^th – 15^th although that may only be evident after the mid-season.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	A.I
Arsenal	91.0	90.5	91.2	91.0	85.0	89.7	225.63	1	1
Stoke City	90.0	90.5	90.4	90.0	87.0	89.6	224.46	2	2
CR Flamengo	88.0	89.3	89.4	92.0	86.0	88.9	223.60	3	7
SC Internacional	91.0	89.0	90.0	91.0	85.0	89.2	223.47	4	3
SL Benfica	90.0	89.0	89.8	91.0	85.0	89.0	223.19	5	6
Cologne	90.0	89.3	88.6	92.0	84.0	88.8	222.96	6	12
RSC Anderlecht	89.0	88.8	89.0	92.0	85.0	88.8	222.88	7	16
Standard Liège	93.0	88.8	89.4	90.0	87.0	89.6	222.62	8	4
Málaga CF	88.0	89.0	89.2	90.0	87.0	88.6	222.06	9	10
Atlético Madrid	90.0	89.3	89.0	90.0	83.0	88.3	221.86	10	15
Real Madrid	89.0	89.0	88.6	90.0	87.0	88.7	221.70	11	17
Udinese Calcio	89.0	89.5	88.8	89.0	87.0	88.7	221.61	12	8
West Ham United	89.0	89.3	89.8	88.0	87.0	88.6	221.56	13	5
Wolfsburg	88.0	89.3	89.2	89.0	86.0	88.3	221.49	14	11
Everton	88.0	89.0	89.2	89.0	87.0	88.4	221.41	15	13
Manchester United	88.0	89.3	89.0	89.0	86.0	88.3	221.33	16	14
RCD Espanyol	90.0	89.5	89.0	88.0	86.0	88.5	221.12	17	9
Dinamo Zagreb	90.0	88.5	89.0	89.0	87.0	88.7	221.09	18	18
Boca Juniors	89.0	86.5	87.0	95.0	82.0	87.9	221.07	19	20
Augsburg	89.0	87.3	88.0	90.0	85.0	87.9	219.58	20	19

Season 27 Division 1 Stats and Facts

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 13:26:07 +0100

I say Dortmund should win the league the A.I. says Chelsea (with a big caveat) who is correct.

Usual preamble. I work out the average rating in each of the 4 key positions, the lowest player in the top 18 and the average. This calculates a rating the ETOT, This is used to predicted the final position.

Last year I practiced with some A.I. data which only did marginally worse than I did. During the preseason I trained it with 5 more divisions of data. It came up with the A.I. formula and also was able to spot possible outliers.

It is closer at the top of D1 than ever. Any one of 6 teams have a good chance. Dortmund is just the top team with a great attack, midfield and some depth. Chelsea who the A.I. predict to win are my 2^nd team, only a lack of depth hampers them. Hellas have greater depth than the Atlantic Ocean but you can’t play all those superstars, they are ranked 3^rd. Barcelona 4^th ranked form me with that potent attacking threat, Porto a well-balanced team have good depth and a good attack. They sit above Leicester who have a new gaffer who would be looking to push them to the top of the table.

There is then a sizeable gap to Juventus and the chasing pack. At the lower end of the table if we say 224 is the cut off for survival, CSKA look doomed to me unless their keeper can save them, Cruzeiro have a good attack but an 88 keeper in D1 will struggle. Milan and Leverkusen are close to the cut off and maybe their depth will save them.

The A.I. also looked at possible outliers and believes that Chelsea and Barcelona have the biggest potential to underperform placing Chelsea as low as 4-6^th place and Barcelona 9^th – 11^th as outliers.

It also sees Levante as maybe pushing up to 4- 6^th spot and CSKA maybe 15^th – 17^th due to solid depth and keeper strength.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	A.I
Dortmund	93.0	92.5	93.0	95.0	87.0	92.1	231.75	1	4
Chelsea (-)	94.0	93.5	93.4	94.0	82.0	91.4	231.74	2	1
Hellas Verona	91.0	92.5	92.8	95.0	90.0	92.3	231.71	3	3
Barcelona (-)	92.0	91.8	93.2	96.0	85.0	91.6	231.60	4	6
FC Porto	92.0	92.8	93.4	94.0	87.0	91.8	231.50	5	2
Leicester City	91.0	92.5	93.4	94.0	87.0	91.6	231.18	6	5
Juventus	95.0	91.8	91.8	93.0	89.0	92.1	229.37	7	7
Levante UD +	91.0	92.0	93.4	91.0	85.0	90.5	228.59	8	8
Sporting CP	90.0	91.8	92.2	92.0	87.0	90.6	228.20	9	9
Bayern	93.0	90.0	91.2	94.0	87.0	91.0	227.66	10	10
H. Berlin	92.0	89.5	90.8	94.0	88.0	90.9	226.94	11	13
Internazionale	92.0	90.0	90.8	93.0	87.0	90.6	226.57	12	12
São Paulo FC	91.0	90.3	91.6	91.0	86.0	90.0	225.87	13	11
Aston Villa	89.0	90.0	90.2	93.0	87.0	89.8	225.73	14	16
Hamburg	90.0	89.8	90.8	91.0	87.0	89.7	224.83	15	14
Manchester City	93.0	89.5	89.8	92.0	86.0	90.1	224.72	16	17
Leverkusen	89.0	91.0	89.4	90.0	87.0	89.3	223.94	17	15
AC Milan	89.0	89.8	89.8	91.0	87.0	89.3	223.91	18	18
Cruzeiro EC	88.0	89.8	90.0	91.0	86.0	89.0	223.83	19	19
CSKA Moskva +	90.0	89.0	88.8	89.0	87.0	88.8	221.33	20	20

Season 26 Division 5 Stats and Facts review.

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 12:56:13 +0100

PSV lead the stats but fall at the first play-off hurdle.

Sometimes life is cruel maybe Santos had the advantage of being able to rest their team but a +13 VA and 3.5 PVA shows how close PSV were to getting out of D5.

Atalanta were 2^nd in the stats but they also failed in the first leg of the play offs to Chievo. Chievo the eventual playoff winners had a great +7 VA and well deserved their play off win. Celta not in any kind of play off but a +10 VA shows the improvements the previous boss put in place. Notable shout out to Monaco with 3^rd place and promotion, Independiente and Napoli who did all they could from a strong position.

Holding up the other 5 divisions are Brugge, should have been 2^nd, came 14^th with -12VA, Rubin had a worse VA on -14 but from a slightly lower initial base which is why their PVA is less bad. Torino, Villareal and Marseille on – 7 VA failed to make the progress they could have done.

So human eye or A.I., A.I. had Celta finishing higher than I did but over egged Spartak, Villareal and Kazan.

I will do a number crunch tomorrow to see who won the battle of the stats.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	FIN	VA	PVA
PSV	87.0	86.8	86.2	87.0	82.0	85.8	215.19	17	4	13	3.50
Atalanta BC	87.0	86.0	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.4	215.59	14	5	9	2.00
Celta Vigo	89.0	86.0	85.8	87.0	84.0	86.4	214.75	18	8	10	1.38
Chievo Verona	86.0	87.3	87.6	87.0	85.0	86.6	216.95	13	6	7	1.33
AS Monaco	88.0	87.8	89.0	88.0	86.0	87.8	219.48	6	3	3	1.33
Independiente	88.0	88.3	89.4	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.85	3	2	1	1.00
SSC Napoli	85.0	88.5	89.4	91.0	86.0	88.0	221.99	1	1	0	1.00
Stuttgart	85.0	83.5	84.0	85.0	78.0	83.1	208.81	20	15	5	0.40
Athletic Club	85.0	85.8	87.6	87.0	84.0	85.9	215.51	15	12	3	0.33
Spartak Moskva	89.0	87.8	87.4	88.0	85.0	87.4	218.20	11	9	2	0.33
Santos FC	87.0	87.3	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.88	8	7	1	0.29
Girondins Bordeaux	86.0	84.0	87.2	86.0	83.0	85.2	213.14	19	18	1	0.11
SS Lazio	88.0	86.3	87.4	88.0	85.0	86.9	216.88	12	13	-1	0.00
FC Twente	85.0	86.8	86.0	88.0	78.0	84.8	214.96	16	20	-4	-0.15
AZ Alkmaar	88.0	87.3	88.2	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.32	7	10	-3	-0.20
Torino	88.0	87.5	87.2	89.0	85.0	87.3	218.37	10	17	-7	-0.35
Villarreal CF	87.0	86.8	87.2	88.0	86.0	87.0	217.12	9	16	-7	-0.38
Olympique Marseille	88.0	89.3	87.8	89.0	86.0	88.0	220.37	4	11	-7	-0.55
Rubin Kazan	86.0	87.3	88.2	89.0	85.0	87.1	218.73	5	19	-14	-0.68
Club Brugge KV	89.0	88.5	88.0	90.0	84.0	87.9	220.46	2	14	-12	-0.79

Season 26 Division 4 Stats and Fact review.

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 11:05:36 +0100

Crowd goes wild in Basel and Newcastle

Always a strong team Basel exceeded expectations and won the league and stats on +6VA and +7PVA. Newcastle also auto promoted had a huge +12 VA and 4.33PVA come 2^nd in the stats and 3^rd in the league. Partizan also had a great +8 VA and are still n with a chance of promotion by the play offs. Lille alos auto promoted in 2^nd. Notable big positive Vas to Feyenoord, Lyon and Besitkas

Valencia had a terrible season, should have been promoted but now sink to division 5 with – 16 VA , will not be a problem to get them back up again. Lokomotiv also had a poor season on -9 VA, Celtic good redeem themselves if they overcome Partizan in the playoffs. Liverpool and especially relegated Olympiacos must be wondering what went wrong.

A.I. or human eye.. The big stand out was A.I thinking Kiev would come 7^th when they came 10^th and Olympiacos 9^th, no obvious reason for that.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
FC Basel	88.0	87.5	88.6	89.0	86.0	87.8	219.61	7	1	6	7.00
Newcastle United	87.0	87.5	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.36	15	3	12	4.33
FK Partizan	87.0	87.8	88.4	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.88	12	4	8	2.25
Lille OSC	87.0	88.0	88.6	91.0	86.0	88.1	221.19	3	2	1	1.00
Feyenoord	87.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	87.0	87.5	218.52	13	8	5	0.75
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	86.3	86.6	89.0	85.0	86.8	216.77	18	11	7	0.73
Besiktas JK	87.0	87.5	87.4	89.0	85.0	87.2	218.41	14	9	5	0.67
Crystal Palace	86.0	87.3	87.8	91.0	83.0	87.0	219.47	8	6	2	0.50
Bremen	88.0	86.5	88.0	88.0	84.0	86.9	217.44	16	12	4	0.42
Monchengladbach	88.0	87.3	87.6	87.0	86.0	87.2	217.31	17	14	3	0.29
US Sassuolo	88.0	86.8	87.4	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.63	19	17	2	0.18
Shakhtar Donetsk	87.0	85.5	85.4	85.0	83.0	85.2	212.37	20	19	1	0.11
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	88.8	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.6	219.36	9	10	-1	0.00
Ajax	89.0	88.5	88.8	89.0	85.0	88.1	220.57	5	7	-2	-0.14
Dynamo Kyiv	88.0	86.3	87.8	91.0	85.0	87.6	219.15	10	16	-6	-0.31
Olympiacos	89.0	87.5	87.8	89.0	86.0	87.9	219.09	11	20	-9	-0.40
Liverpool	88.0	88.3	87.6	90.0	86.0	88.0	220.06	6	15	-9	-0.53
Celtic	88.0	89.0	89.4	90.0	86.0	88.5	222.10	1	5	-4	-0.60
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	88.0	89.6	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.81	4	13	-9	-0.62
Valencia CF	89.0	90.0	88.8	88.0	88.0	88.8	221.48	2	18	-16	-0.83

Season 26 Division 3 Stats and Fact Review.

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 10:31:28 +0100

Wolfsburg head the stats and the league.

Three great VA scores in D3, firstly Wolfsburg predicted to just miss out on the playoffs they won the league in the end quite easily. In the league 2 points separated the next 6 teams. Sunderland unlucky to lose in the playoffs but a great +7 VA. West Ham 3^rd in the league and the stats had +4VA. St Etienne just missed out on the play off spots but a +5 VA shows progress made. Galatasaray had +6 VA and finished in the top half of the table. Shout out to Dnipro who got +4VA and avoided relegation.

West Brom sit at the foot of the stats table but all is not lost as they face Flamengo tonight. Swansea have the lowest VA on -7 and Hoffenheim on -5. Only Dnipro of the predicted relegation teams avoided relegation with PSG slipping into the zone from a predicted 15^th so hardly a shock.

A.I. or human eye who did best. A.I. predicted Wolfsburg less well but Sunderland slightly better in general by own predictions were slightly better.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	FIN	VA	PVA
Wolfsburg	88.0	89.0	89.2	89.0	85.0	88.0	221.17	8	1	7	8.00
Sunderland	88.0	87.5	89.4	90.0	85.0	88.0	220.78	11	4	7	2.00
West Ham United	89.0	89.3	89.6	88.0	86.0	88.4	221.28	7	3	4	1.67
AS Saint-Etienne	89.0	87.8	88.6	89.0	85.0	87.9	219.81	13	8	5	0.75
Galatasaray SK	87.0	88.3	87.0	89.0	86.0	87.5	218.81	16	10	6	0.70
Boca Juniors	89.0	86.8	88.2	96.0	84.0	88.8	223.12	2	2	0	0.50
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.5	88.0	90.0	85.0	87.7	219.66	14	11	3	0.36
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	86.3	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.3	217.64	18	14	4	0.36
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	87.8	87.5	87.0	85.0	87.1	217.51	19	17	2	0.18
Schalke	87.0	86.0	87.3	88.5	85.0	86.8	216.77	20	20	0	0.05
Fenerbahçe SK	87.0	88.0	87.2	88.0	86.0	87.2	218.12	17	19	-2	-0.05
Paris Saint-Germain	87.0	87.5	88.0	90.0	84.0	87.3	219.42	15	18	-3	-0.11
Zenit Saint Petersburg	88.0	88.5	89.0	90.5	86.0	88.4	221.71	4	6	-2	-0.17
Sampdoria	87.0	88.5	88.2	91.0	85.0	87.9	221.15	9	12	-3	-0.17
AS Roma	89.0	87.8	88.8	89.0	85.0	87.9	219.97	12	16	-4	-0.19
Hoffenheim	87.0	88.8	89.0	89.0	86.0	88.0	220.81	10	15	-5	-0.27
SEVILLA FC	88.0	87.5	88.4	92.0	87.0	88.6	221.52	5	9	-4	-0.33
CR Flamengo	90.0	89.0	89.2	90.0	86.0	88.8	222.18	3	7	-4	-0.43
Swansea City	88.0	88.5	88.8	90.0	87.0	88.5	221.34	6	13	-7	-0.46
West Bromwich Albion	91.0	90.5	90.8	91.0	87.0	90.1	225.55	1	5	-4	-0.60

Season 26 Division 2 Stats and Facts Review

Sat, 17 Jan 2026 13:47:43 +0100

CSKA head the stats with a +13VA and automatic promotion.

Hard to take maybe to finish 1^st in the league but 6^th in the stats but that just highlights the great performances from over sides. CSKA were predicted to just about beat relegation but gained auto promotion in 3^rd spot. Cruziero were always a play off team but they finished 2^nd in the league and 2^nd in the stats. Espanyol the near rivals of CSKA had a great +10 VA and head to the play offs Augsburg another playoff team had a great +12 VA with Udinese also in the playoffs 5^th in the stats. Sporting did all they could and were the winners of the league but 6^th in the stats.

In the relegation zone. Genoa in a bit of a rebuild but still -16 VA the big outlier only with Real Madrid who had -10VA and Man Utd on – 8 VA

The majority of relegated sides were correctly picked with only Augsburg escaping.

So A.I. or human eye. Again, no deep analysis here but the stand out spot for the A.I. was Man Utd. I predicted 4^th the A.I. said 10^th and they finished 12^th. The A.I. spotted that their lack of depth would come back to bite them which it did.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
CSKA Moskva	90.0	88.5	88.4	89.0	87.0	88.6	220.61	16	3	13	4.67
Cruzeiro	89.0	89.0	89.8	91.0	85.0	88.8	223.07	7	2	5	3.00
RCD Espanyol	90.0	87.5	89.4	90.0	85.0	88.4	221.02	14	4	10	2.75
Augsburg	89.0	87.5	88.2	90.0	85.0	87.9	219.94	18	6	12	2.17
Udinese Calcio	89.0	89.5	88.8	89.0	87.0	88.7	221.61	13	7	6	1.00
Sporting CP	89.0	91.5	91.4	92.0	88.0	90.4	227.36	1	1	0	1.00
Cologne	89.0	88.8	86.8	92.0	82.0	87.7	220.76	15	11	4	0.45
Everton	87.0	89.8	89.4	89.0	87.0	88.4	222.05	11	9	2	0.33
Atlético Madrid	89.0	89.0	89.0	90.0	84.0	88.2	221.66	12	10	2	0.30
Tottenham Hotspur	90.0	88.0	88.8	88.0	86.0	88.2	219.76	19	17	2	0.18
River Plate	88.0	87.8	87.4	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.20	20	20	0	0.05
Southampton	88.0	88.5	89.0	88.0	85.0	87.7	219.96	17	19	-2	-0.05
RSC Anderlecht	89.0	88.5	89.6	91.0	86.0	88.8	222.63	10	13	-3	-0.15
Leverkusen	89.0	90.3	90.2	90.0	86.0	89.1	223.86	3	5	-2	-0.20
SC Internacional	91.0	89.3	90.0	90.0	87.0	89.5	223.26	5	8	-3	-0.25
Standard Liège	93.0	89.0	89.4	90.0	87.0	89.7	222.82	9	15	-6	-0.33
SL Benfica	90.0	89.0	89.4	91.0	85.0	88.9	222.87	8	14	-6	-0.36
Real Madrid	89.0	88.8	89.2	92.0	86.0	89.0	223.16	6	16	-10	-0.56
Manchester United	87.0	89.5	89.6	92.0	83.0	88.2	223.48	4	12	-8	-0.58
Genoa CFC	88.0	89.5	91.0	90.0	87.0	89.1	223.90	2	18	-16	-0.83

Season 26 Division 1 Stats and Facts review.

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:16:38 +0100

Who is better A.I. or the human eye.

Usual preamble: At the start of the season clubs were ranked according to the four main positions, average rating and top 18.

Then using a secret formula they were ranked, this produces a value added and positional value added which takes into account finishing position , after all a club that should have been 5^th finishing 1^st has done a lot better than one that should have been 19^th finishing 15^th and has beaten far harder opposition.

Porto finish top of the stats , predicted to come 5^th they were deserved champs overcoming Leicester who also had +4 VA. A great performance pushed AC Milan to 3^rd in the stats with a great +9VA

Sao Paulo must be pleased with their over performance as should Man City and Hamburg.

Dortmund suffered a spectacular fall from grace on -10 VA in 12^th place when 2^nd was predicted, Hellas maybe a little annoyed 2^nd last in stats but still came 3r d especially as Arsenal on -7VA got relegated.

Without any deep analysis at this moment who won in D1 human eye or A.I.

Well the A.I. was worse at predicting 2^nd place Leicester and 7^th spot Sao Paulo , it did predict Stoke’s predicament better and Arsenal’s more lowly position. So it seems to be worse at predicting the higher placed teams but worse at predicting the lower place teams.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
FC Porto	93.0	92.8	93.2	93.0	87.0	91.8	230.81	5	1	4	5.00
LEICESTER CITY	91.0	92.0	93.2	94.0	85.0	91.0	230.38	6	2	4	2.50
AC Milan	89.0	89.3	90.2	91.0	88.0	89.5	223.95	17	9	8	1.00
São Paulo FC	90.0	90.8	92.0	92.0	86.0	90.2	227.12	11	7	4	0.71
Levante UD	91.0	91.8	93.2	91.0	85.0	90.4	228.23	8	6	2	0.50
Manchester City	93.0	90.0	90.2	92.0	86.0	90.2	225.44	15	11	4	0.45
Hamburg	90.0	89.8	90.0	90.0	86.0	89.2	223.42	18	15	3	0.27
Barcelona	92.0	91.3	93.0	96.0	84.0	91.3	230.92	4	4	0	0.25
Dinamo Zagreb	90.0	88.5	88.4	90.0	87.0	88.8	221.26	20	17	3	0.24
Málaga CF	89.0	89.0	89.2	90.0	86.0	88.6	222.06	19	19	0	0.05
Juventus	95.0	91.8	92.0	93.0	89.0	92.2	229.53	7	8	-1	0.00
Bayern	93.0	89.8	91.0	95.0	87.0	91.2	227.95	9	10	-1	0.00
H. Berlin	92.0	89.3	90.8	94.0	87.0	90.6	226.62	12	13	-1	0.00
Stoke City	90.0	90.0	90.8	90.0	87.0	89.6	224.34	16	18	-2	-0.06
Aston Villa	88.0	90.0	90.8	93.0	86.0	89.6	225.97	14	16	-2	-0.06
Chelsea	95.0	92.5	93.6	94.0	83.0	91.6	231.34	3	5	-2	-0.20
Internazionale	92.0	90.0	91.4	94.0	87.0	90.9	227.70	10	14	-4	-0.21
Arsenal	91.0	91.8	90.6	91.0	86.0	90.1	226.27	13	20	-7	-0.30
Hellas Verona	93.0	93.0	93.0	95.0	89.0	92.6	232.39	1	3	-2	-0.33
Dortmund	92.0	92.5	92.8	96.0	85.0	91.7	231.88	2	12	-10	-0.75

DIVISION 5 — MID-SEASON REPORT:

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 15:26:20 +0100

NAPOLI SET THE PACE AS TITLE RACE HEATS UP

By Paige Turner, Sports Correspondent

As the Division 5 campaign passes the halfway mark, SSC Napoli remain the side to beat — unbeaten in 19 games and sitting proudly atop the table. With 13 wins and six draws, Alessio Tonato’s men have blended attacking flair with defensive steel, boasting a +29 goal difference. Their recent run of six unbeaten matches, including four consecutive wins, underlines their credentials as title favourites.

Hot on their heels, Independiente and AS Monaco are locked level on 40 points, each hoping to capitalise on any slip-up from the leaders. The Argentine giants have shown remarkable consistency, losing just once all season, while Monaco’s occasional defensive lapses have cost them crucial ground despite their attacking prowess.

PSV Eindhoven sit in fourth with 35 points, quietly assembling an impressive record of resilience — only two losses all season. Their mix of youth and experience continues to keep them in the hunt for promotion contention.

In the chasing pack, Atalanta BC and AZ Alkmaar round out the top six. Atalanta’s 46 goals make them the league’s most entertaining side, though defensive frailties persist. AZ, meanwhile, remain tough to beat but lack cutting edge in attack, scoring just 21 times.

Further down the table, Stuttgart and Bordeaux remain competitive, while Lazio and Chievo Verona hover around mid-table, showing flashes of promise but struggling for consistency.

At the wrong end, Club Brugge KV, Spartak Moskva, and Villarreal CF are mired in the relegation fight. Brugge’s alarming run of five straight defeats has plunged them into danger, while Spartak and Villarreal are both desperate for form to avoid the drop.

Among the surprise struggles, Olympique Marseille and Santos FC — both with proud histories — find themselves just above the relegation zone. Their inconsistent results have frustrated fans, with both sides needing a strong second half to climb to safety.

As the season enters its decisive phase, Napoli’s unbeaten streak remains the headline story — but with five teams within ten points of the summit, the race for promotion and survival promises plenty of drama yet.

[smtop100.blog/2025/05/1...](https://smtop100.blog/2025/05/11/welcome-to-top-100/?page_id=25545)

Season 26 Division 5 Stats and Facts

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 15:01:05 +0100

Will a weak keeper hold back stats favourites Napoli.

In reality Napoli could sort that out in a heart beat and would be a good head in front of the rest of the chasing pack. Having a 91 rated attack in D5 is really the nuclear option with no team having any keeper or defence above 89.

Brugge strong in attack and defence but lacking depth should be the main opposition this season with Independiente not being far behind, Marseille are the most defensive team in the league and this is favoured in the current SM machine that processes the results. Rubin have a good midfield and attack combo , so plenty of possession and a shield for the defense.

There are clearly a number of teams that are being ahem “ rebuilt “ , though why they need to be quite so uncompetitive is not really within the scope of this article. Stuttgart and Twente have the least depth in any sides we have seen for sometime, Athletic club and Twente have keepers that don’t need to be so weak and they could finish 4 or 5 places higher.

The A.I. sees Torino as a surprise playoff team moving up from 10^th to 6^th with AZ falling out of contention but Spartak knocking on the door of D4 if they play their cards right.

If we assume 218 is the cut off for D4 then Spartak would be o.k. without much work needing to be done. There is also the work in progress gap that now exist between Spartak and Lazio, food for thought.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	A.I.
SSC Napoli	85.0	88.5	89.4	91.0	86.0	88.0	221.99	1	1
Club Brugge KV	89.0	88.5	88.0	90.0	84.0	87.9	220.46	2	3
Independiente	88.0	88.3	89.4	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.85	3	2
Olympique Marseille	88.0	89.3	87.8	89.0	86.0	88.0	220.37	4	4
Rubin Kazan	86.0	87.3	88.2	89.0	85.0	87.1	218.73	5	7
AS Monaco	88.0	87.8	89.0	88.0	86.0	87.8	219.48	6	5
AZ Alkmaar	88.0	87.3	88.2	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.32	7	9
Santos FC	87.0	87.3	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.88	8	10
Villarreal CF	87.0	86.8	87.2	88.0	86.0	87.0	217.12	9	11
Torino	88.0	87.5	87.2	89.0	85.0	87.3	218.37	10	6
Spartak Moskva	89.0	87.8	87.4	88.0	85.0	87.4	218.20	11	8
SS Lazio	88.0	86.3	87.4	88.0	85.0	86.9	216.88	12	12
Chievo Verona	86.0	87.3	87.6	87.0	85.0	86.6	216.95	13	13
Atalanta BC	87.0	86.0	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.4	215.59	14	14
Athletic Club	85.0	85.8	87.6	87.0	84.0	85.9	215.51	15	16
FC Twente	85.0	86.8	86.0	88.0	78.0	84.8	214.96	16	18
PSV	87.0	86.8	86.2	87.0	82.0	85.8	215.19	17	17
Celta Vigo	89.0	86.0	85.8	87.0	84.0	86.4	214.75	18	15
Girondins Bordeaux	86.0	84.0	87.2	86.0	83.0	85.2	213.14	19	19
Stuttgart	85.0	83.5	84.0	85.0	78.0	83.1	208.81	20	20

Season 26 Division 4 Stats and Facts.

Mon, 08 Sep 2025 14:43:19 +0100

Will Celtic overcome their poor start to be number 1 in the stats.

In an ironic twist the top stat team is after 1 game holding up the rest of the table. Thie main weakness is the keeper but an 88 is fine in D4 a few powerhouse teams do have stronger attacks but a top 3 places should be theirs at least,

Valencia and Lille are closely matched even if different prospects. Valencia are playing the popular defensive game, Lille go all out attack. Lokomotive and Ajax in 4 and 5^th are more balanced teams, Moscow have the most potent midfield in the league so if they can convert the possession, they should get a top 3 place could be for them. Liverpool , Palace and Kiev all play the attacking game ,but not all can succeed and if this becomes a “thing “ surely a defensive counter movement will follow.

To survive D3 you would need 219 so Olympiacos or even Partizan could push for a playoff spot without much concern.

Shaktar have mountain to climb pretty much the weakest in all positions. Sassuolo have a decent keeper but not much else. Lyon may escape due to a decent attack, Moenchenglabach are the balanced team amongst the relegation candidates but is that a good idea?

Division 4 lost some profoundly weak teams last season so predicting a cut off is all but impossible. Two really strong teams were promoted and this means the average rating is slightly less. D4 should be even tighter than last season.

What does the A.I. think? Lille are predicted to come 2^nd , Kiev are expect to get a playoff spot at the expense of Basel. The A.I. thinks Moenchenglabach will displace Bremen maybe the depth of Bremen will help as the season goes on.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	A.I.
Celtic	88.0	89.0	89.4	90.0	86.0	88.5	222.10	1	1
Valencia CF	89.0	90.0	88.8	88.0	88.0	88.8	221.48	2	3
Lille OSC	87.0	88.0	88.6	91.0	86.0	88.1	221.19	3	2
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	88.0	89.6	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.81	4	4
Ajax	89.0	88.5	88.8	89.0	85.0	88.1	220.57	5	6
Liverpool	88.0	88.3	87.6	90.0	86.0	88.0	220.06	6	5
FC Basel	88.0	87.5	88.6	89.0	86.0	87.8	219.61	7	8
Crystal Palace	86.0	87.3	87.8	91.0	83.0	87.0	219.47	8	10
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	88.8	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.6	219.36	9	11
Dynamo Kyiv	88.0	86.3	87.8	91.0	85.0	87.6	219.15	10	7
Olympiacos	89.0	87.5	87.8	89.0	86.0	87.9	219.09	11	9
FK Partizan	87.0	87.8	88.4	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.88	12	13
Feyenoord	87.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	87.0	87.5	218.52	13	12
Besiktas JK	87.0	87.5	87.4	89.0	85.0	87.2	218.41	14	14
Newcastle United	87.0	87.5	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.36	15	15
Bremen	88.0	86.5	88.0	88.0	84.0	86.9	217.44	16	17
Monchengladbach	88.0	87.3	87.6	87.0	86.0	87.2	217.31	17	16
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	86.3	86.6	89.0	85.0	86.8	216.77	18	18
US Sassuolo	88.0	86.8	87.4	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.63	19	19
Shakhtar Donetsk	87.0	85.5	85.4	85.0	83.0	85.2	212.37	20	20

Season 26 Division 3 Stats and Facts

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 15:46:19 +0100

Can West Brom beat the Mo Salah led Boca team, the stats say yes.

Boca with Salah were nearly untouchable in D4 but D3 is a different matter. West Brom should win the division the strongest team in 3 of the categories and 2^nd best in attack. Boca’s season in 2^nd spot rests in 1 man, a few injuries and they would be a mid table outfit at best. Flamengo in 3^rd are a solid outfit 90 keeper and 90 attack will be hard for most D3 teams to cope with. Zenit in 4^th in the stats have a strong midfield but are they too weak at the back to cope with some of the mighty attackers? Seville in 5^th are not a Boca clone with much more depth than most teams. Swansea in 6^th have such a strong attack and midfield combo but recently defensive teams such as West Ham have been favoured. Can Sampdoria match the expected 9^th spot with their strong attack but weak keeper?

As you would only need 220.5 to survive D2 promotion is a realistic prospect down to at least Sunderland in 11^th spot.

Relegation , Schalke look likely to suffer yet another drop unless something is done, while last season was a bit mad a general cut off of 219 from relegation could be applied. This leave the 2 Turkish teams who are near identical in stats battling Dnipro who so often over perform and Fiorentina .

As for the A.I. it sees Sevilla gaining a 2^nd promotion instead of Flamengo, Sunderland are expect to do somewhat better but the relegation teams still sit firm.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	A.I.
West Bromwich Albion	91.0	90.5	90.8	91.0	87.0	90.1	225.55	1	1
Boca Juniors	89.0	86.8	88.2	96.0	84.0	88.8	223.12	2	2
CR Flamengo	90.0	89.0	89.2	90.0	86.0	88.8	222.18	3	4
Zenit Saint Petersburg	88.0	88.5	89.0	90.5	86.0	88.4	221.71	4	5
SEVILLA FC	88.0	87.5	88.4	92.0	87.0	88.6	221.52	5	3
Swansea City	88.0	88.5	88.8	90.0	87.0	88.5	221.34	6	6
West Ham United	89.0	89.3	89.6	88.0	86.0	88.4	221.28	7	8
Wolfsburg	88.0	89.0	89.2	89.0	85.0	88.0	221.17	8	10
Sampdoria	87.0	88.5	88.2	91.0	85.0	87.9	221.15	9	7
Hoffenheim	87.0	88.8	89.0	89.0	86.0	88.0	220.81	10	11
Sunderland	88.0	87.5	89.4	90.0	85.0	88.0	220.78	11	9
AS Roma	89.0	87.8	88.8	89.0	85.0	87.9	219.97	12	12
AS Saint-Etienne	89.0	87.8	88.6	89.0	85.0	87.9	219.81	13	14
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.5	88.0	90.0	85.0	87.7	219.66	14	13
Paris Saint-Germain	87.0	87.5	88.0	90.0	84.0	87.3	219.42	15	15
Galatasaray SK	87.0	88.3	87.0	89.0	86.0	87.5	218.81	16	16
Fenerbahçe SK	87.0	88.0	87.2	88.0	86.0	87.2	218.12	17	17
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	86.3	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.3	217.64	18	18
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	87.8	87.5	87.0	85.0	87.1	217.51	19	19
Schalke	87.0	86.0	87.3	88.5	85.0	86.8	216.77	20	20

Season 26 Division 2 Stats and Facts

Thu, 04 Sep 2025 14:48:29 +0100

Sporting the clear favourites.

A team that should be mid table in D1 should romp to the title with room to spare. They can only realistically be beaten in the keeper position but should not have a problem. Then things get much closer. Genoa just in 2^nd spot maybe a little weaker in defence but still a tough all round team. Leverkusen are a more defensive outfit but maybe lack a little depth.

Man Utd are in 4^th spot but will the keeper be a real weakness. Real Madrid will run the top teams close with that potent attack but as is true of Cruziero perhaps a little weak lower down the order.

Liege are a classic top and tail team but does that still work in division 2 , time will tell. Interestingly on Sporting have what it takes to survive in D1 all the other prospects face instant relegation.

At the wrong end of the table anything less than 221 leaves you in danger, River Plate it is hard to see how they can survive with the weakest attack and defence in the league. Spurs can hope that a good defensive showing keeps them up , where as Augsburg must hope to knock a few in as they will probably ship a few at the back. CSKA will look to depth to avoid the drop hoping Cologne , Espanyol or Atletico will get a few injuries

The A.I. does see things a little different , it doesn’t rate Man Utd as highly and sees them finishing around 10^th maybe due to the keeper and lack of depth. The A.I. predict Real Madrid to come 2^nd and Liege to come 3^rd if this comes to pass it would be interesting to see.

Division 2 is a tougher division than last season around 0.5 points across the board.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	A.I.
Sporting CP	89.0	91.5	91.4	92.0	88.0	90.4	227.36	1	1
Genoa CFC	88.0	89.5	91.0	90.0	87.0	89.1	223.90	2	5
Leverkusen	89.0	90.3	90.2	90.0	86.0	89.1	223.86	3	6
Manchester United	87.0	89.5	89.6	92.0	83.0	88.2	223.48	4	10
SC Internacional	91.0	89.3	90.0	90.0	87.0	89.5	223.26	5	4
Real Madrid	89.0	88.8	89.2	92.0	86.0	89.0	223.16	6	2
Cruzeiro	89.0	89.0	89.8	91.0	85.0	88.8	223.07	7	8
SL Benfica	90.0	89.0	89.4	91.0	85.0	88.9	222.87	8	7
Standard Liège	93.0	89.0	89.4	90.0	87.0	89.7	222.82	9	3
RSC Anderlecht	89.0	88.5	89.6	91.0	86.0	88.8	222.63	10	9
Everton	87.0	89.8	89.4	89.0	87.0	88.4	222.05	11	12
Atlético Madrid	89.0	89.0	89.0	90.0	84.0	88.2	221.66	12	13
Udinese Calcio	89.0	89.5	88.8	89.0	87.0	88.7	221.61	13	11
RCD Espanyol	90.0	87.5	89.4	90.0	85.0	88.4	221.02	14	14
Cologne	89.0	88.8	86.8	92.0	82.0	87.7	220.76	15	16
CSKA Moskva	90.0	88.5	88.4	89.0	87.0	88.6	220.61	16	15
Southampton	88.0	88.5	89.0	88.0	85.0	87.7	219.96	17	19
Augsburg	89.0	87.5	88.2	90.0	85.0	87.9	219.94	18	17
Tottenham Hotspur	90.0	88.0	88.8	88.0	86.0	88.2	219.76	19	18
River Plate	88.0	87.8	87.4	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.20	20	20

Season 26 Division 1 Stats and Facts.

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 11:23:13 +0100

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

Season 25 Division 5 Stats and Facts review the A.I. enhanced edition.

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 13:53:12 +0100

Due to the madness of the tactical changes, I decide to engage the help of Cyberdyne systems to help crunch the number to see if they could do any better than me.

First the standard write-up A.I. free.

FK Partizan are the clear winner both of the league and the stats. +8 VA and finishing first leaves them above 2^nd placed Lyon who have the 2^nd highest VA in the league. 3^rd place in the league and stats ( thanks for making my job easy here ) are Monchengladbach who have an impressive +10 VA as do 4^th place Lazio. Biggest winners showing the long term game is paying off are Bilbao who have +14 VA. Newcastle and PSV also performed above predicted.

Independiente finish in 11^th in real life but last in the stats, just slightly better than true last placed team AZ on -17 VA, who do just better than Napoli on -14 VA.

Now for the A.I. well I got it to crunch the number based on past data , it suggested adding a column for balance and more weighted depth so I have done that and adjusted the weightings as it suggested.

First table is the normal one all my own work.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
FK Partizan	87.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.1	218.08	9	1	8	9.00
Olympique Lyonnais	86.0	86.0	86.4	89.0	83.0	86.1	216.05	15	2	13	7.00
Monchengladbach	87.0	87.3	87.6	87.0	86.0	87.0	217.19	13	3	10	3.67
SS Lazio	88.0	87.0	86.8	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.00	14	4	10	2.75
Athletic Club	85.0	85.5	86.6	87.0	84.0	85.6	214.51	20	6	14	2.50
Newcastle United	87.0	87.5	88.0	87.0	86.0	87.1	217.71	11	5	6	1.40
PSV	87.0	86.3	86.4	88.0	82.0	85.9	215.60	17	12	5	0.50
Atalanta BC	87.0	86.0	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.4	215.59	18	17	1	0.12
Chievo Verona	88.0	86.0	86.6	87.0	83.0	86.1	215.15	19	18	1	0.11
Girondins Bordeaux	85.0	86.8	87.0	87.0	84.0	86.0	215.83	16	16	0	0.06
Villarreal CF	88.0	87.0	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.24	8	9	-1	0.00
Santos FC	87.0	86.8	87.6	88.0	86.0	87.1	217.44	12	15	-3	-0.13
Spartak Moskva	88.0	88.3	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.5	218.96	7	10	-3	-0.20
FC Twente	88.0	87.3	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.2	218.00	10	14	-4	-0.21
Torino	87.0	87.5	88.0	90.0	85.0	87.5	219.54	4	8	-4	-0.38
Rubin Kazan	88.0	87.3	88.6	89.0	85.0	87.6	219.29	6	13	-7	-0.46
Olympique Marseille	88.0	89.0	88.0	88.0	87.0	88.0	219.80	2	7	-5	-0.57
SSC Napoli	87.0	87.3	87.4	91.0	85.0	87.5	219.51	5	19	-14	-0.68
AZ Alkmaar	89.0	88.5	88.6	88.0	85.0	87.8	219.76	3	20	-17	-0.80
Independiente	89.0	89.0	88.2	88.0	86.0	88.0	219.96	1	11	-10	-0.82

So then the human and A.I. compared

	Pre	Fin	VA	A.I	Fin	VA
FK Partizan	9.0	1.0	8.0	10	1	9
Olympique Lyonnais	15.0	2.0	13.0	15	2	13
Monchengladbach	13.0	3.0	10.0	14	3	11
SS Lazio	14.0	4.0	10.0	13	4	9
Athletic Club	20.0	6.0	14.0	20	6	14
Newcastle United	11.0	5.0	6.0	12	5	7
PSV	17.0	12.0	5.0	17	12	5
Atalanta BC	18.0	17.0	1.0	16	17	-1
Chievo Verona	19.0	18.0	1.0	19	18	1
Girondins Bordeaux	16.0	16.0	0.0	18	16	2
Villarreal CF	8.0	9.0	-1.0	8	9	-1
Santos FC	12.0	15.0	-3.0	11	15	-4
Spartak Moskva	7.0	10.0	-3.0	7	10	-3
FC Twente	10.0	14.0	-4.0	9	14	-5
Torino	4.0	8.0	-4.0	4	8	-4
Rubin Kazan	6.0	13.0	-7.0	6	13	-7
Olympique Marseille	2.0	7.0	-5.0	3	7	-4
SSC Napoli	5.0	19.0	-14.0	1	19	-18
AZ Alkmaar	3.0	20.0	-17.0	5	20	-15
Independiente	1.0	11.0	-10.0	2	11	-9

Does the A.I. do much better, well , hard to say , but it doesn’t do any worse. So what will happen is this.

Next season I will also use the A.I. formula and produce an alternate finishing position. At the end of the season if machine wins , I will create a new formula for each division based on A.I. if not I will keep it the same. All seems fair, let the battle commence.

Season 25 Division 4 Stats and Facts review.

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 12:18:36 +0100

The full Monty in the South of France.

Twelve places above the predicted 14 spots places 2^nd place in the league in 1^st place in the stats. They sit above play off team Feyenoord who have +13 VA who exited early from the play-offs. Boca who must fancy their chance in D3 next season with mighty Mo are in 3^rd spot. Playoff teams Ajax on +11 , their rivals Wolfsburg on +5 and Lokomotive on +7 had great seasons as did Bremen who escaped relegation. Special mention to Sevilla who finished 3^rd in the league but 17^th in the stats perhaps showing there in no bias in the stats!

Some really poor showings led to Monaco and Brugge on -12 and -13 VA being relegated and Celtic who were predicted much better coming 13^th and last in the stats. Division 4 was slightly closer to norms with 2 of the predicted relegation teams going down and 2 of the 3 auto promotion teams going up.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.5	87.6	89.0	86.0	87.6	218.81	14	2	12	6.50
Feyenoord	87.0	87.8	87.6	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.24	17	4	13	3.50
Boca Juniors	88.0	86.5	87.2	96.0	84.0	88.3	222.00	3	1	2	3.00
Ajax	88.0	88.0	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.4	218.60	16	5	11	2.40
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	88.0	88.2	88.0	85.0	87.4	218.92	13	6	7	1.33
Wolfsburg	88.0	87.5	88.2	89.0	83.0	87.1	218.93	12	7	5	0.86
Bremen	86.0	87.0	86.8	88.0	84.0	86.4	216.64	18	14	4	0.36
Celta Vigo	89.0	86.0	85.4	86.0	85.0	86.3	213.90	19	18	1	0.11
Stuttgart	85.0	84.5	83.8	85.0	80.0	83.7	209.65	20	19	1	0.11
Dynamo Kyiv	88.0	86.8	87.8	91.0	85.0	87.7	219.55	11	11	0	0.09
US Sassuolo	88.0	88.0	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.4	218.60	15	16	-1	0.00
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	88.3	88.0	90.0	86.0	87.9	220.26	6	8	-2	-0.13
Beşiktaş JK	87.0	87.5	87.8	90.0	87.0	87.9	219.62	9	12	-3	-0.17
Olympiacos	89.0	88.0	88.2	89.0	87.0	88.2	219.93	7	10	-3	-0.20
Crystal Palace	86.0	87.8	87.8	90.0	86.0	87.5	219.58	10	15	-5	-0.27
SEVILLA	88.0	87.8	89.6	92.0	87.0	88.9	222.68	1	3	-2	-0.33
Lille OSC	90.0	88.0	88.8	89.0	86.0	88.4	220.41	5	9	-4	-0.33
AS Monaco	89.0	88.0	88.8	88.0	86.0	88.0	219.64	8	20	-12	-0.55
Club Brugge KV	88.0	88.3	88.2	90.0	86.0	88.1	220.54	4	17	-13	-0.71
Celtic	89.0	88.8	89.4	90.0	86.0	88.6	222.02	2	13	-11	-0.77

Season 25 Division 3 Stats and Facts Review

Sun, 24 Aug 2025 13:33:21 +0100

Happy days in Moscow for CSKA

A really strong keeper combined with a forward line scoring at will was a recipe for victory , CSKA go up as champs with +8 VA and + 9PVA. Two other teams have a higher VA , Augsburg who finished 3^rd in the tight race for the top 3 and Dnipro the evident over achievers in this GW who made the play offs but lost painfully to West Ham. The Hammers were amongst 4 teams on + 6 VA, St Etienne who just missed the playoffs, Hoffenheim and Fiorentina who dodged relegation. Anderlecht who finished 2nd in the league also rate a mention as it is always hard to improve much on a predicted 2nd spot, a few goals difference would have seen them 1st in the league and 3rd in the stats..

Everton who sit at the foot of the table could have the last laugh as they made the playoff final despite finishing 4 spots below where they could. Maybe they could argue that Valenica’s fall from grace on -11 VA was a worse performance or their fellow relegation buddies Shakhtar. Fenerbache , Sunderland and PSG had a tough season.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
CSKA Moskva	90.0	88.5	88.4	89.0	87.0	88.6	220.61	9	1	8	9.00
Augsburg	89.0	88.0	88.2	90.0	86.0	88.2	220.46	13	3	10	3.67
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.0	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.24	19	7	12	1.86
West Ham United	89.0	89.3	88.6	88.0	87.0	88.4	220.60	10	4	6	1.75
AS Saint-Etienne	88.0	88.5	88.4	89.0	87.0	88.2	220.37	14	8	6	0.88
Hoffenheim	87.0	88.0	88.2	89.0	85.0	87.4	219.45	16	10	6	0.70
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	87.8	87.5	87.0	85.0	87.1	217.51	20	14	6	0.50
RSC Anderlecht	88.0	89.0	89.6	91.0	86.0	88.7	222.91	2	2	0	0.50
Sampdoria	87.0	87.8	87.8	91.0	84.0	87.5	220.11	15	12	3	0.33
AS Roma	89.0	87.8	88.8	88.0	85.0	87.7	219.32	17	16	1	0.13
Zenit Saint Petersburg	88.0	88.5	88.8	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.57	11	11	0	0.09
FC Basel	87.0	87.5	88.2	89.0	86.0	87.5	219.17	18	20	-2	-0.05
CR Flamengo	91.0	89.8	88.6	89.0	85.0	88.7	221.65	4	6	-2	-0.17
Liverpool	88.0	89.0	88.4	89.0	85.0	87.9	220.53	12	17	-5	-0.24
Shakhtar Donetsk	88.0	88.8	88.8	89.0	87.0	88.3	220.89	8	19	-11	-0.53
Fenerbahçe SK	88.0	88.3	88.6	90.0	87.0	88.4	220.98	6	15	-9	-0.53
Sunderland	89.0	88.0	89.6	90.0	85.0	88.3	221.46	5	13	-8	-0.54
Paris Saint-Germain	88.0	89.5	89.2	90.0	87.0	88.7	222.46	3	9	-6	-0.56
Valencia CF	89.0	90.3	88.2	88.0	86.0	88.3	220.96	7	18	-11	-0.56
Everton	88.0	90.8	89.6	90.0	87.0	89.1	223.78	1	5	-4	-0.60

Season 25 Division 2 stats and facts review

Sat, 23 Aug 2025 14:16:38 +0100

Hamburg dominate a topsy turvy division.

Maybe the best stimulus to promotion is to avoid relegation? Hamburg who were a well balanced side finished with a VA of 16 and PVA of 17 an amazing season. Zagreb would normally have claimed the top stats spot with +13 VA and 4.67PVA, Malaga is 3^rd spot in the stats are in the playoffs finishing 6 places above expected.

Big congratulation have to also go to Southampton on + 9 VA and Atletico on +6.

West Brom did an inverse Hamburg should have been first but finished 17^th on – 16 VA , a devasting first half of the season left them nowhere to run. Genoa narrowly escaped relegation on -12 VA. Leverkusen could still redeem themselves in the play offs. Internacional ,Swansea and Internacional also had seasons to forget. Again the tactical changes seem to have thrown the stats into the air for the moment at the top end with only sure fire Schalke going down

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Hamburg	88.0	88.8	88.8	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.77	17	1	16	17.00
Dinamo Zagreb	90.0	88.5	89.0	89.0	87.0	88.7	221.09	16	3	13	4.67
Málaga CF	89.0	89.3	89.2	90.0	87.0	88.9	222.38	10	4	6	1.75
Stoke City	90.0	90.0	90.4	90.0	88.0	89.7	224.18	4	2	2	1.50
Southampton	88.0	88.0	88.8	89.0	85.0	87.8	220.01	18	9	9	1.11
Atlético Madrid	89.0	89.5	89.2	89.0	83.0	87.9	221.45	14	8	6	0.88
Cruzeiro	88.0	89.3	89.2	91.0	85.0	88.5	222.67	8	5	3	0.80
Standard Liège	93.0	88.5	89.6	90.0	87.0	89.6	222.58	9	7	2	0.43
Manchester United	83.0	83.0	85.4	89.0	82.0	84.5	212.37	19	16	3	0.25
Udinese Calcio	89.0	88.8	89.6	89.0	87.0	88.7	221.65	13	12	1	0.17
Schalke	84.0	84.3	85.8	86.0	84.0	84.8	212.10	20	20	0	0.05
River Plate	90.0	89.0	88.6	90.0	87.0	88.9	221.82	11	14	-3	-0.14
Galatasaray SK	87.0	89.0	89.2	89.0	86.0	88.0	221.17	15	19	-4	-0.16
Swansea City	88.0	88.5	89.2	90.0	87.0	88.5	221.66	12	18	-6	-0.28
Real Madrid	89.0	88.8	89.8	92.0	86.0	89.1	223.64	6	10	-4	-0.30
SL Benfica	93.0	88.8	90.2	90.0	85.0	89.4	223.02	7	13	-6	-0.38
SC Internacional	91.0	89.0	90.2	91.0	86.0	89.4	223.75	5	11	-6	-0.45
Leverkusen	89.0	90.5	91.0	90.0	87.0	89.5	224.82	2	6	-4	-0.50
Genoa CFC	88.0	89.8	91.2	90.0	87.0	89.2	224.26	3	15	-12	-0.73
West Bromwich Albion	91.0	90.0	90.8	91.0	87.0	90.0	225.15	1	17	-16	-0.88

Season 25 Division 1 Stats and Facts review.

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 13:49:46 +0100

Winner, winner no chicken dinner?

Brief explanation PVA = Positional value added, this is the value added modified with the finishing position taken into account, for example a team finishing 1^st from 6^th has obviously done a lot better than one finishing 15^th from 20^th. The tie breaker is then the value added, following by finishing position if need.

So top of the stats are 4^th placed team Sao Paulo , predicted to come 15^th they finish 4^th, this gives them a might value added of +11 and a PVA of +3.

This narrowly beats Bayern who also have a PVA of 3 but a value added of 8 finishing in 3^rd. 3^rd in the stats are Barcelona who had a great resurgent season finishing second. They just head Hellas who did all they could finishing 1 place above expected. Notable big value added goes to Man City and AC Milan

The three worse performers were Dortmund who should have won the league but finished 8^th, Leicester who after many great seasons were also 7 places below expected and Inter who just avoided relegation. Seems the new tactic had more of an effect on the top teams than the lower teams who still sat with one exception more or less where they should have done

	Gk	Def	Mid	Att	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
São Paulo FC	89.0	90.0	91.0	92.0	86.0	89.6	225.60	15	4	11	3.00
Bayern	90.0	89.0	90.6	96.0	86.0	90.3	227.20	11	3	8	3.00
Barcelona	92.0	91.5	92.0	95.0	88.0	91.7	230.15	5	2	3	2.00
Hellas Verona	94.0	92.8	93.0	95.0	90.0	93.0	232.43	2	1	1	2.00
Manchester City	94.0	90.3	91.0	92.0	87.0	90.9	226.52	12	5	7	1.60
AC Milan	89.0	89.3	89.3	89.0	87.0	88.7	221.77	20	12	8	0.75
H. Berlin	92.0	89.8	90.0	92.0	88.0	90.4	225.20	17	14	3	0.29
Cologne	84.0	88.8	90.2	91.0	84.0	87.6	222.51	19	17	2	0.18
Aston Villa	88.0	90.8	91.8	93.0	86.0	89.9	227.37	10	10	0	0.10
Tottenham Hotspur	88.0	90.0	89.8	91.0	83.0	88.4	223.51	18	18	0	0.06
Arsenal	91.0	90.5	90.2	92.0	86.0	89.9	225.60	14	16	-2	-0.06
Juventus	95.0	92.7	92.2	92.0	89.0	92.2	229.83	7	9	-2	-0.11
RCD Espanyol	90.0	90.8	90.6	91.0	86.0	89.7	225.35	16	20	-4	-0.15
Levante UD	91.0	91.8	92.0	92.0	85.0	90.4	227.92	8	11	-3	-0.18
Sporting CP	91.0	91.3	90.6	92.0	86.0	90.2	226.52	13	19	-6	-0.26
FC Porto	94.0	92.0	93.4	93.0	87.0	91.9	230.49	4	7	-3	-0.29
Chelsea	95.0	93.3	93.0	93.0	82.0	91.3	230.69	3	6	-3	-0.33
Internazionale	92.0	89.8	91.6	94.0	87.0	90.9	227.66	9	15	-6	-0.33
Leicester City	89.0	92.3	92.6	94.0	85.0	90.6	229.86	6	13	-7	-0.46
Dortmund	92.0	92.5	94.0	96.0	88.0	92.5	233.20	1	8	-7	-0.75

Season 25 Division 5 Stats and Facts

Sat, 12 Apr 2025 15:37:47 +0100

Any one of 6 for the title?

Realistically there are a number of teams who could win the title, which could only leave 1 play off spot free for the rest.

Independiente look the strongest, best keeper in the league, decent defence, midfield. Marseille is just a little weaker but do have more depth for the final push. AZ 1:1 could beat Marseille or Independiente back they have even less depth than their title rivals. Torino have very strong attack for the league they are in but defensively are weaker. Napoli even more so but will they get enough possession to make use of that 91 rated attack option. Kazan finally goes for the strong first team, lack of depth approach.

Spartak are ahead of the rest of the pack and while not title contenders should sew up the final playoff spot and maybe that could be to their advantage.

218 is the cut off for survival in D4 so Villareal, Partizan, Twente could also be in contention.

Bilbao are favorites for the wooden spoon, although Chievo should give them plenty of competition for last place.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Independiente	89.0	89.0	88.2	88.0	86.0	88.0	219.96	1
Olympique Marseille	88.0	89.0	88.0	88.0	87.0	88.0	219.80	2
AZ Alkmaar	89.0	88.5	88.6	88.0	85.0	87.8	219.76	3
Torino	87.0	87.5	88.0	90.0	85.0	87.5	219.54	4
SSC Napoli	87.0	87.3	87.4	91.0	85.0	87.5	219.51	5
Rubin Kazan	88.0	87.3	88.6	89.0	85.0	87.6	219.29	6
Spartak Moskva	88.0	88.3	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.5	218.96	7
Villarreal CF	88.0	87.0	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.24	8
FK Partizan	87.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.1	218.08	9
FC Twente	88.0	87.3	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.2	218.00	10
Newcastle United	87.0	87.5	88.0	87.0	86.0	87.1	217.71	11
Santos FC	87.0	86.8	87.6	88.0	86.0	87.1	217.44	12
Monchengladbach	87.0	87.3	87.6	87.0	86.0	87.0	217.19	13
SS Lazio	88.0	87.0	86.8	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.00	14
Olympique Lyonnais	86.0	86.0	86.4	89.0	83.0	86.1	216.05	15
Girondins Bordeaux	85.0	86.8	87.0	87.0	84.0	86.0	215.83	16
PSV	87.0	86.3	86.4	88.0	82.0	85.9	215.60	17
Atalanta BC	87.0	86.0	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.4	215.59	18
Chievo Verona	88.0	86.0	86.6	87.0	83.0	86.1	215.15	19
Athletic Club	85.0	85.5	86.6	87.0	84.0	85.6	214.51	20

Season 25 Division 4 stats and facts

Fri, 11 Apr 2025 15:10:26 +0100

All or nothing the new Division 4 theory.

No team in D4 can be strong all areas, even if you have a strong overall team, probably you will lack depth.

So Sevilla are at least for now the favorites and over last season and the preseason pushed their team from 14^th or 15^th rated to 1^st. The 2^nd strongest attack and midfield , with plenty of depth. Celtic are the most balanced team of the big 3 and have some depth, much more so that Boca who really are a 1 man band with Salah leading the line. The playoff crew should see Brugge with their good attack, Lille who are a well rounded side and Dynamo getting 3 of the 4 places. Olympiacos also sit just above the mini pack on 219.5 or more. To survive D3 you need 220 so there are 7 teams who could get promoted and then do a partial rebuild without throwing the team in the bin.

Celta and Stuttgart will be relegated if they fail to bring in talent, Bremen are also a player or 2 short of safety. Feyenoord are just generally weaker but with plenty of depth could overcome their Dutch rivals. Last season 217 was kind of the cut off for relegation but this year 219 or less could leave you vulnerable.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
SEVILLA	88.0	87.8	89.6	92.0	87.0	88.9	222.68	1
Celtic	89.0	88.8	89.4	90.0	86.0	88.6	222.02	2
Boca Juniors	88.0	86.5	87.2	96.0	84.0	88.3	222.00	3
Club Brugge KV	88.0	88.3	88.2	90.0	86.0	88.1	220.54	4
Lille OSC	90.0	88.0	88.8	89.0	86.0	88.4	220.41	5
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	88.3	88.0	90.0	86.0	87.9	220.26	6
Olympiacos	89.0	88.0	88.2	89.0	87.0	88.2	219.93	7
AS Monaco	89.0	88.0	88.8	88.0	86.0	88.0	219.64	8
Beşiktaş JK	87.0	87.5	87.8	90.0	87.0	87.9	219.62	9
Crystal Palace	86.0	87.8	87.8	90.0	86.0	87.5	219.58	10
Dynamo Kyiv	88.0	86.8	87.8	91.0	85.0	87.7	219.55	11
Wolfsburg	88.0	87.5	88.2	89.0	83.0	87.1	218.93	12
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	88.0	88.2	88.0	85.0	87.4	218.92	13
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.5	87.6	89.0	86.0	87.6	218.81	14
US Sassuolo	88.0	88.0	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.4	218.60	15
Ajax	88.0	88.0	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.4	218.60	16
Feyenoord	87.0	87.8	87.6	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.24	17
Bremen	86.0	87.0	86.8	88.0	84.0	86.4	216.64	18
Celta Vigo	89.0	86.0	85.4	86.0	85.0	86.3	213.90	19
Stuttgart	85.0	84.5	83.8	85.0	80.0	83.7	209.65	20

Season 25 Division 3 Stats and Facts

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 13:10:32 +0100

A very tightly packed division in the middle with 1 pt separating 5^th to 17^th

Everton appear to be the favourites for the title with a clear lead over Anderlecht or have the best attack in the league and should get at least 2^nd.

PSG are also in the big 3 with a sizeable gap above Flamengo who may be relying on their great keeper.

Then we get the pack Sunderland down to Hoffenheim. Sure Sunderland are half a point better than Fenerbache and have a strong attack but each team below them have strengths and weaknesses. CSKA stand out as a top and tail team which often works at this level, they St Etienne, West Ham also have good depth.

Having said this you will need 221 to survive in the division above which realistically means Sunderland or above could have a good chance if promoted. Less than 219.3 is probably relegation territory. Fiorentina look to be shy of the rest and could well struggle with overachievers Dnipro just having strong enough attack to maybe survive. Basel have a stronger offense with Roma favoring a more balanced approach.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Everton	88.0	90.8	89.6	90.0	87.0	89.1	223.78	1
RSC Anderlecht	88.0	89.0	89.6	91.0	86.0	88.7	222.91	2
Paris Saint-Germain	88.0	89.5	89.2	90.0	87.0	88.7	222.46	3
CR Flamengo	91.0	89.8	88.6	89.0	85.0	88.7	221.65	4
Sunderland	89.0	88.0	89.6	90.0	85.0	88.3	221.46	5
Fenerbahçe SK	88.0	88.3	88.6	90.0	87.0	88.4	220.98	6
Valencia CF	89.0	90.3	88.2	88.0	86.0	88.3	220.96	7
Shakhtar Donetsk	88.0	88.8	88.8	89.0	87.0	88.3	220.89	8
CSKA Moskva	90.0	88.5	88.4	89.0	87.0	88.6	220.61	9
West Ham United	89.0	89.3	88.6	88.0	87.0	88.4	220.60	10
Zenit Saint Petersburg	88.0	88.5	88.8	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.57	11
Liverpool	88.0	89.0	88.4	89.0	85.0	87.9	220.53	12
Augsburg	89.0	88.0	88.2	90.0	86.0	88.2	220.46	13
AS Saint-Etienne	88.0	88.5	88.4	89.0	87.0	88.2	220.37	14
Sampdoria	87.0	87.8	87.8	91.0	84.0	87.5	220.11	15
Hoffenheim	87.0	88.0	88.2	89.0	85.0	87.4	219.45	16
AS Roma	89.0	87.8	88.8	88.0	85.0	87.7	219.32	17
FC Basel	87.0	87.5	88.2	89.0	86.0	87.5	219.17	18
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.0	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.24	19
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	87.8	87.5	87.0	85.0	87.1	217.51	20

Season 25 Division 2 Stats and Facts

Wed, 09 Apr 2025 14:49:02 +0100

Will WBA live up to the hype?

WBA have brought in a number of star players

they sit 3 points higher than last season a massive gain that should see them promoted.

Leverkusen in 2^nd should so long as their keeper holds up gain the 2^nd auto spot, with Genoa also with a weak keeper looking to move into 3^rd. Stoke though may be better placed almost as strong as their rivals but with a better keeper and much more depth, they look up for a good cup run.

There are a good number of top and tail teams such as Internacional, Benfica, Liege, River Plate maybe even Zagreb who will look to avoid the centre of the park and hold off the stronger attacking teams while sneaking in a goal or two. Of those Benfica look to have most options but do lack depth. You would need 225+ to survive D1so other than WBA any other promoted side is likely to be relegated the following season, which I suppose is kind of how things really are.

At time of writing Man Utd and Schalke have totalled their teams in a rebuild, they will get relegated with sides so poor but presumably will do something about it as the season progresses. This may only leave 2 other relegation spots. 221 ish last season left teams vulnerable, since no team has a rubbish attack the weakness at the back for Southampton, Hamburg and especially Galatasaray has to be an issue.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
West Bromwich Albion	91.0	90.0	90.8	91.0	87.0	90.0	225.15	1
Leverkusen	89.0	90.5	91.0	90.0	87.0	89.5	224.82	2
Genoa CFC	88.0	89.8	91.2	90.0	87.0	89.2	224.26	3
Stoke City	90.0	90.0	90.4	90.0	88.0	89.7	224.18	4
SC Internacional	91.0	89.0	90.2	91.0	86.0	89.4	223.75	5
Real Madrid	89.0	88.8	89.8	92.0	86.0	89.1	223.64	6
SL Benfica	93.0	88.8	90.2	90.0	85.0	89.4	223.02	7
Cruzeiro	88.0	89.3	89.2	91.0	85.0	88.5	222.67	8
Standard Liège	93.0	88.5	89.6	90.0	87.0	89.6	222.58	9
Málaga CF	89.0	89.3	89.2	90.0	87.0	88.9	222.38	10
River Plate	90.0	89.0	88.6	90.0	87.0	88.9	221.82	11
Swansea City	88.0	88.5	89.2	90.0	87.0	88.5	221.66	12
Udinese Calcio	89.0	88.8	89.6	89.0	87.0	88.7	221.65	13
Atlético Madrid	89.0	89.5	89.2	89.0	83.0	87.9	221.45	14
Galatasaray SK	87.0	89.0	89.2	89.0	86.0	88.0	221.17	15
Dinamo Zagreb	90.0	88.5	89.0	89.0	87.0	88.7	221.09	16
Hamburg	88.0	88.8	88.8	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.77	17
Southampton	88.0	88.0	88.8	89.0	85.0	87.8	220.01	18
Manchester United	83.0	83.0	85.4	89.0	82.0	84.5	212.37	19
Schalke	84.0	84.3	85.8	86.0	84.0	84.8	212.10	20

Season 25 Division 1 Stats and Facts

Tue, 08 Apr 2025 14:00:19 +0100

Strength or Depth you decide.

Usual preamble: I take the average rating in the 4 main positions, plus the rating of the 18^th highest player. I ignore multiple keepers and can add some human input if the 18^th rated player is far lower or there are odd combos of teams with 5 FC in the top 11…for example. Etot is then calculated from a tried and trusted formula. In case of a tie average is used.

If they can keep it going all season Dortmund have the first eleven to beat Hellas, but Hellas have huge amounts of depth. Both teams are hugely higher rated than the rest. Chelsea in 3^rd place in the stats also lack any kind of depth, maybe now with the 5 subs this is even more of a problem, but on their day, they could challenge the top 2, as potentially could Porto, maybe if they adopt a defensive approach against those 2 sides. Barcelona would fancy a top 5 finish this season with one of the strongest attacking lines in the league. Over performers Leicester probably just need a high rated keeper to achieve even more than last season

Of the promoted sides Villa should thrive in their new surroundings. Milan look set to struggle, as do Spurs. Hertha may well top and tail their way out of trouble. Cologne presumably will find at least an 87 rated keeper otherwise they are as good as relegated.

D1 is slightly weaker 0.1 down from last season.

	Gk	Def	Mid	Att	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Dortmund	92.0	92.5	94.0	96.0	88.0	92.5	233.20	1
Hellas Verona	94.0	92.8	93.0	95.0	90.0	93.0	232.43	2
Chelsea	95.0	93.3	93.0	93.0	82.0	91.3	230.69	3
FC Porto	94.0	92.0	93.4	93.0	87.0	91.9	230.49	4
Barcelona	92.0	91.5	92.0	95.0	88.0	91.7	230.15	5
Leicester City	89.0	92.3	92.6	94.0	85.0	90.6	229.86	6
Juventus	95.0	92.7	92.2	92.0	89.0	92.2	229.83	7
Levante UD	91.0	91.8	92.0	92.0	85.0	90.4	227.92	8
Internazionale	92.0	89.8	91.6	94.0	87.0	90.9	227.66	9
Aston Villa	88.0	90.8	91.8	93.0	86.0	89.9	227.37	10
Bayern	90.0	89.0	90.6	96.0	86.0	90.3	227.20	11
Manchester City	94.0	90.3	91.0	92.0	87.0	90.9	226.52	12
Sporting CP	91.0	91.3	90.6	92.0	86.0	90.2	226.52	13
Arsenal	91.0	90.5	90.2	92.0	86.0	89.9	225.60	14
São Paulo FC	89.0	90.0	91.0	92.0	86.0	89.6	225.60	15
RCD Espanyol	90.0	90.8	90.6	91.0	86.0	89.7	225.35	16
H. Berlin	92.0	89.8	90.0	92.0	88.0	90.4	225.20	17
Tottenham Hotspur	88.0	90.0	89.8	91.0	83.0	88.4	223.51	18
Cologne	84.0	88.8	90.2	91.0	84.0	87.6	222.51	19
AC Milan	89.0	89.3	89.3	89.0	87.0	88.7	221.77	20

Season 24 Division 5 stats and facts review.

Sun, 30 Mar 2025 12:42:14 +0100

Turkish delight, certainly a rose tinted season for Besitkas.

No one could deny Besitkas had a great season finishing 1^st when 10^th place was on the cards at the start of the season. +9 VA is the joint highest in the division along side 3^rd spot Feyenoord who gain auto promotion. Newcastle in 3^rd place in the stats get to the playoffs as do Marseille on +4 VA. Notable positive VA of +6 for Lyon and Napoli showing the progress made this season.

The lowest ranked teams should have been amongst the highest . Torino should have been promoted on -11 VA along with Kazan who had a season to forget. AZ got to the playoffs but unsurprisingly were beaten by a resurgent Marseille. 4 of the 5 lowest ranked teams unsurprising finished in 4 of the 5 lowest places, showing there is a lot still to do. Slow cooked meals are one thing but you have to eat the meal eventually.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Beşiktaş JK	88.0	87.0	87.6	88.0	86.0	87.3	217.76	10	1	9	10.00
Feyenoord	88.0	87.0	87.4	88.0	86.0	87.3	217.60	12	3	9	3.33
Newcastle United	87.0	87.3	88.0	87.0	86.0	87.1	217.51	13	7	6	1.00
Olympique Marseille	88.0	88.3	87.5	87.0	87.0	87.6	218.15	9	5	4	1.00
Olympique Lyonnais	86.0	86.3	87.2	89.0	85.0	86.7	217.13	14	8	6	0.88
SSC Napoli ®	87.0	86.3	88.0	88.0	82.0	86.3	216.88	15	9	6	0.78
Olympiacos ®	88.0	87.3	87.8	89.0	86.0	87.6	218.77	5	4	1	0.50
Dynamo Kyiv	88.0	87.0	87.8	91.0	85.0	87.8	219.75	2	2	0	0.50
FK Partizan	87.0	87.0	87.4	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.83	16	13	3	0.31
Athletic Club	87.0	85.5	86.0	86.0	84.0	85.7	213.62	20	17	3	0.24
Villarreal CF	87.0	87.0	87.2	87.0	85.0	86.6	216.55	17	16	1	0.13
SS Lazio	89.0	87.0	84.6	89.0	82.0	86.3	215.65	18	18	0	0.06
Chievo Verona	88.0	86.5	86.4	87.0	85.0	86.6	215.63	19	20	-1	0.00
Spartak Moskva	87.0	87.5	88.4	88.0	85.0	87.2	218.56	8	10	-2	-0.10
Monchengladbach ®	87.0	87.3	88.2	88.0	88.0	87.7	218.56	7	11	-4	-0.27
PSV	88.0	87.3	87.8	88.0	82.0	86.6	217.64	11	19	-8	-0.37
Independiente	89.0	88.0	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.6	218.88	6	12	-6	-0.42
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	88.5	89.0	91.0	85.0	88.1	221.79	1	6	-5	-0.67
Rubin Kazan ®	88.0	87.3	88.2	89.0	84.0	87.3	218.85	4	15	-11	-0.67
Torino	89.0	88.3	88.6	88.0	85.0	87.8	219.56	3	14	-11	-0.71

Season 24 Division 4 Stats and Facts review

Sun, 30 Mar 2025 12:26:42 +0100

Roma tops the stats just ahead of champs Zenit.

The top 3 in the league table fair a little different in the stats. Roma in 3^rd had a great +7 VA, placing them above the champs Zenit. Augsburg who finished 2^nd actually placed 1 place below expected leaving them a neutral score and 13 in the stats.

Playoff bound St Etienne are 3^rd in the stats, literally just above Sevilla who have the highest VA in the division and just missed out. Credit also to Sassuolo who also had +8 VA and Boca who also avoid relegation on +5 VA. Bremen also had a great season and made the playoffs on + 4 VA.

Twente finish at the wrong end and -11 VA tells a story , in fact 4 playoff potential teams finished in the lowest 4 places with Dynamo Moscow, Stuttgart and Lille having low VA this season Atalanta and Santos were relegated as predicted, joining Bordeaux who were predicted to finish 15^th.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
AS Roma	88.0	87.3	88.2	88.0	83.0	86.9	218.08	10	3	7	2.67
Zenit Saint Petersburg	88.0	88.8	88.6	89.0	85.0	87.9	220.49	2	1	1	2.00
AS Saint-Etienne	88.0	87.3	87.6	88.0	85.0	87.2	217.84	14	7	7	1.14
Sevilla	88.0	87.8	87.4	87.0	86.0	87.2	217.55	16	8	8	1.13
Bremen R	88.0	87.5	88.6	88.0	86.0	87.6	218.96	9	5	4	1.00
US Sassuolo R	88.0	87.0	87.0	88.0	83.0	86.6	216.92	19	11	8	0.82
Boca Juniors	87.0	86.0	88.6	88.0	83.0	86.5	217.28	17	12	5	0.50
Crystal Palace R	88.0	87.5	87.4	90.0	87.0	88.0	219.42	8	6	2	0.50
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	87.5	87.4	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.00	12	10	2	0.30
Santos FC	82.0	87.5	87.4	88.0	84.0	85.8	217.04	18	18	0	0.06
Atalanta BC (PP)	87.0	85.5	86.2	88.0	85.0	86.3	215.20	20	20	0	0.05
Augsburg ©	89.0	88.0	88.6	90.0	87.0	88.5	220.90	1	2	-1	0.00
Ajax	87.0	87.8	88.8	90.0	85.0	87.7	220.38	3	4	-1	0.00
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.5	87.2	88.0	86.0	87.3	217.84	13	16	-3	-0.13
Wolfsburg	88.0	87.0	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.08	11	14	-3	-0.14
Girondins Bordeaux (P)	88.0	88.3	87.4	87.0	84.0	86.9	217.71	15	19	-4	-0.16
Lille OSC R	90.0	87.5	89.2	89.0	86.0	88.3	220.33	4	9	-5	-0.44
Stuttgart	88.0	88.0	87.6	90.0	85.0	87.7	219.74	7	15	-8	-0.47
Dynamo Moskva (P)	87.0	89.3	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.92	5	13	-8	-0.54
FC Twente	88.0	87.8	88.6	89.0	86.0	87.9	219.81	6	17	-11	-0.59

Season 24 Division 3 Stats and facts review.

Sat, 29 Mar 2025 18:06:26 +0100

Saints or sinners?

Southampton do like to be beside the seaside with +13 VA and +7 PVA , they gain auto promotion and top the stats. Liege the champs are 2^nd in the stats with the 2^nd highest PVA just above 3^rd place finishers Galatasaray.

A big VA of +10 for Fiorentina sees them avoid relegation, and +7 for CSKA with +6 for Dnipro are the other big stand out performances this season.

Should have been champs Flamengo are the lowest ranked team in the stats , they didn’t even get to the playoffs. Sunderland slumped to -8 VA and Celtic who should have made the playoff got relegated on -11 VA joining Celta Vigo D4 next season. Has to be concerning that such highly ranked teams who are better by a whole point than any team than the division they drop into should get an easy ride next season..

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Southampton	89.0	87.3	89.0	89.0	85.0	87.9	219.73	15	2	13	7.00
Standard Liège	92.0	88.8	89.6	90.0	87.0	89.5	222.66	3	1	2	3.00
Galatasaray SK (P)	87.0	89.0	89.4	89.0	83.0	87.5	220.97	9	3	6	2.33
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	87.8	87.0	87.0	85.0	87.0	217.11	20	10	10	1.10
CSKA Moskva	88.0	88.8	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.8	219.48	16	9	7	0.89
Udinese ®	88.0	89.3	89.6	89.0	87.0	88.6	221.93	6	4	2	0.75
Valencia CF ®	88.0	89.0	89.0	88.0	87.0	88.2	220.60	10	7	3	0.57
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.0	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.4	217.92	19	13	6	0.54
Hoffenheim	87.0	88.3	88.2	87.0	85.0	87.1	218.35	18	16	2	0.19
FC Basel (PP)	87.0	87.8	88.6	90.0	85.0	87.7	220.22	12	11	1	0.18
Fenerbahçe SK ®	88.0	87.8	89.0	89.0	86.0	88.0	220.13	14	14	0	0.07
West Ham United	89.0	88.5	89.6	90.0	86.0	88.6	221.98	5	6	-1	0.00
AS Monaco (P)	89.0	87.3	88.4	89.0	86.0	87.9	219.37	17	19	-2	-0.05
Club Brugge KV	88.0	87.8	88.4	90.0	85.0	87.8	220.18	13	17	-4	-0.18
Shakhtar Donetsk (P)	89.0	88.5	88.6	89.0	86.0	88.2	220.53	11	15	-4	-0.20
Everton	89.0	89.5	90.0	90.0	88.0	89.3	223.34	2	5	-3	-0.40
Celta Vigo	89.0	86.5	89.0	92.0	86.0	88.5	221.20	8	20	-12	-0.55
Celtic ®	89.0	89.0	88.8	90.0	86.0	88.6	221.74	7	18	-11	-0.56
Sunderland	89.0	89.0	89.6	90.0	85.0	88.5	222.26	4	12	-8	-0.58
CR Flamengo	88.0	89.3	90.4	91.0	87.0	89.1	223.87	1	8	-7	-0.75

Season 24 Division 2 Stats and Facts review.

Sat, 29 Mar 2025 17:44:08 +0100

+16 VA ,+8.5 PVA AC Milan top the stats.

Champs and 2^nd place Villa would normally have headed the stats but Milan’s mighty seasonal rise was too much to beat. Noticable big VA of +7 for Spurs who make the playoffs and Zagreb who just lose out. Cruziero and “relegation fodder “Man Utd also had great seasons and a big VA. However, where there are swings there are roundabouts and the roundabout has turned for a number of teams.

Liverpool had a dire season and somehow got themselves relegated when they could have been promoted , they rightly get the lowest PVA and VA in the division. Genoa still in the playoffs mind you but they and Internacional should have been looking at straight promotion. PSG also had a huge negative VA and found themselves relegated. A much bigger swing than D1. 2 of the 4 predicted relegated team were relegated and had PSG and Liverpool not binned their seasons that would have been 3, still ifs buts and maybes butter no crumpets and those who stay up do so on their merits.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
AC Milan ®	88.0	89.0	88.8	89.0	87.0	88.4	221.09	18	2	16	8.50
Aston Villa	88.0	89.0	90.0	91.0	85.0	88.6	223.11	7	1	6	7.00
Tottenham Hotspur(P)	87.0	88.0	89.2	91.0	87.0	88.4	221.79	14	7	7	1.14
Dinamo Zagreb	90.0	89.0	89.2	89.0	86.0	88.6	221.53	16	9	7	0.89
Cruzeiro(P)	89.0	88.5	89.6	90.0	86.0	88.6	221.98	13	8	5	0.75
H. Berlin ®	91.0	89.0	89.8	92.0	87.0	89.8	224.20	4	3	1	0.67
Manchester United	87.0	88.0	88.0	89.0	82.0	86.8	218.93	20	16	4	0.31
Sampdoria(PP)	87.0	87.8	88.0	89.0	85.0	87.4	219.09	19	17	2	0.18
Atlético Madrid ®	89.0	89.0	89.6	89.0	85.0	88.3	221.61	15	15	0	0.07
Hamburg	87.0	88.8	89.8	90.0	85.0	88.1	221.98	12	13	-1	0.00
River Plate	90.0	88.3	89.6	90.0	87.0	89.0	222.02	10	11	-1	0.00
Stoke City	88.0	90.8	90.2	91.0	88.0	89.6	225.03	3	4	-1	0.00
RSC Anderlecht	90.0	88.5	89.4	89.0	85.0	88.4	221.17	17	20	-3	-0.10
Swansea City	88.0	88.5	88.8	91.0	87.0	88.7	221.99	11	14	-3	-0.14
West Bromwich Albion	91.0	89.0	89.8	90.0	87.0	89.4	222.90	8	12	-4	-0.25
Málaga CF (PC)	89.0	90.0	89.6	90.0	87.0	89.1	223.30	6	10	-4	-0.30
Paris Saint-Germain	88.0	89.5	89.0	90.0	87.0	88.7	222.30	9	19	-10	-0.47
SC Internacional	91.0	89.3	90.0	93.0	86.0	89.9	225.09	2	6	-4	-0.50
Genoa CFC ®	87.0	91.8	91.0	91.0	87.0	89.6	226.23	1	5	-4	-0.60
Liverpool	87.0	90.3	90.2	90.0	85.0	88.5	223.50	5	18	-13	-0.67

Season 24 Division 1 Stats and Facts review.

Sat, 29 Mar 2025 17:20:17 +0100

The best season ever for Leicester , the stats say yes.

For the unitiated: The final stats position is calculated from positional value added: That is the value added with final position taken into account. After all if the 8^th ranked team finishes 2^nd it is more of an achievement than the 19^th ranked team finishing 7^th.

Leicester top the stats in D1 with +3.5 PVA and +6 VA, they just beat the champs Hellas who did all they could to win the title yet again. Espanyol buoyed by Benzema have the highest VA at +12 and are third overall. Man City are the obvious remaining stand out team on +4 VA. No other great performances stand out.

At the wrong end of the table Dortmund have the lowest PVA , the first ranked team finish 5^th. Juventus on -9 VA are the 2^nd lowest ranked finishing a poor 14^th just below fellow Italians Inter. Two of the predicted relegation teams were relegated, and the other two were the 15^th and 16^th ranked team.

	Gk	Def	Mid	Att	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Leicester City	90.0	91.3	92.4	93.0	86.0	90.5	228.49	8	2	6	3.50
Hellas Verona	94.0	92.8	93.0	96.0	89.0	93.0	232.96	2	1	1	2.00
RCD Espanyol	88.0	89.3	88.6	92.0	86.0	88.8	222.96	19	7	12	1.86
Manchester City	94.0	90.5	91.6	92.0	87.0	91.0	227.20	12	8	4	0.63
São Paulo FC	88.0	90.5	92.0	93.0	86.0	89.9	227.33	11	9	2	0.33
FC Porto	94.0	91.5	93.4	96.0	86.0	92.2	231.92	3	3	0	0.33
Arsenal	91.0	90.5	90.8	92.0	86.0	90.1	226.08	13	11	2	0.27
Chelsea	95.0	92.5	92.8	95.0	87.0	92.5	231.83	4	4	0	0.25
Cologne (PP)	88.0	88.5	91.6	91.0	85.0	88.8	223.99	17	15	2	0.20
Bayern	91.0	91.8	91.0	96.0	87.0	91.4	229.96	6	6	0	0.17
Real Madrid	89.0	90.0	90.0	90.0	87.0	89.2	223.62	18	17	1	0.12
Schalke (P)	91.0	88.5	89.6	90.0	87.0	89.2	222.34	20	20	0	0.05
Leverkusen	90.0	90.5	90.8	90.0	87.0	89.7	224.78	16	18	-2	-0.06
Sporting CP (P)	91.0	90.0	90.6	91.0	88.0	90.1	225.11	14	16	-2	-0.06
Levante UD	91.0	91.8	91.4	92.0	86.0	90.4	227.56	10	12	-2	-0.08
SL Benfica	93.0	89.0	89.2	94.0	85.0	90.0	225.02	15	19	-4	-0.16
Barcelona	92.0	91.5	91.6	94.0	87.0	91.2	229.06	7	10	-3	-0.20
Internazionale (PC)	92.0	89.8	91.0	95.0	87.0	91.0	227.83	9	13	-4	-0.23
Juventus	95.0	92.5	92.6	92.0	89.0	92.2	229.96	5	14	-9	-0.57
Dortmund	92.0	92.8	94.2	96.0	87.0	92.4	233.44	1	5	-4	-0.60

Season 24 Division 5 Stats and facts

Sun, 10 Nov 2024 15:00:12 +0100

AZ are 2 points above the rest , who will be 2^nd?

