Serie A Season Review: 2011-12 Part 1

Hot on the heels of the Premier League review, the Italian equivalent gets the treatment next. Throughout the season I’ve been looking at the opponents at the time of play, now that the season is over it’s a chance to look at the opponents based on their final rankings. Part one, is based on the goalscorers

Most of you know the drill now, this is a site looking to prove who the big game players are based on how they do against a range of opponents – we have the average ranked team scored against, we have the ranges (Top 6-Middle 8-Bottom 6), and we also have importance of goals in terms of points won. Chuck in the assists and we’ll have a good idea of how the attacking players have stood up to be counted in the big games. Similarly, we also have the numbers that are damning for the Flat Track Bullies. To see the big game players based on the ranking at the time of play, click here to read the Round 38 review.

Goals versus Top 6 Teams – Fabrizio Miccoli, 8 goals

Although it was a pretty shocking season for Palermo, there was one shining light. Dropping from 8th in 2010-11 to 16th this season is not what the fans had in mind at the start of the season, but whilst they can point fingers at the crazy chairman, the three different managers or the second worst defence in Serie A, they certainly couldn’t accuse Fabrizio Miccoli of under performing.

Well, if you’re gonna be picky you could accuse him of not turning up against the shit teams in the bottom 6, but where’s the glory in that? For Miccoli is the outstanding big game player in Serie A this season. Hitting 16 goals in just 28 league games, the 32 year old enjoyed a great season with the Sicilian club. As seen above, 50% of his goals came against the Top 6 teams in the country, with a team that finished just two places above the relegation zone. His victims included Inter Milan (a whopping 5 goals in the two meetings), Udinese, Lazio and Napoli. This left him comfortably above any other player in terms of goals against the Top 6 teams this season. He’s at his seventh professional club, but it’s very much been his home after spending the longest period of his career there (5 years after spells at Juventus, Fiorentina and Benfica).

He’s got heart…..providing he’s playing against someone decent

Behind Miccoli (who only scored 9 goals in 2010-11) were a couple of Argentine strikers. Diego Milito rediscovered the devastating form that saw Inter win the Treble in 2010, but this years Inter is nowhere near as good as that team, despite containing a large number of the same players. Like Palermo, Inter also had three managers in what was a very turbulent season for the Milan giants, but this didn’t seem to bother the big striker as he stepped up in the biggest occasion for any Inter Milan player – the Milan derby. Scoring the winner whilst beating AC Milan 1-0 in the middle of the season was one thing, but to beat them 4-2 to hand the title to Juventus was another, and to score a hat trick smacks of a player with a big game temperament. He also hit goals in both games against 4th placed Lazio to cement his claim to be a big game player. The other Argy was the slightly less known Rodrigo Palacio of Genoa who will be lining up for Inter Milan next season, and it’s easy to see why. The former Boca Juniors forward had his best scoring season with 19 league goals in 32 Serie A appearances, and like Miccoli, he preferred to play against the best teams. His six goals against the Top 6 teams were against Inter Milan, Lazio (home and away), Napoli (2), and Udinese. At the age of 30, this move could be his last chance to make it at an established European Super Power.

Further down the list are a few of the Italian Euro 2012 squad members, Di Natale, Giovinco and Diamanti all grabbed 4 goals against the big guns, whilst Edinson Cavani hit 5 against the other Top 6 teams. Joining Cavani on 5 goals is a relative new comer to Italian football Mattia Destro is only 21 but the young Siena striker certainly had an eye for the big occasion. Despite having only score 14 career league goals (12 this season), 5 of them came against this years Top 6 with goals against Napoli, Udinese and Lazio (3). He’s already getting attention from the bigger clubs, after a brief stint at Inter.

Honourable Mentions to – Jovetic in a struggling Fiorentina team still managed to perform in the big games with 4 goals against the top teams – Scoring against both 1st placed Juventus, 2nd placed AC Milan and a brace against 3rd placed Udinese. Not just that, but he also scored home and away against 7th placed Roma, who were in the Top 6 at the time of play. All in all, a big game player, and he’s certainly earned his £20m price tag.

