Archive for February 2009
Bayern on the rampage as Liverpool stun Real
At the same time Liverpool scored a priceless away goal after scoring late in their match against Real Madrid to inflict a rare defeat on Real under coach Juande Ramos.
Whilst on the first day there were three draws it was the opposite on the second day with just one draw and a result being achieved in the other three matches.
In the English/Italian tussle, the English teams finished the first legs on top with all of them not conceding a goal and with both home teams winning.
Only Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan managed to come up with a goalless draw at the San Siro.
Bayern Munich has probably one leg in the quarter-finals after scoring four times in the second half. Bayern led 1-nil at half time.
The remaining seven ties could easily go either way with no other team managing a convincing win.
delicious
digg
Man Utd open seven point gap
This was Liverpool's sixth draw at home and tenth overall and now Liverpool and Newcastle United are the first teams to reach double figures insofar as draws are concerned.
Chelsea moved to third place after beating Aston Villa at Villa Park in what was a direct exchange of ladder positions.
But Arsenal failed to capitalize on Villa's loss as the Gunners could only get a goalless draw at the Emirates against Sunderland.
Now the Gunners trail Villa by four points with Everton four points back.
Everton could have narrowed the gap to two points but the Toffees were held to a goalless draw at St. James Park.
Elsewhere West Bromwich Albion still prop the ladder with Middlesbrough and Blackburn just a point above them but still in the relegation zone.
Blackburn has a game in hand away to Fulham.
In the last post on the English Premier we took a look at the first half ladder and this time we take a look at the second half ladder. This ladder considers only the result in the second half and is shown below:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liverpool | 26 | 16 | 49 |
| Manchester United | 26 | 18 | 48 |
| Chelsea | 26 | 13 | 47 |
| Aston Villa | 26 | 12 | 45 |
| Everton | 26 | 3 | 42 |
| Arsenal | 26 | 8 | 40 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 26 | -5 | 38 |
| Newcastle | 26 | 0 | 37 |
| Wigan | 26 | 1 | 36 |
| Manchester City | 26 | 3 | 35 |
| Stoke City | 26 | -3 | 35 |
| Sunderland | 26 | -1 | 33 |
| Portsmouth | 26 | -6 | 31 |
| Hull City | 26 | -7 | 30 |
| Tottenham | 26 | -3 | 27 |
| Fulham | 25 | -3 | 26 |
| West Ham | 26 | -6 | 26 |
| Middlesbrough | 26 | -16 | 22 |
| Bolton | 26 | -13 | 20 |
| Blackburn | 25 | -11 | 19 |
So Liverpool top this ladder ahead of Manchester United.
Surprisingly using just the second half, West Brom jump to tenth place.
Victory to face Adelaide in Grand Final
The goal was the first to be scored by Adelaide in the final series and it proved decisive.
By reaching the final Adelaide will also play in next season's Asian Champions League campaign alongside Victory.
Adelaide and Melbourne have met five times this year and Adelaide has lost all five times.
In five matches the two teams have met, Adelaide has scored just two goals all in one match and the Victory has scored 11 goals.
So the Victory has maintained four clean sheets in the five meets with Adelaide.
In the final ladder for the just ended season this week we take a look at the draws table showing the number of draws for each team and the number of goals involved in those draws.:
| Team | Played | Goals For | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Coast Mariners | 21 | 12 | 7 | |
| Newcastle Jets | 21 | 9 | 6 | |
| Queensland Roar | 21 | 5 | 6 | |
| Adelaide United FC | 21 | 6 | 5 | |
| Sydney FC | 21 | 5 | 5 | |
| Wellington Phoenix | 21 | 5 | 5 | |
| Perth Glory | 21 | 8 | 4 | |
| Melbourne Victory | 21 | 2 | 2 |
The average number of draws per team was five in a season where there were 22 draws out of 84 matches which is 26 percent.
Interestingly, the Victory had just two draws in the whole season and both were away from home.
One was a goalless draw against Sydney FC and the other a 2-all draw against the Mariners.
Victory reaches grand final
Victory will entertain the winner between Adelaide and Queensland Roar after the Roar beat the Central Coast Mariners 2-1 in the second- leg for an overrall 4-1 win.
Adelaide finished second in the league but they still have to find the net after in the finals and will host the Roar who managed to score four goals and had a clean sheet away from home.
The winner between the two teams will automatically get a place in next year's Asian Champions League because Victory already has the other place as minor premiers.
Throughout the season we looked at the team performance in each half through the first and second half ladders and this week we look at the first and second half ladders for the 2008/9 season.