AZ should win D5 and even D4, this should be a walk in the park for them. Kiev and Torino look like solid 2^nd and 3^rd place outfit, Kiev pack a punch upfront, while Torino are more defensive minded.

Around 217.5 would be survival in D4 so as usual in D5 a host of teams could seek promotion or wait a while to build their strength. There is a very narrow range of teams from 5^th place Rubin down to 11^th place Besitkas who will at least for a while have much more bite in their team.

Independiente look the cream of the play off crop with a well balanced team with some depth.

With no relegation there is only the fairly palid sack race to avoid. Athletic club are still being rebuilt , Chievo need to sort out their defence and midfield. Lazio seems to have continued to underperformed despite the youth structure under the previous manager.

Marseille could be a good cup team and may make a late run with all that depth. D5 is slightly weaker than last season.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	88.5	89.0	91.0	85.0	88.1	221.79	1
Dynamo Kyiv	88.0	87.0	87.8	91.0	85.0	87.8	219.75	2
Torino	89.0	88.3	88.6	88.0	85.0	87.8	219.56	3
Rubin Kazan ®	88.0	87.3	88.2	89.0	84.0	87.3	218.85	4
Olympiacos ®	88.0	87.3	87.8	89.0	86.0	87.6	218.77	5
Independiente	89.0	88.0	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.6	218.88	6
Monchengladbach ®	87.0	87.3	88.2	88.0	88.0	87.7	218.56	7
Spartak Moskva	87.0	87.5	88.4	88.0	85.0	87.2	218.56	8
Olympique Marseille	88.0	88.3	87.5	87.0	87.0	87.6	218.15	9
Beşiktaş JK	88.0	87.0	87.6	88.0	86.0	87.3	217.76	10
PSV	88.0	87.3	87.8	88.0	82.0	86.6	217.64	11
Feyenoord	88.0	87.0	87.4	88.0	86.0	87.3	217.60	12
Newcastle United	87.0	87.3	88.0	87.0	86.0	87.1	217.51	13
Olympique Lyonnais	86.0	86.3	87.2	89.0	85.0	86.7	217.13	14
SSC Napoli ®	87.0	86.3	88.0	88.0	82.0	86.3	216.88	15
FK Partizan	87.0	87.0	87.4	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.83	16
Villarreal CF	87.0	87.0	87.2	87.0	85.0	86.6	216.55	17
SS Lazio	89.0	87.0	84.6	89.0	82.0	86.3	215.65	18
Chievo Verona	88.0	86.5	86.4	87.0	85.0	86.6	215.63	19
Athletic Club	87.0	85.5	86.0	86.0	84.0	85.7	213.62	20

Season 24 Division 4 Stats and Facts

Sun, 10 Nov 2024 14:41:17 +0100

Will Augsburg double bounce?

Certainly seems that last the champs from D5 are the clear favourites to win D4. A very strong attack, midfield and plenty of depth should be enough. Zenit are half a point behind but should be confident of at least auto promotion, they can claim a well balanced team that perhaps lacks depth. Their nearest rivals are Ajax and Lille who sit a fair chunk above the rest making an interesting battle for 3 & 4^th. Lille have a potent midfield, attack and keeper so should fancy winning the possession game. Ajax though could do with a better keeper , so I would make Lille the favourites from 3^rd spot.

Around 219.5 should guarantee survival in D3 so any team down to Stuttgart who are the last “playoff” team could survive. They could be the team to spring a surprise into the top 3 with that strong attacking line up.

Down the wrong end of the table while hard to judge from last year 217.5 could be enough to survive.

Boca will fancy their chances , even if they lack a lot of depth, Santos will surely be bringing in a stronger keeper, which would punt them 3 or 4 places higher. Sassuolo won’t fancy double relegation, but can plucky Atalanta 1.7 points adrift survive? Div 4 is around 0.3 weaker than last season

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Augsburg ©	89.0	88.0	88.6	90.0	87.0	88.5	220.90	1
Zenit Saint Petersburg	88.0	88.8	88.6	89.0	85.0	87.9	220.49	2
Ajax	87.0	87.8	88.8	90.0	85.0	87.7	220.38	3
Lille OSC R	90.0	87.5	89.2	89.0	86.0	88.3	220.33	4
Dynamo Moskva (P)	87.0	89.3	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.92	5
FC Twente	88.0	87.8	88.6	89.0	86.0	87.9	219.81	6
Stuttgart	88.0	88.0	87.6	90.0	85.0	87.7	219.74	7
Crystal Palace R	88.0	87.5	87.4	90.0	87.0	88.0	219.42	8
Bremen R	88.0	87.5	88.6	88.0	86.0	87.6	218.96	9
AS Roma	88.0	87.3	88.2	88.0	83.0	86.9	218.08	10
Wolfsburg	88.0	87.0	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.08	11
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	87.5	87.4	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.00	12
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.5	87.2	88.0	86.0	87.3	217.84	13
AS Saint-Etienne	88.0	87.3	87.6	88.0	85.0	87.2	217.84	14
Girondins Bordeaux (P)	88.0	88.3	87.4	87.0	84.0	86.9	217.71	15
Sevilla	88.0	87.8	87.4	87.0	86.0	87.2	217.55	16
Boca Juniors	87.0	86.0	88.6	88.0	83.0	86.5	217.28	17
Santos FC	82.0	87.5	87.4	88.0	84.0	85.8	217.04	18
US Sassuolo R	88.0	87.0	87.0	88.0	83.0	86.6	216.92	19
Atalanta BC (PP)	87.0	85.5	86.2	88.0	85.0	86.3	215.20	20

Season 24 Division 3 Stats and Facts

Sat, 09 Nov 2024 16:04:22 +0100

Flamengo lead the way with Everton hoping to make up ground.

If an 88 rated keeper is good enough for D3 then Flamengo who strongest attack and midfield in D3 are clear favourites to win the league. Everton maybe a little weaker but day in day out they also have more depth. Liege would hope that a potent keeper and striker would keep them in the hunt for the title along with Sunderland who are lacking depth but are a well balanced team. Life looks tough for the promoted teams with on Galatasaray in the top 10. Relegated Udinese and Celtic could hope for the play offs. With D2 being so much weaker 221.2 would give you a chance of survival so 9^th place Celta or above remain realistic prospects.

219 could well be the cut off for relegation this year. This would leave Fiorentina and Dnipro well short of what is needed, more or less similar teams, decent keeper but lacking enough punch in midfield or defence to keep them safe. Hoffenheim have a stronger team but a weaker keeper and do lack in some depth. Everton look like a really strong cup side.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
CR Flamengo	88.0	89.3	90.4	91.0	87.0	89.1	223.87	1
Everton	89.0	89.5	90.0	90.0	88.0	89.3	223.34	2
Standard Liège	92.0	88.8	89.6	90.0	87.0	89.5	222.66	3
Sunderland	89.0	89.0	89.6	90.0	85.0	88.5	222.26	4
West Ham United	89.0	88.5	89.6	90.0	86.0	88.6	221.98	5
Udinese ®	88.0	89.3	89.6	89.0	87.0	88.6	221.93	6
Celtic ®	89.0	89.0	88.8	90.0	86.0	88.6	221.74	7
Celta Vigo	89.0	86.5	89.0	92.0	86.0	88.5	221.20	8
Galatasaray SK (P)	87.0	89.0	89.4	89.0	83.0	87.5	220.97	9
Valencia CF ®	88.0	89.0	89.0	88.0	87.0	88.2	220.60	10
Shakhtar Donetsk (P)	89.0	88.5	88.6	89.0	86.0	88.2	220.53	11
FC Basel (PP)	87.0	87.8	88.6	90.0	85.0	87.7	220.22	12
Club Brugge KV	88.0	87.8	88.4	90.0	85.0	87.8	220.18	13
Fenerbahçe SK ®	88.0	87.8	89.0	89.0	86.0	88.0	220.13	14
Southampton	89.0	87.3	89.0	89.0	85.0	87.9	219.73	15
CSKA Moskva	88.0	88.8	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.8	219.48	16
AS Monaco (P)	89.0	87.3	88.4	89.0	86.0	87.9	219.37	17
Hoffenheim	87.0	88.3	88.2	87.0	85.0	87.1	218.35	18
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.0	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.4	217.92	19
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	87.8	87.0	87.0	85.0	87.0	217.11	20

Season 24 Division 2 Stats and Facts

Sat, 09 Nov 2024 15:39:32 +0100

Genoa lead the stats but will their keeper let them down?

More than a whole rating point above their rivals and leaders in 2 of the stats Genoa have 1 flaw. They should still get promoted back to D1 but not as champions as the stats suggest. Internacional are in my view a more formidable opposition , they top and tail a strong side and just lead Stoke in the stats. Stoke have a great deal of depth and could be a great cup team but maybe need a stronger keeper for D2 standards. That can’t be said about Hertha who again are a clear top and tail team , but with good depth besides.

Promoted Malaga should hope at least for the playoffs, however any team hoping to last in D1 would now need a 224 rating, too tough a task for all but the top 4 in D2 at the moment.

Man Utd look like sure fire relegation fodder by D2 standards they are weak in all areas and look set fair to drop. Joining them most likely will be Sampdoria. An iconic captain and manager will not be enough to save a team 2 pts away from the rest. Normally I would be look at 222 for the cut off point for relegation, that could leave half the teams in the division in trouble , though Milan and Anderlecht do seem to be adrift from the pack above them. 11^th – 14^th are separated by 0.04 points which is nothing, managerial skill will prevail.

Notably the division is 0.5 pts weaker per team on average.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Genoa CFC ®	87.0	91.8	91.0	91.0	87.0	89.6	226.23	1
SC Internacional	91.0	89.3	90.0	93.0	86.0	89.9	225.09	2
Stoke City	88.0	90.8	90.2	91.0	88.0	89.6	225.03	3
H. Berlin ®	91.0	89.0	89.8	92.0	87.0	89.8	224.20	4
Liverpool	87.0	90.3	90.2	90.0	85.0	88.5	223.50	5
Málaga CF (PC)	89.0	90.0	89.6	90.0	87.0	89.1	223.30	6
Aston Villa	88.0	89.0	90.0	91.0	85.0	88.6	223.11	7
West Bromwich Albion	91.0	89.0	89.8	90.0	87.0	89.4	222.90	8
Paris Saint-Germain	88.0	89.5	89.0	90.0	87.0	88.7	222.30	9
River Plate	90.0	88.3	89.6	90.0	87.0	89.0	222.02	10
Swansea City	88.0	88.5	88.8	91.0	87.0	88.7	221.99	11
Hamburg	87.0	88.8	89.8	90.0	85.0	88.1	221.98	12
Cruzeiro(P)	89.0	88.5	89.6	90.0	86.0	88.6	221.98	13
Tottenham Hotspur(P)	87.0	88.0	89.2	91.0	87.0	88.4	221.79	14
Atlético Madrid ®	89.0	89.0	89.6	89.0	85.0	88.3	221.61	15
Dinamo Zagreb	90.0	89.0	89.2	89.0	86.0	88.6	221.53	16
RSC Anderlecht	90.0	88.5	89.4	89.0	85.0	88.4	221.17	17
AC Milan ®	88.0	89.0	88.8	89.0	87.0	88.4	221.09	18
Sampdoria(PP)	87.0	87.8	88.0	89.0	85.0	87.4	219.09	19
Manchester United	87.0	88.0	88.0	89.0	82.0	86.8	218.93	20

Season 24 Division 1 Stats and Facts

Sat, 09 Nov 2024 15:21:16 +0100

Usual blurb for new managers.

All data was gathered at the end of the season , new transfer deals might not be included.

I work out the likely average rating in each position and the lowest rated player in the top 18 excluding multiple keepers. If the lowest player is much lower I apply common sense to not skew that data. This is fed into a formula to produce the ETOT and the expected finishing position.

Dortmund and Verona should be battling it out for the top spot with a clear 1 pt lead over Porto. Both have potent attacks but Hellas benefit maybe more from the excellent keeper. Porto with less depth match Verona in most other areas. Chelsea could maybe do with a stronger midfield to win the title but they have in team options to adjust if they wish. Juventus are swimming in high rated players which is why they just top Bayern the 7^th rated team. Inter are the highest promoted team and should finish mid table. 223 would normally be enough for survival but only 2 teams Espanyol and Schalke fall below that mark. Schalke maybe ok with that decent keeper. Espanyol on the other hand hope their strong attack can score more than they let in but with a weaker midfield they look favourite to drop. Cologne lack serious depth and despite and good midfield attack combo they are really weak at the back.

Juventus should win the cups with Sporting also in with a chance.

As a whole the division in 0.25 points higher rated than this year.

	Gk	Def	Mid	Att	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Dortmund	92.0	92.8	94.2	96.0	87.0	92.4	233.44	1
Hellas Verona	94.0	92.8	93.0	96.0	89.0	93.0	232.96	2
FC Porto	94.0	91.5	93.4	96.0	86.0	92.2	231.92	3
Chelsea	95.0	92.5	92.8	95.0	87.0	92.5	231.83	4
Juventus	95.0	92.5	92.6	92.0	89.0	92.2	229.96	5
Bayern	91.0	91.8	91.0	96.0	87.0	91.4	229.96	6
Barcelona	92.0	91.5	91.6	94.0	87.0	91.2	229.06	7
Leicester City	90.0	91.3	92.4	93.0	86.0	90.5	228.49	8
Internazionale (PC)	92.0	89.8	91.0	95.0	87.0	91.0	227.83	9
Levante UD	91.0	91.8	91.4	92.0	86.0	90.4	227.56	10
São Paulo FC	88.0	90.5	92.0	93.0	86.0	89.9	227.33	11
Manchester City	94.0	90.5	91.6	92.0	87.0	91.0	227.20	12
Arsenal	91.0	90.5	90.8	92.0	86.0	90.1	226.08	13
Sporting CP (P)	91.0	90.0	90.6	91.0	88.0	90.1	225.11	14
SL Benfica	93.0	89.0	89.2	94.0	85.0	90.0	225.02	15
Leverkusen	90.0	90.5	90.8	90.0	87.0	89.7	224.78	16
Cologne (PP)	88.0	88.5	91.6	91.0	85.0	88.8	223.99	17
Real Madrid	89.0	90.0	90.0	90.0	87.0	89.2	223.62	18
RCD Espanyol	88.0	89.3	88.6	92.0	86.0	88.8	222.96	19
Schalke (P)	91.0	88.5	89.6	90.0	87.0	89.2	222.34	20

Season 23 Division 5 Stats and Facts review.

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 14:40:56 +0100

Augsburg rise from the ashes.

+4 VA and a promotion.

Always good to see a return to form and that is what Augsburg have achieved just besting real life 2^nd place Dynamo Moscow on +7 VA.

Atalanta have +13 VA and well deserve a play off spot. Big shout outs to Feyeboord +10VA , Lyon +8 VA also in the playoff and the +11 of Partizan.

It all went wrong for Lazio , should have won the league but on -15VA a dismal performance. Fellow potential high flyers AZ an Independiente suffered the same fate

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Atalanta BC (R)	88.0	86.5	86.4	88.0	86.0	87.0	216.40	17	4	13	3.50
Athletic Club	87.0	86.3	86.4	85.0	84.0	85.7	213.89	20	20	0	0.05
Augsburg (R)	89.0	88.0	88.0	88.0	87.0	88.0	219.12	5	1	4	5.00
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	88.0	89.0	90.0	84.0	87.6	220.62	2	10	-8	-0.70
Beşiktaş JK	88.0	87.0	87.2	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.32	11	7	4	0.71
Chievo Verona	88.0	87.0	86.8	88.0	83.0	86.6	216.76	15	19	-4	-0.16
Dynamo Kyiv	86.0	87.0	87.8	89.0	85.0	87.0	218.21	10	9	1	0.22
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	87.0	88.6	88.0	85.0	87.1	218.32	9	2	7	4.00
Feyenoord	88.0	87.0	87.0	87.0	86.0	87.0	216.63	16	6	10	1.83
FK Partizan	87.0	85.8	87.6	87.0	84.0	86.3	215.75	19	8	11	1.50
Girondins Bordeaux	88.0	87.3	87.2	91.0	84.0	87.5	219.35	4	3	1	0.67
Independiente	89.0	88.5	87.4	90.0	84.0	87.8	219.74	3	12	-9	-0.67
Newcastle United	87.0	87.0	86.6	87.0	86.0	86.7	216.19	18	11	7	0.73
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	86.3	87.2	89.0	85.0	86.9	217.25	13	5	8	1.80
Olympique Marseille	88.0	87.8	87.2	87.0	85.0	87.0	217.27	12	17	-5	-0.24
PSV (R)	88.0	87.5	88.0	89.0	85.0	87.5	219.01	6	14	-8	-0.50
Spartak Moskva	87.0	87.5	88.4	88.0	85.0	87.2	218.56	8	13	-5	-0.31
SS Lazio	89.0	88.8	89.3	89.0	85.0	88.2	221.13	1	16	-15	-0.88
Torino (R)	89.0	87.5	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.7	218.76	7	15	-8	-0.47
Villarreal CF	87.0	87.8	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.99	14	18	-4	-0.17

Season 23 Division 4 Stats and Facts review

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 14:10:37 +0100

Playoff bound Montpellier lead the stats.

+12 VA the highest in the league, a great achievement for Montpellier.

Promoted Monaco with +4 VA come 2^nd in the stats , just above Boca on +8 VA. Think I was a little harsh on myself in the newsfeed as +9 VA and 4^th in the stats is a good performance for Sevilla, though Lokomotivs 20^th to 10^th could match that on +10VA.

Ajax on -10VA who should have been in the playoffs were last in the stats , above Stuttgart who should have come 2^nd and relegated Rubin.

Again some big variance in D4 , although it is often a bit mad.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.0	87.2	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.32	16	4	12	3.25
AS Monaco	89.0	86.8	88.8	90.0	86.0	88.1	219.94	7	3	4	1.67
Boca Juniors (P)	87.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	83.0	86.7	217.84	14	6	8	1.50
SEVILLA	88.0	87.0	87.6	87.0	86.0	87.1	217.11	18	9	9	1.11
Lokomotiv Moskva	87.0	87.0	87.0	88.0	80.0	85.8	216.44	20	10	10	1.10
Shakhtar Donetsk (PC)	87.0	88.8	88.8	89.0	87.0	88.1	220.77	3	2	1	1.00
Galatasaray SK (R)	88.0	89.0	89.4	90.0	86.0	88.5	222.10	1	1	0	1.00
FC Twente (R)	88.0	87.8	88.6	89.0	87.0	88.1	219.93	8	5	3	0.80
Wolfsburg	88.0	86.5	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.1	217.40	15	11	4	0.45
AS Saint-Etienne	87.0	87.3	87.2	88.0	84.0	86.7	217.28	17	16	1	0.13
AS Roma	88.0	87.8	87.2	88.0	85.0	87.2	217.92	13	13	0	0.08
SSC Napoli	88.0	86.3	87.2	88.0	84.0	86.7	216.60	19	20	-1	0.00
Santos FC	87.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.40	12	15	-3	-0.13
FC Basel (PP)	87.0	88.3	88.2	90.0	85.0	87.7	220.30	5	7	-2	-0.14
Monchengladbach (R)	87.0	87.3	88.4	89.0	85.0	87.3	219.01	10	17	-7	-0.35
Olympiacos	88.0	87.3	87.6	89.0	86.0	87.6	218.61	11	19	-8	-0.37
Zenit Saint Petersburg	88.0	88.0	88.6	89.0	86.0	87.9	220.01	6	12	-6	-0.42
Rubin Kazan (P)	88.0	87.3	88.4	89.0	84.0	87.3	219.01	9	18	-9	-0.44
Stuttgart (R)	88.0	88.3	88.2	91.0	85.0	88.1	221.07	2	8	-6	-0.63
Ajax	89.0	88.3	89.0	89.0	84.0	87.9	220.41	4	14	-10	-0.64

Season 23 Division 3 Stats and Facts

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 13:20:45 +0100

Season 23 Division 3 Stats and Facts.

Firstly sorry for doing this again but SM decided to rename a couple of teams so they didn’t copy and paste correctly.

Malaga are the well deserved champions of D3 , a similar VA to Cruziero but one place higher in the league, both with well deserved promotions. Sampdoria sit third in the stats , honouring their leader Mr Ballotell. Good to see Fiorentina avoiding relegation the other notable VA gain. Worst performer were Everton but they can still find redemption via the playoffs .

Bremen have the lowest VA of -12 with Palace and Liege being the notable underperformers along with relegated Lille

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Málaga CF	89.0	88.8	89.2	89.0	86.0	88.3	221.21	8	1	7	8.00
Cruzeiro	89.0	88.8	89.2	89.0	85.0	87.4	221.09	9	2	7	4.00
Sampdoria	87.0	87.3	87.4	88.0	83.0	86.7	217.32	18	5	13	2.80
ACF Fiorentina (P)	88.0	87.5	87.2	87.0	85.0	87.6	217.07	20	9	11	1.33
Tottenham Hotspur	88.0	88.3	89.4	90.0	86.0	87.9	221.50	5	3	2	1.00
Southampton (R)	89.0	88.0	88.8	89.0	83.0	87.4	219.93	10	8	2	0.38
Celta Vigo (R)	88.0	87.3	87.0	89.0	85.0	86.9	218.01	17	14	3	0.29
US Sassuolo	88.0	87.3	87.4	88.0	82.0	87.0	217.32	19	17	2	0.18
Hoffenheim	88.0	87.5	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.5	218.48	16	15	1	0.13
Club Brugge KV (PC)	88.0	88.0	88.6	89.0	84.0	87.5	219.77	11	12	-1	0.00
CSKA Moskva (P)	86.0	88.3	88.8	88.0	86.0	87.5	219.48	12	13	-1	0.00
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.8	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.8	218.84	15	16	-1	0.00
Lille OSC (PP)	90.0	86.8	88.8	89.0	85.0	88.2	219.29	13	18	-5	-0.22
Sunderland	89.0	89.5	89.8	89.0	85.0	88.1	222.17	2	4	-2	-0.25
Crystal Palace	88.0	87.0	87.4	90.0	86.0	87.9	218.90	14	20	-6	-0.25
Flamengo	88.0	88.8	90.2	89.0	85.0	88.2	221.77	4	7	-3	-0.29
West Ham United	89.0	88.3	89.2	90.0	85.0	88.2	221.34	6	11	-5	-0.36
Bremen (R)	88.0	89.3	88.2	90.0	85.0	88.5	221.22	7	19	-12	-0.58
Standard Liège	91.0	89.0	88.6	90.0	86.0	88.9	221.82	3	10	-7	-0.60
Everton (R)	89.0	89.0	90.2	89.0	87.0	88.8	222.33	1	6	-5	-0.67

Season 23 Division 2 Stats and facts review.

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 13:06:34 +0100

Swansea promoted last season head the stats this season.

+12VA and a playoff spot sees Swansea beat 2^nd place team Schalke who had +4VA . River Plate had a remarkable season , relegation candidates or so it seemed but they make the playoffs with a remarkable +13VA. Division 2 seems to have been much affected by the comings and goings mid season. Cologne on +9VA and Villa on +8 really pushed on this season.

Stoke were the big underperforming team on -9 VA , just worse than PSG with Fenerbache just above them. Valencia suffer their 2^nd relegation in a row on -7VA.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Swansea City (PC)	88.0	88.5	88.8	91.0	86.0	88.5	221.87	16	4	12	3.25
Schalke	89.0	89.5	89.8	91.0	86.0	89.1	223.59	6	2	4	2.50
River Plate	90.0	87.8	89.2	89.0	86.0	88.4	220.53	20	7	13	2.00
Cologne	89.0	88.5	89.8	90.0	84.0	88.3	221.90	15	6	9	1.67
Internazionale (P)	91.0	90.5	90.8	94.0	87.0	90.7	227.50	1	1	0	1.00
Aston Villa (R)	88.0	88.8	89.4	90.0	85.0	88.2	221.78	18	10	8	0.90
West Bromwich Albion	91.0	89.0	88.8	90.0	85.0	88.8	221.86	17	12	5	0.50
Dinamo Zagreb (P)	89.0	89.3	88.8	91.0	85.0	88.6	222.47	11	8	3	0.50
RSC Anderlecht	90.0	89.8	89.6	89.0	85.0	88.7	222.33	12	11	1	0.18
Celtic	89.0	89.0	89.0	89.0	85.0	88.2	221.13	19	18	1	0.11
Sporting CP	90.0	89.8	90.6	92.0	86.0	89.7	225.20	2	3	-1	0.00
SC Internacional	90.0	89.3	89.8	93.0	87.0	89.8	224.93	3	5	-2	-0.20
Udinese Calcio	88.0	89.3	89.6	89.0	87.0	88.6	221.93	14	19	-5	-0.21
Manchester United (R)	89.0	89.8	89.0	90.0	86.0	88.8	222.50	10	15	-5	-0.27
Valencia CF (R)	88.0	89.5	89.4	89.0	87.0	88.6	221.97	13	20	-7	-0.30
Liverpool	88.0	90.3	90.0	91.0	86.0	89.1	224.23	5	9	-4	-0.33
Hamburg (PP)	92.0	88.0	89.2	92.0	85.0	89.2	222.80	8	14	-6	-0.36
Fenerbahçe SK (R)	88.0	89.3	89.8	90.0	87.0	88.8	222.74	9	17	-8	-0.41
Paris Saint-Germain	88.0	89.8	89.4	90.0	87.0	88.8	222.82	7	16	-9	-0.50
Stoke City	90.0	89.8	90.2	91.0	86.0	89.4	224.23	4	13	-9	-0.62

Season 23 Division 1 Stats and fact review

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 12:51:22 +0100

Barcelona resurgence sees them top of the stats but is this fair?

Usual blurb: Teams are ranked by positional value added. This is basically the value added +1 divided by the finishing position. That way higher ranked teams can still rank highly in the stats.

Barca have a PVA of +2.33 and the highest VA of +6 in the league , they beat Hellas who still got a +2 VA and dominated the league. Arsenal on +4 VA were 3^rd in the stats with Levante and Espanyol on +5 VA being notable over achievers. Lowest ranked in the stats were the surprising relegated Genoa with -7 VA , Man City and Juventus had -4VA.

Two potential relegation candidates avoided the drop in Leverkusen and Espanyol.

	Gk	Def	Mid	Att	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Barcelona	92.0	91.0	91.8	93.0	85.0	90.6	227.93	9	3	6	2.33
Hellas Verona (C)	94.0	92.0	93.0	96.0	89.0	92.8	232.36	2	1	1	2.00
Arsenal	90.0	91.3	91.0	92.0	86.0	90.1	226.72	12	8	4	0.63
São Paulo FC	89.0	90.0	92.0	93.0	86.0	90.0	227.05	10	7	3	0.57
Levante UD (P)	90.0	90.5	89.8	91.0	86.0	89.5	224.51	16	11	5	0.55
RCD Espanyol	87.0	88.5	90.0	92.0	85.0	88.5	223.24	18	13	5	0.46
AC Milan (P)	88.0	88.8	88.6	89.0	87.0	88.3	220.73	20	17	3	0.24
Bayern	91.0	92.8	90.8	96.0	86.0	91.3	230.48	5	5	0	0.20
Leverkusen	90.0	90.5	90.4	90.0	87.0	89.6	224.46	17	16	1	0.13
Dortmund	92.0	92.8	94.0	95.0	87.0	92.2	232.63	1	2	-1	0.00
FC Porto	94.0	91.0	93.2	96.0	86.0	92.0	231.36	3	4	-1	0.00
H. Berlin (PL)	90.0	88.5	89.6	91.0	85.0	88.8	222.63	19	20	-1	0.00
Real Madrid	89.0	90.3	91.2	92.0	87.0	89.9	226.08	14	15	-1	0.00
SL Benfica	93.0	89.8	90.0	94.0	85.0	90.4	226.26	13	14	-1	0.00
Leicester City	90.0	90.0	91.8	95.0	85.0	90.4	228.19	7	9	-2	-0.11
Atlético Madrid	91.0	89.5	89.2	94.0	85.0	89.7	225.18	15	19	-4	-0.16
Chelsea	95.0	92.0	92.4	95.0	82.0	91.3	230.51	4	6	-2	-0.17
Manchester City (PC)	94.0	90.8	92.0	93.0	85.0	91.0	228.13	8	12	-4	-0.25
Juventus	95.0	92.8	92.6	92.0	89.0	92.3	230.16	6	10	-4	-0.30
Genoa CFC	90.0	90.0	92.4	92.0	87.0	90.3	226.96	11	18	-7	-0.33

Season 23 Power Rankings

Mon, 17 Jun 2024 16:35:47 +0100

This post comes with the usual caveats: it's for fun, we're on the verge of rating updates so this is a point in time look at power rankings. And a shout out to Malcolm on whose data this is based. Over time, I do think it reflects a manager's impact on the team - which managers can improve their teams v. which sink them or abandon ship to new pastures. The top 5s are comparing last season to this season, and season 20 to now (since that's when I joined - I think) Without further ado...

Biggest Risers (Season 22 to 23)

Twente
Shakhtar
Basel
Stuttgart
PSV

Biggest Risers (Season 20 to 23)

Lazio
Shakhtar
Basel
Cologne
PSV/Espanyol

Biggest Fallers (Season 22 to 23)

Celta Vigo (by far!)
Crystal Palace
Sampdoria
Lokomotiv Moskva
Flamengo

Biggest Fallers (Season 20 to 23)

Feyenoord
Ajax
Sassuolo
Atalanta / Wolfsburg / Southampton

Division 4 Season 23 Stats and Facts

Sat, 15 Jun 2024 12:47:12 +0100

Will relegated and promoted sides dominate as predicted?

Relegated Galatasaray are a strong all round side no real weakness and sufficient depth with a 90 rated attack. Fellow relegated Stuttgart should make a quick return with a slightly stronger attack but weaker midfield. Shakhtar continue their renaissance and perhaps are a keeper away from the title.

Ajax flatter to deceive so often recently they have a great keeper for the division they are in but lack depth. Promoted Basel go all out attack but do lack some strength. Monaco are the division top and tail team of the division who sit below Zenit who are much more balanced.

218.5 is the limit to survive D3 so any team down to Santos could aim for auto promotion.

Last season was mad but around 217 would be a limit to relegation. This would leave Lokomotiv Moscow who are rebuilding but have no depth and Napoli in desperate trouble. Any team up to Roma will look to improve to pull out of the lowest 4. Up for the cup ? well Twente and Shakhtar look best equipped to progress a round or 2 or even 3.

Division 4 is substantially tougher on average at +-.6 across the board.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT
Galatasaray SK (R)	88.0	89.0	89.4	90.0	86.0	88.5	222.10
Stuttgart (R)	88.0	88.3	88.2	91.0	85.0	88.1	221.07
Shakhtar Donetsk (PC)	87.0	88.8	88.8	89.0	87.0	88.1	220.77
Ajax	89.0	88.3	89.0	89.0	84.0	87.9	220.41
FC Basel (PP)	87.0	88.3	88.2	90.0	85.0	87.7	220.30
Zenit Saint Petersburg	88.0	88.0	88.6	89.0	86.0	87.9	220.01
AS Monaco	89.0	86.8	88.8	90.0	86.0	88.1	219.94
FC Twente (R)	88.0	87.8	88.6	89.0	87.0	88.1	219.93
Rubin Kazan (P)	88.0	87.3	88.4	89.0	84.0	87.3	219.01
Monchengladbach (R)	87.0	87.3	88.4	89.0	85.0	87.3	219.01
Olympiacos	88.0	87.3	87.6	89.0	86.0	87.6	218.61
Santos FC	87.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.40
AS Roma	88.0	87.8	87.2	88.0	85.0	87.2	217.92
Boca Juniors (P)	87.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	83.0	86.7	217.84
Wolfsburg	88.0	86.5	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.1	217.40
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.0	87.2	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.32
AS Saint-Etienne	87.0	87.3	87.2	88.0	84.0	86.7	217.28
SEVILLA	88.0	87.0	87.6	87.0	86.0	87.1	217.11
SSC Napoli	88.0	86.3	87.2	88.0	84.0	86.7	216.60
Lokomotiv Moskva	87.0	87.0	87.0	88.0	80.0	85.8	216.44

Division 3 Season 23 Stats and Facts

Fri, 14 Jun 2024 14:18:29 +0100

Everton favourites to return to D2

No team is massively better than the rest in this division. Everton have the joint best midfield in the league and are solid throughout with stacks of depth. Sunderland in second, are a bit weaker in midfield and lack a little depth compared to their rivals. Liege are a classic top and tail team, a 91 rated attacker can wreak havoc with no other team having a keeper to match. Flamengo can match Everton in midfield and have a broadly similar team to them.

A rating of 222 is needed to survive D2 which perhaps shows how D2 has moved on recently with D3 dropping half a point across the board. Tottenham, West Ham , and Bremen can all use a 90 rated attacker and any or all can challenge for the playoff but would they simply return to sender ?

Everton look best set for a cup run, with Dnipro and Hoffenheim fancying their chances.

218.8 was the relegation cut off last season but with the division being weaker we can assume Dnipro should survive. The 3 Italian teams seem to be in the most trouble. Fiorentina promoted but no real strengths, Sassuolo stronger but no depth at all with Sampdoria in a similar position. Celta seem to be rebuilding but they have a decent attack better than Hoffenheim who rank above them.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Everton (R)	89.0	89.0	90.2	89.0	87.0	88.7	222.33	1
Sunderland	89.0	89.5	89.8	89.0	85.0	88.7	222.17	2
Standard Liège	91.0	89.0	88.6	90.0	86.0	88.6	221.82	3
Flamengo	88.0	88.8	90.2	89.0	85.0	88.3	221.77	4
Tottenham Hotspur	88.0	88.3	89.4	90.0	86.0	88.3	221.50	5
West Ham United	89.0	88.3	89.2	90.0	85.0	88.2	221.34	6
Bremen (R)	88.0	89.3	88.2	90.0	85.0	88.2	221.22	7
Málaga CF	89.0	88.8	89.2	89.0	86.0	88.3	221.21	8
Cruzeiro	89.0	88.8	89.2	89.0	85.0	87.9	221.09	9
Southampton (R)	89.0	88.0	88.8	89.0	83.0	87.5	219.93	10
Club Brugge KV (PC)	88.0	88.0	88.6	89.0	84.0	87.5	219.77	11
CSKA Moskva (P)	86.0	88.3	88.8	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.48	12
Lille OSC (PP)	90.0	86.8	88.8	89.0	85.0	87.8	219.29	13
Crystal Palace	88.0	87.0	87.4	90.0	86.0	87.6	218.90	14
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.8	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.5	218.84	15
Hoffenheim	88.0	87.5	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.48	16
Celta Vigo (R)	88.0	87.3	87.0	89.0	85.0	86.9	218.01	17
Sampdoria	87.0	87.3	87.4	88.0	83.0	86.5	217.32	18
US Sassuolo	88.0	87.3	87.4	88.0	82.0	86.7	217.32	19
ACF Fiorentina (P)	88.0	87.5	87.2	87.0	85.0	86.9	217.07	20

Division 2 Season 23 Stats and Facts

Fri, 14 Jun 2024 10:55:16 +0100

Will Inter double bounce?

Interestingly Inter are the only promoted or relegated club to feature in the play off positions or better. They should be mid table D1 and winning as champions is the minimum the fans expect.

Second in the stats are Sporting good attack and keeper, pehaps defence is the only weakness. Internacional are stronger up front but a little weaker still in midfield and defence. Stoke are a more balanced side but do lack the depth of some of their contenders.

Liverpool are the highest rated side with a sub 90 rated keeper, perhaps they could lose something to pick one up . Schalke will be hoping their strong attack keeps them in the playoff spots. You probably need 224.5 to survive D1 atm so if any of the other teams get promoted they will head back down again the next season.

Fenerbache, Valencia and Udinese should perform well in the cup.

220.5 or less would be around the cut off for relegation from D2 normally but the gap between the best and worst has narrowed considerably and the standard of the division is up around 0.2 on average. This leads to River Plate as being the only solid relegation candidates They have a good keeper but an weak defence needs reinforcements. Celtic are well balanced but lack depth , they could falter as the season goes on. Villa in a similar vein could double drop . WBA go for the top and tail which could keep them safe in what is likely to very tight with 7 team around about the 221 ranking and 6 more at around 222. In reality that means 13 teams with 1 or 2 rating points difference in the starting eleven. Management skill, form and luck will play a huge part in D2.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Internazionale (P)	91.0	90.5	90.8	94.0	87.0	90.7	227.50	1
Sporting CP	90.0	89.8	90.6	92.0	86.0	89.7	225.20	2
SC Internacional	90.0	89.3	89.8	93.0	87.0	89.8	224.93	3
Stoke City	90.0	89.8	90.2	91.0	86.0	89.4	224.23	4
Liverpool	88.0	90.3	90.0	91.0	86.0	89.1	224.23	5
Schalke	89.0	89.5	89.8	91.0	86.0	89.1	223.59	6
Paris Saint-Germain	88.0	89.8	89.4	90.0	87.0	88.8	222.82	7
Hamburg (PP)	92.0	88.0	89.2	92.0	85.0	89.2	222.80	8
Fenerbahçe SK (R)	88.0	89.3	89.8	90.0	87.0	88.8	222.74	9
Manchester United (R)	89.0	89.8	89.0	90.0	86.0	88.8	222.50	10
Dinamo Zagreb (P)	89.0	89.3	88.8	91.0	85.0	88.6	222.47	11
RSC Anderlecht	90.0	89.8	89.6	89.0	85.0	88.7	222.33	12
Valencia CF (R)	88.0	89.5	89.4	89.0	87.0	88.6	221.97	13
Udinese Calcio	88.0	89.3	89.6	89.0	87.0	88.6	221.93	14
Cologne	89.0	88.5	89.8	90.0	84.0	88.3	221.90	15
Swansea City (PC)	88.0	88.5	88.8	91.0	86.0	88.5	221.87	16
West Bromwich Albion	91.0	89.0	88.8	90.0	85.0	88.8	221.86	17
Aston Villa (R)	88.0	88.8	89.4	90.0	85.0	88.2	221.78	18
Celtic	89.0	89.0	89.0	89.0	85.0	88.2	221.13	19
River Plate	90.0	87.8	89.2	89.0	86.0	88.4	220.53	20

Division 5 Season 23 Stats and Facts

Wed, 12 Jun 2024 13:59:12 +0100

Many years in the making Lazio top the stats, can the now walk the walk…

The Lazio fans won’t accept any more excuses, they now have a well-balanced team ranked above any other in the league. AZ have the most potent attack in the league and they will combine that with a good midfield to “score one more than you”.

Independiente go for the top and tail approach hoping the lack of possession won’t really matter as they can score and hopefully the opposition can’t. Bordeaux has an even stronger attack and rated 2 more than any keeper surely, they must top the goals for account this season. Augsburg inherit vast amounts of depth which should see them good for the season. Torino will fancy their chances with good depth and a well-balanced squad. To survive in the division higher you would need 217 ish so as far down as Lyon could get into the playoffs.

At the wrong end just to avoid the sack race is the main ambition. Athletic club and FK are rebuilding. Atalanta should finish a bit higher; Newcastle just needs to buff up the midfield a little.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
SS Lazio	89.0	88.8	89.3	89.0	85.0	88.2	221.13	1
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	88.0	89.0	90.0	84.0	87.6	220.62	2
Independiente	89.0	88.5	87.4	90.0	84.0	87.8	219.98	3
Girondins Bordeaux	88.0	87.3	87.2	91.0	84.0	87.5	219.35	4
Augsburg (R)	89.0	88.0	88.0	88.0	87.0	88.0	219.12	5
PSV (R)	88.0	87.5	88.0	89.0	85.0	87.5	219.01	6
Torino (R)	89.0	87.5	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.7	218.76	7
Spartak Moskva	87.0	87.5	88.4	88.0	85.0	87.2	218.56	8
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	87.0	88.6	88.0	85.0	87.1	218.32	9
Dynamo Kyiv	86.0	87.0	87.8	89.0	85.0	87.0	218.21	10
Beşiktaş JK	88.0	87.0	87.2	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.32	11
Olympique Marseille	88.0	87.8	87.2	87.0	85.0	87.0	217.27	12
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	86.3	87.2	89.0	85.0	86.9	217.25	13
Villarreal CF	87.0	87.8	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.99	14
Chievo Verona	88.0	87.0	86.8	88.0	83.0	86.6	216.76	15
Feyenoord	88.0	87.0	87.0	87.0	86.0	87.0	216.63	16
Atalanta BC (R)	88.0	86.5	86.4	88.0	86.0	87.0	216.40	17
Newcastle United	87.0	87.0	86.6	87.0	86.0	86.7	216.19	18
FK Partizan	87.0	85.8	87.6	87.0	84.0	86.3	215.75	19
Athletic Club	87.0	86.3	86.4	85.0	84.0	85.7	213.89	20

Division 1 Season 23 Stats and Facts.

Tue, 11 Jun 2024 13:28:29 +0100

Usual explanations here:

Will Dortmund overcome Hellas?

I use the average rating in Gk, Def, Mid, Att using the best formation, I include the lowest ranked top 18 player who is likely to play and work out an average. Then using a magic formula developed in the early days of T100 the ETOT the estimated total rating of the team.

Teams are then ranked best to worst.

After a great season the top and tail approach of Hellas seems to work better than the all-round strength of Dortmund. Second ranked Dortmund probably would be after a higher rated keeper, not that 92 is bad to round out their team and also more depth. Other than defence Porto in 3^rd can match Hellas. Chelsea in 3^rd is another similar team but depth is lacking this season.

The other two main contender above 230 are Bayern and Juventus. Juventus maybe not good enough up top, Bayern lack a great keeper and with a lesser midfield that could be a problem.

That leaves a sizeable gap to the rest the Old Boys of Manchester perhaps have 1 or 2 seasons to tilt at the title. Genoa could be a dark horse with the depth in their squad.

Last season 224 or less meant relegation issues. As it stands AC Milan are as good as relegated, they desperately need a keeper and a 90+ striker. Hertha’s main weakness is defence, Espanyol are playing a waiting game on some risers. That leaves one final dropper spot. Levante look most vulnerable with a risk of really low possession and a weak keeper for the league they are in. Juventus & Hellas could be great cup teams as could Genoa, Real Madrid and Leverkeusen.

	Gk	Def	Mid	Att	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Dortmund	92.0	92.8	94.0	95.0	87.0	92.2	232.63	1
Hellas Verona (C)	94.0	92.0	93.0	96.0	89.0	92.8	232.36	2
FC Porto	94.0	91.0	93.2	96.0	86.0	92.0	231.36	3
Chelsea	95.0	92.0	92.4	95.0	82.0	91.3	230.51	4
Bayern	91.0	92.8	90.8	96.0	86.0	91.3	230.48	5
Juventus	95.0	92.8	92.6	92.0	89.0	92.3	230.16	6
Leicester City	90.0	90.0	91.8	95.0	85.0	90.4	228.19	7
Manchester City (PC)	94.0	90.8	92.0	93.0	85.0	91.0	228.13	8
Barcelona	92.0	91.0	91.8	93.0	85.0	90.6	227.93	9
São Paulo FC	89.0	90.0	92.0	93.0	86.0	90.0	227.05	10
Genoa CFC	90.0	90.0	92.4	92.0	87.0	90.3	226.96	11
Arsenal	90.0	91.3	91.0	92.0	86.0	90.1	226.72	12
SL Benfica	93.0	89.8	90.0	94.0	85.0	90.4	226.26	13
Real Madrid	89.0	90.3	91.2	92.0	87.0	89.9	226.08	14
Atlético Madrid	91.0	89.5	89.2	94.0	85.0	89.7	225.18	15
Levante UD (P)	90.0	90.5	89.8	91.0	86.0	89.5	224.51	16
Leverkusen	90.0	90.5	90.4	90.0	87.0	89.6	224.46	17
RCD Espanyol	87.0	88.5	90.0	92.0	85.0	88.5	223.24	18
H. Berlin (PL)	90.0	88.5	89.6	91.0	85.0	88.8	222.63	19
AC Milan (P)	88.0	88.8	88.6	89.0	87.0	88.3	220.73	20

Division 5 Season 22 Stats and fact review

Sat, 08 Jun 2024 11:59:51 +0100

Shaktar +11 VA and +12 PVA win the title.

It would be hard to deny that Shaktar have the performance of the year in D5, fellow promoted teams Boca and Rubin sit 2^nd and 3^rd in the stats.

4 more teams have +6 VA, Basel, Villareal, Newcastle and Athletic club showing great managerial talent. Lower down the league Lazio finish as the lowest rated team -13 VA , with Bordeaux who should have finished 2^nd on -8 VA and Independiente on -5 VA. Spartak and Dynamo Moscow both have -10VA.

In this division none of the top 3 finished in the top 3 and only Lyon of the lowest 5 finished in the lowest 5 showing that a quick turn around in D5 is easily possible.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Shakhtar Donetsk	87.0	87.8	87.6	87.0	83.0	86.5	217.23	12	1	11	12.00
Boca Juniors	88.0	86.3	88.6	88.0	83.0	86.8	217.60	9	3	6	2.33
Rubin Kazan	88.0	87.3	88.4	89.0	84.0	87.3	219.01	5	2	3	2.00
FC Basel	87.0	87.8	87.2	87.0	85.0	86.8	217.15	13	7	6	1.00
Villarreal CF	86.0	87.5	87.2	87.0	85.0	86.5	216.83	14	8	6	0.88
Newcastle United	87.0	87.0	86.8	87.0	85.0	86.6	216.23	17	11	6	0.64
Dynamo Kyiv	86.0	87.0	87.4	89.0	86.0	87.1	218.01	7	5	2	0.60
Athletic Club	87.0	86.0	86.6	87.0	84.0	86.1	215.15	20	14	6	0.50
Feyenoord	88.0	86.3	86.8	88.0	86.0	87.0	216.52	16	13	3	0.31
FK Partizan	87.0	85.5	87.0	89.0	82.0	86.1	216.13	18	15	3	0.27
Besiktas JK	88.0	87.0	87.4	88.0	85.0	87.1	217.48	10	9	1	0.22
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	88.3	88.2	89.0	86.0	87.7	219.77	3	4	-1	0.00
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	86.3	87.4	87.0	85.0	86.5	216.11	19	20	-1	0.00
Olympique Marseille	87.0	88.0	87.2	87.0	86.0	87.0	217.47	11	12	-1	0.00
Chievo Verona	88.0	86.5	86.8	88.0	85.0	86.9	216.60	15	19	-4	-0.16
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	87.0	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.84	8	18	-10	-0.50
Spartak Moskva	87.0	87.5	88.6	88.0	85.0	87.2	218.72	6	16	-10	-0.56
Independiente	89.0	88.3	88.6	90.0	85.0	88.2	220.86	1	6	-5	-0.67
Girondins Bordeaux	87.0	88.0	87.2	91.0	85.0	87.6	219.95	2	10	-8	-0.70
SS Lazio	89.0	87.5	89.2	88.0	84.0	87.5	219.32	4	17	-13	-0.71

Division 4 Season 22 Stats and Facts review.

Sat, 08 Jun 2024 08:49:15 +0100

Fiorentina +16 VA lead the stats in the wildest division of them all.

Division 4 was incredibly tight at the start and this has led to some mad VA and PVA.

Fiorentina top of the stats and 2^nd in the league with a PVA of +8.50 lead league winners Brugge who were 3 places above expected. Sevilla with +10 VA make the playoffs and Napoli who should have relegated also have +10 VA. Montpellier on +5 VA and Wolfsburg on +4 are notable over performers.

When it went wrong it really did. Augsburg who should have won the league were relegated and Ajax have had a mighty fall on -10 VA. Tornio also relegated on – 10 VA. The only predicted relegation team to drop were predictably Atalanta. 6 of the top 7 did finish in those positions.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	87.0	87.2	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.67	18	2	16	8.50
Club Brugge KV	88.0	88.0	88.0	89.0	85.0	87.6	219.41	4	1	3	4.00
SEVILLA	88.0	86.8	87.6	87.0	86.0	87.1	216.91	16	6	10	1.83
SSC Napoli	88.0	87.0	86.8	87.5	85.0	86.9	216.64	19	9	10	1.22
Olympiacos	88.0	87.5	88.0	89.0	86.0	87.7	219.13	7	4	3	1.00
VfL Wolfsburg	88.0	87.0	87.6	88.0	86.0	87.3	217.76	12	8	4	0.63
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.0	87.2	87.0	86.0	87.0	216.79	17	12	5	0.50
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	87.0	88.0	88.0	83.0	86.8	217.72	13	10	3	0.40
AS Monaco	89.0	86.8	88.6	89.0	86.0	87.9	219.13	6	5	1	0.40
AS Saint-Etienne	87.0	87.3	87.2	88.0	85.0	86.9	217.40	14	11	3	0.36
CSKA Moskva	86.0	87.8	88.8	89.0	86.0	87.5	219.73	3	3	0	0.33
Atalanta BC	88.0	86.0	87.2	88.0	85.0	86.8	216.52	20	20	0	0.05
PSV	88.0	86.8	86.8	89.0	82.0	86.5	217.09	15	17	-2	-0.06
AS Roma	87.0	88.3	87.2	88.0	85.0	87.1	218.20	11	14	-3	-0.14
Santos FC	88.0	87.8	88.3	88.0	87.0	87.8	219.00	8	13	-5	-0.31
Zenit Saint Petersburg	88.0	86.8	88.2	89.0	83.0	87.0	218.33	10	16	-6	-0.31
Torino	89.0	87.3	88.2	88.0	87.0	87.9	218.68	9	19	-10	-0.47
Lille OSC	90.0	87.3	88.8	89.0	86.0	88.2	219.81	2	7	-5	-0.57
Ajax	89.0	87.5	88.6	89.0	82.0	87.2	219.25	5	15	-10	-0.60
FC Augsburg	89.0	88.0	88.2	89.0	87.0	88.2	219.93	1	18	-17	-0.89

Division 3 Season 22 Stats and Facts review.

Sat, 08 Jun 2024 08:34:58 +0100

Swans sail away majestically with 1^st in league best VA and PVA in division.

Always a strong favourite to over perform with a lethal attack Swansea never the less finished 6 places above expected. Playoff bound palace 2^nd in the stats with a VA of +6 are ranked just above Zagreb who came in 2^nd in the league. Another team with +6 VA is Dnipro; while finishing 9^th they should have been 15^th so a return to form to the overperformers of the past. A shout out to Beddows and Sampdoria who on +4VA were the other notable over achievers.

It all went wrong for Liege who just escaped relegation on -9 VA and Galatasaray who didn’t also on – 9 VA. Borussia Monchengladbach also fell into the relegation hole on -6 VA. The top of the table was fairly close to what was predicted and lower down there was a fair correlation with the predicted relegation teams usually 2 to 3 places higher if they escaped.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Swansea City	87.0	88.3	88.6	91.0	87.0	88.4	221.51	7	1	6	7.00
Crystal Palace	88.0	88.3	88.5	89.5	86.0	88.1	220.46	12	6	6	1.17
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	88.8	88.6	91.0	86.0	88.7	222.03	3	2	1	1.00
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.3	88.8	88.5	86.0	87.7	219.21	15	9	6	0.78
West Ham United	89.0	88.5	88.8	90.0	86.0	88.5	221.34	9	7	2	0.43
Sampdoria	87.0	88.0	87.8	89.0	85.0	87.4	219.13	16	12	4	0.42
Cruzeiro	89.0	88.8	88.8	88.0	85.0	87.9	220.12	13	11	2	0.27
US Sassuolo	88.0	86.8	87.6	88.0	85.0	87.1	217.44	18	15	3	0.27
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	86.0	87.0	87.6	88.0	85.0	86.7	217.40	19	16	3	0.25
Hamburger SV	92.0	89.3	89.2	89.0	86.0	89.1	221.97	4	4	0	0.25
Tottenham Hotspur	88.0	89.0	88.8	89.0	85.0	88.0	220.85	11	10	1	0.20
FC Twente	87.0	85.0	85.8	86.0	83.0	85.4	212.90	20	19	1	0.11
VfB Stuttgart	89.0	87.3	88.6	88.0	85.0	87.6	218.76	17	18	-1	0.00
Sunderland	89.0	89.5	89.0	89.0	85.0	88.3	221.53	6	8	-2	-0.13
Málaga CF	88.0	88.8	89.2	89.0	85.0	88.0	220.97	10	13	-3	-0.15
Borussia Mönchengladbach	87.0	87.8	88.4	89.0	85.0	87.4	219.41	14	20	-6	-0.25
Internazionale	90.0	90.3	90.6	91.0	87.0	89.8	225.07	1	3	-2	-0.33
Flamengo	88.0	88.8	89.8	91.0	87.0	88.9	222.99	2	5	-3	-0.40
Galatasaray SK	88.0	89.0	89.4	89.0	86.0	88.3	221.45	8	17	-9	-0.47
Standard Liège	91.0	88.0	89.6	90.0	85.0	88.7	221.70	5	14	-9	-0.57

Division 2 Season 22 Stats and Facts review

Fri, 07 Jun 2024 12:02:50 +0100

+14 VA Milan top the stats

A team that was a relegation favourite gets auto promotion is a great success story. 5 pts clear of 4^th and a well-deserved promotion for AC Milan.

Man City may feel that they did all they could and won the league with room to spare in the end but that is what they should have achieved so they are 2^nd in the stats. Play off Stoke on +4 VA and their companions in the lottery Hertha are 3^rd and 4^th in the stats. River Plate also escaped the relegation zone and have +5 VA.

The big flops in division 2 were relegated Celta on -5VA and more so Everton on -10 who also go down. Liverpool and Sporting would hope for much better next season.

Werder and Southampton were relegated as predicted, 7/8 of the predicted top 8 finished in those positions. Perhaps indicating the top of D2 in less random than the lower half.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
AC Milan	88.0	88.8	88.8	89.0	87.0	88.3	220.89	17	3	14	5.00
Manchester City	94.0	90.8	92.8	93.0	86.0	91.3	228.89	1	1	0	1.00
Stoke City	90.0	89.8	90.2	91.0	87.0	89.6	224.35	6	4	2	0.75
Hertha BSC	90.0	89.0	89.4	91.0	86.0	89.1	222.99	8	6	2	0.50
Levante UD	90.0	90.8	91.2	91.0	87.0	90.0	225.95	2	2	0	0.50
Udinese Calcio	88.0	89.0	89.6	89.0	87.0	88.5	221.73	12	9	3	0.44
River Plate	90.0	87.5	89.0	89.0	85.0	88.1	220.05	19	14	5	0.43
West Bromwich Albion	91.0	89.0	89.0	89.0	85.0	88.6	221.37	15	12	3	0.33
Celtic	89.0	88.8	88.8	89.5	86.0	88.4	221.18	16	13	3	0.31
RSC Anderlecht	90.0	89.8	89.4	89.0	87.0	89.0	222.41	10	10	0	0.10
Werder Bremen	88.0	88.8	88.0	89.0	85.0	87.8	220.01	20	20	0	0.05
Southampton	89.0	88.0	89.2	89.0	85.0	88.0	220.49	18	19	-1	0.00
1. FC Köln	89.0	88.5	89.0	90.0	85.0	88.3	221.38	14	16	-2	-0.06
Paris Saint-Germain	88.0	90.0	89.2	90.0	87.0	88.8	222.86	9	11	-2	-0.09
FC Schalke 04	91.0	90.0	90.2	91.0	86.0	89.6	224.55	5	7	-2	-0.14
SC Internacional	90.0	89.5	89.8	93.0	88.0	90.1	225.25	3	5	-2	-0.20
Liverpool	88.0	90.3	88.8	89.0	87.0	88.6	222.09	11	15	-4	-0.20
Celta Vigo	88.0	87.5	89.6	91.0	86.0	88.4	221.71	13	18	-5	-0.22
Sporting CP	90.0	89.8	90.4	92.0	86.0	89.6	225.04	4	8	-4	-0.38
Everton	89.0	90.5	90.8	90.0	84.0	88.9	224.30	7	17	-10	-0.53

Division 1 Season22 Stats and facts review.

Fri, 07 Jun 2024 11:47:47 +0100

All Hail Hellas.

For those new to the league VA = Value added , how many places above your predicted position your club finishes.

PVA = Positional value added, which takes into account where you finished.

The top of the table leaves you little room to get a good PVA in D1. Hellas finished 1 place better than they should and top the stats and the league. Chelsea who finished 1 place behind are also 2^nd in the stats, with over performing Sao Paulo with the best league VA of +6 3^rd in the stats. A shout out to Geno also 4^th in the stats on +4 VA.

The only shout out underperformers were Juventus, 4 places below predicted and Atletico on -7VA who are the worse place statistically. Only Espanyol escaped relegation as predicted with all 4 relegated sides coming from the 6 lowest rated and all 4 top side from the 4 highest rated.

	Gk	Def	Mid	Att	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Hellas Verona	94.0	92.3	92.8	96.0	89.0	92.8	232.40	2	1	1	2.00
Chelsea	95.0	92.0	93.3	95.3	85.0	92.1	231.83	4	2	2	1.50
São Paulo F	90.0	90.0	91.2	92.0	86.0	89.8	225.88	11	5	6	1.40
Genoa CFC	90.0	90.8	90.6	90.0	87.0	89.7	224.82	14	10	4	0.50
Barcelona	92.0	91.0	91.8	93.0	86.0	90.8	228.05	8	6	2	0.50
Leicester City	90.0	91.3	91.2	92.0	85.0	89.9	226.76	10	8	2	0.38
RCD Espanyol	88.0	87.0	91.0	89.7	87.0	88.5	221.68	20	16	4	0.31
Bayer Leverkusen	90.0	89.8	90.6	90.0	87.0	89.5	224.02	16	15	1	0.13
Real Madrid	89.0	90.0	90.4	92.0	87.0	89.7	225.24	12	12	0	0.08
SL Benfica	95.0	89.8	90.0	91.3	86.0	90.4	224.87	13	13	0	0.08
Fenerbahçe SK	88.0	89.3	89.9	90.0	86.0	88.6	222.69	18	18	0	0.06
Aston Villa	88.0	89.5	89.6	90.0	85.0	88.4	222.54	19	20	-1	0.00
Bayern München	91.0	91.8	92.8	94.0	86.0	91.1	229.98	6	7	-1	0.00
FC Porto	94.0	91.5	93.8	96.0	86.0	92.3	232.20	3	4	-1	0.00
Valencia CF	88.0	88.5	89.6	92.0	86.0	88.8	223.16	17	19	-2	-0.05
Manchester United	89.0	90.5	90.0	91.0	83.0	88.7	224.19	15	17	-2	-0.06
Arsenal	90.0	91.3	91.6	92.0	86.0	90.2	227.20	9	11	-2	-0.09
Borussia Dortmund	92.0	92.8	93.8	95.0	87.0	92.1	232.47	1	3	-2	-0.33
Juventus	93.0	93.3	92.4	92.0	89.0	91.9	230.16	5	9	-4	-0.33
Atlético Madrid	91.0	90.8	90.6	95.0	86.0	90.7	228.07	7	14	-7	-0.43

Division 5 Season 22 Stats and Facts.

Fri, 26 Jan 2024 15:32:38 +0100

Crazy! The best team in D5 would be the best team in D4.

Not completely clear of the rest but Independiente would top D4 if they were in it. No weaknesses and would expect to pop 2 or 3 against most teams, anything other than promotion is a flop this year. Bordeaux approach the 220 mark but just lack a strong keeper. AZ would expect to challenge deep into the season especially with that potent attack. Lazio top and tail well but lack depth. Kazan similarly have a good keeper / attacker combo but also lack depth.

It is a relatively soft landing into D4 any team over 217 would survive with little change. Any team down to Basel should look to promotion or at least a playoff place. Feyenoord could well go deep in the cup despite their 16^th ranking. Partizan will probably finish higher than their ranking suggests due to the strong attack. Athletic club and Newcastle could well lack enough possession to make progress. Division 5 has shown some improvement this season with an increase in average rating of 0.5 points.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Independiente	89.0	88.3	88.6	90.0	85.0	88.2	220.86	1
Girondins Bordeaux	87.0	88.0	87.2	91.0	85.0	87.6	219.95	2
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	88.3	88.2	89.0	86.0	87.7	219.77	3
SS Lazio	89.0	87.5	89.2	88.0	84.0	87.5	219.32	4
Rubin Kazan	88.0	87.3	88.4	89.0	84.0	87.3	219.01	5
Spartak Moskva	87.0	87.5	88.6	88.0	85.0	87.2	218.72	6
Dynamo Kyiv	86.0	87.0	87.4	89.0	86.0	87.1	218.01	7
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	87.0	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.84	8
Boca Juniors	88.0	86.3	88.6	88.0	83.0	86.8	217.60	9
Besiktas JK	88.0	87.0	87.4	88.0	85.0	87.1	217.48	10
Olympique Marseille	87.0	88.0	87.2	87.0	86.0	87.0	217.47	11
Shakhtar Donetsk	87.0	87.8	87.6	87.0	83.0	86.5	217.23	12
FC Basel	87.0	87.8	87.2	87.0	85.0	86.8	217.15	13
Villarreal CF	86.0	87.5	87.2	87.0	85.0	86.5	216.83	14
Chievo Verona	88.0	86.5	86.8	88.0	85.0	86.9	216.60	15
Feyenoord	88.0	86.3	86.8	88.0	86.0	87.0	216.52	16
Newcastle United	87.0	87.0	86.8	87.0	85.0	86.6	216.23	17
FK Partizan	87.0	85.5	87.0	89.0	82.0	86.1	216.13	18
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	86.3	87.4	87.0	85.0	86.5	216.11	19
Athletic Club	87.0	86.0	86.6	87.0	84.0	86.1	215.15	20

Division 4 Season 22 Stats and Facts.

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 14:33:46 +0100

The tightest division so far, a 9-way tie for first spot?

A quick excuse for 3 or 4 months down the line. There are only 3.4 points from first to last, so literally any team could win the league, some are just a bit more favoured than others.

The top 3 do sit a little above the rest, Augsburg look a well-balanced team with tons of depth which should lend well to no surprises. Lille have a stronger keeper but a weaker defence which could be a concern with some of the strong attacks in this league. CSKA sit in third and will be waiting for their keeper to rise otherwise they would have been in second spot. The next 5 clubs are separated by .4 points. Ajax top and tale with little depth, they will need luck on their side. Monaco may fancy their chances more with that good attack and keeper combo with added depth on the side.

Santo and Torino go down to 87 rating in their top 18, Torino in particular look to be a great cup prospect. Unlike other divisions it doesn’t fall off a cliff but as 219 will be needed to survive in the next division those should be the promoted teams.

217.7 was the rough cut off for relegation. This leaves 7 contenders from St-Etienne down in peril. Of those teams St-Etienne have a weaker keeper which will cost them. PSV lack depth, like their Dutch cousins how will they prosper as the season continues. Atalanta have the best Attack / Keeper combo, that is usually a good move. Sevilla and Montpellier have plenty of depth, Fiorentina and Napoli have decent balanced teams. If I were to pick 4 teams away from the stats It would be Napoli (midfield weakness) St Etienne (Keeper weakness) PSV (no depth) (Atalanta weak defence) who will struggle the most.

Division 4 is 0.5 points weaker than last season but as previously mentioned much more tightly packed.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
FC Augsburg	89.0	88.0	88.2	89.0	87.0	88.2	219.93	1
Lille OSC	90.0	87.3	88.8	89.0	86.0	88.2	219.81	2
CSKA Moskva	86.0	87.8	88.8	89.0	86.0	87.5	219.73	3
Club Brugge KV	88.0	88.0	88.0	89.0	85.0	87.6	219.41	4
Ajax	89.0	87.5	88.6	89.0	82.0	87.2	219.25	5
AS Monaco	89.0	86.8	88.6	89.0	86.0	87.9	219.13	6
Olympiacos	88.0	87.5	88.0	89.0	86.0	87.7	219.13	7
Santos FC	88.0	87.8	88.3	88.0	87.0	87.8	219.00	8
Torino	89.0	87.3	88.2	88.0	87.0	87.9	218.68	9
Zenit Saint Petersburg	88.0	86.8	88.2	89.0	83.0	87.0	218.33	10
AS Roma	87.0	88.3	87.2	88.0	85.0	87.1	218.20	11
VfL Wolfsburg	88.0	87.0	87.6	88.0	86.0	87.3	217.76	12
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	87.0	88.0	88.0	83.0	86.8	217.72	13
AS Saint-Etienne	87.0	87.3	87.2	88.0	85.0	86.9	217.40	14
PSV	88.0	86.8	86.8	89.0	82.0	86.5	217.09	15
SEVILLA	88.0	86.8	87.6	87.0	86.0	87.1	216.91	16
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.0	87.2	87.0	86.0	87.0	216.79	17
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	87.0	87.2	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.67	18
SSC Napoli	88.0	87.0	86.8	87.5	85.0	86.9	216.64	19
Atalanta BC	88.0	86.0	87.2	88.0	85.0	86.8	216.52	20

Division 3 Season 22 Stats and Facts.

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 14:57:09 +0100

Inter a solid 90 team in Division 3, not for much longer!

Inter have a team which would be mid table in Division 1 and all but guaranteed promotion in D2. Should be a walk over for them. There is then a crop of 8 or 9 teams who could challenge for the promotion places.

Flamengo look to be solid second favourites solid for D3, strong attack and good keeper. Zagreb in 3^rd are the classic lower division top and tail team maybe less depth than the rivals above them. Hamburg shouldbe confident of at least a playoff spot of their high rated keeper can perform as well as he should. Liege likewise have a strong keeper and a good attack, continuing the theme at the top of the rankings. Sunderland are a well balanced team with no real weakness.

Swansea have a good attack but the keeper is surely a sore point that will be attacked by other managers.

The cut off for survival in D2 is 221 so Galatasaray, West Ham and with a little work Malaga and Spurs could also feature in the playoff battle.

219 rating points was the relegation cut off last season. This would leave Twente who are a work in progress, Hoffenheim with their low rated Keeper, Sassuolo who must improve their defence and Stuttgart in the drop zone. Up for the cup? Swansea should be able to put out a decent reserve side to battle for a knock out prize.

Division 3 is 0.2 points weaker than last season with the two outliers of Twente and Inter more or less cancelling each other out. However the mid ranked teams are slightly higher rated which suggest more of a scramble for the last playoff spots and the weaker teams losing contact more quickly than normal.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Internazionale	90.0	90.3	90.6	91.0	87.0	89.8	225.07	1
Flamengo	88.0	88.8	89.8	91.0	87.0	88.9	222.99	2
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	88.8	88.6	91.0	86.0	88.7	222.03	3
Hamburger SV	92.0	89.3	89.2	89.0	86.0	89.1	221.97	4
Standard Liège	91.0	88.0	89.6	90.0	85.0	88.7	221.70	5
Sunderland	89.0	89.5	89.0	89.0	85.0	88.3	221.53	6
Swansea City	87.0	88.3	88.6	91.0	87.0	88.4	221.51	7
Galatasaray SK	88.0	89.0	89.4	89.0	86.0	88.3	221.45	8
West Ham United	89.0	88.5	88.8	90.0	86.0	88.5	221.34	9
Málaga CF	88.0	88.8	89.2	89.0	85.0	88.0	220.97	10
Tottenham Hotspur	88.0	89.0	88.8	89.0	85.0	88.0	220.85	11
Crystal Palace	88.0	88.3	88.5	89.5	86.0	88.1	220.46	12
Cruzeiro	89.0	88.8	88.8	88.0	85.0	87.9	220.12	13
Borussia Mönchengladbach	87.0	87.8	88.4	89.0	85.0	87.4	219.41	14
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.3	88.8	88.5	86.0	87.7	219.21	15
Sampdoria	87.0	88.0	87.8	89.0	85.0	87.4	219.13	16
VfB Stuttgart	89.0	87.3	88.6	88.0	85.0	87.6	218.76	17
US Sassuolo	88.0	86.8	87.6	88.0	85.0	87.1	217.44	18
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	86.0	87.0	87.6	88.0	85.0	86.7	217.40	19
FC Twente	87.0	85.0	85.8	86.0	83.0	85.4	212.90	20

Division 2 Season 22 Stats and Facts

Tue, 23 Jan 2024 14:53:31 +0100

Man City to be promoted? Who comes with them.

Other than top 18 Man City lead every other category. They would be at least top 10 in Division 1 so anything other than 1^st place will be seen as a fail by the fans and pundits. There are then 7 teams in for a shout at auto promotion and the playoffs. Levante will be clear favourites for 2^nd spot. Internacional may get off to a slower start than their rivals but a mighty 88 top 18 means they will have no problems with injuries or suspensions unless really unlucky. Sporting are really strong up front but do lack depth, Schalke are a solid 90 ranked team , sitting just above Stoke who offer a slightly weaker defence. Everton round out the super 7 challengers , maybe they are a keeper away from guaranteed playoff places. To survive D1 it looks like the cut off is 224. So in reality these would be the only teams really gunning for promotion.

Of the rest maybe PSG if they can sort out a new keeper, Anderlecht look solid throughout but could do with bolstering the midfield. Liverpool and Udinese fancy a cup run this season.

At the lower end I would normally say the cut off would be 218 for promotion but this year D2 is different. The average at 222.87 is a point or more stronger across the board. There isn’t a massive gap from Werder to Udinese. Werder for example, lack depth but are a solid 88 team. River Plate have a decent Midfield but are weaker at the back. Southampton lack depth but have 3 ratings at 89. AC Milan have plenty of depth . It will be tough in D2 this season and at the lower end injuries will account for at least 2 or more clubs being relegated which does leave me pondering about Werder, River Plate, Southampton maybe WBA and Koln. A relatively easy fix to get that top 18 rating above 85?

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Manchester City	94.0	90.8	92.8	93.0	86.0	91.3	228.89	1
Levante UD	90.0	90.8	91.2	91.0	87.0	90.0	225.95	2
SC Internacional	90.0	89.5	89.8	93.0	88.0	90.1	225.25	3
Sporting CP	90.0	89.8	90.4	92.0	86.0	89.6	225.04	4
FC Schalke 04	91.0	90.0	90.2	91.0	86.0	89.6	224.55	5
Stoke City	90.0	89.8	90.2	91.0	87.0	89.6	224.35	6
Everton	89.0	90.5	90.8	90.0	84.0	88.9	224.30	7
Hertha BSC	90.0	89.0	89.4	91.0	86.0	89.1	222.99	8
Paris Saint-Germain	88.0	90.0	89.2	90.0	87.0	88.8	222.86	9
RSC Anderlecht	90.0	89.8	89.4	89.0	87.0	89.0	222.41	10
Liverpool	88.0	90.3	88.8	89.0	87.0	88.6	222.09	11
Udinese Calcio	88.0	89.0	89.6	89.0	87.0	88.5	221.73	12
Celta Vigo	88.0	87.5	89.6	91.0	86.0	88.4	221.71	13
1. FC Köln	89.0	88.5	89.0	90.0	85.0	88.3	221.38	14
West Bromwich Albion	91.0	89.0	89.0	89.0	85.0	88.6	221.37	15
Celtic	89.0	88.8	88.8	89.5	86.0	88.4	221.18	16
AC Milan	88.0	88.8	88.8	89.0	87.0	88.3	220.89	17
Southampton	89.0	88.0	89.2	89.0	85.0	88.0	220.49	18
River Plate	90.0	87.5	89.0	89.0	85.0	88.1	220.05	19
Werder Bremen	88.0	88.8	88.0	89.0	85.0	87.8	220.01	20

Division 1 Season 22

Mon, 22 Jan 2024 15:00:33 +0100

Stats and Facts

Will three teams really beast Chelsea?

For anyone unsure of how the stats work please read the following:

I look at the likely players in the 4 key positions, GK, DEF,MID,ATT. I try to match it to the normal formation where possible. The average is calculated in each position. The TOP18 is the lowest player in the top 18 who isn’t a keeper. On rare occasions there is human input if the 18^th player is much lower than the rest and unlikely to play. This is then this is fed into a magic formula to give the ETOT which calculate the rankings. Simples!

Dortmund sit a little above Hellas this year, although they have a weaker keeper and attack than their rivals. Hellas also have much better depth than Dortmund and I think they will bide their time to some extent. Porto are a match for Dortmund in most areas except defence and even less depth. Chelsea have the best keeper and many options in attack or midfield but will falter if they get a lot of injuries.

Juventus are the best of the rest but are 1.7 points shy of Chelsea which is a huge margin. Bayern , Atletico and of course Barcelona could still challenge for the title. Sao Paulo look the best placed of the promoted teams.

Any team in the 222 range will struggle to make any progress in such a tough league. Espanyol look like cannon fodder early on , although with good depth they may not suffer as much as Villa who lack strength and depth at the moment. Fenerbache perhaps the surprise promotes are a tad stronger than Villa with a bit more strength through the squad.

This leaves an open space where almost any team from Benfica down could fall into. Leverkeusen could be good for a cup run .

Overall D1 is around 0.1 points per team weaker than last season but this is marginal.

	Gk	Def	Mid	Att	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Borussia Dortmund	92.0	92.8	93.8	95.0	87.0	92.1	232.47	1
Hellas Verona	94.0	92.3	92.8	96.0	89.0	92.8	232.40	2
FC Porto	94.0	91.5	93.8	96.0	86.0	92.3	232.24	3
Chelsea	95.0	92.0	93.3	95.3	85.0	92.1	231.83	4
Juventus	93.0	93.3	92.4	92.0	89.0	91.9	230.16	5
Bayern München	91.0	91.8	92.8	94.0	86.0	91.1	229.98	6
Atlético Madrid	91.0	90.8	90.6	95.0	86.0	90.7	228.07	7
Barcelona	92.0	91.0	91.8	93.0	86.0	90.8	228.05	8
Arsenal	90.0	91.3	91.6	92.0	86.0	90.2	227.20	9
Leicester City	90.0	91.3	91.2	92.0	85.0	89.9	226.76	10
São Paulo F	90.0	90.0	91.2	92.0	86.0	89.8	225.88	11
Real Madrid	89.0	90.0	90.4	92.0	87.0	89.7	225.24	12
SL Benfica	95.0	89.8	90.0	91.3	86.0	90.4	224.87	13
Genoa CFC	90.0	90.8	90.6	90.0	87.0	89.7	224.82	14
Manchester United	89.0	90.5	90.0	91.0	83.0	88.7	224.19	15
Bayer Leverkusen	90.0	89.8	90.6	90.0	87.0	89.5	224.02	16
Valencia CF	88.0	88.5	89.6	92.0	86.0	88.8	223.16	17
Fenerbahçe SK	88.0	89.3	89.9	90.0	86.0	88.6	222.69	18
Aston Villa	88.0	89.5	89.6	90.0	85.0	88.4	222.54	19
RCD Espanyol	88.0	87.0	91.0	89.7	87.0	88.5	221.68	20

Division 5 Season 21 Stats and facts review.

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 14:55:22 +0100

PSV head the stats 2^nd place in the league.

+11 VA is a huge achievement in any league which is why PSV sit above fellow promotes Santos and Napoli who have +9 VA to boot. A cracking performance by Newcastle +10 VA when they were predicted to be the lowest rung on the ladder.

O.K. so D5 is for rebuilds if that is what you want this could explain 4 -10 VA for Shaktar, Dynamo Kiev, Lazio and Independiente.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
PSV	87.0	86.3	86.8	89.0	83.0	86.4	216.69	13	2	11	6.00
Santos FC	88.0	87.8	88.4	87.0	86.0	87.4	218.35	4	1	3	4.00
SSC Napoli	88.0	87.0	87.3	87.0	85.0	86.9	216.71	12	3	9	3.33
Newcastle United	86.0	86.5	86.4	87.0	85.0	86.2	215.39	20	10	10	1.10
Rubin Kazan	88.0	87.3	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.16	7	4	3	1.00
Club Brugge KV	88.0	87.0	87.4	88.0	85.0	87.1	217.48	8	5	3	0.80
FK Partizan	87.0	84.8	87.3	89.0	81.0	85.8	215.61	19	14	5	0.43
Villarreal CF	87.0	87.8	87.2	87.0	86.0	87.0	217.27	9	7	2	0.43
Olympique Marseille	88.0	87.5	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.9	216.91	11	9	2	0.33
Besiktas JK	88.0	86.5	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.7	216.11	16	13	3	0.31
Athletic Club	87.0	87.0	87.3	87.0	85.0	86.7	216.59	14	12	2	0.25
FC Basel	87.0	87.3	86.4	87.0	83.0	86.1	215.87	17	18	-1	0.00
Olympique Lyonnais	86.0	86.3	87.4	87.0	82.0	85.7	215.63	18	19	-1	0.00
Chievo Verona	88.0	86.5	87.0	87.5	83.0	86.4	216.20	15	17	-2	-0.06
Spartak Moskva	86.0	87.0	88.6	88.0	86.0	87.1	218.32	5	8	-3	-0.25
Shakhtar Donetsk	87.0	87.3	87.8	87.0	85.0	86.8	217.23	10	20	-10	-0.45
Boca Juniors	89.0	87.3	88.4	88.0	85.0	87.5	218.60	2	6	-4	-0.50
Dynamo Kyiv	86.0	87.3	87.4	89.0	86.0	87.1	218.21	6	16	-10	-0.56
SS Lazio	91.0	86.8	88.5	89.0	80.0	87.1	218.57	3	15	-12	-0.73
Independiente	89.0	88.5	88.4	89.0	86.0	88.2	220.37	1	11	-10	-0.82

Division 4 Season 21 Stats and facts review

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 14:43:36 +0100

Stuttgart +3.33 PVA head the stats over 3 playoff teams.

+9 VA and promotion a just reward for Stuttgart who fought well all season. They sit above Montpellier on +12VA and Fiorentina , who both were relegation fodder early season. Dnipro the wonder team are 4 in the stats , and they got the playoff win. Malaga and Flamengo the auto promoted teams also figure highly. The other notable high Vas are Atalanta on +6 and (cough cough) Sevilla on +8 who most people predicted relegation woes.

With such overperformance there must be the opposite. Bordeaux, AZ, Feyenord , should all have been challenging for promotion Bordeaux on -16 VA and AZ -15.

A fairly wild season in division 4 with none of the predicted relegated teams going down and only 6 teams with negative PVA.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
VfB Stuttgart	89.0	87.3	88.6	88.0	86.0	87.8	218.88	12	3	9	3.33
Montpellier HSC	88.0	86.8	87.2	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.47	18	6	12	2.17
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	86.8	86.6	87.0	85.0	86.7	215.99	20	7	13	2.00
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.8	88.3	88.5	86.0	87.7	219.21	8	4	4	1.25
Málaga CF	87.0	89.3	88.8	89.0	85.0	87.8	220.93	3	2	1	1.00
Flamengo	86.0	89.3	89.4	89.0	87.0	88.1	221.53	1	1	0	1.00
Atalanta BC	87.0	87.8	87.4	88.0	86.0	87.2	218.08	14	8	6	0.88
SEVILLA	88.0	86.0	87.4	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.15	19	11	8	0.82
AS Roma	87.0	87.5	87.2	89.0	85.0	87.1	218.25	13	9	4	0.56
Lokomotiv Moskva	87.0	86.8	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.92	15	12	3	0.33
AS Monaco	89.0	86.8	88.6	89.0	85.0	87.7	219.01	11	10	1	0.20
AS Saint-Etienne	87.0	86.5	87.0	88.0	86.0	86.9	216.76	17	16	1	0.13
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	87.0	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.68	16	17	-1	0.00
FC Augsburg	89.0	88.3	88.4	89.0	89.0	88.7	220.53	4	5	-1	0.00
Olympiacos	88.0	87.8	87.6	89.0	86.0	87.7	219.01	10	14	-4	-0.21
Torino	89.0	87.3	88.8	88.0	87.0	88.0	219.16	9	13	-4	-0.23
Lille OSC	90.0	87.0	88.6	89.0	86.0	88.1	219.45	7	15	-8	-0.47
Feyenoord	88.0	88.8	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.8	219.64	6	19	-13	-0.63
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	88.0	89.0	89.0	86.0	87.8	220.21	5	20	-15	-0.70
Girondins Bordeaux	87.0	88.5	88.0	91.0	85.0	87.9	220.99	2	18	-16	-0.83

Division 3 Season 21 Stats and facts review.

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 11:51:56 +0100

1 FC Koln , first by name and by stats.

A great season for Koln, +11 VA and +12 PVA promoted and well clear of the rest in the stats. River Plate 2^nd in the stats , play off team also promoted which shows the strength of the manager in charge. Schalke in 2^nd will be happy with a strong season all round as will Anderlecht . A big shout out for Sassuolo on a notable +4 VA escaping the chop.

Swansea and Cruziero had the largest negative VA and PVA but perhaps Inter who missed out on promotion will be most disappointed this year. Not so good for the predicted relegation teams, with 3 of 4 going down.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
1. FC Köln	90.0	88.0	89.4	88.0	84.0	87.9	220.00	12	1	11	12.00
River Plate	88.0	87.5	88.6	89.0	86.0	87.8	219.61	13	7	6	1.00
Crystal Palace	89.0	89.5	88.0	89.5	86.0	88.4	221.18	8	6	2	0.50
FC Schalke 04	90.0	88.8	90.4	92.0	85.0	89.2	224.12	2	2	0	0.50
RSC Anderlecht	90.0	89.8	89.6	91.0	88.0	89.7	223.99	3	3	0	0.33
US Sassuolo	88.0	86.8	86.8	87.0	85.0	86.7	216.11	20	16	4	0.31
Borussia Mönchengladbach	87.0	87.0	88.2	89.0	86.0	87.4	218.77	16	13	3	0.31
Galatasaray SK	88.0	88.0	89.0	90.0	87.0	88.4	221.10	9	8	1	0.25
Sunderland	88.0	90.0	89.2	89.0	86.0	88.4	222.09	5	5	0	0.20
FC Twente	88.0	87.3	88.5	88.5	87.0	87.9	219.13	15	14	1	0.14
Ajax	90.0	85.5	88.5	87.5	82.0	86.7	216.72	19	18	1	0.11
Sampdoria	87.0	88.5	87.6	90.0	85.0	87.6	220.02	11	11	0	0.09
Zenit Saint Petersburg	88.0	87.0	88.4	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.28	18	19	-1	0.00
West Ham United	89.0	87.8	88.3	90.0	86.0	88.2	220.30	10	12	-2	-0.08
VfL Wolfsburg	88.0	87.0	88.0	89.0	86.0	87.6	218.73	17	20	-3	-0.10
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	89.0	89.4	89.0	86.0	88.5	221.57	7	9	-2	-0.11
CSKA Moskva	92.0	87.5	88.5	88.0	86.0	88.4	219.36	14	17	-3	-0.12
Internazionale	90.0	90.8	90.6	90.0	88.0	89.9	224.94	1	4	-3	-0.50
Cruzeiro	89.0	89.0	89.6	90.0	86.0	88.7	222.38	4	10	-6	-0.50
Swansea City	88.0	88.3	88.6	91.0	87.0	88.6	221.63	6	15	-9	-0.53

Division 2 Season 21 Stats and Facts review

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 11:37:29 +0100

Some big gains and loses in division 2.