Highest Average Opposition per goal – Marco Di Vaio, 8.40

It turned out to be a good final season in Serie A for the veteran Bologna Striker. The former Italy international recently announced a move to footballing giants Montreal Impact after ending a four year stay with Bologna. And he will be missed with 65 goals in 135 Serie A appearances for the Northern Italy team. And as you’ll see above, he was the man with the highest ranked opponent per goal (with those players with 10 goals or more), with his 10 goals being against an average of 8.40.

Di Vaio just leads the way ahead of Miccoli’s 8.75, as he scored just once against the Bottom 6 teams, resulting in his low average (the league average is 10.5, though this varies depending on what position each team finished). Like Jovetic, Di Vaio notched against both AC Milan and Juventus, whilst a brace against 6th placed Inter and another agaisnt 7th placed Roma saw him grab the coveted Average Opposition Award (I may even e-mail him to tell him about the non-existant award).

Aside from the top two, Destro and Jovetic rear their heads with decent averages, whilst the likes of Milito (11 goals vs Bottom 6) and Giovinco (33% of his goals were against Bottom 6 teams) have lower than expected numbers.

Honourable Mention to – Although he scored less than 10 goals, Lazio’s Stefano Amauri’s 4 goals were on average against 4.75 ranked teams, with goals against Inter, Juventus, Napoli and Roma – a big game player. Inter Milan’s Maicon only scored two goals this season – though the opponents were Champions Juventus, and Milan Rivals and 2nd placed, AC Milan.

Flat Track Bullies

With every Miccoli or Di Vaio, there’s someone that finishes at the other end of the scale, with the lowest Average Opposition per goal, or the most goals against the Bottom 6/least against the Top 6. And there’s a couple of surprising names on the list. Below are the players with the lowest rank opposition for each of their goals (10 goals or more):

Marco Rigoni isn’t exactly a household name, and perhaps this is why. He specialises in the games against lower to mid table opponents. Of his 11 goals, almost half of them were against the strugglers at the bottom. He only scored in two games against Top Half teams, and a hat trick against bottom placed Cesena added largely to his lowly 13.82 average opposition. But he isn’t the surprise name – Udinese and Italy striker Antonio Di Natale scored a massive 9 goals against the bottom teams which has pushed his average down to 12.26, whilst Milan duo Nocerino (11.90) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (11.69) were regular scorers against the teams fighting relegation. Cavani, Klose, and Milito are all big names that scored significantly more against the Bottom 6 than the Top 6 – although that is to be expected as the defences aren’t as strong.

And there’s some similar names when looking at the most goals scored against the Bottom 6 teams:

Milito leads the way with 11, but at least has the decency to score 6 against Top 6 teams. Behind him is Ibrahimovic with 9 goals. He’s often been described as a flat track bully, and to a certain extent it’s justifiable. But it’s probably fair to say that he excels against average opposition – with 16 goals coming against the teams ranked 7th to 14th.

And with just three against the Top 6 teams (one of which was a penalty), there is a case to be made for Ibrahimovic bottling it in the big games. He scored in just two of the games against the best teams (Lazio and a double against Inter). So whilst he’s not an out and out Flat Track Bully, there is evidence that he’s a big game bottler.

Honourable Mentions to –Kevin Prince Boateng scored just 5 league goals, 3 against 18th placed Lecce, one against 12th placed Atalanta and one against 17th placed Genoa. Strangely though, he scored against Barcelona in the Champions League, and Inter Milan in the Super Cup. And Chievo’s Pellisier scored the most goals without bothering the Top 6 teams.

Palacio Good Player, crap hair

Valuable Goals – Diego Milito 16 points from 24 goals, whilst Rodrigo Palacio’s goals won 33% of Genoa’s points

To soften the blow for Milito, who was said to be visually shaken when he found out he had the most goals against the Bottom 6, he can be rightly satisfied that his goals have been so important, worth 16 points for Inter Milan. At times, he was a one man team as Inter went through a comedy run of terrible results – scoring 9 goals in a 6 game run, including all 4 in a 4-4 draw with Parma. He scored the winner in a 1-0 win against AC Milan (2 points) and then scored a hat trick in the return game in the 4-2 win (3 points). Decisive goals against Lazio, Genoa and Siena (8 points) amongst others saw him cement his place at the top of the points won table.

