Sports stories without the shouting
Last night’s Copa Libertadores wasn’t much of an advertisement for Brazilian football (something I’m sure supporters of Palmeiras aren’t worrying about this morning), but what was amazing was how an injury time that saw a manger sent off and sensational last gasp winner seemed so tedious. Going back and timing the game shows that although …
Continue reading “When time doesn’t fly – analysing the Copa Libertadores final injury time”
This year’s Premier League could be won with the lowest points haul in ten years. Is this a new trend or Covid related blip – and could we see another Leicester? Last week my blog was like a half-time report on the English Premier League. Looking at league position and points per game after most …
Continue reading “The lowest points total in a decade is likely to win the Premier League”
The Premier League is highly competitive and an analysis of the first half of the season shows that it moving up the league requires significant performance improvement. This weekend marked the halfway stage of the Premier League for most clubs (although Covid postponements have not made it a perfect split). Since most teams have now …
Continue reading “The Premier League half-time review – winners and losers”
As the NFL Playoffs start this weekend spare a thought for Arizona Cardinals fans. Their 8-8 season is hardly earth shattering but they were the seventh best team in the NFC but failed to capture one of the seven playoff places. The reason is that the playoffs are made up of the four division winners …
Continue reading “What the NFC Wild Card games could have looked like”
The stats show it doesn’t pay to follow the winner of the King George Chase on Boxing Day all the way to Cheltenham. The expression “horses for courses” is listed in the Cambridge Dictionary as a phrase ‘to say that it is important to choose suitable people for particular activities because everyone has different skills.’ …
Continue reading ““Horses for courses” has a measure of truth”
If your team scores a goal in the Premier League but then it goes to VAR, don’t get your hopes up. So far this season 80% of VAR goals decisions have resulted in a goal being disallowed. Ten teams have had goals disallowed, while only four have had them confirmed, and only one team (Aston …
Continue reading “If your goal goes to VAR, expect the worst”
The last two years have seen new trends emerging among the winners of cycling’s Grand Tours. Not only is a much younger generation of riders emerging, but a larger pool of talent suggests a more unpredictable and exciting future for fans. Last year I wrote a blog about how cycling’s Grand Tour winners tend to …
Continue reading “The future of cycling is young (and there are lots of them)”
The news that a horse has become “the most expensive yearling sold at auction this year” always catches attention, and this month was no exception as Coolmore paid £3.5m at Tattersalls Yearling Sales Book One at Newmarket. However, looking at the results of the last ten years does not suggest we should be expecting too …
Continue reading “What does the future hold for the most expensive yearling bought at auction?”
This week has seen an inordinate amount of articles and analysis about where Lionel Messi will be playing next year, with more interest on his release clause value than the fact that the contract was pretty clear that he wasn’t going anywhere. This did lead me to wonder, if this is the season for outlandish …
Continue reading “What would one billion euros get you in the current football market?”
It is a general rule of thumb in professional sport that the teams that pay the biggest salaries are the most successful. Looking at the final Premier League standings this year supports that trend, with the top four in the table also having the biggest payrolls*. However within the top four, some teams got more …
Continue reading “Which Premier League clubs got what they paid for?”
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