Espanyol head the stats with a stunning +17 VA and +9 VA and are rightly promoted. Sao Paulo who won the league finish 2^nd in the stats with 3^rd place Man Utd in 3^rd place in the stats. Promoted Fenerbahce had a notable +5 VA . Liverpool will count themselves unlucky finishing 4^th but missing out in the play offs. All it went wrong in Lisbon and Liege -15 and -12 VA respectively and a poor performance for Levante sees the potential champs in 3^rd lowest place in the stats. 2 predicted teams were relegated in Hamburg and Hoffenheim and like D1 a narrow escape for Celta.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
RCD Espanyol	88.0	86.8	88.8	86.0	85.0	86.9	217.10	19	2	17	9.00
São Paulo FC	90.0	89.8	91.8	90.0	86.0	89.5	224.90	3	1	2	3.00
Manchester United	88.0	88.0	90.6	91.0	87.0	88.9	223.03	9	3	6	2.33
Liverpool	89.0	89.8	90.0	91.0	87.0	89.4	224.07	7	4	3	1.00
Fenerbahçe SK	88.0	87.3	90.3	89.5	86.0	88.2	221.06	12	7	5	0.86
AC Milan	88.0	88.3	88.8	88.0	87.0	88.0	219.84	16	12	4	0.42
Werder Bremen	88.0	88.8	88.6	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.61	14	11	3	0.36
Celta Vigo	88.0	86.8	88.4	89.0	86.0	87.6	218.85	18	15	3	0.27
Hamburger SV	89.0	85.8	87.2	86.0	85.0	86.6	215.14	20	17	3	0.24
Udinese Calcio	88.0	89.3	89.0	90.0	87.0	88.7	222.10	10	9	1	0.22
Hertha BSC	89.0	88.8	89.3	90.0	86.0	88.6	221.90	11	10	1	0.20
Celtic	89.0	88.8	88.4	89.0	87.0	88.4	220.69	13	13	0	0.08
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	87.0	87.8	88.4	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.88	17	18	-1	0.00
SC Internacional	90.0	90.3	89.6	91.0	88.0	89.8	224.39	6	8	-2	-0.13
Tottenham Hotspur	88.0	88.8	88.6	89.0	85.0	87.9	220.49	15	19	-4	-0.16
Paris Saint-Germain	89.0	90.0	89.6	90.0	87.0	89.1	223.30	8	14	-6	-0.36
Stoke City	89.0	89.8	89.8	93.0	85.0	89.3	224.97	2	5	-3	-0.40
Levante UD	90.0	90.8	90.8	91.0	86.0	89.7	225.51	1	6	-5	-0.67
Sporting CP	88.0	90.0	90.0	92.0	85.0	89.0	224.56	4	16	-12	-0.69
Standard Liège	91.0	89.8	89.6	92.0	85.0	89.5	224.40	5	20	-15	-0.70

Division 1 Season 21 Stats and facts review.

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 11:12:59 +0100

A Real return to form.

The Madrid fans will be more than happy with the 6^th place finish and finishing just top of the stats. A +6 VA the best in the division and PVA of 1.17 places them just above Juventis and Chelsea who did all they could in winning the division.

Notable +5 for Genoa who are emerging as genuine challengers once again and Atletico who managed a good mid table finish.

The lowest VA are Leicester and Man City who were both 8 places below where they should have been, Everton will be disappointed to be relegated with Arsenal also underperforming. Two of the predicted relegation sides escaped (just) with Valencia coming 15^th and Villa 14^th.

	Gk	Def	Mid	Att	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Real Madrid	90.0	90.5	90.4	92.0	87.0	90.0	225.76	12	6	6	1.17
Juventus	93.0	92.5	93.4	93.0	86.0	91.6	230.65	5	3	2	1.00
Chelsea	95.0	91.5	94.4	96.0	86.0	92.6	232.84	1	1	0	1.00
Genoa CFC	91.0	91.8	90.0	89.0	87.0	89.8	224.61	15	10	5	0.60
Hellas Verona (C)	91.0	92.8	93.2	96.0	87.0	92.0	232.52	2	2	0	0.50
Atlético Madrid	91.0	90.3	91.4	89.0	86.0	89.5	224.41	16	12	4	0.42
Barcelona	92.0	90.8	91.0	92.0	86.0	90.4	226.56	11	9	2	0.33
Aston Villa	89.0	89.3	90.4	91.0	85.0	88.9	223.75	17	14	3	0.29
Bayer Leverkusen	90.0	90.3	90.6	92.0	87.0	90.0	225.72	13	11	2	0.27
Valencia CF	89.0	88.5	89.8	91.0	87.0	89.1	222.91	18	15	3	0.27
FC Porto	94.0	91.5	92.5	96.0	85.0	91.8	231.08	4	4	0	0.25
West Bromwich Albion	90.0	88.5	88.8	91.0	85.0	88.7	221.99	20	17	3	0.24
Bayern München	94.0	91.0	92.2	93.0	88.0	91.6	228.85	7	7	0	0.14
Southampton	89.0	88.5	89.6	90.0	87.0	88.8	222.10	19	20	-1	0.00
SL Benfica	95.0	89.8	93.4	95.0	86.0	91.8	229.99	6	8	-2	-0.13
Borussia Dortmund	92.0	92.8	93.2	95.0	87.0	92.0	231.99	3	5	-2	-0.20
Everton	89.0	89.8	91.2	91.0	84.0	89.0	224.67	14	19	-5	-0.21
Arsenal	90.0	91.3	91.0	92.0	86.0	90.1	226.72	9	13	-4	-0.23
Manchester City	94.0	90.5	91.8	91.0	87.0	90.9	226.71	10	18	-8	-0.39
Leicester City	91.0	90.5	91.8	93.0	86.0	90.5	227.53	8	16	-8	-0.44

Season 21 Division 4 Stats and Facts

Tue, 29 Aug 2023 14:32:01 +0100

The tightest divisional battle by far who will win?

Less than 6 points separate 1^st to last in the stats. Probably will result in the most random results and least accurate predictions but let’s give it a go.

Flamengo have the most depth, best midfield and attack but just lack a quality keeper. Bordeaux in 2^nd pack a punch up front and are solid enough in midfield. Malaga are well balanced except perhaps the keeper and should get auto promotion. Augsburg and Lille have the best keeper , forward combo and we know this works well in the lower divisions. Torino look set for a good cup run especially with a good keeper and good depth. Mid 218 is the cut off to survive D3 so Stuttgart and above should be aiming for promotion this year.

The relegation zone sits at 216.5 most seasons and only 4 teams sit below Dynamo Moscow. St-Etienne, Montpellier, Sevilla and Fiorentina have their main weakness in defence. St-Etienne have a fair attack, and the rest a reasonable keeper so with the right tactics all 4 could survive.

Division 4 is much stronger than last season with less difference between first and last.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Flamengo	86.0	89.3	89.4	89.0	87.0	88.1	221.53	1
Girondins Bordeaux	87.0	88.5	88.0	91.0	85.0	87.9	220.99	2
Málaga CF	87.0	89.3	88.8	89.0	85.0	87.8	220.93	3
FC Augsburg	89.0	88.3	88.4	89.0	89.0	88.7	220.53	4
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	88.0	89.0	89.0	86.0	87.8	220.21	5
Feyenoord	88.0	88.8	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.8	219.64	6
Lille OSC	90.0	87.0	88.6	89.0	86.0	88.1	219.45	7
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.8	88.3	88.5	86.0	87.7	219.21	8
Torino	89.0	87.3	88.8	88.0	87.0	88.0	219.16	9
Olympiacos	88.0	87.8	87.6	89.0	86.0	87.7	219.01	10
AS Monaco	89.0	86.8	88.6	89.0	85.0	87.7	219.01	11
VfB Stuttgart	89.0	87.3	88.6	88.0	86.0	87.8	218.88	12
AS Roma	87.0	87.5	87.2	89.0	85.0	87.1	218.25	13
Atalanta BC	87.0	87.8	87.4	88.0	86.0	87.2	218.08	14
Lokomotiv Moskva	87.0	86.8	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.92	15
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	87.0	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.68	16
AS Saint-Etienne	87.0	86.5	87.0	88.0	86.0	86.9	216.76	17
Montpellier HSC	88.0	86.8	87.2	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.47	18
SEVILLA	88.0	86.0	87.4	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.15	19
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	86.8	86.6	87.0	85.0	86.7	215.99	20

Season 21 Division 3 Stats and Fact

Mon, 28 Aug 2023 10:57:20 +0100

Who can challenge the top 3 in division 3?

There are 3 teams Inter, Schalke and Anderlecht who could easily win division 2. All 3 have 90 plus attack and Inter are straight 90 across the board. Schalke maybe lack depth but a potent attack must gain them promotion this year. Anderlecht likewise will terrorise lesser teams in D3.

Cruzeiro will be there if any of the top 3 slip up and must be guaranteed a playoff spot as they are 1.5 points above 5^th spot. Then the gap narrows with Sunderland, Swansea. Zagreb , Palace and Galatasaray fighting out for the remaining spot. Swansea seem well placed with good depth and a strong attack. Twente maybe a good cup run bet from a lower division team, with Inter also being able to function in all competitions.

You need 220 to survive D2 so teams as far down as Koln or Sampdoria could look to make the playoffs without fear.

Showing how narrow the gap is between success and failure low 219s means relegation. As things stand Sassuolo look doomed weak midfield and defence won’t be enough. Ajax lack depth but are much stronger at the back. Zenit are more balanced, while Wolfsburg and Borussia have a relatively strong attack which could be enough to save them

Division 3 in marginally weaker than last season with a similar range between the strongest and weakest sides.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Internazionale	90.0	90.8	90.6	90.0	88.0	89.9	224.94	1
FC Schalke 04	90.0	88.8	90.4	92.0	85.0	89.2	224.12	2
RSC Anderlecht	90.0	89.8	89.6	91.0	88.0	89.7	223.99	3
Cruzeiro	89.0	89.0	89.6	90.0	86.0	88.7	222.38	4
Sunderland	88.0	90.0	89.2	89.0	86.0	88.4	222.09	5
Swansea City	88.0	88.3	88.6	91.0	87.0	88.6	221.63	6
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	89.0	89.4	89.0	86.0	88.5	221.57	7
Crystal Palace	89.0	89.5	88.0	89.5	86.0	88.4	221.18	8
Galatasaray SK	88.0	88.0	89.0	90.0	87.0	88.4	221.10	9
West Ham United	89.0	87.8	88.3	90.0	86.0	88.2	220.30	10
Sampdoria	87.0	88.5	87.6	90.0	85.0	87.6	220.02	11
1. FC Köln	90.0	88.0	89.4	88.0	84.0	87.9	220.00	12
River Plate	88.0	87.5	88.6	89.0	86.0	87.8	219.61	13
CSKA Moskva	92.0	87.5	88.5	88.0	86.0	88.4	219.36	14
FC Twente	88.0	87.3	88.5	88.5	87.0	87.9	219.13	15
Borussia Mönchengladbach	87.0	87.0	88.2	89.0	86.0	87.4	218.77	16
VfL Wolfsburg	88.0	87.0	88.0	89.0	86.0	87.6	218.73	17
Zenit Saint Petersburg	88.0	87.0	88.4	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.28	18
Ajax	90.0	85.5	88.5	87.5	82.0	86.7	216.72	19
US Sassuolo	88.0	86.8	86.8	87.0	85.0	86.7	216.11	20

Season 21 Division 2 Stats and Facts

Sun, 27 Aug 2023 15:06:06 +0100

Levante heading back to Division 1?

Straight 90 rated Levante seem set to gain promotion, the only real area of weakness is the depth. Stoke though in 2^nd have a stronger attack and should be able to challenge them. Sao Paulo have the strongest midfield and are well balanced. Sporting perhaps a keeper short of promotion have a potent outfield and one of the strongest attacks. Liege go for the top and tail approach but do lack some depth. We then have SC Internacional who go out and out depth as the others falter they could well move up the table.

To survive D1 you will need a rating of 224 so Liverpool would also fancy their chance at promotion or play off success.

As for relegation anything under 220 leaves you in real risk of problems. Hamburg know that they will need strong tactics to finish anywhere other than last. Espanyol lack a strong attack and are weak in defence. Promoted Celta are much more potent up top but again do they have enough in defence to survive. Hoffenheim are also ok at the front but a weak keeper, defensive combination will be troublesome. AC Milan seem to be more balanced and have good depth,

Division 2 is substantially weaker than last season both on average and the highest / lowest side dropping around 2 points.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Levante UD	90.0	90.8	90.8	91.0	86.0	89.7	225.51	1
Stoke City	89.0	89.8	89.8	93.0	85.0	89.3	224.97	2
São Paulo FC	90.0	89.8	91.8	90.0	86.0	89.5	224.90	3
Sporting CP	88.0	90.0	90.0	92.0	85.0	89.0	224.56	4
Standard Liège	91.0	89.8	89.6	92.0	85.0	89.5	224.40	5
SC Internacional	90.0	90.3	89.6	91.0	88.0	89.8	224.39	6
Liverpool	89.0	89.8	90.0	91.0	87.0	89.4	224.07	7
Paris Saint-Germain	89.0	90.0	89.6	90.0	87.0	89.1	223.30	8
Manchester United	88.0	88.0	90.6	91.0	87.0	88.9	223.03	9
Udinese Calcio	88.0	89.3	89.0	90.0	87.0	88.7	222.10	10
Hertha BSC	89.0	88.8	89.3	90.0	86.0	88.6	221.90	11
Fenerbahçe SK	88.0	87.3	90.3	89.5	86.0	88.2	221.06	12
Celtic	89.0	88.8	88.4	89.0	87.0	88.4	220.69	13
Werder Bremen	88.0	88.8	88.6	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.61	14
Tottenham Hotspur	88.0	88.8	88.6	89.0	85.0	87.9	220.49	15
AC Milan	88.0	88.3	88.8	88.0	87.0	88.0	219.84	16
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	87.0	87.8	88.4	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.88	17
Celta Vigo	88.0	86.8	88.4	89.0	86.0	87.6	218.85	18
RCD Espanyol	88.0	86.8	88.8	86.0	85.0	86.9	217.10	19
Hamburger SV	89.0	85.8	87.2	86.0	85.0	86.6	215.14	20

Season 21 Division 1 Stats and Facts

Sat, 26 Aug 2023 14:39:05 +0100

Can Chelsea overcome the champions as the stats predict.

A fairly narrow gap splits the top two teams. Hellas have greater depth and a superior defence than Chelsea and match them up top. Chelsea will be using their keeper and midfield to screen the opposing sides.

Dortmund are their closest rivals a well balanced side with a potent attack. Porto are a similar side to Chelsea with the same kind of balance with Juve another side that is balanced throughout.

Benfica have an obvious weakness in defence but are otherwise a tough side to crack, Bayern have greater depth than any side in the league and as the season goes on they should make greater progress. Everton are the wild card side for me, lacking in depth a weaker keeper but on their day could match anyone.

As for relegation 224 is a fair cut off. This leave 5 sides in obvious danger. Villa with less depth a relatively poor keeper and defence combo might be in more trouble than 17^th suggests. Valencia have a strong attack but may struggle throughout as will Southampton. West Brom go for the top and tail technique. Hope your keeper saves you and the attack can punt in a few goals.

Division 1 is slightly stronger than last season but with less difference between the highest and lowest teams.

	Gk	Def	Mid	Att	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Chelsea	95.0	91.5	94.4	96.0	86.0	92.6	232.84	1
Hellas Verona (C)	91.0	92.8	93.2	96.0	87.0	92.0	232.52	2
Borussia Dortmund	92.0	92.8	93.2	95.0	87.0	92.0	231.99	3
FC Porto	94.0	91.5	92.5	96.0	85.0	91.8	231.08	4
Juventus	93.0	92.5	93.4	93.0	86.0	91.6	230.65	5
SL Benfica	95.0	89.8	93.4	95.0	86.0	91.8	229.99	6
Bayern München	94.0	91.0	92.2	93.0	88.0	91.6	228.85	7
Leicester City	91.0	90.5	91.8	93.0	86.0	90.5	227.53	8
Arsenal	90.0	91.3	91.0	92.0	86.0	90.1	226.72	9
Manchester City	94.0	90.5	91.8	91.0	87.0	90.9	226.71	10
Barcelona	92.0	90.8	91.0	92.0	86.0	90.4	226.56	11
Real Madrid	90.0	90.5	90.4	92.0	87.0	90.0	225.76	12
Bayer Leverkusen	90.0	90.3	90.6	92.0	87.0	90.0	225.72	13
Everton	89.0	89.8	91.2	91.0	84.0	89.0	224.67	14
Genoa CFC	91.0	91.8	90.0	89.0	87.0	89.8	224.61	15
Atlético Madrid	91.0	90.3	91.4	89.0	86.0	89.5	224.41	16
Aston Villa	89.0	89.3	90.4	91.0	85.0	88.9	223.75	17
Valencia CF	89.0	88.5	89.8	91.0	87.0	89.1	222.91	18
Southampton	89.0	88.5	89.6	90.0	87.0	88.8	222.10	19
West Bromwich Albion	90.0	88.5	88.8	91.0	85.0	88.7	221.99	20

Season 21 Division 5 Stats and Facts Independiente are the predicted champions with 8 teams in a pack behind them.

Fri, 25 Aug 2023 10:41:38 +0100

Usual explanation here:

Teams are rated using a formula which looks at the 4 main positions, GK,DEF,MID and FWD, along with the 18^th ranked player ( the lowest ranked player likely to play ) and the Average.

This produced ETOT the ranking used to work out the final position. This formula is more or less unchanged from around season 4 onwards. There is human input in deciding the most likely team. In addition on occasions the 18^th ranked player ( or less ) in much lower rated, I may choose to ignore that to not skew the stats.

Independiente have a really solid side, it should be a relatively easy ride into D4, they top and tail their team nicely and have good depth. Then perhaps much like the current seasons the rest of the placings will be hard fought by a large number of teams. Boca and Lazio also both top and tail their team with a strong GK, ATT combo. Lazio lack depth which will cost them. Santos have a good midfield but are weaker uptop.

Spartak need a good keeper as do Kyiv,. Kazan look well balanced again.

The cut off for survival in D4 isn’t that high at 216.5 so this rightly suggest all teams down to Athletic club could feature in the playoff and get promoted.

Lower down only the sack race to worry about. Basel, Lyon and Partizan lack any depth. Newcastle need a good rebuild with only rating above 87.

Division 5 is considerably stronger than last year up half a rating point from the previous season. This is probably due to rebuilds, no contracts and a particularly weak team gaining promotion.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Independiente	89.0	88.5	88.4	89.0	86.0	88.2	220.37	1
Boca Juniors	89.0	87.3	88.4	88.0	85.0	87.5	218.60	2
SS Lazio	91.0	86.8	88.5	89.0	80.0	87.1	218.57	3
Santos FC	88.0	87.8	88.4	87.0	86.0	87.4	218.35	4
Spartak Moskva	86.0	87.0	88.6	88.0	86.0	87.1	218.32	5
Dynamo Kyiv	86.0	87.3	87.4	89.0	86.0	87.1	218.21	6
Rubin Kazan	88.0	87.3	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.16	7
Club Brugge KV	88.0	87.0	87.4	88.0	85.0	87.1	217.48	8
Villarreal CF	87.0	87.8	87.2	87.0	86.0	87.0	217.27	9
Shakhtar Donetsk	87.0	87.3	87.8	87.0	85.0	86.8	217.23	10
Olympique Marseille	88.0	87.5	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.9	216.91	11
SSC Napoli	88.0	87.0	87.3	87.0	85.0	86.9	216.71	12
PSV	87.0	86.3	86.8	89.0	83.0	86.4	216.69	13
Athletic Club	87.0	87.0	87.3	87.0	85.0	86.7	216.59	14
Chievo Verona	88.0	86.5	87.0	87.5	83.0	86.4	216.20	15
Besiktas JK	88.0	86.5	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.7	216.11	16
FC Basel	87.0	87.3	86.4	87.0	83.0	86.1	215.87	17
Olympique Lyonnais	86.0	86.3	87.4	87.0	82.0	85.7	215.63	18
FK Partizan	87.0	84.8	87.3	89.0	81.0	85.8	215.61	19
Newcastle United	86.0	86.5	86.4	87.0	85.0	86.2	215.39	20

Season 20 Division 5 Stats and Facts

Sun, 20 Aug 2023 13:28:50 +0100

Atalanta deserved leaders in the stats and they win the league.

Finishing 3 places above expected Atatlanta have +4 PVA. They sit just above fellow promoted team Montpellier who have a VA of +9. However the teams with the highest VA are Besitkas and Seville on +10 , both made the playoffs although only Seville survived the first round. Athletic club the opponents of Seville sit on +6 VA and Newcastle get an honourable mention on +6 VA

Poor performances though from 4 of the top 6 predicted sides see that at the wrong end of the stats. Kazan should have been 3^rd but came 11^th they have the joint lowest VA on -8 and lowest PVA on -0.64. Villareal should have made the playoffs but didn’t they also have -8 VA along with Marseille. Boca made the playoffs but their promotion hopes were blown out by Seville.

3 of the lowest 4 predicted teams finished in the lowest 4

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Atalanta BC	87.0	87.0	87.4	89.0	86.0	87.3	218.13	4	1	3	4.00
Montpellier HSC	87.0	86.5	87.0	88.0	85.0	86.7	216.64	12	3	9	3.33
Besiktas JK	88.0	86.5	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.7	216.11	14	4	10	2.75
Sevilla	88.0	86.0	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.6	215.71	16	6	10	1.83
Athletic Club	87.0	87.0	87.2	87.0	84.0	86.4	216.43	13	7	6	1.00
Newcastle United	86.0	86.3	86.8	87.0	85.0	86.2	215.51	19	13	6	0.54
VfB Stuttgart	88.0	88.0	88.6	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.36	2	2	0	0.50
SS Lazio	87.0	83.8	86.4	89.0	80.0	85.2	214.01	20	17	3	0.24
Club Brugge KV	88.0	86.8	87.2	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.12	7	8	-1	0.00
Olympique Lyonnais	88.0	87.0	87.4	87.0	86.0	87.1	216.95	8	9	-1	0.00
FC Basel	87.0	86.3	86.4	88.0	85.0	86.5	215.96	15	16	-1	0.00
Chievo Verona	88.0	86.3	86.6	87.0	85.0	86.6	215.59	17	18	-1	0.00
PSV	87.0	85.5	86.8	88.0	84.0	86.3	215.52	18	20	-2	-0.05
Independiente	89.0	86.8	87.2	87.0	86.0	87.2	216.71	10	12	-2	-0.08
Spartak Moskva	87.0	86.3	88.3	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.91	9	15	-6	-0.33
Olympique Marseille	88.0	87.3	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.9	216.71	11	19	-8	-0.37
Santos FC	88.0	87.5	88.2	87.0	86.0	87.3	217.99	5	10	-5	-0.40
Villarreal CF	86.0	87.5	87.0	88.0	86.0	86.9	217.44	6	14	-8	-0.50
Boca Juniors	89.0	87.2	87.8	90.0	85.0	87.8	219.38	1	5	-4	-0.60
Rubin Kazan	88.0	87.5	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.5	218.64	3	11	-8	-0.64

Season 20 Division 4 Stats and Facts review.

Sat, 19 Aug 2023 13:51:09 +0100

The top 3 in the league are in the top 3 of the stats.

Koln will be celebrating like Rose Monday after they lead the stats and the league with +7 VA , 1^st place and +8 PVA.

Third in the league but 2^nd in the stats are Crystal Palace on +9 VA, CSKA 3^rd place in the stats but 2^nd in the league finished 5 places above expected. Olympiacos in 4^th spot in the league have +11VA and qualify for the play off spots. Big notable +7 for Fiorentina who looked like relegation fodder but survived well to finish 12^th.

Predicted 1 /2 in the league finish 20^th and 19^th in the stats one of 3 teams on -9 VA. AZ , Feynenoord and Partizan all fell below their expected finishing positions.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
1. FC Köln	89.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	83.0	87.1	218.08	8	1	7	8.00
Crystal Palace	87.0	87.3	87.4	88.0	86.0	87.1	217.68	12	3	9	3.33
CSKA Moskva	90.0	88.0	87.4	88.0	85.0	87.7	218.52	7	2	5	3.00
Olympiacos	87.0	87.3	87.0	88.0	86.0	87.1	217.36	16	5	11	2.40
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	86.5	86.6	87.0	85.0	86.6	215.79	19	12	7	0.67
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	87.0	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.68	13	9	4	0.56
Málaga CF	86.0	88.0	88.8	88.0	85.0	87.2	219.16	5	4	1	0.50
Shakhtar Donetsk	87.0	85.5	85.8	89.0	84.0	86.3	215.41	20	17	3	0.24
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	87.0	86.8	87.2	87.0	86.0	86.8	216.47	17	16	1	0.13
AS Saint-Etienne	87.0	86.3	87.5	89.0	85.0	87.0	217.49	14	14	0	0.07
SSC Napoli	88.0	87.0	87.0	87.0	82.0	86.2	216.15	18	18	0	0.06
Girondins Bordeaux	87.0	88.3	88.2	88.0	85.0	87.3	219.00	6	8	-2	-0.13
Torino	86.0	87.5	87.6	88.0	86.0	87.0	217.92	10	13	-3	-0.15
Dynamo Kyiv	87.0	87.3	87.0	88.0	86.0	87.1	217.36	15	19	-4	-0.16
Lille OSC	90.0	87.0	89.0	89.0	85.0	88.0	219.65	4	7	-3	-0.29
US Sassuolo	89.0	88.5	88.4	88.0	86.0	88.0	219.72	3	6	-3	-0.33
Lokomotiv Moskva	87.0	86.8	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.92	9	15	-6	-0.33
FK Partizan	87.0	86.8	87.4	89.0	85.0	87.0	217.81	11	20	-9	-0.40
Feyenoord	87.0	88.3	89.0	89.0	87.0	88.1	220.53	2	11	-9	-0.73
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	89.0	89.8	90.0	85.0	88.2	222.18	1	10	-9	-0.80

Season 20 Division 3 Stats and Facts review.

Sat, 19 Aug 2023 12:47:30 +0100

Celta Vigo +14 VA and + 7.5 PVA head the stats and get promoted, just above their Turkish rivals.

It isn’t very often that a +7 VA and auto promotion wouldn’t get you the team of the year in D3 but Fenerbache’s fantastic performance is eclipsed by their Galician rivals. Celtic third in the stats , also make the play offs with +8VA. Levante in 4^th spot got promoted as they should have done as leaders. Have to give Beddows some credit for a +7 VA and avoiding relegation with Sampdoria, with Twente the other notable overperformers.

Augsburg on -12VA are heading in the wrong direction , relegated when playoffs were more than achievable, they sit lowest in the stats. Schalke miss out on playoff and promotion and a -5 VA leaves them 2^nd lowest in the stats. Flamengo maybe the end of an era for the project side as they are relegated. Zagreb , Swansea , Galatasaray must also be disappointed with their seasons. Again I have the feeling that a number of sides feel more able to take risks and clearly rebuilds are in progress.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Celta Vigo	88.0	87.5	88.2	89.0	86.0	87.7	219.29	16	2	14	7.50
Fenerbahçe SK	92.0	87.8	89.0	89.0	86.0	87.9	220.61	10	3	7	2.67
Celtic	89.0	88.0	88.0	89.0	85.0	87.5	219.53	15	7	8	1.29
Levante UD	90.0	91.3	90.2	91.0	86.0	89.6	225.43	1	1	0	1.00
Sampdoria	87.0	88.3	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.68	19	12	7	0.67
Borussia Mönchengladbach	87.0	88.5	88.2	90.0	86.0	88.2	220.62	9	6	3	0.67
FC Twente	88.0	87.5	88.4	88.0	87.0	87.7	218.92	18	13	5	0.46
West Ham United	89.0	87.8	88.0	90.0	86.0	87.9	220.10	12	9	3	0.44
Cruzeiro	89.0	87.5	89.0	89.0	85.0	87.6	219.93	13	10	3	0.40
AS Roma	88.0	86.8	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.4	216.31	20	20	0	0.05
Sunderland	88.0	89.5	89.4	90.0	87.0	89.0	222.62	4	5	-1	0.00
VfL Wolfsburg	88.0	86.8	88.6	90.0	86.0	87.8	219.66	14	15	-1	0.00
AS Monaco	87.0	87.8	87.8	89.0	86.0	87.6	219.05	17	19	-2	-0.05
Internazionale	88.0	89.3	90.0	91.0	87.0	89.3	223.55	2	4	-2	-0.25
Galatasaray SK	88.0	87.8	89.0	89.0	86.0	87.9	220.13	11	16	-5	-0.25
Swansea City	88.0	88.0	88.6	91.0	87.0	88.7	221.43	7	14	-7	-0.43
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	89.0	89.6	89.0	86.0	88.4	221.73	5	11	-6	-0.45
Flamengo	86.0	89.8	89.4	88.0	86.0	88.3	221.16	8	17	-9	-0.47
FC Schalke 04	90.0	89.3	90.2	90.0	86.0	88.9	223.18	3	8	-5	-0.50
FC AUGSBURG	89.0	88.8	88.8	90.0	86.0	88.4	221.54	6	18	-12	-0.61

Season 20 Division 2 Stats and facts review.

Fri, 18 Aug 2023 12:58:21 +0100

Super Saints lead the stats. What went wrong for 4 of the top 6 predicted teams?

A great performance for Southampton finishing 9 places above predicted and in 2^nd place giving them a PVA of +5. Play off bound Sporting are 2^nd in the stats with a VA of +8 and PVA 2.25 , which divisional winners Leverkeusen who did all they could in 3^rd. Udinese predicted 17^th get into the playoffs and have the highest VA of +10. Milan on +8 VA and Hertha on +5 frustated at missing the playoff spots but a great season for them overall.

Ajax and Anderlecht had abject seasons both relegated when they should have been promoted. Real Madrid 3^rd lowest in the stats but still have the playoffs and could make it to D1. Liverpool and Man Utd would have liked higher finishes.

A much bigger spread in D2 this year. Probably the lack of contracts meaning rebuilding and increased risk taking.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Southampton	89.0	89.3	89.8	90.0	86.0	88.8	222.74	11	2	9	5.00
Sporting CP	88.0	90	89.2	90.0	85.0	88.4	222.62	12	4	8	2.25
Bayer Leverkusen	90.0	90.0	90.4	92.0	87.0	89.9	225.36	2	1	1	2.00
Udinese Calcio	88.0	88.8	88.8	88.0	87.0	88.1	220.24	17	7	10	1.57
AC Milan	88.0	88.8	89.0	88.0	86.0	88.0	220.28	16	8	8	1.13
Hertha BSC	88.0	88.5	89.2	90.0	86.0	88.3	221.54	14	9	5	0.67
Paris Saint-Germain	90.0	89.8	90.0	90.0	86.0	89.2	223.46	9	6	3	0.67
Everton	89.0	90.5	90.4	91.0	85.0	89.2	224.75	3	3	0	0.33
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	87.0	87.3	87.8	90.0	86.0	87.6	219.34	19	16	3	0.25
Werder Bremen	88.0	88.5	88.8	90.0	85.0	88.1	221.10	15	14	1	0.14
Hamburger SV	91.0	89.0	89.5	89.5	86.0	89.0	222.22	13	13	0	0.08
Zenit Saint Petersburg (P)	88.0	87.0	88.0	87.0	86.0	87.2	217.43	20	20	0	0.05
River Plate	87.0	87.5	88.6	89.0	86.0	87.6	219.49	18	19	-1	0.00
São Paulo FC	92.0	89.3	90.4	90.0	85.0	89.3	223.46	8	11	-3	-0.18
Stoke City	89.0	89.0	90.2	92.0	85.0	89.0	224.04	7	10	-3	-0.20
Manchester United	88.0	88.3	89.8	92.0	85.0	88.6	223.00	10	15	-5	-0.27
Liverpool	89.0	89.5	91.0	91.0	86.0	89.3	224.55	5	12	-7	-0.50
Real Madrid	91.0	91.3	92.2	93.0	88.0	91.1	228.69	1	5	-4	-0.60
RSC Anderlecht	89.0	89.5	90.2	91.0	88.0	89.5	224.15	6	18	-12	-0.61
Ajax	91.0	90.0	90.0	92.0	82.0	89.0	224.56	4	17	-13	-0.71

Season 20 Division 1 Stats and Facts review.

Fri, 18 Aug 2023 11:04:56 +0100

Super Hellas win the league and no surprise that they head the stats.

Usual disclaimer. VA = value added, the difference between predicted and final position. PVA= positional value added. Finishing higher counts for more. Obviously it is better for a team who should have been 4^th to come 1^st , than a team to come 11^th who should have been 14^th.

Hellas finished 3 places above expected and won the league giving them the highest PVA of +4

Barcelona’s rebuild continues and a PVA of +2.33 2^nd in the stats, with the highest VA and 3^rd spot in the league shows they are on the right track. Bayern should also be happy with 3^rd place in the stats and 4^th in the league. Villa , Genoa and Valencia were notable overperformers.

Benfica’s poor performance sees them lowest in the stats , despite a 6^th place finish on -4 VA and – 0.5 PVA. Arsenal finished 8 places lower than expected and just survived the drop. Liege on -6 VA maybe suffered the most and far from finishing 12^th were relegated.

10 clubs finished within 1 place of the expected position and 13 within 3.

	Gk	Def	Mid	Att	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Hellas Verona	91.0	91.5	92.4	95.0	86.0	91.2	230.11	4	1	3	4.00
Barcelona	91.0	91.5	92.0	92.0	85.0	90.3	227.72	9	3	6	2.33
Bayern München	93.0	90.8	92.6	92.0	89.0	91.5	228.32	7	4	3	1.00
Aston Villa	89.0	90.5	90.6	90.0	82.0	88.4	223.90	17	12	5	0.50
Genoa CFC	91.0	90.6	90.4	91.0	86.0	89.8	225.19	14	10	4	0.50
FC Porto	94.0	90.3	92.2	96.0	85.0	91.5	229.84	6	5	1	0.40
Valencia CF	89.0	89.3	90.0	91.0	87.0	89.3	223.67	18	14	4	0.36
Manchester City	95.0	91.8	91.6	91.0	86.0	91.1	227.55	10	9	1	0.22
Atlético Madrid	91.0	89.5	90.6	90.0	87.0	89.6	223.94	16	15	1	0.13
RCD Espanyol	89.0	87.3	87.6	91.0	85.0	88.0	219.91	20	19	1	0.11
Leicester City	90.0	89.8	92.4	93.0	86.0	90.2	227.29	11	11	0	0.09
West Bromwich Albion	89.0	90.0	89.8	93.0	87.0	89.8	225.41	13	13	0	0.08
Chelsea (C)	95.0	91.5	94.4	97.0	86.0	92.8	233.49	1	2	-1	0.00
Tottenham Hotspur	88.0	89.0	89.4	89.0	84.0	87.9	221.21	19	20	-1	0.00
SC Internacional	90.0	89.5	89.8	91.0	88.0	89.7	223.95	15	17	-2	-0.06
Borussia Dortmund	92.0	92.0	92.6	93.0	89.0	91.7	229.85	5	8	-3	-0.25
Standard Liège	91.0	91.0	90.4	93.0	87.0	90.5	226.93	12	18	-6	-0.28
Juventus	94.0	92.5	93.4	93.0	85.0	91.6	230.65	3	7	-4	-0.43
Arsenal	92.0	91.8	91.8	92.0	86.0	90.7	228.00	8	16	-8	-0.44
SL Benfica	94.0	90.0	94.0	96.0	87.0	92.2	231.32	2	6	-4	-0.50

Season 20 Division 5 Stats and Facts.

Fri, 07 Apr 2023 14:18:12 +0100

No transfers completed after Monday 3 April are included.

Close race at the top with 4 teams in with a chance.

Boca go front and back , the strongest keeper and the strongest attack in the league. Should be set for top 3 with that combo. Stuttgart much more balanced and much more depth , they can challenge almost any team. Kazan are a similar prospect if a little weaker in defence and midfield. Atalanta the first 87 rated keeper but a potent attacker could allow them to sneak in to auto promotion.

You need 217 to survive D4, so down to Brugge are realistic prospects for promotion. Villareal will find it hard with an 86 rated keeper. Santos look more balanced, while Brugge are weaker in defence.

Who could be cup-tastic super fantastic, well Independiente with that 89 keeper and good depth would be my pick.

Avoid the pit and the pendulum and you will be safe from the sack in the new / old era of no contractual obligations.

Lazio currently look top prospects for last place , unless they rapidly trade up their youngsters. Too many goals will be shipped past Newcastle. PSV lack depth but maybe that attack could do it. Chievo , a decent keeper but that is a weak midfield/ defence combo.

As for Sevilla , that will be another post altogether.

Average 216.84 down 0.02 from last season

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Boca Juniors	89.0	87.2	87.8	90.0	85.0	87.8	219.38	1
VfB Stuttgart	88.0	88.0	88.6	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.36	2
Rubin Kazan	88.0	87.5	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.5	218.64	3
Atalanta BC	87.0	87.0	87.4	89.0	86.0	87.3	218.13	4
Santos FC	88.0	87.5	88.2	87.0	86.0	87.3	217.99	5
Villarreal CF	86.0	87.5	87.0	88.0	86.0	86.9	217.44	6
Club Brugge KV	88.0	86.8	87.2	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.12	7
Olympique Lyonnais	88.0	87.0	87.4	87.0	86.0	87.1	216.95	8
Spartak Moskva	87.0	86.3	88.3	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.91	9
Independiente	89.0	86.8	87.2	87.0	86.0	87.2	216.71	10
Olympique Marseille	88.0	87.3	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.9	216.71	11
Montpellier HSC	87.0	86.5	87.0	88.0	85.0	86.7	216.64	12
Athletic Club	87.0	87.0	87.2	87.0	84.0	86.4	216.43	13
Besiktas JK	88.0	86.5	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.7	216.11	14
FC Basel	87.0	86.3	86.4	88.0	85.0	86.5	215.96	15
Sevilla	88.0	86.0	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.6	215.71	16
Chievo Verona	88.0	86.3	86.6	87.0	85.0	86.6	215.59	17
PSV	87.0	85.5	86.8	88.0	84.0	86.3	215.52	18
Newcastle United	86.0	86.3	86.8	87.0	85.0	86.2	215.51	19
SS Lazio	87.0	83.8	86.4	89.0	80.0	85.2	214.01	20

Season 20 Division 4 Stats and Facts

Fri, 07 Apr 2023 14:04:05 +0100

Can AZ shield their keeper to take the title?

Division 4 is normal full of compromises. A weak keeper, lack of depth a dodgy midfield.

Note any transfers after Monday 3^rd are not included.

AZ are 2 clear points above the rest of the pack. They have a 90 rated striker, just below 90 midfield and a strong defence. So long as the keeper isn’t breached they should do well. Feyenoord in 2^nd a similar team but with more depth overall who should come good in the 2^nd half of the season. Sassuolo less potent up top than their rivals but they have a far better keeper and if they can withstand some possession football could be the 3^rd choice for auto promotion.

You have to be above 219 to survive D3, therefore any team lower than Bordeaux has a lot of improving to do. Lille weak in defence but strong elsewhere, Malaga with a dodgy keeper but strong in the remainder of the team. Bordeaux maybe more balanced but have the weakest midfield of the top 7 teams.

Up for the cup? Feyenoord look the best prospects.

Anything less than 217.5 leaves you in serious relegation risk. This means 7 teams have to improve their stats to survive. Shaktar and Fiorentina look prime suspects to drop back down. Maybe Fiorentina can hide behind or in front of their keeper. Napoli will be ok unless they get a couple of injuries, if so they will suffer. Dnipro still a weak defence leaves them vunerable. St Etienne go for the strong striker , weak defence combo that often is enough for the weaker teams.

Average = 218.09 , 0.55 lower than last season

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	89.0	89.8	90.0	85.0	88.2	222.18	1
Feyenoord	87.0	88.3	89.0	89.0	87.0	88.1	220.53	2
US Sassuolo	89.0	88.5	88.4	88.0	86.0	88.0	219.72	3
Lille OSC	90.0	87.0	89.0	89.0	85.0	88.0	219.65	4
Málaga CF	86.0	88.0	88.8	88.0	85.0	87.2	219.16	5
Girondins Bordeaux	87.0	88.3	88.2	88.0	85.0	87.3	219.00	6
CSKA Moskva	90.0	88.0	87.4	88.0	85.0	87.7	218.52	7
1. FC Köln	89.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	83.0	87.1	218.08	8
Lokomotiv Moskva	87.0	86.8	88.2	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.92	9
Torino	86.0	87.5	87.6	88.0	86.0	87.0	217.92	10
FK Partizan	87.0	86.8	87.4	89.0	85.0	87.0	217.81	11
Crystal Palace	87.0	87.3	87.4	88.0	86.0	87.1	217.68	12
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	87.0	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.68	13
AS Saint-Etienne	87.0	86.3	87.5	89.0	85.0	87.0	217.49	14
Dynamo Kyiv	87.0	87.3	87.0	88.0	86.0	87.1	217.36	15
Olympiacos	87.0	87.3	87.0	88.0	86.0	87.1	217.36	16
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	87.0	86.8	87.2	87.0	86.0	86.8	216.47	17
SSC Napoli	88.0	87.0	87.0	87.0	82.0	86.2	216.15	18
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	86.5	86.6	87.0	85.0	86.6	215.79	19
Shakhtar Donetsk	87.0	85.5	85.8	89.0	84.0	86.3	215.41	20

Season 20 Division 3 Stats and Facts

Thu, 06 Apr 2023 15:08:41 +0100

Levante the team to beat, who else could challenge?

This must be the season for Levante to push back into the big time. 90+ in all departments and they would probably get automatic promotion from D2.

Schalke and Inter are their nearest opponents. Schalke would seem to be odds on for automatic promotion with only the defence below 90. Sunderland and Inter maybe a keeper away from the title either will that be enough to get a 2nd or 3^rd place as the stats suggest, they have good depth and the 2^nd half of the season should be a strong one. Inter though have a far stronger strike force than Sunderland or Schalke so the battle for 2 - 4 should be tight. Zagreb are more balanced and could initially be a stronger prospect.

Swansea and Augsburg just missed out on the playoffs last season and this year they will be fighting it out with Inter.

218 or less was the problem zone last season. Roma look most vulnerable lack of depth and weak defence. Sampdoria have a weak keeper but good defence and o,k up front. Twente a little weaker in defence but a better midfield should shield that.

Up for the cup? Twente if they can avoid relegation could throw a few coals on the fire.

The average score is 220.67 which is 0.79 up from last season.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Levante UD	90.0	91.3	90.2	91.0	86.0	89.6	225.43	1
Internazionale	88.0	89.3	90.0	91.0	87.0	89.3	223.55	2
FC Schalke 04	90.0	89.3	90.2	90.0	86.0	88.9	223.18	3
Sunderland	88.0	89.5	89.4	90.0	87.0	89.0	222.62	4
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	89.0	89.6	89.0	86.0	88.4	221.73	5
FC AUGSBURG	89.0	88.8	88.8	90.0	86.0	88.4	221.54	6
Swansea City	88.0	88.0	88.6	91.0	87.0	88.7	221.43	7
Flamengo	86.0	89.8	89.4	88.0	86.0	88.3	221.16	8
Borussia Mönchengladbach	87.0	88.5	88.2	90.0	86.0	88.2	220.62	9
Fenerbahçe SK	92.0	87.8	89.0	89.0	86.0	87.9	220.61	10
Galatasaray SK	88.0	87.8	89.0	89.0	86.0	87.9	220.13	11
West Ham United	89.0	87.8	88.0	90.0	86.0	87.9	220.10	12
Cruzeiro	89.0	87.5	89.0	89.0	85.0	87.6	219.93	13
VfL Wolfsburg	88.0	86.8	88.6	90.0	86.0	87.8	219.66	14
Celtic	89.0	88.0	88.0	89.0	85.0	87.5	219.53	15
Celta Vigo	88.0	87.5	88.2	89.0	86.0	87.7	219.29	16
AS Monaco	87.0	87.8	87.8	89.0	86.0	87.6	219.05	17
FC Twente	88.0	87.5	88.4	88.0	87.0	87.7	218.92	18
Sampdoria	87.0	88.3	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.68	19
AS Roma	88.0	86.8	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.4	216.31	20

Season 20 Division 2 Stats and Facts

Wed, 05 Apr 2023 11:12:02 +0100

Real Madrid odds on favourites, who will come second?

Perhaps and over simplistic view but as Madrid would be solid mid table in D1 and Leverkesuen 2 whole points away you can’t see around Real Madrid romping back to D1 and even having time to spare to build a stronger team while they do it.

Leverkeusen also though have a strong side . Second place should be relatively easy and they too have a side built for a higher league with no real vulnerabilities. Everton and Ajax are harder to judge. Everton have a weaker keeper but more depth than Ajax who risking everything if they get injuries. Liverpool Stoke and Anderlecht strong in midfield but weaker at the back. To survive D1 you will need 224 so this is kind of the cut off , unless you can improve your team while gaining promotion.

Last season anything less than 221 suggested a struggle. This puts 5 teams already fighting before the season has begun. Zenit look least well equipped to survive with a week attack and defence combo that will suffer against 90 + rated attacks. Hoffenheim will be good up front but can they out score their opponents. Same could be said for River Plate but they should get more possession than some . Udinese are more balanced and have good depth , which should do them fine. AC Milan trade depth for a stronger midfield which should be good for at least the first few games.

Cup run teams ? Anderlecht & Udinese

Average for Division 222.65 up 0.4 from last season.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT
Real Madrid	91.0	91.3	92.2	93.0	88.0	91.1	228.69
Bayer Leverkusen	90.0	90.0	90.4	92.0	87.0	89.9	225.36
Everton	89.0	90.5	90.4	91.0	85.0	89.2	224.75
Ajax	91.0	90.0	90.0	92.0	82.0	89.0	224.56
Liverpool	89.0	89.5	91.0	91.0	86.0	89.3	224.55
RSC Anderlecht	89.0	89.5	90.2	91.0	88.0	89.5	224.15
Stoke City	89.0	89.0	90.2	92.0	85.0	89.0	224.04
São Paulo FC (P)	92.0	89.3	90.4	90.0	85.0	89.3	223.46
Paris Saint-Germain	90.0	89.8	90.0	90.0	86.0	89.2	223.46
Manchester United	88.0	88.3	89.8	92.0	85.0	88.6	223.00
Southampton	89.0	89.3	89.8	90.0	86.0	88.8	222.74
Sporting CP (P)	88.0	90	89.2	90.0	85.0	88.4	222.62
Hamburger SV	91.0	89.0	89.5	89.5	86.0	89.0	222.22
Hertha BSC	88.0	88.5	89.2	90.0	86.0	88.3	221.54
Werder Bremen	88.0	88.5	88.8	90.0	85.0	88.1	221.10
AC Milan	88.0	88.8	89.0	88.0	86.0	88.0	220.28
Udinese Calcio	88.0	88.8	88.8	88.0	87.0	88.1	220.24
River Plate	87.0	87.5	88.6	89.0	86.0	87.6	219.49
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	87.0	87.3	87.8	90.0	86.0	87.6	219.34
Zenit Saint Petersburg (P)	88.0	87.0	88.0	87.0	86.0	87.2	217.43

Season 20 Division 1 Stats and Facts.

Wed, 05 Apr 2023 10:56:19 +0100

A few notes for the uninitiated.

The ratings for GK,DEF,MID,ATT are the average rating of the likely players in those positions. Top 18 is the lowest player likely to be in the starting squad. Average is the average of those. ETOT is based on a secret formula using the relative importance of each position. That created the Pre (predicted ) finishing position.

Perhaps it is no shock to see Chelsea still way ahead of everyone else. They lead in most categories except perhaps defence where they are a little weaker and could be vunerable to any team sporting 92 attack or above if you pick the right formation. Benfica are the nearest challengers, almost a Chelsea clone just a point or so down across the board. Juventus under their new boss sit 3^rd , defensively the most solid team in the league. Porto have a really strong attack and could beat any team. Dortmund and Bayern are strong in the middle and could challenge any team.

With the lowest 4 at risk of the sack any team less than 223 is likely to be in trouble but such is the strength of D1 this season that even teams on 224 or less will be pulled down if they are not careful. As they stand Espanyol look relegation certainties, Spurs will also struggle. Valencia may have a good enough attack to survive. Villa will look to shield their keeper usings the defenders and midfield as a screen. Cup run team, surely Bayern Munich who can put out an 89 as their 18^th ranked player or maybe Dortmund who can do the same.

Average ETOT 226.93 down 0.4 from last year.

	Gk	Def	Mid	Att	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Chelsea (C)	95.0	91.5	94.4	97.0	86.0	92.8	233.49	1
SL Benfica	94.0	90.0	94.0	96.0	87.0	92.2	231.32	2
Juventus	94.0	92.5	93.4	93.0	85.0	91.6	230.65	3
Hellas Verona	91.0	91.5	92.4	95.0	86.0	91.2	230.11	4
Borussia Dortmund	92.0	92.0	92.6	93.0	89.0	91.7	229.85	5
FC Porto	94.0	90.3	92.2	96.0	85.0	91.5	229.84	6
Bayern München	93.0	90.8	92.6	92.0	89.0	91.5	228.32	7
Arsenal	92.0	91.8	91.8	92.0	86.0	90.7	228.00	8
Barcelona	91.0	91.5	92.0	92.0	85.0	90.3	227.72	9
Manchester City	95.0	91.8	91.6	91.0	86.0	91.1	227.55	10
Leicester City	90.0	89.8	92.4	93.0	86.0	90.2	227.29	11
Standard Liège	91.0	91.0	90.4	93.0	87.0	90.5	226.93	12
West Bromwich Albion	89.0	90.0	89.8	93.0	87.0	89.8	225.41	13
Genoa CFC	91.0	90.6	90.4	91.0	86.0	89.8	225.19	14
SC Internacional	90.0	89.5	89.8	91.0	88.0	89.7	223.95	15
Atlético Madrid	91.0	89.5	90.6	90.0	87.0	89.6	223.94	16
Aston Villa	89.0	90.5	90.6	90.0	82.0	88.4	223.90	17
Valencia CF	89.0	89.3	90.0	91.0	87.0	89.3	223.67	18
Tottenham Hotspur	88.0	89.0	89.4	89.0	84.0	87.9	221.21	19
RCD Espanyol	89.0	87.3	87.6	91.0	85.0	88.0	219.91	20

Season 19 Division 5 Stats and facts review.

Sat, 25 Mar 2023 15:17:37 +0100

Two great examples of how to play the game right. Fiorentina should have been 18^th but came 1^st +17 VA and +18 PVA.

Shaktar should have been last +17 VA and +6 PVA.

2^nd spot Olympiacos have +10 VA with Athletic club on +8 VA. Other notable over achievers were Montpellier and Newcastle.

Most abjectly poor performance as -18 VA Lazio, Spartak Moscow were not far behind on -14 VA , along with Lyon. Villareal and Stuttgart on -10 VA were also behind the curve.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
ACF Fiorentina	87.0	86.8	86.6	86.0	85.0	86.3	215.22	18	1	17	18.00
Shakhtar Donetsk	86.0	84.8	86.2	87.0	83.0	85.4	213.59	20	3	17	6.00
Olympiacos	87.0	87.5	87.2	87.0	85.0	86.7	216.95	12	2	10	5.50
Athletic Club	87.0	86.0	86.6	87.0	85.0	86.3	215.27	17	9	8	1.00
Montpellier HSC	87.0	86.8	87.4	88.0	85.0	86.8	217.16	11	6	5	1.00
Boca Juniors	89.0	86.8	88.4	87.0	85.0	87.2	217.55	7	4	3	1.00
Newcastle United	87.0	85.5	86.8	87.0	83.0	85.9	214.79	19	12	7	0.67
AS Saint-Etienne	87.0	86.3	87.2	89.0	85.0	86.9	217.25	10	7	3	0.57
PSV	87.0	86.5	87.0	87.5	86.0	86.8	216.44	14	10	4	0.50
Independiente	89.0	86.5	87.2	87.0	85.0	86.9	216.39	15	11	4	0.45
FC Basel	87.0	86.0	86.6	89.0	82.0	86.1	216.21	16	15	1	0.13
Atalanta BC	88.0	87.3	87.8	87.0	86.0	87.2	217.47	8	8	0	0.13
Olympique Marseille	88.0	87.3	87.3	87.0	83.0	86.5	216.67	13	14	-1	0.00
VfB Stuttgart	89.0	87.5	87.6	87.0	83.0	86.8	217.27	9	19	-10	-0.47
Club Brugge KV	88.0	87.5	87.2	88.0	84.0	86.9	217.60	5	13	-8	-0.54
Villarreal CF	87.0	87.0	87.3	88.5	85.0	87.0	217.57	6	16	-10	-0.56
Rubin Kazan	88.0	88.0	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.6	218.88	1	5	-4	-0.60
Olympique Lyonnais	88.0	87.3	87.6	88.0	86.0	87.4	217.96	4	18	-14	-0.72
Spartak Moskva	87.0	86.3	88.6	89.0	85.0	87.2	218.37	3	17	-14	-0.76
SS Lazio	88.0	87.0	87.8	90.0	80.0	86.6	218.50	2	20	-18	-0.85

Season 19 Division 4 stats and facts review.

Sat, 25 Mar 2023 15:10:29 +0100

The 1 2 3 in the league come 3^rd 2^nd and 1^st in the stats.

West Ham with best VA of +11 in the league come top of the stats with the most over performing team in D4. Fenerbache in 2^nd had a a great +7 VA and Twente +3 VA. All 4 were tied with 4.00 PVA so the VA was the tie breaker.

Playoff Dynamo Kiev had a great +8 VA as did CSKA, Cologne top that with +10 VA and a notable +6 for Napoli.

AZ on -11 VA come lowest placed in the stats, though Chievo on -15 VA could really claim that prize after the predicted 2^nd place team got relegated. Santos also struggled and paid the price on -8 VA.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
West Ham United	89.0	87.0	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.4	217.88	14	3	11	4.00
Fenerbahçe SK	89.0	87.5	88.8	87.0	86.0	87.7	218.55	9	2	7	4.00
FC Twente	88.0	88.5	88.8	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.57	4	1	3	4.00
Dynamo Kyiv	88.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.20	12	4	8	2.25
CSKA Moskva	88.0	88.0	87.5	87.5	85.0	87.2	218.04	13	5	8	1.80
1. FC Köln	88.0	87.8	86.8	88.0	82.0	86.5	217.24	18	8	10	1.38
SSC Napoli	87.0	86.8	87.0	88.0	85.0	86.8	216.84	20	14	6	0.50
Lokomotive Moscow	87.0	86.8	87.5	87.5	86.0	87.0	217.04	19	16	3	0.25
Torino (P)	87.0	87.3	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.76	15	13	2	0.23
Crystal Palace	88.0	87.5	87.8	89.0	86.0	87.7	218.97	6	6	0	0.17
Málaga CF	88.0	88.8	87.8	87.0	86.0	87.5	218.67	8	10	-2	-0.10
Besiktas JK	88.0	87.3	87.6	87.0	86.0	87.2	217.31	17	20	-3	-0.10
Sevilla	88.0	87.0	87.2	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.44	16	19	-3	-0.11
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	87.0	87.8	89.0	85.0	87.2	218.33	11	15	-4	-0.20
Girondins Bordeaux	87.0	88.0	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.76	7	11	-4	-0.27
US Sassuolo (R)	91.0	88.5	88.5	88.0	85.0	88.2	219.92	5	9	-4	-0.33
Santos FC (R)	88.0	87.8	88.5	87.0	86.0	87.5	218.43	10	18	-8	-0.39
Sunderland (P)	88.0	88.8	88.8	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.73	3	7	-4	-0.43
Chievo Verona	88.0	87.5	88.6	91.0	86.0	88.2	220.91	2	17	-15	-0.82
AZ Alkmaar (C)	87.0	89.3	88.0	91.0	85.0	88.1	221.59	1	12	-11	-0.83

Season 19 Division 3 Stats and Facts review.

Sat, 25 Mar 2023 15:02:31 +0100

Have Zenit done the performance of the year?

2^nd spot in the league and VA of + 16 and a PVA of 8.50 puts them miles ahead of leaders Sporting who are in 2^nd. Galatasaray in 3^rd had a great season with +6 VA, with Roma the only other big over achievers.

Augsburg were the most disappointing team this year. -7 VA and the lowest PVA. Swansea their playoff rivals faired little better with -4 VA. Relegated Lille also had -4 VA

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Zenit Saint Petersburg	89.0	87.0	87.8	87.0	85.0	86.7	217.23	18	2	16	8.50
Sporting CP	88.0	89.5	89.0	91.0	84.0	88.4	222.59	2	1	1	2.00
Galatasaray SK	88.0	88.0	89.0	89.0	86.0	88.0	220.33	10	4	6	1.75
Manchester United (	88.0	88.0	89.0	90.0	84.0	87.8	220.74	6	5	1	0.40
AS Roma	88.0	88.0	86.8	87.0	84.0	86.5	217.03	19	15	4	0.33
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	87.0	86.5	87.2	87.0	86.0	86.7	216.27	20	18	2	0.17
Sampdoria	88.0	87.3	88.8	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.76	14	13	1	0.15
Internationale	88.0	88.5	88.8	89.0	87.0	88.3	220.69	7	7	0	0.14
Cruzeiro	89.0	87.8	89.0	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.60	12	12	0	0.08
Borussia Mönchengladbach	87.0	88.3	89.0	89.5	85.0	87.9	220.62	8	9	-1	0.00
Celtic	89.0	87.3	87.6	89.0	85.0	87.2	218.61	15	16	-1	0.00
FC Schalke 04	90.0	89.0	88.4	89.0	85.0	87.9	220.77	5	6	-1	0.00
Celta Vigo	87.0	88.0	89.2	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.37	9	11	-2	-0.09
FK Partizan	87.0	87.0	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.68	17	20	-3	-0.10
Feyenoord	87.0	87.0	88.4	88.0	85.0	87.1	218.16	16	19	-3	-0.11
AS Monaco	88.0	87.8	88.0	90.0	85.0	87.7	219.86	11	14	-3	-0.14
Lille OSC	90.0	87.0	88.8	89.0	85.0	87.5	219.49	13	17	-4	-0.18
São Paulo FC	90.0	89.5	90.0	90.0	86.0	88.9	223.22	1	3	-2	-0.33
Swansea City	88.0	88.3	88.8	91.0	87.0	88.8	221.79	4	8	-4	-0.38
FC AUGSBURG	89.0	88.5	89.8	90.5	86.0	88.7	222.43	3	10	-7	-0.60

Season 19 Division 2 Stats and Facts review.

Sat, 25 Mar 2023 14:44:55 +0100

2^nd Place Villa just beat champs Leicester to the stats crown.

Dominant they were but Leicester were beaten stats wise by Villa who had a great VA of 7 , though the top VA was Udinese who just missed out on the playoffs after being relegation candidates. Espanyol, Werder and AC Milan had a good VA this season.

Most underperforming teams were Hamburg and Liverpool. Promoted Genoa and maybe Everton won’t be bothered if they go up.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Aston Villa (R)	89.0	90.0	89.8	90.0	85.0	88.8	223.22	9	2	7	4.00
Leicester City	89.0	89.5	91.4	90.0	86.0	89.2	224.22	3	1	2	3.00
RCD Espanyol	89.0	88.0	90.4	90.0	87.0	88.9	222.34	10	4	6	1.75
Udinese	88.0	89.3	88.6	88.0	86.0	88.0	220.36	18	8	10	1.38
Werder Bremen	88.0	88.5	89.2	90.0	85.0	88.1	221.42	12	7	5	0.86
AC Milan	89.0	88.5	88.6	89.0	85.0	88.0	220.41	17	12	5	0.50
Southampton	88.0	89.8	89.6	89.0	87.0	88.7	222.33	11	9	2	0.33
River Plate	87.0	88	88.0	88.0	87.0	87.6	218.88	19	16	3	0.25
Levante UD	90.0	87.0	88.2	87.0	85.0	87.4	217.71	20	18	2	0.17
Bayer Leverkusen	89.0	90.3	90.0	90.0	86.0	89.1	223.70	4	5	-1	0.00
Paris Saint-Germain	91.0	87.8	89.3	89.5	87.0	88.9	221.14	14	15	-1	0.00
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	88.3	89.4	89.0	86.0	88.3	220.97	15	17	-2	-0.06
VfL Wolfsburg	88.0	88.0	88.8	90.0	84.0	87.8	220.58	16	19	-3	-0.11
Stoke City	89.0	89.0	90.2	91.0	85.0	88.8	223.39	8	11	-3	-0.18
Ajax	92.0	89.3	91.4	89.0	84.0	89.1	223.49	7	10	-3	-0.20
Flamengo	87.0	89.6	89.5	88.0	86.0	88.0	221.24	13	20	-7	-0.30
Genoa CFC	92.0	91.8	90.8	92.0	86.0	90.5	227.20	1	3	-2	-0.33
Everton	89.0	90.0	90.4	91.0	85.0	89.1	224.35	2	6	-4	-0.50
Liverpool	90.0	89.5	90.8	89.5	86.0	89.2	223.54	6	14	-8	-0.50
Hamburger SV	89.0	89.0	90.2	91.0	87.0	89.2	223.63	5	13	-8	-0.54

Season 19 Division 1 Stats and Facts review

Sat, 25 Mar 2023 13:49:41 +0100

Benfica with a PVA of 2.67 with a great 3^rd place overall and VA of 7 lead the stats.

For those who don’t know the end of season rating is calculated from the Value Added i.e. how high above your predicted position you finish and the position you finish in, this gives you the positional value added. ( For example finishing 4 th when you should have been 8^th is far better than coming 12^th when you should have been 16^th.

Internacional sit second with the highest VA of +9 ,just above Barcelona in 3^rd. The champs come 4^th and could do no more, with WBA in 5^th spot. Notable high VA from Spurs.

Real Madrid were the biggest disappointment, relegated and out of sorts, -13VA. Arsenal slumped to 2^nd lowest PVA and Juve 3^rd. Anderlecht have the lowest VA of -6 and they were relegated.

	Gk	Def	Mid	Att	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
SL Benfica	94.0	91.0	92.8	91.0	87.0	91.2	227.87	10	3	7	2.67
SC Internacional	91.0	89.8	89.4	91.0	87.0	89.6	223.83	17	8	9	1.25
Barcelona	91.0	92.0	93.0	96.0	86.0	91.6	231.64	3	2	1	1.00
Chelsea	95.0	93.8	93.8	95.0	83.0	92.1	233.15	1	1	0	1.00
West Bromwich Albion (C)	89.0	89.8	89.4	92.0	87.0	89.4	224.24	16	11	5	0.55
Tottenham Hotspur	89.0	89.0	89.6	89.0	86.0	88.5	221.73	19	14	5	0.43
Hellas Verona	91.0	91.5	92.4	95.0	86.0	91.2	230.11	7	6	1	0.33
Bayern München	93.0	90.8	92.8	93.0	88.0	91.5	229.01	8	7	1	0.29
FC Porto	94.0	91.5	92.8	96.0	86.0	92.1	231.44	4	4	0	0.25
Hertha BSC	89.0	89.3	89.6	90.0	86.0	88.8	222.58	18	17	1	0.12
Borussia Dortmund	92.0	91.0	92.0	93.0	88.0	91.2	228.45	9	9	0	0.11
Valencia CF	92.0	89.5	90.6	92.0	85.0	89.8	225.12	15	15	0	0.07
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim?	88.0	87.5	88.6	89.0	86.0	87.8	219.61	20	20	0	0.05
Manchester City	95.0	92.0	91.6	91.0	86.0	91.1	227.75	11	12	-1	0.00
Atlético Madrid	92.0	90.3	91.0	92.0	85.0	90.1	226.04	12	13	-1	0.00
Standard Liège	91.0	91.0	89.8	91.0	87.0	90.0	225.15	14	16	-2	-0.06
RSC Anderlecht	89.0	89.8	91.4	91.0	88.0	89.8	225.31	13	19	-6	-0.26
Juventus	94.0	92.8	93.2	93.0	87.0	92.0	230.93	6	10	-4	-0.30
Arsenal	92.0	92.0	92.4	97.0	86.0	91.9	231.93	2	5	-3	-0.40
Real Madrid	91.0	91.5	92.0	97.0	87.0	91.7	231.21	5	18	-13	-0.67

Season 19 Division 3 Stats and Facts.

Tue, 01 Nov 2022 19:38:59 +0100

Sao Paulo predicted to double bounce with relegated Sporting and Augsburg predicted to return to D2.

The top 3 all offer something a bit different , Sao Paulo the best keeper and Midfield. Sporting lack depth but are potent in attack. Augsburg weaker at the back but can match anyone up top.

Swansea can threaten any team in the league with their attack and should fancy the playoffs, with Schalke’s mean defence also able to withstand those 90/91 attackers.

Borussia surely a wild card team. Poor keeper , lack depth but otherwise strong , how will the fair?

Partizan , Zenit , Roma and sadly the fair tail of Dnipro who may well be returning to D4 or beyond. Zenit perhaps with a good keeper may be able to turn a few loses into draws but can they covert draws to wins?

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
São Paulo FC (C)	90.0	89.5	90.0	90.0	86.0	88.9	223.22	1
Sporting CP (R)	88.0	89.5	89.0	91.0	84.0	88.4	222.59	2
FC AUGSBURG (R)	89.0	88.5	89.8	90.5	86.0	88.7	222.43	3
Swansea City	88.0	88.3	88.8	91.0	87.0	88.8	221.79	4
FC Schalke 04	90.0	89.0	88.4	89.0	85.0	87.9	220.77	5
Manchester United (R)	88.0	88.0	89.0	90.0	84.0	87.8	220.74	6
Internationale	88.0	88.5	88.8	89.0	87.0	88.3	220.69	7
Borussia Mönchengladbach ?	87.0	88.3	89.0	89.5	85.0	87.9	220.62	8
Celta Vigo	87.0	88.0	89.2	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.37	9
Galatasaray SK	88.0	88.0	89.0	89.0	86.0	88.0	220.33	10
AS Monaco	88.0	87.8	88.0	90.0	85.0	87.7	219.86	11
Cruzeiro (P)	89.0	87.8	89.0	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.60	12
Lille OSC (P)	90.0	87.0	88.8	89.0	85.0	87.5	219.49	13
Sampdoria	88.0	87.3	88.8	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.76	14
Celtic	89.0	87.3	87.6	89.0	85.0	87.2	218.61	15
Feyenoord	87.0	87.0	88.4	88.0	85.0	87.1	218.16	16
FK Partizan	87.0	87.0	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.68	17
Zenit Saint Petersburg	89.0	87.0	87.8	87.0	85.0	86.7	217.23	18
AS Roma	88.0	88.0	86.8	87.0	84.0	86.5	217.03	19
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (R)	87.0	86.5	87.2	87.0	86.0	86.7	216.27	20

Season 19 Division 2 Stats and Facts

Tue, 01 Nov 2022 19:31:21 +0100

Genoa top of the stats, will they be top of the table.

With only 1 player beneath 90 in their starting XI Genoa should romp to the title. Relegated Everton and promoted Leicester should be a strong challenge sitting in the 224 range, which is worth noting is the minimum to survive in the higher division.

Having said that Hamburg , and Leverkeusen have potent attack/ midfield combos that could prove a threat to the top 3 teams with Liverpool and Ajax being solid at the back.

Hard to see how Levante will not suffer another drop with the worse defence and attack in the league. River Plate will leaked too many goals, with Udinese, Milan , Wolfsburg all hoping they don’t fall into the lower reaches.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Genoa CFC	92.0	91.8	90.8	92.0	86.0	90.5	227.20	1
Everton (R)	89.0	90.0	90.4	91.0	85.0	89.1	224.35	2
Leicester City (P)	89.0	89.5	91.4	90.0	86.0	89.2	224.22	3
Bayer Leverkusen	89.0	90.3	90.0	90.0	86.0	89.1	223.70	4
Hamburger SV (P)	89.0	89.0	90.2	91.0	87.0	89.2	223.63	5
Liverpool	90.0	89.5	90.8	89.5	86.0	89.2	223.54	6
Ajax	92.0	89.3	91.4	89.0	84.0	89.1	223.49	7
Stoke City	89.0	89.0	90.2	91.0	85.0	88.8	223.39	8
Aston Villa (R)	89.0	90.0	89.8	90.0	85.0	88.8	223.22	9
RCD Espanyol (R)	89.0	88.0	90.4	90.0	87.0	88.9	222.34	10
Southampton	88.0	89.8	89.6	89.0	87.0	88.7	222.33	11
Werder Bremen	88.0	88.5	89.2	90.0	85.0	88.1	221.42	12
Flamengo	87.0	89.6	89.5	88.0	86.0	88.0	221.24	13
Paris Saint-Germain	91.0	87.8	89.3	89.5	87.0	88.9	221.14	14
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	88.3	89.4	89.0	86.0	88.3	220.97	15
VfL Wolfsburg (C)	88.0	88.0	88.8	90.0	84.0	87.8	220.58	16
AC Milan	89.0	88.5	88.6	89.0	85.0	88.0	220.41	17
Udinese	88.0	89.3	88.6	88.0	86.0	88.0	220.36	18
River Plate ?	87.0	88	88.0	88.0	87.0	87.6	218.88	19
Levante UD (R)	90.0	87.0	88.2	87.0	85.0	87.4	217.71	20

Season 19 Division 4 stats and facts.

Tue, 01 Nov 2022 19:12:38 +0100

AZ Predicted to double bounce with a rapid rise to D3.

AZ perhaps have a weakness in their keeper but otherwise are a strong side. Chievo will challenge them in second. Sunderland have a great balance about their side and they should make up the top 3.

Sassuolo will hope to at least make the playoffs and should be tight at the back

Sevilla and Besitkas will have to work hard to get relegated for a second time but there are a bunch of teams within a whisker of the 218 cut off for relegation to the lower league. Lokomtive and Napoli realy need to shore up their back lines to stand a chance of survival.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
AZ Alkmaar (C)	87.0	89.3	88.0	91.0	85.0	88.1	221.59	1
Chievo Verona	88.0	87.5	88.6	91.0	86.0	88.2	220.91	2
Sunderland (P)	88.0	88.8	88.8	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.73	3
FC Twente	88.0	88.5	88.8	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.57	4
US Sassuolo (R)	91.0	88.5	88.5	88.0	85.0	88.2	219.92	5
Crystal Palace	88.0	87.5	87.8	89.0	86.0	87.7	218.97	6
Girondins Bordeaux	87.0	88.0	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.76	7
Málaga CF	88.0	88.8	87.8	87.0	86.0	87.5	218.67	8
Fenerbahçe SK	89.0	87.5	88.8	87.0	86.0	87.7	218.55	9
Santos FC (R)	88.0	87.8	88.5	87.0	86.0	87.5	218.43	10
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	87.0	87.8	89.0	85.0	87.2	218.33	11
Dynamo Kyiv	88.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.20	12
CSKA Moskva	88.0	88.0	87.5	87.5	85.0	87.2	218.04	13
West Ham United	89.0	87.0	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.4	217.88	14
Torino (P)	87.0	87.3	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.76	15
Sevilla (R)	88.0	87.0	87.2	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.44	16
Besiktas JK (R)	88.0	87.3	87.6	87.0	86.0	87.2	217.31	17
1. FC Köln	88.0	87.8	86.8	88.0	82.0	86.5	217.24	18
Lokomotive Moscow	87.0	86.8	87.5	87.5	86.0	87.0	217.04	19
SSC Napoli ?	87.0	86.8	87.0	88.0	85.0	86.8	216.84	20

Season 19 Division 5 Stats and Facts

Sat, 29 Oct 2022 16:04:40 +0100

Rubin , Lazio and Spartak should be the promoted teams next season. Lazio should be able to overwhelm most teams defences easily enough but lack depth. Rubin look a more balanced team and like Spartak have enough depth to cope.

Lyon have a good defence/ offence combo. Relegated Brugge and Villareal should make the playoffs. This should be incentive enough for Boca and Atalanta to try and get to D4 this season as next it may be tougher.

Shaktar sit at the foot of the table again but will have close companions with Newcastle looking little better at the moment. Fiorentina and over performing Athletic club look like they could struggle next season

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT
Rubin Kazan	88.0	88.0	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.6	218.88
SS Lazio (R)	88.0	87.0	87.8	90.0	80.0	86.6	218.50
Spartak Moskva	87.0	86.3	88.6	89.0	85.0	87.2	218.37
Olympique Lyonnais	88.0	87.3	87.6	88.0	86.0	87.4	217.96
Club Brugge KV (R)	88.0	87.5	87.2	88.0	84.0	86.9	217.60
Villarreal CF (R)	87.0	87.0	87.3	88.5	85.0	87.0	217.57
Boca Juniors (!)	89.0	86.8	88.4	87.0	85.0	87.2	217.55
Atalanta BC (!)	88.0	87.3	87.8	87.0	86.0	87.2	217.47
VfB Stuttgart	89.0	87.5	87.6	87.0	83.0	86.8	217.27
AS Saint-Etienne	87.0	86.3	87.2	89.0	85.0	86.9	217.25
Montpellier HSC	87.0	86.8	87.4	88.0	85.0	86.8	217.16
Olympiacos	87.0	87.5	87.2	87.0	85.0	86.7	216.95
Olympique Marseille	88.0	87.3	87.3	87.0	83.0	86.5	216.67
PSV	87.0	86.5	87.0	87.5	86.0	86.8	216.44
Independiente	89.0	86.5	87.2	87.0	85.0	86.9	216.39
FC Basel	87.0	86.0	86.6	89.0	82.0	86.1	216.21
Athletic Club	87.0	86.0	86.6	87.0	85.0	86.3	215.27
ACF Fiorentina	87.0	86.8	86.6	86.0	85.0	86.3	215.22
Newcastle United (R)	87.0	85.5	86.8	87.0	83.0	85.9	214.79
Shakhtar Donetsk	86.0	84.8	86.2	87.0	83.0	85.4	213.59

Season 19 Division 1 Stats and Facts .

Fri, 28 Oct 2022 16:13:36 +0100

Chelsea to claim back title? Champs to finish 2^nd, how will promoted teams do?

For the uninitiated. I work out the average rating for GK,Def,Mid,Att , the lowest rated top 18 player ( excluding 2^nd/3^rd keeper ) and apply a magic formula.

I use some “ common “ sense in making logical changes if players are unlikely to feature or the lowest 18^th player is far lower than anything.

Chelsea should win the league , with relative ease, but Arsenal now only need to catch up 1 place , far less than this year. Barca , Porto and Real Madrid should be a threat and especially so with those potent attacking line ups.

Juve are always solid at the back, as are Benfica and Man City. Hellas lack a little depth but have a strong attack.

Anderlecht should get a mid table finish , higher if they uprate the keeper some how. WBA are just off the relegation zone, unlike Hertha and playoff team Hoffenheim who sit right in it. 223 or less meant probable relegation last season. So Internacional and Tottenham will need to up their game to survive next season.

	Gk	Def	Mid	Att	Top18	Ave	ETOT
Chelsea	95.0	93.8	93.8	95.0	83.0	92.1	233.15
Arsenal (C)	92.0	92.0	92.4	97.0	86.0	91.9	231.93
Barcelona	91.0	92.0	93.0	96.0	86.0	91.6	231.64
FC Porto	94.0	91.5	92.8	96.0	86.0	92.1	231.44
Real Madrid	91.0	91.5	92.0	97.0	87.0	91.7	231.21
Juventus	94.0	92.8	93.2	93.0	87.0	92.0	230.93
Hellas Verona	91.0	91.5	92.4	95.0	86.0	91.2	230.11
Bayern München	93.0	90.8	92.8	93.0	88.0	91.5	229.01
Borussia Dortmund	92.0	91.0	92.0	93.0	88.0	91.2	228.45
SL Benfica	94.0	91.0	92.8	91.0	87.0	91.2	227.87
Manchester City	95.0	92.0	91.6	91.0	86.0	91.1	227.75
Atlético Madrid	92.0	90.3	91.0	92.0	85.0	90.1	226.04
RSC Anderlecht (P)	89.0	89.8	91.4	91.0	88.0	89.8	225.31
Standard Liège	91.0	91.0	89.8	91.0	87.0	90.0	225.15
Valencia CF	92.0	89.5	90.6	92.0	85.0	89.8	225.12
West Bromwich Albion (C)	89.0	89.8	89.4	92.0	87.0	89.4	224.24
SC Internacional	91.0	89.8	89.4	91.0	87.0	89.6	223.83
Hertha BSC (P)	89.0	89.3	89.6	90.0	86.0	88.8	222.58
Tottenham Hotspur	89.0	89.0	89.6	89.0	86.0	88.5	221.73
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim?	88.0	87.5	88.6	89.0	86.0	87.8	219.61

Division 5 Season 18 Stats and Facts review.

Fri, 28 Oct 2022 08:50:13 +0100

AZ lead the stats and win the league +10VA and +11PVA.

Playoff bound PSV have the highest VA on +14 and are 2^nd in the stats. Big shout outs for Lokomotive on +7 VA, Boca +5 and Athletic club +7 and Fiorentina on +8 VA all great performances.

All those good scores must mean an equal number of bad ones, Division 5 is for rebuild but -16VA for promotion favourites Rubin Kazan and -10 for possible promotes Lyon are still a shock. Montpellier fair little better and Stuttgart failed to live up to the hype.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	86.8	88.0	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.99	11	1	10	11.00
PSV	87.0	86.0	87.0	87.5	84.0	86.3	215.80	18	4	14	3.75
Boca Juniors	89.0	86.8	88.3	86.5	85.0	87.1	217.11	10	5	5	1.20
Lokomotiv Moskva	87.0	86.3	87.5	87.5	85.0	86.7	216.52	14	7	7	1.14
Athletic Club	87.0	87.0	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.6	216.39	15	8	7	1.00
Torino	86.0	86.8	87.6	88.0	86.0	86.9	217.32	5	3	2	1.00
ACF Fiorentina	87.0	86.8	87.0	86.0	85.0	86.4	215.54	19	11	8	0.82
Atalanta BC	88.0	87.0	87.8	87.0	86.0	87.2	217.23	9	6	3	0.67
Sunderland	88.0	88.5	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.12	2	2	0	0.50
FC Basel	87.0	87.3	86.3	87.0	85.0	86.5	215.99	16	12	4	0.42
Olympiacos	88.0	87.3	86.5	87.5	85.0	86.9	216.64	13	10	3	0.40
Independiente	88.0	86.3	87.2	87.0	84.0	86.5	215.95	17	14	3	0.29
Shakhtar Donetsk	86.0	86.5	85.4	87.0	83.0	85.6	214.35	20	20	0	0.05
AS Saint-Etienne	87.0	87.3	87.5	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.99	12	19	-7	-0.32
Olympique Marseille	88.0	87.8	87.3	87.0	85.0	87.0	217.31	8	16	-8	-0.44
Spartak Moskva	87.0	87.0	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.84	4	9	-5	-0.44
VfB Stuttgart	89.0	87.0	87.8	87.5	83.0	86.9	217.32	6	15	-9	-0.53
Montpellier HSC	87.0	86.8	88.0	87.5	85.0	86.9	217.32	7	18	-11	-0.56
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	87.0	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.84	3	13	-10	-0.69
Rubin Kazan	89.0	88.5	88.4	88.0	86.0	88.0	219.72	1	17	-16	-0.88

Division 4 Season 18 Stats and Facts review.

Fri, 28 Oct 2022 08:39:58 +0100

Napoli +13VA and +3.5PVA lead the stats.

Lille in 3^rd get automatic promotion and 2^nd in the stats , with Fenerbahce with an amazing +11 VA make the playoffs and 3^rd place in the stats. CSKA and Bordeaux managed great performances this year. Sao Paulo did what they needed to, winning the leagues as favourites.

Most disappointed must be FC Twente , 2^nd favourites slumping to 10^th and -8 VA , with Dynamo Moscow, Kyiv also missing out on the playoffs. Villareal get relegated with the joint worse VA.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
SSC Napoli	87.0	87.0	87.3	87.5	85.0	86.8	216.92	17	4	13	3.50
Lille OSC	90.0	86.8	88.5	88.5	85.0	87.8	218.73	8	3	5	2.00
Fenerbahçe SK	89.0	87.0	86.8	87.0	85.0	87.0	216.47	18	7	11	1.71
Cruzeiro	89.0	88.0	88.5	88.5	86.0	88.0	219.73	4	2	2	1.50
CSKA Moskva	87.0	88.0	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.2	218.64	9	5	4	1.00
São Paulo FC	90.0	89.3	89.5	90.0	86.0	89.0	222.62	1	1	0	1.00
Girondins Bordeaux	88.0	87.3	87.8	87.5	86.0	87.3	217.76	13	8	5	0.75
West Ham United	89.0	87.0	87.5	87.5	85.0	87.2	217.36	16	14	2	0.21
1. FC Köln	88.0	86.5	88.3	88.0	83.0	86.8	217.52	14	13	1	0.15
SS Lazio	88.0	87.0	87.5	86.0	82.0	86.1	215.90	19	18	1	0.11
Newcastle United	87.0	85.5	86.3	85.0	84.0	85.6	213.17	20	20	0	0.05
Club Brugge KV	88.0	86.8	88.0	87.5	85.0	87.1	217.44	15	17	-2	-0.06
Chievo Verona	88.0	87.8	88.0	87.0	85.0	87.2	217.91	12	16	-4	-0.19
Crystal Palace	88.0	87.8	87.5	89.0	86.0	87.7	218.93	6	9	-3	-0.22
Málaga CF	87.0	87.8	88.3	87.5	86.0	87.3	218.44	10	15	-5	-0.27
Internazionale	89.0	88.3	88.8	88.0	87.0	88.2	219.92	3	6	-3	-0.33
Dynamo Kyiv	88.0	87.5	87.8	89.0	85.0	87.5	218.81	7	12	-5	-0.33
Villarreal CF	87.0	87.0	87.8	88.5	86.0	87.3	218.09	11	19	-8	-0.37
Dynamo Moskva	86.0	87.3	88.0	90.5	84.0	87.2	219.43	5	11	-6	-0.45
FC Twente	87.0	87.8	88.8	89.5	87.0	88.0	220.26	2	10	-8	-0.70

Division 3 Season 18 Stats and Facts review.