In terms of efficiency, Lazio striker Miroslav Klose has more than a point per goal before injury cut his season short but that’s nothing compared to Chievo’s catpain Sergio Pellisier. Whilst he specialised in bulying the weaker opponents, at least he can say that it was worth while. Each of his goals were worth on average 1.5 points, as every goal he scored directly impacted the final score. Five of his goals were in one goal wins for Chievo, whilst a further three were in draws (2 in a 4-4 draw with Palermo).

As mentioned above, Rodrigo Palacio was the most important to his team as his 19 goals resulted in 14 points for Genoa, which was equivalent to 33% of their overall points.

At the other end of the scale, Juventus’ Vidal Prado scored 7 goals in his debut season with the Turin club and whilst that’s a pretty good return from midfield, none of them were decisive – all came in games where Juve beat their opponents comfortably. Similarly, Lazio’s Rocchi did the same with his 5 goals.

Of the big scorers (those with 15 goals or over), Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s 28 goals were only worth 9 points:

So although he had the best goals scoring season of his career, he wasn’t quite the one man team that some commentators would suggest. Di Natale and Cavani both had 23 goals that were worth 12 points although this measure doesn’t pick up the other measurement of goal importance – when they were scored. So whilst a Cavani scored the opener against Palermo in a 2-0, as Hamsik scored the other goal, it meant that if Cavani’s goal was removed, Napoli would still have 3 points as they’d win 1-0. Not an exact science, but a good indicator of the importance to the team.

Assists

And just to conclude the goalscoring look at the 2011-12 Serie A season, a quick nod to the men that have created the goals, and none have created more than Juventus midfielder Andrea Pirlo. Eyebrows were raised when the Italy international was allowed to leave AC Milan for the Turin giants and with good reason, as he rolled back the years to become one of the Champions most important players.

But he’s not the big game player in terms of assists – that is Parma playmaker Sebastian Giovinco. The former Juventus man joined Parma on a full time basis last summer and it’s worked out well with the diminutive (another word for small – think Zola) front man not only scored 15 goals, but he also got 11 assists, five of which were against the Top 6 teams (Inter, Lazio twice, Udinese and Napoli).

Fabrizio Miccoli also chipped in with 4 assists against the big teams to add to his eight goals. That’s a combined 12 goals or assists in a maximum 12 games – impressive stuff, and undoubtedly a big game player. Antonio Cassano deserves a mention as well, as he hit 10 assists and 3 goals in just 16 games – with a stroke sandwiched in between. It’s certainly been a great relief for all football fans seeing him lining up for Italy in Euro 2012.

That’s it for the goalscoring look back on Serie A. The team stats will be in part 2.

Cheers,

Liam

La Liga Round 34

First they said he couldn’t do it against Barcelona. Then they said that he could only score penalties against them. After that they said that he could only score from open play against the reserve keeper Pinto. Well now there’s no more excuses. Ronaldo has finally killed off any lingering doubts about his ability to perform in the biggest game – el Clasico. And this time, like his winner in last years Copa del Rey final, it was crucial. Now this blog isn’t a Ronaldo love in. Truth be told, I had a thorough dislike of the Portuguese winger during his time at Old Trafford due to his diving, cheating and general arrogance. Something changed though, I don’t know if it’s because he’s now something of an underdog (to Messi) or that it seemed that until now, everything he did had a “but” close behind. Now that Chelsea have knocked Barcelona out of the Champions League, Ronaldo potentially has the upper hand in the claim to be the World’s best. And the stats below, both assists and goalscoring back it up.

