NAMING RIGHTS THREAD: Liverpool really won't win the Premiership 2010-2011

de jong

It were Denilson.

at any club besides arsenal, it's an indicator of performance.

At arsenal, it's just the sign of another midfielder that doesn't dribble, cross or shoot

Ha - darragh you should have a guess at who was 2nd (and the only other player above 90%).

Carrick posts excellent pass completion rates on the reg.

hey boxall who were you before btw, or are you new blood, or are you old blood that i should recognise, or ?

I'm new, though I've lurked. Let me know if I should post less.

Consensus seems to be that Carrick's had a decent season, right? I mean, he was pretty woeful last season but seems to have regained something.

not at all

xp when we want you to post less you'll find out in the usbual way

everybody needs to post more, it makes us less conspicuous

eh i'm no good at pass completion, tho ever since pete informed us -constantly- that obi mikel's is amongst the highest i've mistrusted it anyway

or number none re carrick tbph!

Yeah, definitely not arguing for it as a useful metric - only someone who's never watched these players once would. I'd love to see the numbers from Spain and learn if a half-dozen clubs have a CM with better numbers than Xavi, though.

Carrick has improved immeasurably in the second half of the season but he was plumbing new depths before Christmas. I will always hate him though.

does pass completion take any account of length of pass or direction?

whenever i'm fm'ing and a cm has mad pass % i wonder 'where's all your assists then you accountant-wannaba cunt'

Welcome boxall! I was wondering too, but didn't dare ask lest you'd been around forever and shame on me for not noticing. Initial posts should be made in a wildly inappropriate style to assist in spotting the new guy, I feel.

Noodle Vague - i assume not, hence Carrick

loads of x-posts i think it's sort of bollocks too. not to take away from lucas, he's had a good season, but if you pass laterally all the live long day then you're gonna have a pretty high pass completion.

My favourite useless statistic is distance covered. Why did TV producers feel that was a necessary addition to football coverage?

Dunno, if your role in the team is essentially to collect the ball from central defenders/opposition midfielders and get it to the creative midfielders/wingers then having a high pass completion is pretty good. As long as you aren't constantly at risk of getting sent off at the same time, which is the impression I get re: Mikel.

boxall u posted in the MLS thread, you're cool imo

No no, average distance covered is the one - I like that every player who gets that caption scores approx 1/11th above his team average.

Matt - See there's players who can do all that and then do other stuff too, like shoot. Every Carrick shot ever is this horrible weak sidefoot shit. It enrages me.

I'd like to know which lateral passers boast the lowest completion rates. Think Mikel might be hovering around 50%.

My guess is distance covered stat originated w/ ESPN -- "look at how much these guys run, you can't call them pussies anymore American football fans."

distance covered is useful for one type of player only- box to box midfielders- maybe for fullbacks too, depending.

Drives me soft when berbatov gets whacked over his distance covered. Guy's positioning is flawless, much more important in a forward/centre-half/defensive midgielder

If anyone's interested these were the top and bottom* 10 as of May 3:

1. Denilson 90.6 percent
2. Diaby 90.5
3. Scholes 89.9
4. Alex 89.8
5. De Jong 89.5
6. Djourou 89.4
7. Mikel 89.2
8. Jenas 87.6
9. Squillaci 87.2
9. Terry 87.2
--
10. Van Persie 70.8
9. Kolarov 70.7
8. Milner 70.3
7. Arshavin 69.9
6. Nani 68.8
5. Crouch 64.9
4. Giggs 64.7
2. Torres 63.8
2. Bale 63.8
1. Drogba 56.1

*Only went through the top six - stopped when it became clear that overall completion rate went down noticeably with each step down the table (except for Arsenal). There are probably numbers out there lower than Drogba's.

It was funny when it turned out Van Der Sar had covered more distance than Torres in the Champions League game.

if yr role in the team is to collect the ball from opposition midfielders then you're not really in cos of your passing ability? i love a nice passing game but i'm starting to think this stat is kinda like "Possession" i.e. you could read it and imagine a totally different game/player

I quite like the 'goals scored' stat which comes up with no frame of reference. Like you'll get 'Inzaghi 2 goals' during some routine 1-0 CL win in February, and it takes a bit of thinking to work out whether that's any good or not.

yeah fine noodle, til you end up with this year's palacios downgrade- a player who breaks up attacks for both teams

For a second I thought you were positing that Inzaghi had the capability to score two even in a routine 1-0 win.

If anyone could do it it'd be him I imagine.

was gonna say

one unjustly disallowed for offside obviously

wait a fucking minute

JENAS?

ha was waiting for that!

btw i'm not gonna dig through months of optajoe ramblings but i'm pretty sure xavi is one of few players whose stats are as good as he is

Spurs top five went Jenas, Gallas, Palacios, Modric, THudd - bottom five Bale, Crouch, BAE, Pav, and Kaboul.

well that's me decided on pass completion eh

One in ten five yards sideways passes goes to opposition

Dyou know thats about fuckin right hey

Wish they could factor in a rough "degree of difficulty" coefficient, then the numbers might mean something.

Difficulty's the wrong word - value, maybe?

degree of 'how does a cunt miss that the cunt' on shots

'that kind of player %' on fouls

'away from the ball' measurement on distance covered for jenas

Are Utd playing Blackpool at Old Trafford this weekend? A shame that Ryan Giggs isn't playing away.

Lucas makes more forward passes than people realise. If a killer ball's on, he'll attempt it, and he'll usually get it spot on. Look at the number of balls he drives into the danger area outside the box, perfect for a flick on round the corner or a one-two. I fucking love Lucas. Should be made captain.

LFC haven't done their player of the year yet have they? Gotta be Lucas surely?