Thu, 27 Oct 2022 22:33:24 +0100

Third time is a charm as the winners of D3 lead the stats.

Wolfsburg the champs top PVA.

Looking at the playoff spot as the season started but at seasons end on top of the pile +5 VA +6PVA for Wolfsburg.

Feyenoord had the highest VA on 8 just missing out on the playoffs. River Plate would perhaps their + 7VA and 2^nd spot in the stats for the auto promotion of Hamburg in 3^rd spot.

Credit to Zenit for avoiding relegation on +4 VA.

Swansea underperformed on -10 VA , as did Sassuolo on -9 VA. Partizan can redeem a poor performance with a win in the playoffs.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
VfL Wolfsburg	89.0	87.0	88.8	91.0	85.0	88.2	220.63	6	1	5	6.00
River Plate	87.0	88.3	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.5	219.16	11	4	7	2.00
Hamburger SV	89.0	89.0	88.3	89.0	85.0	88.1	220.53	7	3	4	1.67
Borussia Mönchengladbach	87.0	87.3	88.8	88.5	86.0	87.5	219.09	12	5	7	1.60
Feyenoord	87.0	86.8	88.5	88.0	85.0	87.1	218.04	16	8	8	1.13
Zenit Saint Petersburg	89.0	87.0	87.5	86.5	86.0	87.2	216.83	20	16	4	0.31
AS Roma	88.0	88.5	87.2	87.0	85.0	87.1	217.87	17	14	3	0.29
Galatasaray SK	88.0	88.0	89.0	88.0	86.0	87.8	219.68	10	10	0	0.10
Sampdoria	88.0	87.3	88.0	89.0	85.0	87.5	218.81	13	13	0	0.08
Celtic	89.0	87.3	87.2	89.0	85.0	87.5	218.29	15	15	0	0.07
Sevilla	89.0	87.8	87.0	87.0	86.0	87.4	217.35	19	19	0	0.05
Celta Vigo	87.0	88.3	89.5	89.0	85.0	87.8	220.69	5	6	-1	0.00
Leicester City	88.0	89.0	90.0	90.0	85.0	88.4	222.46	1	2	-1	0.00
Besiktas JK	88.0	87.5	87.8	87.0	86.0	87.3	217.63	18	20	-2	-0.05
AS Monaco	88.0	88.0	88.0	90.0	85.0	87.8	220.06	9	11	-2	-0.09
Santos FC	88.0	87.0	88.0	89.0	84.0	87.2	218.49	14	18	-4	-0.17
FK Partizan	88.0	88.0	88.4	91.0	86.0	88.3	221.15	3	7	-4	-0.43
FC Schalke 04	90.0	88.3	88.6	90.0	86.0	88.6	221.10	4	9	-5	-0.44
US Sassuolo	91.0	88.8	88.8	88.0	86.0	88.5	220.44	8	17	-9	-0.47
Swansea City	88.0	88.5	89.3	90.0	87.0	88.6	221.70	2	12	-10	-0.75

Division 2 Season 18 stats and facts review.

Thu, 27 Oct 2022 22:23:17 +0100

WBA top of the league and top of the stats.

Seen that headline before. Well as Arsenal did in D1 , WBA did the same but more so in D2. +4 VA and +5 PVA a dominant season. Third place Hertha and 5^th place Udinese share the best VA on + 13 with Hoffenheim not far behind on + 12.

The worse performing teams were Ajax who fell from grace to 12^th with the lowest PVA and Leverkeusen on -12 VA in 16^th. Less said about Augsburg the better. Not very consistent in the stats this year but perhaps that is indicative of the tightness of the division.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
West Bromwich Albion	89.0	89.5	89.8	92.0	87.0	89.5	224.32	5	1	4	5.00
Hertha BSC	89.0	87.3	90.0	89.5	86.0	88.4	220.98	16	3	13	4.67
Udinese Calcio	88.0	89.3	88.8	87.5	86.0	87.9	220.16	18	5	13	2.80
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	88.0	87.3	88.5	88.5	86.0	87.7	219.01	19	7	12	1.86
Flamengo	88.0	89.8	89.3	89.5	86.0	88.5	222.26	10	4	6	1.75
Stoke City	89.0	88.0	90.3	89.0	85.0	88.3	221.33	13	6	7	1.33
AC Milan	89.0	88.5	88.8	88.5	87.0	88.4	220.45	17	9	8	1.00
RSC Anderlecht	89.0	90.3	92.0	91.5	89.0	90.4	226.64	2	2	0	0.50
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	88.3	89.3	89.5	86.0	88.4	221.18	15	13	2	0.23
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	87.0	86.8	87.3	87.5	86.0	86.9	216.84	20	20	0	0.05
Werder Bremen	89.0	89.0	89.3	90.0	85.0	88.5	221.98	12	15	-3	-0.13
Manchester United	88.0	89.0	88.8	90.0	83.0	87.8	221.22	14	18	-4	-0.17
Southampton	87.0	89.5	90.3	90.0	86.0	88.6	223.06	8	11	-3	-0.18
Sporting CP	88.0	89.8	89.0	90.5	82.0	87.9	222.23	11	17	-6	-0.29
Paris Saint-Germain	91.0	88.8	89.5	92.0	87.0	89.7	223.76	6	10	-4	-0.30
Liverpool	90.0	89.8	90.3	89.5	87.0	89.3	223.42	7	14	-7	-0.43
FC AUGSBURG	89.0	88.5	89.8	90.5	87.0	89.0	222.55	9	19	-10	-0.47
Genoa CFC	92.0	90.5	92.3	90.0	86.0	90.2	226.06	3	8	-5	-0.50
Bayer Leverkusen	89.0	90.5	90.6	90.0	86.0	89.2	224.38	4	16	-12	-0.69
Ajax	92.0	90.5	91.3	92.5	85.0	90.3	226.77	1	12	-11	-0.83

Division 1 Season 18 stats and facts review.

Thu, 27 Oct 2022 22:08:42 +0100

Arsenal top of the league and top of the stats.

No one can deny Arsenal are the team of the season in D1. Three places above prediction and finishing above a resurgent Barcelona and Juve.

Valencia come 3^rd in the stats table , a creditable 5 places above prediction which was matched by Spurs. Mid table in D1 went largely to form. This meant the lowest rated teams stats wise were Chelsea despite coming 4^th were well below par this season and Hellas finishing 13^th with the lowest VA.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Arsenal	92.0	91.5	91.8	94.0	88.0	91.5	229.30	4	1	3	4.00
Barcelona	91.0	91.8	91.5	94.5	86.0	91.0	229.27	5	3	2	1.00
Valencia CF	92.0	89.5	90.5	90.5	85.0	89.5	224.07	16	11	5	0.55
Juventus	95.0	91.8	93.8	94.0	88.0	92.5	231.46	2	2	0	0.50
Tottenham Hotspur	89.0	89.3	89.3	90.0	86.0	88.7	222.30	19	14	5	0.43
SL Benfica	93.0	90.8	92.5	92.0	88.0	91.3	228.12	9	7	2	0.43
Manchester City	95.0	91.8	91.0	91.0	85.0	90.8	226.95	11	9	2	0.33
SC Internacional	91.0	89.8	90.0	90.5	87.0	89.7	223.99	17	15	2	0.20
Bayern München	93.0	91.3	93.5	91.5	89.0	91.7	229.12	6	6	0	0.17
Real Madrid	91.0	91.8	91.8	93.5	86.0	90.8	228.82	8	8	0	0.13
Borussia Dortmund	92.0	91.5	91.3	92.0	87.0	90.8	227.48	10	10	0	0.10
Atlético Madrid	92.0	91.0	91.3	91.5	86.0	90.4	226.64	12	12	0	0.08
Levante UD	90.0	88.2	88.5	91.0	86.0	88.7	221.66	20	20	0	0.05
Aston Villa	89.0	90.0	90.8	89.0	84.0	88.6	223.21	18	19	-1	0.00
Everton	89.0	89.5	90.3	91.5	85.0	89.1	224.16	15	18	-3	-0.11
RCD Espanyol	92.0	89.5	90.5	91.5	85.0	89.7	224.72	14	17	-3	-0.12
Standard Liège	91.0	91.3	91.5	91.0	86.0	90.2	226.59	13	16	-3	-0.13
FC Porto	94.0	91.3	92.3	95.0	88.0	92.1	230.39	3	5	-2	-0.20
Hellas Verona	91.0	91.8	92.5	93.0	86.0	90.9	229.09	7	13	-6	-0.38
Chelsea	95.0	93.3	93.3	96.0	83.0	92.1	232.96	1	4	-3	-0.50

The Entirely Too Late Season 17 Division 1 Stats Article

Wed, 26 Oct 2022 05:42:43 +0100

With last season well and truly in the rear view mirror, and more importantly the legal issues with your author right here cleared with the estates of The Two Ronnies, we are back with some tables, charts and data to confuse, bemuse and put you into a snooze ...

The Final Table

The table below shows the final spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch of Division 1 last season

Chelsea put some big reputations to sword, and claim a deserved D1 title in S17

A terrific season from Chelsea, chased all the way by Barcelona, James McKenzie and DanWally going the full 12 rounds, Real Madrid and Porto putting in solid seasons, with some pundits pre-season favorites Juventus having a tough time of it before turning it around in the last third of the season and finishing strong.

The Worm Chart

Across the 38 fixtures ... the plight, woe and delight of the Top 5 in D1 in Season 17

From about a third of the way through the season, James assumed the perch at the top of D1 and fought off the challengers, primarily Barcelona ... Dan putting in a solid effort to fight it out. FC Porto have a nibble mid season but just couldn't sustain the challenge, Real Madrid with a late flourish to climb over their rivals Barca late in the season before that was stomped out ... and Juventus ... the author feels a slight brief fleeting twinge of responsibility for their wretched season, selling wantaway SC Internacional star Bruno 'Ego' Fernandes, for him to only regress at Juve despite being given the responsibility (and honour) of the #10 shirt.

Possession (no ... not The Exorcist kind)

Sorted in final league order | minutes of possession across the 38 fixtures - Winning | Drawing | Losing

Impressive display at the top of the tree, with the Top 5 being pretty even. Chelsea and Real Madrid with a lot of time ahead in matches, Juventus defensively super strong as always, matching Chelsea in not trailing in matches, but significantly spending more time scratching around for goals to go ahead with. Barcelona not able to consistently put in the shifts that keep them ahead in matches. At the caboose of the division, the trend is predictable, however Stoke City did find themselves spending more time ahead in matches, but were unable to close out them out with vital 'keep me up' points.

When the ball hits the back of the net ...

Sorted in reverse final league order | when the goals were scored | 0-45 min | 46-60 min | 61-75 min | 76-90 min

I like this one ... always interesting to know when the goals are scored. Starting at the top of the list, not very flippin' often, authors team included. Further down the list ... Arsenal and Real Madrid are the front running first half fancy's, not so good when the legs get weary and the 6'2" defenders studs are raking down the achilles for the fourth time. Chelsea and Barca, evenly distributing the net flaring goodness across the full ninety.

Same chart, but with percentages not goals scored

Provided to save Gav's abacus from taking flight and scattering balls throughout the neighbors garden

Look at the SC Internacional ... scores fark all 50% in the first half ... and the other 50% of fark all in the second half

If they don't have the ball they cannae score

Possession stats, green is good, red is you chasing the ball

Chelsea leading the way, impressive effort that ... at the foot of the table not surprisingly across a full season, even with the judicious application of slow ball, against the talent in D1, you just cannot crack high 40's or 50%. The rebuilding Hertha the outlier, a wretched run of form to end the season blunting superior possession performance

Who has been a naughty naughty boy then

In league finishing order, average YC's and RC's per match across Season 17

They say nice guys finish last, but AC Milan averaged a red card every five matches ... even before VAR was in play to slow down the most inconsequential contact. Having the benefit of a lot of other data, I would lean towards the teams at the top of the table averaging higher YC counts per match being a result of playing a lot Hard football ... comfortable in the knowledge that their squad depth can see the third or fourth midfielder easily being as good at a mid to bottom of the table starter. Stoke City and Liege being the Mr Nice Guys ... thems was raised right by their parents by the looks of it.

Octopus or Concrete Mits ... the GK stats

Now ... some GK stats ... which, I think, provides some key insights into how your team performs, and ultimately where you might finish.

The next few tables will show the Home fixture, Away fixture and Full Season stats for the D1 keepers, which I will explain underneath the first table

It looks scary ... but it isn't | Home fixtures GK stats for D1 in Season 17

Alright alright alright ... here goes nothing

Club & Keeper name - check, matches played - check ...

Clean sheets kept - check, goals conceded - check ... you still with me Gav ...

Goals conceded per game (match) - check, average match rating - check ... we doing ok so far

Average #of shots faced per game - check ... average #of shots on target per game - check ...

MoM - Man of the Match awards - check ... ok ... the easiest part is over

I use the following four categories to measure and rank each ol' concrete mit's

Clean Sheets - the GK with the most gets ranked 1st ... all the way down to last
Goals Conceded per game - the GK with the lowest avg gets ranked 1st ... all the way down to last
Avg. Match Rating - the GK with the highest avg. rating gets ranked 1st ... and you get the drill
MoM's - GK with the most ... 1st ... down to least MoM's gets ranked last

You can also see the shaded "1" being that GK had the best rank in that specific category

I simply then add the four ranking scores together to get a total for each GK, and then I rank those totals from lowest to highest. He who has the lowest sum gets ranked 1st, etc. etc.

I will do this for the Away fixtures (see below) as well. And then for the full season (Home & Away) stats, I simply average the scores for each GK from the Home data and the Away data, and then add these four averages together, and then rank them again

Question - who finished 6th in storming Season 17 ?

Answer - Sami Hando's team ... RCD Espanyol ... who is ranked as the best of the GK wild bunch in Home fixtures

And who is ranked 2nd ... the author's Division 2 playoff promotion winning side who I would suggest owes a very large part of their survival in D1 to the performances of Postman Pat

Same stats ... but for the Away Fixtures below

Would you have a look at that ... Sami Hando's at it again

Superlative performances in goal away from the comfort of Barcelona, Sami was a force for Espanyol, with Moraes at Porto being a top shelf operator as well. Cragno for AC Milan with more screen time fending off more shots than a Page 3 girl at Stringfellows in the 1980's ...

Now for the combined seasons stats

CLEAR ... a CLEAR winner of the golden concrete mits from Season 17

Pretty impressive ... no ... farken impressive work from Sami in goal all of Season 17. Probably the dominant reason that Espanyol were flying high and finished 6th. Experience matters, and Sami has it, and gave Glen a massive boost and huge rewards in Season 17. A new contract beckoned. Champions Cup football beckoned. It was to be a golden twilight to a magnificent career.

Narrators sagely serious voice footnote - on Saturday 18th June, the day before the first fixture in Season 18 Sami was sold to Ajax along with Robert Firmino for Paulo Dybala and Edin Dzeko. At the time this article went to press, Espanyol were languishing in 17th place, 2 points from safety with a final day home fixture against 13th place Hellas Verona needing a victory to remain in Division 1. Away from the bright lights in Division 1, Sami has struggled at Ajax in Season 18, with the Dutch powerhouse out of the playoff positions in 13th place, well ahead of the relegation places. Sami declined our request to be interviewed for this article, though his agent provided a sliver of insight into what he thought of his transfer one day before the start of the season, "did you see the photo's of Glen leaving grab a granny at 6am last weekend ... ?!"

"Though we will never know if Sami could have maintained his level of performance from Season 17, it can be safely stated that the Espanyol manager would have taken half of those performances not be in perilous danger of relegation the following season"

Postscript

With the same level of record keeping for the soon to be completed Season 18 ... there will be some charts tables and mildly comedic moments coming in the near future ...

Division 5 Season 18 Stats and Facts

Sat, 25 Jun 2022 16:12:33 +0100

Top of the stats but not the league?

Rubin and Sunderland are the clear stats leaders but the first two games haven’t been kind to them.

Kazan and Sunderland are almost two rating points better than most. Solid all round teams, that should be able to double bounce with ease . When you consider the 5^th place team in D3 has a ranking of 219.43 they should have no trouble winning the league with games to spare.

Then as is usual for D5 there are a huge amount of team separated by a tiny margin. Lyon and Spartak are give or take identical. Torino just really need to add a keeper, Stuttgart could add a little depth. Atalanta are a much more solid outfit now and they would be my prediction for a good cup run.

No relegation of course but always the sack race to look forward to. Shaktar are the weakest by far, then as far up as Athletic club any of those could finish in the lowest 3 positions, some TLC or maybe TCP needed for a few of those clubs I think.

Division 5 is slightly weaker than last season about 0.1 across the board , which would equate to 1 88 becoming an 87.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Rubin Kazan	89.0	88.5	88.4	88.0	86.0	88.0	219.72	1
Sunderland	88.0	88.5	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.12	2
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	87.0	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.84	3
Spartak Moskva	87.0	87.0	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.84	4
Torino	86.0	86.8	87.6	88.0	86.0	86.9	217.32	5
VfB Stuttgart	89.0	87.0	87.8	87.5	83.0	86.9	217.32	6
Montpellier HSC	87.0	86.8	88.0	87.5	85.0	86.9	217.32	7
Olympique Marseille	88.0	87.8	87.3	87.0	85.0	87.0	217.31	8
Atalanta BC	88.0	87.0	87.8	87.0	86.0	87.2	217.23	9
Boca Juniors	89.0	86.8	88.3	86.5	85.0	87.1	217.11	10
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	86.8	88.0	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.99	11
AS Saint-Etienne	87.0	87.3	87.5	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.99	12
Olympiacos	88.0	87.3	86.5	87.5	85.0	86.9	216.64	13
Lokomotiv Moskva	87.0	86.3	87.5	87.5	85.0	86.7	216.52	14
Athletic Club	87.0	87.0	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.6	216.39	15
FC Basel	87.0	87.3	86.3	87.0	85.0	86.5	215.99	16
Independiente	88.0	86.3	87.2	87.0	84.0	86.5	215.95	17
PSV	87.0	86.0	87.0	87.5	84.0	86.3	215.80	18
ACF Fiorentina	87.0	86.8	87.0	86.0	85.0	86.4	215.54	19
Shakhtar Donetsk	86.0	86.5	85.4	87.0	83.0	85.6	214.35	20

Division 4 Season 18 Stats and Facts

Fri, 24 Jun 2022 18:33:52 +0100

Sao Paulo 2 points above the rest clear favourites

The Brazilian team should make light work of the opposition. Strong in all departments , plenty of depth . Should romp to victory. Twente lack a keeper and 2^nd could flatter them but not if they make a great signing , maybe cash in some depth, Inter should grab third, a more balanced side than Twente , similar to their close rivals Cruziero.

Dynamo Moscow risking it all with an attacking formation ,they too need a keeper and could finish much higher if they can pick up an 88.

218 is the Division 3 cut off, so Palace, Kyiv, Lille, CSKA, Malaga , VIllareal can all still hope for a playoff with security in D3 if they make it up.

216.5 was the relegation danger zone last season, by in large Newcastle and Lazio are doomed at the moment, with Fenerbache likely to join them . West Ham maybe have a strong enough keeper to pull them through , which could leave Brugge or Koln if they get injuries hanging on the edge.

Cup run? Bordeaux, Inter or Twente.

Division 4 is considerably weaker than last season with a 0.3 rating point drop across the board.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
São Paulo FC	90.0	89.3	89.5	90.0	86.0	89.0	222.62	1
FC Twente	87.0	87.8	88.8	89.5	87.0	88.0	220.26	2
Internazionale	89.0	88.3	88.8	88.0	87.0	88.2	219.92	3
Cruzeiro	89.0	88.0	88.5	88.5	86.0	88.0	219.73	4
Dynamo Moskva	86.0	87.3	88.0	90.5	84.0	87.2	219.43	5
Crystal Palace	88.0	87.8	87.5	89.0	86.0	87.7	218.93	6
Dynamo Kyiv	88.0	87.5	87.8	89.0	85.0	87.5	218.81	7
Lille OSC	90.0	86.8	88.5	88.5	85.0	87.8	218.73	8
CSKA Moskva	87.0	88.0	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.2	218.64	9
Málaga CF	87.0	87.8	88.3	87.5	86.0	87.3	218.44	10
Villarreal CF	87.0	87.0	87.8	88.5	86.0	87.3	218.09	11
Chievo Verona	88.0	87.8	88.0	87.0	85.0	87.2	217.91	12
Girondins Bordeaux	88.0	87.3	87.8	87.5	86.0	87.3	217.76	13
1. FC Köln	88.0	86.5	88.3	88.0	83.0	86.8	217.52	14
Club Brugge KV	88.0	86.8	88.0	87.5	85.0	87.1	217.44	15
West Ham United	89.0	87.0	87.5	87.5	85.0	87.2	217.36	16
SSC Napoli	87.0	87.0	87.3	87.5	85.0	86.8	216.92	17
Fenerbahçe SK	89.0	87.0	86.8	87.0	85.0	87.0	216.47	18
SS Lazio	88.0	87.0	87.5	86.0	82.0	86.1	215.90	19
Newcastle United	87.0	85.5	86.3	85.0	84.0	85.6	213.17	20

Division 3 Season 18 Stats and Facts

Sun, 19 Jun 2022 13:32:29 +0100

Leicester lead the pack but other teams have options.

Leicester sit 0.7 points above nearest rivals Swansea who are kind of Leicester lite. Partizan are a different prospect in 3^rd weaker in most areas but potentially stronger up front. Similarly for Schake, weaker in defence and midfield but with the strong keeper, attacker combo.

Maybe you need 221 to survive D2 so Celta who just need a keeper, Wolfsburg weak at the back and Hamburg who lack a little depth just need a small improvement to move up to the next step.

Last year 217.5 was pretty much the relegation cut off. Roma have the best defence of the relegation candidates, if they could pick up an attacker who know? , Sevilla have decent keeper as do Zenit. Besitkas could also do with an attacker or two.

Swansea look best placed for a cup run, with Borussia also in with a chance of making it deep into the knock out rounds.

Division 3 is slightly stronger than last year, potentially 2 87s are now 88s.. with an increase of 0.25 rating points.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Leicester City	88.0	89.0	90.0	90.0	85.0	88.4	222.46	1
Swansea City	88.0	88.5	89.3	90.0	87.0	88.6	221.70	2
FK Partizan	88.0	88.0	88.4	91.0	86.0	88.3	221.15	3
FC Schalke 04	90.0	88.3	88.6	90.0	86.0	88.6	221.10	4
Celta Vigo	87.0	88.3	89.5	89.0	85.0	87.8	220.69	5
VfL Wolfsburg	89.0	87.0	88.8	91.0	85.0	88.2	220.63	6
Hamburger SV	89.0	89.0	88.3	89.0	85.0	88.1	220.53	7
US Sassuolo	91.0	88.8	88.8	88.0	86.0	88.5	220.44	8
AS Monaco	88.0	88.0	88.0	90.0	85.0	87.8	220.06	9
Galatasaray SK	88.0	88.0	89.0	88.0	86.0	87.8	219.68	10
River Plate	87.0	88.3	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.5	219.16	11
Borussia Mönchengladbach	87.0	87.3	88.8	88.5	86.0	87.5	219.09	12
Sampdoria	88.0	87.3	88.0	89.0	85.0	87.5	218.81	13
Santos FC	88.0	87.0	88.0	89.0	84.0	87.2	218.49	14
Celtic	89.0	87.3	87.2	89.0	85.0	87.5	218.29	15
Feyenoord	87.0	86.8	88.5	88.0	85.0	87.1	218.04	16
AS Roma	88.0	88.5	87.2	87.0	85.0	87.1	217.87	17
Besiktas JK	88.0	87.5	87.8	87.0	86.0	87.3	217.63	18
Sevilla	89.0	87.8	87.0	87.0	86.0	87.4	217.35	19
Zenit Saint Petersburg	89.0	87.0	87.5	86.5	86.0	87.2	216.83	20

Division 2 Season 18 Stats and Facts

Sat, 18 Jun 2022 14:44:24 +0100

Three teams should be solid for promotion. Playoffs for the rest?

Ajax, Anderlecht and Genoa would sit mid table or better in D1. They are 2 rating points or better above all the rest. Ajax lack a little depth; Anderlecht are full of depth but are perhaps a keeper away from greatness. Genoa are the midfield maestros.

This leaves the chasing pack feeding off the scraps. WBA and PSG have a potent attack, with PSG also having a decent keeper, they could give the top 3 a run for their money. Leverkusen and Liverpool are more balanced. Southampton lack a decent keeper but should they find, one could finish way above 8^th spot. As for my side Augsburg, good upfront but the defence still lets us down a little.

Looks like 224 is needed to survive in D1 so really only the top 5 should aim for promotion without substantive improvement.

In the lower reaches relegation was set just under 221 last seasons. Dnipro look even more detached than last season, I think it has to be the end of them now. Hertha has a good midfield and that should be enough. Udinese have very little threat up the front, while Hoffenheim are vulnerable at the back and Milan also lack a midfield threat.

Good cup run, AC Milan may be up for that but Anderlecht could do a rare D2 and cup double

Division 2 is around .3 rating points stronger than last season , which is perspective would men 3 players in most sides who were 89's are now 90s

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Ajax	92.0	90.5	91.3	92.5	85.0	90.3	226.77	1
RSC Anderlecht	89.0	90.3	92.0	91.5	89.0	90.4	226.64	2
Genoa CFC	92.0	90.5	92.3	90.0	86.0	90.2	226.06	3
Bayer Leverkusen	89.0	90.5	90.6	90.0	86.0	89.2	224.38	4
West Bromwich Albion	89.0	89.5	89.8	92.0	87.0	89.5	224.32	5
Paris Saint-Germain	91.0	88.8	89.5	92.0	87.0	89.7	223.76	6
Liverpool	90.0	89.8	90.3	89.5	87.0	89.3	223.42	7
Southampton	87.0	89.5	90.3	90.0	86.0	88.6	223.06	8
FC AUGSBURG	89.0	88.5	89.8	90.5	87.0	89.0	222.55	9
Flamengo	88.0	89.8	89.3	89.5	86.0	88.5	222.26	10
Sporting CP	88.0	89.8	89.0	90.5	82.0	87.9	222.23	11
Werder Bremen	89.0	89.0	89.3	90.0	85.0	88.5	221.98	12
Stoke City	89.0	88.0	90.3	89.0	85.0	88.3	221.33	13
Manchester United	88.0	89.0	88.8	90.0	83.0	87.8	221.22	14
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	88.3	89.3	89.5	86.0	88.4	221.18	15
Hertha BSC	89.0	87.3	90.0	89.5	86.0	88.4	220.98	16
AC Milan	89.0	88.5	88.8	88.5	87.0	88.4	220.45	17
Udinese Calcio	88.0	89.3	88.8	87.5	86.0	87.9	220.16	18
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	88.0	87.3	88.5	88.5	86.0	87.7	219.01	19
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	87.0	86.8	87.3	87.5	86.0	86.9	216.84	20

Division 1 Season 18 Stats and Fact

Fri, 17 Jun 2022 18:02:02 +0100

Dawn of a new era will Chelsea be dominant again?

Ratings are calculated using a formula based on rankings in GK,MID ,ATT and DEF. The average and top 18 are also taken into account to balance odd formations and potential injuries.

This gives the ETOT, with Pre being the predicted position.

Hard to see past Chelsea winning the league again, almost 1.5 points above their nearest rival. They may lack depth and can be stung in midfield but the defence looks near unbeatable and they will knock them in at the other end.

Juventus also stand clear of the pack. They should get second and if Chelsea pick up injuries they would be there to pounce. Porto also look strong in defence, as do Arsenal. Barcelona rebuilding slip to 5th favourites, with Bayern just below them now. Barca is still potent up top but I think they will lack the possession they crave and the fans won’t be happy.

Benfica look to be stronger than their mid table ranking suggests and Madrid will hope to challenge up top once again.

Last year if you were in the lower 3 or had a rating less than 223 you were sure to be relegated. Looks like Levante will be taking the fall this year, with Spurs joining them. Spurs lack in GK, DEF and MID. Villa and Internacional will be fighting it out hoping to do what Levante did last year and beat the stats. Looks much tougher for Villa as they are almost 0.7 rating points beneath their rival.

Good cup run well Internacional look the team for that with Benfica or Dortmund sure to want something from the season. Division 1 is slightly higher rated than last season.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Chelsea	95.0	93.3	93.3	96.0	83.0	92.1	232.96	1
Juventus	95.0	91.8	93.8	94.0	88.0	92.5	231.46	2
FC Porto	94.0	91.3	92.3	95.0	88.0	92.1	230.39	3
Arsenal	92.0	91.5	91.8	94.0	88.0	91.5	229.30	4
Barcelona	91.0	91.8	91.5	94.5	86.0	91.0	229.27	5
Bayern München	93.0	91.3	93.5	91.5	89.0	91.7	229.12	6
Hellas Verona	91.0	91.8	92.5	93.0	86.0	90.9	229.09	7
Real Madrid	91.0	91.8	91.8	93.5	86.0	90.8	228.82	8
SL Benfica	93.0	90.8	92.5	92.0	88.0	91.3	228.12	9
Borussia Dortmund	92.0	91.5	91.3	92.0	87.0	90.8	227.48	10
Manchester City	95.0	91.8	91.0	91.0	85.0	90.8	226.95	11
Atlético Madrid	92.0	91.0	91.3	91.5	86.0	90.4	226.64	12
Standard Liège	91.0	91.3	91.5	91.0	86.0	90.2	226.59	13
RCD Espanyol	92.0	89.5	90.5	91.5	85.0	89.7	224.72	14
Everton	89.0	89.5	90.3	91.5	85.0	89.1	224.16	15
Valencia CF	92.0	89.5	90.5	90.5	85.0	89.5	224.07	16
SC Internacional	91.0	89.8	90.0	90.5	87.0	89.7	223.99	17
Aston Villa	89.0	90.0	90.8	89.0	84.0	88.6	223.21	18
Tottenham Hotspur	89.0	89.3	89.3	90.0	86.0	88.7	222.30	19
Levante UD	90.0	88.2	88.5	91.0	86.0	88.7	221.66	20

Division Two Transfer Stats - Season 17

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 18:27:55 +0100

Time to look at Division 2 internal and external deals in Season 17 - and it doesnt make good reading - in fact they had the lowest number of total deals completed when adding up the stats.

A total of 100 deals across the 20 clubs with an average of 5 per club. In fact an incredible 4 teams didnt make one internal deal all season - do they need to deal or are their teams good enough already? Andrew Bailey (774) will admit that no one wanted to deal with Dnipro - but what of RJ Alston (743), Mark Phelps (725) or Liam Pigott (676) would they be more suited to empty gameworlds with less active managers? In Mark's case his Flamengo project is unique in SM Worlds from my experience - certainly one over such a long period anyway.

Internal deals completed by Division 2 clubs in Season 17

Externally Santos under Josh McMillan (808) and his predecessor were very busy, Adam (770) and Ash L (500) too were quite lively both externally and internally.

So the big question is does transfer activity = success ? We ranked the sides by the number of internal deals and then put their final league positions next to them? The result?

Season 17 Division 5 stats and facts review.

Fri, 03 Jun 2022 14:42:34 +0100

Some wild results in division 5 with rebuilds a plenty.

+14 VA for Malaga and +8 PVA for Koln.

Koln are worthy winners of D5 and came in 7 places above expected. They just lead fellow promoted team Malaga who may have had the performance of the year. Independiente had +10 VA in 9^th from 19^th ,with playoff Marseille on +6 VA. Twente also promoted in 2^nd with a a great +1.5 PVA.

The predicted top 5 with the exception of Twente were a big flop, Inter and Rubin made the playoffs so all could be well. Boca , Spartak and Athletic club have nothing to show this season in the league and should aim for much more next year.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
1. FC Köln	88.0	87.0	88.0	88.0	81.0	86.4	217.48	8	1	7	8.00
Málaga CF	87.0	87.0	86.8	87.0	85.0	86.6	216.19	17	3	14	5.00
Olympique Marseille	87.0	87.5	87.0	87.5	86.0	87.0	217.24	10	4	6	1.75
FC Twente	87.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.36	4	2	2	1.50
Independiente	88.0	85.8	87.0	87.0	84.0	86.4	215.39	19	9	10	1.22
ACF Fiorentina	87.0	87.0	87.3	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.71	14	10	4	0.50
VfB Stuttgart	89.0	87.5	87.0	87.0	83.0	86.7	216.79	13	11	2	0.27
Olympiacos	88.0	87.8	87.3	87.0	85.0	87.0	217.31	9	8	1	0.25
Shakhtar Donetsk	86.0	85.5	85.3	85.5	83.0	85.1	212.46	20	18	2	0.17
Montpellier HSC	86.0	87.3	87.8	87.5	86.0	86.9	217.52	7	7	0	0.14
AS Saint-Etienne	88.0	87.0	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.51	16	15	1	0.13
Torino	87.0	86.0	87.5	87.0	85.0	86.5	215.99	18	19	-1	0.00
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	86.8	87.5	87.0	85.0	86.7	216.59	15	20	-5	-0.20
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	87.0	87.0	87.5	86.0	86.9	216.84	12	17	-5	-0.24
Atalanta BC	88.0	87.0	87.3	87.5	86.0	87.2	217.16	11	16	-5	-0.25
Internazionale	89.0	87.5	88.5	88.0	87.0	88.0	219.12	2	5	-3	-0.40
Boca Juniors	88.0	86.5	87.3	89.0	85.0	87.2	217.61	6	14	-8	-0.50
Spartak Moskva	87.0	86.5	88.5	88.5	85.0	87.1	218.17	5	13	-8	-0.54
Rubin Kazan	89.0	88.5	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.9	219.40	1	6	-5	-0.67
Athletic Club	89.0	87.3	87.5	89.0	85.0	87.6	218.53	3	12	-9	-0.67

Season 17 Division 4 Stats and facts review.

Fri, 03 Jun 2022 14:30:56 +0100

Swans fly high in D4 with Besitkas a Turkish Delight.

Two promoted teams lead the stats. Swansea always a promotion favourite over achieved and got top spot in the league and the stats. Besitkas have the highest VA on + 7 , just above Bordeaux on +6 who just miss out on the playoffs. A great performance by Lazio and West Ham , shown up much more on the stats than the mid table positions.

6 of the top 8 teams really failed to deliver. Celta promoted as expected shouldn’t be worried. Leicester, Dynamo and Sao Paulo have the playoffs to fight out. Cruziero miss out though on the playoffs and have the lowest PVA just better than joint lowest VA Chievo who could argue they were better off than Sunderland also on -5 who were relegated.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Swansea City	88.0	88.5	89.3	89.0	87.0	88.4	221.05	3	1	2	3.00
Besiktas JK	88.0	87.8	88.8	87.0	86.0	87.5	218.63	10	3	7	2.67
Girondins Bordeaux	88.0	87.5	87.3	87.5	85.0	87.1	217.44	14	8	6	0.88
SS Lazio	88.0	85.3	88.0	86.5	83.0	86.2	215.35	20	14	6	0.50
West Ham United	87.0	86.3	87.3	87.5	85.0	86.6	216.32	18	13	5	0.46
Club Brugge KV	88.0	86.3	88.8	88.0	85.0	87.2	217.96	12	9	3	0.44
Lille OSC	90.0	86.5	88.8	90.0	85.0	88.1	219.70	6	6	0	0.17
Villarreal CF	87.0	86.5	87.5	88.5	85.0	86.9	217.37	15	15	0	0.07
FC Basel	87.0	87.0	86.5	87.5	85.0	86.6	216.32	19	19	0	0.05
Celta Vigo	88.0	88.0	89.8	90.0	86.0	88.4	221.58	1	2	-1	0.00
Leicester City	88.0	88.0	89.0	89.5	86.0	88.1	220.66	4	5	-1	0.00
Lokomotiv Moskva	87.0	86.0	87.0	88.5	85.0	86.7	216.57	16	17	-1	0.00
CSKA Moskva	89.0	88.0	88.0	88.5	85.0	87.7	219.21	8	10	-2	-0.10
PSV	88.0	86.8	87.3	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.51	17	20	-3	-0.10
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	87.5	88.8	90.5	84.0	87.6	220.35	5	7	-2	-0.14
Dynamo Kyiv	88.0	87.3	87.3	90.0	85.0	87.5	218.86	9	12	-3	-0.17
Sunderland	88.0	86.8	88.5	87.5	85.0	87.2	217.84	13	18	-5	-0.22
São Paulo FC	88.0	88.5	89.0	89.5	86.0	88.2	221.06	2	4	-2	-0.25
Chievo Verona	88.0	87.5	88.3	87.0	86.0	87.4	218.03	11	16	-5	-0.25
Cruzeiro	89.0	87.5	88.5	89.0	86.0	88.0	219.65	7	11	-4	-0.27

Season 17 Division 3 Stats and facts review.

Fri, 03 Jun 2022 14:17:06 +0100

Udinese promoted in second have the highest PVA with Zenit and Celtic showing great VA.

As expected division 3 shows more variance than D1 or 2. Udinese expected the playoffs but got 2^nd place and promotion. They just beat Celtic who had the 2^nd best VA of +8, with +11 VA Zenit just missing out on a playoff spot. Borussia Monchengladbach a +3 overperformance worth a mention but Hamburg showed true grit +8 VA and a playoff spot. West Brom did all they could and should be proud of their promotion.

Disappointment for Roma on -8 VA and more so for Palace who are relegated also 8 places below expected. Galatsaray on -6 VA will be looking for more next season. Disappointing seasons for Sampdoria and Wolfsburg . Only 2 of the 4 expected teams were relegated although 3 of the lower 5 did go down.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Udinese Calcio	88.0	89.3	89.0	87.5	86.0	88.0	220.36	6	2	4	2.50
Celtic	89.0	87.5	87.8	88.5	85.0	87.6	218.61	13	5	8	1.80
Zenit Saint Petersburg	89.0	87.3	87.8	86.5	86.0	87.3	217.23	19	8	11	1.50
Hamburger SV	89.0	87.5	87.3	88.5	85.0	87.5	218.21	15	7	8	1.29
West Bromwich Albion	88.0	88.5	89.0	91.5	87.0	88.8	222.48	1	1	0	1.00
Borussia Mönchengladbach	87.0	86.8	89.3	88.0	83.0	86.8	218.40	14	11	3	0.36
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	88.0	88.0	89.0	88.5	86.0	87.9	220.01	7	6	1	0.33
FK Partizan	88.0	87.5	88.3	88.5	86.0	87.7	219.01	11	10	1	0.20
Sevilla	89.0	87.8	87.3	87.0	86.0	87.4	217.55	18	16	2	0.19
SSC Napoli	88.0	86.5	86.8	87.5	85.0	86.8	216.24	20	20	0	0.05
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	88.3	89.8	89.5	86.0	88.5	221.58	2	3	-1	0.00
Feyenoord	90.0	87.0	88.0	89.0	86.0	88.0	218.97	12	13	-1	0.00
Newcastle United	87.0	87.0	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.1	217.56	17	18	-1	0.00
Sassuolo	91.0	89.3	89.5	88.0	86.0	88.8	221.44	3	4	-1	0.00
Fenerbahçe SK	90.0	86.8	87.0	89.5	85.0	87.7	218.18	16	19	-3	-0.11
Sampdoria	88.0	88.5	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.08	10	15	-5	-0.27
VfL Wolfsburg	89.0	88.3	88.5	89.5	85.0	88.1	220.46	5	9	-4	-0.33
Galatasaray SK	88.0	88.0	88.8	88.0	87.0	88.0	219.60	8	14	-6	-0.36
Crystal Palace	88.0	87.8	88.5	88.5	86.0	87.8	219.41	9	17	-8	-0.41
AS Roma	88.0	89.0	88.5	89.0	85.0	87.9	220.61	4	12	-8	-0.58

Season 17 Division 2 Stats and Facts Review

Fri, 03 Jun 2022 13:58:28 +0100

Spurs lead the stats with Dnipro having +13 VA.

A much greater level of over and underperformance in division 2.

Spurs finish 7 places higher than expected and finish 2^nd in the real table but just pip champs Villa in the stats. Dnipro make the playoffs not bad for a relegation favourite but that has been said too often about them. Valencia clinch the 3^rd auto spot and they just lead the mighty Augsburg in the stats table who just missed out on the play-offs. Honourable mentions also to Southampton and Man Utd who showed considerable improvement this season.

It all went horribly wrong for Anderlecht and to some extent Genoa , but they at least could redeem all with a play-off win -13 and -4 VA respectively. Liverpool , Flamengo and Santos also failed to live up to expectations. 3 out of 4 teams expected to drop in the top 2 divisions did so.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Tottenham Hotspur	89.0	89.8	89.5	90.0	86.0	88.9	222.90	9	2	7	4.00
Aston Villa	89.0	90.3	91.0	90.0	85.0	89.1	224.38	3	1	2	3.00
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	87.0	86.5	87.8	87.5	86.0	87.0	217.04	20	7	13	2.00
Valencia CF	92.0	89.0	90.3	91.5	86.0	89.8	224.24	5	3	2	1.00
FC AUGSBURG	89.0	88.5	89.0	91.0	85.0	88.5	222.03	11	8	3	0.50
Southampton	87.0	89.3	90.0	88.5	86.0	88.2	221.73	13	10	3	0.40
Manchester United	88.0	88.5	89.0	90.0	83.0	87.7	221.02	15	12	3	0.33
Ajax	87.0	89.0	90.8	92.0	85.0	88.8	224.24	4	4	0	0.25
Sporting CP	88.0	89.3	89.0	90.0	85.0	88.3	221.86	12	11	1	0.18
River Plate	87.0	88.0	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.76	19	17	2	0.18
Everton	89.0	89.0	90.3	91.0	85.0	88.9	223.43	6	6	0	0.17
Paris Saint-Germain	91.0	88.5	89.8	88.0	86.0	88.7	221.04	14	13	1	0.15
AS Monaco	88.0	88.3	88.5	88.5	85.0	87.7	219.69	18	18	0	0.06
FC Schalke 04	90.0	88.0	88.5	90.0	86.0	88.5	220.82	17	19	-2	-0.05
Bayer Leverkusen	89.0	90.5	90.5	88.3	86.0	88.9	223.16	7	9	-2	-0.11
Santos FC	88.0	88.3	88.8	90.0	86.0	88.2	220.98	16	20	-4	-0.15
Flamengo	88.0	89.8	89.3	89.5	85.0	88.3	222.14	10	16	-6	-0.31
Liverpool	90.0	89.0	89.5	91.5	83.0	88.6	223.04	8	14	-6	-0.36
Genoa CFC	92.0	90.0	92.3	92.0	85.0	90.3	226.84	1	5	-4	-0.60
RSC Anderlecht	91.0	89.8	90.8	90.0	88.0	89.9	224.38	2	15	-13	-0.80

Division 1 Season 17 Stats and Facts review

Fri, 03 Jun 2022 13:42:26 +0100

Chelsea champions and stop of the stats. Espanyol and Real Madrid make great progress.

A few notes. Value added is literally how many places above the expected position a club finishes. PVA or positional value added is the value added +1 divided by the finishing position, so a high position counts more.

Chelsea are well deserved champions , they pushed 1 place above the predicted level and lead the stats. Espanyol have the highest value added , in the top 6 and 8 places higher than expected . Madird and Dortmund showed some real improvement with most of the rest of the division close to what would have been expected.

The only exception to this is Arsenal who finish in the lower half of the table on -7 VA and -0.5 PVA.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Chelsea	95.0	92.5	93.8	95.5	82.0	91.8	232.32	2	1	1	2.00
RCD Espanyol	92.0	90.3	91.5	89.5	85.0	89.7	224.82	14	6	8	1.50
Real Madrid	91.0	91.5	91.3	94.0	88.0	91.2	228.78	6	3	3	1.33
Borussia Dortmund	92.0	91.3	90.8	92.0	88.0	90.8	227.00	10	8	2	0.38
FC Porto	94.0	91.8	92.5	93.5	88.0	92.0	230.02	4	4	0	0.25
Levante UD	89.0	89.5	90.3	90.0	86.0	89.0	223.30	17	15	2	0.20
Standard Liège	91.0	91.0	91.5	91.5	86.0	90.2	226.72	12	11	1	0.18
Stoke City	89.0	87.8	90.0	88.5	86.0	88.3	220.73	20	18	2	0.17
Bayern München	93.0	91.0	92.8	92.0	89.0	91.6	228.64	7	7	0	0.14
Atlético Madrid	92.0	90.8	91.8	92.3	86.0	90.6	227.32	9	9	0	0.11
SC Internacional	91.0	89.8	89.8	90.5	87.0	89.6	223.79	16	16	0	0.06
Werder Bremen	89.0	89.3	89.5	91.0	85.0	88.8	223.03	18	19	-1	0.00
Manchester City	90.0	90.5	90.8	93.0	86.0	90.1	226.57	13	14	-1	0.00
Barcelona	95.0	93.3	93.3	94.5	88.0	92.8	232.59	1	2	-1	0.00
AC Milan	89.0	89.0	89.8	89.0	85.0	88.4	221.73	19	20	-1	0.00
Hertha BSC	89.0	90.3	90.8	90.5	85.0	89.1	224.51	15	17	-2	-0.06
SL Benfica	93.0	91.3	92.0	90.0	88.0	90.9	226.82	11	13	-2	-0.08
Hellas Verona	89.0	90.3	92.5	93.0	87.0	90.4	227.77	8	10	-2	-0.10
Juventus	95.0	92.3	93.8	94.0	85.0	92.0	231.50	3	5	-2	-0.20
Arsenal	92.0	91.5	91.3	94.5	88.0	91.5	229.23	5	12	-7	-0.50

Season 17 Division 5 Stats and Facts

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 14:41:30 +0100

Rubin and Inter lead the pack is defence the best form of attack in division 5.

Both the leading clubs have a good keeper and defence combo and a fairly strong attack. Athletic club also have a strong keeper and stronger attack in the top and tail approach. Twente and Spartak have 87 rated keepers but this is standard in D5, Spartak have a far weaker defence than most but will be reliant on the midfield to shield the back line and the strikers to push the goals in.

Boca will fancy their chances of at least a play off spot with a strong keeper , attacker pair.

217 is the cut off for relegation in D4 so a dozen or more teams could compete for promotion, Atalanta may well have a good mix for that in my view.

Obviously no relegation , just the sack race to avoid. Shaktar are very much a work in progress. They are very much an easy meal for most teams, Independiente just need to get the defence together. Torino rebuild almost there . Malaga just need to polish up the midfield a little.

Division 5 will probably be a little easier to exit from this season it is about half a point weaker mainly due to Swansea & Sao Paulo’s promotion leaving no teams rated above 220.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Rubin Kazan	89.0	88.5	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.9	219.40	1
Internazionale	89.0	87.5	88.5	88.0	87.0	88.0	219.12	2
Athletic Club	89.0	87.3	87.5	89.0	85.0	87.6	218.53	3
FC Twente	87.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.36	4
Spartak Moskva	87.0	86.5	88.5	88.5	85.0	87.1	218.17	5
Boca Juniors	88.0	86.5	87.3	89.0	85.0	87.2	217.61	6
Montpellier HSC	86.0	87.3	87.8	87.5	86.0	86.9	217.52	7
1. FC Köln	88.0	87.0	88.0	88.0	81.0	86.4	217.48	8
Olympiacos	88.0	87.8	87.3	87.0	85.0	87.0	217.31	9
Olympique Marseille	87.0	87.5	87.0	87.5	86.0	87.0	217.24	10
Atalanta BC	88.0	87.0	87.3	87.5	86.0	87.2	217.16	11
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	87.0	87.0	87.5	86.0	86.9	216.84	12
VfB Stuttgart	89.0	87.5	87.0	87.0	83.0	86.7	216.79	13
ACF Fiorentina	87.0	87.0	87.3	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.71	14
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	86.8	87.5	87.0	85.0	86.7	216.59	15
AS Saint-Etienne	88.0	87.0	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.51	16
Málaga CF	87.0	87.0	86.8	87.0	85.0	86.6	216.19	17
Torino	87.0	86.0	87.5	87.0	85.0	86.5	215.99	18
Independiente	88.0	85.8	87.0	87.0	84.0	86.4	215.39	19
Shakhtar Donetsk	86.0	85.5	85.3	85.5	83.0	85.1	212.46	20

Season 17 Division 4 Stats and Facts

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 11:54:42 +0100

Five teams in the fight for the title in Division 4.

It seems that Division 4 will have at least 2 really disappointed teams that most years would have grabbed an automatic place but will now be in the playoffs at best . Celta Vigo have a strong attack and a good midfield. With a competent back line , at least by D4 standards they should gain promotion. Sao Paulo a little less attacking but more defensive, should score less but concede less than Celta so should match them all the way. Swansea just a fraction lower than Sao Paulo, better in midfield but less potent up top, will need to make the most of the increased chances. Leicester ,pretty much like Celta Vigo should make up the top 4. Dynamo Moscow have a major weakness in goal, especially against these and other potent attacks.

This really only leaves two play off spots. Lille top and tail their team and must be favourites to upset the top 5 if anyone does, Cruziero are a similar build with CSKA the other playoff possible having a more balanced approach.

218 could be the survival stakes in D3 so any team down to Chievo could make a run for the play off spot and survive the next season and they look like a team who could make a good performance in the cup this year.

At the wrong end of the table , the cut off for relegation is around 217 at the moment. It is hard to see Lazio surviving with a weak defence and attack. Basel need to strengthen the midfield and West Ham their defence. PSV should be ok if they avoid injuires. Lokomotiv must use their attacking line effectively as they will ship goals at the other end.

Division 4 is half a point stronger this season, maybe a little skewed by the top 5 which show the challenge anyone outside that group has getting into automatic or even play off spots.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Celta Vigo	88.0	88.0	89.8	90.0	86.0	88.4	221.58	1
São Paulo FC	88.0	88.5	89.0	89.5	86.0	88.2	221.06	2
Swansea City	88.0	88.5	89.3	89.0	87.0	88.4	221.05	3
Leicester City	88.0	88.0	89.0	89.5	86.0	88.1	220.66	4
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	87.5	88.8	90.5	84.0	87.6	220.35	5
Lille OSC	90.0	86.5	88.8	90.0	85.0	88.1	219.70	6
Cruzeiro	89.0	87.5	88.5	89.0	86.0	88.0	219.65	7
CSKA Moskva	89.0	88.0	88.0	88.5	85.0	87.7	219.21	8
Dynamo Kyiv	88.0	87.3	87.3	90.0	85.0	87.5	218.86	9
Besiktas JK	88.0	87.8	88.8	87.0	86.0	87.5	218.63	10
Chievo Verona	88.0	87.5	88.3	87.0	86.0	87.4	218.03	11
Club Brugge KV	88.0	86.3	88.8	88.0	85.0	87.2	217.96	12
Sunderland	88.0	86.8	88.5	87.5	85.0	87.2	217.84	13
Girondins Bordeaux	88.0	87.5	87.3	87.5	85.0	87.1	217.44	14
Villarreal CF	87.0	86.5	87.5	88.5	85.0	86.9	217.37	15
Lokomotiv Moskva	87.0	86.0	87.0	88.5	85.0	86.7	216.57	16
PSV	88.0	86.8	87.3	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.51	17
West Ham United	87.0	86.3	87.3	87.5	85.0	86.6	216.32	18
FC Basel	87.0	87.0	86.5	87.5	85.0	86.6	216.32	19
SS Lazio	88.0	85.3	88.0	86.5	83.0	86.2	215.35	20

Season 17 Division 3 stats and facts

Tue, 25 Jan 2022 15:10:37 +0100

Will West Brom’s strike force carry them to the title?

A huge reliance on a potent strike force has worked well in the past in D3 and West Brom have all the tools to pull off that trick. They sit well above Zagreb the next best attacking side and Sassulo who pack the back line better than most. They probably should be the top 3 . The play off teams should be Roma who lack depth so will need a good start and a similar issue could affect Wolfsburg while both teams are an attacking force. Udinese and Hoffenheim have more coverage and may have to wait a game or two to make an impact.

To survive in D2 you will need a rating of 221, so other than the top 3 , the rest will struggle if they go up. Feyenoord and Fenernahce are an interesting prospect ,strong keeper and attack but lacking elsewhere. Galatasaray could be consistent all season and should put in a good cup run.

Last season a rating of 218 or less got you relegated no questions asked. This leaves Newcastle ,Sevilla, Zenit and Napoli in serious trouble unless they can pull off a Dnipro. Zenit really just need a slightly better attacker, Napoli have much more work to do in midfield and defence. Sevilla an attacker could help and Newcastle maybe a better Keeper and defence.

Compared to last season division 3 is half a point weaker across the board. This could lead to a larger selection of playoff teams than usual but won’t really save the weaker teams as even 217.5 is the already the level of the lowest 4 teams with the next worst .7 above them.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT
West Bromwich Albion	88.0	88.5	89.0	91.5	87.0	88.8	222.48
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	88.3	89.8	89.5	86.0	88.5	221.58
Sassuolo	91.0	89.3	89.5	88.0	86.0	88.8	221.44
AS Roma	88.0	89.0	88.5	89.0	85.0	87.9	220.61
VfL Wolfsburg	89.0	88.3	88.5	89.5	85.0	88.1	220.46
Udinese Calcio	88.0	89.3	89.0	87.5	86.0	88.0	220.36
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	88.0	88.0	89.0	88.5	86.0	87.9	220.01
Galatasaray SK	88.0	88.0	88.8	88.0	87.0	88.0	219.60
Crystal Palace	88.0	87.8	88.5	88.5	86.0	87.8	219.41
Sampdoria	88.0	88.5	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.08
FK Partizan	88.0	87.5	88.3	88.5	86.0	87.7	219.01
Feyenoord	90.0	87.0	88.0	89.0	86.0	88.0	218.97
Celtic	89.0	87.5	87.8	88.5	85.0	87.6	218.61
Borussia Mönchengladbach	87.0	86.8	89.3	88.0	83.0	86.8	218.40
Hamburger SV	89.0	87.5	87.3	88.5	85.0	87.5	218.21
Fenerbahçe SK	90.0	86.8	87.0	89.5	85.0	87.7	218.18
Newcastle United	87.0	87.0	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.1	217.56
Sevilla	89.0	87.8	87.3	87.0	86.0	87.4	217.55
Zenit Saint Petersburg	89.0	87.3	87.8	86.5	86.0	87.3	217.23
SSC Napoli	88.0	86.5	86.8	87.5	85.0	86.8	216.24

Season 17 Division 2 Stats and Facts

Mon, 24 Jan 2022 15:13:18 +0100

Genoa certain to return to Division 1? What about the rest

Genoa are by rights a mid table D1 side and while nothing is guaranteed they lead every important stat except defence.

There are then maybe 4 other teams in for a good shout at the remaining 2 automatic places. Anderlecht have huge depth and if Genoa falter are the only team who could challenge them. Villa potent up top and in midfield but lacking depth. Ajax , surely a keeper away from a great team and Valencia who again maybe a little weak in defence but are more than solid elsewhere.

Then doing the maths that leaves 2 free playoff spots. Everton , Leverkeusen, Liverpool and Tottenham should be favoured teams. Everton weaker at the back, Leverkeusen maybe need a star forward. Liverpool will they get enough possession and Spurs a good all rounder team.

The cut off to survive division 1 is around 224, so realistically it would probably be unwise for any other team to push for promotion without drastically improving first.

At the lower end it was pretty much set in stone 219.5 or less last season meant a massive risk of relegation. Only 3 teams sit close to that Dnipro, the galant over performers will be out classed in all departments, River Plate surely an 87 keeper will not be enough without the back up of possession or a scoring force. Monaco seem to be a rating or more below 17^th spot.

That high cut off now could drag Santos or Schalke into the mix with even Man Utd, PSG, Southampton and Sporting needed to keep an eye on what is going on should they slip into danger.

As for a cup run Anderlecht would have a chance, as could PSG or Schalke.

Division 2 is substantially stronger than last season and will be a tough challenge for all concerned.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Genoa CFC	92.0	90.0	92.3	92.0	85.0	90.3	226.84	1
RSC Anderlecht	91.0	89.8	90.8	90.0	88.0	89.9	224.38	2
Aston Villa	89.0	90.3	91.0	90.0	85.0	89.1	224.38	3
Ajax	87.0	89.0	90.8	92.0	85.0	88.8	224.24	4
Valencia CF	92.0	89.0	90.3	91.5	86.0	89.8	224.24	5
Everton	89.0	89.0	90.3	91.0	85.0	88.9	223.43	6
Bayer Leverkusen	89.0	90.5	90.5	88.3	86.0	88.9	223.16	7
Liverpool	90.0	89.0	89.5	91.5	83.0	88.6	223.04	8
Tottenham Hotspur	89.0	89.8	89.5	90.0	86.0	88.9	222.90	9
Flamengo	88.0	89.8	89.3	89.5	85.0	88.3	222.14	10
FC AUGSBURG	89.0	88.5	89.0	91.0	85.0	88.5	222.03	11
Sporting CP	88.0	89.3	89.0	90.0	85.0	88.3	221.86	12
Southampton	87.0	89.3	90.0	88.5	86.0	88.2	221.73	13
Paris Saint-Germain	91.0	88.5	89.8	88.0	86.0	88.7	221.04	14
Manchester United	88.0	88.5	89.0	90.0	83.0	87.7	221.02	15
Santos FC	88.0	88.3	88.8	90.0	86.0	88.2	220.98	16
FC Schalke 04	90.0	88.0	88.5	90.0	86.0	88.5	220.82	17
AS Monaco	88.0	88.3	88.5	88.5	85.0	87.7	219.69	18
River Plate	87.0	88.0	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.76	19
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	87.0	86.5	87.8	87.5	86.0	87.0	217.04	20

Season 17 Division 1 Stats and Facts

Sun, 23 Jan 2022 14:55:42 +0100

Barcelona and Chelsea top the table.

First of all the explanations.

This is purely statistical and takes no account of squad building or managerial ability.

How it works: I look at the likely picks for the first eleven and take an average of the ability in Gk, Def, Mid , Att and the Top 18^th player ( unlikely you will need to go down any further )

Then using a formula developed in the first few seasons on the relevant importance of key positions. I calculate the ETOT the estimated total strength of the team.

There is some human input if you lack say 2 decent forwards in the first eleven or your 18^th players was 5 ratings below anyone else.

It is really tight between Barcelona ,depth vs Chelsea strength. A few injuries would push it the way of Barcelona with Juventus a kind of halfway house between the two teams.

There is then a huge gap down to Porto a defensive based team and Arsenal and attacking force who could still trouble the top 3.

Real and Bayern are the next nearest challengers with Hellas perhaps a keeper away from a great squad.

Relegation cut of is around 225.5 there are therefore 7 teams realistically who could face the drop this season. Maybe as said last season it is difficult to see Stoke surviving this season unless they pick up the scraps from the other lower ranked teams. Milan also sit well beneath the comfort zone and will struggle. Espanyol should survive if they avoid injuries, Hertha likewise. This leaves Internacional , Bremen and Levante fighting it out for the last survival spot.

Interestingly D1 is half a point weaker than last season perhaps as a result of the unusually strong teams who were relegated..

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Barcelona	95.0	93.3	93.3	94.5	88.0	92.8	232.59	1
Chelsea	95.0	92.5	93.8	95.5	82.0	91.8	232.32	2
Juventus	95.0	92.3	93.8	94.0	85.0	92.0	231.50	3
FC Porto	94.0	91.8	92.5	93.5	88.0	92.0	230.02	4
Arsenal	92.0	91.5	91.3	94.5	88.0	91.5	229.23	5
Real Madrid	91.0	91.5	91.3	94.0	88.0	91.2	228.78	6
Bayern München	93.0	91.0	92.8	92.0	89.0	91.6	228.64	7
Hellas Verona	89.0	90.3	92.5	93.0	87.0	90.4	227.77	8
Atlético Madrid	92.0	90.8	91.8	92.3	86.0	90.6	227.32	9
Borussia Dortmund	92.0	91.3	90.8	92.0	88.0	90.8	227.00	10
SL Benfica	93.0	91.3	92.0	90.0	88.0	90.9	226.82	11
Standard Liège	91.0	91.0	91.5	91.5	86.0	90.2	226.72	12
Manchester City	90.0	90.5	90.8	93.0	86.0	90.1	226.57	13
RCD Espanyol	92.0	90.3	91.5	89.5	85.0	89.7	224.82	14
Hertha BSC	89.0	90.3	90.8	90.5	85.0	89.1	224.51	15
SC Internacional	91.0	89.8	89.8	90.5	87.0	89.6	223.79	16
Levante UD	89.0	89.5	90.3	90.0	86.0	89.0	223.30	17
Werder Bremen	89.0	89.3	89.5	91.0	85.0	88.8	223.03	18
AC Milan	89.0	89.0	89.8	89.0	85.0	88.4	221.73	19
Stoke City	89.0	87.8	90.0	88.5	86.0	88.3	220.73	20

Season 16 Division 5 Stats and facts review

Sat, 08 Jan 2022 13:34:28 +0100

Cruziero top of the league and top of the stats.

No one could doubt that a league winner with +5 VA should lead the stats, Sau Paulo the 2^nd place team in real life only figure 8^th in the stats despite a great season.

Montpellier are 2^nd in the stats they made the play offs beyond expectations. Independiente had the highest VA on +7 with Torino on +6.. Shaktar and St Etienne also over performed and should have a notable mention

Spartak have the lowest VA and PVA, should have been 3^rd but really never got started. Twente on -7 also were disappointing..

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Cruzeiro	89.0	87.0	88.5	89.0	82.0	87.1	218.77	6	1	5	6.00
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.3	88.3	87.5	86.0	87.4	218.16	10	5	5	1.20
Torino	87.0	87.0	87.5	87.0	85.0	86.7	216.79	14	8	6	0.88
Independiente	87.0	86.5	87.3	86.5	85.0	86.5	215.87	18	11	7	0.73
AS Saint-Etienne	88.0	86.8	87.3	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.51	15	10	5	0.60
Shakhtar Donetsk	86.0	85.5	87.3	87.5	84.0	86.1	215.48	20	14	6	0.50
São Paulo FC	88.0	88.8	88.5	88.5	86.0	88.0	220.21	2	2	0	0.50
Internazionale	87.0	87.0	88.3	87.0	86.0	87.1	217.51	11	9	2	0.33
Sunderland	87.0	87.3	88.3	88.5	86.0	87.4	218.69	7	6	1	0.33
Olympiacos	88.0	88.3	88.3	87.5	85.0	87.4	218.84	4	4	0	0.25
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	87.3	87.3	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.91	13	12	1	0.17
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	86.8	87.0	87.0	83.0	86.2	215.95	17	18	-1	0.00
Málaga CF	87.0	86.3	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.5	215.79	19	20	-1	0.00
VfB Stuttgart	89.0	87.5	86.8	86.5	83.0	86.6	216.27	16	19	-3	-0.11
Rubin Kazan	89.0	88.3	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.8	218.80	5	7	-2	-0.14
Athletic Club	87.0	86.8	87.8	88.0	85.0	86.9	217.44	12	16	-4	-0.19
Boca Juniors	88.0	86.5	87.8	89.5	85.0	87.4	218.34	9	13	-4	-0.23
Swansea City	88.0	88.5	89.0	89.5	87.0	88.4	221.18	1	3	-2	-0.33
FC Twente	87.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.36	8	15	-7	-0.40
Spartak Moskva	87.0	87.5	88.5	88.5	86.0	87.5	219.09	3	17	-14	-0.76

Season 16 Division 4 stats and facts review.

Sat, 08 Jan 2022 13:05:36 +0100

The 3rd 2nd 1st are 1st 2nd 3rd in the stats.

A great season by Fenerbache give them the highest VA in D4 at +11 and PVA at +4 and a promotion spot. Celtic on the basis of finishing 3 positions above expected are second in the stats with leaders Wolfsburg in 3^rd. Sampdoria in 4^th are on +5 VA with a whole series of overperfomers on +7

Bruge, Moscow and West ham all pushed away from danger and in some cases into the play offs and a notable mention to PSV.

This obviously means that there will be an equal number of underperformers.

CSKA should have been top but struggled to get in the playoffs. They have -5 VA and -0.67 PVA. Fiorentina and Koln have the worst VA on -8. Leicester, Dynamo Moscow, Villareal and Marseille also slipped well below expectations.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Fenerbahçe SK	90.0	87.3	87.0	88.0	84.0	87.3	217.48	14	3	11	4.00
Celtic	88.0	88.0	87.8	88.5	85.0	87.5	218.89	5	2	3	2.00
VfL Wolfsburg	88.0	89.0	89.0	87.5	87.0	88.1	220.28	2	1	1	2.00
Sampdoria	87.0	88.3	87.5	87.5	86.0	87.3	218.24	10	5	5	1.20
Club Brugge KV	88.0	86.0	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.0	216.96	16	9	7	0.89
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	86.0	88.0	87.5	85.0	86.9	216.84	17	10	7	0.80
West Ham United	87.0	86.3	87.3	87.5	86.0	86.8	216.44	20	13	7	0.62
PSV	88.0	86.8	87.3	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.51	19	14	5	0.43
Celta Vigo	88.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.36	8	8	0	0.13
Girondins Bordeaux	87.0	87.0	87.5	88.0	85.0	86.9	217.44	15	15	0	0.07
Atalanta BC	88.0	86.5	87.8	87.0	86.0	87.1	216.83	18	19	-1	0.00
Lille OSC	90.0	87.0	88.5	89.5	85.0	88.0	219.58	3	4	-1	0.00
Olympique Marseille	87.0	87.3	88.0	87.0	86.0	87.1	217.51	13	18	-5	-0.22
Villarreal CF	87.0	87.0	87.5	89.0	86.0	87.3	218.21	11	16	-5	-0.25
Beşiktaş JK	88.0	87.8	89.0	87.5	85.0	87.5	219.04	4	7	-3	-0.29
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	87.5	88.6	88.2	83.0	86.9	218.58	7	12	-5	-0.33
1. FC Köln	88.0	87.3	88.3	87.5	85.0	87.2	218.04	12	20	-8	-0.35
Leicester City	89.0	87.3	88.8	87.5	86.0	87.7	218.68	6	11	-5	-0.36
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	87.3	88.5	87.5	86.0	87.5	218.36	9	17	-8	-0.41
CSKA Moskva	89.0	88.3	88.8	89.5	86.0	88.3	220.78	1	6	-5	-0.67

Season 16 Division 3 Stats and facts review.

Fri, 07 Jan 2022 11:50:45 +0100

Dnipro +15 VA and +8 PVA fantastic achievement.

Relegation prospects to 2^nd spot , hard to beat really in terms of achievement and a great year by Dnipro. Augsburg were much the most consistent team of the year and they needed to turn over their last 4 opponents to even win the title by 3 points. They finish 2^nd in the stats. Only Feyenoord and Sassuolo can get to +3VA but Sassuolo will be much happier with the play off spot.

Biggest under performance this year is probably a tie between Sporting on -5 VA and -0.67 VA, no wins in 8 games at one point probably cost them the title mid season. Zagreb also should have been playoff but finished 12^th . WBA also had -5VA as they slipped out the playoff spots.

3 of the 4 predicted relegation teams were relegated and they must look to rebuild next season.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.5	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.08	17	2	15	8.00
FC AUGSBURG	89.0	88.3	89.3	91.0	86.0	88.7	222.15	3	1	2	3.00
Sassuolo	91.0	88.5	89.0	88.0	86.0	88.5	220.44	8	5	3	0.80
Udinese Calcio	88.0	89.3	89.0	88.0	86.0	88.1	220.68	6	4	2	0.75
Feyenoord	90.0	88.0	87.5	89.0	86.0	88.1	219.37	11	8	3	0.50
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	88.0	87.8	89.5	88.5	86.0	88.0	220.21	9	7	2	0.43
Borussia Mönchengladbach	87.0	86.5	89.5	88.5	83.0	86.9	218.73	14	11	3	0.36
Chievo Verona	87.0	87.3	88.3	87.0	85.0	86.9	217.59	18	17	1	0.12
Crystal Palace	89.0	87.5	88.3	88.5	86.0	87.9	219.13	13	13	0	0.08
SS Lazio	89.0	87.0	87.8	87.5	85.0	87.3	217.56	19	19	0	0.05
FC Basel	87.0	87.5	87.0	87.5	85.0	86.8	217.12	20	20	0	0.05
Flamengo	88.0	90.0	89.0	90.0	85.0	88.4	222.46	2	3	-1	0.00
Zenit Saint Petersburg	89.0	87.3	88.5	87.5	86.0	87.7	218.48	15	16	-1	0.00
Dynamo Kyiv	88.0	87.0	87.8	88.5	85.0	87.3	218.09	16	18	-2	-0.06
FK Partizan	89.0	87.5	88.5	88.5	86.0	87.9	219.33	12	15	-3	-0.13
Hamburger SV	89.0	88.5	88.3	89.5	86.0	88.3	220.58	7	10	-3	-0.20
SSC Napoli	87.0	86.5	89.8	89.5	85.0	87.6	219.82	10	14	-4	-0.21
West Bromwich Albion	88.0	89.5	89.0	90.0	83.0	87.9	221.82	4	9	-5	-0.44
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	88.0	89.5	89.5	86.0	88.4	221.18	5	12	-7	-0.50
Sporting CP	88.0	90.3	89.0	90.0	84.0	88.3	222.54	1	6	-5	-0.67

Season 16 Division 2 Stats and facts review.

Fri, 07 Jan 2022 11:34:29 +0100

A.C.Milan to of the stats , just above Bremen due to higher VA.

A very rare PVA tie was separated by the superior +7 VA of A.C. Milan as the top 2 teams in the table were also top of the stats. Perhaps the stats were skewed by the Internacional affair as they could have finished top but enough said about that the better.

Schalke had the best VA of + 8 and avoided relegation and were 4^th in the PVA stats table just below Ajax who are playoff bound. Also a nod to Villa who are steadily moving up the division and had a VA of +4

Spurs on -9 VA and -0.53 PVA were a big disappointment, Santos avoided relegation by goal difference on -5 VA. Southampton the 3^rd lowest stats ranked team with -4 VA and – 0.43 PVA will look to ignore that and challenge for promotion from the play offs.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
AC Milan	92.0	89.3	89.8	89.0	86.0	89.2	222.41	9	2	7	4.00
Werder Bremen	89.0	89.3	89.8	91.0	87.0	89.2	223.47	4	1	3	4.00
Ajax	87.0	89.0	89.0	90.0	85.0	88.0	221.54	12	6	6	1.17
FC Schalke 04	90.0	87.8	87.8	89.5	86.0	88.2	219.70	17	9	8	1.00
Aston Villa	88.0	88.3	89.0	89.0	87.0	88.3	220.65	15	11	4	0.45
Valencia CF	89.0	89.3	90.0	89.0	85.0	88.5	222.13	10	8	2	0.38
Everton	89.0	89.3	90.0	91.0	85.0	88.9	223.43	5	5	0	0.20
River Plate	88.0	88.3	89.0	89.0	87.0	88.3	220.65	14	13	1	0.15
Newcastle United	87.0	87.8	89.0	88.0	86.0	87.6	219.36	18	17	1	0.12
Galatasaray SK	88.0	87.8	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.08	19	18	1	0.11
AS Roma	89.0	88.5	87.8	88.0	83.0	87.3	218.84	20	20	0	0.05
AS Monaco	88.0	88.5	89.3	89.0	86.0	88.2	220.93	13	14	-1	0.00
Levante UD	89.0	88.3	91.5	91.5	86.0	89.3	224.28	2	3	-1	0.00
Sevilla	89.0	88.0	88.5	88.5	86.0	88.0	219.73	16	19	-3	-0.11
Liverpool	90.0	89.5	89.0	91.5	82.0	88.4	222.92	7	10	-3	-0.20
Manchester United	88.0	89.3	89.8	90.5	85.0	88.5	222.79	8	12	-4	-0.25
Santos FC	88.0	88.5	88.8	90.5	87.0	88.6	221.63	11	16	-5	-0.25
Southampton	89.0	89.5	91.0	90.0	87.0	89.3	224.02	3	7	-4	-0.43
SC Internacional	91.0	90.0	90.3	91.0	87.0	89.9	224.71	1	4	-3	-0.50
Tottenham Hotspur	89.0	89.3	90.5	89.5	86.0	88.9	222.98	6	15	-9	-0.53

Season 16 Division 1 Stats and facts review

Fri, 07 Jan 2022 11:00:54 +0100

Hertha are the kind of the stats with a PVA of +2 , just over taking the champs Barcelona.

Few notes I calculate the stats leaders on PVA , positional value added.

Value added is simply how much above or below a team finishes statistically from its predicted ( pre ) position.

Positional value added takes into account how high up the table you finish. Otherwise Barcelona for example would have a value added of 0 or less most seasons. Thus success is important.

Hertha had a great season finishing 9 places above their predicted position, their VA of +9 is just above that of Stoke who were clear relegation material but finished a more the creditable 12^th, they finished third in the stats just above Juventus who had a much better season this year.

Real Madrid and Genoa rightly are at the lower end of the stats. Real had a PVA of -0.43 and Genoa – 0.33 both with a value added of -7 showing that they finished 7 place below their expected position, with Atletico just above them . Lowest side Anderlecht had an up hill battle all season . Credit though to Stoke and Man City for avoiding the drop.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Hertha BSC	89.0	89.3	92.3	92.5	85.0	89.6	226.21	14	5	9	2.00
Barcelona	95.0	93.3	92.5	97.5	87.0	93.1	233.82	1	1	0	1.00
Stoke City	89.0	88.5	90.3	89.3	86.0	88.6	222.05	20	12	8	0.75
Juventus	95.0	91.8	92.5	94.0	87.0	92.1	230.34	4	3	1	0.67
Borussia Dortmund	92.0	91.3	90.5	92.0	87.0	90.6	226.68	12	8	4	0.63
Chelsea	95.0	92.3	94.0	95.5	85.0	92.4	232.68	2	2	0	0.50
SL Benfica	93.0	91.0	91.3	90.5	89.0	91.0	226.47	13	10	3	0.40
Bayern München	94.0	90.8	93.0	91.0	89.0	91.6	228.11	6	6	0	0.17
Manchester City	90.0	90.8	90.3	91.5	85.0	89.5	225.28	17	16	1	0.13
Bayer Leverkusen	90.0	90.8	89.8	89.5	88.0	89.6	223.94	18	17	1	0.12
RCD Espanyol	92.0	91.8	92.0	90.5	86.0	90.5	227.19	9	9	0	0.11
Standard Liège	90.0	90.0	91.3	91.0	88.0	90.1	225.51	15	15	0	0.07
Paris Saint-Germain	91.0	89.8	90.3	90.1	85.0	89.2	223.69	19	19	0	0.05
FC Porto	93.0	91.0	93.3	95.0	86.0	91.7	230.63	3	4	-1	0.00
Hellas Verona	89.0	90.8	91.5	92.5	86.0	90.0	226.93	10	11	-1	0.00
Arsenal	92.0	91.5	92.8	93.0	87.0	91.3	229.33	5	7	-2	-0.14
RSC Anderlecht	91.0	91.0	90.3	91.0	86.0	89.9	225.39	16	20	-4	-0.15
Atlético Madrid	90.0	90.5	92.0	92.5	86.0	90.2	227.25	8	13	-5	-0.31
Genoa CFC	92.0	91.8	91.5	90.3	87.0	90.5	226.74	11	18	-7	-0.33
Real Madrid	91.0	91.0	91.0	92.5	89.0	90.9	227.33	7	14	-7	-0.43

Season 16 Division 5 Stats and facts

Mon, 30 Aug 2021 13:59:34 +0100

Swansea and Sao Paulo lead the pack.

Swansea are a power house team in D4 and should romp home at least to promotion. Sao Paulo likewise while a point lower are 1 rating point ahead of the rest. Spartak the only other team 219 plus are strong in midfield and attack but weaker at the back.

Seven teams then sit at 218 plus and we should consider these the play off contenders. Cruziero are the pick of the bunch , no depth but high strength, a risky strategy that could pay off.

Boca are an interesting team, very weak in defence but strong in goal and up front.

If you need 217 to survive D4 then Atheltic Club and Lyon can also buy a ticket for the raffle.

Shaktar are much the weakest team, AZ lack depth but are well balanced and could finish much higher than 4^th from last.

Swansea City	88.0	88.5	89.0	89.5	87.0	88.4	221.18	1
São Paulo FC	88.0	88.8	88.5	88.5	86.0	88.0	220.21	2
Spartak Moskva	87.0	87.5	88.5	88.5	86.0	87.5	219.09	3
Olympiacos	88.0	88.3	88.3	87.5	85.0	87.4	218.84	4
Rubin Kazan	89.0	88.3	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.8	218.80	5
Cruzeiro	89.0	87.0	88.5	89.0	82.0	87.1	218.77	6
Sunderland	87.0	87.3	88.3	88.5	86.0	87.4	218.69	7
FC Twente	87.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.36	8
Boca Juniors	88.0	86.5	87.8	89.5	85.0	87.4	218.34	9
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.3	88.3	87.5	86.0	87.4	218.16	10
Internazionale	87.0	87.0	88.3	87.0	86.0	87.1	217.51	11
Athletic Club	87.0	86.8	87.8	88.0	85.0	86.9	217.44	12
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	87.3	87.3	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.91	13
Torino	87.0	87.0	87.5	87.0	85.0	86.7	216.79	14
AS Saint-Etienne	88.0	86.8	87.3	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.51	15
VfB Stuttgart	89.0	87.5	86.8	86.5	83.0	86.6	216.27	16
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	86.8	87.0	87.0	83.0	86.2	215.95	17
Independiente	87.0	86.5	87.3	86.5	85.0	86.5	215.87	18
Málaga CF	87.0	86.3	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.5	215.79	19
Shakhtar Donetsk	86.0	85.5	87.3	87.5	84.0	86.1	215.48	20

Season 16 Division 4 Stats and Facts

Sun, 29 Aug 2021 19:48:40 +0100

CSKA or Wolfsburg for the title Lille and Besitkas for the 3rd spot?

While having no position solid above 90 CSKA still just lead the stats over Wolfsburg who are stronger in defence and midfield but weaker in attack. Lille go for the classic strong keeper / striker combo that works so well in the lower divisions. Besitkas look to get a good chunk of possesion

Beyond that a whole bunch of teams down to Cologne could feature in the playoffs. Since you really need to be 2018+ to surive in D3 that would seem to be the limit for any kind of promotion ambitions.

Teams that stick out in the play off crew are Leicester and Fenerbache with great keeper/midfield and keeper / attack combos respectively . The depth of Sampdoria, Villareal and Leicester could help them in the long term. Behind Besitkas I would see Leicester as a solid play off possibility.

Any team on 216 or less will have relegation concerns. The five teams do seem to be detached from the rest by some margin. Brugge have a clear problem in defence but are strong in attack. Lokomotiv, West Ham, PSV and Atalanta don't really have that option but West Ham and Atalanta do at least have depth to make a late season surge

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
CSKA Moskva	89.0	88.3	88.8	89.5	86.0	88.3	220.78	1
VfL Wolfsburg	88.0	89.0	89.0	87.5	87.0	88.1	220.28	2
Lille OSC	90.0	87.0	88.5	89.5	85.0	88.0	219.58	3
Beşiktaş JK	88.0	87.8	89.0	87.5	85.0	87.5	219.04	4
Celtic	88.0	88.0	87.8	88.5	85.0	87.5	218.89	5
Leicester City	89.0	87.3	88.8	87.5	86.0	87.7	218.68	6
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	87.5	88.6	88.2	83.0	86.9	218.58	7
Celta Vigo	88.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.36	8
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	87.3	88.5	87.5	86.0	87.5	218.36	9
Sampdoria	87.0	88.3	87.5	87.5	86.0	87.3	218.24	10
Villarreal CF	87.0	87.0	87.5	89.0	86.0	87.3	218.21	11
1. FC Köln	88.0	87.3	88.3	87.5	85.0	87.2	218.04	12
Olympique Marseille	87.0	87.3	88.0	87.0	86.0	87.1	217.51	13
Fenerbahçe SK	90.0	87.3	87.0	88.0	84.0	87.3	217.48	14
Girondins Bordeaux	87.0	87.0	87.5	88.0	85.0	86.9	217.44	15
Club Brugge KV	88.0	86.0	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.0	216.96	16
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	86.0	88.0	87.5	85.0	86.9	216.84	17
Atalanta BC	88.0	86.5	87.8	87.0	86.0	87.1	216.83	18
PSV	88.0	86.8	87.3	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.51	19
West Ham United	87.0	86.3	87.3	87.5	86.0	86.8	216.44	20

Season 16 Division 3 Stats and Facts.

Sat, 28 Aug 2021 14:11:16 +0100

Four teams battle out for 3 places all of whom can hit 90 plus in attack.

It always remains a good gamble that with weakening keeper / defence combo that a decent attack will unlock a win for your team. Sporting perhaps have the best defence / attack balance which they gain while losing some depth. Flamengo a great project side are a near match to them. Augsburg weaker in defence but the most potent attacking option make up the top 3.

West Brom sit a little detached but in reality they are a fairly similar line up to the top 2.

Zagreb have a decent midfield and should get to the play off spots at least and Sassuolo’s 91 rated keeper Gulacsi could throw a spanner in the works of those attack minded teams.

To survive D2 you need around 220 so any team down to Hoffenheim could aim for promotion and have a decent chance of survival the following season in stark contrast to D2/D1.

Zenit maybe will have better luck in the cup than the league with a good keeper and some depth. Teams below 219 were at risk last year but in reality it is that bunch of 218 or less that are in danger.