After beating Barcelona in their own backyard, Real Madrid moved 7 points clear of their hated rivals in the bid to win the title for the first time since 2008. Mourinho has all but delivered, and like with Ronaldo, the team can also say they have passed the hardest test. And what cannot go unmentioned is the excellent throughball that Mesut Ozil played for the winning goal. That’s his 16th assist of the season, meaning he’s top of the creators:

Although he has the lowest ranked opponent per assist from the top 5 players, the assist for Ronaldo at the weekend is likely to win the league. He’s just above team mates Angel Di Maria (14 at 10.07) and Ronaldo who has the 11 assists – and like the goals, he has the most against Top 6 Opponents as well with 5, which is reflected in his average opposition ranking of 7.36. Barca pair Messi and Dani Alves make up the top five creators.

And so on to the goalscoring.

Ronaldo’s goal against Barca takes him one clear of Messi in the race for the Golden Boot with a mind boggling 42. It also increases his number of goals against Top 6 teams to 16 – a number I doubt will ever be matched after this season. Whilst Ronaldo is the big game player in the Top 6 measure, it’s Barcelona’s Alexis Sanchez that has the best average ranked opponent per goal with 6.91. His equaliser against 1st placed Real Madrid was his 4th against Top 6 teams, and none of his 11 league goals have been against the Bottom 6.

The flat track bully continues to be Seville’s del Moral with 17.30 for his 10 league goals. None of his goals have been against Top 6 teams. Worryingly for Cesc Fabregas, he’s fallen out of both the Top Scorers and Top Assists league.

In the battle for the Champions League spots, Valencia continued their inconsistent consistency with a 4-0 win over 12th placed Betis. Roberto Soldado was once again on the scoresheet – hitting his 17th of the season – against an average opponent ranked 8.59, his goals have been worth 15 points for the team that seem to always finish 3rd. And that position looks a bit stronger after Malaga drew 1-1 with Osasuna in another all Top 6 game. Santi Cazorla scored his 9th goal of the season (12.44) and his 3rd against Top 6 opposition with a brilliant strike from 25 yards into the top corner. For once it wasn’t a free kick, but it was familiar territory.

Levante made it three games without a win as they look set to fall just short for the Champions League spots. A 1-1 draw away at 9th placed Seville sees them just about cling onto 5th place. Arouna Kone scored his 14th La Liga goal of the season (10.50) against his parent club. Athletic Bilbao have finally shaken off their funk with their third win in four games, this time against bottom club Racing Santander who are all but relegated. This put Bilbao back up into 6th after hitting the depths of 11th just a few games ago.

At the bottom, Villarreal are dragging themselves to safety, largely down to one of the old guard. Marcos Senna enjoyed the good times at the club which saw them reach the 2006 Champions League Semi Final, and consistently high finishes in the league. Aged 35 and predominantly a holding midfielder, the Brazilian Born former Spanish International has scored 4 goals in his last 11 games – winning the club five points (average opposition 7.00). The latest was at the weekend against 15th placed Real Sociedad in a 1-1 draw. That point takes them 6 points clear of 18th placed Sporting Gijon and Zaragoza in 19th. With 4 games to go, it looks like Senna’s sudden goal rush could be the difference in staying up and going down. His previous highest La Liga tally? Also 4 – when he was 30. The late equaliser in that game for Real Sociedad was Carlos Vela (10.27). He’s now extended his run to 7 goals in 9 games, and 11 overall for the season. Chuck in 7 assists and it’s been a good loan move for all invloved. He wants to stay in Spain, but with little back up for van Persie at Arsenal, maybe next season could be the one to see him finally establish himself in North London.

With four games to go, the title and relegation is all but wrapped up, with the last battle taking place being the race for Champions League Football. Three games without a win couldn’t have come at a worse time for Barcelona – meaning that they’ve effectively lost the Title and Champions League crowns in the space of a week. Guardiola still hasn’t signed his new deal, and Messi still hasn’t scored against Chelsea.

