Craven Cottage Newsround

Welcome word from John Duerden in Korea:

Seol played really well last night.

He made one with a fantastic cross -Korea’s first goal for 550 minutes and then scored twice in the second half, the first a very well-taken curl around the keeper.

It was bloody cold as well.

Thanks, John.

You remember I did all that work with a spreadsheet? Well I sent it off to the fellows at dectech, whose research and modelling powers the Times Fink Tank analysis. People don’t tend to be too up on this - football is hard to quantify - but I think these fellows do a pretty good job. There’s a good theoretical basis for what they do. Which is nice, because what I was doing is part of what they do (obviously they go a lot further, but I was on the right lines - which is nice).

Anyway, I only bring this up because I wanted to know what they thought of Chris Baird. Ian Graham, a very patient fellow, got back to me and informed me that Mr Baird isn’t doing very well this year, and will cost us a few points relative to an average defender by the time he’s through. I have exact values but can’t share them. But he’s near the bottom of the league’s defenders.

None of which will surprise many of you, but I’m always a big fan of quantitative analysis, no matter how obtuse it might seem. I think I’m allowed to use this bit of Ian’s email to me about the Villa match:

30 successful passes out of 47, 0 successful crosses out of 2.

No shots.

13/15 good passes in own half

17/32 good passes in opp half

7/15 successful clearances

8 of his good passes went to Bullard

I know BC had speculated that the passing was around 25%. Well it wasn’t that bad, but it wasn’t as good as I’d remembered either.

It’s a blind spot I have. I want to see the good in people, especially in people who others are particularly harsh towards. It happened with Coleman, and Sanchez, and I guess with Baird. I have to be less blinkered, to be quicker to realise what’s what, to think about what I am seeing rather than what I want to see. Tricky business.

I had spent this morning in Denham, out the other side of London, and had a focus group to attend this evening way South (West) of London. So I got the train out to Thames Ditton, which is where I thought the group was (I hadn’t checked), then rang Hade in a panic asking for directions. She was just out the door to pick up the car from Mr Clutch, and gave me loose but correct directions, which I then misinterpreted in the pattern described on the picture above.

As luck would have it I had 2 hours to get to the group, so this little mishap didn’t cost me (if I’d been rushed I’d have made sure I knew where I was going, I think), but still, what kind of idiot turns up in a London suburb expecting to just find a viewing facility (a house, building, or something else, in which a studio lies where people can watch other people talking, through a one way sheet of glass, which is another post entirely; but I spent this evening watching people talk about credit cards and online shopping… for 3 hours)?

So there I was trudging along in the gloom. My mind wandered, as it does at these times. I was thinking about being at university, how it had really taught me how average I am. I won’t expand on the thought - and I mean average in a nice way, in that it taught me to be a bit humble (no really) - but there I am completely lost in some godforsaken part of the world (near Chopper’s I think) and I have no idea where I am or where I should be, I’m wearing posh work shoes that are designed for everything but walking, and now it’s getting dark at 5pm and I couldn’t see the house numbers of the place I’m trying to find even if I wanted to. So yes, I felt small, stupid, and angry. I’d been up since 630am working really hard at a big client presentation, and had just spent the best part of an hour wandering round like an idiot, hoping to stumble upon something which really wasn’t going to be stumbled upon without a little guidance, inspiration, or blind luck.

I got there in the end, by asking a nice lady in a florist shop.

Have I just summarised my life? I need sleep.

I’m home sick today, (the reason for all the posts) and was watching Sky Sports. I saw Premier League Chief Executive, Richard Scudamore announce this morning that the League has decided to continue to move forward with the plans to play one game, most likely in a January time period, in other venue’s outside of England. This would be only one game -called the International Round- would be added to the schedule so no one misses a home game.

He also said that perhaps they could incorporate this into a sort of winter break, with the teams most likely going to warmer climates to play their game.

Reading between the lines, I would guess that would primarily mean games played in Asia with a few in the southern and southwestern United States.

Scudamore also said that he would expect that a schedule would be drawn up by May of 2010 for the International Round fixtures for January of 2011, the first year to incorporate this game.

Why is this all happening? According to some reports, the Premier Leagues’ international TV contract is very undervalued. It’s possible that the international TV rights will soon outweigh the UK deal. Prem teams could clean up very big on this. But what is the price paid?

The Gaffer, from EPLTalk.com, has a decent piece concerning this subject which he wrote back in January.

Personally, I think players are already under so much stress and strain from extended schedules and increased pressure for fitness and performance. Players are nearly at the breaking point with not just an added game of league play, but cup play and international call ups.

As much as I would love for the game to come to the U.S. once a year, I think in the long run this can only hurt the league. Would the intensity level really be the same as playing in England on familiar pitches, with home and away supporters?

So what do think of this?

Also, RH checks in with the official and talks about the internationals, an update on Cousin and a preview of Boro. All that here.

While Nevland and Dempsey did not score yesterday, Litmanen and Seol did. Litmanen defies his age and Ki-Hyeon had a brace with two fired into the back of the Turkmenistan goal. Hopefully that will help Seol’s confidence and he can give us some support down the stretch.

Club teammates, country rivals, Davies and Nevland battle.

Interesting that Simon Davies captained his Wales team last night in a game against Norway, where he faced off against Fulham teammates Erik Nevland, and Brede Hangeland. All played significant minuets for their countries. Davies played 59 minutes, Hangeland 61, and Nevland 77.

Davies and his native Wales won the match 3-0, but from reports I read, it sounded as if Norway certainly had their chances and the game was not as lopsided as the score would lead you to believe.

With some trepidation that this will turn into an American soccer discussion, (remember my American cohorts, it’s a Fulham blog) I’m posting the video highlights of the U.S. vs Mexico (supposed) friendly from yesterday. Early on you can see the collision that Bocanegra had with Timmy Howard. Bocanegra on the bad end of things here with an elbow to the face and then cleats to the leg when falling.

You can also see young Josy Altidore scoring for the U.S. He will be going to Europe next summer no doubt and he becomes the youngest goal scorer in U.S. Soccer’s modern history.

About 1/2 through you will see Clint Dempsey doing some magic and scoring. Unfortunately he was called offside. It was a very close play. But the receiving of the ball off his chest and then the patient dribble and shot are exquisite.

In Spanish from Univision…

U.S. Soccer.com and Nike’s Studio 90 have again combined to bring us another video. This time of Clint Dempsey. Go to this link, then click on the 24 Hours with Clint tab. The Studio 90 people film Clint for 24 hours from the time he gets off the plane in his home state of Texas.

The poor guy looks exhausted. It has to be really tough for these international players that need to travel long distances. It doesn’t look very glamours, does it? I hope Clint still has gas in his tank for Saturdays game.

Could there be a chance that Dempsey will be given a break on Saturday? He’s played an awful lot of games this year. Davies and Bouazza on the wings perhaps?