Kiev have a weakness in defence and midfield, similar to Dnipro but they have some more depth maybe to see them safe. Chievo need to look at possession football , Lazio need to hope their keeper keeps them safe. Basel sit in difficult place in last place in most categories.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Sporting CP	88.0	90.3	89.0	90.0	84.0	88.3	222.54	1
Flamengo	88.0	90.0	89.0	90.0	85.0	88.4	222.46	2
FC AUGSBURG	89.0	88.3	89.3	91.0	86.0	88.7	222.15	3
West Bromwich Albion	88.0	89.5	89.0	90.0	83.0	87.9	221.82	4
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	88.0	89.5	89.5	86.0	88.4	221.18	5
Udinese Calcio	88.0	89.3	89.0	88.0	86.0	88.1	220.68	6
Hamburger SV	89.0	88.5	88.3	89.5	86.0	88.3	220.58	7
Sassuolo	91.0	88.5	89.0	88.0	86.0	88.5	220.44	8
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	88.0	87.8	89.5	88.5	86.0	88.0	220.21	9
SSC Napoli	87.0	86.5	89.8	89.5	85.0	87.6	219.82	10
Feyenoord	90.0	88.0	87.5	89.0	86.0	88.1	219.37	11
FK Partizan	89.0	87.5	88.5	88.5	86.0	87.9	219.33	12
Crystal Palace	89.0	87.5	88.3	88.5	86.0	87.9	219.13	13
Borussia Mönchengladbach	87.0	86.5	89.5	88.5	83.0	86.9	218.73	14
Zenit Saint Petersburg	89.0	87.3	88.5	87.5	86.0	87.7	218.48	15
Dynamo Kyiv	88.0	87.0	87.8	88.5	85.0	87.3	218.09	16
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.5	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.08	17
Chievo Verona	87.0	87.3	88.3	87.0	85.0	86.9	217.59	18
SS Lazio	89.0	87.0	87.8	87.5	85.0	87.3	217.56	19
FC Basel	87.0	87.5	87.0	87.5	85.0	86.8	217.12	20

Season 16 Division 2 stats and facts.

Fri, 27 Aug 2021 12:11:20 +0100

Internacional, Levante ,Southampton for the automatic slot with a raft of teams for the playoffs.

Alarmingly no team who could get promoted from D2 would finish outside the relegation zone in D1, so D2 teams have a hard job in balancing promotion and squad improvement.

Internacional are a solid 90 and have good depth, clear favourites for the top spot, Levante are stronger in midfield and attack but less so at the back. Southampton are the strongest attacking team and have a decent defence / midfield balance. Werder and Everton sit a little above the rest of the playoff pack, both going for attacking prowess to progress and maybe upset the top 3.

Spurs go for the balanced approach with Liverpool arguably more attack minded. Lots of teams have a lot of depth, Santos could well manage a great cup run and AC Milan could finish higher if they can score a few.

Last year around 219 was relegation zone, so Roma will struggle although they are surely a work in progress. Newcastle and Galatasaray are weak at the back, with Schalke having midfield problems.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
SC Internacional	91.0	90.0	90.3	91.0	87.0	89.9	224.71	1
Levante UD	89.0	88.3	91.5	91.5	86.0	89.3	224.28	2
Southampton	89.0	89.5	91.0	90.0	87.0	89.3	224.02	3
Werder Bremen	89.0	89.3	89.8	91.0	87.0	89.2	223.47	4
Everton	89.0	89.3	90.0	91.0	85.0	88.9	223.43	5
Tottenham Hotspur	89.0	89.3	90.5	89.5	86.0	88.9	222.98	6
Liverpool	90.0	89.5	89.0	91.5	82.0	88.4	222.92	7
Manchester United	88.0	89.3	89.8	90.5	85.0	88.5	222.79	8
AC Milan	92.0	89.3	89.8	89.0	86.0	89.2	222.41	9
Valencia CF	89.0	89.3	90.0	89.0	85.0	88.5	222.13	10
Santos FC	88.0	88.5	88.8	90.5	87.0	88.6	221.63	11
Ajax	87.0	89.0	89.0	90.0	85.0	88.0	221.54	12
AS Monaco	88.0	88.5	89.3	89.0	86.0	88.2	220.93	13
River Plate	88.0	88.3	89.0	89.0	87.0	88.3	220.65	14
Aston Villa	88.0	88.3	89.0	89.0	87.0	88.3	220.65	15
Sevilla	89.0	88.0	88.5	88.5	86.0	88.0	219.73	16
FC Schalke 04	90.0	87.8	87.8	89.5	86.0	88.2	219.70	17
Newcastle United	87.0	87.8	89.0	88.0	86.0	87.6	219.36	18
Galatasaray SK	88.0	87.8	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.08	19
AS Roma	89.0	88.5	87.8	88.0	83.0	87.3	218.84	20

Season 16 Division 1 Stats and Facts

Thu, 26 Aug 2021 15:52:52 +0100

Can top team Barcelona hold off rivals Chelsea and Porto.

Barcelona have the best attack ,defence and joint best keeper. If they have a weaker point it could be slightly less depth than some rivals and depending on formation a weaker midfield. Chelsea can match them in goal and beat them in midfield.

These two are clear of the pack but Porto should push them close at can match or beat Barca in midfield and have a potent front line. Juve have a similar set up and must be pushing for a top 4 finish this year.

Bayern should also have an option as they will suffer less from injuries with Real in a similar position.

Difficult to mention everyone but Hertha look to be an interesting prospect upfront , weaker at the back , should be many high scoring games.

222.53 was relegation zone so only really Stoke are in serious problems. Man City , PSG lack depth, Leverkeusen have problems in midfield and attack but could be solid in defence .

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Barcelona	95.0	93.3	92.5	97.5	87.0	93.1	233.82	1
Chelsea	95.0	92.3	94.0	95.5	85.0	92.4	232.68	2
FC Porto	93.0	91.0	93.3	95.0	86.0	91.7	230.63	3
Juventus	95.0	91.8	92.5	94.0	87.0	92.1	230.34	4
Arsenal	92.0	91.5	92.8	93.0	87.0	91.3	229.33	5
Bayern München	94.0	90.8	93.0	91.0	89.0	91.6	228.11	6
Real Madrid	91.0	91.0	91.0	92.5	89.0	90.9	227.33	7
Atlético Madrid	90.0	90.5	92.0	92.5	86.0	90.2	227.25	8
RCD Espanyol	92.0	91.8	92.0	90.5	86.0	90.5	227.19	9
Hellas Verona	89.0	90.8	91.5	92.5	86.0	90.0	226.93	10
Genoa CFC	92.0	91.8	91.5	90.3	87.0	90.5	226.74	11
Borussia Dortmund	92.0	91.3	90.5	92.0	87.0	90.6	226.68	12
SL Benfica	93.0	91.0	91.3	90.5	89.0	91.0	226.47	13
Hertha BSC	89.0	89.3	92.3	92.5	85.0	89.6	226.21	14
Standard Liège	90.0	90.0	91.3	91.0	88.0	90.1	225.51	15
RSC Anderlecht	91.0	91.0	90.3	91.0	86.0	89.9	225.39	16
Manchester City	90.0	90.8	90.3	91.5	85.0	89.5	225.28	17
Bayer Leverkusen	90.0	90.8	89.8	89.5	88.0	89.6	223.94	18
Paris Saint-Germain	91.0	89.8	90.3	90.1	85.0	89.2	223.69	19
Stoke City	89.0	88.5	90.3	89.3	86.0	88.6	222.05	20

D5 Season 15 Stats and facts review.

Fri, 13 Aug 2021 17:30:53 +0100

The winner takes it all with Bordeaux taking 1^st in the stats and the league.

+8 VA , +9 PVA, the perfect combo to win the league, with West Ham in 2^nd on +14 VA and 3^rd place Leicester on +9 VA. In fact the top 5 side in the stats were the top 5 in the league.

Olympic Lyon and AZ also had +8 VA and a great performance.

Oddly the top 6 teams in the predictions came in the lowest 6 places. Olympiacos, Spartak and Athletic Club were notable by their underperformance.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Girondins Bordeaux	88.0	87.0	87.8	88.0	83.0	86.8	217.52	9	1	8	9.00
West Ham United	87.0	86.5	87.3	87.5	86.0	86.9	216.64	16	2	14	7.50
Leicester City	87.0	87.3	87.8	87.0	86.0	87.0	217.31	12	3	9	3.33
Sampdoria	87.0	87.3	87.5	87.5	86.0	87.1	217.44	10	4	6	1.75
VfB Stuttgart	89.0	87.8	87.3	87.0	85.0	87.2	217.43	11	5	6	1.40
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	87.5	87.0	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.91	15	7	8	1.29
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	86.5	87.0	87.0	82.0	85.9	215.63	18	10	8	0.90
Torino	87.0	87.0	87.5	87.5	85.0	86.8	217.12	14	9	5	0.67
Málaga CF	87.0	86.8	87.0	87.0	83.0	86.2	215.95	17	11	6	0.64
AS Saint-Etienne	86.0	86.0	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.2	215.47	19	13	6	0.54
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.3	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.6	218.68	7	6	1	0.33
Independiente	87.0	85.0	86.5	85.0	82.0	85.1	212.73	20	20	0	0.05
FC Twente	87.0	86.8	87.3	88.0	86.0	87.0	217.16	13	19	-6	-0.26
Internazionale	89.0	87.5	87.3	87.5	86.0	87.5	217.68	8	17	-9	-0.47
São Paulo FC	88.0	88.5	87.8	89.0	86.0	87.9	219.73	3	8	-5	-0.50
Sunderland	88.0	87.3	88.3	89.5	86.0	87.8	219.46	4	12	-8	-0.58
Boca Juniors	88.0	86.5	87.5	90.5	85.0	87.5	218.79	5	15	-10	-0.60
Athletic Club	87.0	87.5	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.76	6	18	-12	-0.61
Olympiacos	88.0	88.5	89.0	88.0	84.0	87.5	219.84	2	16	-14	-0.81
Spartak Moskva	88.0	88.0	89.3	88.0	86.0	87.9	219.88	1	14	-13	-0.86

D4 Season 15 Stats and facts review.

Fri, 13 Aug 2021 17:19:54 +0100

Crystal Palace +5 PVA the stats leaders.

Zagreb may have won the league but not the battle of the stats as Palace who also had +9 VA pushed them close. Celta and Lokomotiv Moscow had +11 and +12 VA making them 2^nd and 3^rd in the PVA charts, notable +8 VA for PSV and +9 for Atalanta.

At the wrong end -12 VA for 2^nd ranked Dynamo Moscow leaves them in last place for PVA with predicted 4^th spot Swansea on -16 VA just above them.

2 teams who should have finished in the top 10 were relegated.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Crystal Palace	89.0	87.3	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.7	218.60	11	2	9	5.00
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	86.3	87.8	89.0	85.0	87.2	217.81	16	5	11	2.40
Celta Vigo	85.0	87.5	87.0	87.5	85.0	86.4	216.88	20	8	12	1.63
Atalanta BC	87.0	86.3	87.3	88.5	86.0	87.0	217.09	19	10	9	1.00
PSV	88.0	87.5	87.5	87.5	84.0	86.9	217.52	17	9	8	1.00
FK Partizan	88.0	89.0	89.5	90.5	86.0	88.6	222.51	1	1	0	1.00
Lille OSC	90.0	87.3	88.8	88.5	85.0	87.9	219.33	6	4	2	0.75
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	88.3	87.5	88.0	87.0	87.8	218.80	10	7	3	0.57
Feyenoord	89.0	88.0	87.5	89.0	86.0	87.9	219.25	8	6	2	0.50
Fenerbahçe SK	89.0	87.3	87.8	88.5	83.0	87.1	218.17	14	11	3	0.36
FC AUGSBURG	88.0	88.5	88.5	91.0	85.0	88.2	221.51	3	3	0	0.33
VfL Wolfsburg	89.0	86.8	88.0	88.5	86.0	87.7	218.33	13	13	0	0.08
Cruzeiro	87.0	87.0	87.5	88.0	85.0	86.9	217.44	18	19	-1	0.00
Olympique Marseille	87.0	87.3	88.3	87.5	86.0	87.2	218.04	15	16	-1	0.00
Shakhtar Donetsk	89.0	87.5	88.3	87.5	86.0	87.7	218.48	12	18	-6	-0.28
Rubin Kazan	89.0	88.3	87.5	88.5	85.0	87.7	219.01	9	17	-8	-0.41
Villarreal CF	88.0	87.3	88.3	89.0	87.0	87.9	219.25	7	15	-8	-0.47
Beşiktaş JK	88.0	88.0	89.0	88.5	85.0	87.7	219.89	5	12	-7	-0.50
Swansea City	88.0	88.3	88.3	89.0	87.0	88.1	220.05	4	20	-16	-0.75
Dynamo Moskva	88.0	89.3	89.0	89.5	86.0	88.4	221.66	2	14	-12	-0.79

D3 Season 15 Stats and facts review.

Fri, 13 Aug 2021 16:45:28 +0100

Galatasaray top the stats in 2^nd spot.

Some great over performance in D3.

Galatasaray in 2^nd with a VA of +9 and a PVA of +5.00 are the well deserved stats leaders. Relegation favoured Dnipro made the playoffs and 2^nd spot in the stats table and an incredible +16 VA.

River Plate 3^rd in real life and the stats sit just above league winners Aston Villa.

Notable +6 VA for Chievo and Zenit.

Flamengo and Dinamo Zagreb had poor seasons, Flamengo -12 VA, Zagreb could yet saved their season in the playoffs.

CSKA on -7 VA and relegation are also worth a mention.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Galatasaray SK	88.0	87.5	88.8	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.08	11	2	9	5.00
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	86.0	87.8	87.3	87.5	85.0	86.7	217.44	20	4	16	4.25
River Plate	88.0	88.3	88.3	89.0	86.0	87.9	219.93	9	3	6	2.33
Aston Villa	90.0	88.5	89.8	90.0	87.0	89.1	222.34	2	1	1	2.00
Zenit Saint Petersburg	89.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.7	218.40	16	10	6	0.70
Chievo Verona	88.0	87.3	88.5	87.0	86.0	87.4	218.03	17	11	6	0.64
Borussia Mönchengladbach	88.0	87.0	89.5	88.5	82.0	87.0	219.13	10	7	3	0.57
SSC Napoli	87.0	88.5	88.8	87.0	83.0	86.9	218.75	15	12	3	0.33
FC Basel	88.0	88.5	87.0	88.0	82.0	86.7	218.00	18	16	2	0.19
Celtic	87.0	86.8	88.3	87.5	86.0	87.1	217.64	19	19	0	0.05
Manchester United	88.0	88.5	89.8	90.5	83.0	88.0	221.95	4	5	-1	0.00
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	88.0	88.3	88.5	89.0	86.0	88.0	220.13	7	9	-2	-0.11
1. FC Köln	88.0	87.3	89.0	87.5	86.0	87.6	218.76	14	18	-4	-0.17
Club Brugge KV	88.0	88.0	88.8	87.5	85.0	87.5	219.04	12	17	-5	-0.24
West Bromwich Albion	89.0	88.8	89.8	90.0	82.0	87.9	221.82	5	8	-3	-0.25
CSKA Moskva	87.0	87.8	88.8	88.0	84.0	87.1	218.92	13	20	-7	-0.30
Sporting CP	88.0	88.3	88.5	89.0	85.0	87.8	220.01	8	14	-6	-0.36
Udinese Calcio	88.0	88.8	89.0	89.0	86.0	88.2	220.93	6	13	-7	-0.46
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	88.5	89.3	91.0	86.0	88.8	222.35	1	6	-5	-0.67
Flamengo	88.0	89.3	89.0	90.0	86.0	88.5	221.98	3	15	-12	-0.73

D2 Season 15 Stats and facts review.

Fri, 13 Aug 2021 16:21:48 +0100

Stoke the top the stats chart but “only “ make the play-offs.

Hellas may feel that they did what they had to but Stoke finishing 4^th and 8 places above where they should have been is a greater achievement statistically. Levante also finishing top half when tipped for relegation with a +10 VA is another stunning achievement.

Notably Sevilla also avoided relegation from D2 7 places above where predicted.

Werder , Southampton and Everton all had poor seasons missing out on the play off spots they should have got with Sassuolo being relegated on the lowest VA.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Stoke City	89.0	88.5	90.0	88.0	85.0	88.1	220.88	12	4	8	2.25
Levante UD	89.0	87.5	87.8	88.5	85.0	87.6	218.61	19	9	10	1.22
Hellas Verona	89.0	90.8	90.5	92.0	86.0	89.7	225.80	1	1	0	1.00
Sevilla	89.0	87.5	87.3	88.5	85.0	87.5	218.21	20	13	7	0.62
Liverpool	90.0	89.0	90.0	91.0	82.0	88.4	222.99	8	6	2	0.50
SL Benfica	93.0	90.5	91.0	90.0	89.0	90.7	225.54	2	2	0	0.50
Ajax	89.0	87.8	90.0	90.5	85.0	88.5	221.91	9	7	2	0.43
Tottenham Hotspur	90.0	89.5	90.5	89.5	86.0	89.1	223.30	6	5	1	0.40
Santos FC	88.0	88.0	88.3	90.5	86.0	88.2	220.71	14	11	3	0.36
Standard Liège	88.0	90.3	89.5	91.5	87.0	89.3	224.32	3	3	0	0.33
Newcastle United	87.0	88.3	89.0	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.76	16	15	1	0.13
SS Lazio	86.0	87.8	88.8	88.0	86.0	87.3	219.04	17	18	-1	0.00
Dynamo Kyiv	89.0	86.5	87.3	90.5	85.0	87.7	218.71	18	20	-2	-0.05
Hamburger SV	91.0	88.0	88.0	89.5	83.0	87.9	219.86	15	17	-2	-0.06
AS Monaco	88.0	89.0	89.5	89.5	85.0	88.2	221.74	10	12	-2	-0.08
FC Schalke 04	90.0	88.0	88.3	90.0	87.0	88.7	220.74	13	16	-3	-0.13
Sassuolo	91.0	90.3	88.3	88.5	85.0	88.6	221.45	11	19	-8	-0.37
Everton	88.0	89.8	90.3	90.5	87.0	89.1	223.83	4	8	-4	-0.38
Southampton	88.0	89.5	90.3	90.5	87.0	89.1	223.63	5	10	-5	-0.40
Werder Bremen	89.0	89.5	90.3	89.5	88.0	89.3	223.22	7	14	-7	-0.43

D1 Season 15 Stats and facts review.

Fri, 13 Aug 2021 16:08:49 +0100

Barcelona top the table

Porto ,Bayern and Juventus close behind.

Under new management Barcelona who were predicted 2^nd spot, won the league with points to spare. Porto had a great season also in 2^nd spot in PVA.

Man City had the highest VA and their 9^th place was 6 above where predicted.

The worse performing team this year were Genoa a VA of -9 and PVA -0.62, with Chelsea and Real not far behind.

Three of the lowest four ranked teams were relegated with only Leverkeusen escaping .

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Barcelona	92.0	93.3	92.5	97.5	84.0	91.9	233.10	2	1	1	2.00
FC Porto	93.0	91.0	92.8	93.5	88.0	91.7	229.50	6	3	3	1.33
Bayern München	95.0	91.5	93.3	91.0	89.0	92.0	229.03	7	4	3	1.00
Juventus	95.0	93.5	92.5	93.5	88.0	92.5	231.54	3	2	1	1.00
Hertha BSC	88.0	89.3	92.0	93.5	86.0	89.8	226.66	10	6	4	0.83
Manchester City	89.0	90.5	89.5	92.0	87.0	89.6	224.92	15	9	6	0.78
Paris Saint-Germain	95.0	89.3	90.3	91.0	88.0	90.7	224.71	16	12	4	0.42
RSC Anderlecht	91.0	91.0	91.3	90.0	87.0	90.1	225.66	13	10	3	0.40
Bayer Leverkusen	91.0	89.8	89.8	89.0	85.0	88.9	222.57	17	15	2	0.20
RCD Espanyol	92.0	91.5	91.8	91.0	85.0	90.3	226.99	8	8	0	0.13
AC Milan	92.0	89.3	89.8	89.0	87.0	89.4	222.53	18	17	1	0.12
AS Roma	90.0	85.8	89.5	90.5	83.0	87.8	219.79	20	19	1	0.11
Valencia CF	89.0	89.3	89.5	90.0	83.0	88.2	222.14	19	20	-1	0.00
Borussia Dortmund	90.0	91.3	90.5	92.5	87.0	90.3	226.77	9	11	-2	-0.09
Arsenal	92.0	91.5	92.5	94.0	87.0	91.4	229.78	5	7	-2	-0.14
Atlético Madrid	92.0	91.0	91.8	90.5	87.0	90.5	226.51	11	14	-3	-0.14
SC Internacional	89.0	89.8	91.3	91.5	86.0	89.5	225.28	14	18	-4	-0.17
Real Madrid	91.0	91.3	91.0	90.5	88.0	90.4	226.11	12	16	-4	-0.19
Chelsea	95.0	93.3	94.5	96.0	85.0	92.8	234.20	1	5	-4	-0.60
Genoa CFC	92.0	91.8	92.5	94.0	86.0	91.3	229.86	4	13	-9	-0.62

Division 5 Season 15 Stats and Fact.

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 14:19:49 +0100

A compact division 5 with a few exceptions.

Spartak hold the narrowest of leads over Olympiacos, though long term their additional depth should see them through. Sao Paulo in a state of flux but with just the midfield to sort out to balance up the team. Sunderland in a similar boat but with a defence to service.

Then there is a gap to Boca, Athletic club and Montpellier who are all closely matched, although Boca get the award for best attack in the league. As the bar for entry to D4 is sat at around 217.5 this should mean half the league have a chance of promotion directly or via the play off spot.

With only the sack race to fear, which sits around 215.5 , Malaga, AZ and St Ettiene will fancy their chances to stay above the slowly improving Independiente. Overall a slightly stronger division than last season largely due to Independiente’s improvement. Although if you ignore them the score is exactly the same.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Spartak Moskva	88.0	88.0	89.3	88.0	86.0	87.9	219.88	1
Olympiacos	88.0	88.5	89.0	88.0	84.0	87.5	219.84	2
São Paulo FC	88.0	88.5	87.8	89.0	86.0	87.9	219.73	3
Sunderland	88.0	87.3	88.3	89.5	86.0	87.8	219.46	4
Boca Juniors	88.0	86.5	87.5	90.5	85.0	87.5	218.79	5
Athletic Club	87.0	87.5	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.76	6
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.3	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.6	218.68	7
Internazionale	89.0	87.5	87.3	87.5	86.0	87.5	217.68	8
Girondins Bordeaux	88.0	87.0	87.8	88.0	83.0	86.8	217.52	9
Sampdoria	87.0	87.3	87.5	87.5	86.0	87.1	217.44	10
VfB Stuttgart	89.0	87.8	87.3	87.0	85.0	87.2	217.43	11
Leicester City	87.0	87.3	87.8	87.0	86.0	87.0	217.31	12
FC Twente	87.0	86.8	87.3	88.0	86.0	87.0	217.16	13
Torino	87.0	87.0	87.5	87.5	85.0	86.8	217.12	14
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	87.5	87.0	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.91	15
West Ham United	87.0	86.5	87.3	87.5	86.0	86.9	216.64	16
Málaga CF	87.0	86.8	87.0	87.0	83.0	86.2	215.95	17
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	86.5	87.0	87.0	82.0	85.9	215.63	18
AS Saint-Etienne	86.0	86.0	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.2	215.47	19
Independiente	87.0	85.0	86.5	85.0	82.0	85.1	212.73	20

Division 4 Season 15 Stats and Facts.

Thu, 08 Apr 2021 13:44:51 +0100

Top 3 out of sight? Play-offs for the rest ?

There are 3 clear favourites for the top 3 spots. Partizan have a great midfield and attack and they have the lead in the stats, closely followed by Dynamo Moscow who are a more defensive set up. FC Augsburg have an attack to fear but are more vunerable at the back than the other two. As a whole the league is slightly weaker but the challenge at the top is much as last season. Looks like around 218 is needed to survive D3 so a whole host of teams could get promoted and do well the following season.

Villareal look a strong prospect with plenty of depth, Feyenoord look like they could mount a strong challenge. While last season was a little odd , around 217.5 would leave you in relegation risk. Lokomotiv have too weak a defence and little depth, they could struggle. Celta need to sort themselves a keeper rapido. Atalanta and Cruziero have a decent enough attack but remain vunerable at the back.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
FK Partizan	88.0	89.0	89.5	90.5	86.0	88.6	222.51	1
Dynamo Moskva	88.0	89.3	89.0	89.5	86.0	88.4	221.66	2
FC AUGSBURG	88.0	88.5	88.5	91.0	85.0	88.2	221.51	3
Swansea City	88.0	88.3	88.3	89.0	87.0	88.1	220.05	4
Beşiktaş JK	88.0	88.0	89.0	88.5	85.0	87.7	219.89	5
Lille OSC	90.0	87.3	88.8	88.5	85.0	87.9	219.33	6
Villarreal CF	88.0	87.3	88.3	89.0	87.0	87.9	219.25	7
Feyenoord	89.0	88.0	87.5	89.0	86.0	87.9	219.25	8
Rubin Kazan	89.0	88.3	87.5	88.5	85.0	87.7	219.01	9
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	88.3	87.5	88.0	87.0	87.8	218.80	10
Crystal Palace	89.0	87.3	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.7	218.60	11
Shakhtar Donetsk	89.0	87.5	88.3	87.5	86.0	87.7	218.48	12
VfL Wolfsburg	89.0	86.8	88.0	88.5	86.0	87.7	218.33	13
Fenerbahçe SK	89.0	87.3	87.8	88.5	83.0	87.1	218.17	14
Olympique Marseille	87.0	87.3	88.3	87.5	86.0	87.2	218.04	15
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	86.3	87.8	89.0	85.0	87.2	217.81	16
PSV	88.0	87.5	87.5	87.5	84.0	86.9	217.52	17
Cruzeiro	87.0	87.0	87.5	88.0	85.0	86.9	217.44	18
Atalanta BC	87.0	86.3	87.3	88.5	86.0	87.0	217.09	19
Celta Vigo	85.0	87.5	87.0	87.5	85.0	86.4	216.88	20

Division 3 Season 15 Stats and Facts

Wed, 07 Apr 2021 14:56:03 +0100

Tight at the top is Division 3 the place to be?

No real out and out favourite in the cross road division of Top 100. Zagreb lead the pack strong attack but a little weaker in defence than some. They are closely followed by Villa who have a better keeper and midfield. Flamengo , WBA and Man Utd could be covered by a tea towel all are strong in midfield and attack an ongoing theme amongst D3 contenders.

The 90 + Attack runs out past 6^th spot. You would need 219.75 to survive in D2 so teams down to River Plate could push for promotion without compromising their current set up.

Looking at the lower end last year less than 218.00 meant relegation this leaves Chievo. Basel , Celtic , Dnipro could be in danger. . Celtic and Dnipro in particular are in danger of shipping too many goals. Basel may be o.k. but lack the strength in depth if they get in trouble. In general terms. The division is 0.3 per team higher than last season. The top end is a little weaker but there are more teams closer to those playoff spots.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	88.5	89.3	91.0	86.0	88.8	222.35	1
Aston Villa	90.0	88.5	89.8	90.0	87.0	89.1	222.34	2
Flamengo	88.0	89.3	89.0	90.0	86.0	88.5	221.98	3
Manchester United	88.0	88.5	89.8	90.5	83.0	88.0	221.95	4
West Bromwich Albion	89.0	88.8	89.8	90.0	82.0	87.9	221.82	5
Udinese Calcio	88.0	88.8	89.0	89.0	86.0	88.2	220.93	6
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	88.0	88.3	88.5	89.0	86.0	88.0	220.13	7
Sporting CP	88.0	88.3	88.5	89.0	85.0	87.8	220.01	8
River Plate	88.0	88.3	88.3	89.0	86.0	87.9	219.93	9
Borussia Mönchengladbach	88.0	87.0	89.5	88.5	82.0	87.0	219.13	10
Galatasaray SK	88.0	87.5	88.8	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.08	11
Club Brugge KV	88.0	88.0	88.8	87.5	85.0	87.5	219.04	12
CSKA Moskva	87.0	87.8	88.8	88.0	84.0	87.1	218.92	13
1. FC Köln	88.0	87.3	89.0	87.5	86.0	87.6	218.76	14
SSC Napoli	87.0	88.5	88.8	87.0	83.0	86.9	218.75	15
Zenit Saint Petersburg	89.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.7	218.40	16
Chievo Verona	88.0	87.3	88.5	87.0	86.0	87.4	218.03	17
FC Basel	88.0	88.5	87.0	88.0	82.0	86.7	218.00	18
Celtic	87.0	86.8	88.3	87.5	86.0	87.1	217.64	19
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	86.0	87.8	87.3	87.5	85.0	86.7	217.44	20

Division 2 Season 15 Stats and Facts

Tue, 06 Apr 2021 15:16:51 +0100

Two teams are predicted a rapid return to D1

Benfica and Hellas are ranked as highly as PSG from last season and should dominate this season.

Benfica are a more solid outfit and have strength in depth beyond that of Hellas who are more attack minded.

Liege , Everton and Southampton fill the next 3 spots all with o.k. keepers and defence, they are going for possession football to shield the back line. Spurs and Bremen may lack the firepower to go for promotion this year.

224.7 is the cut off to survive D1 so all but the top 2 have a lot of improving to do.

As for the cup Bremen have the capabilities to compete for league or cup.

At the wrong end last year 219.61 was relegation , 219.4 the previous year, so it is getting tougher to survive D2 as well.

Therfore Lazio, Kiev , Levante and Sevilla are all in trouble, all have decent keepers but a weak defence to exploit. Kiev may have the fire power options to escape though which could leave Hamburg or Newcastle looking over their shoulders.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Hellas Verona	89.0	90.8	90.5	92.0	86.0	89.7	225.80	1
SL Benfica	93.0	90.5	91.0	90.0	89.0	90.7	225.54	2
Standard Liège	88.0	90.3	89.5	91.5	87.0	89.3	224.32	3
Everton	88.0	89.8	90.3	90.5	87.0	89.1	223.83	4
Southampton	88.0	89.5	90.3	90.5	87.0	89.1	223.63	5
Tottenham Hotspur	90.0	89.5	90.5	89.5	86.0	89.1	223.30	6
Werder Bremen	89.0	89.5	90.3	89.5	88.0	89.3	223.22	7
Liverpool	90.0	89.0	90.0	91.0	82.0	88.4	222.99	8
Ajax	89.0	87.8	90.0	90.5	85.0	88.5	221.91	9
AS Monaco	88.0	89.0	89.5	89.5	85.0	88.2	221.74	10
Sassuolo	91.0	90.3	88.3	88.5	85.0	88.6	221.45	11
Stoke City	89.0	88.5	90.0	88.0	85.0	88.1	220.88	12
FC Schalke 04	90.0	88.0	88.3	90.0	87.0	88.7	220.74	13
Santos FC	88.0	88.0	88.3	90.5	86.0	88.2	220.71	14
Hamburger SV	91.0	88.0	88.0	89.5	83.0	87.9	219.86	15
Newcastle United	87.0	88.3	89.0	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.76	16
SS Lazio	86.0	87.8	88.8	88.0	86.0	87.3	219.04	17
Dynamo Kyiv	89.0	86.5	87.3	90.5	85.0	87.7	218.71	18
Levante UD	89.0	87.5	87.8	88.5	85.0	87.6	218.61	19
Sevilla	89.0	87.5	87.3	88.5	85.0	87.5	218.21	20

Division 1 Season 15 Stats and Facts

Mon, 05 Apr 2021 14:09:31 +0100

Blue is the colour again?

Few reminders.

Gk, Att, Mid, Def is the average rating as I see it.

Top 18 is the rating of the 18^th player. This does not include 2^nd or 3^rd choice keepers and there is human input if this player is a lot lower than the squad average.

Ave = Average of the above.

ETOT uses a secret formula to weight all the previous to come up with a team ranking , this was based on the first 3 or 4 seasons looking at how much each position matched up with finishing positions.

Pre = Predicted position.

Chelsea are clear of the pack they have pretty much the best defence and midfield but can be challenged up top. Barcelona and Juve sit 2^nd and 3^rd. Barca are stronger up top where as Juve go for the more balanced approach.

Genoa now rank 4^th and should maintain that position .

Espanyol did so well last year but maybe strength in depth will be an issue this season. Hertha if they could find a better keeper could aim higher.

225.15 got relegated last year, 224.35 the previous and 222.26 the year before... Life is getting tougher in D1 as the best improve at the expense of the rest.

Leverkeusen, AC Milan and Valencia are detached from the pack and look like clear relegation fodder. Roma look doomed already and would struggle in the division below. Having said that Man City and PSG fall below the cut off meaning we could have 6 teams fighting it out for relegation.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Chelsea	95.0	93.3	94.5	96.0	85.0	92.8	234.20	1
Barcelona	92.0	93.3	92.5	97.5	84.0	91.9	233.10	2
Juventus	95.0	93.5	92.5	93.5	88.0	92.5	231.54	3
Genoa CFC	92.0	91.8	92.5	94.0	86.0	91.3	229.86	4
Arsenal	92.0	91.5	92.5	94.0	87.0	91.4	229.78	5
FC Porto	93.0	91.0	92.8	93.5	88.0	91.7	229.50	6
Bayern München	95.0	91.5	93.3	91.0	89.0	92.0	229.03	7
RCD Espanyol	92.0	91.5	91.8	91.0	85.0	90.3	226.99	8
Borussia Dortmund	90.0	91.3	90.5	92.5	87.0	90.3	226.77	9
Hertha BSC	88.0	89.3	92.0	93.5	86.0	89.8	226.66	10
Atlético Madrid	92.0	91.0	91.8	90.5	87.0	90.5	226.51	11
Real Madrid	91.0	91.3	91.0	90.5	88.0	90.4	226.11	12
RSC Anderlecht	91.0	91.0	91.3	90.0	87.0	90.1	225.66	13
SC Internacional	89.0	89.8	91.3	91.5	86.0	89.5	225.28	14
Manchester City	89.0	90.5	89.5	92.0	87.0	89.6	224.92	15
Paris Saint-Germain	95.0	89.3	90.3	91.0	88.0	90.7	224.71	16
Bayer Leverkusen	91.0	89.8	89.8	89.0	85.0	88.9	222.57	17
AC Milan	92.0	89.3	89.8	89.0	87.0	89.4	222.53	18
Valencia CF	89.0	89.3	89.5	90.0	83.0	88.2	222.14	19
AS Roma	90.0	85.8	89.5	90.5	83.0	87.8	219.79	20

Division 5 Season 14 Stats and Facts review.

Sat, 20 Mar 2021 13:48:19 +0100

Dutch courage as Feyenoord lead the table and the stats.

Play offs always in sight , the Dutch team pushed higher than expected with automatic promotion. Cruziero in 2^nd had the 3rd highest VA on +10 with the Hammers leading the VA on +11. Az a notable +9.

Olympiacos , Spartak and Boca , all should have been top 4 but all fell to lowest 4 in the stats. Partizan I suspect will take promotion but with a low stats position. 3 out of 4 of the lowest ranked finished there.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Feyenoord	87.0	88.3	87.3	88.5	86.0	87.4	218.69	6	1	5	6.00
Cruzeiro	87.0	87.0	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.1	217.56	12	2	10	5.50
West Ham United	87.0	86.5	87.3	87.5	86.0	86.9	216.64	16	5	11	2.40
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	86.5	87.0	87.0	82.0	85.9	215.63	18	9	9	1.11
Sunderland	88.0	87.8	87.0	88.5	85.0	87.3	218.09	7	4	3	1.00
VfB Stuttgart	88.0	87.8	87.0	87.0	85.0	87.0	217.11	13	8	5	0.75
Athletic Club	87.0	87.3	88.0	87.5	85.0	87.0	217.72	10	7	3	0.57
FC Twente	87.0	87.8	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.99	14	10	4	0.50
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	87.5	87.0	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.91	15	13	2	0.23
AS Saint-Etienne	86.0	86.0	87.0	86.0	85.0	86.0	214.82	19	19	0	0.05
Independiente	87.0	83.5	83.5	85.5	81.0	84.1	209.34	20	20	0	0.05
São Paulo FC	87.0	87.0	86.5	86.5	85.0	86.4	215.67	17	18	-1	0.00
Crystal Palace	89.0	87.8	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.8	219.00	5	6	-1	0.00
Torino	87.0	87.0	87.5	88.5	86.0	87.2	217.89	8	12	-4	-0.25
Sampdoria	87.0	87.3	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.76	9	14	-5	-0.29
Girondins Bordeaux	87.0	86.8	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.1	217.56	11	17	-6	-0.29
FK Partizan	87.0	88.8	89.8	88.5	86.0	88.0	221.09	1	3	-2	-0.33
Spartak Moskva	88.0	88.0	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.08	4	16	-12	-0.69
Boca Juniors	89.0	88.3	87.5	89.5	85.0	87.9	219.66	2	11	-9	-0.73
Olympiacos	89.0	88.5	88.5	88.0	84.0	87.6	219.56	3	15	-12	-0.73

Division 4 Season 14 Stats and Facts review.

Sat, 20 Mar 2021 13:24:35 +0100

Run away leaders are not top of the stats.

You could argue that Zagreb were a cut above the rest and a mighty +3 PVA put them in 2^nd spot behind River Plate

Atalanta a great performance in 12th place gave them +5 VA

Augsburg came last in the PVA, missing out on the play offs when they should have got there. ( perhaps no fault of the highly talented manager LOL ) . Villareal had the lowest VA on -7 VA . 3 of the lowest 5 ranked were relegated.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
River Plate	88.0	87.8	87.5	88.5	85.0	87.4	218.49	12	2	10	5.50
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	88.5	89.3	89.5	86.0	88.5	221.38	3	1	2	3.00
Beşiktaş JK	88.0	88.5	88.3	89.0	86.0	88.0	220.13	6	4	2	0.75
Rubin Kazan	89.0	88.5	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.9	219.40	9	6	3	0.67
Atalanta BC	85.0	87.3	88.0	87.5	86.0	86.8	217.60	17	12	5	0.50
PSV	88.0	87.8	87.5	87.5	85.0	87.2	217.84	14	11	3	0.36
Fenerbahçe SK	87.0	87.3	87.8	88.0	83.0	86.6	217.60	16	13	3	0.31
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	88.0	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.6	218.88	10	9	1	0.22
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	87.0	87.3	87.5	86.0	87.2	217.16	18	16	2	0.19
Leicester City	87.0	87.0	87.0	87.0	86.0	86.8	216.51	19	19	0	0.05
Málaga CF	87.0	86.3	87.3	87.0	85.0	86.5	215.99	20	20	0	0.05
Dynamo Moskva	88.0	89.3	88.8	88.5	87.0	88.3	220.93	4	5	-1	0.00
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.0	88.3	87.5	84.0	87.0	217.72	15	18	-3	-0.11
West Bromwich Albion	90.0	89.0	88.5	89.0	82.0	87.7	220.49	5	7	-2	-0.14
Olympique Marseille	87.0	87.3	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.56	11	14	-3	-0.14
Internazionale	89.0	87.0	88.3	88.3	85.0	87.5	218.44	13	17	-4	-0.18
Swansea City	89.0	87.8	88.8	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.05	7	10	-3	-0.20
Flamengo	89.0	89.3	89.0	90.5	86.0	88.8	222.43	1	3	-2	-0.33
Villarreal CF	88.0	88.0	88.3	89.0	87.0	88.1	219.85	8	15	-7	-0.40
FC AUGSBURG	88.0	88.5	88.8	90.5	86.0	88.4	221.51	2	8	-6	-0.63

Division 3 Season 14 Stats and Facts review.

Sat, 20 Mar 2021 13:16:28 +0100

+13 VA lucky for some especially Dynamo Kiev

A fantastic performance by the Ukranian side saw them advance from mid table prediction to the heights of D3. Highest VA and PVA +12 /+13 respectively.

Stoke in 2^nd were the 2^nd in the stats as well as form was thrown away at the top end of the table. Great performances from Dnipro on +8 VA in 9^th and Sporting in 8^th,

Worst performing teams was Werder Bremen who still made the playoffs just but –0.71 VA and Man Utd who were well off pace. Lille had the lowest VA –12 and were relegated to boot. Never the less 3 out of 4 teams predicted to be relegated were.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Dynamo Kyiv	89.0	86.8	88.0	89.0	85.0	87.6	218.53	13	1	12	13.00
Stoke City	87.0	87.8	89.0	88.5	84.0	87.3	219.45	8	2	6	3.50
Sporting CP	88.0	88.0	87.3	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.16	16	8	8	1.13
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.8	87.5	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.16	17	9	8	1.00
Borussia Mönchengladbach	89.0	88.0	89.5	89.0	86.0	88.3	220.85	6	4	2	0.75
Galatasaray SK	88.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.5	218.28	15	11	4	0.45
Santos FC	88.0	89.0	88.8	91.0	87.0	88.8	222.35	3	3	0	0.33
1. FC Köln	88.0	87.3	89.0	87.5	85.0	87.4	218.64	12	10	2	0.30
Shakhtar Donetsk	86.0	86.3	87.5	87.5	85.0	86.5	216.40	19	17	2	0.18
Celtic	87.0	87.0	88.3	88.5	85.0	87.2	218.37	14	13	1	0.15
Celta Vigo	85.0	88.0	87.0	87.5	85.0	86.5	217.28	18	18	0	0.06
VfL Wolfsburg	88.0	85.0	87.8	88.0	84.0	86.6	216.04	20	20	0	0.05
Udinese Calcio	88.0	88.5	89.3	89.0	87.0	88.4	221.05	5	6	-1	0.00
Zenit Saint Petersburg	89.0	87.0	88.0	89.0	85.0	87.6	218.73	11	15	-4	-0.20
Chievo Verona	87.0	87.5	88.3	88.5	87.0	87.7	219.01	9	14	-5	-0.29
Club Brugge KV	88.0	87.3	88.5	88.5	85.0	87.5	218.89	10	16	-6	-0.31
Aston Villa	91.0	89.0	89.5	90.0	85.0	88.9	222.42	2	5	-3	-0.40
Lille OSC	88.0	87.8	88.8	89.5	86.0	88.0	220.26	7	19	-12	-0.58
Manchester United	88.0	88.8	90.0	89.0	82.0	87.6	221.25	4	12	-8	-0.58
Werder Bremen	88.0	89.5	90.3	92.0	86.0	89.2	224.48	1	7	-6	-0.71

Division 2 Season 14 Stats and Facts review.

Sat, 20 Mar 2021 13:06:25 +0100

Will play offs play fair with the stats leaders?

Newcastle are the run away stats leaders in D2 top VA +9 and PVA 2.50. PSG this seasons winners come second in the stats with Leverkeusen in 3^rd.

Notable high VA Levante +9 and Sevilla +6.

Liverpool were the most disappointing team this season –10 VA and -0.69 PVA with fellow team Everton not far behind.

3 out of 4 relegation predictions came true.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Newcastle United	88.0	88.3	88.5	89.0	86.0	88.0	220.13	13	4	9	2.50
Paris Saint-Germain	94.0	90.3	91.0	90.5	86.0	90.4	225.43	2	1	1	2.00
Bayer Leverkusen	91.0	89.8	90.0	89.5	85.0	89.1	223.10	4	2	2	1.50
AC Milan	92.0	89.0	89.3	89.0	85.0	88.9	221.69	9	5	4	1.00
Levante UD	88.0	87.8	87.3	88.0	85.0	87.2	217.96	20	11	9	0.91
Sevilla	89.0	88.3	89.0	88.0	83.0	87.5	219.64	16	10	6	0.70
Standard Liège	88.0	89.0	89.5	89.0	87.0	88.5	221.65	10	8	2	0.38
FC Schalke 04	90.0	88.5	89.0	88.5	87.0	88.6	220.77	11	9	2	0.33
Southampton	88.0	89.8	89.5	89.5	87.0	88.8	222.58	6	6	0	0.17
Sassuolo	90.0	90.0	89.0	89.0	85.0	88.6	222.05	7	7	0	0.14
SSC Napoli	87.0	87.8	87.8	89.0	85.0	87.3	218.89	19	18	1	0.11
SS Lazio	88.0	87.5	89.3	88.5	86.0	87.9	219.81	15	15	0	0.07
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	88.0	87.8	88.8	88.5	86.0	87.8	219.61	17	17	0	0.06
FC Basel	87.0	88.5	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.3	219.04	18	20	-2	-0.05
Hamburger SV	90.0	87.3	89.3	89.5	83.0	87.8	220.14	12	16	-4	-0.19
CSKA Moskva	90.0	88.3	89.5	87.0	86.0	88.2	219.87	14	19	-5	-0.21
RSC Anderlecht	91.0	90.5	92.5	93.0	86.0	90.6	228.09	1	3	-2	-0.33
AS Monaco	88.0	89.0	89.3	90.0	86.0	88.5	221.98	8	14	-6	-0.36
Everton	88.0	89.0	90.3	90.0	85.0	88.5	222.66	5	12	-7	-0.50
Liverpool	90.0	89.8	89.8	91.0	85.0	89.1	223.75	3	13	-10	-0.69

Division 1 Season 14 Stats and Facts review.

Sat, 20 Mar 2021 12:47:52 +0100

Genoa good team in Division 1 I do.

The old guard was nearly undone this season by 2 solid rivals of Genoa and Espanyol.

In the end 6 points was the difference but in terms of manager performance Genoa and Espanyol head the charts , they are just above victors Chelsea and the value added winners of Man City and Valencia

Most disappointing team this season was clearly Juventus lowest VA and PVA with relegated Benfica failing to perform. Hella and Atletico Madrid also had poor seasons and are low in the stats table. 3 of the lowest 5 stats teams were relegated.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre	Fin	VA	PVA
Genoa CFC	91.0	91.8	90.0	94.0	87.0	90.8	227.86	8	3	5	2.00
RCD Espanyol	92.0	90.5	91.8	91.0	87.0	90.5	226.43	10	4	6	1.75
Chelsea	95.0	93.5	94.5	96.0	85.0	92.8	234.40	1	1	0	1.00
Valencia CF	89.0	89.0	90.5	93.0	83.0	88.9	224.69	16	9	7	0.89
Manchester City	89.0	89.5	89.5	89.5	86.0	88.7	222.38	20	14	6	0.50
Barcelona	92.0	93.8	93.8	97.0	85.0	92.3	234.29	2	2	0	0.50
SC Internacional	89.0	89.8	91.3	91.0	86.0	89.4	224.95	15	13	2	0.23
Bayern München	95.0	91.3	93.3	91.5	89.0	92.0	229.16	5	5	0	0.20
Real Madrid	91.0	91.5	92.5	91.5	88.0	90.9	228.16	7	7	0	0.14
AS Roma	89.0	90.0	91.0	91.5	81.0	88.5	224.68	17	16	1	0.13
Tottenham Hotspur	90.0	89.5	89.8	90.5	87.0	89.4	223.47	19	18	1	0.11
Hertha BSC	88.0	90.0	91.0	91.5	87.0	89.5	225.28	12	12	0	0.08
Ajax	89.0	89.5	90.8	90.0	87.0	89.3	223.82	18	20	-2	-0.05
Borussia Dortmund	90.0	90.8	90.8	93.0	88.0	90.5	227.01	9	11	-2	-0.09
FC Porto	93.0	91.5	92.3	93.0	87.0	91.4	229.05	6	8	-2	-0.13
Arsenal	92.0	92.0	91.0	94.5	87.0	91.3	229.31	4	6	-2	-0.17
Hellas Verona	89.0	90.0	91.3	91.0	86.0	89.5	225.15	13	17	-4	-0.18
Atlético Madrid	91.0	91.0	91.5	90.5	86.0	90.0	226.07	11	15	-4	-0.20
SL Benfica	93.0	90.8	90.8	89.5	88.0	90.4	225.10	14	19	-5	-0.21
Juventus	95.0	92.5	93.0	93.5	85.0	91.8	230.78	3	10	-7	-0.60

Season 14 Division 5 stats and facts

Sun, 29 Nov 2020 14:09:54 +0100

Season 14 Division 5 Stats and facts

Will Partizan come out top this season.

Partizan are a cut above the rest in D5 they probably just need to grab an 88 GK to have a decent enough team to double bounce.

D5 has a little less quality than last season but this is marginal 0.1 / 0.2 average per team.. Boca , Olympiaco, Spartak and Palace should be competing for the remaining auto promotion spots. Boca, Palace and Olympiacos have a clear advantage with a great keeper which may leave Spartak looking towards the play offs.

However you realistically only need 217.6 to challenge for a spot in D4 so any team down to Athletic could go for it this year. There is no relegation so it is only the sack race to fear. Independiente very much a project team are clear favourites to finish last, St Etienne may need just a better keeper to finish higher than 1 place above them. AZ lack depth , and Sao Paulo need to boost their attack and midfield.

Cup run Sampdoria or Torino seem to have a good amount of depth this season to challenge.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
FK Partizan	87.0	88.8	89.8	88.5	86.0	88.0	221.09	1
Boca Juniors	89.0	88.3	87.5	89.5	85.0	87.9	219.66	2
Olympiacos	89.0	88.5	88.5	88.0	84.0	87.6	219.56	3
Spartak Moskva	88.0	88.0	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.08	4
Crystal Palace	89.0	87.8	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.8	219.00	5
Feyenoord	87.0	88.3	87.3	88.5	86.0	87.4	218.69	6
Sunderland	88.0	87.8	87.0	88.5	85.0	87.3	218.09	7
Torino	87.0	87.0	87.5	88.5	86.0	87.2	217.89	8
Sampdoria	87.0	87.3	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.76	9
Athletic Club	87.0	87.3	88.0	87.5	85.0	87.0	217.72	10
Girondins Bordeaux	87.0	86.8	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.1	217.56	11
Cruzeiro	87.0	87.0	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.1	217.56	12
VfB Stuttgart	88.0	87.8	87.0	87.0	85.0	87.0	217.11	13
FC Twente	87.0	87.8	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.8	216.99	14
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	87.5	87.0	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.91	15
West Ham United	87.0	86.5	87.3	87.5	86.0	86.9	216.64	16
São Paulo FC	87.0	87.0	86.5	86.5	85.0	86.4	215.67	17
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	86.5	87.0	87.0	82.0	85.9	215.63	18
AS Saint-Etienne	86.0	86.0	87.0	86.0	85.0	86.0	214.82	19
Independiente	87.0	83.5	83.5	85.5	81.0	84.1	209.34	20

Season 14 D4 Stats and Facts

Sun, 22 Nov 2020 15:04:25 +0100

Four of the promoted teams in the top 7.

Flamengo are the clear leaders but not so far in front of the rest that they can’t be caught.

The Brazilian machine has great all round stats and leads most categories.

Augsburg who overhauled them last season are in second and look fit to challenge for automatic promotion once again. Zagreb the run away winners of D4 should finish in the top 3 but are finding life hard against stiffer opposition.

There is very little difference in quality between D3 / D4 with the exception of the top side in D3 and the lowest side in D4.

You would need around 218.5 to survive in D3 so anyone down to Inter could get promoted and then do well enough the next season to allow them to rebuild and strengthen.

WBA have great strength but little depth , a good start in needed as injuries could play havoc. Moscow and Besitkas look more balanced amd the same could be said all the way down to current leaders Fiorentina.

As mad as last season was , you can still look at 217.6 for relegation woes.

This should mean near automatic relegation for Malaga and Leicester. Lokomotive may have a good enough keeper to save them while Atlanta could surely acquire one if needed.

Dynamo Moscow would be my tip for a surprise cup run this season.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Flamengo	89.0	89.3	89.0	90.5	86.0	88.8	222.43	1
FC AUGSBURG	88.0	88.5	88.8	90.5	86.0	88.4	221.51	2
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	88.5	89.3	89.5	86.0	88.5	221.38	3
Dynamo Moskva	88.0	89.3	88.8	88.5	87.0	88.3	220.93	4
West Bromwich Albion	90.0	89.0	88.5	89.0	82.0	87.7	220.49	5
Beşiktaş JK	88.0	88.5	88.3	89.0	86.0	88.0	220.13	6
Swansea City	89.0	87.8	88.8	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.05	7
Villarreal CF	88.0	88.0	88.3	89.0	87.0	88.1	219.85	8
Rubin Kazan	89.0	88.5	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.9	219.40	9
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	88.0	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.6	218.88	10
Olympique Marseille	87.0	87.3	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.56	11
River Plate	88.0	87.8	87.5	88.5	85.0	87.4	218.49	12
Internazionale	89.0	87.0	88.3	88.3	85.0	87.5	218.44	13
PSV	88.0	87.8	87.5	87.5	85.0	87.2	217.84	14
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.0	88.3	87.5	84.0	87.0	217.72	15
Fenerbahçe SK	87.0	87.3	87.8	88.0	83.0	86.6	217.60	16
Atalanta BC	85.0	87.3	88.0	87.5	86.0	86.8	217.60	17
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	87.0	87.3	87.5	86.0	87.2	217.16	18
Leicester City	87.0	87.0	87.0	87.0	86.0	86.8	216.51	19
Málaga CF	87.0	86.3	87.3	87.0	85.0	86.5	215.99	20

Season 14 D3 Stats and facts.

Sun, 15 Nov 2020 13:07:22 +0100

Werder the clear leader in the middle division.

Get ready to set sail on the sea of compromises that is division 3.

Werder lead in 3 key stats of Def, Mid , Att and also overall. However and there is always a but, they have a weaker keeper than some. I believe though the large amount of possession and strong attack should be too big a problem for most . Villa and Santos are closely matched. Villa more strength , less depth , great keeper / defence combo. Santos more attacking minded , perhaps better as the season progresses.

All the way down to Stoke could survive in D2. Man Utd are playing the strength card, but 2 or 3 injuries will bring their season crashing down. Udinese a well balanced team, also looking for a good cup run.

Borussia M and Lille should function in a similar manner. Stoke are more interesting having a weaker keeper than most.

Relegation is more difficult to judge here. Things get problematic at less than 218.5 and usually relegation is certain less than 218.2.

That leaves 6 teams in the mix for that particular prize.

Wolfsburg lack of defence will surely be their undoing long term even with a decent keeper, they also lack depth so one or two injuries in the middle possession will falter. Shaktar lack a defensive unit and keeper strong enough in this division and look certain relegation candidates.

Celta could easily be improved with an 87 rated keeper of which there are plenty external at the moment. Dnipro, Sporting , Galatasaray almost identical in stats . the manager will make all the difference there.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Werder Bremen	88.0	89.5	90.3	92.0	86.0	89.2	224.48	1
Aston Villa	91.0	89.0	89.5	90.0	85.0	88.9	222.42	2
Santos FC	88.0	89.0	88.8	91.0	87.0	88.8	222.35	3
Manchester United	88.0	88.8	90.0	89.0	82.0	87.6	221.25	4
Udinese Calcio	88.0	88.5	89.3	89.0	87.0	88.4	221.05	5
Borussia Mönchengladbach	89.0	88.0	89.5	89.0	86.0	88.3	220.85	6
Lille OSC	88.0	87.8	88.8	89.5	86.0	88.0	220.26	7
Stoke City	87.0	87.8	89.0	88.5	84.0	87.3	219.45	8
Chievo Verona	87.0	87.5	88.3	88.5	87.0	87.7	219.01	9
Club Brugge KV	88.0	87.3	88.5	88.5	85.0	87.5	218.89	10
Zenit Saint Petersburg	89.0	87.0	88.0	89.0	85.0	87.6	218.73	11
1. FC Köln	88.0	87.3	89.0	87.5	85.0	87.4	218.64	12
Dynamo Kyiv	89.0	86.8	88.0	89.0	85.0	87.6	218.53	13
Celtic	87.0	87.0	88.3	88.5	85.0	87.2	218.37	14
Galatasaray SK	88.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.5	218.28	15
Sporting CP	88.0	88.0	87.3	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.16	16
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.8	87.5	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.16	17
Celta Vigo	85.0	88.0	87.0	87.5	85.0	86.5	217.28	18
Shakhtar Donetsk	86.0	86.3	87.5	87.5	85.0	86.5	216.40	19
VfL Wolfsburg	88.0	85.0	87.8	88.0	84.0	86.6	216.04	20

Season 14 D2 Stats and facts

Sat, 14 Nov 2020 17:38:21 +0100

Two runaway leaders ?

Anderlecht are far and away the best team in D2.

They would finish top 8 in D1 and should win the league with ease. Fellow relegated PSG should find 2^nd an easy win.

Neither side has any obvious weakness and the others don’t come close.

Also relegated from D1 Liverpool head the chasing pack. They go for strength over depth and must avoid injuries or suspension. A similar and familiar them applies to Leverkeusen and Everton who should find the playoffs . Southampton are the first depth side and they may need to wait for the 2^nd half of the season before making their challenge.

224.6 is the cut off though to survive in D1 so only the leaders can hope not to fall again without some kind of additional boost to their squad.

A the lower end of the table anything less than 218.5 makes relegation a likely prospect. With that in mind only Napoli and Levante look to be in serious problem as the lower end of D2 has perked up a bit this year.

Levante seem outmatched in most departments, Napoli do have some attacking prowess if used correctly. Basel and Sevilla have balanced squads but the team just above Sevilla hope to use their keeper to save them this season.

Cup run anybody? Schalke have the depth and two byes to assist them into the 2^nd round and a stamina boost to envy,

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
RSC Anderlecht	91.0	90.5	92.5	93.0	86.0	90.6	228.09	1
Paris Saint-Germain	94.0	90.3	91.0	90.5	86.0	90.4	225.43	2
Liverpool	90.0	89.8	89.8	91.0	85.0	89.1	223.75	3
Bayer Leverkusen	91.0	89.8	90.0	89.5	85.0	89.1	223.10	4
Everton	88.0	89.0	90.3	90.0	85.0	88.5	222.66	5
Southampton	88.0	89.8	89.5	89.5	87.0	88.8	222.58	6
Sassuolo	90.0	90.0	89.0	89.0	85.0	88.6	222.05	7
AS Monaco	88.0	89.0	89.3	90.0	86.0	88.5	221.98	8
AC Milan	92.0	89.0	89.3	89.0	85.0	88.9	221.69	9
Standard Liège	88.0	89.0	89.5	89.0	87.0	88.5	221.65	10
FC Schalke 04	90.0	88.5	89.0	88.5	87.0	88.6	220.77	11
Hamburger SV	90.0	87.3	89.3	89.5	83.0	87.8	220.14	12
Newcastle United	88.0	88.3	88.5	89.0	86.0	88.0	220.13	13
CSKA Moskva	90.0	88.3	89.5	87.0	86.0	88.2	219.87	14
SS Lazio	88.0	87.5	89.3	88.5	86.0	87.9	219.81	15
Sevilla	89.0	88.3	89.0	88.0	83.0	87.5	219.64	16
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	88.0	87.8	88.8	88.5	86.0	87.8	219.61	17
FC Basel	87.0	88.5	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.3	219.04	18
SSC Napoli	87.0	87.8	87.8	89.0	85.0	87.3	218.89	19
Levante UD	88.0	87.8	87.3	88.0	85.0	87.2	217.96	20

Division 1 Season 14 Stats and facts

Sun, 08 Nov 2020 12:56:36 +0100

Chelsea top of the stats for season 14

For the new managers or those who have forgotten.

I take the average rating of the Gk, Def, Mid, Att , the lowest of the top 18 ( adjusted if needed ) and the overall average to produce the ETOT the effective total.

This then gives the predicted position.

Chelsea sit just above Barcelona, their side is better balanced and has more depth , although neither side really goes that deep. These 2 are well clear of Juventus and Arsenal . Juventus also lack depth but on any given day could challenge the top 2 as could Arsenal who are the first depth side. They need to look at the long game this season.

Bayern and Porto are the only other sides above 229, realistically the cut off for any title hopes. Bayern have the greatest depth of any team and like Arsenal may have to hope for injuries in the Barcelona or Chelsea squads.

Real Madrid and Dortmund also are well equipped for the long run and I would expect them to finish higher than their predicted position if managed well.

224 is the cut off for relegation so Tottenham , Man City and Ajax would need to do really well to even finish above the cut off. Roma may fair little better with a tragic lack of depth and an ancient keeper who is sure to drop, they may save one of their lower ranked rivals.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pre
Chelsea	95.0	93.5	94.5	96.0	85.0	92.8	234.40	1
Barcelona	92.0	93.8	93.8	97.0	85.0	92.3	234.29	2
Juventus	95.0	92.5	93.0	93.5	85.0	91.8	230.78	3
Arsenal	92.0	92.0	91.0	94.5	87.0	91.3	229.31	4
Bayern München	95.0	91.3	93.3	91.5	89.0	92.0	229.16	5
FC Porto	93.0	91.5	92.3	93.0	87.0	91.4	229.05	6
Real Madrid	91.0	91.5	92.5	91.5	88.0	90.9	228.16	7
Genoa CFC	91.0	91.8	90.0	94.0	87.0	90.8	227.86	8
Borussia Dortmund	90.0	90.8	90.8	93.0	88.0	90.5	227.01	9
RCD Espanyol	92.0	90.5	91.8	91.0	87.0	90.5	226.43	10
Atlético Madrid	91.0	91.0	91.5	90.5	86.0	90.0	226.07	11
Hertha BSC	88.0	90.0	91.0	91.5	87.0	89.5	225.28	12
Hellas Verona	89.0	90.0	91.3	91.0	86.0	89.5	225.15	13
SL Benfica	93.0	90.8	90.8	89.5	88.0	90.4	225.10	14
SC Internacional	89.0	89.8	91.3	91.0	86.0	89.4	224.95	15
Valencia CF	89.0	89.0	90.5	93.0	83.0	88.9	224.69	16
AS Roma	89.0	90.0	91.0	91.5	81.0	88.5	224.68	17
Ajax	89.0	89.5	90.8	90.0	87.0	89.3	223.82	18
Tottenham Hotspur	90.0	89.5	89.8	90.5	87.0	89.4	223.47	19
Manchester City	89.0	89.5	89.5	89.5	86.0	88.7	222.38	20

Season 13 D5 Stats and Fact review.

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 14:57:51 +0100

Zagreb dominant. Cruziero have highest VA.

Zagreb are a well deserved PVA winner with Cruziero in 2nd spot. Play off team Twente are in third with St Etienne and Stuttgart over performing.

Palace and Feyenord along with Bordeaux have the lowest PVA with perhaps Bordeaux having the lowest VA.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	87.8	89.0	89.5	86.0	88.3	220.58	3	1	2	3.00
Cruzeiro	84.0	86.8	87.0	87.5	86.0	86.3	216.28	15	5	10	2.20
FC Twente	87.0	88.3	86.8	86.5	85.0	86.7	216.87	10	4	6	1.75
AS Saint-Etienne	87.0	86.5	86.5	86.5	85.0	86.3	215.27	18	9	9	1.11
VfB Stuttgart	87.0	85.5	87.5	84.0	82.0	85.2	213.28	20	11	9	0.91
West Ham United	87.0	86.5	87.0	87.5	85.0	86.6	216.32	14	10	4	0.50
FC AUGSBURG	87.0	88.5	88.3	90.5	85.0	87.9	220.87	2	2	0	0.50
Torino	88.0	86.5	87.3	88.5	85.0	87.1	217.29	9	8	1	0.25
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	86.8	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.6	216.19	16	14	2	0.21
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	87.3	86.5	86.5	86.0	86.7	215.99	17	15	2	0.20
Olympiacos	88.0	87.0	87.0	87.0	86.0	87.0	216.63	12	12	0	0.08
FK Partizan	89.0	88.5	88.8	89.0	80.0	87.1	219.93	5	6	-1	0.00
Independiente	86.0	86.8	86.5	86.0	85.0	86.1	215.02	19	20	-1	0.00
São Paulo FC	87.0	87.0	87.5	87.0	85.0	86.7	216.79	11	13	-2	-0.08
Sunderland	88.0	87.0	86.3	88.0	83.0	86.5	216.32	13	18	-5	-0.22
Beşiktaş JK	88.0	88.3	89.0	88.0	87.0	88.1	220.00	4	7	-3	-0.29
Flamengo	89.0	89.3	88.8	90.0	86.0	88.6	221.90	1	3	-2	-0.33
Girondins Bordeaux	88.0	87.3	87.3	87.5	86.0	87.2	217.36	8	19	-11	-0.53
Feyenoord	87.0	87.0	88.3	87.0	85.0	86.9	217.39	7	17	-10	-0.53
Crystal Palace	89.0	87.5	88.0	87.5	86.0	87.6	218.28	6	16	-10	-0.56

D4 Season 13 Stats and Facts review

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 14:50:25 +0100

Secondplace Dnipro top PVA and VA.

From 14th predicted to 2nd actual, a great performance all round for the promoted side from the Ukraine. Werder did what they should but statistically a better performance from playoff team Fenerbache and also promoted Sporting.

Special mention to Leicester who moved from 20th to 8th.

Boca were a disappoitment as were playoff Dynamo and Santos. Athletic club have the 2nd lowest VA and they get relegated.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.8	88.0	87.0	85.0	87.2	217.91	14	2	12	6.50
Fenerbahçe SK	87.0	87.0	87.5	88.5	85.0	87.0	217.77	16	4	12	3.25
Sporting CP	88.0	88.0	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.4	218.56	9	3	6	2.33
Leicester City	87.0	87.3	86.8	86.5	85.0	86.5	216.07	20	8	12	1.63
Werder Bremen	88.0	88.5	90.0	91.0	87.0	88.9	222.95	1	1	0	1.00
Málaga CF	87.0	87.3	87.0	88.0	86.0	87.1	217.36	19	13	6	0.54
River Plate	87.0	87.5	87.0	88.5	85.0	87.0	217.77	15	11	4	0.45
Atalanta BC	88.0	87.8	88.0	87.5	87.0	87.7	218.48	10	9	1	0.22
Swansea City	88.0	87.8	88.8	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.28	6	6	0	0.17
PSV	87.0	87.8	87.8	87.0	85.0	86.9	217.59	17	16	1	0.13
Spartak Moskva	87.0	87.3	87.5	88.0	83.0	86.6	217.40	18	17	1	0.12
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.5	218.28	11	15	-4	-0.20
Sampdoria	87.0	87.3	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.16	13	18	-5	-0.22
Villarreal CF	88.0	88.5	87.3	88.0	87.0	87.8	218.80	7	12	-5	-0.33
Athletic Club	87.0	87.5	88.3	87.5	86.0	87.3	218.24	12	20	-8	-0.35
West Bromwich Albion	91.0	88.5	87.8	87.5	83.0	87.6	218.76	8	14	-6	-0.36
Santos FC	88.0	88.3	89.3	89.5	87.0	88.4	221.18	2	5	-3	-0.40
Rubin Kazan	89.0	88.3	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.9	219.40	5	10	-5	-0.40
Dynamo Moskva	88.0	88.3	89.0	89.0	87.0	88.3	220.65	3	7	-4	-0.43
Boca Juniors	89.0	88.0	88.5	88.5	86.0	88.0	219.73	4	19	-15	-0.74

D3 Season 13 Stats and Facts review

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 14:38:16 +0100

3 way tie at the top.

Kiev just a little ahead of Villa and just above CSKA.

Kiev have the highest VA and get into the playoff +11 from 17th is a great performance.

Villa likewise in 5th and CSKA taking the title a great performance.

Notable plus to Celtic.

Lille have the lowest VA with Man Utd. Wolfsburg and Montpelier dissapointing.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Dynamo Kyiv	89.0	87.5	87.0	88.0	86.0	87.5	217.80	17	6	11	2.00
Aston Villa	89.0	87.5	88.0	88.0	83.0	87.1	218.24	14	5	9	2.00
CSKA Moskva	90.0	87.8	90.0	89.0	86.0	88.6	221.17	2	1	1	2.00
Newcastle United	88.0	88.5	87.8	90.0	87.0	88.3	220.50	4	2	2	1.50
Celtic	87.0	86.3	87.8	88.5	85.0	86.9	217.37	18	10	8	0.90
Udinese Calcio	88.0	88.3	88.8	88.5	87.0	88.1	220.13	6	4	2	0.75
Celta Vigo	87.0	87.0	89.3	87.0	83.0	86.7	217.95	16	11	5	0.55
Shakhtar Donetsk	87.0	86.3	87.5	87.5	86.0	86.9	216.64	20	15	5	0.40
SS Lazio	88.0	87.3	89.3	88.5	86.0	87.8	219.61	8	7	1	0.29
1. FC Köln	88.0	88.0	89.0	87.5	87.0	87.9	219.48	9	9	0	0.11
Lokomotiv Moskva	87.0	87.3	87.0	87.5	86.0	87.0	217.04	19	20	-1	0.00
Club Brugge KV	87.0	87.3	88.8	88.5	86.0	87.5	219.09	11	13	-2	-0.08
Olympique Marseille	87.0	87.3	88.3	88.0	85.0	87.1	218.24	15	18	-3	-0.11
Internazionale	90.0	87.5	87.8	88.5	85.0	87.8	218.73	13	17	-4	-0.18
Zenit Saint Petersburg	89.0	87.5	88.0	88.5	85.0	87.6	218.81	12	16	-4	-0.19
AS Monaco	88.0	89.0	89.8	90.0	86.0	88.6	222.38	1	3	-2	-0.33
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.5	88.5	88.5	86.0	87.7	219.21	10	19	-9	-0.42
VfL Wolfsburg	87.0	88.0	88.3	89.0	86.0	87.7	219.61	7	14	-7	-0.43
Manchester United	88.0	87.0	90.0	90.0	82.0	87.4	220.50	3	8	-5	-0.50
Lille OSC	88.0	87.8	89.0	89.5	86.0	88.1	220.46	5	12	-7	-0.50

D2 Season 13 Stats and facts review.

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 14:16:49 +0100

Dominant Arsenal are not top of the stats

Hamburg are statistically the most overachieving team. Joint best PVA and best VA pushes team top , just above Valencia. Arsenal should and did get predicted.

Also a noticeable plus to Schalke who pushed into the playoff spots.

Dissapointment for relegated Borussia who finish 20th in the league and the stats.

Hamburger SV	89.0	88.5	89.3	90.5	83.0	88.1	221.67	13	4	9	2.50
Valencia CF	87.0	88.8	89.0	92.0	86.0	88.6	222.76	6	2	4	2.50
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	88.0	87.8	89.3	88.0	86.0	87.8	219.68	16	7	9	1.43
Arsenal	92.0	92.3	91.3	94.5	89.0	91.8	229.95	1	1	0	1.00
FC Schalke 04	90.0	89.0	91.0	87.5	87.0	88.9	222.12	10	6	4	0.83
Sevilla	89.0	88.5	89.5	88.5	84.0	87.9	220.69	15	10	5	0.60
Levante UD	87.0	87.3	87.5	87.0	83.0	86.4	216.75	20	15	5	0.40
Everton	89.0	88.8	90.3	89.5	85.0	88.5	222.26	9	8	1	0.25
Galatasaray SK	88.0	88.0	87.5	87.5	87.0	87.6	218.28	19	17	2	0.18
FC Basel	89.0	88.3	88.8	89.5	87.0	88.5	220.90	14	13	1	0.15
Southampton	87.0	89.5	89.5	89.0	85.0	88.0	221.69	12	12	0	0.08
Chievo Verona	87.0	87.3	87.8	88.5	86.0	87.3	218.29	18	18	0	0.06
Manchester City	88.0	89.8	89.5	90.0	87.0	88.9	222.90	4	5	-1	0.00
RCD Espanyol	92.0	90.8	90.3	90.5	88.0	90.3	225.23	2	3	-1	0.00
Stoke City	88.0	87.8	88.5	88.5	86.0	87.8	219.41	17	19	-2	-0.05
Sassuolo	87.0	89.5	89.0	89.5	86.0	88.2	221.74	11	16	-5	-0.25
Bayer Leverkusen	91.0	89.0	90.0	89.5	85.0	88.9	222.50	8	14	-6	-0.36
AC Milan	92.0	89.8	89.8	89.0	86.0	89.3	222.81	5	11	-6	-0.45
Standard Liège	87.0	88.5	90.5	91.0	86.0	88.6	223.11	3	9	-6	-0.56
Borussia Mönchengladbach	89.0	90.0	89.5	89.0	87.0	88.9	222.57	7	20	-13	-0.60

D1 Season 13 Stats and Fact review

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 14:08:45 +0100

This season has seen a chaning of the guard.

Chelsea get the highest PVA and VA well deserved.

Atletico come 2nd in PVA exceeding their projected finish by 6.

Highest VA goes to Hellas who finished a plucky 11th after being relegation candidates.

At the wrong end relegated Anderlecht and PSG fill the lowest 2 spots. With Benfica being the only other team having negative PVA, largely due to most of the other sides finishing where they should of.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Chelsea	95.0	93.5	93.5	96.5	85.0	92.7	233.93	2	1	1	2.00
Atlético Madrid	91.0	90.8	90.8	91.0	87.0	90.1	225.71	14	8	6	0.88
Hellas Verona	88.0	89.3	89.5	93.0	86.0	89.2	224.33	18	11	7	0.73
Borussia Dortmund	90.0	90.8	90.8	92.0	88.0	90.3	226.36	9	6	3	0.67
Real Madrid	91.0	91.8	92.8	91.5	88.0	91.0	228.56	5	4	1	0.50
Juventus	95.0	92.5	93.0	93.5	86.0	92.0	230.90	3	3	0	0.33
AS Roma	89.0	90.5	90.5	90.5	86.0	89.3	224.63	16	13	3	0.31
Ajax	89.0	89.5	91.0	90.0	87.0	89.3	224.02	19	16	3	0.25
Genoa CFC	91.0	91.0	90.3	93.5	86.0	90.4	227.02	7	7	0	0.14
Hertha BSC	90.0	89.5	91.5	92.5	87.0	90.1	226.17	10	10	0	0.10
Tottenham Hotspur	91.0	90.3	91.3	91.5	87.0	90.2	226.04	12	12	0	0.08
SC Internacional	89.0	89.8	91.0	92.0	84.0	89.2	225.16	15	15	0	0.07
Liverpool	90.0	90.3	90.0	91.0	85.0	89.3	224.35	17	17	0	0.06
SSC Napoli	90.0	88.5	88.3	89.5	83.0	87.9	220.34	20	20	0	0.05
FC Porto	93.0	91.5	90.5	91.5	87.0	90.7	226.68	8	9	-1	0.00
Bayern München	95.0	91.5	93.8	92.5	89.0	92.4	230.41	4	5	-1	0.00
Barcelona	93.0	93.5	94.0	97.5	82.0	92.0	234.38	1	2	-1	0.00
SL Benfica	93.0	90.5	89.8	92.5	88.0	90.8	226.05	11	14	-3	-0.14
Paris Saint-Germain	93.0	91.0	90.5	91.0	87.0	90.5	225.95	13	18	-5	-0.22
RSC Anderlecht	91.0	91.0	91.3	92.5	87.0	90.6	227.29	6	19	-13	-0.63

Season 13 Division 5 Stats and Facts

Mon, 22 Jun 2020 17:11:01 +0100

Flamengo a point above the rest. Is it a race for second place?

Flamengo are first or second in all the main stats and clear favourites for the title. Augsburg could challenge if the players stay fit which they aren't managing to do at the moment.

Zagreb are a more balanced side than Augsburg and could well challenge either of the two sides mentioned already. Besitkas who have had an appalling start round off the 220 club and should be able to pull themselves up with little effort.

Partizan are the wild card side, no depth at all but possibly as strong or stronger than some of the top 4.

For Division 4 survival 217.75 is enough so any team down to Crystal Palace could push for promotion. Sunerland and Torino have a strong keeper , strike force combination and could challenge for the play offs.

With no relegation it will be interesting to see how Stuttgart and Independiente pull themselves up.

In the table below Cruziero have had a slight increase in GK rating due to a known future transfer.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr
Flamengo	89.0	89.3	88.8	90.0	86.0	88.6	221.90	1
FC AUGSBURG	87.0	88.5	88.3	90.5	85.0	87.9	220.87	2
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	87.8	89.0	89.5	86.0	88.3	220.58	3
Beşiktaş JK	88.0	88.3	89.0	88.0	87.0	88.1	220.00	4
FK Partizan	89.0	88.5	88.8	89.0	80.0	87.1	219.93	5
Crystal Palace	89.0	87.5	88.0	87.5	86.0	87.6	218.28	6
Feyenoord	87.0	87.0	88.3	87.0	85.0	86.9	217.39	7
Girondins Bordeaux	88.0	87.3	87.3	87.5	86.0	87.2	217.36	8
Torino	88.0	86.5	87.3	88.5	85.0	87.1	217.29	9
FC Twente	87.0	88.3	86.8	86.5	85.0	86.7	216.87	10
São Paulo FC	87.0	87.0	87.5	87.0	85.0	86.7	216.79	11
Olympiacos	88.0	87.0	87.0	87.0	86.0	87.0	216.63	12
Sunderland	88.0	87.0	86.3	88.0	83.0	86.5	216.32	13
West Ham United	87.0	86.5	87.0	87.5	85.0	86.6	216.32	14
Cruzeiro	84.0	86.8	87.0	87.5	86.0	86.3	216.28	15
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	86.8	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.6	216.19	16
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	87.3	86.5	86.5	86.0	86.7	215.99	18
AS Saint-Etienne	87.0	86.5	86.5	86.5	85.0	86.3	215.27	18
Independiente	86.0	86.8	86.5	86.0	85.0	86.1	215.02	19
VfB Stuttgart	87.0	85.5	87.5	84.0	82.0	85.2	213.28	20

Season 13 Division 4 Stats and Facts

Sun, 21 Jun 2020 13:21:07 +0100

Those who are first shall be last? Early season form goes against the stats in a much tight division.

Division 4 looks to be much tougher this year and overall is almost 0.5 point stronger overall compared to last season. It is aso has pretty much the same range as Division 3 , even with a lower average.

Bremen would seem to be the out and out favourites with a strong attacking line, Suarez should be able to beast most defences in this league.

Santos and Dynamo Moscow are well balanced teams, as are Boca even with a little less depth. If 218 is the cut off for D3 survival then any one of 14 teams has a chance to do well with little reinforcement , so the challenge is to get out of the division. West Brom and Sampdoria will be interesting to watch as while they have quality , they certainly don’t have quantity.

Atalanta or Villareal could be good cup teams this season .

Lower down , last season gave us no clues as to what is needed to survive but looking back a couple of seasons 217.5 seemed to be the cut off but with a half a point up grade that could mean 218 , so we could have 14 teams in the hunt for promotion with 6 others scrapping it out for relegation.

Leicester are at least in theory the lowest ranked side, but 2 decent wins so far leaves them in a good place. Remember last season the top 2 were 12th and 17th ranked.

Malaga have a decent attack but will suffer in possession and will let in goals, Spartak a stronger overall team but lacking depth. PSV ok in midfield and defence but keeper and attack could prove costly. River Plate and Fenerbache are tied with near identical sides.

I would expect a big differential from these stats , as last season with some big shocks in the promoted and relegated teams, no one is safe.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr
Werder Bremen	88.0	88.5	90.0	91.0	87.0	88.9	222.95	1
Santos FC	88.0	88.3	89.3	89.5	87.0	88.4	221.18	2
Dynamo Moskva	88.0	88.3	89.0	89.0	87.0	88.3	220.65	3
Boca Juniors	89.0	88.0	88.5	88.5	86.0	88.0	219.73	4
Rubin Kazan	89.0	88.3	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.9	219.40	5
Swansea City	88.0	87.8	88.8	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.28	6
Villarreal CF	88.0	88.5	87.3	88.0	87.0	87.8	218.80	7
West Bromwich Albion	91.0	88.5	87.8	87.5	83.0	87.6	218.76	8
Sporting CP	88.0	88.0	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.4	218.56	9
Atalanta BC	88.0	87.8	88.0	87.5	87.0	87.7	218.48	10
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.5	218.28	11
Athletic Club	87.0	87.5	88.3	87.5	86.0	87.3	218.24	12
Sampdoria	87.0	87.3	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.16	13
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.8	88.0	87.0	85.0	87.2	217.91	14
River Plate	87.0	87.5	87.0	88.5	85.0	87.0	217.77	15
Fenerbahçe SK	87.0	87.0	87.5	88.5	85.0	87.0	217.77	16
PSV	87.0	87.8	87.8	87.0	85.0	86.9	217.59	18
Spartak Moskva	87.0	87.3	87.5	88.0	83.0	86.6	217.40	18
Málaga CF	87.0	87.3	87.0	88.0	86.0	87.1	217.36	19
Leicester City	87.0	87.3	86.8	86.5	85.0	86.5	216.07	20

Season 13 Division 3 Stats and Facts

Sat, 20 Jun 2020 14:29:54 +0100

Monaco the clear leaders, who can chase them down?

Monaco don't have as big a lead over the opposition than Arsenal or Barcelona do in D2/D1

CSKA are a point or so behind, although Monaco can argue that they are the only team in D3 without an obvious weakness, which mainly are in defence or goalkeeper throughout the division.

CSKA have a better keeper and midfield than Monaco , many would argue those are key are to stiffle possession and to shield the defence.

Man Utd and Newcastle are tied for 3rd spot but Man Utd lack any kind of depth and as I know to my cost 1 or 2 injuries will make them a different team for all the wrong reasons. Lille are close behind them and despite a poor start , a slight weakness in defence is all that is holding them back.

It looks like you should aim for 219.6 for promotion so any team down to Lazio could push for an automatic place. Udinese and Newcastle would seem to have good prospects in the cup competitions.

Last year there was solid agreement on the relegation teams, less than 218.2 and the trap door was already open. This year there are 5 teams in that zone.

Celta have a strong midfield but a weak keeper they will need to protect and little depth. Dynamo Kiev have a decent keeper but perhaps not enough elsewhere. Celtic have a decent attack but are going to ship a lot of goals. Lokomotiv look in worse shape without a strong attacking option, with Shaktar pretty much in the same boat.