Cheers,

Liam

La Liga Round 25

Just a quick update on La Liga this weekend. In what could be an identikit update: Real Madrid won, Barcelona won, 10 point gap…..league over. Done. Scratch the surface a little and Barcelona had to win without Messi as he was surprisingly suspended. What was also surprising is that Iniesta and Keita both scored only their first goals of the season in a 3-1 win against 19th placed Sporting Gijon (Xavi scored the other). Madrid’s win was a little more convincing – scoring 5 without reply at home to 8th placed Espanyol. Cristiano Ronaldo continued his great form – hitting his 30th goal of the season, whilst Gonzalo Higuain’s brace were his first goals in 5 league games. Kaka and Khedira completed the rout.

It was nice to see Levante win again at the weekend and hold on to that 4th spot, and also refreshing to see was Torres finally scoring again. Xavi Torres that is – on loan from Malaga. He scored the second goal in a 3-1 win against 12th placed Real Betis in a game where Kone and Barkero also scored. And it turns out that some of the other teams have realised that 4th place is actually pretty important after all – with Torres’ parent club Malaga and Bilbao both winning.

Cesc Fabregas holds onto his Big Game Player crown, by virtue of a goal drought, whilst Falcao keeps hold of his clown hat, with an average opponent per goal of 14.07. Hot on the heels of Falcao is Rayo Vallecano’s Michu. His brace against 18th placed Racing Santander lowered his average to 13.46. He did score a couple against Real Madrid at the start of the season though, but they were ranked in a lowly 7th place at the time. His goals have been worth 10 points to Vallecano this season, and have had a big impact in their recent form – with 4 wins in 5. Higuain’s return to goalscoring form brought him back up to 3rd in the goalscoring charts, and increased his average opposition ranking to a decent 9.00.

Cristiano Ronaldo stays top of the goalscoring chart, and to score 30 goals by the first week of March is an amazing achievement. When comparing Messi and Ronaldo earlier on in the season, the main difference was Messi’s ability to get assists, so you can imagine my surprise when I saw that Ronaldo is only one behind Messi in the assists table:

What’s not so surprising is that Messi leads the way in the big game assists. He has 5 against Top 6 opposition, and an average ranked opponent of just 4.75 per assist – including one against fierce rivals Madrid. Elsewhere on the list, Carlos Vela is the creative bully, with 5 of his 7 assists against the Bottom 6 clubs, leaving him with an average of 15.14.

Leading the way outright is Angel Di Maria with 13. With an average opponent of 9.46, he’s certainly enjoying a good season – and even more remarkable is that he’s only played one game since Christmas. Madrid and Barcelona dominate the Top 10 with 4 players each in the assists table.

Coming up next is the Bundesliga round up, with my weekend predictions in tow.

Cheers,

Liam

Serie A Round 26

“Zlatan doesn’t do auditions” said Ibrahimovic about himself. You have to enjoy someone with the self confidence to speak about themselves in the third person – especially when they back it up. Big Ibra was of course speaking about the offer Arsene Wenger gave him at Arsenal, when he was a lad at Malmo. He was so sure of his ability, that even as an unknown, he was turning down a great club in the middle of their golden era – because they had the temerity to ask him to play in a trial match. How dare they? He’d scored 16 goals in 40 Swedish league games in just 3 seasons!

“What is your name boy? Zlatan will give you autograph”

Well we can all look back and laugh with him now. He has some haters, and some that suggest he’s a flat track bully (more of that shortly), but he’s definitely entertaining – and with around 34 consecutive league titles to his name, he does deliver. Back in the AC Milan side after a three match ban after someone headbutted his hand, he inspired his team to a 4-0 win away at 8th placed Palermo. It was his first hat trick of the league season, and it takes him joint top of the scoring charts with 18. In terms of the flat track bully claim, he’s only scored twice against Top 6 opposition this season – Lazio and a then high flying Catania (then 6th, now 8th). It’s not as though he bullies the bottom teams, with just 4 of the 18 against the Bottom 6 teams. It’s just that he seems to do it most against average opposition. His average ranked opponent per goal is 11.17, and this is backed up by 12 goals against the middle 8 teams. So not a Bully, but not a particularly big game player. It doesn’t matter to him though, because in his head he’s the best player in the world.

