The Great Midseason Post

By: Isaiah | January 19th, 2009

We just finished the magical 19th game, which means that all and sundry begin to do the whole “midseason” thing. I’m not going to exempt myself from this simply because there are things to report of a positive nature and I’m not above whooping and hollering about how great the team I’m following is currently playing. That’s sort of the point of this site, isn’t it?

If you missed it, Kevin had a great review of the 5-0 Deportivo thrashing dished out by the boys in blaugrana on Saturday — a game I had the distinct pleasure of watching, once again, with Andrew M and inNYC at Nevada Smiths. I will not repeat too many of his points, merely add to them in as many decimal-laden ways as I can think of. And that’s quite a few ways. 14.35 ways, at least.

So, it’s halfway through and the first point — one that Kevin did already mention and one that has been mentioned often in the comments section — is that Barcelona is now the record holder for most points earned in the first half a season with 50. That’s 3 more than previous record holder. At the stunning pace of 2.63 points per game (87.7% of available points), Barça is on pace to earn 100 points for the entire year. That is, of course, a rather ridiculous notion that we will henceforth call CrazyTalk. CrazyTalk is anything that suggests that Barça — or any other club — can possibly achieve 100 points in a 38-game season — when Arsenal went undefeated they earned 90 points. They drew 12 times, did the 03/04 Arsenal team, but still, imagine: 100 points? Impossible, says I. Funny that we can’t remember the lessons of only a week ago, when lowly Osasuna nearly beat us; we’re visiting the Bernabeu, Mestalla, Vicente Calderon, and Riazor throughout the coming months — those are 4 likely draws or losses. But let’s say we win one of them and draw two and lose one. That’s 7 points gone, meaning no points can be dropped in the other 15 matches in order to achieve 100 points. Sorry, folks, 100 isn’t happening. [You should feel free to point out that as of today, Barça has actually dropped more points at home than away -- 4 to 3 -- but I would also point out that we have had more games at home in which to drop points -- 10 to 9 -- and that those stats will be reversed in the second half of the season. Anyway, continue reading for more discussion of this whole home-and-away thing]

Barça has scored 59 goals in 19 games, meaning they score, on average, 3.11 goals per match. The median is actually 3, so fairly close, but do you honestly believe that Barcelona will score 6 goals three times in the coming 19 games? 5 perhaps a couple of times, but even that is somewhat ridiculous, which is evidenced by the utter shock and awe (TM, US government) with which the 5-0 Depor match and the 6-1 Atleti games have been received by even the most ardent of cules. Our only 6-goal haul away from home came against Sporting Gijon, who were just dreadful for a couple of weeks there. We have averaged 2.56 goals away from home — meaning that at home we average an absurd 3.60 goals — in fact, here are the number of goals we’ve scored away from home, in chronological order: 0, 6, 2, 1, 4, 2, 3, 2, 3. Of those teams, only Sevilla and Villarreal are in the top 6, though Málaga is in 7th now.

It’s not strange that we’re not as good away from home in terms of goals scored (23 compared to home’s 36), but it’s still the fact of the matter. I fully realize that we earn more points per game away than at home, but our only loss was away — and yes, I realize that it’s our only loss and it was the first match of the season, but it was to Numancia — and no way does scoring fewer goals and allowing more translate to sustained points-earnings when you’re visiting some of the toughest grounds there are. And I’ll only briefly mention right now that if we have the championship wrapped up by the time we swing through Mallorca and Depor, there’s not a chance in hell we come out without defeats since they (Depor) will be fighting for a European spot, especially if Atleti continues to stumble, bumble, and sometimes rumble its way towards yet another stuttering finish (Málaga and Atleti are tied on points right now). And that’s your Chris Berman reference for the year.

Now that’s not to say that I’m not ecstatic about our team or the way were playing, but overconfidence has never really been my game, or at least I like to think it hasn’t. I’ll probably guess from here until the end of the season that we’ll win every game, but you never know since everyone stack up differently each week when you consider injuries, suspensions, and squad rotations. If it were all the same from week-to-week, I’m not sure we’d have very many visitors to this here blogosphere cranny. [As it is, we hit 25,000 visitors last month -- cause you guys are awesome]

Now to the statistics that you all crave desperately.

Most goals scored in the league: Samuel Eto’o (18)
Most goals scored in the Copa del Rey: Lionel Messi (4)
Most goals scored in the Champions League: Lionel Messi (5)
Most goals scored in all competitions: Lionel Messi (21); Samuel Eto’o (21)

Most minutes played in the league: Victor Valdes (1790min); outfield player: Xavi (1663min)
Most minutes played in the Copa del Rey: Pinto (374), Caceres (374), Bojan (374), Sylvinho (374)
Most minutes played in the Champions League: Gerard Pique (475)

Most games started in the league: Victor Valdes (19); outfield player: Xavi (18)
Most games started in the Copa del Rey: Pinto (4); outfield players: Alves (4), Bojan (4), Caceres (4), Pique (4), Sylvinho (4)
Most games started in the Champions League: Valdes (7); outfield player: Pique (6), Marquez (6), Puyl (6), Xavi (6), Alves (6), Henry (6)
Most games started in all competitions: Alves (27)

Best result: 6-0 vs Valladolid
Best away result: 1-6 at Sporting Gijon
Best home result: 2-0 vs Real Madrid. Damn straight.

Best player of the season: Messi because Yaya is too large to fit in this category. [Feel free to argue that it's Xavi, I can deal with that because it's very possibly true. I'm just saying that Messi is balling out and while, sure, you might argue that Xavi is balling out so intensely I don't even know how baller he is right now, I would counter with Messi vs. Osasuna. And then you'd be all, "Blah blah look who passes him he ball," and I'll be all, "Messi vs. Depor," and then you'll be all, "Recentism is lame," and I'll be all, "Messi vs. Getafe," and you'll be like "He didn't even score in that game," to which I shall conveniently respond that, "Messi is so good his goals from previous years count for this one, too." And to that you have no defense, good sir/madame.]

Back to the statistics:

Overall Record: 16W-2D-1L, 50pts (59GF, 13GA)
Goals per game average: 3.105263
Goals allowed per game average: 0.68

Home Record: 8W-2D-0L, 26pts (36GF, 6GA)
Goals per home game average: 3.6
Goals allowed per home gave average: 0.6000000000 (how you like me now, huh?)

Away Record: 8W-0D-1L, 24pts (23GF, 7GA)
Goals per away game average: 2.56
Goals allowed per away game average: 0.78

Percent of points earned overall: 87.7%
Percent of points earned at home: 86.7%
Percent of points earn away: 88.9%

[I'd like to point out that all of this would be in fun, easy-to-read, full-color table form except my computer is giving me crap, so I am forced to do all of these calculations off the top of my head rather than with a spreadsheet. If any of them are wrong, my bad.]

And the final, bestest of the best statistic:
Lead over Real Madrid: 12 points, 18 goals scored, 14 goals allowed. Nice.

With that, I’m signing off, especially with a preview of the Copa derbi to do tomorrow.