Says Danny Murphy about the current unbeaten run. And he’s right. But it’s been a long time since we lost. Given how folks react to defeats (it’s generally the end of the world) this has made for a remarkably stress-free period of supporting.
West Ham will be a fascinating game on Sunday. Zola has his side coming into a bit of form. Tricky.
I got an interesting email from The Times today. I’m always bothering the Fink Tank team about Fulham’s players. While statistics don’t tell us everything, they do give us interesting angles. Well the team have run their mid-season ratings, and half-shared some of the findings with me.
They build up a model of what every player does on a football pitch then replace each player (one at a time) with an average premiership player, then run their simulators to see what the difference is. So if you were to add Lionel Messi to a team they might manage 12 points a season more than the same team with an average player in his place. If Roy Hodgson himself were to suit up the team might lose 30 points a season compared to the team with an average player in his place. Makes sense doesn’t it?
So that’s how they do it. What they found – and I can’t give you exact details because I don’t have them – was that Mark Schwarzer is the best goalkeeper in the league. Brede Hangeland is not far off being the best centre-back. Jimmy Bullard is very close to being the best midfielder. And so is Clint Dempsey.
Again, pinch of salt and all that, but it is interesting to ponder. The Dempsey rating will raise the eyebrows, but really, if you think about the time he’s spent on the pitch this year, has it been anything other than successful?