Division 3 is substantially weaker than last season by 0.8 of a point. Have we really reached the point of Premiership , Championship and the rest ? Time will tell.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr
AS Monaco	88.0	89.0	89.8	90.0	86.0	88.6	222.38	1
CSKA Moskva	90.0	87.8	90.0	89.0	86.0	88.6	221.17	2
Manchester United	88.0	87.0	90.0	90.0	82.0	87.4	220.50	3
Newcastle United	88.0	88.5	87.8	90.0	87.0	88.3	220.50	4
Lille OSC	88.0	87.8	89.0	89.5	86.0	88.1	220.46	5
Udinese Calcio	88.0	88.3	88.8	88.5	87.0	88.1	220.13	6
VfL Wolfsburg	87.0	88.0	88.3	89.0	86.0	87.7	219.61	7
SS Lazio	88.0	87.3	89.3	88.5	86.0	87.8	219.61	8
1. FC Köln	88.0	88.0	89.0	87.5	87.0	87.9	219.48	9
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.5	88.5	88.5	86.0	87.7	219.21	10
Club Brugge KV	87.0	87.3	88.8	88.5	86.0	87.5	219.09	11
Zenit Saint Petersburg	89.0	87.5	88.0	88.5	85.0	87.6	218.81	12
Internazionale	90.0	87.5	87.8	88.5	85.0	87.8	218.73	13
Aston Villa	89.0	87.5	88.0	88.0	83.0	87.1	218.24	14
Olympique Marseille	87.0	87.3	88.3	88.0	85.0	87.1	218.24	15
Celta Vigo	87.0	87.0	89.3	87.0	83.0	86.7	217.95	16
Dynamo Kyiv	89.0	87.5	87.0	88.0	86.0	87.5	217.80	18
Celtic	87.0	86.3	87.8	88.5	85.0	86.9	217.37	18
Lokomotiv Moskva	87.0	87.3	87.0	87.5	86.0	87.0	217.04	19
Shakhtar Donetsk	87.0	86.3	87.5	87.5	86.0	86.9	216.64	20

Season 13 Division 2 Stats and Facts

Fri, 19 Jun 2020 17:01:21 +0100

Arsenal lead the pack, Espanyol and Liege should get promoted.

Arsenal have a team good enough to be 4th or 5th in Division 1. They have a huge average and even the 18th player would start in most sides.

Espanyol almost a clone just 1 or 2 pts lower in some categories but good enough to hold their own in D1. Liege have a weak back line and that could be their undoing with 90 rated strikers prowling around.

Worryingly the base level of D1 is now around 224 so even 3rd place Liege would struggle to not get relegated back from D1. Man City have a potent attack, Milan lack depth but a great keeper should see them to at least the playoffs, with the same but possibly more so for Bayer Leverkeusen

Hamburg will be an interesting prospect , desperate lack of depth but more than enough strength to do well.

Based on past seasons any teams on 218 or less will struggle in this league.

Chievo and Levante really don’t seem to have enough to survive, Galatasaray maybe if they can conjure a goal or 2 at the right end as the defence is fine. Stoke and Hoffenheim will have to keep and eye out as better teams than them were relegated last season.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr
Arsenal	92.0	92.3	91.3	94.5	89.0	91.8	229.95	1
RCD Espanyol	92.0	90.8	90.3	90.5	88.0	90.3	225.23	2
Standard Liège	87.0	88.5	90.5	91.0	86.0	88.6	223.11	3
Manchester City	88.0	89.8	89.5	90.0	87.0	88.9	222.90	4
AC Milan	92.0	89.8	89.8	89.0	86.0	89.3	222.81	5
Valencia CF	87.0	88.8	89.0	92.0	86.0	88.6	222.76	6
Borussia Mönchengladbach	89.0	90.0	89.5	89.0	87.0	88.9	222.57	7
Bayer Leverkusen	91.0	89.0	90.0	89.5	85.0	88.9	222.50	8
Everton	89.0	88.8	90.3	89.5	85.0	88.5	222.26	9
FC Schalke 04	90.0	89.0	91.0	87.5	87.0	88.9	222.12	10
Sassuolo	87.0	89.5	89.0	89.5	86.0	88.2	221.74	11
Southampton	87.0	89.5	89.5	89.0	85.0	88.0	221.69	12
Hamburger SV	89.0	88.5	89.3	90.5	83.0	88.1	221.67	13
FC Basel	89.0	88.3	88.8	89.5	87.0	88.5	220.90	14
Sevilla	89.0	88.5	89.5	88.5	84.0	87.9	220.69	15
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	88.0	87.8	89.3	88.0	86.0	87.8	219.68	16
Stoke City	88.0	87.8	88.5	88.5	86.0	87.8	219.41	18
Chievo Verona	87.0	87.3	87.8	88.5	86.0	87.3	218.29	18
Galatasaray SK	88.0	88.0	87.5	87.5	87.0	87.6	218.28	19
Levante UD	87.0	87.3	87.5	87.0	83.0	86.4	216.75	20

Season 13 Division 1 Stats and Facts

Sun, 14 Jun 2020 18:17:57 +0100

Barcelona favourites , gap widens to 2nd place Chelsea. Bayern should challenge Juve for 3rd.

Barcelona have a slightly stronger team than at the start of last year and Chelsea while also a better side have let the gap grow a little.

Bayern have a midfield and keeper to match Barcelona , although they can adjust their team to strengthen midfield if needed. Juve and Genoa have the most attacking threat outside the top 2 which should help both teams.

An overall at Real sees them behind the top 4 but the leader of the chasing pack. Anderlecht and Genoa are close enough in quality to challenge and shouldn’t lose too many outside those 4 strong top teams.

Dortmund and Bayern have great depth so if Chelsea or Barcelona have injury problems and it could happen, either has the potential to finish much higher than expected.

Last year relegation was set in stone . Less than 222.26 and you were relegated.

Napoli sadly are as good as relegated unless they can bring in a few players quickly.

They are the only team under this cut off.

D1 is now so strong a team of 90’s still leaves you in the potential relegation zone.

Hellas have a weak keeper by D1 standards and despite a potent attack ,will be in trouble. Ajax possibly a weak back 4 could lead them the wrong way despite a potent offence. Liverpool have less depth but more strength than Roma. If Liverpool fail to get off to a good start the season could soon run away from them. Roma conversly could fight back from a poor start. It will be a tough season for anyone in the lower half of the stats with a 0.2 average increase across the board for all teams.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Barcelona	93.0	93.5	94.0	97.5	82.0	92.0	234.38	1	3	-2	-0.33
Chelsea	95.0	93.5	93.5	96.5	85.0	92.7	233.93	2	5	-3	-0.40
Juventus	95.0	92.5	93.0	93.5	86.0	92.0	230.90	3	8	-5	-0.50
Bayern München	95.0	91.5	93.8	92.5	89.0	92.4	230.41	4	1	3	4.00
Real Madrid	91.0	91.8	92.8	91.5	88.0	91.0	228.56	5	2	3	2.00
RSC Anderlecht	91.0	91.0	91.3	92.5	87.0	90.6	227.29	6	7	-1	0.00
Genoa CFC	91.0	91.0	90.3	93.5	86.0	90.4	227.02	7	12	-5	-0.33
FC Porto	93.0	91.5	90.5	91.5	87.0	90.7	226.68	8	4	4	1.25
Borussia Dortmund	90.0	90.8	90.8	92.0	88.0	90.3	226.36	9	10	-1	0.00
Hertha BSC	90.0	89.5	91.5	92.5	87.0	90.1	226.17	10	17	-7	-0.35
SL Benfica	93.0	90.5	89.8	92.5	88.0	90.8	226.05	11	16	-5	-0.25
Tottenham Hotspur	91.0	90.3	91.3	91.5	87.0	90.2	226.04	12	19	-7	-0.32
Paris Saint-Germain	93.0	91.0	90.5	91.0	87.0	90.5	225.95	13	20	-7	-0.30
Atlético Madrid	91.0	90.8	90.8	91.0	87.0	90.1	225.71	14	18	-4	-0.17
SC Internacional	89.0	89.8	91.0	92.0	84.0	89.2	225.16	16	15	1	0.13
AS Roma	89.0	90.5	90.5	90.5	86.0	89.3	224.63	17	9	8	1.00
Liverpool	90.0	90.3	90.0	91.0	85.0	89.3	224.35	18	6	12	2.17
Hellas Verona	88.0	89.3	89.5	93.0	86.0	89.2	224.33	19	14	5	0.43
Ajax	89.0	89.5	91.0	90.0	87.0	89.3	224.02	15	13	2	0.23
SSC Napoli	90.0	88.5	88.3	89.5	83.0	87.9	220.34	20	11	9	0.91

Season 12 Division 5 stats and facts review.

Sat, 30 May 2020 14:00:11 +0100

Cruziero 4th place in league but first in stats.

Again another league with a playoff team leading the way +13 VA and +3.50 PVA a class above the following pack.

Promoted Fiorentina and champs Atalanta though will probably settle for a +2 PVA and a place in D4 next season.

Lyon on +6 VA get into the playoffs , with a noteable increase in performance by AZ who come 11th with +7 VA.

Flamengo can still salvage the season despite have the lowest PVA 7th place not really good enough for them , Zagreb and Augsburg on -9 VA , Sunderland and Independiente -5 VA are the biggest underperformers over the course of the season.

	GK	DEF	MID	Att	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Cruzeiro	88.0	86.5	87.0	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.23	17	4	13	3.50
ACF Fiorentina	87.0	87.5	87.8	87.5	86.0	87.2	217.84	8	3	5	2.00
Atalanta BC	88.0	88.5	88.5	89.5	85.0	87.9	220.54	2	1	1	2.00
Santos FC	86.0	87.5	88.8	90.5	86.0	87.8	220.47	3	2	1	1.00
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	86.8	87.3	87.0	85.0	86.6	216.39	15	9	6	0.78
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	87.0	86.5	87.0	83.0	86.1	215.75	18	11	7	0.73
West Ham United	86.0	87.0	87.8	87.5	85.0	86.7	217.20	10	8	2	0.38
AS Saint-Etienne	87.0	86.0	87.0	87.0	86.0	86.6	215.71	19	15	4	0.33
Feyenoord	87.0	87.0	87.0	88.0	85.0	86.8	217.04	13	12	1	0.17
Beşiktaş JK	88.0	87.5	87.8	87.5	86.0	87.4	217.96	6	6	0	0.17
São Paulo FC	87.0	87.3	87.0	88.0	83.0	86.5	217.00	14	13	1	0.15
Girondins Bordeaux	86.0	86.0	86.0	87.5	84.0	85.9	214.88	20	20	0	0.05
Werder Bremen	88.0	89.3	88.8	87.5	86.0	87.9	220.16	4	5	-1	0.00
VfB Stuttgart	87.0	87.5	87.3	86.0	85.0	86.6	216.34	16	19	-3	-0.11
Torino	88.0	86.8	87.8	88.5	85.0	87.2	217.89	7	10	-3	-0.20
Independiente	86.0	87.0	88.0	87.0	85.0	86.6	217.07	12	17	-5	-0.24
Sunderland	88.0	87.0	87.0	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.16	11	16	-5	-0.25
FC Augsburg	86.0	87.5	87.5	88.0	82.0	86.2	217.36	9	18	-9	-0.44
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	87.0	89.0	88.5	87.0	88.1	219.45	5	14	-9	-0.57
Flamengo	89.0	88.8	88.8	88.5	86.0	88.2	220.57	1	7	-6	-0.71

Season 12 Division 4 Stats and facts review.

Sat, 30 May 2020 13:49:06 +0100

Marseille +12 PVA well deserved championship and stats title for the French team.

In any other season 2nd place Lokomotiv Moscow with a higher VA of 15 and a PVA of 8 would have run away with the stats title. The first place makes all the difference , even though they were separated by just 5 goals in the end.

Playoff team Sporting come 3rd in the stats with a VA of +9., Malaga also did a great job with VA of 9 in 9th spot , as did +4 VA Kiev who were 3rd. Some other big VA scores came from Atheltic club on +7 , WBA +6 , Celtic +4.

Where there are winners , there must be those who suffered.

FK Partizan 1st to almost worst -17VA , -0.89 PVA , relegated, Boca should have been 3rd -12VA, Dynamo Moscow in 8th pay the price with -6 VA. -9VA for relegated Palace, -8 for 12th place Kazan, -7 for Swansea, -6 for relegated Twente.

Only Olympiacos were relegated who were predicted to be, D4 is this where managerial skill matters the most, perhaps. Will be interesting to see how the various new managers improve these underperforming sides and if the existing managers can get the most from them.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Olympique Marseille	87.0	87.5	88.0	87.0	85.0	86.9	217.59	12	1	11	12.00
Lokomotiv Moskva	87.0	87.5	87.3	87.0	86.0	87.0	217.11	17	2	15	8.00
Sporting CP	88.0	87.5	87.8	87.0	85.0	87.1	217.51	14	5	9	2.00
Dynamo Kyiv	89.0	88.3	87.0	88.0	86.0	87.7	218.40	7	3	4	1.67
Málaga CF	88.0	87.8	87.0	87.0	85.0	87.0	217.11	18	9	9	1.11
Leicester City	87.0	88.0	88.0	88.0	84.0	87.0	218.52	6	4	2	0.75
Celtic	87.0	87.0	87.5	88.5	85.0	87.0	217.77	11	7	4	0.71
West Bromwich Albion	91.0	86.3	88.3	87.5	82.0	87.0	217.24	16	10	6	0.70
Athletic Club	87.0	86.5	87.8	86.5	86.0	86.8	216.39	20	13	7	0.62
Sampdoria	87.0	87.5	87.8	87.5	82.0	86.4	217.36	15	11	4	0.45
River Plate	87.0	87.8	87.3	89.5	86.0	87.5	218.94	5	6	-1	0.00
Olympiacos	88.0	86.5	87.3	87.5	85.0	86.9	216.64	19	20	-1	0.00
PSV	87.0	87.5	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.96	10	14	-4	-0.21
FC Twente	86.0	87.0	88.0	87.5	86.0	86.9	217.52	13	19	-6	-0.26
Swansea City	88.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.5	218.28	9	16	-7	-0.38
Crystal Palace	89.0	87.8	88.3	87.0	86.0	87.6	218.35	8	17	-9	-0.47
Rubin Kazan	89.0	88.3	88.3	88.5	86.0	88.0	219.73	4	12	-8	-0.58
Dynamo Moskva	88.0	88.3	89.3	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.73	2	8	-6	-0.63
Boca Juniors	89.0	87.8	89.3	88.5	85.0	87.9	220.01	3	15	-12	-0.73
FK Partizan	89.0	88.8	89.0	89.0	85.0	88.2	220.93	1	18	-17	-0.89

Season 12 Division 3 Stats and facts review

Fri, 29 May 2020 12:25:12 +0100

Sunshine in Seville as promoted Andalucians head the PVA stats.

Not taking away from Everton's dominant performance but other teams really shone this year.

Udinese who were possible relegation material at the start of the season get into the playoffs on +9 VA , Villa 2nd in the PVA stats finish 4th also play off bound. Lille make up the trio of play offf over performers this year with Brugge just missing out in the end.

Relegation went to form in this division also, the 2nd division where all 4 predicted relegated teams were. The biggest underpeformance has to be CSKA who had -10 Va and -0.6 PVA, just above the playoff underpeformers Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Newcastle and Man Utd should have been playoff teams but slipped down in the end with -6 and -4 VA.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Sevilla	89.0	88.5	90.0	88.5	83.0	87.8	220.97	6	2	4	2.50
Aston Villa	89.0	88.8	88.0	88.5	83.0	87.5	219.57	11	4	7	2.00
Udinese Calcio	88.0	87.0	88.8	88.0	87.0	87.8	218.80	15	6	9	1.67
Everton	89.0	89.0	90.5	89.5	85.0	88.6	222.66	1	1	0	1.00
Lille OSC	88.0	87.8	88.8	89.0	86.0	87.9	219.93	10	7	3	0.57
Club Brugge KV	87.0	88.0	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.5	219.16	12	9	3	0.44
Southampton	89.0	89.0	89.3	90.0	87.0	88.9	222.22	3	3	0	0.33
Internazionale	88.0	87.8	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.6	218.68	16	14	2	0.21
SS Lazio	89.0	87.0	88.8	88.5	86.0	87.9	219.13	13	12	1	0.17
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	88.0	88.0	87.0	85.0	87.2	218.11	18	17	1	0.12
Fenerbahçe SK	87.0	86.5	87.5	89.0	85.0	87.0	217.69	19	18	1	0.11
Spartak Moskva	85.0	87.3	87.8	88.0	83.0	86.2	217.36	20	19	1	0.11
Zenit Saint Petersburg	89.0	87.5	88.0	88.5	87.0	88.0	219.05	14	16	-2	-0.06
Celta Vigo	87.0	88.5	88.5	89.0	86.0	87.8	220.21	9	11	-2	-0.09
Villarreal CF	88.0	88.0	87.0	88.0	87.0	87.6	218.20	17	20	-3	-0.10
1. FC Köln	87.0	88.0	89.0	89.0	86.0	87.8	220.21	8	10	-2	-0.10
Manchester United	90.0	89.3	89.8	88.5	83.0	88.1	221.49	4	8	-4	-0.38
Newcastle United	88.0	88.5	88.0	90.0	87.0	88.3	220.70	7	13	-6	-0.38
Borussia Mönchengladbach	89.0	90.5	88.8	89.0	87.0	88.9	222.37	2	5	-3	-0.40
CSKA Moskva	90.0	88.8	89.5	88.5	86.0	88.6	221.25	5	15	-10	-0.60

Season 12 Division 2 Stats and facts review.

Fri, 29 May 2020 12:07:06 +0100

Two great Italian performances, but who tops the stats.

Napoli and Galatasaray both have +6 VA , but Napoli finishing 2nd have an amazing +3.5 PVA , putting them just higher than top place Hellas . Promoted Ajax come 3rd in the PVA chart , Man City just missed out on the playoffs but should be proud of +4 VA and 4th place in the PVA table.

Liege and Chievo on +3 VA both escaped relegation with creditable performances.

At the wrong end Monaco have the worse VA on -9 , but Arsenal who should have topped the league came 4th. Despite play off hopes it isn’t where they should be , so they get the worse PVA this year. Espanyol also in the playoffs should have been promoted and that is why they are so low. Leverkeseun had a notable low VA but suffered less than Wolsburg with -4 VA leading to relegation.

Shaktar really had no chance all along but Montpellier should have avoided the drop.

Having said this with only 3 pts separating 17th to 11th it was all up for grabs until the last whistle sounded.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
SSC Napoli	90.0	89.0	90.0	89.5	85.0	88.7	222.38	8	2	6	3.50
Hellas Verona	93.0	89.8	89.0	93.0	86.0	90.2	224.93	2	1	1	2.00
Ajax	89.0	89.8	90.5	90.0	87.0	89.3	223.82	4	3	1	0.67
Manchester City	89.0	88.3	88.8	90.0	86.0	88.4	221.10	12	8	4	0.63
Hertha BSC	90.0	89.0	89.5	90.0	87.0	89.1	222.54	7	5	2	0.60
Galatasaray SK	88.0	88.0	87.5	87.0	86.0	87.3	217.83	18	12	6	0.58
Chievo Verona	87.0	87.3	88.0	88.5	86.0	87.4	218.49	17	14	3	0.29
Standard Liège	87.0	87.3	88.0	87.5	85.0	87.0	217.72	19	16	3	0.25
Sassuolo	87.0	89.0	89.0	89.5	86.0	88.1	221.34	11	10	1	0.20
Stoke City	89.0	88.0	88.5	89.5	85.0	88.0	220.26	14	13	1	0.15
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	88.0	87.8	88.5	88.5	85.0	87.6	219.29	16	15	1	0.13
AC Milan	91.0	89.0	89.0	90.0	86.0	89.0	222.14	9	9	0	0.11
Shakhtar Donetsk	87.0	86.3	87.5	87.5	85.0	86.7	216.52	20	20	0	0.05
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.5	88.0	89.5	86.0	87.8	219.46	15	18	-3	-0.11
Levante UD	89.0	89.8	89.3	90.5	87.0	89.1	223.15	5	7	-2	-0.14
VfL Wolfsburg	88.0	88.8	88.5	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.53	13	17	-4	-0.18
RCD Espanyol	92.0	90.8	90.3	90.0	88.0	90.2	224.90	3	6	-3	-0.33
Bayer Leverkusen	91.0	89.0	90.5	89.5	87.0	89.4	223.14	6	11	-5	-0.36
AS Monaco	89.0	88.8	89.3	90.0	86.0	88.6	221.90	10	19	-9	-0.42
Arsenal	92.0	90.3	91.3	93.5	89.0	91.2	227.70	1	4	-3	-0.50

Season 12 Division 1 Stats and facts review

Fri, 29 May 2020 11:40:24 +0100

Spring time in Paris, the PVA champs.

Some great performances in D1 this year. SC International had the highest VA this year at +7 with Anderlecht on +5.

However PSG with a VA of +4 and a PVA of +1.67 get the top spot this year.

Dortmund had the worst VA and PVA , with Porto close behind. Madrid and Juventis had poor years as shown by their VA. Other than that things went close to form this year. All the relegation teams were correctly predicted. Basel were perhaps the most unlucky to face the drop.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN	93.0	91.5	91.8	91.5	88.0	91.2	227.80	7	3	4	1.67
RSC Anderlecht	91.0	89.8	91.0	94.5	82.0	89.7	226.79	10	5	5	1.20
SC Internacional	87.0	89.8	91.0	92.5	83.0	88.7	225.13	15	8	7	1.00
Barcelona	93.0	92.5	93.8	97.5	85.0	92.4	233.74	1	1	0	1.00
Chelsea	94.0	92.8	93.8	96.5	86.0	92.6	233.53	2	2	0	0.50
Atlético Madrid	91.0	90.8	90.8	92.5	88.0	90.6	226.81	9	7	2	0.43
SL Benfica	88.0	90.0	90.8	92.0	86.0	89.4	225.28	14	12	2	0.25
Bayern München	95.0	91.8	93.8	92.5	89.0	92.4	230.61	4	4	0	0.25
Tottenham Hotspur	90.0	91.5	91.0	91.0	87.0	90.1	226.39	11	10	1	0.20
FC Basel	87.0	89.3	89.8	89.5	87.0	88.5	222.26	18	17	1	0.12
Liverpool	92.0	90.8	89.0	89.5	86.0	89.5	223.34	16	16	0	0.06
FC Schalke 04	90.0	89.0	90.3	88.5	87.0	89.0	222.17	19	19	0	0.05
Hamburger SV	89.0	89.8	88.8	89.5	85.0	88.4	221.86	20	20	0	0.05
Valencia CF	87.0	89.5	89.0	90.5	86.0	88.4	222.39	17	18	-1	0.00
AS Roma	91.0	90.3	90.8	91.5	88.0	90.3	225.76	12	13	-1	0.00
Genoa CFC	89.0	90.5	90.5	92.0	86.0	89.6	225.60	13	15	-2	-0.07
Real Madrid	90.0	91.8	92.0	91.5	88.0	90.7	227.84	6	9	-3	-0.22
Juventus	95.0	93.5	93.5	93.5	90.0	93.1	232.58	3	6	-3	-0.33
FC Porto	93.0	89.8	92.5	92.5	87.0	91.0	227.53	8	14	-6	-0.36
Borussia Dortmund	90.0	92.5	90.8	93.0	86.0	90.5	228.17	5	11	-6	-0.45

Season 12 Division 5 stats and facts.

Sat, 08 Feb 2020 13:55:48 +0100

Five alive for the title in the division where strange things happen.

The usual mix of quirky thematic teams, those being rebuilt from the ground up makes D5 an interesting prediction and the division where the reality doesn't match the stats.

Having said that there are 5 clear favourites.

Flamengo and Atalanta are the most balanced teams. I think the extra fire power Atalanta have should push them to the title or at least certain promotion. Santos are too unbalanced and will leak at the back more than they will score at the front. Bremens problem is up top , sort that and they have a powerful team in this company. Zagreb the opposite powerful up top weak at the back.

Then a massive 2 point drop to Besitkas . Down to 217.1 could survive D4 so even as far as Sao Paulo could push for playoffs. Probably depth is less important in D5 which could lead me to the conclusion that Torino who are well match except for that should do well.

At the wrong end Bordeaux are much the worse team in all 5 divisions with St Etienne and AZ being the only other teams lower than 216. Both are midtable and off to a fine start. Cruziero must get a honorable mention as well over performing at this point.

	GK	DEF	MID	Att	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr
Flamengo	89.0	88.8	88.8	88.5	86.0	88.2	220.57	1
Atalanta BC	88.0	88.5	88.5	89.5	85.0	87.9	220.54	2
Santos FC	86.0	87.5	88.8	90.5	86.0	87.8	220.47	3
Werder Bremen	88.0	89.3	88.8	87.5	86.0	87.9	220.16	4
Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	87.0	89.0	88.5	87.0	88.1	219.45	5
Beşiktaş JK	88.0	87.5	87.8	87.5	86.0	87.4	217.96	6
Torino	88.0	86.8	87.8	88.5	85.0	87.2	217.89	7
ACF Fiorentina	87.0	87.5	87.8	87.5	86.0	87.2	217.84	8
FC Augsburg	86.0	87.5	87.5	88.0	82.0	86.2	217.36	9
West Ham United	86.0	87.0	87.8	87.5	85.0	86.7	217.20	10
Sunderland	88.0	87.0	87.0	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.16	11
Independiente	86.0	87.0	88.0	87.0	85.0	86.6	217.07	12
Feyenoord	87.0	87.0	87.0	88.0	85.0	86.8	217.04	13
São Paulo FC	87.0	87.3	87.0	88.0	83.0	86.5	217.00	14
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	86.8	87.3	87.0	85.0	86.6	216.39	15
VfB Stuttgart	87.0	87.5	87.3	86.0	85.0	86.6	216.34	16
Cruzeiro	88.0	86.5	87.0	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.23	17
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	87.0	86.5	87.0	83.0	86.1	215.75	18
AS Saint-Etienne	87.0	86.0	87.0	87.0	86.0	86.6	215.71	19
Girondins Bordeaux	86.0	86.0	86.0	87.5	84.0	85.9	214.88	20

Season 12 Division 4 Stats and Facts

Sun, 02 Feb 2020 15:31:36 +0100

Another close division. Four favourites but many contenders.

It would be fair to say that Division 4 in pretty much like Division 3 but a little bit worse. Small ability gap, no teams miles above the rest.

Partizan are the most balanced team all round, but may be lack depth for the final push. Dynamo Moscow, have more depth , a better midfield , a worse keeper but that shouldn't hold them back in D4. Boca sacrifice a weak defence for a strong keeper with Kazan looking stronger alround but lacking depth also.

River Plate and Leicester could be contenders if they can improve their keepers. Low 218 is enough to survive D3 so any team down to Swansea should do well enough in the division above.

Last year 217 or less put you in real risk of relegation, so Sampdoria or lower will need to watch out and get off to a good start.

Sampdoria have very little depth , a couple of injuries will see them down and out in no time. Lokomotiv are off to a great start and have enough depth to survive. Malaga and Athletic club are weak up front or will need to sacrifice midfield to be stronger.

Oympiacos and more so West Brom hope their good keepers ,literally keep them safe.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr
FK Partizan	89.0	88.8	89.0	89.0	85.0	88.2	220.93	1
Dynamo Moskva	88.0	88.3	89.3	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.73	2
Boca Juniors	89.0	87.8	89.3	88.5	85.0	87.9	220.01	3
Rubin Kazan	89.0	88.3	88.3	88.5	86.0	88.0	219.73	4
River Plate	87.0	87.8	87.3	89.5	86.0	87.5	218.94	5
Leicester City	87.0	88.0	88.0	88.0	84.0	87.0	218.52	6
Dynamo Kyiv	89.0	88.3	87.0	88.0	86.0	87.7	218.40	7
Crystal Palace	89.0	87.8	88.3	87.0	86.0	87.6	218.35	8
Swansea City	88.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.5	218.28	9
PSV	87.0	87.5	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.96	10
Celtic	87.0	87.0	87.5	88.5	85.0	87.0	217.77	11
Olympique Marseille	87.0	87.5	88.0	87.0	85.0	86.9	217.59	12
FC Twente	86.0	87.0	88.0	87.5	86.0	86.9	217.52	13
Sporting CP	88.0	87.5	87.8	87.0	85.0	87.1	217.51	14
Sampdoria	87.0	87.5	87.8	87.5	82.0	86.4	217.36	15
West Bromwich Albion	91.0	86.3	88.3	87.5	82.0	87.0	217.24	16
Lokomotiv Moskva	87.0	87.5	87.3	87.0	86.0	87.0	217.11	17
Málaga CF	88.0	87.8	87.0	87.0	85.0	87.0	217.11	18
Olympiacos	88.0	86.5	87.3	87.5	85.0	86.9	216.64	19
Athletic Club	87.0	86.5	87.8	86.5	86.0	86.8	216.39	20

Season 12 Division 3 stats and facts

Sat, 01 Feb 2020 15:27:08 +0100

The first amongst equals, who will top the table in the middle of the league.

No team can be without weakness in division 3. As said before ,a real mix of teams on the way up , those on the way down. Teams who have been promoted beyond their ability and those who should never had been relegated, the melting pot of T100.

Everton top the rankings, they sacrifice depth for strength, so should in theory need to race away at the start of the season, which indeed they have. Moenchengladbach have more depth but a weaker midfield, again doing well initially. The other 222 team Southamptonplay a strong front line, hoping to over load the weaker keepers, however there may be 9 + teams who can work around that so it will be interesting to watch them during the season. There are many D3 teams who would cut it well in D2 so even as far down as Zenit there is potential for promotion , Sevilla and Aston Villa seem to be taking the biggest risk for promotion with incredible lack of depth but good strength.

218 or less puts you in the relegation zone, so Udinese or below are at risk . More realistically Fenerbache and Spartak look doomed. Villareal have depth but no strength so could well join them, ironically a cup run shouldn’t be out of the question.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr
Everton	89.0	89.0	90.5	89.5	85.0	88.6	222.66	1
Borussia Mönchengladbach	89.0	90.5	88.8	89.0	87.0	88.9	222.37	2
Southampton	89.0	89.0	89.3	90.0	87.0	88.9	222.22	3
Manchester United	90.0	89.3	89.8	88.5	83.0	88.1	221.49	4
CSKA Moskva	90.0	88.8	89.5	88.5	86.0	88.6	221.25	5
Sevilla	89.0	88.5	90.0	88.5	83.0	87.8	220.97	6
Newcastle United	88.0	88.5	88.0	90.0	87.0	88.3	220.70	7
1. FC Köln	87.0	88.0	89.0	89.0	86.0	87.8	220.21	8
Celta Vigo	87.0	88.5	88.5	89.0	86.0	87.8	220.21	9
Lille OSC	88.0	87.8	88.8	89.0	86.0	87.9	219.93	10
Aston Villa	89.0	88.8	88.0	88.5	83.0	87.5	219.57	11
Club Brugge KV	87.0	88.0	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.5	219.16	12
SS Lazio	89.0	87.0	88.8	88.5	86.0	87.9	219.13	13
Zenit Saint Petersburg	89.0	87.5	88.0	88.5	87.0	88.0	219.05	14
Udinese Calcio	88.0	87.0	88.8	88.0	87.0	87.8	218.80	15
Internazionale	88.0	87.8	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.6	218.68	16
Villarreal CF	88.0	88.0	87.0	88.0	87.0	87.6	218.20	17
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	88.0	88.0	87.0	85.0	87.2	218.11	18
Fenerbahçe SK	87.0	86.5	87.5	89.0	85.0	87.0	217.69	19
Spartak Moskva	85.0	87.3	87.8	88.0	83.0	86.2	217.36	20

Season 12 Division 2 Stats and Facts

Sun, 26 Jan 2020 16:13:50 +0100

Arsenal the firm favourites for the title, who amongst the chasing pack can challenge them.

Arsenal are 3 whole points better than any other team in division 2, anything other than the title wrapped up with 3 or 4 games to go shouldn't be enough for them.

Other than in goal they lead in every category. Hellas and Espanyol are split by a hairs' breadth. Epsanyol are more balanced, with better depth but Hellas are better in goal and up top. Ajax are a point further back mainly reliant on midfield they too are good in all positions. Any team down to 223 points could survive D1, so Levante and Leverkusen should feature at least in the playoff spots, in theory Leverkeusen are better equiped, since more possession and a decent keeper should be the key to success.

Monaco , Milan and Hertha will also be tough opposition for any team with a weaker keeper or defensive line.

The cut off for relegation last season was around 219 so this leaves a bunch of teams in trouble. Shaktar and Liege look certain to drop. Galatasaray may have a good enough back line and keeper to play out some draws and could well finish higher than Chievo who are much more vunerable where it counts.

Montpellier and Hoffenheim will hope to get off to a good early start if any of the teams below them over perform as they could fade as the season goes on.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr
Arsenal	92.0	90.3	91.3	93.5	89.0	91.2	227.70	1
Hellas Verona	93.0	89.8	89.0	93.0	86.0	90.2	224.93	2
RCD Espanyol	92.0	90.8	90.3	90.0	88.0	90.2	224.90	3
Ajax	89.0	89.8	90.5	90.0	87.0	89.3	223.82	4
Levante UD	89.0	89.8	89.3	90.5	87.0	89.1	223.15	5
Bayer Leverkusen	91.0	89.0	90.5	89.5	87.0	89.4	223.14	6
Hertha BSC	90.0	89.0	89.5	90.0	87.0	89.1	222.54	7
SSC Napoli	90.0	89.0	90.0	89.5	85.0	88.7	222.38	8
AC Milan	91.0	89.0	89.0	90.0	86.0	89.0	222.14	9
AS Monaco	89.0	88.8	89.3	90.0	86.0	88.6	221.90	10
Sassuolo	87.0	89.0	89.0	89.5	86.0	88.1	221.34	11
Manchester City	89.0	88.3	88.8	90.0	86.0	88.4	221.10	12
VfL Wolfsburg	88.0	88.8	88.5	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.53	13
Stoke City	89.0	88.0	88.5	89.5	85.0	88.0	220.26	14
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.5	88.0	89.5	86.0	87.8	219.46	15
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	88.0	87.8	88.5	88.5	85.0	87.6	219.29	16
Chievo Verona	87.0	87.3	88.0	88.5	86.0	87.4	218.49	17
Galatasaray SK	88.0	88.0	87.5	87.0	86.0	87.3	217.83	18
Standard Liège	87.0	87.3	88.0	87.5	85.0	87.0	217.72	19
Shakhtar Donetsk	87.0	86.3	87.5	87.5	85.0	86.7	216.52	20

Season 12 Division 1 Stats and Facts

Sat, 25 Jan 2020 13:58:52 +0100

Division 1 sewn up before the season is started or is there hope for others.

Usual disclaimer. This is stats based only, manager skill is not taken into account, nor is squad building ability or future transfers.

I make a jusdgement on the most likely position of most players and if needed a mild adjustment if a club has lots of players in one position who can't play or their lowest player from the top18 is well below that of the average squad.

ETOT which is the ranking uses the relative importance of each factor based on reasearch from the first few seasons.

It is no surprise that Barcelona lead the rankings but they are not dominant in all categories. They may be best in attack but can now be challenged at the back or in midfield ( depending on their formation ). Now obviously they can switch it around and go for more possession and less attack but so can you!.

Chelsea are a near match to Barcelona and superior in some areas with more depth, 2 or 3 injuries to Barcelona could turn their season on its head.

Juventus have the best defensive set up and should finish 3rd. Bayern still have a decent midfield and strong keeper , so should look to match Barcelona in those areas.

Dortmund should challenge this year, with PSG and Real Madrid having the depth to see them through injuries.

I would expect Anderlechts strong attack to see them to a higher finishing position and Roma to put up a good cup run.

If you are in the lowest four in the rankings in D1 you have a 75% chance of relegation. 223.8 was the cut off for relegation which means we a have a very obvious set of contenders well below the quality of the rest of the division.

Hamburg , Basel and Valencia look set for certain relegation Schalke have depth and could escape, Liverpool have quality but no depth and must escape injury.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr
Barcelona	93.0	92.5	93.8	97.5	85.0	92.4	233.74	1
Chelsea	94.0	92.8	93.8	96.5	86.0	92.6	233.53	2
Juventus	95.0	93.5	93.5	93.5	90.0	93.1	232.58	3
Bayern München	95.0	91.8	93.8	92.5	89.0	92.4	230.61	4
Borussia Dortmund	90.0	92.5	90.8	93.0	86.0	90.5	228.17	5
Real Madrid	90.0	91.8	92.0	91.5	88.0	90.7	227.84	6
PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN	93.0	91.5	91.8	91.5	88.0	91.2	227.80	7
FC Porto	93.0	89.8	92.5	92.5	87.0	91.0	227.53	8
Atlético Madrid	91.0	90.8	90.8	92.5	88.0	90.6	226.81	9
RSC Anderlecht	91.0	89.8	91.0	94.5	82.0	89.7	226.79	10
Tottenham Hotspur	90.0	91.5	91.0	91.0	87.0	90.1	226.39	11
AS Roma	91.0	90.3	90.8	91.5	88.0	90.3	225.76	12
Genoa CFC	89.0	90.5	90.5	92.0	86.0	89.6	225.60	13
SL Benfica	88.0	90.0	90.8	92.0	86.0	89.4	225.28	14
SC Internacional	87.0	89.8	91.0	92.5	83.0	88.7	225.13	15
Liverpool	92.0	90.8	89.0	89.5	86.0	89.5	223.34	16
Valencia CF	87.0	89.5	89.0	90.5	86.0	88.4	222.39	17
FC Basel	87.0	89.3	89.8	89.5	87.0	88.5	222.26	18
FC Schalke 04	90.0	89.0	90.3	88.5	87.0	89.0	222.17	19
Hamburger SV	89.0	89.8	88.8	89.5	85.0	88.4	221.86	20

Division 5 Stats and facts review Season 11

Sun, 05 Jan 2020 16:16:06 +0100

A Sporting success story in Division 5.

+9 Va and +10PVA possible mid table team to champions. A great season. Swansea and Augsburg in 3rd and 4th have equal PVA . AZ finished 9+ places above their expected 18th spot. With Atlanta and Cruziero also over preforming.

Another dismal season for Fiorentina saw them with -9 VA and - 0.73 PVA, Zagreb also had - 9VA, with Bremen also having to do much more next season.

	GK	DEF	MID	Att	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Sporting CP	87.0	87.8	88.0	87.0	85.0	87.0	217.79	10	1	9	10.00
Swansea City	88.0	87.5	87.5	87.5	86.0	87.3	217.76	11	3	8	3.00
FC Augsburg	86.0	86.5	88.0	87.5	82.0	86.0	216.64	15	4	11	3.00
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	87.0	86.3	87.0	82.0	85.9	215.43	18	9	9	1.11
Atalanta BC	88.0	87.3	87.3	87.0	85.0	86.9	216.91	14	8	6	0.88
Cruzeiro	88.0	86.0	86.0	86.0	85.0	86.2	214.26	20	15	5	0.40
West Ham United	86.0	87.3	88.0	88.5	85.0	87.0	218.25	7	6	1	0.33
West Bromwich Albion	91.0	88.8	87.5	88.5	82.0	87.6	219.29	5	5	0	0.20
Feyenoord	87.0	86.8	87.5	88.0	85.0	86.9	217.24	13	12	1	0.17
Girondins Bordeaux	86.0	86.3	86.0	87.5	83.0	85.8	214.96	19	18	1	0.11
Dynamo Moskva	88.0	88.0	89.3	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.53	1	2	-1	0.00
Beşiktaş JK	88.0	86.3	86.8	87.0	86.0	86.8	215.83	17	19	-2	-0.05
AS Saint-Etienne	87.0	86.0	87.3	87.5	85.0	86.6	216.12	16	20	-4	-0.15
Torino	88.0	87.0	87.0	88.5	85.0	87.1	217.49	12	16	-4	-0.19
Santos FC	88.0	87.0	88.5	90.0	86.0	87.9	219.78	4	7	-3	-0.29
Independiente	87.0	87.0	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.16	9	14	-5	-0.29
Werder Bremen	86.0	87.8	88.3	88.5	85.0	87.1	218.85	6	13	-7	-0.46
Dinamo Zagreb	87.0	89.0	88.3	85.5	85.0	87.0	218.02	8	17	-9	-0.47
Flamengo	89.0	88.3	87.8	90.0	86.0	88.2	220.30	3	10	-7	-0.60
ACF Fiorentina	87.0	87.5	88.5	90.5	86.0	87.9	220.39	2	11	-9	-0.73

Division 4 Stat and Facts review season 11

Sun, 05 Jan 2020 16:07:52 +0100

The top 4 , finish the top 4 in the stats. Most unusual!

Aston Villa have the highest PVA , finishing 2 places above expect in top spot. Despite a slightly better VA of +4 , Udinese come second, with +6 VA team Lille in 3rd.

Brugge and Twente both have +8 VA and Twente were so unlucky not to get in the playoffs. Also a great performance by Lokomotive on +7 VA.

Boca had a terrible year 9 places lower then expected the worse VA and PVA, with Dynamo Kiev not far behind. Underperformance cost Sau Paulo, Stuttgart and Lyon dear as they slipped down a division. So well done Athletic club, Lokomotive and Malaga for avoiding the drop as would have occured in the 3 higher divisions.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Aston Villa	89.0	88.8	88.8	87.5	85.0	87.8	219.76	3	1	2	3.00
Udinese Calcio	88.0	87.8	88.0	89.0	86.0	87.8	219.33	6	2	4	2.50
Lille OSC	87.0	87.3	89.0	88.0	86.0	87.5	218.96	9	3	6	2.33
Club Brugge KV	88.0	87.5	89.0	87.5	86.0	87.6	217.36	12	4	8	2.25
FC Twente	87.0	87.3	87.0	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.71	16	8	8	1.13
Lokomotiv Moskva	87.0	87.0	87.0	87.0	86.0	86.8	216.51	18	11	7	0.73
Olympique Marseille	87.0	87.8	88.0	87.5	86.0	87.3	218.24	11	7	4	0.71
Athletic Club	86.0	85.3	85.8	85.5	83.0	85.1	212.66	20	16	4	0.31
Málaga CF	88.0	87.3	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.9	216.71	17	15	2	0.20
Sunderland	88.0	86.0	87.3	88.0	84.0	86.7	216.44	19	18	1	0.11
Crystal Palace	89.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.7	218.40	10	12	-2	-0.08
Rubin Kazan	89.0	88.3	87.8	88.5	86.0	87.9	219.33	7	9	-2	-0.11
River Plate	88.0	88.5	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.8	219.68	4	6	-2	-0.17
VfB Stuttgart	87.0	87.5	87.5	87.5	86.0	87.1	217.64	13	17	-4	-0.18
Olympique Lyonnais	86.0	87.3	87.3	87.5	86.0	86.8	217.12	15	20	-5	-0.20
São Paulo FC	87.0	87.3	87.5	87.5	85.0	86.9	217.32	14	19	-5	-0.21
Celtic	88.0	87.5	88.5	88.5	86.0	87.7	219.21	8	14	-6	-0.36
FK Partizan	87.0	88.8	89.5	88.5	85.0	87.8	220.77	2	5	-3	-0.40
Dynamo Kyiv	89.0	88.8	87.5	88.5	86.0	88.0	219.53	5	13	-8	-0.54
Boca Juniors	89.0	88.8	89.0	90.5	86.0	88.7	222.03	1	10	-9	-0.80

Division 3 Stats and facts review season 11

Sat, 04 Jan 2020 15:17:11 +0100

+11 Value added for Chievo and Galatasaray but who gets the top spot.

Two great peformances but Chievo in 2nd just take that PVA place ahead of Galatasary , with actual top team Levante in 3rd.

Fenerbache did so well to come 9th and must get a special mention at +9 VA

Sevilla seriously underwhelmed at -13 VA and - 0.86 PVA, relegated Leicester has the next worse VA and CSKA round off the lowest 3. 4 of the lower 5 were correctly predicted in this division.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Chievo Verona	87.0	87.0	88.0	88.5	85.0	87.1	218.17	13	2	11	6.00
Galatasaray SK	88.0	87.5	88.0	87.5	86.0	87.4	218.16	14	3	11	4.00
Levante UD	89.0	89.0	89.0	90.0	86.0	88.6	221.90	2	1	1	2.00
Fenerbahçe SK	87.0	87.5	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.96	18	9	9	1.11
Southampton	89.0	88.3	89.3	89.0	87.0	88.5	220.37	11	8	3	0.50
Stoke City	89.0	88.5	88.5	88.5	87.0	88.3	220.25	9	7	2	0.43
Spartak Moskva	88.0	87.5	87.5	87.5	85.0	87.1	217.64	20	16	4	0.31
SS Lazio	89.0	86.5	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.6	218.00	17	15	2	0.20
Celta Vigo	88.0	89.0	89.5	89.0	85.0	88.1	220.01	5	5	0	0.20
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	88.0	87.8	88.5	85.0	87.5	218.89	12	11	1	0.18
Newcastle United	88.0	88.5	88.7	89.0	87.0	88.2	220.57	6	6	0	0.17
Olympiacos	88.0	86.8	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.3	217.68	19	19	0	0.05
Borussia Mönchengladbach	89.0	90.3	88.5	89.0	86.0	88.6	221.85	3	4	-1	0.00
PSV	87.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.1	218.04	16	18	-2	-0.06
Villarreal CF	89.0	88.3	87.3	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.00	10	12	-2	-0.08
Sampdoria	88.0	87.8	87.8	87.5	86.0	87.4	218.16	15	20	-5	-0.20
1. FC Köln	87.0	88.0	89.3	89.0	86.0	87.9	220.41	7	13	-6	-0.38
Leicester City	89.0	89.0	88.5	88.0	87.0	88.3	220.32	8	17	-9	-0.47
CSKA Moskva	89.0	89.0	89.5	88.5	86.0	88.4	221.33	4	10	-6	-0.50
Sevilla	89.0	89.3	90.3	89.0	86.0	88.7	222.45	1	14	-13	-0.86

Division 2 Stats and Facts review season 11

Sat, 04 Jan 2020 15:09:53 +0100

Hamburg pip Shaktar and Basel in the final reckoning.

A last gasp promotion and 1 extra place just gave Hamburg the PVA title over playoff team Shaktar.

Shaktar have the best VA at +15 over +13 Hamburg, but no one can argue that the 3rd place promotion spot is worth so much more to any team. Basel also go up as and have a great PVA , as do playoff team Standard Liege. SC Internacional could do no more they could in finishing top as the highest ranked team.

Espanyol who should have been 2nd, came 8th and out of the playoff have the lowest PVA, with relegated Everton the lowest VA. Again 3/4 relegated teams picked correctly in this division. Leverkeusen also underpeformed finishing 7 places lower than expected.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Hamburger SV	89.0	88.0	89.0	88.0	84.0	87.6	219.56	16	3	13	4.67
Shakhtar Donetsk	88.0	87.0	88.5	89.0	85.0	87.5	219.01	19	4	15	4.00
FC Basel	89.0	89.0	89.8	89.0	87.0	88.8	221.97	8	2	6	3.50
Standard Liège	87.0	87.8	89.0	88.5	85.0	87.5	219.57	15	7	8	1.29
SC Internacional	89.0	89.5	90.8	92.0	85.0	89.3	224.88	1	1	0	1.00
Valencia CF	90.0	89.3	89.8	89.5	86.0	88.9	222.50	6	5	1	0.40
Hertha BSC	90.0	87.0	89.5	90.0	87.0	88.7	220.94	11	9	2	0.33
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.5	88.3	90.0	86.0	88.0	219.98	14	13	1	0.15
Zenit Saint Petersburg	90.0	87.8	87.3	88.0	87.0	88.0	218.44	20	20	0	0.05
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	88.0	87.5	89.5	89.0	85.0	87.8	220.21	13	14	-1	0.00
Manchester United	89.0	87.8	88.5	88.5	85.0	87.8	219.41	17	18	-1	0.00
Internazionale	88.0	88.3	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.08	18	19	-1	0.00
VfL Wolfsburg	88.0	89.3	89.0	89.5	87.0	88.6	221.78	9	11	-2	-0.09
SSC Napoli	90.0	89.3	89.3	91.5	86.0	89.2	223.40	4	6	-2	-0.17
Manchester City	89.0	88.5	88.5	90.0	83.0	87.8	220.74	12	16	-4	-0.19
AS Monaco	89.0	89.3	89.8	88.5	86.0	88.5	221.73	10	15	-5	-0.27
Sassuolo	87.0	89.0	88.8	90.0	97.0	90.4	222.78	5	12	-7	-0.50
Everton	89.0	89.0	90.8	88.5	86.0	88.7	222.33	7	17	-10	-0.53
Bayer Leverkusen	91.0	89.3	90.0	91.0	85.0	89.3	223.67	3	10	-7	-0.60
RCD Espanyol	91.0	90.3	90.8	89.5	88.0	89.9	224.46	2	8	-6	-0.63

Division 1 Season 11 stats and fact review

Sat, 04 Jan 2020 15:00:23 +0100

Atletico Madrid top the stats in D1 with Barcelona a close second.

First the disclaimer. I sort the stats by PVA , positional value added. Basically how much you overachieve +1 divided by your position, so finishing higher counts for more.

VA is simply how much higher than your position you actually finish , unadjusted.

Atletico, Liverpool and Schalke all have a VA of +5 but Atletico finishing place of 5th earns them a PVA of 1.2 , just above Barcelona who could do no more than +1 being the highest ranked team. Bayern and PSG also notably over performed with Genoa and Benfica getting high VA as well. 4 out of the top 5 and 7 out of the top 9 were predicted correctly.

Dortmund and Juventus have the lowest PVA, Juve should have been top 3 but came 6th, Dortmund should not have been in the lower half. 3 of the relegated teams were picked correctly with only Benfica escaping.

Real and Arsenal had notable negative VA as did relegated Arsenal.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Atlético Madrid	90.0	90.5	91.3	93.0	88.0	90.6	227.21	10	5	5	1.20
Barcelona	95.0	92.8	94.8	97.5	84.0	92.8	234.86	1	1	0	1.00
Liverpool	91.0	91.0	91.0	91.5	86.0	90.1	226.32	12	7	5	0.86
Bayern München	94.0	92.5	92.5	92.5	88.0	91.9	229.97	4	3	1	0.67
PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN	93.0	91.8	92.5	92.5	89.0	91.8	229.37	5	4	1	0.50
Genoa CFC	89.0	89.8	90.8	92.5	86.0	89.6	225.53	14	10	4	0.50
Chelsea	93.0	93.5	93.5	97.5	87.0	92.9	234.58	2	2	0	0.50
FC Porto	93.0	90.3	91.0	90.5	87.0	90.4	225.43	15	11	4	0.45
FC Schalke 04	90.0	88.8	89.8	90.0	87.0	89.1	222.54	20	15	5	0.40
SL Benfica	88.0	90.0	89.8	91.5	86.0	89.1	224.16	16	13	3	0.31
AS Roma	91.0	90.5	91.5	92.5	89.0	90.9	227.33	9	8	1	0.25
Ajax	89.0	89.8	90.0	90.5	87.0	89.3	223.75	18	18	0	0.06
AC Milan	90.0	88.8	89.5	91.5	86.0	89.2	223.20	19	19	0	0.05
Tottenham Hotspur	92.0	90.5	92.3	92.0	86.0	90.6	227.36	8	9	-1	0.00
Hellas Verona	94.0	89.8	89.5	90.5	86.0	90.0	223.83	17	20	-3	-0.10
RSC Anderlecht	90.0	90.0	90.5	92.5	85.0	89.6	225.53	13	16	-3	-0.13
Arsenal	91.0	89.8	91.8	92.5	87.0	90.4	226.69	11	17	-6	-0.29
Real Madrid	95.0	91.5	92.3	90.5	86.0	91.1	227.55	7	12	-5	-0.33
Juventus	90.0	93.8	94.0	94.0	90.0	92.4	232.90	3	6	-3	-0.33
Borussia Dortmund	90.0	92.0	91.0	93.0	86.0	90.4	227.97	6	14	-8	-0.50

Season 11 Division 5 Stats and facts.

Sat, 07 Sep 2019 14:58:21 +0100

Last but not least the mad world of Division 5. No firm favourite any of the top 16 teams could survive D4.

Last season the stats were all over the place in this division and I expect no difference.

At the top we have the 220 rated teams. Dynamo Moscow seem a well balanced squad, good depth, I would make them clear favourites. Fiorentina in 2nd spot have a weaker keeper so I'm less sure of how they will do. 3rd place Flamengo have a good defence and attack but will suffer with midfield possesion.

Santos and West Brom are more or less one man bands with a strong position but weakness elsewhere. Cruziero and Bordeaux are much the weakest and are a long term project to move forward. There are many easy fixes in this division. I get that you all run your team your way , as do I but why play an 86 keeper when there are 87 free agents. Why have 2 strong keepers when you could trade 1 on perhaps for 3 or 4 better players.. Though as I said , each to his own.

	GK	DEF	MID	Att	Top18	Ave	ETOT
Dynamo Moskva	88.0	88.0	89.3	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.53
ACF Fiorentina	87.0	87.5	88.5	90.5	86.0	87.9	220.39
Flamengo	89.0	88.3	87.8	90.0	86.0	88.2	220.30
Santos FC	88.0	87.0	88.5	90.0	86.0	87.9	219.78
West Bromwich Albion	91.0	88.8	87.5	88.5	82.0	87.6	219.29
Werder Bremen	86.0	87.8	88.3	88.5	85.0	87.1	218.85
West Ham United	86.0	87.3	88.0	88.5	85.0	87.0	218.25
Dinamo Zagreb	87.0	89.0	88.3	85.5	85.0	87.0	218.02
Independiente	87.0	87.0	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.3	217.96
Sporting CP	87.0	87.8	88.0	87.0	85.0	87.0	217.79
Swansea City	88.0	87.5	87.5	87.5	86.0	87.3	217.76
Torino	88.0	87.0	87.0	88.5	85.0	87.1	217.49
Feyenoord	87.0	86.8	87.5	88.0	85.0	86.9	217.24
Atalanta BC	88.0	87.3	87.3	87.0	85.0	86.9	216.91
FC Augsburg	86.0	86.5	88.0	87.5	82.0	86.0	216.64
AS Saint-Etienne	87.0	86.0	87.3	87.5	85.0	86.6	216.12
Beşiktaş JK	88.0	86.3	86.8	87.0	86.0	86.8	215.83
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	87.0	86.3	87.0	82.0	85.9	215.43
Girondins Bordeaux	86.0	86.3	86.0	87.5	83.0	85.8	214.96
Cruzeiro	88.0	86.0	86.0	86.0	85.0	86.2	214.26

Season 11 Division 4 stats and facts.

Sun, 01 Sep 2019 13:59:43 +0100

Boca the firm favourites. Partizan should be second, who else will make it into the top 3.

There are 6 other teams battling it out for 3rd. Boca should be good enough to gain promotion from D3 so anything other than a run away championship won't be good enough. Partizan likewise would be a midtable D3 side. Since 218 is the survival cut off in the division above in reality anyone down to Marseille could push for a play off spot.

That being the case gaining automatic promotion is a key factor for the teams just below Partizan. Villa can claim defensive honours but lack depth, River Plate have a more balanced approach. Kiev are also a defensive team,. Udinese will want their attackers to be on song as that is clearly their strength. Kazan and Celtic are once again more balanced teams.

It shows how tough life can be as +218 could mean promotion but 217 or less is relegation territory.

However there are a number of teams less than that. Athletic club are a project all Spanish team ( I presume ) but will get relegated as things stand. Sunderland can sort things out with a decent ( or even free agent ) defender. Lokomotive have good depth and that could see them clear. Twente likewise , which could leave Malaga in trouble.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT
Boca Juniors	89.0	88.8	89.0	90.5	86.0	88.7	222.03
FK Partizan	87.0	88.8	89.5	88.5	85.0	87.8	220.77
Aston Villa	89.0	88.8	88.8	87.5	85.0	87.8	219.76
River Plate	88.0	88.5	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.8	219.68
Dynamo Kyiv	89.0	88.8	87.5	88.5	86.0	88.0	219.53
Udinese Calcio	88.0	87.8	88.0	89.0	86.0	87.8	219.33
Rubin Kazan	89.0	88.3	87.8	88.5	86.0	87.9	219.33
Celtic	88.0	87.5	88.5	88.5	86.0	87.7	219.21
Lille OSC	87.0	87.3	89.0	88.0	86.0	87.5	218.96
Crystal Palace	89.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.7	218.40
Olympique Marseille	87.0	87.8	88.0	87.5	86.0	87.3	218.24
Club Brugge KV	88.0	87.5	89.0	87.5	86.0	87.6	217.76
VfB Stuttgart	87.0	87.5	87.5	87.5	86.0	87.1	217.64
São Paulo FC	87.0	87.3	87.5	87.5	85.0	86.9	217.32
Olympique Lyonnais	86.0	87.3	87.3	87.5	86.0	86.8	217.12
FC Twente	87.0	87.3	87.0	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.71
Málaga CF	88.0	87.3	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.9	216.71
Lokomotiv Moskva	87.0	87.0	87.0	87.0	86.0	86.8	216.51
Sunderland	88.0	86.0	87.3	88.0	84.0	86.7	216.44
Athletic Club	86.0	85.3	85.8	85.5	83.0	85.1	212.66

Season 11 Division 3 Stats and Facts

Sat, 31 Aug 2019 14:10:17 +0100

Three strong Spanish teams in a fight for promotion? Who else will feature?

Division 3 , the melting pot of Top 100. Teams on the way up, teams on the way down. Teams of golden oldies, with one last chance for the big push, others with developing talent.

Seville seem to be a cut above the other teams with a clear point advantage. Strong all round and a potent midfield, should see them through. Levante should push them close with probably the best attack in the league. Moenchengladbach in 3rd have the best defence in D3. There we have the puzzle of D3 each team will have it's strong point, but will probably be much weaker else where, less so for these 3 .

You probably would want to be on around 220 pts to get promotion, this leave us down to Villareal , in 10th spot who should be up to the task. Cologne could suffer with a weaker keeper, 88 is a must in D3.

The normal cut off for relegation is an ETOT of 218, so PSV or lower could be in serious trouble. PSV and Fenerbache are weakest at the back, Spartak have less depth and will struggle for possession. Olympiacos hope their keeper can save what the defence won’t be able to stop.

Southampton and Newcastle should be able to maintain a good cup run somewhere along the line.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT
Sevilla	89.0	89.3	90.3	89.0	86.0	88.7	222.45
Levante UD	89.0	89.0	89.0	90.0	86.0	88.6	221.90
Borussia Mönchengladbach	89.0	90.3	88.5	89.0	86.0	88.6	221.85
CSKA Moskva	89.0	89.0	89.5	88.5	86.0	88.4	221.33
Celta Vigo	88.0	89.0	89.5	89.0	85.0	88.1	220.73
Newcastle United	88.0	88.5	88.7	89.0	87.0	88.2	220.57
1. FC Köln	87.0	88.0	89.3	89.0	86.0	87.9	220.41
Leicester City	89.0	89.0	88.5	88.0	87.0	88.3	220.32
Stoke City	89.0	88.5	88.5	88.5	87.0	88.3	220.25
Villarreal CF	89.0	88.3	87.3	88.0	86.0	87.7	220.20
Southampton	89.0	88.3	89.3	89.0	87.0	88.5	219.77
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	88.0	87.8	88.5	85.0	87.5	218.89
Chievo Verona	87.0	87.0	88.0	88.5	85.0	87.1	218.17
Galatasaray SK	88.0	87.5	88.0	87.5	86.0	87.4	218.16
Sampdoria	88.0	87.8	87.8	87.5	86.0	87.4	218.16
PSV	87.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.1	218.04
SS Lazio	89.0	86.5	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.6	218.00
Fenerbahçe SK	87.0	87.5	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.96
Olympiacos	88.0	86.8	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.3	217.68
Spartak Moskva	88.0	87.5	87.5	87.5	85.0	87.1	217.64

D2 Season 11 Stats and facts.

Thu, 29 Aug 2019 14:34:39 +0100

Four teams close at the top , 7 or more could be relegated.

SC Internacional are the clear favourites for promotion, great attack, may be too weak in goal for D1 but fine for D2. Espanyol should push them hard and have more depth. Leverkeusen will use their keeper to shield the defence a little in 3rd, with Napoli also going for the keeper , attacker polarised team.

In reality you need 224 to survive D1 so these are the only teams , realistically who should get promotion this year , however with improvement there other other contenders.

Sassuolo who should be in the playoff but have a weak keeper, Valancia need more up front, as do Everton the other playoff contenders.

Last season 220 or less would likely get you relegated , but there are 7 teams on less than that. Zenit have a great keeper but little else to save them, Shaktar lack along the back line and lack depth, they seem to be in most trouble.

Inter should have enough depth and Montpellier a good enough attack to survive.

Look out for Hertha Berlin for a good cup run this year if they can see their way past Dortmund.

D2 seems a little weaker than last season no super teams like Dortmund or PSG and a considerably bigger waggy rear end..

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT
SC Internacional	89.0	89.5	90.8	92.0	85.0	89.3	224.88
RCD Espanyol	91.0	90.3	90.8	89.5	88.0	89.9	224.46
Bayer Leverkusen	91.0	89.3	90.0	91.0	85.0	89.3	223.67
SSC Napoli	90.0	89.3	89.3	91.5	86.0	89.2	223.40
Sassuolo	87.0	89.0	88.8	90.0	97.0	90.4	222.78
Valencia CF	90.0	89.3	89.8	89.5	86.0	88.9	222.50
Everton	89.0	89.0	90.8	88.5	86.0	88.7	222.33
FC Basel	89.0	89.0	89.8	89.0	87.0	88.8	221.97
VfL Wolfsburg	88.0	89.3	89.0	89.5	87.0	88.6	221.78
AS Monaco	89.0	89.3	89.8	88.5	86.0	88.5	221.73
Hertha BSC	90.0	87.0	89.5	90.0	87.0	88.7	220.94
Manchester City	89.0	88.5	88.5	90.0	83.0	87.8	220.74
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	88.0	87.5	89.5	89.0	85.0	87.8	220.21
Montpellier HSC	88.0	87.5	88.3	90.0	86.0	88.0	219.98
Standard Liège	87.0	87.8	89.0	88.5	85.0	87.5	219.57
Hamburger SV	89.0	88.0	89.0	88.0	84.0	87.6	219.56
Manchester United	89.0	87.8	88.5	88.5	85.0	87.8	219.41
Internazionale	88.0	88.3	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.08
Shakhtar Donetsk	88.0	87.0	88.5	89.0	85.0	87.5	219.01
Zenit Saint Petersburg	90.0	87.8	87.3	88.0	87.0	88.0	218.44

Season 11 D1 Stats and Facts

Wed, 28 Aug 2019 12:10:52 +0100

Chelsea draw closer to Barcelona, Juve narrow the gap?

Usual warning , this is all number crunching. Where it wasn't obvious I used common sense to place players where I expect them to play.

It seems that we have an obvious top 3 who are 2 or 3 points above the other teams in almost all categories.

Barcelona dominate except in defense. That should be the area of focus for most teams this year, it is possible to score against them , just how do you stop their attack?

Chelsea have a better defence that Barca, they may be slightly weaker in midfield and goal but can match them upfront. Juve also have a stronger defence and much more depth than Barcelona. A few injuries or suspension could make the difference.

The next 2 teams should be Bayern and PSG. Bayern have a strong and balanced squad with PSG similarly rated but with less strength and more depth.

There is then a raft of teams any of whom could challenge outside the top 3 from Dortmund to Atletico , some for example Real and Dortmund expect to get off to a good start but fade mid season, Roma may be slow burners coming on strong as the season progresses.

Life will be tough for the lower 4 rated teams.

Less than 224 rated , means almost certain relegation , Hellas must hope their keeper , keeps them safe, Milan are good enough up front but will they get much possesion? Ajax are weak at the back , as are Schalke.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT
Barcelona	95.0	92.8	94.8	97.5	84.0	92.8	234.86
Chelsea	93.0	93.5	93.5	97.5	87.0	92.9	234.58
Juventus	90.0	93.8	94.0	94.0	90.0	92.4	232.90
Bayern München	94.0	92.5	92.5	92.5	88.0	91.9	229.97
PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN	93.0	91.8	92.5	92.5	89.0	91.8	229.37
Borussia Dortmund	90.0	92.0	91.0	93.0	86.0	90.4	227.97
Real Madrid	95.0	91.5	92.3	90.5	86.0	91.1	227.55
Tottenham Hotspur	92.0	90.5	92.3	92.0	86.0	90.6	227.36
AS Roma	91.0	90.5	91.5	92.5	89.0	90.9	227.33
Atlético Madrid	90.0	90.5	91.3	93.0	88.0	90.6	227.21
Arsenal	91.0	89.8	91.8	92.5	87.0	90.4	226.69
Liverpool	91.0	91.0	91.0	91.5	86.0	90.1	226.32
RSC Anderlecht	90.0	90.0	90.5	92.5	85.0	89.6	225.53
Genoa CFC	89.0	89.8	90.8	92.5	86.0	89.6	225.53
FC Porto	93.0	90.3	91.0	90.5	87.0	90.4	225.43
SL Benfica	88.0	90.0	89.8	91.5	86.0	89.1	224.16
Hellas Verona	94.0	89.8	89.5	90.5	86.0	90.0	223.83
Ajax	89.0	89.8	90.0	90.5	87.0	89.3	223.75
AC Milan	90.0	88.8	89.5	91.5	86.0	89.2	223.20
FC Schalke 04	90.0	88.8	89.8	90.0	87.0	89.1	222.54

Season 10 D5 Stats and facts review

Mon, 12 Aug 2019 13:57:20 +0100

WOW +16 promoted Twente as champions. Marseille +10 in 2nd !.

Two teams turned around , that's what we like in top 100. Augsburg also +10 , hopefully can make the push next season. Shout out to Cruziero + 5 in 15th, shows guts to battle hard that low down in the league.

Dynamo on -8VA and -0.64 PVA had the worse performance, with Swansea not much better.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
FC Twente	87.0	87.0	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.6	216.39	16	1	15	16.00
Olympique Marseille	87.0	87.0	87.3	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.71	12	2	10	5.50
FC Augsburg	87.0	86.5	87.5	86.5	83.0	86.1	215.83	18	10	8	0.90
Udinese Calcio	86.0	87.8	87.8	89.0	86.0	87.3	218.89	4	3	1	0.67
Cruzeiro	85.0	85.8	85.8	85.0	83.0	84.9	212.61	20	15	5	0.40
West Ham United	89.0	86.5	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.6	218.20	8	8	0	0.13
Feyenoord	86.0	86.8	88.0	86.5	86.0	86.7	216.67	13	13	0	0.08
Beşiktaş JK	88.0	86.3	87.3	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.23	17	17	0	0.06
Girondins Bordeaux	85.0	85.8	86.0	86.5	84.0	85.5	213.91	19	20	-1	0.00
Flamengo	87.0	87.3	88.3	88.5	87.0	87.6	218.81	6	7	-1	0.00
Dinamo Zagreb	87.0	88.3	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.84	5	6	-1	0.00
West Bromwich Albion	91.0	86.0	87.8	87.5	82.0	86.9	216.64	14	16	-2	-0.06
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	87.5	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.1	218.24	7	9	-2	-0.11
Atalanta BC	88.0	87.0	87.0	87.5	86.0	87.1	216.96	11	14	-3	-0.14
Torino	89.0	87.0	87.5	88.0	76.0	85.5	216.60	15	19	-4	-0.16
Santos FC	89.0	86.5	87.5	89.0	85.0	87.4	217.93	9	12	-3	-0.17
Rubin Kazan	88.0	88.5	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.8	219.68	2	4	-2	-0.25
Swansea City	88.0	87.0	87.0	87.5	86.0	87.1	216.96	10	18	-8	-0.39
Independiente	89.0	88.5	88.3	89.0	86.0	88.2	220.25	1	5	-4	-0.60
Dynamo Moskva	88.0	87.8	88.5	88.5	86.0	87.8	219.41	3	11	-8	-0.64

Season 10 D4 Stats and facts review.

Mon, 12 Aug 2019 13:36:06 +0100

Cologne have the higest PVA as champs, but could relegation bound Spartak on +14 get promotion.

Predicted last spot Spartak in the playoffs, against the odd, but also putting together a strong team bringing in a few old timers . Cologne though were outstanding as were 3rd place PVA and real life Dnipro.

A big shout out to +8 Stuttgart and +7 Sao Paulo.

Down the wrong end. Boca who should have topped the table came ,15th on -14VA and -0.87 PVA, predicted 2nd spot Partizan not much better on -9 VA and Villa on -8 VA and Brugge on -7 VA. Not a good performance for the predicted top teams.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
1. FC Köln	87.0	88.3	88.3	88.5	86.0	87.6	219.49	4	1	3	4.00
Spartak Moskva	87.0	87.0	87.8	86.5	84.0	86.5	216.55	20	6	14	2.50
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	88.0	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.6	218.68	8	3	5	2.00
São Paulo FC	88.0	87.5	87.0	89.0	85.0	87.3	218.21	12	5	7	1.60
VfB Stuttgart	89.0	87.3	87.0	88.0	86.0	87.5	217.60	16	8	8	1.13
Stoke City	89.0	88.5	88.8	88.5	86.0	88.2	220.33	3	2	1	1.00
River Plate	88.0	88.0	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.28	6	4	2	0.75
Dynamo Kyiv	87.0	88.8	87.8	86.5	86.0	87.2	218.19	14	10	4	0.50
Crystal Palace	89.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.5	218.48	9	7	2	0.43
Lille OSC	88.0	87.3	89.0	87.0	85.0	87.3	218.31	10	9	1	0.22
Werder Bremen	87.0	87.0	87.8	87.0	86.0	87.0	217.11	19	17	2	0.18
Athletic Club	88.0	87.3	87.8	88.0	87.0	87.6	218.20	13	12	1	0.17
Málaga CF	88.0	87.3	87.3	88.0	85.0	87.1	217.56	17	16	1	0.13
ACF Fiorentina	87.0	86.3	87.3	89.0	86.0	87.1	217.41	18	19	-1	0.00
Sporting CP	87.0	87.8	88.0	87.0	85.0	87.0	217.79	15	20	-5	-0.20
AS Saint-Etienne	88.0	87.5	88.0	87.5	87.0	87.6	218.28	11	18	-7	-0.33
Club Brugge KV	88.0	87.8	88.3	88.0	85.0	87.4	218.76	7	14	-7	-0.43
Aston Villa	89.0	87.8	88.0	89.0	86.0	88.0	219.45	5	13	-8	-0.54
FK Partizan	88.0	88.8	89.0	89.0	87.0	88.4	221.05	2	11	-9	-0.73
Boca Juniors	88.0	89.5	89.5	90.5	86.0	88.7	222.91	1	15	-14	-0.87

D3 Season 10 Stats and facts review

Mon, 12 Aug 2019 13:23:40 +0100

Shaktar the big winners +10VA and +5.5 PVA. Lazio and Hertha in joint 2nd.

A great season for Shaktar promoted from an initial mid table prediction .

Lazio on +9 are playoff finalists, all this somewhat overwhelms Herthas great season as champions from a predicted 2nd. They face 4 VA Montpelier . Galatasary had a +6 VA but were beaten in the playoffs.

At the wrong end, it all went bad for Celtic. Relegated -11 VA , -0.56 PVA. Celta and Levante on -6 VA also had poor seasons, with predicted 3rd spot CSKA missing out on promotion.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Shakhtar Donetsk	88.0	87.0	88.5	88.5	85.0	87.4	218.69	12	2	10	5.50
SS Lazio	89.0	86.8	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.6	218.20	14	5	9	2.00
Hertha BSC	88.0	89.5	89.5	89.5	87.0	88.7	222.38	2	1	1	2.00
Montpellier HSC	89.0	88.3	88.5	87.5	87.0	88.1	219.40	8	4	4	1.25
Galatasaray SK	88.0	87.3	88.0	88.5	85.0	87.4	218.49	13	7	6	1.00
Leicester City	88.0	87.8	87.5	87.5	85.0	87.2	217.84	15	11	4	0.45
Olympiacos	89.0	87.5	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.8	218.80	11	9	2	0.33
Chievo Verona	87.0	86.3	88.3	88.0	85.0	86.9	217.44	19	15	4	0.33
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	87.0	87.3	87.5	86.0	87.2	217.16	20	17	3	0.24
Fenerbahçe SK	87.0	86.8	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.76	17	16	1	0.13
Sevilla	89.0	89.3	89.3	88.5	85.0	88.2	221.21	5	6	-1	0.00
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	87.5	87.3	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.64	18	19	-1	0.00
Sunderland	87.0	87.0	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.76	16	20	-4	-0.15
Sampdoria	88.0	87.8	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.08	10	13	-3	-0.15
PSV	87.0	88.0	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.5	219.16	9	14	-5	-0.29
FC Basel	88.0	89.3	90.0	89.5	87.0	88.8	222.58	1	3	-2	-0.33
Levante UD	88.0	88.3	89.3	89.0	87.0	88.3	220.85	6	12	-6	-0.42
CSKA Moskva	89.0	89.0	89.3	89.3	86.0	88.5	221.61	3	8	-5	-0.50
Celta Vigo	89.0	89.0	89.8	88.5	86.0	88.5	221.53	4	10	-6	-0.50
Celtic	87.0	88.0	89.0	88.5	85.0	87.5	219.77	7	18	-11	-0.56

Division 2 Stats and fact review Season 10

Mon, 12 Aug 2019 13:01:51 +0100

Dortmund have the highest PVA , winning the league unopposed ( eventually) . Hoffenheim have the highest VA on +8.

No surprise to see promoted and playoff teams at the top of the pile. Dortmund eventually finished 10 pts clear.

Hellas were 2nd highest on 1.33 PVA just ahead of play off finalists Schalke.

Hoffenheim on +8 VA defied the relegation odds which is no mean accomplishment these days. Man City on +6 and predicted 2nd lowest Zenit +5 were notable over achievers.

Lower down we see Everton with the lowest PVA , should have been 7th, and Wolfsburg who have the jointed worse VA on -6 just avoiding relegation. Borussia M and Southamton on -6 did get relegated and pay the price for a poor season.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Borussia Dortmund	90.0	91.0	90.8	93.5	88.0	90.7	227.54	2	1	1	2.00
Hellas Verona	93.0	89.0	88.5	92.0	86.0	89.7	223.28	6	3	3	1.33
FC Schalke 04	89.0	88.8	90.0	90.0	87.0	89.0	222.62	8	4	4	1.25
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	88.0	88.5	90.0	88.0	86.0	88.1	220.88	17	9	8	1.00
Manchester City	87.0	89.0	88.8	89.5	86.0	88.1	221.14	16	10	6	0.70
Hamburger SV	89.0	89.0	89.0	89.5	84.0	88.1	221.34	15	11	4	0.45
Zenit Saint Petersburg	91.0	88.0	87.5	87.5	87.0	88.2	218.64	19	14	5	0.43
AS Monaco	89.0	88.8	90.3	90.0	85.0	88.6	222.58	9	8	1	0.25
Valencia CF	90.0	89.3	89.0	89.0	87.0	88.9	221.69	14	13	1	0.15
Villarreal CF	89.0	87.0	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.6	218.00	20	20	0	0.05
PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN	94.0	90.5	92.5	93.0	86.0	91.2	228.45	1	2	-1	0.00
Newcastle United	88.0	88.5	88.5	89.0	86.0	88.0	220.33	18	19	-1	0.00
Sassuolo	88.0	89.3	89.0	90.0	86.0	88.5	221.98	13	15	-2	-0.07
RCD Espanyol	91.0	90.3	90.0	89.5	88.0	89.8	223.86	5	7	-2	-0.14
Bayer Leverkusen	91.0	89.3	90.3	91.5	86.0	89.6	224.32	4	6	-2	-0.17
SC Internacional	89.0	89.8	90.0	93.0	85.0	89.4	225.13	3	5	-2	-0.20
Southampton	89.0	88.0	90.0	90.5	85.0	88.5	222.11	12	18	-6	-0.28
Borussia Mönchengladbach	89.0	89.8	89.8	89.0	86.0	88.7	222.45	11	17	-6	-0.29
VfL Wolfsburg	88.0	90.0	89.3	89.5	87.0	88.8	222.58	10	16	-6	-0.31
Everton	89.0	89.3	90.3	89.5	86.0	88.8	222.78	7	12	-5	-0.33

Season 10 D1 Stats and facts review.

Mon, 12 Aug 2019 12:50:00 +0100

Liverpool and AC Milan the big winners.

Usual warning. This is statistical only, no account is made for managers improving their squads or transfer deals mid season or change of managers.

VA = Value added how high you were above or below the expected position

PVA positional value added , takes into account your expected and final position , the higher you actually finish the better.

Liverpool have the highest PVA this season and VA after a great season finishing 8 places higher than predicted, with fellow over achievers AC Milan in 2nd spot. Champs Barcelona come in third, they did really well. Notable positive VA goes to Benfica , 4 spots above predicted.

Down the other end, Bayern have the lowest PVA and second worse VA , with Man Utd having an appalling season relegated, 12 places lower than they should have been. Arsenal also had - 6 VA.

The predictions were accurate this year in D1 with 6/8 lowest team predicted correctly

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Liverpool	90.0	90.3	90.5	91.0	86.0	89.6	224.87	11	3	8	3.00
AC Milan	89.0	89.0	90.8	92.5	85.0	89.3	224.81	13	6	7	1.33
Barcelona	95.0	93.0	94.8	97.5	85.0	93.1	235.18	1	1	0	1.00
Chelsea	93.0	92.8	94.5	95.5	85.0	92.2	233.24	2	2	0	0.50
SL Benfica	87.0	89.3	91.0	91.0	87.0	89.1	224.23	15	11	4	0.45
Atlético Madrid	90.0	89.5	90.3	92.0	87.0	89.8	224.84	12	10	2	0.30
Juventus	93.0	92.8	93.8	93.0	90.0	92.5	231.61	4	4	0	0.25
AS Roma	92.0	90.0	91.8	91.0	87.0	90.4	226.03	9	8	1	0.25
Ajax	89.0	89.8	90.5	90.5	87.0	89.4	224.15	16	14	2	0.21
Real Madrid	94.0	92.5	92.8	91.5	86.0	91.4	229.28	5	5	0	0.20
Genoa CFC	89.0	89.0	89.5	92.5	85.0	89.0	223.81	18	16	2	0.19
Internazionale	88.0	88.3	88.5	89.5	86.0	88.1	220.46	19	18	1	0.11
Standard Liège	93.0	89.5	87.5	87.5	86.0	88.7	219.96	20	19	1	0.11
SSC Napoli	90.0	90.0	90.5	90.0	87.0	89.5	224.14	17	17	0	0.06
Tottenham Hotspur	87.0	92.5	92.5	92.0	86.0	90.0	228.56	6	7	-1	0.00
RSC Anderlecht	89.0	90.3	90.8	90.0	86.0	89.2	224.30	14	15	-1	0.00
FC Porto	92.0	90.5	90.8	91.0	87.0	90.3	225.63	10	12	-2	-0.08
Arsenal	90.0	91.3	91.5	92.5	89.0	90.9	227.81	7	13	-6	-0.38
Manchester United	89.0	90.5	91.8	92.3	87.0	90.1	226.88	8	20	-12	-0.55
Bayern München	92.0	93.0	93.8	94.0	88.0	92.2	232.10	3	9	-6	-0.56

D5 Season 10 Stats and facts

Sun, 14 Apr 2019 10:30:30 +0100

Golden oldies, one man team, youth 11 , the choice is yours in D5.

There are some wierd and wonderfull sights in D5 . 91 rated keepers , 90 rated attackers in otherwise much weaker teams.

Independiente have the most balanced team andshouls gain promotion, alongwith Kazan and Dynamo Moscow, not happening at the moment though.

Then we have the cluster of 218 + teams. Udinese won’t go up with a keepr that weak, Dinamo Zagreb Flamengo and AZ have a realistic chance, although Dinamo lack depth for the 2nd part of the season.

West Ham and Santos are keeper dependent and that isn’t working at the moment.

There is no relegation. So we look at the lowest 2 teams, which should be by a country mile Cruziero and Bordeaux both with poor keepers, which is unforgivable considering there are 87 free agents ! but each to there own.

Well done on Twente for such a good start.Could Flamengo or perhaps Besitkas be good cup prospects?

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT
Independiente	89.0	88.5	88.3	89.0	86.0	88.2	220.25
Rubin Kazan	88.0	88.5	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.8	219.68
Dynamo Moskva	88.0	87.8	88.5	88.5	86.0	87.8	219.41
Udinese Calcio	86.0	87.8	87.8	89.0	86.0	87.3	218.89
Dinamo Zagreb	87.0	88.3	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.84
Flamengo	87.0	87.3	88.3	88.5	87.0	87.6	218.81
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	87.5	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.1	218.24
West Ham United	89.0	86.5	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.6	218.20
Santos FC	89.0	86.5	87.5	89.0	85.0	87.4	217.93
Swansea City	88.0	87.0	87.0	87.5	86.0	87.1	216.96
Atalanta BC	88.0	87.0	87.0	87.5	86.0	87.1	216.96
Olympique Marseille	87.0	87.0	87.3	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.71
Feyenoord	86.0	86.8	88.0	86.5	86.0	86.7	216.67
West Bromwich Albion	91.0	86.0	87.8	87.5	82.0	86.9	216.64
Torino	89.0	87.0	87.5	88.0	76.0	85.5	216.60
FC Twente	87.0	87.0	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.6	216.39
Beşiktaş JK	88.0	86.3	87.3	87.0	86.0	86.9	216.23
FC Augsburg	87.0	86.5	87.5	86.5	83.0	86.1	215.83
Girondins Bordeaux	85.0	85.8	86.0	86.5	84.0	85.5	213.91
Cruzeiro	85.0	85.8	85.8	85.0	83.0	84.9	212.61

D4 Season 10 stats and facts

Sat, 13 Apr 2019 14:25:43 +0100

A tight division with any 1 of 14 possible promotion candidates.

Boca and Partizan should be firm favourites for automatic promotions. Both would do well 1 or 2 divisions higher up. Boca have a potent attack but the all round approach of Partizan is serving well at the moment.

After that we are looking at any team as far down as Dynamo Kiev as possibles for the 3rd place or a playoff spot.

Stoke would be favourites for the auto spot in 3rd place . Koln need to sort out their keeper, if they could they would surely overall Stoke into 3rd.

Villa and St Etienne are interesting prospects Villa play the attack and gk strength approach while Sg Etienne have great strength in depth.

