CHOULO19

1) Of course at the end of the day the only stat that matters is the winning stat, but I'm talking about making conclusions about players based on, or with the help of, stats. Surely it is more reliable to make those conclusions with stats that involve the player alone rather than making conclusions about a single player from stats that involve the whole team? 2) Mikel does indeed sit deeper than his partner in the pivot. Here are two images of his positioning in two random games (2-1 win over Sunderland and 2-2 draw with Liverpool): As opposed to his pivot partner in those games, Ramires: But I'm talking about getting the ball out of defense and into attack which was most of the time carried out by Mikel and not his partners in Ramires and Lampard because he is a much more consistent passer and because they like to make forward runs. But our lines last season were very far apart and no one from the front four was dropping back enough to receive the ball (which was arguably one of our biggest problems last season). This meant that our pivot was most of the time outnumbered in midfield and we often had to rely on long balls, mostly from our CBs, that would often end in us loosing possession. Out of the top 4 teams in the PL last season. Chelsea played the most long balls (1861) at the lowest accuracy (59.75%) (as opposed to 1660, 1535 & 1632 at 68.17%, 67,1% & 65.26% for united, city and arsenal respectively). A lot of teams noticed this weakness and pressed our pivot and CBs when we were trying to get the ball out of defense, and obviously much of that pressure was on Mikel since ball transition was his job when he was on the pitch. Add to that the fact that Mikel was often handed the ball under more pressure than other players because his teammates, especially the back four, use him as an outlet and trust him more under pressure because he probably has the best ball retention skills in our squad. So even though Mikel is not a direct attacking threat to the opposition in terms of goals and assists, he still comes under great pressure from the opposition because pressuring Mikel really damages our attack.

No idea who approved that. have deleted, edited, and re-posted it now. Thanks for the heads-up.

No, but logic implies that if there are many variables, you can't contribute the change in result to just one. That's basically the root of all scientific methodology and hence all human knowledge. Not sure you can change that for your convenience. You can of course make that claim because of course all football stats are flawed, but: 1) While both will inevitably be flawed, trying to infer conclusions about a player from a team stat is much more unreliable than inferring conclusions from individual stats because there are much more variables. 2) Mikel is constantly one our players under the most pressure because, first our pivot was always outnumbered in midfield last season, and second because Mikel is often trusted most by his teammates in tight spots because of his ball retention skills.

Great! Yeah, everything you need to know is in the first post in this thread: http://forum.talkchelsea.net/topic/11806-xpert-11-are-you-up-to-the-challenge/ Good luck!

5-1 now And the only Spurs goal was an absolute gift by the defense.

LMAO at Tottenham getting raped. 5-1 to Monaco :lol2:

No I'm saying that stats like Average goals conceded with and without a player have very little significance because there are countless other variables involved besides the player's presence like the opposition, our own lineup, the tactics of both teams and, to a great extent, luck as well.

We need 3 more teams. Come on people join up, it's really fun.

Yes the events in those games were extraordinary because it rarely happens that a refs send off one of your players instead of the other teams and allows an offside goal against you in the same game. And no player bites an opponent and stays on the pitch and scores in the 98th minutes. And that Westham game was the WORST tactical mistake Rafa did with us. We were completely dominating game (with Mikel in midfield) and his decision to sit back when our CBs could not handle the long balls was just plain stupid. So yes, your stat does not tell the whole story. And I've ignored your personal insults till now, but don't push it.

Yes the stat I posted is manipulated to make Mikel look good. That was actually my whole point of the post. Just like your stat is manipulated to make him look bad by using the average goals conceded in all competitions with the average league position of opponents from the league only. And just like my stat does not tell the whole story because it includes games where Mikel came on late and did't have a big effect, your stat above does not tell the whole story either because it includes for example matches where refereeing decisions decided the out come of the game like the United at home and Liverpool away, and games where the manager completely messed up his tactics and cost us the game like the Westham and City away games. In all those games Mikle is little to blame for the result or any of the goals conceded. So again, all stats can be manipulated to almost anything you want.

Please, if you're Thor then I'm the Hulk!

You're using the average goals conceded stats from all competitions with the average league position of opponents from the league only. It is a clear example of how stats can be manipulated to say almost anything you want. Here, I can spin it in Mikel's way too: Average goals conceded in the PL when Mikel has played is 1 (23 goals in 22 games) Average goals conceded in the PL when Mikel has not played is also 1 (16 goals in 16 games) And since the average league position of the opponent when Mikel has started is higher than when he has not, therefore the only possible conclusion by your logic is that the team did better with Mikel than without. Aren't stats a fun thing?

I realize you're basically not susceptible to reality, but denying that Mikel played is too much even for you!

Someone's back with good spirits Welcome back, mate

Just one question, if things are that simple in football, why do teams have managers? It's not just about players, but finding the right combination and creating the system that fits them. What stopped us from being one of the best teams last season? A LOT of things, imo. First is the complete lack of defensive system; we were defending as individuals rather than a team. Then there was the serious lack of squad depth in a a crazy season. Offensively, our biggest issues were the distances between our lines being too big making the transition from defense to offense very difficult, and the lack of width we had really hurt us against team who packed the box. As well as other factors like the constant changes in the back four, lacking a CB good enough to be starter next to Luiz, no one from the front four dropping back enough to receive the ball, not having any pivot players that fit the system we were playing..etc Football is not that simple that you can just pinpoint one problem with the team and you can solve it and turn into one of the best teams in Europe overnight. Club pay millions for managers and even they can't locate and solve all the problems. But of course that just my opinion, it's not a fact and neither was what you stated.

There was also a video on the official twitter account of him shooting pens at Petr who coolly saved them all

You can't edit an article on the main site after you've promoted it. It's always been that way. You get that "Don't have permission" error. The weird thing is though, both the articles that were on the main site had the image I uploaded! That's why I thought I had promoted it twice by mistake. Yeah go ahead. I'll help you out a bit if it's Everton if you want.

City dominated their B team. Milan are a MUCH better side than they were last season. They have a lot of young fast players in attack. They break really quickly. I think it will be a very close game.

Did you put it up as well? I saw there were two on the main site and assumed that there was an error when I promoted it and just deleted one of them. Haven't decided that yet, would you like to? I can't I'm out of town next week.

No idea. I say we must 'inspect' them to find out!

Too late...

Apparently Stepanek was at our training today: I love that guy!

Really? I've never seen her in Al Jazeera. If she did, I sure she wouldn't have been allowed to wear that shirt!

No, that's an opinion/analysis.