Di Natale is the new flat track bully after Osvaldo dropped out of the top scorers list. Three goals against the Top 6 would suggest that he’s not doing too badly, but he thrives against the bottom 6 opponents. Edinson Cavani’s goal at Parma in Napoli’s 2-1 win was his 16th of the season. However, he hasn’t scored any against Top 6 opposition. Unlike Di Natale, he’s not bullying the bottom teams, but doing it against mid table opposition on a regular basis – much like The Zlat.

Sneaking his way into the top scorers chart is Roma’s Fabio Borini. The former Chelsea youth teamer never really got a fair crack of the whip in West London, but a decent run of games for Roma has seen him return 8 goals in 16 games. His latest goal was in the big game situation of the Rome derby. Regardless of Lazio’s 4th place ranking before the game, it would always be a big game. He now has 6 goals in his last 6 games, including 2 against Inter Milan, and this weekend’s effort against their city rivals. His average opposition ranking of 10.25 suggests he’s been consistent in his scoring as well, and aged only 20, he could well go on to become a big name in the sport.

Despite looking like a slightly over weight retired footballer, Miccoli is leading the AOI rankings in both goals and assists

Speaking of big game performers, Fabrizio Miccoli still leads the way in average opponent rankings with 6.27, as well as the most goals vs Top 6 opposition with 8. And to top it off, he’s also top of the assists chart with 12:

And like with his scoring, he gets the assists in the big games too. Inter Milan have been on the end of his creative streak both home and away, and he’s also punished Lazio with 2 assists in the recent 5-1 win. His average ranked opponent per assist is a very impressive 9.08. Antonio Cassano is perhaps a surprise inclusion considering he played just 9 games before needing heart surgery. To create 7 goals in just 9 games is a fantastic return, and he’ll certainly be a miss for the Italian national team in the summer. AC Milan also have Robinho and Aquilani in the Top 10 for assists. Also on the list is ex AC Milan player, Andrea Pirlo. He settled in to life at Juventus quickly, with 2 assists on his debut against Parma, and has followed up with 4 more, though has none in the big games against the Top 6 teams. QPR fans will take heart from seeing Djibril Cisse’s name in the Top 10, with 6.

Elsewhere in round 26, Juventus continued their unbeaten run – though crucially they could only draw again, for the 12th time in 25 games. Although they have a game in hand, they’re 3 points behind AC Milan whose city neighbours put a stop to their losing run with a 2-2 home draw against 9th placed Catania courtesy of goals from Milito and a goal shy Diego Forlan. The draw means that they’ve now gone 7 games without a win, after winning 7 in a row. This run is second only to Cesena who have lost 6 and drawn 1 of their last 7.

And to wrap up today’s rather lengthy post, a look at last week’s predictions:

• Big Zlatan should be back for Milan after serving his 3 match ban. Whilst he has an average opposition per goal of 11.8, he’s also scored against Lazio and Roma, and should be refreshed after his break.
• Miroslav Klose to score against Roma in the derby match. He scored the winner against Fiorentina, and has the big game mentality with 4 goals against Top 6 opponents. Plus he’s German(ish), and you can never bet against them.
• Inter Milan to win against Catania.
• Di Natale to score against Atalanta – his average is 12.4 but he has 7 other goals against mid table opposition, and Atalanta in 11th at home should see that continue.

Well the first one was absolutely spot on! Other than that, not so much. Klose didn’t manage to notch in the Rome derby, and although Inter came back from  2-0 down to win a point, that’s not the win I predicted. And lastly, Udinese could only muster up a 0-0 draw with Atalanta, meaning of course that Di Natale didn’t score, despite 6 shots (3 on target). So a pretty poor 1 from 4 this week. I’ll be trying my luck with the German league next.

Cheers,

Liam

Premier Leage Round 27

Where do you start after a weekend like that? AVB gone, van Persie beating Liverpool, Spurs vs Man Utd, Pogrebnyak?