Spartak look like relegation favourites, Fiorentina , Sporting , Bremen all have their problems and have not started well. while Malaga initially are doing better.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT
Boca Juniors	88.0	89.5	89.5	90.5	86.0	88.7	222.91
FK Partizan	88.0	88.8	89.0	89.0	87.0	88.4	221.05
Stoke City	89.0	88.5	88.8	88.5	86.0	88.2	220.33
1. FC Köln	87.0	88.3	88.3	88.5	86.0	87.6	219.49
Aston Villa	89.0	87.8	88.0	89.0	86.0	88.0	219.45
River Plate	88.0	88.0	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.28
Club Brugge KV	88.0	87.8	88.3	88.0	85.0	87.4	218.76
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	88.0	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.6	218.68
Crystal Palace	89.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.5	218.48
Lille OSC	88.0	87.3	89.0	87.0	85.0	87.3	218.31
AS Saint-Etienne	88.0	87.5	88.0	87.5	87.0	87.6	218.28
São Paulo FC	88.0	87.5	87.0	89.0	85.0	87.3	218.21
Athletic Club	88.0	87.3	87.8	88.0	87.0	87.6	218.20
Dynamo Kyiv	87.0	88.8	87.8	86.5	86.0	87.2	218.19
Sporting CP	87.0	87.8	88.0	87.0	85.0	87.0	217.79
VfB Stuttgart	89.0	87.3	87.0	88.0	86.0	87.5	217.60
Málaga CF	88.0	87.3	87.3	88.0	85.0	87.1	217.56
ACF Fiorentina	87.0	86.3	87.3	89.0	86.0	87.1	217.41
Werder Bremen	87.0	87.0	87.8	87.0	86.0	87.0	217.11
Spartak Moskva	87.0	87.0	87.8	86.5	84.0	86.5	216.55

D3 Season 10 Stats and facts

Fri, 12 Apr 2019 14:37:11 +0100

A close fought contest in the middle division .

Basel lead the way but who else will follow?

The Swiss team , despite a slight weakness in the sticks are the only team really much better than the rest according to the stats.

You need 221 pts to survive D2 and last season went more or less to plan in D3 with 222pts for promotion. This suggests Hertha and Basel as clear favourites with any one of 9 other teams as far down as Sampdoria who could pinch the other place, but will they survive if they go up or should they rebuid? Celtic and PSV perhaps can be counted out as they have a weak keeper but both have got off to a good start. Also most teams have good depth which explains why D3 may follow the stats once again.

Less than 218 should get you relegated but again their are more teams than places. Fenerbache, Chievo and Sunderland have a double weakness at the back perhaps making them easy targets for better teams to risk an attacking game.

Monpellier and Levante could be good cup teams this year.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr
FC Basel	88.0	89.3	90.0	89.5	87.0	88.8	222.58	1
Hertha BSC	88.0	89.5	89.5	89.5	87.0	88.7	222.38	2
CSKA Moskva	89.0	89.0	89.3	89.3	86.0	88.5	221.61	3
Celta Vigo	89.0	89.0	89.8	88.5	86.0	88.5	221.53	4
Sevilla	89.0	89.3	89.3	88.5	85.0	88.2	221.21	5
Levante UD	88.0	88.3	89.3	89.0	87.0	88.3	220.85	6
Celtic	87.0	88.0	89.0	88.5	85.0	87.5	219.77	7
Montpellier HSC	89.0	88.3	88.5	87.5	87.0	88.1	219.40	8
PSV	87.0	88.0	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.5	219.16	9
Sampdoria	88.0	87.8	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.7	219.08	10
Olympiacos	89.0	87.5	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.8	218.80	11
Shakhtar Donetsk	88.0	87.0	88.5	88.5	85.0	87.4	218.69	12
Galatasaray SK	88.0	87.3	88.0	88.5	85.0	87.4	218.49	13
SS Lazio	89.0	86.8	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.6	218.20	14
Leicester City	88.0	87.8	87.5	87.5	85.0	87.2	217.84	15
Sunderland	87.0	87.0	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.76	16
Fenerbahçe SK	87.0	86.8	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.76	17
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	87.5	87.3	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.64	18
Chievo Verona	87.0	86.3	88.3	88.0	85.0	86.9	217.44	19
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	87.0	87.3	87.5	86.0	87.2	217.16	20

Season 10 D2 Stats and Facts

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 14:49:44 +0100

Four firm favourites for promotion? or an outside bet?

PSG have assembled a squad to match AC Milan from last season.

That worked well enough then , although the quality of the opposition was not so high. Last season the 3rd best team had 224 pts , this season it is 225.

However other than in defence and possibly in strength in depth PSG are the dominant team and should get promoted, along with Dortmund who can field a 90+ team.

Internacional should look for promotion also with a strong attack but a weaker back line than the top 2.

You need 224 + to survive D1 , so Leverkeusen may make it up on the 2nd attempt. Espanyol will be reliant on their keeper and likewise Hellas for a playoff bid.

Maybe a cup run from Schalke or Wolfsburg will be the best for the two German teams.

Relegation is always a threat in D2, last season 220pts was the danger zone and it is unlikely to be different this season. Villareal and Newcastle seem in grave danger to me.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr
PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN	94.0	90.5	92.5	93.0	86.0	91.2	228.45	1
Borussia Dortmund	90.0	91.0	90.8	93.5	88.0	90.7	227.54	2
SC Internacional	89.0	89.8	90.0	93.0	85.0	89.4	225.13	3
Bayer Leverkusen	91.0	89.3	90.3	91.5	86.0	89.6	224.32	4
RCD Espanyol	91.0	90.3	90.0	89.5	88.0	89.8	223.86	5
Hellas Verona	93.0	89.0	88.5	92.0	86.0	89.7	223.28	6
Everton	89.0	89.3	90.3	89.5	86.0	88.8	222.78	7
FC Schalke 04	89.0	88.8	90.0	90.0	87.0	89.0	222.62	8
AS Monaco	89.0	88.8	90.3	90.0	85.0	88.6	222.58	9
VfL Wolfsburg	88.0	90.0	89.3	89.5	87.0	88.8	222.58	10
Borussia Mönchengladbach	89.0	89.8	89.8	89.0	86.0	88.7	222.45	11
Southampton	89.0	88.0	90.0	90.5	85.0	88.5	222.11	12
Sassuolo	88.0	89.3	89.0	90.0	86.0	88.5	221.98	13
Valencia CF	90.0	89.3	89.0	89.0	87.0	88.9	221.69	14
Hamburger SV	89.0	89.0	89.0	89.5	84.0	88.1	221.34	15
Manchester City	87.0	89.0	88.8	89.5	86.0	88.1	221.14	16
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	88.0	88.5	90.0	88.0	86.0	88.1	220.88	17
Newcastle United	88.0	88.5	88.5	89.0	86.0	88.0	220.33	18
Zenit Saint Petersburg	91.0	88.0	87.5	87.5	87.0	88.2	218.64	19
Villarreal CF	89.0	87.0	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.6	218.00	20

Season 10 Division 1 Stats and Facts.

Wed, 10 Apr 2019 16:24:50 +0100

Season 10 Division 1 Stats and Facts.

Barcelona and Chelsea lead the way, trouble in store for the Italian teams?

Firstly the usual warning, this is a purely statistical analysis and makes no account for manager skill and transfer accuteness.

Barcelona head the pack , again 3 points clear of Chelsea. Bayern and Juve are the other teams in the + 230 club, they have added strength in depth and should pull up in the 2nd part of the season. High placed Tottenham have a weak keeper and little strength in depth which could prove a problem long term, with Arsenal having the opposite problem , a good average all round team

Last season no team lower than 223 pts survived , this spells trouble for Inter and Standard.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr
Barcelona	95.0	93.0	94.8	97.5	85.0	93.1	235.18	1
Chelsea	93.0	92.8	94.5	95.5	85.0	92.2	233.24	2
Bayern München	92.0	93.0	93.8	94.0	88.0	92.2	232.10	3
Juventus	93.0	92.8	93.8	93.0	90.0	92.5	231.61	4
Real Madrid	94.0	92.5	92.8	91.5	86.0	91.4	229.28	5
Tottenham Hotspur	87.0	92.5	92.5	92.0	86.0	90.0	228.56	6
Arsenal	90.0	91.3	91.5	92.5	89.0	90.9	227.81	7
Manchester United	89.0	90.5	91.8	92.3	87.0	90.1	226.88	8
AS Roma	92.0	90.0	91.8	91.0	87.0	90.4	226.03	9
FC Porto	92.0	90.5	90.8	91.0	87.0	90.3	225.63	10
Liverpool	90.0	90.3	90.5	91.0	86.0	89.6	224.87	11
Atlético Madrid	90.0	89.5	90.3	92.0	87.0	89.8	224.84	12
AC Milan	89.0	89.0	90.8	92.5	85.0	89.3	224.81	13
RSC Anderlecht	89.0	90.3	90.8	90.0	86.0	89.2	224.30	14
SL Benfica	87.0	89.3	91.0	91.0	87.0	89.1	224.23	15
Ajax	89.0	89.8	90.5	90.5	87.0	89.4	224.15	16
SSC Napoli	90.0	90.0	90.5	90.0	87.0	89.5	224.14	17
Genoa CFC	89.0	89.0	89.5	92.5	85.0	89.0	223.81	18
Internazionale	88.0	88.3	88.5	89.5	86.0	88.1	220.46	19
Standard Liège	93.0	89.5	87.5	87.5	86.0	88.7	219.96	20

Division 5 stats and facts review

Sun, 17 Mar 2019 17:08:05 +0100

Promoted Malagahave the highest PVA with 1st spot River Plate just behind them. Highest VA goes to playoff West Ham. A notable +6 to Stuttgart.

West Brom and Independiente come last and 2nd to last in the stats when they should have been 1st and 2nd. Swansea and Udinese also underperformed.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Málaga CF	88.0	87.3	87.5	88.0	82.0	86.6	217.40	10	2	8	4.50
River Plate	88.0	88.0	88.3	87.5	84.0	87.2	218.52	4	1	3	4.00
West Ham United	89.0	85.5	87.8	87.0	85.0	86.9	216.03	17	4	13	3.50
Lille OSC	87.0	87.3	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.36	7	3	4	1.67
Stuttgart	89.0	87.0	87.0	88.0	85.0	87.2	217.28	12	6	6	1.17
Dynamo Moskva	88.0	87.0	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.3	217.68	9	7	2	0.43
Dinamo Zagreb	88.0	87.8	86.5	87.0	85.0	86.9	216.71	14	11	3	0.36
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	85.5	86.3	86.5	84.0	85.9	214.15	19	15	4	0.33
Feyenoord	86.0	87.0	87.3	87.0	85.0	86.5	216.47	16	13	3	0.31
Augsburg	87.0	87.0	87.5	87.5	82.0	86.2	216.76	13	12	1	0.17
Cruzeiro	87.0	86.3	86.5	86.0	82.0	85.6	214.38	18	18	0	0.06
Girondins Bordeaux	85.0	84.8	86.3	87.0	83.0	85.2	213.51	20	20	0	0.05
Beşiktaş JK	88.0	86.5	87.5	87.0	86.0	87.0	216.63	15	16	-1	0.00
Rubin Kazan	87.0	88.0	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.56	3	5	-2	-0.20
Flamengo	87.0	87.5	88.5	87.5	86.0	87.3	218.44	6	9	-3	-0.22
FC Twente	87.0	87.3	87.5	87.5	85.0	86.9	217.32	11	19	-8	-0.37
Udinese Calcio	87.0	87.3	87.8	89.0	85.0	87.2	218.49	5	10	-5	-0.40
Swansea City	88.0	87.5	87.5	88.0	85.0	87.2	217.96	8	17	-9	-0.47
Independiente	90.0	88.8	88.5	89.5	86.0	88.6	221.10	1	8	-7	-0.75
West Bromwich Albion	90.0	88.5	89.0	86.5	80.0	86.8	218.63	2	14	-12	-0.79

Division 4 stats and facts

Sun, 17 Mar 2019 17:01:25 +0100

Chievo and Montpellier had amazing seasons +17 +15 VA respectively , pipping leaders Celta to the head of the PVA chart . Bremen also had +11 in this topsy turvy league.

Boca who should have taken the title were well below par on -13 VA and relegated Santos on -11, Villa still in playoffs should have come 2nd so fall well down the rankings.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Chievo Verona	87.0	86.3	88.3	87.5	85.0	86.8	217.12	19	2	17	9.00
Montpellier HSC	88.0	86.3	87.8	86.0	85.0	86.6	215.86	20	5	15	3.20
CELTA VIGO	90.0	89.3	88.0	88.0	86.0	88.3	220.12	3	1	2	3.00
Bremen	88.0	87.3	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.4	217.88	15	4	11	3.00
Olympiacos	89.0	87.8	87.5	89.0	85.0	87.7	218.93	8	3	5	2.00
AS Saint-Etienne	87.0	86.3	87.3	89.5	86.0	87.2	217.74	16	11	5	0.55
Athletic Club	87.0	88.0	87.5	87.0	85.0	86.9	217.59	18	13	5	0.46
Crystal Palace	89.0	87.0	87.5	89.0	85.0	87.5	218.33	12	9	3	0.44
Cologne	87.0	87.3	88.0	89.0	86.0	87.5	218.81	9	8	1	0.25
Torino	89.0	87.0	87.3	88.0	86.0	87.5	217.60	17	18	-1	0.00
Club Brugge KV	88.0	87.0	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.5	218.28	13	16	-3	-0.13
Dynamo Kyiv	87.0	89.0	88.3	87.0	86.0	87.5	219.11	7	10	-3	-0.20
Olympique Marseille	88.0	87.3	87.5	88.5	86.0	87.5	218.21	14	19	-5	-0.21
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.5	218.48	10	15	-5	-0.27
FK Partizan	87.0	88.3	88.5	88.5	87.0	87.9	219.81	4	7	-3	-0.29
Atalanta BC	88.0	87.3	87.8	88.5	86.0	87.5	218.41	11	20	-9	-0.40
Stoke City	88.0	88.3	88.0	88.5	85.0	87.6	219.29	5	12	-7	-0.50
Aston Villa	89.0	88.3	87.8	90.0	85.0	88.0	220.18	2	6	-4	-0.50
Santos FC	89.0	87.3	88.3	89.0	86.0	87.9	219.25	6	17	-11	-0.59
Boca Juniors	88.0	88.5	88.5	89.5	86.0	88.1	220.66	1	14	-13	-0.86

Division 3 stats and facts review

Sun, 17 Mar 2019 16:43:21 +0100

Three teams have +8 VA PSV in 5th , Lyon who defied the releagtion fears and likewise Lokomotive but it is PSV who have the best PVA

Sporting hit rock bottom in both categories. Levante and Sunderland have a low PVA and VA.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
PSV	89.0	87.5	88.0	88.0	87.0	87.9	218.72	13	5	8	1.80
RCD Espanyol	91.0	89.0	89.8	89.0	87.0	89.2	222.21	3	2	1	1.00
AS Monaco	90.0	89.5	90.0	90.0	86.0	89.1	223.22	1	1	0	1.00
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	82.0	86.5	217.88	18	10	8	0.90
Lokomotiv Moskva	89.0	87.5	87.5	87.5	85.0	87.3	217.76	19	11	8	0.82
SS Lazio	89.0	88.0	88.3	87.5	86.0	87.8	218.88	11	9	2	0.33
FC Basel	88.0	88.5	89.0	90.0	87.0	88.5	221.50	4	4	0	0.25
Spartak Moskva	87.0	87.5	87.8	87.0	83.0	86.5	217.15	20	17	3	0.24
Fenerbahçe SK	88.0	87.0	87.5	89.0	85.0	87.3	218.21	15	14	1	0.14
Celtic	85.0	88.0	88.8	89.0	85.0	87.2	219.65	8	8	0	0.13
Leicester City	87.0	88.5	88.0	87.5	86.0	87.4	218.84	12	12	0	0.08
Southampton	89.0	88.5	89.8	89.0	86.0	88.5	221.45	5	6	-1	0.00
Sampdoria	88.0	88.5	88.8	89.0	85.0	87.9	220.41	6	7	-1	0.00
Hamburg	89.0	89.5	89.5	90.0	86.0	88.8	222.70	2	3	-1	0.00
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	87.3	88.0	87.5	87.0	87.6	218.08	17	18	-1	0.00
Shakhtar Donetsk	89.0	87.3	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.5	218.28	14	16	-2	-0.06
São Paulo FC	88.0	87.8	87.5	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.16	16	19	-3	-0.11
Sunderland	89.0	88.0	87.5	89.0	85.0	87.7	219.13	10	15	-5	-0.27
Levante UD	87.0	88.0	88.5	89.0	86.0	87.7	219.81	7	13	-6	-0.38
Sporting CP	87.0	88.3	88.3	88.5	87.0	87.8	219.61	9	20	-11	-0.50

Division 2 Stats and facts review

Sun, 17 Mar 2019 16:36:28 +0100

Anderlecht the 2nd place team are the best for PVA this season. A great season all round. Zenit in 8th have the highest VA but this is no consolation for missing the playoff spot. Inter pip them to that and have the only other notable +VA.

Lerkeusen and relegated Seville have the lowest VA with Hertha and 12th spot Everton also struggling to impress.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
RSC Anderlecht	87.0	89.5	89.5	89.5	85.0	88.1	222.02	9	2	7	4.00
Zenit Saint Petersburg	91.0	88.3	88.0	88.0	87.0	88.5	219.56	19	8	11	1.50
AC Milan	89.0	89.5	92.5	95.0	87.0	90.6	228.47	1	1	0	1.00
Internazionale	89.0	88.5	88.8	90.0	87.0	88.7	221.42	12	7	5	0.86
Sassuolo	88.0	89.3	89.0	90.0	87.0	88.7	222.10	7	6	1	0.33
Manchester City	89.0	89.0	88.8	90.0	85.0	88.4	221.58	11	9	2	0.33
Hoffenheim	88.0	88.0	89.5	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.73	17	14	3	0.29
Monchengladbach	90.0	89.5	90.5	90.0	87.0	89.4	223.74	4	4	0	0.25
Wolfsburg	89.0	90.0	89.5	90.0	87.0	89.1	223.22	5	5	0	0.20
Villarreal CF	87.0	88.5	88.5	89.0	87.0	88.0	220.33	18	16	2	0.19
Newcastle United	88.0	88.5	89.0	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.73	16	15	1	0.13
Galatasaray SK	88.0	87.0	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.2	217.96	20	19	1	0.11
Hellas Verona	89.0	87.5	90.5	89.0	87.0	88.6	221.37	13	13	0	0.08
Standard Liège	89.0	89.0	91.0	92.5	85.0	89.3	225.01	2	3	-1	0.00
Valencia CF	89.0	89.8	89.5	88.5	87.0	88.8	222.05	8	10	-2	-0.10
CSKA Moskva	89.0	88.5	89.0	89.5	86.0	88.4	221.18	14	17	-3	-0.12
H. Berlin	88.0	88.5	89.5	88.5	87.0	88.3	220.93	15	20	-5	-0.20
Sevilla	89.0	89.0	89.3	89.5	85.0	88.4	221.66	10	18	-8	-0.39
Everton	89.0	89.5	90.0	89.5	86.0	88.8	222.78	6	12	-6	-0.42
Leverkusen	91.0	89.5	90.3	92.0	85.0	89.6	224.72	3	11	-8	-0.64

Division 1 stats and facts review

Sun, 17 Mar 2019 16:16:29 +0100

A great 6th place finish give Genoa the best value added and pva. Benfica, Atletico and Roma also had great seasons with high VA and PVA.

Tottenham , Arsenal and PSG prop up the table with Spurs narrowly avoiding relegation.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Genoa CFC	89.0	88.0	91.0	93.5	82.0	88.7	224.50	15	6	9	1.67
AS Roma	92.0	89.5	92.0	93.0	87.0	90.7	227.13	10	5	5	1.20
Barcelona	95.0	93.3	95.0	97.0	84.0	92.9	235.13	1	1	0	1.00
Atlético Madrid	89.0	90.3	91.3	91.0	85.0	89.3	225.23	13	7	6	1.00
SL Benfica	87.0	89.5	90.8	90.5	87.0	89.0	223.91	18	10	8	0.90
Bayern	93.0	93.0	93.5	94.0	88.0	92.3	232.02	2	2	0	0.50
Ajax	90.0	89.8	90.5	90.5	87.0	89.6	224.27	17	12	5	0.50
Chelsea	93.0	93.3	93.3	93.5	84.0	91.4	231.22	3	3	0	0.33
Liverpool	90.0	91.0	91.0	88.5	87.0	89.5	224.37	16	13	3	0.31
Juventus	94.0	91.3	94.0	92.5	90.0	92.4	230.41	4	4	0	0.25
FC Porto	91.0	90.0	91.5	90.5	88.0	90.2	225.51	12	11	1	0.18
SC Internacional	92.0	89.8	89.8	89.5	85.0	89.2	223.02	19	17	2	0.18
Real Madrid	94.0	92.0	92.8	89.5	87.0	91.1	227.70	8	8	0	0.13
SSC Napoli	90.0	90.0	90.5	91.0	87.0	89.7	224.79	14	14	0	0.07
Schalke	89.0	88.3	90.0	90.5	87.0	89.0	222.55	20	20	0	0.05
Manchester United	89.0	91.3	92.0	93.5	85.0	90.2	228.26	7	9	-2	-0.11
Dortmund	92.0	91.3	91.3	90.0	88.0	90.5	226.10	11	18	-7	-0.33
Paris Saint-Germain	88.0	90.3	91.3	94.0	87.0	90.1	227.30	9	19	-10	-0.47
Arsenal	95.0	90.5	91.5	94.0	87.0	91.6	228.54	6	15	-9	-0.53
Tottenham Hotspur	88.0	92.3	93.0	92.0	87.0	90.5	229.00	5	16	-11	-0.63

Division 5 Season 9 stats and facts

Sat, 08 Dec 2018 18:26:00 +0100

Division 5 Season 9 stats and facts.

Independiente favourites , can Stuttgart and Az hang on?

A few weeks down the line from normal and some but not all of the favoured teams sit near to the predicted position. River Plate, Rubin , Independiente, doing as they should others less so.

Independiente are a cut above the opposition and in the end will gain promotion, predicted 2nd WBA are a work in progress but the core of the team is there and they should be doing better. Rubin and River Plate are solid outfits for D2 but you have to think the better keeper at the Argentine side will be the deciding factor.

To survive D4 you need around 217. 7 so down to Dynamo Moscow any team could make a promotion bid.

At the other end there is nothing to fear except the sack for the lowest 2. The should be Bordeaux who are also stripping out their side and AZ or Cruziero and indeed two of those 3 sit plum at the seat of the table.

D5 is always a questionable league, so many clubs could be so much better with unclaimed free agents just sitting there, if nothing else for instant profit when sold, just a thought..

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT
Independiente	90.0	88.8	88.5	89.5	86.0	88.6	221.10
West Bromwich Albion	90.0	88.5	89.0	86.5	80.0	86.8	218.63
Rubin Kazan	87.0	88.0	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.56
River Plate	88.0	88.0	88.3	87.5	84.0	87.2	218.52
Udinese Calcio	87.0	87.3	87.8	89.0	85.0	87.2	218.49
Flamengo	87.0	87.5	88.5	87.5	86.0	87.3	218.44
Lille OSC	87.0	87.3	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.36
Swansea City	88.0	87.5	87.5	88.0	85.0	87.2	217.96
Dynamo Moskva	88.0	87.0	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.3	217.68
Málaga CF	88.0	87.3	87.5	88.0	82.0	86.6	217.40
FC Twente	87.0	87.3	87.5	87.5	85.0	86.9	217.32
Stuttgart	89.0	87.0	87.0	88.0	85.0	87.2	217.28
Augsburg	87.0	87.0	87.5	87.5	82.0	86.2	216.76
Dinamo Zagreb	88.0	87.8	86.5	87.0	85.0	86.9	216.71
Beşiktaş JK	88.0	86.5	87.5	87.0	86.0	87.0	216.63
Feyenoord	86.0	87.0	87.3	87.0	85.0	86.5	216.47
West Ham United	89.0	85.5	87.8	87.0	85.0	86.9	216.03
Cruzeiro	87.0	86.3	86.5	86.0	82.0	85.6	214.38
AZ Alkmaar	87.0	85.5	86.3	86.5	84.0	85.9	214.15
Girondins Bordeaux	85.0	84.8	86.3	87.0	83.0	85.2	213.51

Division 4 Season 9 Stats and Facts,

Sat, 24 Nov 2018 15:45:00 +0100

Division 4 Season 9 stats and facts. Will Boca leave the rest of the division open mouthed , can Montpellier avoid the inevitable relegation threat.

In reality 3 teams should be fighting it out for the top 3 places. Boca have a strong attack and midfield, with strength in depth. Villa try the good attack, good keeper formula , tried and proven, with Celta offering a much more defensive outlook. The next batch Partizan, Stoke, Santos and Dynamo Kiev should be the playoff teams. All closely matched.

Of those Stoke and Santos look better placed with a decent enough keeper, though Partizan have a solid top 15 and it may be the second half of the season before that strength in depth comes into play.

Since you only need around 218 to survive division 3, realistically any team down to Marseille could do well enough to gain promotion and indeed some of the lower rated teams have got off to great starts.

Montpellier are noticeably worse than any other team in the division, a decent keeper could allow them to play defensively as surely they won't be an attacking threat. Long term Bilbao look also to be in trouble, as should Chievo be although they are bucking the trend at the moment.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT
Boca Juniors	88.0	88.5	88.5	89.5	86.0	88.1	220.66
Aston Villa	89.0	88.3	87.8	90.0	85.0	88.0	220.18
CELTA VIGO	90.0	89.3	88.0	88.0	86.0	88.3	220.12
FK Partizan	87.0	88.3	88.5	88.5	87.0	87.9	219.81
Stoke City	88.0	88.3	88.0	88.5	85.0	87.6	219.29
Santos FC	89.0	87.3	88.3	89.0	86.0	87.9	219.25
Dynamo Kyiv	87.0	89.0	88.3	87.0	86.0	87.5	219.11
Olympiacos	89.0	87.8	87.5	89.0	85.0	87.7	218.93
Cologne	87.0	87.3	88.0	89.0	86.0	87.5	218.81
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.5	218.48
Atalanta BC	88.0	87.3	87.8	88.5	86.0	87.5	218.41
Crystal Palace	89.0	87.0	87.5	89.0	85.0	87.5	218.33
Club Brugge KV	88.0	87.0	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.5	218.28
Olympique Marseille	88.0	87.3	87.5	88.5	86.0	87.5	218.21
Bremen	88.0	87.3	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.4	217.88
AS Saint-Etienne	87.0	86.3	87.3	89.5	86.0	87.2	217.74
Torino	89.0	87.0	87.3	88.0	86.0	87.5	217.60
Athletic Club	87.0	88.0	87.5	87.0	85.0	86.9	217.59
Chievo Verona	87.0	86.3	88.3	87.5	85.0	86.8	217.12
Montpellier HSC	88.0	86.3	87.8	86.0	85.0	86.6	215.86

Division 3 season 9 stats and facts.

Sat, 17 Nov 2018 16:03:00 +0100

Division 3 season 9 stats and facts.

Monaco , Hamburg and Espanyol hard to see who could challenge them, except that PSV, Lazio and Spartak already are..

There are 3 clear leaders statistically in this Division that is the melting pot of all 5 division leagues. Monaco should walk it , but that was said many times in the past , only for the players to let the manager down ,Espanyol are dependent on their great keeper and defensive line, with Hamburg offering a more attacking approach.

Basel and Sampdoria with a great attack but weak defense, are interesting prosprects as both seem to be struggling early on. To survive in division 2, you will need 221 points, so only the top 6 would get promoted and not immediately bounce back.

At the other end , under 218 points means a huge struggle to survive , this should mean Spartak and Lyonais , will be doomed , maybe Lokomotive have more of a chance with a better keeper. Even so Spartak have a great start and have some good points in the bag,. Any team with a top 18 of 87 or more will also fancy a good cup run.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT
AS Monaco	90.0	89.5	90.0	90.0	86.0	89.1	223.22
Hamburg	89.0	89.5	89.5	90.0	86.0	88.8	222.70
RCD Espanyol	91.0	89.0	89.8	89.0	87.0	89.2	222.21
FC Basel	88.0	88.5	89.0	90.0	87.0	88.5	221.50
Southampton	89.0	88.5	89.8	89.0	86.0	88.5	221.45
Sampdoria	88.0	88.5	88.8	89.0	85.0	87.9	220.41
Levante UD	87.0	88.0	88.5	89.0	86.0	87.7	219.81
Celtic	85.0	88.0	88.8	89.0	85.0	87.2	219.65
Sporting CP	87.0	88.3	88.3	88.5	87.0	87.8	219.61
Sunderland	89.0	88.0	87.5	89.0	85.0	87.7	219.13
SS Lazio	89.0	88.0	88.3	87.5	86.0	87.8	218.88
Leicester City	87.0	88.5	88.0	87.5	86.0	87.4	218.84
PSV	89.0	87.5	88.0	88.0	87.0	87.9	218.72
Shakhtar Donetsk	89.0	87.3	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.5	218.28
Fenerbahçe SK	88.0	87.0	87.5	89.0	85.0	87.3	218.21
São Paulo FC	88.0	87.8	87.5	88.0	85.0	87.3	218.16
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	87.3	88.0	87.5	87.0	87.6	218.08
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	82.0	86.5	217.88
Lokomotiv Moskva	89.0	87.5	87.5	87.5	85.0	87.3	217.76
Spartak Moskva	87.0	87.5	87.8	87.0	83.0	86.5	217.15

Division 2 season 9 stats and facts

Sun, 11 Nov 2018 15:36:00 +0100

Division 2 season 9 stats and facts.

Who is going to finish second in D2 ?, well that is what the stats are asking.

Ronaldo at Milan pushes them well above any other side, they can be confident in screening the weaker defence and in any case would hope to simply outscore the opposition. Early evidence shows that could well be the case.

Standard Liege and Leverkeusen are closely matched, Liege the more attacking option and Leverkeusen in defence. Monchengladbach look to be a well balanced team and they have got off to a great start.

You probably need a rating of around 224.2 to survive D1, so even they would struggle next season.

As for the relegation prospects. Zenit are hoping their keeper keeps them up, Galatasaray I can't really see what is going to save them . Villareal and Hoff have a good attacking line up put Villareal look fragile at the back.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT
AC Milan	89.0	89.5	92.5	95.0	87.0	90.6	228.47
Standard Liège	89.0	89.0	91.0	92.5	85.0	89.3	225.01
Leverkusen	91.0	89.5	90.3	92.0	85.0	89.6	224.72
Monchengladbach	90.0	89.5	90.5	90.0	87.0	89.4	223.74
Wolfsburg	89.0	90.0	89.5	90.0	87.0	89.1	223.22
Everton	89.0	89.5	90.0	89.5	86.0	88.8	222.78
Sassuolo	88.0	89.3	89.0	90.0	87.0	88.7	222.10
Valencia CF	89.0	89.8	89.5	88.5	87.0	88.8	222.05
RSC Anderlecht	87.0	89.5	89.5	89.5	85.0	88.1	222.02
Sevilla	89.0	89.0	89.3	89.5	85.0	88.4	221.66
Manchester City	89.0	89.0	88.8	90.0	85.0	88.4	221.58
Internazionale	89.0	88.5	88.8	90.0	87.0	88.7	221.42
Hellas Verona	89.0	87.5	90.5	89.0	87.0	88.6	221.37
CSKA Moskva	89.0	88.5	89.0	89.5	86.0	88.4	221.18
H. Berlin	88.0	88.5	89.5	88.5	87.0	88.3	220.93
Newcastle United	88.0	88.5	89.0	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.73
Hoffenheim	88.0	88.0	89.5	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.73
Villarreal CF	87.0	88.5	88.5	89.0	87.0	88.0	220.33
Zenit Saint Petersburg	91.0	88.3	88.0	88.0	87.0	88.5	219.56
Galatasaray SK	88.0	87.0	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.2	217.96

Division 1 Season 9 Stats and Facts

Sat, 10 Nov 2018 15:37:00 +0100

Division 1 Season 9 stats and facts. Usual suspects lead the stats, things look tough for some of the promoted sides.

First of all , this is a purely statistical look at the ratings within the league. I have to use human input to work out which players are likely to be picked and where which is difficult at times. It is sorted using the relative importance of each position which was calculated using data from the first 4 seasons.

Barcelona are top in most stats , best keeper, midfield and attack, should be a walk in the park, only first is good enough, although they do lack depth. Bayern could challenge them if Barca suffer injuries at crucial times, as Chelsea or Juve,

Other interesting prospects are Real Madrid, who are strong in all positions except attack , Arsenal similar except for defence and Tottenham except in goal. Will these sides look for a deal to be done ?

Genoa and Porto have got off to a great start , pick up the early points and the pressure is off in some respect.

Schalke especially look to have their work cut out, although statistically only 1 place better SC had no problems surviving the chop last season. For me Benfica have a huge hill to climb, most clubs will see the chance to fill their boots against a week keeper and defence.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT
Barcelona	95.0	93.3	95.0	97.0	84.0	92.9	235.13
Bayern	93.0	93.0	93.5	94.0	88.0	92.3	232.02
Chelsea	93.0	93.3	93.3	93.5	84.0	91.4	231.22
Juventus	94.0	91.3	94.0	92.5	90.0	92.4	230.41
Tottenham Hotspur	88.0	92.3	93.0	92.0	87.0	90.5	229.00
Arsenal	95.0	90.5	91.5	94.0	87.0	91.6	228.54
Manchester United	89.0	91.3	92.0	93.5	85.0	90.2	228.26
Real Madrid	94.0	92.0	92.8	89.5	87.0	91.1	227.70
Paris Saint-Germain	88.0	90.3	91.3	94.0	87.0	90.1	227.30
AS Roma	92.0	89.5	92.0	93.0	87.0	90.7	227.13
Dortmund	92.0	91.3	91.3	90.0	88.0	90.5	226.10
FC Porto	91.0	90.0	91.5	90.5	88.0	90.2	225.51
Atlético Madrid	89.0	90.3	91.3	91.0	85.0	89.3	225.23
SSC Napoli	90.0	90.0	90.5	91.0	87.0	89.7	224.79
Genoa CFC	89.0	88.0	91.0	93.5	82.0	88.7	224.50
Liverpool	90.0	91.0	91.0	88.5	87.0	89.5	224.37
Ajax	90.0	89.8	90.5	90.5	87.0	89.6	224.27
SL Benfica	87.0	89.5	90.8	90.5	87.0	89.0	223.91
SC Internacional	92.0	89.8	89.8	89.5	85.0	89.2	223.02
Schalke	89.0	88.3	90.0	90.5	87.0	89.0	222.55

Season 8 Div5 stats and facts review

Tue, 23 Oct 2018 16:12:00 +0100

Bremen 2nd candidate for team of the year. +14VA +15PVA, Feyenord also +10 with promoted Montpellier +7.

Division 5 is always a mad bad world.

Bremen always had a good keeper for the division and a strong midfield, but a few crafty late season buys pushed him over the line.

West Brom -6/-0.71 and more so West Ham -13/-0.75 were crushingly disappointing, which helped but Santos in 2nd , Montpellier pushed them hard with 4 pts separating the top 6.

Feyenord on +10 improved as the season went on , Twente were unlucky to fail in the playoffs.

Other than those mentioned, Independient on -7 and River Plate on -14 VA are notable in their below par performance.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Bremen	88.0	86.5	88.0	87.0	86.0	87.1	217.03	15	1	14	15.00
Montpellier HSC	88.0	86.3	87.8	88.5	85.0	87.1	217.49	10	3	7	2.67
FC Twente	87.0	87.0	87.8	87.5	85.0	86.9	217.32	11	4	7	2.00
Feyenoord	87.0	87.0	87.3	87.0	85.0	86.7	216.59	19	9	10	1.22
Udinese Calcio	87.0	87.3	87.5	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.64	9	5	4	1.00
Rubin Kazan	87.0	86.8	87.8	87.5	85.0	86.8	217.12	13	8	5	0.75
Santos FC	89.0	87.5	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.8	219.00	2	2	0	0.50
Stuttgart	87.0	86.5	87.3	88.0	84.0	86.6	216.72	17	14	3	0.29
Girondins Bordeaux	87.0	86.8	86.5	88.5	84.0	86.6	216.65	18	15	3	0.27
Besiktas JK	88.0	86.0	87.0	86.5	85.0	86.5	215.39	20	17	3	0.24
Dynamo Moskva	88.0	86.8	87.3	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.16	12	12	0	0.08
Club Brugge KV	87.0	87.3	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.36	5	6	-1	0.00
Augsburg	87.0	86.8	87.5	88.0	83.0	86.5	217.00	16	18	-2	-0.06
Flamengo	87.0	87.3	88.3	87.5	86.0	87.2	218.04	8	10	-2	-0.10
Lille OSC	85.0	87.8	87.3	87.5	83.0	86.1	217.04	14	19	-5	-0.21
Málaga CF	88.0	87.5	88.0	87.5	86.0	87.4	218.16	7	13	-6	-0.38
Independiente	85.0	88.3	87.5	88.5	85.0	86.9	218.53	4	11	-7	-0.55
River Plate	88.0	88.5	87.8	87.0	85.0	87.3	218.31	6	20	-14	-0.65
West Bromwich Albion	90.0	88.3	88.5	88.0	82.0	87.4	219.24	1	7	-6	-0.71
West Ham United	87.0	86.8	88.0	89.5	86.0	87.5	218.74	3	16	-13	-0.75

Division 4 Season 8 stats and facts review

Tue, 23 Oct 2018 15:55:00 +0100

Basel top of stats in D4, Stoke get the best VA, Atalanta, Boca and Partizan disappoint their fans.

Most people thought Monaco were odds on favourites to win D4 including me, while they came 2nd , Basel stormed to victory. Stoke got a great +8 VA, with 2nd spot Levante gettng a creditable + 5, with Torino matching them .

Such was the accuracy of the stats at the wrong end with the lowest 3 correctly positioned and AZ just one place out in 17th . Boca just escaped in 16th with -7 VA , the same Partizan in 13th. This left playoff possible Atalanta in the lowest VA spot.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
FC Basel	88.0	87.5	88.5	89.5	87.0	88.1	219.98	5	1	4	5.00
Levante UD	87.0	88.0	88.8	88.5	86.0	87.7	219.69	8	3	5	2.00
Stoke City	88.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	84.0	87.1	218.04	15	7	8	1.29
Torino	89.0	87.3	88.0	87.5	86.0	87.6	218.08	14	9	5	0.67
Aston Villa	89.0	87.5	87.8	90.0	86.0	88.1	219.70	7	5	2	0.60
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.8	87.8	88.5	86.0	87.6	218.81	10	8	2	0.38
Cologne	87.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.36	13	11	2	0.27
Olympique Marseille	87.0	87.3	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.96	17	15	2	0.20
Crystal Palace	87.0	87.5	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.36	12	12	0	0.08
Swansea City	87.0	87.0	87.3	88.0	85.0	86.9	217.24	18	18	0	0.06
Dinamo Zagreb	85.0	87.9	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.4	216.83	19	19	0	0.05
Cruzeiro	87.0	87.3	86.5	87.5	83.0	86.3	216.28	20	20	0	0.05
AS Monaco	88.8	88.8	90.3	93.5	88.0	89.9	225.19	1	2	-1	0.00
AZ Alkmaar	88.0	88.0	86.5	88.5	86.0	87.4	218.01	16	17	-1	0.00
Olympiacos	89.0	87.5	87.5	89.0	85.0	87.6	218.73	11	14	-3	-0.14
RCD Espanyol	91.0	88.5	89.0	89.5	87.0	89.0	221.54	2	4	-2	-0.25
CELTA VIGO	90.0	88.5	88.8	88.0	86.0	88.3	220.12	3	6	-3	-0.33
Boca Juniors	88.0	87.3	88.5	89.5	86.0	87.9	219.66	9	16	-7	-0.38
FK Partizan	87.0	88.0	88.5	89.0	87.0	87.9	219.93	6	13	-7	-0.46
Atalanta BC	89.0	88.0	87.8	90.0	85.0	88.0	219.98	4	10	-6	-0.50

D3 Season 8 stats and facts review

Tue, 23 Oct 2018 13:10:00 +0100

Liege and Hellas battled it out for the title and for the stats in D3, Saint Etienne, Leicester and Southampton fail to perform.

Liege no one would argue were a cut above in D3 with a +34 GD almost a goal a game better than their opponents.

They get the PVA award but Hellas in 2nd push them close at +2. Sao Paulo pushed themselves into the playoffs and a high stats finish, but this proved to be a game too far as it did for +8 VA Fenerbache.

At the wrong end Southampton , clear promotion candidates got -12 VA and -0.79 PVA a miserable performance all round, but this was eclipsed by ST Etiennes fall from grace finishing last and -8 VA. Leicester narrowly avoided the chop on -8 VA in 16th.

5 of the top 6 were accurately predicted as were 3/4 relegated teams.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Standard Liège	89.0	87.8	90.0	90.5	87.0	88.9	222.15	3	1	2	3.00
Hellas Verona	89.0	87.3	90.3	89.0	87.0	88.5	220.97	5	2	3	2.00
São Paulo FC	88.0	87.8	87.3	89.0	85.0	87.4	218.61	13	6	7	1.33
Fenerbahçe SK	88.0	87.0	87.5	89.0	85.0	87.3	218.21	15	7	8	1.29
Hamburg	89.0	89.0	88.3	89.0	86.0	88.3	220.65	6	4	2	0.75
Spartak Moskva	87.0	87.5	87.8	87.5	85.0	87.0	217.72	18	11	7	0.73
Shakhtar Donetsk	89.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.7	218.60	14	9	5	0.67
Lokomotiv Moskva	89.0	87.3	88.0	87.5	86.0	87.6	218.08	16	12	4	0.42
Chievo Verona	87.0	86.0	88.5	87.5	85.0	86.8	217.12	20	18	2	0.17
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	88.0	88.0	88.5	85.0	87.3	218.97	10	10	0	0.10
Dynamo Kyiv	87.0	88.0	88.0	86.5	86.0	87.1	217.79	17	17	0	0.06
Athletic Club	87.0	87.0	87.8	87.5	85.0	86.9	217.32	19	19	0	0.05
CSKA Moskva	89.0	88.3	89.3	89.5	87.0	88.6	221.30	4	5	-1	0.00
Sampdoria	88.0	88.8	88.5	89.0	85.0	87.9	220.41	7	8	-1	0.00
Sunderland	89.0	87.3	88.0	88.5	86.0	87.8	218.73	11	13	-2	-0.08
PSV	88.0	87.8	88.8	89.0	86.0	87.9	219.93	9	15	-6	-0.33
RSC Anderlecht	89.0	89.3	90.5	91.5	86.0	89.3	224.28	1	3	-2	-0.33
AS Saint-Etienne	87.0	87.0	87.3	90.0	86.0	87.5	218.66	12	20	-8	-0.35
Leicester City	88.0	88.3	88.3	89.0	86.0	87.9	219.93	8	16	-8	-0.44
Southampton	89.0	89.3	89.8	90.0	87.0	89.0	222.82	2	14	-12	-0.79

Division 2 season 8 stats and facts review

Tue, 23 Oct 2018 12:58:00 +0100

Ajax deserved champions of D2, Zenit and Galatasaray get an honourable mention . Milan and Valencia the biggest dissapointments.

Promoted as champions , the well deserved Ajax team overcame close rivals Atletico and Genoa , who despite a medicore VA ,did what it took to go up. Zenit and Galatasaray should have been in the relegation zone but avoided the drop this season.

Valencia and Milan have the lowest PVA , Milan even failing in the playoffs. Berlin were much lower than expected.

5 of the teams in the top 6 were those predicted to be and 2 teams expected to be relegated escaped but 2 only just.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Ajax	90.0	89.8	90.5	90.5	87.0	89.6	224.27	4	1	3	4.00
Atlético Madrid	89.0	90.0	90.5	90.5	88.0	89.6	224.47	3	2	1	1.00
Zenit Saint Petersburg	91.0	88.5	88.3	88.0	87.0	88.6	219.96	16	9	7	0.89
Sassuolo	88.0	89.3	88.5	90.0	87.0	88.6	221.70	11	7	4	0.71
Hoffenheim	88.0	88.5	90.0	88.0	86.0	88.1	220.88	12	8	4	0.63
Galatasaray SK	88.0	87.3	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.5	218.48	20	13	7	0.62
SL Benfica	87.0	89.8	90.0	90.5	87.0	88.9	223.51	7	5	2	0.60
Newcastle United	88.0	88.5	89.0	89.0	87.0	88.3	220.85	13	11	2	0.27
Internazionale	89.0	87.3	88.5	89.0	86.0	88.0	219.45	18	16	2	0.19
Sporting CP	87.0	87.0	89.0	88.5	86.0	87.5	219.09	19	19	0	0.05
Genoa CFC	89.0	89.0	92.0	93.0	87.0	90.0	226.37	2	3	-1	0.00
Wolfsburg	89.0	90.3	90.5	90.0	87.0	89.4	224.22	5	6	-1	0.00
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	87.3	89.3	88.5	85.0	87.6	219.49	17	20	-3	-0.10
Celtic	85.0	88.0	88.8	89.5	85.0	87.3	219.98	15	18	-3	-0.11
SS Lazio	89.0	87.8	88.8	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.05	14	17	-3	-0.12
Villarreal CF	88.0	89.5	90.0	88.5	86.0	88.4	222.01	9	12	-3	-0.17
H. Berlin	88.0	88.8	89.3	90.0	87.0	88.6	221.90	10	15	-5	-0.27
Monchengladbach	90.0	89.5	90.5	90.5	86.0	89.3	223.95	6	10	-4	-0.30
Valencia CF	89.0	89.8	89.3	90.5	87.0	89.1	223.15	8	14	-6	-0.36
AC Milan	89.0	91.5	91.8	92.5	87.0	90.4	227.85	1	4	-3	-0.50

Division 1 season 8 review

Tue, 23 Oct 2018 12:41:00 +0100

SC Internacional or Bayern the true champs of D1?

Arsenal and Barcelona well below expectations.

First of all the health warning.

This is all based on number crunching, it take no accounts of trading, tactics, how the team was when you had it etc.

VA = difference between where you finished and where you should have done.

PVA takes into account the importance of finishing higher up and modifies the total.

Bayern have the highest PVA at +2 with their first spot all but guaranting them this award . SC Internacional who many would have seen as relegation certainties got the best VA of +12 , with Porto doing well at + 4 in 8th.

The biggest negative scores went to Arsenal at -10 and -0.6 with their narrow squeek over the relegation line.

Leverkeusen should be the post dissapointed with a mid pace team relegated. Everton, Seville, Tottenham rele

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Bayern	92.0	93.0	94.5	96.0	87.0	92.5	233.88	2	1	1	2.00
SC Internacional	92.0	89.3	89.3	90.0	85.0	89.1	222.54	19	7	12	1.86
Chelsea	93.0	93.3	93.0	95.5	87.0	92.4	232.68	3	2	1	1.00
Juventus	94.0	91.8	93.5	92.5	90.0	92.4	230.41	4	3	1	0.67
FC Porto	91.0	90.8	90.5	90.0	88.0	90.1	224.98	12	8	4	0.63
Real Madrid	93.0	91.5	92.0	92.5	87.0	91.2	228.53	7	5	2	0.60
Liverpool	90.0	90.0	90.0	91.3	86.0	89.5	224.43	14	10	4	0.50
Schalke	89.0	89.5	90.3	89.5	87.0	89.1	223.10	16	13	3	0.31
Dortmund	92.0	91.3	90.3	89.5	86.0	89.8	224.74	13	12	1	0.17
Tottenham Hotspur	88.0	91.5	93.0	93.0	86.0	90.3	228.93	6	6	0	0.17
Sevilla	89.0	89.3	89.3	89.0	85.0	88.3	221.53	20	19	1	0.11
Manchester City	90.0	90.8	89.0	89.0	87.0	89.2	222.89	18	18	0	0.06
Manchester United	89.0	91.3	92.5	92.0	87.0	90.4	227.92	8	9	-1	0.00
SSC Napoli	90.0	90.3	90.5	90.0	87.0	89.6	224.34	15	16	-1	0.00
Paris Saint-Germain	95.0	91.0	90.5	91.0	87.0	90.9	226.19	9	11	-2	-0.09
Everton	89.0	89.3	89.5	90.5	87.0	89.1	222.95	17	20	-3	-0.10
AS Roma	92.0	89.5	92.3	90.5	86.0	90.1	225.59	10	14	-4	-0.21
Leverkusen	91.0	89.5	90.5	92.5	83.0	89.3	225.01	11	17	-6	-0.29
Barcelona	95.0	93.3	94.5	97.5	86.0	93.3	235.30	1	4	-3	-0.50
Arsenal	91.0	91.3	91.3	96.0	88.0	91.5	229.88	5	15	-10	-0.60

gated as predicted.

Season 8 Division 5 stats and facts

Mon, 09 Jul 2018 17:14:00 +0100

Division 5 stats and fact. Season 8.

Bremen and Dynamo defy the odds. Baggies and Santos favourites.

For obvious reasons there is a distinct tail off in ratings when you hit D5.

There is no through traffic, mainly down and then up again, at least in theory.

West Brom are lucky to have a 90 rated keeper in all respects , after his mega generous rise in the ratings. Except West Ham they need fear no attack. They lack any real depth so maybe no cup run, will fitness be an issue?

Santos have a great keeper and as good a midfield as West Brom and with more depth could hope for a late run.

Independiente could secure their future with a better keeper, considering there are 87 rated keepers at externals which is why they sit 12th at the moment.

Bruge are playing to form at the moment and with a well balanced squad they could well get into the playoffs this season.

To survive D4 you need 218 + points so we need to draw the line at Bruge unless we are looking at a return to sender promotee this season.

Bremen are skilfully using their strong midfield at the moment to thwart others but will they be a victim of their own success early doors.

At the wrong end , no relegation, just the sack race to avoid. Terrible start for River Plate and Malaga who should sit higher. They will move up so should Besitkas , Feyenord and Bordeaux find it tough as predicted it could be anyone of around 8 teams in the mix.

Having said that unlike the other divisions, the predicter works less well here.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT
West Bromwich Albion	90.0	88.3	88.5	88.0	82.0	87.4	219.24
Santos FC	89.0	87.5	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.8	219.00
West Ham United	87.0	86.8	88.0	89.5	86.0	87.5	218.74
Independiente	85.0	88.3	87.5	88.5	85.0	86.9	218.53
Club Brugge KV	87.0	87.3	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.36
River Plate	88.0	88.5	87.8	87.0	85.0	87.3	218.31
Málaga CF	88.0	87.5	88.0	87.5	86.0	87.4	218.16
Flamengo	87.0	87.3	88.3	87.5	86.0	87.2	218.04
Udinese Calcio	87.0	87.3	87.5	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.64
Montpellier HSC	88.0	86.3	87.8	88.5	85.0	87.1	217.49
FC Twente	87.0	87.0	87.8	87.5	85.0	86.9	217.32
Dynamo Moskva	88.0	86.8	87.3	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.16
Rubin Kazan	87.0	86.8	87.8	87.5	85.0	86.8	217.12
Lille OSC	85.0	87.8	87.3	87.5	83.0	86.1	217.04
Bremen	88.0	86.5	88.0	87.0	86.0	87.1	217.03
Augsburg	87.0	86.8	87.5	88.0	83.0	86.5	217.00
Stuttgart	87.0	86.5	87.3	88.0	84.0	86.6	216.72
Girondins Bordeaux	87.0	86.8	86.5	88.5	84.0	86.6	216.65
Feyenoord	87.0	87.0	87.3	87.0	85.0	86.7	216.59
Besiktas JK	88.0	86.0	87.0	86.5	85.0	86.5	215.39

Season 8 division 4 stats and facts

Wed, 04 Jul 2018 18:59:00 +0100

Division 4 season 8 stats and facts.

Monaco to go up , should do! Espanyol should lead rest of pack.

Monaco are the best team in Division 4 and would also be equally highly ranked in Division 3. Anything other than a convincing title performance would be calculated by all as an abject failing by a team that for some reason stuggles to perform more often than not.

Espanyol also have a well balanced side with good depth , they would also fancy a top 3 finish in the division above so should finish 2nd.

Celta in 3rd are really the only top rated team performing well at the moment, perhaps lacking the depth of the other 2 and an older starting eleven perhaps will cost them in the end .

To survive in D3 you need around 218 rating points , so almost the entire D4 line up with the exception of the lowest 4 rated could survive , to be in with a chance of an additional promotion you would need around 220 points which bodes well for any team down to Partizan.

Partizan and Villa could well be strongest in the cup, although each has suffered one early exit.

Olympiacos are an interesting prospect a good keeper and attack. Long ball game perhaps as a midfield battle won't succeed.

Great starts by Basel and Levante who are rated in the top 10 but are rightly over performing at the moment.

At the wrong end it will be a struggle. Last year the same system got 3/4 relegated team and no team outside the lowest 6 was relegated.

So it looks bad for Cruziero and Zagreb although fair enough to Zagreb it looked that way last season and they were the only teams in the lowest 4 to make it.

Spartak also lack depth , Kiev on the other hand may have sufficient in the tank to pull clear in the 2nd half of the season.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT
AS Monaco	88.8	88.8	90.3	93.5	88.0	89.9	225.19
RCD Espanyol	91.0	88.5	89.0	89.5	87.0	89.0	221.54
CELTA VIGO	90.0	88.5	88.8	88.0	86.0	88.3	220.12
Atalanta BC	89.0	88.0	87.8	90.0	85.0	88.0	219.98
FC Basel	88.0	87.5	88.5	89.5	87.0	88.1	219.98
FK Partizan	87.0	88.0	88.5	89.0	87.0	87.9	219.93
Aston Villa	89.0	87.5	87.8	90.0	86.0	88.1	219.70
Levante UD	87.0	88.0	88.8	88.5	86.0	87.7	219.69
Boca Juniors	88.0	87.3	88.5	89.5	86.0	87.9	219.66
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.8	87.8	88.5	86.0	87.6	218.81
Olympiacos	89.0	87.5	87.5	89.0	85.0	87.6	218.73
Crystal Palace	87.0	87.5	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.36
Cologne	87.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.3	218.36
Torino	89.0	87.3	88.0	87.5	86.0	87.6	218.08
Stoke City	88.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	84.0	87.1	218.04
AZ Alkmaar	88.0	88.0	86.5	88.5	86.0	87.4	218.01
Olympique Marseille	87.0	87.3	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.96
Swansea City	87.0	87.0	87.3	88.0	85.0	86.9	217.24
Dinamo Zagreb	85.0	87.9	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.4	216.83
Cruzeiro	87.0	87.3	86.5	87.5	83.0	86.3	216.28

Season 8 Division 3 Stats and facts

Tue, 26 Jun 2018 18:51:00 +0100

Division 3 season 8 stats and facts. Current top 8 have 7/8 best attacking lines in D3 enough said or is there and alternative.

Well yes!. The top 5 are also 5 out of the 7 highest ranked teams and the top 8 only has only one side ranked lower than 9 and nothing less than 11th.

Andelecht sit a cut above the rest statistically. Strong at the back strong in defence , good midfield.

Southampton have a similar squad but with a little more depth and must look to make a long term challenge as injuries could hit home to Anderlecht. Liege have a powerful midfield and sit 3rd at the moment. CSKA also have a squad with few weaknesses at D3 level. Hellas in 4th also use the midfield to strangle other teams . You will need 220 to survive in D2 so the current top 8 must be the favourites for promotion, others have work to , as if promoted they will surely get relegated the next season.

Last season the top 3 sides all had a rating above 220 so that seems to be the cut off.

I haven't forgotten the current worthy leaders ST Etienne, shows what a potent attack can achieve, no other real strength , they are a one trick team, bnt if that trick works why not?

In addition Dynamo Kiev possible relegation bound have also got off to a good start.

As for relegation in general you are looking at 217 - 218.6 level , that means there are a broad range of teams at threat of the drop.

At least at the moment it looks like a long season for Chievo, PSV and Lyon have the strength to pull themselves away, this will also drop Fenerbarche and Shaktar into the lower reaches.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT
RSC Anderlecht	89.0	89.3	90.5	91.5	86.0	89.3	224.28
Southampton	89.0	89.3	89.8	90.0	87.0	89.0	222.82
Standard Liège	89.0	87.8	90.0	90.5	87.0	88.9	222.15
CSKA Moskva	89.0	88.3	89.3	89.5	87.0	88.6	221.30
Hellas Verona	89.0	87.3	90.3	89.0	87.0	88.5	220.97
Hamburg	89.0	89.0	88.3	89.0	86.0	88.3	220.65
Sampdoria	88.0	88.8	88.5	89.0	85.0	87.9	220.41
Leicester City	88.0	88.3	88.3	89.0	86.0	87.9	219.93
PSV	88.0	87.8	88.8	89.0	86.0	87.9	219.93
Olympique Lyonnais	87.0	88.0	88.0	88.5	85.0	87.3	218.97
Sunderland	89.0	87.3	88.0	88.5	86.0	87.8	218.73
AS Saint-Etienne	87.0	87.0	87.3	90.0	86.0	87.5	218.66
São Paulo FC	88.0	87.8	87.3	89.0	85.0	87.4	218.61
Shakhtar Donetsk	89.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.7	218.60
Fenerbahçe SK	88.0	87.0	87.5	89.0	85.0	87.3	218.21
Lokomotiv Moskva	89.0	87.3	88.0	87.5	86.0	87.6	218.08
Dynamo Kyiv	87.0	88.0	88.0	86.5	86.0	87.1	217.79
Spartak Moskva	87.0	87.5	87.8	87.5	85.0	87.0	217.72
Athletic Club	87.0	87.0	87.8	87.5	85.0	86.9	217.32
Chievo Verona	87.0	86.0	88.5	87.5	85.0	86.8	217.12

Division 2 Season 8 stats and facts

Sat, 23 Jun 2018 16:27:00 +0100

Division 2 season 8 stats and facts.

2 Italian teams lead the pack and 2 more are set to be relegated.

Official health warning.

This is a purely statistical analysis of the teams in division 2. While I may add a comment or two to make a good read, this in no way reflects on the managerial or squad building ability of any manager.

AC Milan are a point and a half above any other team, they could easily finish mid table in division 1. They have a higher rating than any promoted D2 or relegated D1 team last season. Should be a walk in the park or would be if it were not for Genoa.

Genoa with Salah and Firmino a little weaker at the back than AC but much stronger up top. These must be the top 2 .

A rating of around 223 will be needed to survive D1 so any team from Valencia up could challenge for promotion , Ajax with their strong keeper could be favourites , while Moenchengladbach who lack depth could disappoint, with Benfica also needing to reinforce between the sticks.

Zenit could be a great cup side , with their keeper backing up the capable reserve team.

With the exception of Southampton the relegated teams had a rating of 220 or less. The relegation scrap this year should be more intense with 6 or more teams at real risk of the drop.

Celtic currently well over performing must be the favourites. Little back up , weak keeper at the moment, most teams will fancy their chances, although some could risk a weakened side which would be a mistake.

Two of my old sides sit statistically in the lower 4 , both managers have a big job to do with Sporting looking especially vunerable, although they have got off to fair starts.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr
AC Milan	89.0	91.5	91.8	92.5	87.0	90.4	227.85	1
Genoa CFC	89.0	89.0	92.0	93.0	87.0	90.0	226.37	2
Atlético Madrid	89.0	90.0	90.5	90.5	88.0	89.6	224.47	3
Ajax	90.0	89.8	90.5	90.5	87.0	89.6	224.27	4
Wolfsburg	89.0	90.3	90.5	90.0	87.0	89.4	224.22	5
Monchengladbach	90.0	89.5	90.5	90.5	86.0	89.3	223.95	6
SL Benfica	87.0	89.8	90.0	90.5	87.0	88.9	223.51	7
Valencia CF	89.0	89.8	89.3	90.5	87.0	89.1	223.15	8
Villarreal CF	88.0	89.5	90.0	88.5	86.0	88.4	222.01	9
H. Berlin	88.0	88.8	89.3	90.0	87.0	88.6	221.90	10
Sassuolo	88.0	89.3	88.5	90.0	87.0	88.6	221.70	11
Hoffenheim	88.0	88.5	90.0	88.0	86.0	88.1	220.88	12
Newcastle United	88.0	88.5	89.0	89.0	87.0	88.3	220.85	13
SS Lazio	89.0	87.8	88.8	89.0	86.0	88.1	220.05	14
Celtic	85.0	88.0	88.8	89.5	85.0	87.3	219.98	15
Zenit Saint Petersburg	91.0	88.5	88.3	88.0	87.0	88.6	219.96	16
ACF Fiorentina	88.0	87.3	89.3	88.5	85.0	87.6	219.49	17
Internazionale	89.0	87.3	88.5	89.0	86.0	88.0	219.45	18
Sporting CP	87.0	87.0	89.0	88.5	86.0	87.5	219.09	19
Galatasaray SK	88.0	87.3	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.5	218.48	20

Season 8 Division 1 stats and facts

Wed, 20 Jun 2018 17:07:00 +0100

Top 3 closer than previous years, Everton off to a great start.

It's always hard to bet against any team that can put out an average of 95 in attack and no main stat less than 93. So let's look at the weakness of the top few sides.

Barcelona the one weakness is depth, they could realistically be fielding 87/86 rated players if they pick up a couple of injuries.

Bayern while still incredibly strong have a slight vunerability at the back if others choose to exploit it.

Chelsea are the most balanced side but also , just the weakest is midfield so could possesion be a problem.

Juve have the best depth but the poorest attack and defence of the top 4

Tottenham will struggle with the weak keeper they now have following the demise of Hart , others to look out for are Arsenal , will a one man band be enough .

Everton who should be in the relegation zone are currently up with the big boys.

Hard to see a way that Sevilla or Internacional will survive this year. Sevilla are the most vunerable at the back, and won't get the possesion needed to feed the forwards. Internacional ,while better at the back and up front seriously lack the depth to make any more progress. Man City really haven't made much progress statistically lately and they have to be amongst the favourites to go down , where as promoted Leverkeusen should be comfortable enough to stay up.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT
Barcelona	95.0	93.3	94.5	97.5	86.0	93.3	235.30
Bayern	92.0	93.0	94.5	96.0	87.0	92.5	233.88
Chelsea	93.0	93.3	93.0	95.5	87.0	92.4	232.68
Juventus	94.0	91.8	93.5	92.5	90.0	92.4	230.41
Arsenal	91.0	91.3	91.3	96.0	88.0	91.5	229.88
Tottenham Hotspur	88.0	91.5	93.0	93.0	86.0	90.3	228.93
Real Madrid	93.0	91.5	92.0	92.5	87.0	91.2	228.53
Manchester United	89.0	91.3	92.5	92.0	87.0	90.4	227.92
Paris Saint-Germain	95.0	91.0	90.5	91.0	87.0	90.9	226.19
AS Roma	92.0	89.5	92.3	90.5	86.0	90.1	225.59
Leverkusen	91.0	89.5	90.5	92.5	83.0	89.3	225.01
FC Porto	91.0	90.8	90.5	90.0	88.0	90.1	224.98
Dortmund	92.0	91.3	90.3	89.5	86.0	89.8	224.74
Liverpool	90.0	90.0	90.0	91.3	86.0	89.5	224.43
SSC Napoli	90.0	90.3	90.5	90.0	87.0	89.6	224.34
Schalke	89.0	89.5	90.3	89.5	87.0	89.1	223.10
Everton	89.0	89.3	89.5	90.5	87.0	89.1	222.95
Manchester City	90.0	90.8	89.0	89.0	87.0	89.2	222.89
SC Internacional	92.0	89.3	89.3	90.0	85.0	89.1	222.54
Sevilla	89.0	89.3	89.3	89.0	85.0	88.3	221.53

Season 7 Division 5 value added.

Sun, 27 May 2018 15:42:00 +0100

Season 7 Division 5 value added.

3 Playoff teams sit high in the PVA, Montpellier lead both categories.

Only in D5 could the winner of the league be 7th in PVA. With no relegation it is possible to throw caution to the wind and that is what Montpellier did , charging into a playoff spot. Dnipro in 2nd and Cologne in 3rd deserve the 2nd and 3rd PVA spots. Flamengo and Bremen have the joint second VA of +11 and get into the playoffs.

Celta were the only original top 5 teams not to disappoint their fans and could not do any more, will next season be a repeat?

Predicted 4th place team Twente were 19th and get the wooden spoon in both categories, narrowly ahead of 2nd best West Ham who came 8th and Independiente who should have been on the edge of playoffs but came last.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Montpellier HSC	88.0	86.5	87.0	88.5	85.0	87.0	217.09	16	4	12	3.25
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.3	87.8	88.5	86.0	87.5	218.41	6	2	4	2.50
Cologne	89.0	87.5	87.5	87.5	85.0	87.3	217.76	9	3	6	2.33
Flamengo	87.0	86.0	88.0	87.5	86.0	86.9	216.84	17	6	11	2.00
Bremen	87.0	87.0	87.0	87.5	85.0	86.7	216.72	18	7	11	1.71
CELTA VIGO	88.0	88.0	89.8	88.5	87.0	88.3	220.73	1	1	0	1.00
Augsburg	88.0	86.8	86.8	87.5	84.0	86.6	216.32	19	15	4	0.33
Rubin Kazan	83.0	86.5	86.5	87.5	84.0	85.5	215.32	20	18	2	0.17
West Bromwich Albion	88.0	86.8	87.3	88.5	82.0	86.5	217.13	14	13	1	0.15
Udinese Calcio	87.0	87.8	87.0	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.64	12	12	0	0.08
Feyenoord	88.0	87.5	87.5	87.5	86.0	87.3	217.76	10	11	-1	0.00
Club Brugge KV	87.0	86.8	87.8	87.5	85.0	86.8	217.12	15	16	-1	0.00
Málaga CF	87.0	88.0	87.5	87.0	86.0	87.1	217.71	11	14	-3	-0.14
Lille OSC	87.0	86.8	87.5	88.0	85.0	86.9	217.24	13	17	-4	-0.18
Santos FC	88.0	87.3	88.5	87.5	85.0	87.3	218.24	7	10	-3	-0.20
FC Basel	88.0	88.0	88.0	88.5	86.0	87.7	219.21	3	5	-2	-0.20
River Plate	88.0	88.5	88.3	87.0	85.0	87.4	218.71	5	8	-3	-0.25
Independiente	87.0	88.3	87.5	87.5	85.0	87.1	218.12	8	20	-12	-0.55
West Ham United	87.0	89.0	89.0	88.5	86.0	87.9	220.69	2	9	-7	-0.67
FC Twente	91.0	87.0	87.8	89.0	85.0	88.0	218.77	4	19	-15	-0.74

Season 7 Division 4 value added.

Sun, 27 May 2018 15:30:00 +0100

Season 7 Division 4 value added.

Liege set the highest standard, but Sao Paulo get the highest VA.

Standard Liege the winners of D4 also get the highest PVA of +6 , remarkable for a playoff bound team. Sao Paulo arguably out did them , with automatic promotion and a VA of +12.

Marseille gained +9 VA and a playoff spot. Zagreb really pulled out the stops to get a VA of +5, the odds on last placed tean , secured their future in 15th.

Espanyol were a disapointing 8th, and got the lowest PVA and VA. Monaco must be dissapointed at finishing only in the playoff but happier perhaps than Villa and Olympiacos who missed out.

Again relegation was sadly predictable with Besitkas, Dynamo Moscow, Stuttgart failing to improve on their starting position. Bordeaux must look to the future as a strong side were relegated.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
Standard Liège	89.0	88.3	89.3	87.5	87.0	88.2	220.00	6	1	5	6.00
São Paulo FC	88.0	87.5	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.08	15	3	12	4.33
Olympique Marseille	87.0	87.3	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.96	16	7	9	1.43
Torino	89.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.7	218.60	10	5	5	1.20
RSC Anderlecht	88.0	88.8	89.3	91.0	85.0	88.4	222.31	3	2	1	1.00
Dinamo Zagreb	88.0	87.0	87.5	86.5	85.0	86.8	216.59	20	15	5	0.40
Stuttgart	88.0	86.5	88.0	87.5	85.0	87.0	217.24	19	18	1	0.11
Crystal Palace	87.0	88.3	88.0	87.5	86.0	87.4	218.64	9	9	0	0.11
FK Partizan	88.0	88.3	87.8	87.5	85.0	87.3	218.44	12	13	-1	0.00
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	87.5	87.5	88.0	83.0	86.6	217.60	18	19	-1	0.00
Beşiktaş JK	88.0	86.8	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.4	217.88	17	20	-3	-0.10
Girondins Bordeaux	87.0	87.3	87.5	88.5	86.0	87.3	218.09	14	17	-3	-0.12
Atalanta BC	88.0	87.0	88.8	87.5	86.0	87.5	218.36	13	16	-3	-0.13
Levante UD	87.0	88.0	88.0	87.5	86.0	87.3	218.44	11	14	-3	-0.14
Hellas Verona	89.0	88.0	89.8	90.0	86.0	88.6	221.70	4	6	-2	-0.17
Stoke City	88.0	88.3	87.3	88.5	85.0	87.4	218.69	8	11	-3	-0.18
Olympiacos	89.0	88.0	88.0	88.5	85.0	87.7	219.21	7	12	-5	-0.33
Aston Villa	88.0	88.5	88.3	90.0	86.0	88.2	220.78	5	10	-5	-0.40
AS Monaco	88.0	88.5	90.0	91.0	88.0	89.1	223.07	1	4	-3	-0.50
RCD Espanyol	90.0	88.3	89.8	90.5	87.0	89.1	222.47	2	8	-6	-0.63

Season 7 Division 3 Value added.

Sun, 27 May 2018 15:11:00 +0100

Division 3 value added season 7.

A whole lot of Hertha for the others as Berlin storm to the top.

Disaster for Leicester and AZ.

Hertha really pulled out all the stop to finish top, they get the highest PVA of +4 , the highest VA goes to Galatasary at +10 in 7th , they were early season relegation fodder so a particular shout for them. The other playoff teams , Chievo and Spartak get the next 2 VA spots at +9. Newcastle and Lazio more or less did what was expected of them and gained promotion.

Leicester were the notable top of the flops at -10 VA and the lowest PVA. Narrowly ahead of Lyon who should have been promoted but avoided even the playoffs at -5 VA and -0.5PVA, tied with PSV who could still get promoted despite a below par season.

Relegation was a bit less predictable but still 3 of the predicted lowest 5 were relegated.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Pred	Fin	VA	PVA
H. Berlin	88.0	88.0	88.5	90.0	86.0	88.1	220.58	4	1	3	4.00
Spartak Moskva	87.0	87.8	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.2	218.44	14	5	9	2.00
Chievo Verona	87.0	87.0	88.5	88.0	85.0	87.1	218.24	15	6	9	1.67
Galatasaray SK	88.0	86.8	87.8	88.5	85.0	87.2	217.89	17	7	10	1.57
Newcastle United	89.0	88.8	88.8	88.0	87.0	88.3	220.32	6	3	3	1.33
SS Lazio	89.0	89.0	89.8	89.5	87.0	88.9	222.30	2	2	0	0.50
Dynamo Kyiv	87.0	88.0	88.8	87.0	85.0	87.2	218.59	12	9	3	0.44
Fenerbahçe SK	89.0	87.0	87.5	88.0	85.0	87.3	217.68	19	16	3	0.25
Cruzeiro	87.0	87.0	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.6	216.39	20	19	1	0.11
Swansea City	87.0	87.3	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.84	18	20	-2	-0.05
Boca Juniors	88.0	87.3	88.3	88.0	82.0	86.7	218.00	16	18	-2	-0.06
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	87.5	88.0	88.5	85.0	87.4	218.69	11	13	-2	-0.08
Athletic Club	89.0	87.5	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.8	218.80	10	12	-2	-0.08
Hamburg	88.0	87.8	88.3	89.0	86.0	87.8	219.54	8	10	-2	-0.10
AZ Alkmaar	89.0	87.5	87.5	88.5	86.0	87.7	218.53	13	17	-4	-0.18
CSKA Moskva	89.0	88.5	88.5	88.5	87.0	88.3	220.25	7	11	-4	-0.27
Shakhtar Donetsk	89.0	88.0	88.3	88.0	85.0	87.7	219.08	9	14	-5	-0.29
PSV	89.0	89.0	89.8	90.0	87.0	89.0	222.62	1	4	-3	-0.50
Olympique Lyonnais	90.0	88.3	89.0	89.5	86.0	88.6	221.10	3	8	-5	-0.50
Leicester City	89.0	88.5	88.5	89.0	87.0	88.4	220.57	5	15	-10	-0.60

Season 7 Division 2 Value Added.

Sat, 26 May 2018 14:12:00 +0100

SC Internacional lead the tables, with all the predicted top 7 massively underperforming.

If Division 1 is predictable , then Division 2 is the opposite.

SC Internacional finished 12 spots ahead of predicted and won the league, also with the highest PVA , Everton were also promoted automatically and were the highest originally rated team to do well. Hoffenheim were also 12 places higher than predicted in 4th, but must go through the playoffs. Sevilla another playoff team must also be proud of their performance.

Conversly the decline of AC Milan continues , should have bounced back but finished 10th, with the worse PVA . Ajax who should also have gone up finished 11th , Southampton who should have been in the playoff spots got relegated and have the worse VA.

The main similarity with D1 is that 3 out of the 4 relegated teams were the statistically the worse at the start of the season.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
SC Internacional	90.0	88.3	89.0	89.5	86.0	88.6	221.10	13	1	12	13.00
Everton	89.0	89.5	90.5	89.5	87.0	89.1	223.30	8	2	6	3.50
Hoffenheim	88.0	89.5	87.5	88.5	86.0	87.9	220.01	16	4	12	3.25
Sevilla	89.0	89.5	90.0	89.0	85.0	88.5	222.33	11	5	6	1.40
Sassuolo	88.0	89.3	89.0	89.0	86.0	88.3	221.33	12	9	3	0.44
Genoa CFC	89.0	89.3	88.3	91.5	85.0	88.6	222.36	10	8	2	0.38
Celtic	86.0	88.5	88.8	89.5	85.0	87.6	220.50	15	13	2	0.23
Sporting CP	87.0	88.0	88.3	89.5	86.0	87.8	219.98	17	15	2	0.20
AS Saint-Etienne	88.0	87.3	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.08	20	19	1	0.11
Sunderland	90.0	88.0	88.0	89.0	87.0	88.4	219.89	18	18	0	0.06
Sampdoria	87.0	88.3	88.8	88.5	86.0	87.7	219.89	19	20	-1	0.00
Zenit Saint Petersburg	91.0	88.5	88.8	89.0	87.0	88.9	221.01	14	16	-2	-0.06
Internazionale	91.0	90.3	90.0	90.0	87.0	89.7	224.06	5	7	-2	-0.14
Villarreal CF	88.0	89.8	90.5	89.5	86.0	88.8	223.26	9	12	-3	-0.17
Valencia CF	89.0	89.8	91.0	90.0	86.0	89.2	224.10	4	6	-2	-0.17
Leverkusen	91.0	89.5	90.5	92.5	83.0	89.3	225.01	1	3	-2	-0.33
SL Benfica	87.0	89.3	91.0	90.0	87.0	88.9	223.58	7	14	-7	-0.43
Southampton	90.0	90.0	90.3	90.0	86.0	89.3	223.82	6	17	-11	-0.59
Ajax	90.0	90.0	90.3	90.5	87.0	89.6	224.27	3	11	-8	-0.64
AC Milan	90.0	90.3	90.5	90.5	88.0	89.9	224.79	2	10	-8	-0.70

Division 1 Value Added Season 7

Sat, 26 May 2018 13:58:00 +0100

Division 1 value added.

Ok this is how it works. At the start of the season I worked out statistically where each team should finish.

From that you deduct the finishing position to give the value added , VA.

So if a team should have finished 8th but came 2nd they get a VA of +6.

However to take into account relevance of finishing position we then add 1 to that and divide by the finishing postion to get the positional value added PVA.

So in the above situation they would get a PVA of 3.5 ( 6+1 ) / 2.

So in Division 1 Roma get the highest PVA finishing 7 spots ahead of predicted, they also have the highest VA of _2 . Barcelona & Bayern are second in PVA which shows the settled nature of the division. Other notable performances are Porto , Schalke and Liverpool , who could have been in relegation trouble but all kept afloat.

Lowest PVA was Man Utd who just underperformed Tottenham who had the lowest net VA. The relegation of Atletico Madrid is the stand out for me as the other relegated teams were those predicted at the start of the season , which begs an interesting question.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr	Fin	VA	PVA
AS Roma	92.0	89.8	92.0	90.5	86.0	90.1	225.59	13	6	7	1.33
Barcelona	96.0	93.3	94.5	97.0	85.0	93.2	234.97	1	1	0	1.00
Bayern	92.0	93.3	94.3	95.5	88.0	92.6	233.68	3	2	1	1.00
Manchester City	90.0	91.0	91.0	94.0	87.0	90.6	227.94	8	5	3	0.80
Juventus	95.0	91.3	93.5	94.0	90.0	92.8	231.10	4	3	1	0.67
Paris Saint-Germain	94.0	91.8	91.3	91.0	87.0	91.0	227.27	10	7	3	0.57
FC Porto	90.0	90.5	90.3	90.5	88.0	89.9	224.79	15	11	4	0.45
Schalke	89.0	89.5	90.8	91.0	87.0	89.5	224.47	17	13	4	0.38
Liverpool	90.0	90.0	90.0	90.0	87.0	89.4	223.74	19	16	3	0.25
ACF Fiorentina	89.0	88.8	90.0	89.5	86.0	88.7	222.18	20	20	0	0.05
Dortmund	92.0	90.5	91.5	92.0	86.0	90.4	226.76	11	12	-1	0.00
Wolfsburg	90.0	90.5	90.8	90.0	87.0	89.7	224.74	16	17	-1	0.00
Monchengladbach	90.0	89.5	90.8	91.0	86.0	89.5	224.47	18	19	-1	0.00
Real Madrid	93.0	91.8	92.3	93.5	87.0	91.5	229.58	6	8	-2	-0.13
SSC Napoli	90.0	90.0	91.8	92.0	87.0	90.2	226.44	12	15	-3	-0.13
Atlético Madrid	89.0	90.5	91.0	91.0	87.0	89.7	225.47	14	18	-4	-0.17
Arsenal	91.0	91.3	91.3	93.5	88.0	91.0	228.26	7	10	-3	-0.20
Chelsea	93.0	93.3	93.3	97.5	85.0	92.4	233.94	2	4	-2	-0.25
Tottenham Hotspur	90.0	91.3	92.5	91.5	88.0	90.7	227.84	9	14	-5	-0.29
Manchester United	89.0	91.3	94.3	92.5	87.0	90.8	229.65	5	9	-4	-0.33

Season 7 D5 stats and facts.

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 18:00:00 +0100

Division 5 Season 7 stats and facts. Two teams should dominate but will they ?

At least for now my own Celta Vigo team sit top of the pile. With a midfield worthy of D2 at least it is no surprise they haven't lost in any serious competition so far. Weaker at the back but strong enough for this league. West Ham have a stronger defense but a weaker keeper which could be their downfall.

Basel have a more balanced approach with no overall weakness, unlike Twente who load up the keeper and forward line at the expense of all else.

Dnipro should be an interesting team if they can get enough possession to do damage to the opposition. River Plate 6th in the stats currently lead the division , a good start by a team good enough to challenge all season long. Lille in 2nd probably don't have what it takes ,mainly a weak defence is likely to let them down.

Rubin Kazan are in last place stats wise and are waiting for the Portuguese ratings to buff their keeper up to the 86 /87 he deserves , so expect them to do better. Augsburg, Bremen , Flamengo will suffer all year with their current set ups.

Division 5 is 2 pts per club weaker on average or roughly 1pt per player position only really the top half statisically should hope for promotion.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr
CELTA VIGO	88.0	88.0	89.8	88.5	87.0	88.3	220.73	1
West Ham United	87.0	89.0	89.0	88.5	86.0	87.9	220.69	2
FC Basel	88.0	88.0	88.0	88.5	86.0	87.7	219.21	3
FC Twente	91.0	87.0	87.8	89.0	85.0	88.0	218.77	4
River Plate	88.0	88.5	88.3	87.0	85.0	87.4	218.71	5
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.3	87.8	88.5	86.0	87.5	218.41	6
Santos FC	88.0	87.3	88.5	87.5	85.0	87.3	218.24	7
Independiente	87.0	88.3	87.5	87.5	85.0	87.1	218.12	8
Cologne	89.0	87.5	87.5	87.5	85.0	87.3	217.76	9
Feyenoord	88.0	87.5	87.5	87.5	86.0	87.3	217.76	10
Málaga CF	87.0	88.0	87.5	87.0	86.0	87.1	217.71	11
Udinese Calcio	87.0	87.8	87.0	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.64	12
Lille OSC	87.0	86.8	87.5	88.0	85.0	86.9	217.24	13
West Bromwich Albion	88.0	86.8	87.3	88.5	82.0	86.5	217.13	14
Club Brugge KV	87.0	86.8	87.8	87.5	85.0	86.8	217.12	15
Montpellier HSC	88.0	86.5	87.0	88.5	85.0	87.0	217.09	16
Flamengo	87.0	86.0	88.0	87.5	86.0	86.9	216.84	17
Bremen	87.0	87.0	87.0	87.5	85.0	86.7	216.72	18
Augsburg	88.0	86.8	86.8	87.5	84.0	86.6	216.32	19
Rubin Kazan	83.0	86.5	86.5	87.5	84.0	85.5	215.32	20

Season 7 D4 Stats and Facts

Tue, 30 Jan 2018 21:29:00 +0100

Division 4 in many ways better than Division 3.

With one exceptional club in AS Monaco who could succeed in D1 the average D4 side is as good as the average D3 side.

At least statistically speaking D4 has a better club than anything in D3 and D3 has a worse club than anything in D4. The world has gone mad!.

This should give you the idea that D4 is a wide open mad world where almost anyone who gets promoted could then go on to have a second good season , so probably D4 sides could see a double bounce as a quite reasonable prospect.

Monaco's big problem is a weak keeper for such a good side. They will prosper in D4 but everyone knows , bye pass the midfield lump the ball up to a big striker. This leaves them vunerable to the likes of Espanyol, Anderlecht, Hellas and Aston Villa all who could challenge them.

Espanyol are the most balanced side and should concede the least goals.

Anderlecht should expect a good finishing position but do they have the depth for a full season push. Their Belgium rivals don't have that issue but a weak offense is likely to be their achilles heel.

There are a number of relegation possibilities all the way up to Bordeaux should be concerned. Zagreb are strong enough at the back , but where will the goals come from, Stuttgart doing well for now but lack depth and have defensive frailties. Dynamo Moscow more than any team can not afford a single injury without the team suffering.

