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#swfc Suffice to say no one, paid to (as below) or otherwise, enjoyed watching Wednesday v Stoke.
Just how drab was it then?
tl;dr: Of 1,836 Championship games since 2017 only 16 were more drab. But it IS a time of drab games. https://twitter.com/TheStarOwls/status/1333026424777830401?s=20
Just how drab was it then?
tl;dr: Of 1,836 Championship games since 2017 only 16 were more drab. But it IS a time of drab games. https://twitter.com/TheStarOwls/status/1333026424777830401?s=20
One way to look at it is to look at the quality of chances (Expected Goals, xG) and the quality of the positions teams had the ball in (non-shot Expected Goals, NS xG), which are explained succinctly here by @FiveThirtyEight ( https://fivethirtyeight.com/methodology/how-our-club-soccer-predictions-work/):
If we simply add those two values together for both teams, we can crudely create a "drab-o-meter": The lower the combined Expected Goals and non-shot Expected Goals of the teams, the more drab the game.
Roughly speaking half of the 1,836 games played since 2017 had between 2 and 3 Expected Goals and the same for non-shot Expected Goals. So half of the matches had between 4 and 6 if you add the two together.
Of those 1,836 matches Wednesday v Stoke ranks as the 17th worst, bottom 1%. It's actually "surpassed" by the Swansea game, which comes in as the 13th worst. Pulis gonna Pulis!
In 50th is the Stoke game in March 2019, so you could say there's previous with Stoke and drabness.
In 50th is the Stoke game in March 2019, so you could say there's previous with Stoke and drabness.
A special mention to the hardy souls supporting Preston North End ( @gorn__, @fromthefinney), whose team have been involved in 3 of the worst 10 matches!
"Spreadsheet, spreadsheet on the screen, which team has been the drabbest as a mean?"
Stoke ( @wizardsofdrivel), almost in a tie with Huddersfield ( @barmyarmyuk):
Stoke ( @wizardsofdrivel), almost in a tie with Huddersfield ( @barmyarmyuk):
8 teams have been ever-present since 2017 and in descending order of drabness they are:
Preston
Boro ( @boroform)
Forest ( @AnalyticsForest)
Derby ( @11pts1win, @AnalyticsDerby)
Reading ( @BiscuitAnalytic)
Wednesday
Birmingham ( @blues_breakdown)
Millwall ( @MillwallAnalyt1)
Bristol City ( @FevsFootball, @RobinsAnalysis)
Brentford ( @DavidAnderson_1)
QPR ( @QPR_Stats)
Boro ( @boroform)
Forest ( @AnalyticsForest)
Derby ( @11pts1win, @AnalyticsDerby)
Reading ( @BiscuitAnalytic)
Wednesday
Birmingham ( @blues_breakdown)
Millwall ( @MillwallAnalyt1)
Bristol City ( @FevsFootball, @RobinsAnalysis)
Brentford ( @DavidAnderson_1)
QPR ( @QPR_Stats)
There's also an indication that, 1) the games are indeed more drab this season than in previous years and there's a clear before and after restart in the summer; and 2) teams seem to let their hair down somewhat when we enter the close season:
As some of you have commented on "drabness" in the division, I thought I'd tag you in as cc:
@NTT20pod
@BladesAnalytic
@andywatsonsport
(the numbers above are courtesy of @FiveThirtyEight's csv found here: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/soccer-api/club/spi_matches.csv)
@NTT20pod
@BladesAnalytic
@andywatsonsport
(the numbers above are courtesy of @FiveThirtyEight's csv found here: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/soccer-api/club/spi_matches.csv)