“we need to win 1-2”

Okay, we’ll get the bad news out of the way first, as it’s never nice when someone loses their job – though the piles of cash will certainly help AVB. So where did it go wrong? Most of the talk is that the senior players just didn’t respect him. His Premier League record is P27 W13 D7 L7, but it’s the lack of performances in the big games that tell a story. They have 13 wins, but 9 of them have been against teams in the bottom 6 at the time of playing:

Looking at the average rank of opponents they’ve beaten, it’s a lowly 14.54 – behind only Newcastle, and relegation scrappers Bolton, Wigan and Wolves. In fact when looking at their overall team stats, they can be classed as Flat Track Bullies:

One clean sheet against the Top 6 teams (a 3-0 win against Newcastle) points to a problem. When looking at the goals conceded data, they’ve let in 10 goals vs the Top 6 opponents that they’ve faced. The goals scored were too heavily weighted against the Bottom 6 teams (4 against Swanses, 5 at Bolton 3 vs Wolves). Although it was after a defeat to West Brom, it’s essentially the games versus the big teams that decided his fate – defeats to Man Utd away, Arsenal (then 7th) and Liverpool at home, were disappointing returns. There were signs of improvement though as they inflicted Man City’s first defeat of the season and followed up by beating Newcastle. However, they were lucky to draw 1-1 with Spurs, and then blew a 3-0 lead agianst Man Utd. All pointed to an irritated owner and a short stay.

That aside, there were a few very big games on this weekend. Newcastle (6th) and Sunderland (9th) drew 1-1 in the Tyne-Wear derby. Regardless of rankings at the time of playing, derby matches can always be considered big games, so a pat on the back to Shoala Ameobi and the Premier League Ibrahimovic – Niklas Bendtner for scoring. Spurs (3rd) hosted Man Utd (2nd) in the top ranking match up this weekend, and in what was an entertaining match, Man Utd did what they have done for years – by grinding out a win. Ashley Young has only scored in 2 league games this season, but they’ve been a brace against Spurs, and a brace against Arsenal, to suggest he does have a Big Game Player mentality – as the goal against Holland backs up. Man Utd’s other goal was by Wayne Rooney, who’s notched his 4th goal vs Top 6 opponents, taking his average to 12.28. For Spurs, it was Defoe that scored the consolation goal, his 9th league goal, and 3rd against Top 6. His average opposition ranking is a rather more impressive 8.89, which is enough to put him in second place.

The other big game saw Arsenal attempt to show that the 5-2 win against Spurs was the corner being turned, and not just another false dawn. And by winning at Anfield, they showed that maybe they are back. Although Liverpool are outside the Top 6, they’re still a big game for anyone and were unbeaten at home in the league this season. Needless to say it was Robin van Persie that did the damage with two very well taken goals. He’s now the outright top scorer vs Top 6 opponents, and has a decent average of 11.48. He has 11 games to get the 5 more goals he needs to hit the 30 mark in the league – something that’s only been done twice in the last 12 seasons (Henry and Cristiano Ronaldo). His goals have also been worth 20 points this season – already breaking Odemwingie’s 17 point high last season.

The assist by Alex Song for the winner was another sublime pass, and is his 7th of a very good season. And in the assists league, he’s definitely a big game player – with decisive passes versus Spurs home and away, Liverpool, and Chelsea – as well as Dortmund (1st in Bundesliga) in the Champions League.

For Liverpool, it was the same old story again, load of possesion, very few goals. The own goal by Koscielny was the 4th they’ve benefited from this season, and only Suarez and Bellamy have scored more goals for the club in the league.

Elsewhere, Pavel Pogrebnyak has continued his excellent start in England with a Hat Trick at home to Wolves. That’s a pretty decent 5 goals in 3 games. These goals have helped Fulham win 3 games in a row – a feat equalled by a resurgent West Brom.

Just to finish, Edin Dzeko remains the Flat Track Bully with an average ranking of 14.54. He started the season on fire, but the goals have certainly slowed, and appear to be against mainly lesser ranked clubs of late. At the other end of the table, despite having a goal ruled out against United, Emmanuel Adebayor is the Big Game Player with 7.82 – after Mario Balotelli got his hands dirty with a goal against lowly Bolton in 19th.

The assist data by game will e available soon!

Cheers,

Liam