So finally D3 and D4 seem to have merged ratings rise, at least for now, however some old timers may see their last few season in D4 and the rating drop will come sooner or maybe much further in the season.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr
AS Monaco	88.0	88.5	90.0	91.0	88.0	89.1	223.07	1
RCD Espanyol	90.0	88.3	89.8	90.5	87.0	89.1	222.47	2
RSC Anderlecht	88.0	88.8	89.3	91.0	85.0	88.4	222.31	3
Hellas Verona	89.0	88.0	89.8	90.0	86.0	88.6	221.70	4
Aston Villa	88.0	88.5	88.3	90.0	86.0	88.2	220.78	5
Standard Liège	89.0	88.3	89.3	87.5	87.0	88.2	220.00	6
Olympiacos	89.0	88.0	88.0	88.5	85.0	87.7	219.21	7
Stoke City	88.0	88.3	87.3	88.5	85.0	87.4	218.69	8
Crystal Palace	87.0	88.3	88.0	87.5	86.0	87.4	218.64	9
Torino	89.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.7	218.60	10
Levante UD	87.0	88.0	88.0	87.5	86.0	87.3	218.44	11
FK Partizan	88.0	88.3	87.8	87.5	85.0	87.3	218.44	12
Atalanta BC	88.0	87.0	88.8	87.5	86.0	87.5	218.36	13
Girondins Bordeaux	87.0	87.3	87.5	88.5	86.0	87.3	218.09	14
São Paulo FC	88.0	87.5	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.08	15
Olympique Marseille	87.0	87.3	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.2	217.96	16
Beşiktaş JK	88.0	86.8	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.4	217.88	17
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	87.5	87.5	88.0	83.0	86.6	217.60	18
Stuttgart	88.0	86.5	88.0	87.5	85.0	87.0	217.24	19
Dinamo Zagreb	88.0	87.0	87.5	86.5	85.0	86.8	216.59	20

Season 7 Division 3 Stats and Facts

Mon, 29 Jan 2018 15:35:00 +0100

Division 3 stats and facts, are you the best or worst at being average?

PSV and Lazio head and shoulders above the rest.

Good news for those in division 3 , there are probably 10 or more clubs down to Shaktar who if they were promoted wouldn't get relegated straight away. A 90 rated attacking line is sure to do well against the generally weaker defences and keepers of D3, the only way to keep them at bay would be to deny possesion. This gives PSV a huge advantage as they should also get most of the ball. Only Lazio and Lyon can match them in that respect.

These should be the promoted teams with Hertha , who have another 90 attacking team on their tails.

Leicester , Newcastle, CSKA, Hamburg all very similar teams , who could push for a play off spot.

At the wrong end there is a fairly steep decline. We see 87 or even 86's in defence and if this is combined with a weak midfield their is only one way this will go. The two Turkish sides Cruziero and Swansea look hot to drop. With the exception of Galatasaray they fill the lower 4 positions along with Boca Juniors who are rated 5th from last in any case.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT
PSV	89.0	89.0	89.8	90.0	87.0	89.0	222.62
SS Lazio	89.0	89.0	89.8	89.5	87.0	88.9	222.30
Olympique Lyonnais	90.0	88.3	89.0	89.5	86.0	88.6	221.10
H. Berlin	88.0	88.0	88.5	90.0	86.0	88.1	220.58
Leicester City	89.0	88.5	88.5	89.0	87.0	88.4	220.57
Newcastle United	89.0	88.8	88.8	88.0	87.0	88.3	220.32
CSKA Moskva	89.0	88.5	88.5	88.5	87.0	88.3	220.25
Hamburg	88.0	87.8	88.3	89.0	86.0	87.8	219.54
Shakhtar Donetsk	89.0	88.0	88.3	88.0	85.0	87.7	219.08
Athletic Club	89.0	87.5	88.3	88.0	86.0	87.8	218.80
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	87.5	88.0	88.5	85.0	87.4	218.69
Dynamo Kyiv	87.0	88.0	88.8	87.0	85.0	87.2	218.59
AZ Alkmaar	89.0	87.5	87.5	88.5	86.0	87.7	218.53
Spartak Moskva	87.0	87.8	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.2	218.44
Chievo Verona	87.0	87.0	88.5	88.0	85.0	87.1	218.24
Boca Juniors	88.0	87.3	88.3	88.0	82.0	86.7	218.00
Galatasaray SK	88.0	86.8	87.8	88.5	85.0	87.2	217.89
Swansea City	87.0	87.3	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.0	217.84
Fenerbahçe SK	89.0	87.0	87.5	88.0	85.0	87.3	217.68
Cruzeiro	87.0	87.0	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.6	216.39

Season 7 Division 2 stats and fact.

Sun, 28 Jan 2018 15:27:00 +0100

Is there an impossible gap between D2 and D1. The stats suggest yes. Can a top manager prove otherwise.

To not get instantly relegated the ETOT, the experimental ratings total in D1 is around 224.5

As you can see from the table below only AC Milan and Leverkeusen have a strong enough squad to survive more than one season. This sets up the dilema, get promotion get the sack next year..

In any case neither of these teams has had a great start.

Leverkeusen and AC Milan should be there or there abouts at the end of the season and in theory 1 / 2. Leverkeusen lack depth and have a shaky defence but in every other aspect have a great starting 11.

Milan are steady throughout and should be hard to break down by any team.

Ajax , Inter and Southampton are more or less AC Milan clones and except for Inter, none have had a great start , is there a shift to individual performance in the game dynamics or perhaps morale is more important.

Valencia should push for a higher place but goalkeeping has always been a weak point. Giroud has never really done the business for them and perhaps he should be sold on.

Everton have a well balanced side and depth which has set them off on the right course during the early part of the season.

At the wrong end the lower 4 teams dip below 220, each has an obvious exploitable fault. Sporting the keeper, Sunderland the midfield, Sampdoria the keeper and AS St Etienne the defence. Now there may be transfers coming in but Sunderland will stuggle for possession and that seems to count for so much .

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT	Epr
Leverkusen	91.0	89.5	90.5	92.5	83.0	89.3	225.01	1
AC Milan	90.0	90.3	90.5	90.5	88.0	89.9	224.79	2
Ajax	90.0	90.0	90.3	90.5	87.0	89.6	224.27	3
Valencia CF	89.0	89.8	91.0	90.0	86.0	89.2	224.10	4
Internazionale	91.0	90.3	90.0	90.0	87.0	89.7	224.06	5
Southampton	90.0	90.0	90.3	90.0	86.0	89.3	223.82	6
SL Benfica	87.0	89.3	91.0	90.0	87.0	88.9	223.58	7
Everton	89.0	89.5	90.5	89.5	87.0	89.1	223.30	8
Villarreal CF	88.0	89.8	90.5	89.5	86.0	88.8	223.26	9
Genoa CFC	89.0	89.3	88.3	91.5	85.0	88.6	222.36	10
Sevilla	89.0	89.5	90.0	89.0	85.0	88.5	222.33	11
Sassuolo	88.0	89.3	89.0	89.0	86.0	88.3	221.33	12
SC Internacional	90.0	88.3	89.0	89.5	86.0	88.6	221.10	13
Zenit Saint Petersburg	91.0	88.5	88.8	89.0	87.0	88.9	221.01	14
Celtic	86.0	88.5	88.8	89.5	85.0	87.6	220.50	15
Hoffenheim	88.0	89.5	87.5	88.5	86.0	87.9	220.01	16
Sporting CP	87.0	88.0	88.3	89.5	86.0	87.8	219.98	17
Sunderland	90.0	88.0	88.0	89.0	87.0	88.4	219.89	18
Sampdoria	87.0	88.3	88.8	88.5	86.0	87.7	219.89	19
AS Saint-Etienne	88.0	87.3	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.4	218.08	20

Season 7 Division 1 stats and facts.

Sat, 27 Jan 2018 15:19:00 +0100

Shock as new prediction formula predicts Barcelona will win the league .

Will Chelsea , Bayern or Juve have enough to push them out the way?

First of all the usual warning.

None of the statistics are an opinion based, neither do they in anyway reflect the hard work or inate managerial skill you all obviously all have.

I also have, at some points , had to make difficult choices around the kind of formation you will put out.

The new "experimental " formula slightly downgrades the effect of a singular good keeper and the importance of depth. Why ? well on testing over the last season it seems to get it right more often.

Barcelona and Chelsea have much the best starting sides, but lack some depth. So they should do well early in the season until fatigue and injury starts to bite. They will need to build up a good lead as Juventus and Bayern have more depth and will worry less.

Real Madrid should also prove a hard side to break down. Man Utd on the otherhand could well suffer at the hands of the big sides.

Fiorentina and Liverpool look like the obvious favourites for relegation. Despite a fair start Fiorentina seem to be relatively weak in all categories, meaning teams just need to play their normal game to beat them. Liverpool less so and have a stronger defence but will that be enough as the draws start to mount up. Then any two of 4 out of Porto, Wolfsburg, Schalke and Monchengladbach should fill up the remaining spots.

Don't read anything into Dortmunds poor start , look at the fixtures, they have played all the top sides statistically and will now be looking to climb up the table.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	ETOT
Barcelona	96.0	93.3	94.5	97.0	85.0	93.2	234.97
Chelsea	93.0	93.3	93.3	97.5	85.0	92.4	233.94
Bayern	92.0	93.3	94.3	95.5	88.0	92.6	233.68
Juventus	95.0	91.3	93.5	94.0	90.0	92.8	231.10
Manchester United	89.0	91.3	94.3	92.5	87.0	90.8	229.65
Real Madrid	93.0	91.8	92.3	93.5	87.0	91.5	229.58
Arsenal	91.0	91.3	91.3	93.5	88.0	91.0	228.26
Manchester City	90.0	91.0	91.0	94.0	87.0	90.6	227.94
Tottenham Hotspur	90.0	91.3	92.5	91.5	88.0	90.7	227.84
Paris Saint-Germain	94.0	91.8	91.3	91.0	87.0	91.0	227.27
Dortmund	92.0	90.5	91.5	92.0	86.0	90.4	226.76
SSC Napoli	90.0	90.0	91.8	92.0	87.0	90.2	226.44
AS Roma	92.0	89.8	92.0	90.5	86.0	90.1	225.59
Atlético Madrid	89.0	90.5	91.0	91.0	87.0	89.7	225.47
FC Porto	90.0	90.5	90.3	90.5	88.0	89.9	224.79
Wolfsburg	90.0	90.5	90.8	90.0	87.0	89.7	224.74
Schalke	89.0	89.5	90.8	91.0	87.0	89.5	224.47
Monchengladbach	90.0	89.5	90.8	91.0	86.0	89.5	224.47
Liverpool	90.0	90.0	90.0	90.0	87.0	89.4	223.74
ACF Fiorentina	89.0	88.8	90.0	89.5	86.0	88.7	222.18

Division 5 Value added. S6

Sat, 30 Dec 2017 16:19:00 +0100

Division 5 Value added season 6.

The division where winning isn't enough.

Might seen cruel that Monaco are so lowely rated, but they were head and shoulders above the rest so it was a walk in the park. Torino and Twente were also highly ranked ,so only one of the top 4 figure in the best scores.

Anderlecht , Bremen and Augsburg have the best VA with 3rd spot Anderlecht claiming the overall crown.

Bremen and Augsburg 6th and 8th respectively also come 2nd and 3rd in the PVA. Montpellier who grab a playoff spot also had a great VA on +9.

Worse performers were Cologne - 10 VA and -0.47 PVA. West Ham Espanyol , River Plate who should all have been in the playoffs or promoted fill the remaining lower positions. Espanyol in the play offs may feel annoyed but they should have been promoted automatically ..

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	Pr	Fin	VA	PVA
RSC Anderlecht	86.0	87.5	87.8	87.5	85.0	86.75	14.0	3.0	11.0	4
Bremen	87.0	87.0	87.0	87.5	85.0	86.70	17.0	6.0	11.0	2
Augsburg	88.0	85.5	87.5	87.0	82.0	86.00	19.0	8.0	11.0	1.5
Torino	89.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.70	4.0	2.0	2.0	1.5
Montpellier HSC	86.0	87.0	87.0	88.5	85.0	86.70	16.0	7.0	9.0	1.43
AS Monaco	88.0	88.3	90.3	90.0	86.0	88.50	1.0	1.0	0.0	1
Santos FC	87.0	86.0	87.8	87.0	85.0	86.55	18.0	15.0	3.0	0.27
West Bromwich Albion	87.0	83.0	84.0	87.0	77.0	83.60	20.0	18.0	2.0	0.17
FC Twente	92.0	87.3	88.0	89.0	85.0	88.25	3.0	4.0	-1.0	0
Lille OSC	89.0	87.0	87.5	88.0	85.0	87.30	8.0	9.0	-1.0	0
Club Brugge KV	88.0	87.3	88.0	87.5	85.0	87.15	10.0	12.0	-2.0	-0.08
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.0	87.3	87.5	86.0	87.15	11.0	14.0	-3.0	-0.14
Flamengo	87.0	87.8	87.8	87.0	86.0	87.10	13.0	17.0	-4.0	-0.18
Independiente	87.0	88.0	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.15	12.0	16.0	-4.0	-0.19
Rubin Kazan	88.0	86.8	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.75	15.0	20.0	-5.0	-0.2
West Ham United	88.0	88.3	89.0	87.5	84.0	87.35	7.0	10.0	-3.0	-0.2
RCD Espanyol	88.0	88.8	89.5	89.0	87.0	88.45	2.0	5.0	-3.0	-0.4
River Plate	88.0	88.8	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.50	5.0	11.0	-6.0	-0.45
Udinese Calcio	87.0	87.8	88.0	88.5	86.0	87.45	6.0	13.0	-7.0	-0.46
Cologne	87.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.25	9.0	19.0	-10.0	-0.47

D4 Season 6 Value added

Sat, 30 Dec 2017 15:57:00 +0100

Division 4 Season 6 value added.

Best value added +12, goes to Dynamo Kiev and Sao Paulo but they had too much to gain on Hertha Berlin the PVA leader and champions.

A notable + 10 for Dynamo Moscow and +7 for relegation favoured Dynamo Zagreb. 4th place Palace also had the fourth highest PVA of +2.

At the wrong end, Basel have the worse PVA and VA of - 15. Liege struggle to impress 6 places lower than they should have been . Malaga were 7 places lower and got relegated. Second lowest VA is for Celta Vigo who came 9 places lower than they should .

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	Pr	Fin	VA	PVA
H. Berlin	88.0	87.5	88.0	89.0	86.0	87.70	7.0	1.0	6.0	7
Dynamo Kyiv	87.0	88.0	88.5	86.5	86.0	87.20	15.0	3.0	12.0	4.33
São Paulo FC	88.0	87.3	87.3	88.0	85.0	87.10	17.0	5.0	12.0	2.6
Crystal Palace	87.0	88.0	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.40	11.0	4.0	7.0	2
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	87.0	87.8	87.5	86.0	87.05	18.0	8.0	10.0	1.38
Dinamo Zagreb	88.0	87.0	87.5	87.0	85.0	86.90	20.0	13.0	7.0	0.62
Girondins Bordeaux	87.0	87.0	87.3	88.0	86.0	87.05	19.0	14.0	5.0	0.43
Stuttgart	88.0	87.0	88.0	87.5	85.0	87.10	16.0	16.0	0.0	0.06
Leicester City	89.0	88.3	88.3	89.5	86.0	88.20	1.0	2.0	-1.0	0
Levante UD	87.0	88.3	88.3	88.0	85.0	87.30	14.0	15.0	-1.0	0
Olympiacos	89.0	88.0	88.3	88.5	85.0	87.75	5.0	6.0	-1.0	0
Stoke City	88.0	87.3	89.0	88.0	85.0	87.45	9.0	11.0	-2.0	-0.1
Atalanta BC	88.0	87.3	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.45	8.0	10.0	-2.0	-0.1
Feyenoord	88.0	87.5	87.8	87.5	86.0	87.35	12.0	18.0	-6.0	-0.3
Boca Juniors	88.0	88.0	88.0	88.0	87.0	87.80	4.0	7.0	-3.0	-0.3
Málaga CF	87.0	88.0	87.3	87.5	87.0	87.35	13.0	20.0	-7.0	-0.3
FK Partizan	88.0	88.3	88.3	87.0	87.0	87.70	6.0	12.0	-6.0	-0.4
Celta Vigo	87.0	87.5	89.3	88.5	85.0	87.45	10.0	19.0	-9.0	-0.4
Standard Liège	88.0	87.3	88.3	89.0	87.0	87.90	3.0	9.0	-6.0	-0.6
FC Basel	89.0	88.5	88.5	89.0	85.0	88.00	2.0	17.0	-15.0	-0.8

Division 3 Value added Season 6

Sat, 30 Dec 2017 15:47:00 +0100

Division 3 value added season 6

The Hoff have a massive +13 VA and +14 PVA.. Chievo close on +13 VA and 2.8 PVA with Celtic 2nd place in league and PVA.

St Etienne also had a great season +5 VA +2 PVA, special mention must go to Hamburg on +8 VA who fell at the last hurdle, and Cruziero with +8 VA.

PSV failed to impress on -14 VA and -0.87 PVA, arguably the weakest performance in all 5 division was Hellas who were predicted 2nd but came last on -18 VA with also relegate Marsielle not far behind.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	Pr	Fin	VA	PVA
Hoffenheim	88.0	87.5	88.5	88.0	85.0	87.40	14.0	1.0	13.0	14
Celtic	88.0	89.0	89.3	89.0	85.0	88.05	7.0	2.0	5.0	3
Chievo Verona	88.0	87.3	88.8	86.0	85.0	87.00	18.0	5.0	13.0	2.8
AS Saint-Etienne	89.0	87.5	88.0	88.5	86.0	87.80	8.0	3.0	5.0	2
Hamburg	88.0	88.3	87.8	87.5	85.0	87.30	16.0	8.0	8.0	1.125
Newcastle United	88.0	88.8	88.8	88.5	87.0	88.20	6.0	4.0	2.0	0.75
Cruzeiro	87.0	86.7	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.54	20.0	12.0	8.0	0.75
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	87.5	87.3	89.0	85.0	87.35	15.0	11.0	4.0	0.455
Spartak Moskva	87.0	87.8	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.15	17.0	13.0	4.0	0.385
Galatasaray SK	87.0	87.3	87.5	88.5	84.0	86.85	19.0	16.0	3.0	0.25
AZ Alkmaar	89.0	87.3	87.5	88.5	86.0	87.65	10.0	10.0	0.0	0.1
Swansea City	88.0	86.5	88.3	89.0	86.0	87.55	13.0	14.0	-1.0	0
Sevilla	88.0	89.5	90.0	90.0	85.0	88.50	4.0	6.0	-2.0	-0.167
Aston Villa	88.0	88.3	88.3	87.5	86.0	87.60	12.0	17.0	-5.0	-0.235
Shakhtar Donetsk	90.0	88.0	88.3	88.0	87.0	88.25	5.0	9.0	-4.0	-0.333
Beşiktaş JK	87.0	87.0	88.8	88.5	87.0	87.65	11.0	19.0	-8.0	-0.368
Olympique Lyonnais	90.0	88.5	89.0	90.0	85.0	88.50	3.0	7.0	-4.0	-0.429
Olympique Marseille	87.0	88.3	89.0	88.5	86.0	87.75	9.0	18.0	-9.0	-0.444
Hellas Verona	89.0	88.3	89.3	89.5	87.0	88.60	2.0	20.0	-18.0	-0.85
PSV	90.0	89.0	90.0	89.0	87.0	89.00	1.0	15.0	-14.0	-0.867

Value Added Season 6 D2

Fri, 29 Dec 2017 16:41:00 +0100

Borussia M, well deserved leaders PVA, just ahead of Fiorentina who had a great +9 VA

Some other great performances Sporting +6 VA, Sampdoria +5, Genoa +0.8 PVA.

At the wrong end, Inter get the lowest PVA as, they should have finished 1st, narrowly above Benfica who had the lowest VA at -12.

Other poor performances from , Everton and Lazio

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	Pr	ETOT	Epr	FIN	VA	PVA
Monchengladbach	90.0	89.3	90.0	91.5	86.0	89.35	5.0	229.25	5.0	1.0	4.0	5
ACF Fiorentina	89.0	88.8	90.5	89.5	87.0	88.95	9.0	227.78	12.0	3.0	9.0	3.33
Dortmund	89.0	89.5	91.5	90.5	87.0	89.50	4.0	229.84	3.0	2.0	1.0	1
Genoa CFC	89.0	89.3	90.0	90.5	85.0	88.75	12.0	228.36	8.0	5.0	3.0	0.8
Sporting CP	88.0	88.0	88.5	89.5	87.0	88.20	15.0	225.59	16.0	10.0	6.0	0.7
Sampdoria	87.0	88.3	89.3	90.0	87.0	88.30	14.0	226.54	14.0	9.0	5.0	0.67
Schalke	89.0	88.8	90.8	90.0	86.0	88.90	11.0	228.15	9.0	6.0	3.0	0.67
Sassuolo	88.0	88.3	88.8	89.0	85.0	87.80	19.0	225.44	17.0	14.0	3.0	0.29
SC Internacional	89.0	88.8	88.5	89.0	85.0	88.05	16.0	225.89	15.0	13.0	2.0	0.23
Zenit Saint Petersburg	91.0	88.8	88.5	89.5	87.0	88.95	8.0	226.70	13.0	12.0	1.0	0.17
CSKA Moskva	89.0	88.3	88.0	89.0	86.0	88.05	17.0	225.18	18.0	17.0	1.0	0.12
AC Milan	89.0	89.5	89.5	89.5	87.0	88.90	10.0	227.87	11.0	11.0	0.0	0.09
Athletic Club	89.0	88.0	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.90	18.0	224.61	19.0	19.0	0.0	0.05
Fenerbahçe SK	89.0	87.0	88.8	88.0	86.0	87.75	20.0	223.78	20.0	20.0	0.0	0.05
Southampton	90.0	90.0	90.5	90.0	85.0	89.10	6.0	229.23	6.0	8.0	-2.0	-0.13
Leverkusen	91.0	89.8	91.3	90.5	86.0	89.70	2.0	230.04	2.0	4.0	-2.0	-0.25
SS Lazio	89.0	90.0	89.3	89.5	85.0	88.55	13.0	227.96	10.0	18.0	-8.0	-0.39
Everton	89.0	89.5	90.3	89.5	87.0	89.05	7.0	228.36	7.0	15.0	-8.0	-0.47
SL Benfica	92.0	89.8	90.3	91.0	85.0	89.60	3.0	229.71	4.0	16.0	-12.0	-0.69
Internazionale	91.0	90.5	90.5	91.0	86.0	89.80	1.0	230.62	1.0	7.0	-6.0	-0.71

Value added Season 6 Division 1

Fri, 29 Dec 2017 16:26:00 +0100

Value added Season 6 D1.

So below is a table with the raw value added and positional value added based on the actual finish.

Porto had the best PVA finishing 6 places above expected , with Barcelona the best PVA for winnning the title.

Liverpool come 2nd in PVA and VA with Man City scoring highly in both.

At the other end. PSG were worse in both categories having a miserable season all round. Real Madrid and Tottenham also poor all round.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	Pr	ETOT	Epr	Fin	Va	PVA
Barcelona	96.0	93.3	93.5	97.5	85.0	93.1	1.0	240.06	1.00	1	0.00	1.00
Liverpool	90.0	91.3	91.8	90.0	86.0	89.8	14.0	231.43	12.00	7	5.00	0.86
FC Porto	88.0	90.5	89.5	91.0	87.0	89.2	16.0	229.72	16.00	10	6.00	0.70
Manchester City	90.0	90.8	92.5	93.5	86.0	90.6	9.0	233.70	9.00	6	3.00	0.67
Bayern	91.0	93.3	93.5	96.5	87.0	92.3	3.0	239.05	2.00	2	0.00	0.50
Chelsea	93.0	92.8	92.5	97.5	85.0	92.2	4.0	238.54	3.00	3	0.00	0.33
Atlético Madrid	93.0	90.5	91.0	91.0	85.0	90.1	11.0	231.07	13.00	11	2.00	0.27
Juventus	95.0	91.5	93.8	95.0	88.0	92.7	2.0	237.09	4.00	4	0.00	0.25
Arsenal	91.0	91.5	92.8	93.5	88.0	91.4	5.0	234.97	5.00	5	0.00	0.20
Ajax	90.0	89.5	90.0	89.0	87.0	89.1	18.0	227.99	18.00	17	1.00	0.12
Villarreal CF	88.0	89.8	90.0	89.0	86.0	88.6	19.0	227.88	19.00	18	1.00	0.11
Sunderland	88.0	88.0	88.5	89.0	87.0	88.1	20.0	225.26	20.00	20	0.00	0.05
AS Roma	92.0	89.5	91.0	92.0	85.0	89.9	12.0	230.60	14.00	15	-1.00	0.00
Manchester United	94.0	91.3	93.3	92.0	86.0	91.3	6.0	234.20	7.00	8	-1.00	0.00
SSC Napoli	90.0	90.5	92.0	91.0	86.0	89.9	13.0	231.49	11.00	12	-1.00	0.00
Wolfsburg	88.0	90.0	90.5	91.5	86.0	89.2	17.0	230.09	15.00	16	-1.00	0.00
VALENCIA CF	90.0	90.0	90.8	90.0	86.0	89.4	15.0	229.52	17.00	19	-2.00	-0.05
Tottenham Hotspur	91.0	91.3	91.5	91.5	87.0	90.5	10.0	232.48	10.00	13	-3.00	-0.15
Real Madrid	89.0	92.3	92.3	92.8	88.0	90.9	7.0	234.66	6.00	9	-3.00	-0.22
Paris Saint-Germain	89.0	91.3	92.8	93.0	87.0	90.6	8.0	234.04	8.00	14	-6.00	-0.36

Division 5 season 6 stats and facts

Tue, 29 Aug 2017 16:54:00 +0100

Division 5 Season 6 stats and fact , still the only way is up.

Monaco should go up, West Brom are rebuilding, what does the future hold for the foundation of the Top 100.

Monaco Twente and Espanyol sit head and shoulders above the opposition.

The presence of Cech obviously biases the stats of Twente somewhat. The alternative system takes account of this, and sees them as 5th overall.

However it will be hard for most teams to get past such a high rated keeper. Torino and Udinese have potent enough attacks, and that could be key in a division with weaker than average keepers if you exclude Cech.

The variation show maybe any team down to West Ham could get auto promotion , with Dnipro or Flamengo having a playoff chance.

With little to worry about other than the sack race lower down. West Brom are an unknown quantity, if they can rebuild then fine but can they give other teams a 9 ,12, or 15 point headstart, Augsburg potential the next weakest have had a decent start. 6 points in the bag is a premium in this league.

You need 87.2 average to survive D4 so that could be a target for the West Brom boss. 10 or more clubs have this , so any could aim for promotion.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	Pr	ETOT	Epr
AS Monaco	88.0	88.3	90.3	90.0	86.0	88.50	1.0	227.20	1.0
RCD Espanyol	88.0	88.8	89.5	89.0	87.0	88.45	2.0	226.67	2.0
FC Twente	92.0	87.3	88.0	89.0	85.0	88.25	3.0	224.42	5.0
Torino	89.0	87.8	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.70	4.0	223.87	7.0
River Plate	88.0	88.8	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.50	5.0	224.63	3.0
Udinese Calcio	87.0	87.8	88.0	88.5	86.0	87.45	6.0	224.12	6.0
West Ham United	88.0	88.3	89.0	87.5	84.0	87.35	7.0	224.51	4.0
Lille OSC	89.0	87.0	87.5	88.0	85.0	87.30	8.0	222.83	12.0
Cologne	87.0	87.5	87.8	88.0	86.0	87.25	9.0	223.38	9.0
Club Brugge KV	88.0	87.3	88.0	87.5	85.0	87.15	10.0	222.97	11.0
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.0	87.3	87.5	86.0	87.15	11.0	222.34	15.0
Independiente	87.0	88.0	87.8	88.0	85.0	87.15	12.0	223.76	8.0
Flamengo	87.0	87.8	87.8	87.0	86.0	87.10	13.0	222.98	10.0
RSC Anderlecht	86.0	87.5	87.8	87.5	85.0	86.75	14.0	222.81	13.0
Rubin Kazan	88.0	86.8	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.75	15.0	221.48	17.0
Montpellier HSC	86.0	87.0	87.0	88.5	85.0	86.70	16.0	222.47	14.0
Bremen	87.0	87.0	87.0	87.5	85.0	86.70	17.0	221.94	16.0
Santos FC	87.0	86.0	87.8	87.0	85.0	86.55	18.0	221.11	18.0
Augsburg	88.0	85.5	87.5	87.0	82.0	86.00	19.0	220.20	19.0
West Bromwich Albion	87.0	83.0	84.0	87.0	77.0	83.60	20.0	214.67	20.0

Division 4 Season 6 stats and facts

Mon, 28 Aug 2017 14:20:00 +0100

Division 4 Season 6 stats and facts. Twice a win a away from Division 2, will Leicester bounce back or do Celta Vigo have a cunning plan?

89 Keeper , 89 front line, should be enough to push Leicester back from where they came, and early season form backs that up. Basel have much the same arrangement, but with a bit less depth , not such a good start for them , which they can't really afford as they may fade. Lowest placed team Liege should finish 3rd on the main rankings, although the alternate prediction system sees Olympiacos placing higher which is backed up early doors.

Looking up one division , you need around 87.3 to survive D3, which bodes well for the majority of teams , showing the gap between D4 an D3 is perhaps not that large. The deviation shows any team down to Crystal Palace has a realistic play off shout.

Celta Vigo have a midfield heavy side, this pushes them higher up in the alternative ranking system, although it isn't helping much at the moment.

At the trap door end despite a good keeper, Zagreb are the weakest team in the league statistically. Dynamo Moscow and Bordeaux have some strength in depth, which could help them as the season goes on. Again the huge deviations in this division see any team up to Atalanta at threat of relegation, and with only half a point average difference between teams from Sau Paulo to Atalanta it is too tight to call.

Malaga could be the type of team to put together a good cup run , should they wish, without changing their prospects in the league much.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	Pr	ETOT	Epr
Leicester City	89.0	88.3	88.3	89.5	86.0	88.20	1.0	225.67	1.0
FC Basel	89.0	88.5	88.5	89.0	85.0	88.00	2.0	225.64	2.0
Standard Liège	88.0	87.3	88.3	89.0	87.0	87.90	3.0	224.35	5.0
Boca Juniors	88.0	88.0	88.0	88.0	87.0	87.80	4.0	224.28	8.0
Olympiacos	89.0	88.0	88.3	88.5	85.0	87.75	5.0	224.65	3.0
FK Partizan	88.0	88.3	88.3	87.0	87.0	87.70	6.0	224.05	9.0
H. Berlin	88.0	87.5	88.0	89.0	86.0	87.70	7.0	224.31	7.0
Atalanta BC	88.0	87.3	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.45	8.0	223.41	12.0
Stoke City	88.0	87.3	89.0	88.0	85.0	87.45	9.0	223.95	11.0
Celta Vigo	87.0	87.5	89.3	88.5	85.0	87.45	10.0	224.57	4.0
Crystal Palace	87.0	88.0	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.40	11.0	224.04	10.0
Feyenoord	88.0	87.5	87.8	87.5	86.0	87.35	12.0	223.17	15.0
Málaga CF	87.0	88.0	87.3	87.5	87.0	87.35	13.0	223.34	14.0
Levante UD	87.0	88.3	88.3	88.0	85.0	87.30	14.0	224.34	6.0
Dynamo Kyiv	87.0	88.0	88.5	86.5	86.0	87.20	15.0	223.40	13.0
Stuttgart	88.0	87.0	88.0	87.5	85.0	87.10	16.0	222.72	17.0
São Paulo FC	88.0	87.3	87.3	88.0	85.0	87.10	17.0	222.80	16.0
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	87.0	87.8	87.5	86.0	87.05	18.0	222.55	18.0
Girondins Bordeaux	87.0	87.0	87.3	88.0	86.0	87.05	19.0	222.55	19.0
Dinamo Zagreb	88.0	87.0	87.5	87.0	85.0	86.90	20.0	222.06	20.0

Season 6 Division 3 stats and facts

Fri, 25 Aug 2017 16:07:00 +0100

The mad world of Division 3, stats and facts season 6.

Will PSV live up to expectations this season ?

PSV and argueably Sevilla can put out the strongest starting 11, with Olympic Lyon not far behind. Again looking up 1 division PSV would be challenging for a play off space , so this should be a relative doddle for them.

Lyon and Sevilla have the most attacking options, but Sevilla have a weakness between the sticks, which never helps long term.

Injury free Celtic could also challenge for the top spot. With a wild variation in performance vs stats in D3 you could look down as far as St Etienne or even Marseille for the eventual winners or even to Besitkas or Villa for a playoff spot.

The experimental ranking system indeed shows that Marseille or Villa could be dark horses for a play off run.

To survive in D2 you need around 88.10 which would put the cut off between Newcastle and Celtic , lower than that and you will be rejoining your long lost friends.

At the relegation end Chievo , Galatasary and Cruziero look set for the drop. Galatasary and Cruziero have a weak keeper, lack depth, Chievo are desperately weak up top and could find reinforcements in the open market.

While the regular stats put Spatak in the 4th drop spot, the adjusted stats show that Swansea may be more likely to drop, which is backed up by the first couple of games.

I fancy Besitkas for a good cup run, if that is what takes their fancy.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	Pr	ETOT	Epr
PSV	90.0	89.0	90.0	89.0	87.0	89.00	1.0	227.49	2.0
Hellas Verona	89.0	88.3	89.3	89.5	87.0	88.60	2.0	226.45	5.0
Olympique Lyonnais	90.0	88.5	89.0	90.0	85.0	88.50	3.0	226.74	3.0
Sevilla	88.0	89.5	90.0	90.0	85.0	88.50	4.0	228.16	1.0
Shakhtar Donetsk	90.0	88.0	88.3	88.0	87.0	88.25	5.0	224.69	8.0
Newcastle United	88.0	88.8	88.8	88.5	87.0	88.20	6.0	225.85	6.0
Celtic	88.0	89.0	89.3	89.0	85.0	88.05	7.0	226.52	4.0
AS Saint-Etienne	89.0	87.5	88.0	88.5	86.0	87.80	8.0	224.11	10.0
Olympique Marseille	87.0	88.3	89.0	88.5	86.0	87.75	9.0	225.28	7.0
AZ Alkmaar	89.0	87.3	87.5	88.5	86.0	87.65	10.0	223.53	16.0
Beşiktaş JK	87.0	87.0	88.8	88.5	87.0	87.65	11.0	223.98	11.0
Aston Villa	88.0	88.3	88.3	87.5	86.0	87.60	12.0	224.25	9.0
Swansea City	88.0	86.5	88.3	89.0	86.0	87.55	13.0	223.48	17.0
Hoffenheim	88.0	87.5	88.5	88.0	85.0	87.40	14.0	223.87	12.0
Lokomotiv Moskva	88.0	87.5	87.3	89.0	85.0	87.35	15.0	223.70	14.0
Hamburg	88.0	88.3	87.8	87.5	85.0	87.30	16.0	223.80	13.0
Spartak Moskva	87.0	87.8	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.15	17.0	223.67	15.0
Chievo Verona	88.0	87.3	88.8	86.0	85.0	87.00	18.0	222.49	19.0
Galatasaray SK	87.0	87.3	87.5	88.5	84.0	86.85	19.0	223.05	18.0
Cruzeiro	87.0	86.7	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.54	20.0	221.31	20.0

Season 6 Division 2 Stats and facts

Thu, 24 Aug 2017 16:25:00 +0100

Season 6 Division 2 Stats and facts.

Inter Milan should dominate their Italian rivals in this division, with the strong German duo close behind.

Again , a quick note, none of this is my opinion or a reflection on any manager and their skill in making a team or running a team, just raw data crunched and spat out by excel.

It is always worth looking at the division above when considering , who could and who should be promoted.

You will need around 89.4 to survive in D1. So realistically only the top 5 have what it takes, the rest if they get promoted , will in all probability get relegated again.

That being said D2 is a slightly wilder place than D1 and there is always a bigger variation in results.

Inter are solid 90 throughout, only Southampton can match that, but they have much less strength in depth. Dortmund and Leverkeusen lay either side of their Portuguese rivals in Benfica, who can put out a stronger starting 11 if needed but lack in depth also.

Genoa have a potent attack and the alternative rating system shows them pushing for the playoff spot.

Recall that with a SD of around 6 any team down to Lazio could push for a playoff spot and any team up to Schalke are at risk of relegation.

The stats show that CSKA, Sassuolo and Athletic club making the return journey to D3 quicker than they would have liked. Only Sampdoria from the promoted quartet seem to have a good enough squad to survive. Fenerbache who survived on goal difference last season may not be so lucky this year.

It seems to be getting harder and harder each year to survive in D2 with 46 points needed last season.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	Pr	ETOT	Epr
Internazionale	91.0	90.5	90.5	91.0	86.0	89.80	1.0	230.62	1.0
Leverkusen	91.0	89.8	91.3	90.5	86.0	89.70	2.0	230.04	2.0
SL Benfica	92.0	89.8	90.3	91.0	85.0	89.60	3.0	229.71	4.0
Dortmund	89.0	89.5	91.5	90.5	87.0	89.50	4.0	229.84	3.0
Monchengladbach	90.0	89.3	90.0	91.5	86.0	89.35	5.0	229.25	5.0
Southampton	90.0	90.0	90.5	90.0	85.0	89.10	6.0	229.23	6.0
Everton	89.0	89.5	90.3	89.5	87.0	89.05	7.0	228.36	7.0
Zenit Saint Petersburg	91.0	88.8	88.5	89.5	87.0	88.95	8.0	226.70	13.0
ACF Fiorentina	89.0	88.8	90.5	89.5	87.0	88.95	9.0	227.78	12.0
AC Milan	89.0	89.5	89.5	89.5	87.0	88.90	10.0	227.87	11.0
Schalke	89.0	88.8	90.8	90.0	86.0	88.90	11.0	228.15	9.0
Genoa CFC	89.0	89.3	90.0	90.5	85.0	88.75	12.0	228.36	8.0
SS Lazio	89.0	90.0	89.3	89.5	85.0	88.55	13.0	227.96	10.0
Sampdoria	87.0	88.3	89.3	90.0	87.0	88.30	14.0	226.54	14.0
Sporting CP	88.0	88.0	88.5	89.5	87.0	88.20	15.0	225.59	16.0
SC Internacional	89.0	88.8	88.5	89.0	85.0	88.05	16.0	225.89	15.0
CSKA Moskva	89.0	88.3	88.0	89.0	86.0	88.05	17.0	225.18	18.0
Athletic Club	89.0	88.0	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.90	18.0	224.61	19.0
Sassuolo	88.0	88.3	88.8	89.0	85.0	87.80	19.0	225.44	17.0
Fenerbahçe SK	89.0	87.0	88.8	88.0	86.0	87.75	20.0	223.78	20.0

Season 6 Division 1 stats and facts

Wed, 23 Aug 2017 14:43:00 +0100

Division 1 Stats and facts.

Barcelona should top the table, Juve to grab 2nd. Plus new experimental prediction.

Barcelona have the stongest starting selection but as last season lack depth which ultimately cost them the title. Juve and Bayern are closely matched. Chelsea also adopt the Barca approach of strength but less depth.

Ultimately the standard deviation approach suggests that no team lower than PSG have any realistic hope for the title.

PSG and Real Madrid will be looking for a rapid increase in keeper rating and thus may finish much higher than suggested.

At the other end , it could be a season of suffering for the promoted Villareal , Sunderland and Wolfsburg. Ajax who narrowly avoided relegation are once again in the lowest 4 at the moment.

Any team up to Napoli must consider themselves relegation possibles , teams above Man City should be safe.

The last 2 columns on the table are a rating system based on the relative effect of GK, Def, Mid, ATT , Top18 . This was calculated looking at the difference between predicted and real positions last year.

There isn't that much difference. It does suggest Bayern are much closer to Barca than otherwise predicted ETOt is the rating calculation, which I'm not going to explain yet , as it needs tweeking and may have to be done division by division. EPr is the experimental prediction.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	Pr	ETOT	Epr
Barcelona	96.0	93.3	93.5	97.5	85.0	93.1	1.0	240.06	1.00
Juventus	95.0	91.5	93.8	95.0	88.0	92.7	2.0	237.09	4.00
Bayern	91.0	93.3	93.5	96.5	87.0	92.3	3.0	239.05	2.00
Chelsea	93.0	92.8	92.5	97.5	85.0	92.2	4.0	238.54	3.00
Arsenal	91.0	91.5	92.8	93.5	88.0	91.4	5.0	234.97	5.00
Manchester United	94.0	91.3	93.3	92.0	86.0	91.3	6.0	234.20	7.00
Real Madrid	89.0	92.3	92.3	92.8	88.0	90.9	7.0	234.66	6.00
Paris Saint-Germain	89.0	91.3	92.8	93.0	87.0	90.6	8.0	234.04	8.00
Manchester City	90.0	90.8	92.5	93.5	86.0	90.6	9.0	233.70	9.00
Tottenham Hotspur	91.0	91.3	91.5	91.5	87.0	90.5	10.0	232.48	10.00
Atlético Madrid	93.0	90.5	91.0	91.0	85.0	90.1	11.0	231.07	13.00
AS Roma	92.0	89.5	91.0	92.0	85.0	89.9	12.0	230.60	14.00
SSC Napoli	90.0	90.5	92.0	91.0	86.0	89.9	13.0	231.49	11.00
Liverpool	90.0	91.3	91.8	90.0	86.0	89.8	14.0	231.43	12.00
VALENCIA CF	90.0	90.0	90.8	90.0	86.0	89.4	15.0	229.52	17.00
FC Porto	88.0	90.5	89.5	91.0	87.0	89.2	16.0	229.72	16.00
Wolfsburg	88.0	90.0	90.5	91.5	86.0	89.2	17.0	230.09	15.00
Ajax	90.0	89.5	90.0	89.0	87.0	89.1	18.0	227.99	18.00
Villarreal CF	88.0	89.8	90.0	89.0	86.0	88.6	19.0	227.88	19.00
Sunderland	88.0	88.0	88.5	89.0	87.0	88.1	20.0	225.26	20.00

Value added the final comment

Thu, 10 Aug 2017 11:10:00 +0100

Value added, how varied are the 5 divisions.

What does standard deviation show.

For the less mathematically incline the standard deviation is a way of measuring the average difference from the mean, with big differences counting slightly more.

Around 70% of teams will finish within 1SD of their finishing position , 95% of teams should finish within 2sd.

So lets say your predicted position was 10th, and the SD was 3

There would be a 70% chance of you finishing between 7 and 13 and a 95% chance you will finish between 4th - 16th, i.e. there is very little chance you should gain automatic relegation or promotion.

So looking at each division

Division 1: +/- 3.0

Division 2: +/- 6.6

Division 3: +/- 7.8

Division 4: +/- 7.0

Division 5: +/- 5.8

So what does this mean. Division 1 and Division 5 are the less varied in terms of performance. For example if you are ranked 20th the chance is you will finish no higher than 17th and definitely no higher than 14th no matter what you do.

Why is this, well over 5 seasons the cream has risen to the top and the other stuff has stayed or sunk to it's true level.

Division 3 remains the melting pot for the top 100, better teams going up, worse teams going down, but hope for all.

The 8th placed team could well finish top in D3 ,the 20th placed team could finish 4th..

There is a strong arguement to use the standard deviation to work out true value added across all 5 divisions. This perhaps put the relative performances of Napoli and Juventus in D1 into true perspective.

Division 5 season 5 Value added

Thu, 10 Aug 2017 10:54:00 +0100

Division 5 season 5 value added.

The curse of the VA strikes again as the best VA team Flamengo fail in the playoffs. Great performance by Hertha Berlin and Malaga.

Moving from play off contenders to league winners bodes well for Hertha Berlin next season, Malaga pulled off a similar trick to finish second and 2nd in PVA. Flamengo top at VA and 3rd at PVA failed to make the final push .

A good year also for WBA with a high VA of +7

Levante gained that promotion spot , yet have a very low VA and PVA, will this cause them problems next season?

Ok so no relegation but -11 VA for Torino and - 10 for river plate , see them with the lowest VA and PVA. Independiente with -5 VA finish 18th, with play off contenders Cologne having a worse -7 VA

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Average	Pr	Fin	VA	PVA
H. Berlin	88.0	88.3	87.7	88.5	86.0	87.7	5.0	1.0	4.0	5.00
Málaga CF	87.0	87.5	87.3	87.5	87.0	87.3	9.0	2.0	7.0	4.00
Flamengo	86.0	87.5	87.5	87.0	85.0	86.6	16.0	4.0	12.0	3.25
FK Partizan	88.0	88.0	87.5	87.0	86.0	87.3	8.0	3.0	5.0	2.00
West Bromwich Albion	87.0	86.5	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.5	18.0	11.0	7.0	0.73
Bremen	87.0	87.0	87.0	87.5	87.0	87.1	12.0	9.0	3.0	0.44
Montpellier HSC	87.0	87.7	87.0	88.5	86.0	87.2	10.0	8.0	2.0	0.38
Augsburg	88.0	85.5	87.3	86.5	85.0	86.5	19.0	15.0	4.0	0.33
Lille OSC	88.0	87.3	87.7	88.0	85.0	87.2	11.0	10.0	1.0	0.20
Club Brugge KV	87.0	86.5	87.7	87.0	85.0	86.6	15.0	14.0	1.0	0.14
Rubin Kazan	88.0	86.0	87.0	87.5	83.0	86.3	20.0	19.0	1.0	0.11
FC Twente	87.0	86.5	87.7	88.5	85.0	86.9	14.0	16.0	-2.0	-0.06
RSC Anderlecht	87.0	87.0	86.5	86.5	86.0	86.6	17.0	20.0	-3.0	-0.10
Independiente	87.0	87.7	87.7	88.0	85.0	87.1	13.0	18.0	-5.0	-0.22
Levante UD	88.0	88.3	88.5	89.5	85.0	87.9	4.0	7.0	-3.0	-0.29
West Ham United	88.0	88.3	89.0	88.5	86.0	88.0	3.0	6.0	-3.0	-0.33
RCD Espanyol	88.0	87.5	89.0	89.0	87.0	88.1	2.0	5.0	-3.0	-0.40
Cologne	89.0	87.3	88.0	88.5	85.0	87.6	6.0	13.0	-7.0	-0.46
River Plate	88.0	88.3	88.3	88.0	85.0	87.5	7.0	17.0	-10.0	-0.53
Torino	89.0	88.3	88.5	88.5	87.0	88.3	1.0	12.0	-11.0	-0.83

Division 4 season 5 value added

Thu, 10 Aug 2017 10:40:00 +0100

Division 4 season 5 value added

Perhaps some controversial positions here. Hoffenheim top the table , ahead of run away winners Celtic.

There are definite similarities with D3 here, with the exeception of Celtic who ran away with the league in most respects.

However Hoffenheim over came 5 potentially better sides to come 2nd and only 1pt short of Celtic in the end, so perhaps they should top the PVA table. Chievo likewise move from 12th to 3rd and also gain promotion. Like D3 the team with the best VA failed to gain promotion from the playoffs , leaving Dynamo Kiev in D4 for another season.

Dyanmo Moscow on +9 VA another great achievement,.

AS Monaco are worse for VA, PVA and quite rightly relegated to D5, Olympiacos who failed in the playoff in 7th got the 2nd lowest PVA, Udinese on -11 VA also got relegated.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Average	Pr	Fin	VA	PVA
Hoffenheim	88.0	88.3	87.3	88.0	86.0	87.5	9.0	2.0	7.0	4.00
Chievo Verona	87.0	88.3	88.3	87.0	86.0	87.3	12.0	3.0	9.0	3.33
Dynamo Kyiv	87.0	87.0	88.5	86.5	86.0	87.0	16.0	4.0	12.0	3.25
Celtic	88.0	89.0	88.5	89.0	87.0	88.3	3.0	1.0	2.0	3.00
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	87.5	87.3	87.0	84.0	86.6	19.0	10.0	9.0	1.00
Girondins Bordeaux	87.0	87.0	87.3	87.0	86.0	86.9	18.0	11.0	7.0	0.73
Stoke City	89.0	87.5	88.5	89.0	83.0	87.4	10.0	8.0	2.0	0.38
AZ Alkmaar	89.0	87.3	87.5	89.0	86.0	87.8	7.0	6.0	1.0	0.33
Dinamo Zagreb	88.0	87.0	87.3	87.5	85.0	87.0	17.0	14.0	3.0	0.29
Santos FC	86.0	87.0	87.3	87.5	84.0	86.4	20.0	18.0	2.0	0.17
Atalanta BC	88.0	86.7	87.7	88.0	86.0	87.3	13.0	13.0	0.0	0.08
Celta Vigo	88.0	88.7	89.7	90.0	85.0	88.3	4.0	5.0	-1.0	0.00
Stuttgart	88.0	87.3	87.5	87.5	86.0	87.3	14.0	16.0	-2.0	-0.06
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	87.0	87.0	87.7	87.0	87.0	87.1	15.0	20.0	-5.0	-0.20
Feyenoord	88.0	87.5	87.7	87.5	86.0	87.3	11.0	15.0	-4.0	-0.20
FC Basel	88.0	87.0	89.5	89.0	86.0	87.9	6.0	9.0	-3.0	-0.22
Standard Liège	88.0	88.0	88.5	89.5	87.0	88.2	5.0	12.0	-7.0	-0.50
Udinese Calcio	87.0	88.0	88.3	88.0	87.0	87.7	8.0	19.0	-11.0	-0.53
Olympiacos	90.0	88.0	88.5	89.5	87.0	88.6	2.0	7.0	-5.0	-0.57
AS Monaco	88.0	89.0	90.0	90.0	87.0	88.8	1.0	17.0	-16.0	-0.88

Division 3 S5 Value added

Thu, 10 Aug 2017 10:27:00 +0100

Division 4 Season 5 value added.

The two Moscow clubs top the charts, predicted 3rd place team Leicester -16VA

A don't think it is a shock to see CSKA top for PVA , narrowly ahead of Athletic club and Sampdoria who were also promoted. Top raw VA went to Lokomotive ,who fell at the last hurdle. Notable performances by Besitkas, Galatasary and Marseille , keeping themselves out of harms way and with a small injection of talent heading in the right direction next season.

At the wrong end PSV get the lowest PVA, top side finishes 11th, narrownly above predicted 2nd who came 16th Shaktar and the most inept performance was Leicester who predicted 3rd got -16VA and were then relegated. Boca who should have challenged for the play off also got -10VA.

A much bigger spread in D3 than D1 or D2

	GK	Def	Mid	Att	Top18	Ave	Pr	Fin	VA	PVA
CSKA Moskva	89	88.3	88	89	86	88.1	8	1	7	8.00
Sampdoria	88	87.5	87.8	88.5	86	87.6	11	3	8	3.00
Lokomotiv Moskva	88	88	88.3	89	84	87.5	14	4	10	2.75
Athletic Club	89	88.3	89	88	87	88.3	4	2	2	1.50
AS Saint-Etienne	89	88.3	87.5	88	87	88	9	5	4	1.00
Sassuolo	88	88	88	88.5	85	87.5	12	7	5	0.86
Hellas Verona	88	87.5	88.5	88	86	87.6	10	6	4	0.83
Galatasaray SK	87	87.3	88.5	88	85	87.2	16	10	6	0.70
Beşiktaş JK	87	86	88.3	89	85	87.1	18	12	6	0.58
Hamburg	87	87.5	89	88	86	87.5	13	9	4	0.56
Olympique Marseille	86	87.3	87.8	88	86	87	19	13	6	0.54
Cruzeiro	87	87.3	86.8	87	85	86.6	20	15	5	0.40
São Paulo FC	87	87.5	87.5	87.5	86	87.1	17	20	-3	-0.10
Crystal Palace	87	87	88.3	88	86	87.3	15	18	-3	-0.11
Aston Villa	88	88.7	88.5	89.5	86	88.1	5	8	-3	-0.25
Newcastle United	88	88	89.7	89	86	88.1	6	14	-8	-0.50
Boca Juniors	90	88.3	88.3	88	86	88.1	7	17	-10	-0.53
Leicester City	88	88.8	89.7	90.5	86	88.6	3	19	-16	-0.79
Shakhtar Donetsk	90	89	88.5	89.5	87	88.8	2	16	-14	-0.81
PSV	91	89	89.5	89	87	89.1	1	11	-10	-0.82

Division 2 Season 5 Value Added

Mon, 07 Aug 2017 14:06:00 +0100

Division 2 Season 5 Value added , Villareal storm the barricades. Southampton sink into the solent.

+15 PVA and +14 VA, a fantastic performance by Villareal. This somewhat eclipses the +10 VA of Sunderland , +9 VA of Internacional and + 7 of Genoa.

Just goes to show the manager makes the differences, at least in division 2. Interestingly it is Genoa and Sunderland and not the more favoured Inter and Wolfsburg who made it to the playoff.

Southampton who should have easily got into the playoffs but finished 11th get the wooden spoon, Sevilla and Schalke sit just above them , with relegated Sevilla actually having the worse VA.

Upto you to decide is it worse coming 11th when you should have been promoted or coming 20th when you should have come 11th. However since only 6 points seperated 17th to 10th , we can conclude the it is the former rather than the after.

	GK	Def	Mid	Att	Top18	Ave	Pr	Fin	VA	PVA
Villarreal CF	88	89.7	88.5	88.5	87	88.3	15	1	14	15.00
Sunderland	88	88.3	88.3	89	87	88.1	16	6	10	1.83
Genoa CFC	89	88	90.3	89.5	85	88.4	14	7	7	1.14
SC Internacional	88	88.3	87.7	87.5	86	87.9	18	9	9	1.11
Internazionale	91	89.7	90.5	88.5	85	88.9	7	4	3	1.00
Wolfsburg	88	89	91	92	85	89	5	3	2	1.00
SL Benfica	88	88.8	90.3	90.5	86	88.7	10	8	2	0.38
Swansea City	88	87.3	88	89	86	87.7	19	17	2	0.18
Spartak Moskva	88	87.7	88.5	88.5	85	87.5	20	18	2	0.17
Atlético Madrid	92	90.3	90.3	90.5	87	90	1	2	-1	0.00
Leverkusen	91	89.7	90.5	89	86	89.2	4	5	-1	0.00
Olympique Lyonnais	88	88.7	88.3	89.5	86	88.1	17	19	-2	-0.05
SPORTING CP	88	88	88.7	89.5	87	88.6	12	14	-2	-0.07
SS Lazio	89	89.3	90.3	89	87	88.9	8	10	-2	-0.10
Fenerbahçe SK	89	87	89	90	87	88.4	13	16	-3	-0.13
ACF Fiorentina	89	88	89.7	89.5	87	88.6	11	15	-4	-0.20
Zenit	91	89	88.5	89.5	87	89	6	12	-6	-0.42
Sevilla	88	89.5	90.3	89.5	87	88.9	9	20	-11	-0.50
Schalke	89	90	90.7	91	86	89.3	3	13	-10	-0.69
Southampton	90	90.5	90.5	90.5	87	89.7	2	11	-9	-0.73

Value added Season 5 division 1

Sat, 05 Aug 2017 15:56:00 +0100

Bayern top the PVA table with Napoli having the best raw score.

O.K. so this year I have sorted according to positional value added. This is the value added +1 / finishing position.

The idea is that finishing higher up gets you more positive points.

So Bayern who finished top , with a raw VA of +2 get a PVA of +3. I thinking most would agree that the 3rd ranked team finishing top deserve the higest rating,
This puts Napoli with the highest raw score of + 8 in second spot, a fantastic performance , 8 places higher than their predicted position.
Other notable performances came from Porto with +5 and Ajax +4 , Chelsea also get a mention for the 3rd PVA spot.

At the wrong end Juve on -6 raw score and -0.5 PVA get the wooden spoon, Barca's fall from grace leaves them 2nd from the end. Dortmund, Roma and Man City also fall at the end of the table.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Ave	Pr	Fin	VA	PVA
Bayern	92.0	92.5	93.5	96.5	88.0	92.5	3	1	2	3.00
SSC Napoli	90.0	90.5	91.0	91.5	85.0	89.6	15	7	8	1.29
Chelsea	93.0	91.3	92.3	93.0	85.0	90.9	6	4	2	0.75
FC Porto	90.0	90.3	89.5	91.5	86.0	89.5	16	11	5	0.55
Real Madrid	92.0	93.8	93.5	97.0	89.0	93.1	2	2	0	0.50
Paris Saint-Germain	89.0	91.3	92.5	94.5	85.0	90.5	8	6	2	0.50
Ajax	90.0	90.0	89.5	89.0	87.0	89.1	19	15	4	0.33
AC Milan	89.0	89.7	90.5	89.0	86.0	88.8	20	17	3	0.24
Manchester United	94.0	91.3	92.3	93.0	87.0	91.5	5	5	0	0.20
Tottenham Hotspur	91.0	90.7	92.5	90.0	87.0	90.2	9	9	0	0.11
Valencia CF	90.0	90.5	91.0	91.0	88.0	90.1	13	13	0	0.08
Liverpool	90.0	91.0	91.0	93.0	86.0	90.2	11	12	-1	0.00
Everton	89.0	89.5	91.0	89.5	87.0	89.2	18	19	-1	0.00
Arsenal	90.0	91.8	91.5	93.0	88.0	90.9	7	8	-1	0.00
Monchengladbach	90.0	89.0	90.3	91.0	86.0	89.3	17	20	-3	-0.10
Dortmund	89.0	90.5	91.0	91.0	88.0	89.9	14	18	-4	-0.17
AS Roma	92.0	90.0	91.0	91.0	87.0	90.2	12	16	-4	-0.19
Manchester City	89.0	89.5	91.7	94.0	87.0	90.2	10	14	-4	-0.21
Barcelona	96.0	94.0	94.3	97.5	85.0	93.4	1	3	-2	-0.33
Juventus	94.0	92.3	92.3	94.5	89.0	92.4	4	10	-6	-0.50

Division 5 season 5 stats and facts

Fri, 14 Apr 2017 14:31:00 +0100

50% of D5 sides are still in or have landed back in D5 after 5 seasons. Who will do better than the 50% who remain this season.

The current standings are a tale of 4 teams. West Ham and Espanyol who are living up to expectations at the top of the league , and Levant or Torino who are doing less well.

The top 4 in D5 should be able to cope 2 divisions higher and therefore should seek to make rapid progress. Torino are the best equiped statistically and as the season progresses , like Levante can only improve.

But they have given West Ham a huge lead and other than lacking a little depth they are a strong side. Espanyol have more depth but a weaker back line, perhaps where the 4 point gap the Hammers have has come from.

Hertha Berlin, Cologne and River Plate are doing well as expected, any or all could challenge for the final automatic place. Augsburg and Kazan are over performing at the moment. Kazan have no depth and Augsburg a weak defense so it will interesting to see how they cope in the long term. The cut off for D4 is around 87 , so anyone down to Independiente could hope for a playoff spot.

With no relegation spot ,only the sack race is a problem for thw worse 2 teams.

In theory that should be Kazan and Augsburg but they already have a good number of points. West Brom and Anderlecht will therefore have to pull something out of the fire to avoid that spot, with argueably better teams below them.

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Average	Fin
Torino	89.0	88.3	88.5	88.5	87.0	88.3	1.0
RCD Espanyol	88.0	87.5	89.0	89.0	87.0	88.1	2.0
West Ham United	88.0	88.3	89.0	88.5	86.0	88.0	3.0
Levante UD	88.0	88.3	88.5	89.5	85.0	87.9	4.0
H. Berlin	88.0	88.3	87.7	88.5	86.0	87.7	5.0
Cologne	89.0	87.3	88.0	88.5	85.0	87.6	6.0
River Plate	88.0	88.3	88.3	88.0	85.0	87.5	7.0
FK Partizan	88.0	88.0	87.5	87.0	86.0	87.3	8.0
Málaga CF	87.0	87.5	87.3	87.5	87.0	87.3	9.0
Montpellier HSC	87.0	87.7	87.0	88.5	86.0	87.2	10.0
Lille OSC	88.0	87.3	87.7	88.0	85.0	87.2	11.0
Bremen	87.0	87.0	87.0	87.5	87.0	87.1	12.0
Independiente	87.0	87.7	87.7	88.0	85.0	87.1	13.0
FC Twente	87.0	86.5	87.7	88.5	85.0	86.9	14.0
Club Brugge KV	87.0	86.5	87.7	87.0	85.0	86.6	15.0
Flamengo	86.0	87.5	87.5	87.0	85.0	86.6	16.0
RSC Anderlecht	87.0	87.0	86.5	86.5	86.0	86.6	17.0
West Bromwich Albion	87.0	86.5	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.5	18.0
Augsburg	88.0	85.5	87.3	86.5	85.0	86.5	19.0
Rubin Kazan	88.0	86.0	87.0	87.5	83.0	86.3	20.0

Division 4 Stats and facts season 5

Wed, 12 Apr 2017 15:45:00 +0100

The Dynamo of the league or a flat battery waiting to be charged.

Monaco are statistically the best team in the league by some way, but they are plagued by constant underperformance. A somewhat better start this year could see them in more lofty climbs. Olympiacos with their excellent keeper should finish 2nd but will their love of one particular position be their un doing. Celta Vigo may well have a starting 11 to match Monaco but lack depth , off to a good start but can they hold it together.

You will need around 87.2 to survive in D3 , the sorting hat hasn't quite worked it's magic down this far into the leagues, meaning all the teams down to Stuttgart could challenge for an automatic or even play off spot. It really is tight in D4 with very little to split the chasing pack. Stoke seem to be going for a promotion or relagation strategy , or maybe the team isn't fully prepared yet with more players coming in .

Of the relegation candidates, they all have their easy to spot flaws.

Kiev have a weak attack, Zagreb a weak midfield and depth, Bordeaux a poor keeper / defence combo. Dynamo Moscow lack depth, Santos much the worse keeper. All are in the lower reaches of the league at the moment, can they escape the chop. Dnipro could go for a good cup run with their squad

	GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Average	Fin
AS Monaco	88.0	89.0	90.0	90.0	87.0	88.8	1.0
Olympiacos	90.0	88.0	88.5	89.5	87.0	88.6	2.0
Celtic	88.0	89.0	88.5	89.0	87.0	88.3	3.0
Celta Vigo	88.0	88.7	89.7	90.0	85.0	88.3	4.0
Standard Liège	88.0	88.0	88.5	89.5	87.0	88.2	5.0
FC Basel	88.0	87.0	89.5	89.0	86.0	87.9	6.0
AZ Alkmaar	89.0	87.3	87.5	89.0	86.0	87.8	7.0
Udinese Calcio	87.0	88.0	88.3	88.0	87.0	87.7	8.0
Hoffenheim	88.0	88.3	87.3	88.0	86.0	87.5	9.0
Stoke City	89.0	87.5	88.5	89.0	83.0	87.4	10.0
Feyenoord	88.0	87.5	87.7	87.5	86.0	87.3	11.0
Chievo Verona	87.0	88.3	88.3	87.0	86.0	87.3	12.0
Atalanta BC	88.0	86.7	87.7	88.0	86.0	87.3	13.0
Stuttgart	88.0	87.3	87.5	87.5	86.0	87.3	14.0
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	87.0	87.0	87.7	87.0	87.0	87.1	15.0
Dynamo Kyiv	87.0	87.0	88.5	86.5	86.0	87.0	16.0
Dinamo Zagreb	88.0	87.0	87.3	87.5	85.0	87.0	17.0
Girondins Bordeaux	87.0	87.0	87.3	87.0	86.0	86.9	18.0
Dynamo Moskva	87.0	87.5	87.3	87.0	84.0	86.6	19.0
Santos FC	86.0	87.0	87.3	87.5	84.0	86.4	20.0

Division 3 Season 5 stats and facts

Sat, 08 Apr 2017 11:02:00 +0100

A couple of mighty team languish in the depths of division 3, will they emerge to haunt of of the top 100 or vanish without a trace.

Why are PSV not top of the league, well regular underperformance is the answer.

A team with a 91 keeper and above 89 should easily finish in the top 4. Shaktar are performing as they should and another 90 rated keeper should see them into D2 this year. Leicester another underperforming outfit ,also struggling again. They have the best attack in D3, while they are sure to be safe from relegation they should flourish against 88 rated keepers.

You probably need above 88 to survive D2 so you can't go down that far any more to look at playoff contenders, perhaps as far as Saint - Etienne with their strong defence or even Sassuolo if they overcome the lack of depth.

At the wrong end Cruziero who should be last are top. Again it could be lack of depth that under rates them but will also cost long term. Marseille could well be in worse shape , with the worse keeper and apart from the top18 the worse over all rating. The 2 Turkish teams could also end up going the wrong way but any team up as far as Lokomotive with their weak depth are at risk

	GK	Def	Mid	Att	Top18	Ave	Finish
PSV	91	89	89.5	89	87	89.1	1
Shakhtar Donetsk	90	89	88.5	89.5	87	88.8	2
Leicester City	88	88.8	89.7	90.5	86	88.6	3
Athletic Club	89	88.3	89	88	87	88.26	4
Aston Villa	88	88.7	88.5	89.5	86	88.14	5
Newcastle United	88	88	89.7	89	86	88.14	6
Boca Juniors	90	88.3	88.3	88	86	88.12	7
CSKA Moskva	89	88.3	88	89	86	88.06	8
AS Saint-Etienne	89	88.3	87.5	88	87	87.96	9
Hellas Verona	88	87.5	88.5	88	86	87.6	10
Sampdoria	88	87.5	87.8	88.5	86	87.56	11
Sassuolo	88	88	88	88.5	85	87.5	12
Hamburg	87	87.5	89	88	86	87.5	13
Lokomotiv Moskva	88	88	88.3	89	84	87.46	14
Crystal Palace	87	87	88.3	88	86	87.26	15
Galatasaray SK	87	87.3	88.5	88	85	87.16	16
São Paulo FC	87	87.5	87.5	87.5	86	87.1	17
Beşiktaş JK	87	86	88.3	89	85	87.06	18
Olympique Marseille	86	87.3	87.8	88	86	87.02	19
Cruzeiro	87	87.3	86.8	87	85	86.62	20

Division 2 Season 5 stats and facts

Wed, 05 Apr 2017 10:52:00 +0100

Will the big 3 return to the big time? will it be a German top 3 ?

Atletico are the obvious favourites, with Southampton , Schalke and Leverkusen close behind.

O.K second division, so second point to note. Some managers have commented that they have built their squad up through skilled trading or scouting and then get penalised in the value added againsts managers who do little or nothing.

Well that is a good point, but to do that we would need to look at squad value increase or otherwise over the course of the season.

Anyway back to the league in hand.

Atletico and Southampton can push out a full 90 rated squad and would sit happily in division 1. Other than Schalke and Leverkeusen , all the other teams in D2 would be relegation fodder, which is an interesting developement. Probably a result of the sorting hat in action.

It will be interesting to see how Wolfsburg fair. A weaker keeper and no depth, but the potential to cope with the big boys in the short term

Zenit and Inter have the top keepers and should be able to challenge for a playoff spot.

Of the mid table pack Benfica and Fenerbache have a powerful attack.

Spartak and current leaders Internacional should be relegation bound. Swansea have a potent enough forward line to avoid the drop. There is good strength in depth in this league and any of the 87 rated teams in the top 18 category, should be able to play to their strengths all season.

As for my own team. I expect a tough start to the season but then I hope to challenge for the playoff by the end of the season.

	GK	Def	Mid	Att	Top18	Ave	Finish
Atlético Madrid	92	90.3	90.3	90.5	87	90.02	1
Southampton	90	90.5	90.5	90.5	87	89.7	2
Schalke	89	90	90.7	91	86	89.34	3
Leverkusen	91	89.7	90.5	89	86	89.24	4
Wolfsburg	88	89	91	92	85	89	5
Zenit	91	89	88.5	89.5	87	89	6
Internazionale	91	89.7	90.5	88.5	85	88.94	7
SS Lazio	89	89.3	90.3	89	87	88.92	8
Sevilla	88	89.5	90.3	89.5	87	88.86	9
SL Benfica	88	88.8	90.3	90.5	86	88.72	10
ACF Fiorentina	89	88	89.7	89.5	87	88.64	11
SPORTING CP	88	88	88.7	89.5	87	88.55	12
Fenerbahçe SK	89	87	89	90	87	88.4	13
Genoa CFC	89	88	90.3	89.5	85	88.36	14
Villarreal CF	88	89.7	88.5	88.5	87	88.34	15
Sunderland	88	88.3	88.3	89	87	88.12	16
Olympique Lyonnais	88	88.7	88.3	89.5	86	88.1	17
SC Internacional	88	88.3	87.7	87.5	86	87.88	18
Swansea City	88	87.3	88	89	86	87.66	19
Spartak Moskva	88	87.7	88.5	88.5	85	87.54	20

Division 1 Season 5 Stats and facts

Sun, 02 Apr 2017 15:17:00 +0100

Who is top of the pile and who can over perform.

Have Barcelona sacrificed depth for youth?

First of all, nothing here is opinion. I don't believe or predict that AC Milan will finish last. This is just raw stats with no opinion attached.

Barcelona still look like the favourites. Real, Bayern and Juventus should snap at their heels. Man Utd sit ahead of a more evenly packed mid table crowd from Chelsea down to Dortmund. Valencia and Dortmund probably have the depth to push on late in the season. The opposite is true of the first relegation favourites Napoli, Borussia and Porto, plenty of strength , little depth. wisely Ajax and Everton have a stronger squad, to survive the inevitable relegation battle. AC Milan and Mr Beddows hold up the statistical table. Can he beat his value added score from last season?

		GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Average
1	Barcelona	96.0	94.0	94.3	97.5	85.0	93.4
2	Real Madrid	92.0	93.8	93.5	97.0	89.0	93.1
3	Bayern	92.0	92.5	93.5	96.5	88.0	92.5
4	Juventus	94.0	92.3	92.3	94.5	89.0	92.4
5	Manchester United	94.0	91.3	92.3	93.0	87.0	91.5
6	Chelsea	93.0	91.3	92.3	93.0	85.0	90.9
7	Arsenal	90.0	91.8	91.5	93.0	88.0	90.9
8	Paris Saint-Germain	89.0	91.3	92.5	94.5	85.0	90.5
9	Tottenham Hotspur	91.0	90.7	92.5	90.0	87.0	90.2
10	Manchester City	89.0	89.5	91.7	94.0	87.0	90.2
11	Liverpool	90.0	91.0	91.0	93.0	86.0	90.2
12	AS Roma	92.0	90.0	91.0	91.0	87.0	90.2
13	Valencia CF	90.0	90.5	91.0	91.0	88.0	90.1
14	Dortmund	89.0	90.5	91.0	91.0	88.0	89.9
15	SSC Napoli	90.0	90.5	91.0	91.5	85.0	89.6
16	FC Porto	90.0	90.3	89.5	91.5	86.0	89.5
17	Monchengladbach	90.0	89.0	90.3	91.0	86.0	89.3
18	Everton	89.0	89.5	91.0	89.5	87.0	89.2
19	Ajax	90.0	90.0	89.5	89.0	87.0	89.1
20	AC Milan	89.0	89.7	90.5	89.0	86.0	88.8

Summary of the stats and facts , who is the greatest and who is the wurst

Sat, 11 Mar 2017 19:37:00 +0100

Who is the top of the stats and facts this year... will it be Mr Beddows or has the Dinosaur beaten him to it..

Firstly. The stats and facts ,despite certain people who are a little hard of understanding commenting otherwise, merely predict what should happen according to the raw data. Obviously that takes no account of manager skill, I could in future seasons factor that in , based on previous seasons value added but that is bit too much like hard work.

So on raw or should I say roar ! value added score.

AC Milan get + 14

SC Internacional +9

Boca +12

Sunderland +10

Sporting + 9

Sassuolo +10

Sampdoria +12

Santos + 8

So clearly on raw score AC Milan did a fantastic job.

If we look at skewed value added which includes a measure of success , rather than merely achievement.

AC Milan +2.33

Sporting + 9

Hellas + 6

Sassuolo +5

Sampdoria +3

Dynamo +7

Santos +3

So we have a clear winner , ahem, which is Sporting Lisbon

At the other end, we really need to look hard at D4 and 5

West Ham at -17 VA, and Twente -15 VA , with Monaco -0.95 skew.

Must do better, look what you could have won!

Division 5 Season 4 Value Added

Sat, 11 Mar 2017 19:21:00 +0100

Dynamo Moscow win the league and get the highest rating, credit goes to Santos for a good season. Twente and even 5th place Torino fail to impress again.

Controversial a 5th place team lowest in the ranking? Well not considering the side they have. An 89 keeper and 90 rated forward , should have been a walk in the park and not a blunder through the play offs.

Pred		GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Average	Finish	VA	Skew
8	Dynamo Moskva	87.0	87.0	87.5	87.0	87.0	87.1	1.0	7.0	7
11	Santos FC	87.0	87.0	88.0	87.0	85.0	86.8	3.0	8.0	2.7
13	Rubin Kazan	88.0	86.5	87.5	87.0	85.0	86.8	6.0	7.0	1.2
19	Club Brugge KV	87.0	86.5	88.0	87.0	83.0	86.3	12.0	7.0	0.6
12	Málaga CF	87.0	87.0	87.0	87.0	86.0	86.8	9.0	3.0	0.3
20	FK Partizan	87.0	86.5	87.0	87.5	83.0	86.2	16.0	4.0	0.3
5	Celtic	88.0	86.0	87.5	88.5	86.0	87.2	4.0	1.0	0.3
15	Flamengo	87.0	87.0	87.5	87.0	85.0	86.7	13.0	2.0	0.2
2	Celta Vigo	88.0	89.0	89.5	87.5	86.0	88.0	2.0	0.0	0
16	Augsburg	88.0	86.5	86.5	87.0	85.0	86.6	17.0	-1.0	-0.1
14	Bremen	86.0	87.0	88.5	87.0	85.0	86.7	15.0	-1.0	-0.1
10	Independiente	87.0	87.0	87.5	88.0	85.0	86.9	11.0	-1.0	-0.1
18	West Bromwich Albion	87.0	86.5	86.0	87.5	85.0	86.4	20.0	-2.0	-0.1
17	RSC Anderlecht	86.0	86.5	87.5	87.0	85.0	86.4	19.0	-2.0	-0.1
7	Levante UD	88.0	87.5	87.5	88.0	85.0	87.2	8.0	-1.0	-0.1
6	H. Berlin	88.0	87.0	88.0	88.0	85.0	87.2	7.0	-1.0	-0.1
9	Cologne	88.0	87.0	88.0	88.5	84.0	87.1	14.0	-5.0	-0.4
4	RCD Espanyol	88.0	87.0	88.0	87.5	86.0	87.3	10.0	-6.0	-0.6
1	Torino	89.0	88.0	88.5	90.0	87.0	88.5	5.0	-4.0	-0.8
3	FC Twente	87.0	87.5	88.5	88.5	86.0	87.5	18.0	-15.0	-0.8

Division 4 Season 4 Value added

Sat, 11 Mar 2017 19:12:00 +0100

Hellas and Sassuolo lead the charge. Monaco and West Ham some of the worst performing in all 4 leagues.

Again a good example of where a skew works well . Sampdoria have the highest raw VA at +12 but in all honesty 4th place hasn't won them any prizes yet!. Hellas and Sassuolo gain auto promotion and deserve to be higher rated.

At the other end 3rd place pick West Ham finish last but was that worse than easy 1st pick Monaco finishing 12th with the side they had. Worth discussing.

Pred		GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Average	Finish	VA	Skew
7	Hellas Verona	88.0	87.0	88.5	88.0	86.0	87.5	1.0	6.0	6
12	Sassuolo	88.0	87.5	87.5	88.0	85.0	87.2	2.0	10.0	5
16	Sampdoria	88.0	87.5	87.0	87.5	85.0	87.0	4.0	12.0	3
17	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	88.0	87.0	87.5	87.0	85.0	86.9	8.0	9.0	1.13
6	AS Saint-Etienne	89.0	87.5	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.7	3.0	3.0	1
8	Standard Liège	88.0	87.5	87.5	88.5	86.0	87.5	5.0	3.0	0.6
14	Dinamo Zagreb	89.0	87.0	87.5	87.5	84.0	87.0	11.0	3.0	0.27
11	Hoffenheim	88.0	87.5	87.5	88.0	86.0	87.4	9.0	2.0	0.22
18	Girondins Bordeaux	87.0	87.0	88.0	87.5	85.0	86.9	15.0	3.0	0.2
20	River Plate	88.0	88.0	88.0	87.0	83.0	86.8	18.0	2.0	0.11
15	Dynamo Kyiv	87.0	87.5	88.5	87.0	85.0	87.0	14.0	1.0	0.07
19	Montpellier HSC	87.0	87.0	87.0	87.5	86.0	86.9	19.0	0.0	0
5	Chievo Verona	87.0	88.5	89.0	88.0	86.0	87.7	6.0	-1.0	-0.17
13	Feyenoord	88.0	87.0	87.0	87.5	86.0	87.1	16.0	-3.0	-0.19
10	Atalanta BC	88.0	87.0	88.0	88.0	86.0	87.4	13.0	-3.0	-0.23
9	Lille OSC	89.0	87.0	88.0	88.5	85.0	87.5	17.0	-8.0	-0.47
4	AZ Alkmaar	89.0	87.0	87.5	89.0	86.0	87.7	10.0	-6.0	-0.6
2	Olympiacos	89.0	88.0	89.0	89.5	86.0	88.3	7.0	-5.0	-0.71
3	West Ham United	88.0	88.5	88.0	89.5	86.0	88.0	20.0	-17.0	-0.85
1	AS Monaco	88.0	89.5	90.0	90.0	87.0	88.9	12.0	-11.0	-0.92

Division 3 Value Added Season 4

Fri, 10 Mar 2017 17:43:00 +0100

Sporting Lisbon's fantastic run to the title gives them the biggest Skewed value average so far, Boca , so near so far at the moment. PSV fall well short of the mark.

		GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Average	Finished	VA	Skew
10	SPORTING CP	88.0	87.5	89.0	89.0	85.0	87.7	1.0	9.0	9
6	Swansea City	88.0	88.0	87.5	89.5	87.0	88.0	2.0	4.0	2
18	Boca Juniors	88.0	87.0	87.0	88.0	85.0	87.0	6.0	12.0	2
17	Sunderland	87.0	87.0	87.0	87.5	87.0	87.1	7.0	10.0	1.4286
16	São Paulo FC	87.0	87.0	88.0	87.5	86.0	87.1	9.0	7.0	0.7778
20	Cruzeiro	87.0	87.0	87.0	87.0	85.0	86.6	13.0	7.0	0.5385
4	Villarreal CF	88.0	88.5	89.0	88.5	87.0	88.2	3.0	1.0	0.3333
13	Lokomotiv Moskva	87.0	88.0	88.0	89.0	84.0	87.2	10.0	3.0	0.3
19	Crystal Palace	88.0	87.5	88.0	87.5	84.0	87.0	16.0	3.0	0.1875
15	Galatasaray SK	87.0	87.0	87.5	88.5	86.0	87.2	15.0	0.0	0
12	Besiktas JK	91.0	86.5	88.0	87.0	85.0	87.5	12.0	0.0	0
14	FC Basel	87.0	87.0	88.5	88.5	85.0	87.2	17.0	-3.0	-0.176
3	Leicester City	89.0	88.0	90.0	89.5	85.0	88.3	4.0	-1.0	-0.25
5	Olympique Marseille	88.0	87.0	89.0	90.5	86.0	88.1	8.0	-3.0	-0.375
11	Udinese Calcio	87.0	88.0	88.0	88.0	87.0	87.6	19.0	-8.0	-0.421
9	Stoke City	89.0	88.0	88.0	89.0	85.0	87.8	18.0	-9.0	-0.5
7	Hamburg	88.0	88.5	88.5	89.5	85.0	87.9	14.0	-7.0	-0.5
8	Stuttgart	88.0	88.0	87.5	89.0	87.0	87.9	20.0	-12.0	-0.6
1	Athletic Club	90.0	88.5	88.0	90.0	87.0	88.7	5.0	-4.0	-0.8
2	PSV	90.0	89.0	88.5	88.0	87.0	88.5	11.0	-9.0	-0.818

Season 4 Division 2 Value Added

Fri, 10 Mar 2017 17:31:00 +0100

Internacional get the biggest gain, but Everton clinching the title gets the overall award. Shaktar and Inter Milan the biggest disappointments.

		GK	DEF	MID	ATT	Top18	Average	Finish	VA	Skew
3	Everton	90.0	89.5	91.0	90.0	88.0	89.7	1.0	2.0	2
19	SC Internacional	88.0	87.5	88.0	88.5	85.0	87.4	10.0	9.0	0.9
5	AS Roma	91.0	90.5	91.0	90.5	84.0	89.4	3.0	2.0	0.667
15	ACF Fiorentina	88.0	89.0	89.5	88.0	86.0	88.1	9.0	6.0	0.667
12	Genoa CFC	89.0	88.5	89.0	88.0	87.0	88.3	8.0	4.0	0.5
7	Wolfsburg	89.0	89.0	89.5	92.0	86.0	89.1	5.0	2.0	0.4
20	Spartak Moskva	88.0	86.5	88.5	87.5	85.0	87.1	16.0	4.0	0.25
18	SL Benfica	88.0	87.0	89.5	90.5	83.0	87.6	15.0	3.0	0.2
13	Olympique Lyonnais	88.0	88.5	88.5	89.5	87.0	88.3	12.0	1.0	0.083
16	Aston Villa	88.0	88.0	88.0	89.5	86.0	87.9	17.0	-1.0	-0.06
10	Sevilla	88.0	88.5	90.0	90.0	87.0	88.7	11.0	-1.0	-0.09
17	Newcastle United	88.0	88.0	88.5	88.5	86.0	87.8	19.0	-2.0	-0.11
6	Ajax	90.0	90.0	89.5	89.5	87.0	89.2	7.0	-1.0	-0.14
11	Leverkusen	90.0	88.0	91.5	89.5	84.0	88.6	13.0	-2.0	-0.15
14	CSKA Moskva	90.0	89.0	88.0	89.0	85.0	88.2	20.0	-6.0	-0.3
4	Southampton	89.0	89.0	91.0	91.0	87.0	89.4	6.0	-2.0	-0.33
9	Fenerbahçe SK	89.0	89.0	89.0	89.5	88.0	88.9	14.0	-5.0	-0.36
1	Manchester United	94.0	91.0	91.5	92.0	87.0	91.1	2.0	-1.0	-0.5
2	Internazionale	91.0	91.5	92.0	91.0	86.0	90.3	4.0	-2.0	-0.5
8	Shakhtar Donetsk	89.0	89.0	89.0	90.0	88.0	89.0	18.0	-10.0	-0.56