The first half ladder is the league table considering just the result from the first half and the same for the second half ladder.
Below is the first half ladder:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide United FC | 21 | 8 | 39 |
| Queensland Roar | 21 | 8 | 33 |
| Sydney FC | 21 | 4 | 28 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 21 | 1 | 27 |
| Newcastle Jets | 21 | -2 | 24 |
| Melbourne Victory | 21 | -2 | 23 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 21 | -5 | 19 |
| Perth Glory | 21 | -12 | 19 |
and below is the second half ladder:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Victory | 21 | 14 | 41 |
| Adelaide United FC | 21 | 4 | 32 |
| Queensland Roar | 21 | 3 | 30 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 21 | 2 | 29 |
| Perth Glory | 21 | -1 | 28 |
| Sydney FC | 21 | -3 | 25 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 21 | -3 | 23 |
| Newcastle Jets | 21 | -16 | 15 |
So Adelaide had the best first half performance whilst the Victory had the best second half performance.
Interestingly the second half ladder is nearly the same as the actual ladder with the top four places exactly the same.
Below is the actual final ladder:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Victory | 21 | 12 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 38 |
| Adelaide United FC | 21 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 38 |
| Queensland Roar | 21 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 36 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 21 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 28 |
| Sydney FC | 21 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 26 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 21 | 7 | 5 | 9 | -8 | 26 |
| Perth Glory | 21 | 6 | 4 | 11 | -13 | 22 |
| Newcastle Jets | 21 | 4 | 6 | 11 | -18 | 18 |
Scolari's Chelsea reign ends
This came after Chelsea slipped to fourth place in the league after the draw against Hull City at the weekend after having been second two weeks earlier.
With Arsenal in fifth place, Chelsea looks more like a team fighting for fourth place and a champions league place instead of being a team fighting for the title.
So here is a quick summary of Scolari's record in the league:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Matches | 25 |
| Won | 14 |
| Drawn | 7 |
| Lost | 4 |
| Away wins | 8 |
| Home wins | 6 |
| Goals scored | 44 |
| Goals conceded | 15 |
| Home goals scored | 21 |
| Away goals scored | 23 |
Scolari's results are not that bad and with a bit of luck could have been better.
Chelsea's problem so far has been the home form where they have got 23 points out of a possible 39.
Compare that with current leaders Manchester United who have played 11 games at home but have 31 points dropping just two points.
But recently the away form has been great and Aston Villa and Liverpool now have a better away record than Chelsea.
Portsmouth sack Adams
Adams took over from Harry Rednapp who left to join Tottenham Hotspurs.
His team only managed to win one match at home against Blackburn Rovers and also won one match away against Sunderland.
Below is the summary for the 13 Premier League matches Adams was in charge:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Matches | 13 |
| Won | 2 |
| Drawn | 5 |
| Lost | 6 |
| Away wins | 1 |
| Home wins | 1 |
| Goals scored | 16 |
| Goals conceded | 28 |
| Home goals scored | 10 |
| Away goals scored | 6 |
Chelsea slips to fourth
That was Chelsea's fifth draw at Stamford Bridge and in just two rounds the team has slipped from second position to fourth.
The battle for fourth place can easily be a battle between Chelsea and Arsenal but there are still 13 matches to go.
Aston Villa's win over relegation threatened Blackburn made sure the midlands outfit opened a two point gap in third place. Villa trail Liverpool in third place by three points.
Manchester United maintained its grip at the top after narrowly beating West Ham United. That match was United's 13th-straight clean sheet in the league.
Once again all the teams in the relegation zone failed to win and in fact the bottom five teams all lost.
Out of the ten matches in round 25, goals were scored in the first half in only three matches with the other seven matches going to half time goalless.
In the match between Liverpool and Portsmouth all the five goals were scored in the second half and this week we take a look at the first half ladder.
This ladder only looks at the scores at half time and is presented below:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester United | 24 | 15 | 47 |
| Chelsea | 25 | 16 | 44 |
| Liverpool | 25 | 9 | 40 |
| Fulham | 23 | 7 | 38 |
| West Ham | 25 | 6 | 38 |
| Aston Villa | 25 | 4 | 37 |
| Arsenal | 25 | 5 | 36 |
| Manchester City | 24 | 5 | 33 |
| Wigan | 25 | 1 | 33 |
| Everton | 25 | 3 | 32 |
| Bolton | 25 | 2 | 30 |
| Middlesbrough | 25 | -2 | 28 |
| Sunderland | 25 | -5 | 27 |
| Blackburn | 24 | -3 | 26 |
| Hull City | 25 | -9 | 26 |
| Tottenham | 25 | -1 | 25 |
| Portsmouth | 24 | -8 | 22 |
| Stoke City | 25 | -16 | 22 |
| Newcastle | 25 | -9 | 20 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 25 | -20 | 17 |
So Manchester United also tops the first half ladder and West Bromwich Albion prop the ladder.
