Football Stats
What Is xG In Football? Everything You Need To Know About Expected Goals
Every season there is a new data metric or analytical tool being used by the best clubs to optimize performance. Over the past few seasons xG has risen to the top. Here we look at what it is and how it’s calculated. What is xG? xG stands for Expected Goals and it is the likelihood of a player scoring based on the situation they are in. xG can be implemented for a player or a whole team and it allows you to see how effective they are in front of goal. xG values range from 0 to 1 and the higher the value the more likely the shot will be a goal. A good example of this is a penalty which has a value of 0.76 meaning a higher chance of a goal. Each season xG is becoming more popular, with Sky now implementing the metric in their game analysis before, during and after the games. How is xG c...
Performance Analysis: Cristiano Ronaldo’s Dream Manchester United Return against Newcastle United
Over 12 years after his last match for Manchester United – the 2009 UEFA Champions League final which saw Barcelona emerge with the coveted trophy – Cristiano Ronaldo was back in a red shirt at the club level. In that time away, he had gone and basically won everything he possibly could with Real Madrid and later Juventus alongside his Euro 2016 success for Portugal, establishing himself as one of the best football players in the world. Eventually, though, his gargantuan salary became too much to handle for Juventus, who were happy to move him on this summer. A bit of a transfer saga developed as Manchester City seemingly declined to sign him initially but after failing to land Harry Kane looked all set to bring him to the Etihad Stadium, however, a last-minute twist saw the Portuguese int...
Scout Report: How Lukaku can unlock Premier League title for Chelsea
This transfer window keeps getting crazier and crazier. Just days after Manchester City smashed the British transfer record to sign Jack Grealish, Chelsea have come very close to matching it as they have signed Romelu Lukaku for roughly £97.4 million. He has put pen to paper on a -year contract reportedly worth over £10m plus bonuses per year. Welcome home, @RomeluLukaku9. 💙#LukWhosBack pic.twitter.com/P43CAIVqfU — Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) August 12, 2021 The 28-year-old forward spent his childhood days in various clubs based in Antwerp, his birthplace, before moving to Anderlecht’s youth academy. He made his league debut at the age of just 16, after signing his first professional contract 13 days before his birthday. In two full seasons in the Belgian top-flight, Lukaku t...
Purposeful Possession Metric: Taking Possession Data to the Next Level
Statistics are a key element to analysing football matches, but are all of them useful? Basic figures such as shots, shots on target, yellow and red cards, and possession are displayed at various points during a televised match. While some of these variables are rather concrete, if you are a football fanatic you may have thought to yourself at times that the possession statistic, in particular, can be rather misleading. Teams such as Barcelona, Manchester City and Spain play a style of football in which their players prioritise keeping the ball. At the end of a given match, these teams’ possession data may indicate that they had 70% possession. However, much of their time with the ball is likely spent passing around the middle or defensive thirds of the pitch with little or no threat of sc...
Statistical analysis: Finding a better shot-stopper for Everton
Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton have been absolutely resurgent this season. At the time of writing, they are placed in the Europa League spots with a game or two in hand relative to the teams above them in the table. Their summer signings including the likes of James Rodríguez, Allan and Abdoulaye Doucouré have been firing on all cylinders, while old faces such as Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison and Lucas Digne have been exceptional as well. Protecting their own net, though, has been a bit of a challenge for the Toffees. No other Premier League side has played fewer games than Everton at the time of writing, yet they only have the eighth-best record in the league when it comes to goals conceded. While their defence has not been particularly solid (they are at the very centre of the ...
