I can remember that there were quite a few podcast discussions concerning Port Vale’s “false” position in League One through the first half of last season. Vale were bottom of the table, but opinion was that would soon change because their stats were so good.
Vale’s xg figures for goals for and against were saying they were far better than their position indicated, but they stubbornly remained in the bottom four and by the time they were beating clubs from higher divisions in their FA Cup run to the Quarterfinals, there was a grudging acceptance among the podcast pundits that Vale were going down despite what the stats were saying.
I couldn’t help thinking of Vale, who are currently bottom of League Two, when I looked at WhoScored.com’s stats which showed City top of the Championship shots at goal per game table, top of the possession table and fifth in the xg attacking table.
I was quite surprised to see us only fourteenth in the xg goals against table because I thought we’d definitely be in the bottom three. We’ve not even come close to keeping a clean sheet yet (in fact we’ve yet to get to half time without conceding in any of our eight competitive matches so far) and the number of really soft goals we’ve conceded already is a big concern.
Even our “good” figures can be taken another way. For example, only QPR have a higher negative xg v actual goals scored figure than us – we’ve scored 4.6 less goals than the analysts say we should have. Similarly, 17.3 shots per game looks less impressive when you’re only averaging 1.33 goals per game – for me, while I’d clearly prefer us to have what I’d still call impressive attacking stats, they do carry a hint of a lack of precision in terms of the final ball and finishing which I felt was an issue even while we were scoring ninety league goals last season.
Tomorrow, we travel to Bolton to play a side that have lost their last four league games and are below us in the table. While I can see us picking up a fifth draw, my lack of faith in our defending makes me think that’s the best we can hope for.
On to the quiz then, I’ll post the answers on Sunday.
60.s. With a surname indicative of something King Charles might wear, this Wigan born forward had a style which Wikipedia describes as “bustling”. Bolton were his first club, but he only played four league games, scoring once, for them and around halfway through the decade, he left to join a side thirty eight miles away. Promotion followed in his first season to a level the club could only dream of now as he provided the assist for the goal, scored by a former City player, which took them up. A regular and a crowd favourite for six seasons at his second club, he moved south to a market town preparing for it’s first season of league football and played his part in two promotions before he went Roman for a while and then he returned to his third club to finish his career off meaning that he had only played for one club which didn’t play in a combination of black and white. Who am I describing?
70s. This Liverpudlian full back spent all of his career in Lancashire with the large majority of his near four hundred league appearances coming for his first club, Bolton. A contractual dispute led to him moving on to a club that wore the same colour shirts and then there was a short time on the coast wearing yellow/amber. Name the player.
80s. Hearing aid for a fish perhaps!
90s. Northern fern spread in central area of the pitch. (3,8)
00s. Eastern European capital joins with Queen track to provide non scoring striker!
10s. He currently manages in the Premier League, played thirty five times for his country and had a spell at Bolton early in this decade. Who is he?
20s. Tardy with your duty by the sound of it!
