Comments on: Comparison: Barça-Chelsea-Inter

By: Colin

Colin — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:53:23 +0000

Interesting post Isaiah. I thought Barca’s goal differential was outrageous, I didn’t know Chelsea is right there. They are more fun to watch this season, I’ve actually woken up early a few Saturdays to watch them.

It’s nice there’s so much attacking football in vogue this year (like Hoffenheim, the Bundesliga is way more interesting this year). I credit Barca for keeping the faith through all the dark times.

By: Isaiah

Isaiah — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:56:40 +0000

Thanks for that bit of statistics, Colby. Did you pull that from somewhere or do the math on your own?

eklavya, I didn’t include Hoffenheim because I don’t think of the Bundesliga as a Tier 1 league.

By: eklavya

eklavya — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:49:30 +0000

too bad to didn’t put in hoffenheim, they have the same amount of goals as us…

By: pep

pep — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:45:39 +0000

Thanks, ursus!

And Puyol and Touré are rested ahead of the league games coming up because they both had minor injury problems one week ago.

By: Barca4life

Barca4life — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:29:37 +0000

What is this? No puyol or toure in the squad. I dont think pep realizes the importance of this match. Although we can be considered favourites, sporting are a good side and are capable of winning. If they do, we will be second, and face the likes of manU, inter, liverpool, chelsea, arsenal, munich, juventus. We just cant lose, y would u rest the captain and toure?

By: ursus arctos

ursus arctos — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:22:51 +0000

Pep, it can be difficult to get detailed stats from web sources for seasons prior to 2000 or so, but you can try the season by season roundups on webdecule for basic info on goals, minutes played, etc.

http://www.webdelcule.com/1899-96/resu-1899.html

By: pep

pep — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 08:42:56 +0000

Isaiah, you know where one can find statistics (for free on the net) about Barcelona’s dream team era?

By: Kyle

Kyle — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:49:49 +0000

I have a question for everyone that reads this site. I have scheduled my first trip to Spain/Europe with a buddy to visit a friend of ours. Our friend is in graduate school at the University of Madrid. Most of our trip is planned, but we can’t decide what to do for the first four days. We fly into Madrid on Sunday, December 28th and we have to be back in Madrid on Wednesday, New Year’s Eve. We are spending NYE in Madrid and traveling to Barcelona Friday morning and we’ll be there until Monday. I’ll be attending the Mallorca match, but I have not bought tickets. I need three tickets for the match, any suggestions? My bigger dilemma is where to go for the first four days of our trip. We are open to any and all suggestions. Currently, we’re debating traveling to southern Spain to visit Sevilla. We have also tossed around the idea of driving to Porto or Lisbon. We’re single guys in our mid-20s that enjoy the nightlife, outdoor activities (hiking, cycling, sight seeing). Let me know your thoughts about how you think my time would be best spent during those first four days. Also, if you have any thoughts about must-sees/dos in Barcelona and Madrid, please share. Thanks in advance for the advice.

By: john

john — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:44:22 +0000

I think the stats point to the differences in the leagues, their strengths and weaknesses.

It’s no surprise that Italian teams have let through fewer goals, considering their focus on defensive football. In the same vein, it’s not surprising more goals have been scored in the EPL considering their, well, lack of defensive focus. Upon first look, it may seem impressive that Chelsea has allowed so few goals this season. Well, it is. But it’d be even more impressive if they had done it against the more technical talents of La Liga outfits.

Last season there was quite a bit of discussion about the comparative parity of these three leagues. It’s difficult to measure that elusive quality of leagues before at least hitting the halfway mark of the season, especially through statistics. For instance, while Barcelona haven’t played Valencia, Real Madrid, Sevilla, or Villarreal yet this season, nor have any of those teams played each other (with the exception of Valencia and Sevilla who squared off this weekend to the tune of a scoreless draw).

This fact most likely makes the top teams look statistically even top-er at this stage. I look forward to the halfway point, and hope Isaiah does a similar breakdown for us all to comment on then.

By: Colby

Colby — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:30:33 +0000

The average rank of Barcelona’s opponents in La Liga this year has been 12.833. The average rank of Chelsea’s opponents in the Premiership has been 11.64 while the average rank of Inter’s opponents has been 11.08.