Ahhh that made me chuckle Interesting the amount of long passes in La Liga in comparison to the Premier League. On a side note, how long do you think it will be before Italy falls off these graphs entirely, and is replaced by Russia or Switzerland or Turkey as part of the big 5 leagues?
Very interesting. Seems to fly in the face of the "facts" about English club teams. I also thought it was interesting there were more goals per game in the BL considering the PL is the "most exciting league".
Well well well!, just look at our "weak" league! according to, err, let me think, nope, name escapes me!, anyway...can't pass for ****! ...can't score! ...resort to more long balls! ...and as for discipline! There's a certain Chav poster who hopefully has a pipe, cos I have just the thing for his next smoke!
Certainly in the case of the long pass stats - Serie A looks to be 50% higher than the Premier League, when it clearly isn't. And, as I said before, more shots per game and more long-range goals don;t make the Premier League more exciting, it merely underlines how bad the defending within the league is.
I thought the opposite. More long range goals because the defending was better. With worse defending you wouldn't resort to long range attempts. That or the PL keepers are cack! Lol. Similarly with shots, its a naff stat, what sort of shots? Wild slaps from 35yds born out of frustration that won't score in a million years still count.
I don't think long range goals are an indication of bad defending, quite the opposite. I think players are more likely to have a shot from distance in our league because defenses are generally better than those in Spain etc. There is often a better chance of scoring from distance than from close range, where a well organised defence will stifle the chance. Serie A also has a high number here, and the Italians are renowned for their stingy defenses, while Spain have a low number of long range goals and their defenses are generally poo. Also Bale's goals probably account for a fair few of those. The worst thing about those tables is the cards per game graph, where England and France's bars are totally different sizes despite supposedly representing the same number
They've uploaded new graphs now... please log in to view this image please log in to view this image They seem to have spotted some of their mistakes... still misleading though.
Do these stats mean anything at all? I'm struggling to find any relevance. In fact, I'm baffled by this discussion. None of the stats are wildly different from league to league on any of the criteria. And if Lorient v Monaco produces 3 goals and 18 attempts, but Freiburg v Werder Bremen produces 4 goals and 25 attempts, what conclusions are we meant to draw exactly?
It's not just based on two games though is it, it's based on 5 entire seasons worth of statistics. Agreed in most cases the difference between leagues is much of a muchness, however there are some revealing nuggets - such as the average number of bookings per game which is almost double in Spain what it is in the UK.
So would most people. The fact remains that the PL is hardly miles behind the main European leagues as someone persistantly and wrongly maintains.
The only stat where there is a significant difference, I think. Inconsistent refs? What's new there? The playing (rather than officiating) stats reveal absolutely nothing of note. And even if there were 5 goals every Bundesliga game compare to 2.5 in La Liga, it wouldn't give any basis for a meaningful analysis as there are so many variables, yet so few comparables.
Says quite a lot about either a) Comparative leniency of refeerees in the EPL b) Higher standard of tackling in EPL c) Higher amount of diving/dissent in Spain
Remember the amount of long-range shots we conceded a few years back, which was almost entirely down to the fact our midfield never seemed to do any defending? Otherwise known as The Zokora Years?
LOL I've only just seen these stats but i KNEW you'd have put something like this. Then I scrolled down to see it! Where for art thou, DL?
I don't agree, for example the passing accuracy, I read weekly how inferior we are to the Spanish league, we should all aspire to be Barcelona...why? They've been in 3 CL finals in the last 10, but that represents the only 3 Spanish entrants from that far superior league. The feat is matched by United, 3 finals, but English clubs have been in 7 of the last 10...not all one team either! Madrid haven't featured in any of the last 10...or 11 for that matter!
I'm not sure what he is getting at. Those stats reveal very little, other than give an indication to the style of football played (at a stretch) and as someone mentioned earlier, it suggests our referees are more lenient. Having watched numerous La Liga matches I would tend to agree, it's far easier to pick up cards there than in England. Bundesliga and La Liga are definitely stronger leagues but it's good to know the PL is catching up and making progress.