Interestingly Fulham seem to be playing well in the first half and therefore they are in fourth place despite being tenth in the actual ladder.
Next week we look at the second half ladder.
Advantage Roar, Victory
Its interesting to see that both home teams lost by the same margin and with the away teams all scoring a goal in each half.
The winner between Adelaide and Melbourne will go straight to the grand final and the loser will host the loser in the Roar/Mariners to decide who becomes the second partipicant in the grand final.
We have been looking at home and away leaders throughout the season and so this week we will take a look at the final home and away ladders.
The home ladder considers just the matches played at home with the away ladder considering the matches played away.
Below is the final home ladder:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Victory | 11 | 15 | 27 |
| Adelaide United FC | 11 | 17 | 26 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 11 | 5 | 19 |
| Perth Glory | 10 | 3 | 18 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 11 | 5 | 17 |
| Sydney FC | 10 | 7 | 16 |
| Queensland Roar | 10 | 4 | 16 |
| Newcastle Jets | 10 | 1 | 13 |
and below is the final away ladder:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Queensland Roar | 11 | 7 | 20 |
| Adelaide United FC | 10 | -5 | 12 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 10 | -2 | 11 |
| Melbourne Victory | 10 | -3 | 11 |
| Sydney FC | 11 | -6 | 10 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 10 | -13 | 7 |
| Newcastle Jets | 11 | -19 | 5 |
| Perth Glory | 11 | -16 | 4 |
The minor premiers Victory top the home ladder but lie fourth in the away ladder.
The Roar leader the away ladder by 8 points and its the away form that secured them third place.
So for the Roar not hosting the grand final should they get there will not be a major problem for them.
Perth Glory had the worst away form and Newcastle the worst home form.
Liverpool beats Chelsea to regain second place
Manchester United won its match against Everton but it has also has a game in hand against Fulham.
That is a home game against a team that hasn't won away from Craven Cottage so far.
There was no difference in the gap between Arsenal and Aston Villa as both teams were held at home to goalless draws against West Ham and Wigan respectively.
Despite the loss at Old Trafford, Everton is still in sixth place but its five point cushion has now been reduced to four.
This was the second round so far this season where no away team won a single match. Five matches were all won by home teams.
It is also the second time when there has been five draws in a round. Five draws in a single round is the highest so far.
At the bottom of the table Stoke City moved out of the relegation zone after the win over Manchester City and was replaced in the relegation waters by Blackburn.
Below is a table showing the draw scored and frequency so far:
| Scoreline | Frequency | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 24 | ||||||||||||
| 1 - 1 | 23 | ||||||||||||
| 2 - 2 | 15 | ||||||||||||
| 3 - 3 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 4 - 4 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 5 - 5 | 0 |
So the goalless draw has now become the most popular draw scoreline followed by 1-all.
There has one drawn match at 4-all and that was between Tottenham Hotspurs and Arsenal and the two teams meet again in round 25 in what should be match of the round.
Sydney, Kosmina part ways
Kosmina joined Sydney in October 2007 and his first match was a win against the Central Coast Mariners.
From there Sydney went undefeated for the next six matches and then suffered a 2-4 home loss to Perth Glory.
That loss to the Glory was the only loss Sydney FC suffered under Kosmina in the league in the 2007/8 season.
But Sydney FC still managed to reach the finals where they were knocked out by the Queensland Roar after a 2-0 goal aggregate loss.
However, this season for the first time in the history of the club, Sydney FC failed to reach the finals after winning seven matches, drawing five and losing nine.
The 4-nil win over Newcastle Jets in the last round of this season ensured that the club did not finish the season with a negative goal difference.
So here is the record for Kosmina's 35 matches(33 league and 2 finals):
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Won | 13 |
| Drawn | 11 |
| Lost | 11 |
| Away wins | 7 |
| Home wins | 6 |
| Goals scored | 53 |
| Goals conceded | 48 |
| Home goals scored | 28 |
| Away goals scored | 25 |
So he won more games than he lost during his tenure and despite winning more games away his team scored more goals at home.
The record looks good because the team only lost two matches in the 2007/8 season under Kosmina's guidance but 2008/9 season proved to be the opposite.
