When my uncle, Dr Clifford Grossmark, was chairman of Gillingham (1961-1983), he remortgaged his house so that Gillingham could buy a player. With the Russian oligarchs running a number of football clubs around the world, times have certainly changed for a lucky few. But is this good for football in the long run?
Chelsea look unlikely to qualify from the group stage of the Champions League and will be the first team go out so early the year after lifting the trophy since Steaua Bucharest in 1986-1987. But did Di Matteo deserve to be sacked? Mr Abramovich’s main interest is the Champions League but below is a table showing the raw data for Chelsea this season and the corresponding games lasts season. I have left out the Reading game this season as no comparison can be made with the newly promoted side.
Looking at the raw data, Chelsea have 152 Shots in the games sampled this season and 192 last season. We can conclude, then, that Chelsea have been far more effective this campaign, with 152 shots and 20 goals vs 192 shots and just 11 goals last season in the sample. In terms of SoT (shots on target) Chelsea, excluding the Reading game, have had 60 SoT and have scored 20 goals. This gives them a goal to SoT ratio of 20/60=0.33. Last season they had 48 SoT and 11 goals, meaning a very poor ration of 11/48, 0.22
| CHELSEA STATS… | POSSESSION | FINAL 3RD PASSES | FINAL 3RD ACCURACY | SHOTS | ON TARGET | GOALS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vs Wigan 2012 | 48% | 72 | 61% | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Vs Wigan 2011 | 49.20% | 147 | 74% | 12 | 2 | 1 |
| Vs Newcastle 2012 | 52.50% | 156 | 86% | 12 | 6 | 2 |
| Vs Newcastle 2011 | 63.40% | 173 | 69% | 18 | 3 | 0 |
| Vs QPR 2012 | 47.30% | 147 | 68% | 12 | 4 | 0 |
| Vs QPR 2011 | 58.30% | 122 | 60% | 14 | 2 | 0 |
| Vs Stoke 2012 | 59.70% | 222 | 77% | 19 | 4 | 1 |
| Vs Stoke 2011 | 71.40% | 197 | 77% | 23 | 8 | 1 |
| Vs Arsenal 2012 | 48.60% | 134 | 75% | 10 | 3 | 2 |
| Vs Arsenal 2011 | 43.30% | 102 | 59% | 14 | 2 | 0 |
| Vs Norwich 2012 | 68.90% | 248 | 81% | 23 | 9 | 4 |
| Vs Norwich 2011 | 69.60% | 181 | 79% | 18 | 7 | 3 |
| Vs Spurs 2012 | 57.80% | 139 | 70% | 10 | 7 | 4 |
| Vs Spurs 2011 | 45.20% | 96 | 57% | 22 | 7 | 1 |
| Vs Man Utd 2012 | 48.70% | 138 | 66% | 15 | 8 | 2 |
| Vs Man Utd 2011 | 44.20% | 131 | 72% | 20 | 8 | 3 |
| Vs Swansea 2012 | 47.80% | 125 | 78% | 11 | 5 | 1 |
| Vs Swansea 2011 | 53.80% | 181 | 77% | 19 | 4 | 1 |
| Vs Liverpool 2012 | 43.20% | 144 | 69% | 15 | 3 | 1 |
| Vs Liverpool 2011 | 57.55 | 154 | 72% | 19 | 3 | 1 |
| Vs WBA 2012 | 64.70% | 251 | 84% | 19 | 7 | 1 |
| Vs WBA 2011 | 54.30% | 139 | 68% | 13 | 2 | 0 |
We can clearly see that Chelsea are a very good side playing a 4-2-3-1. Whoever takes over for the game at home to Man City has a few decisions to make in terms of who lines up in front of Cech. I am certain one player not appearing on the pitch from the start will be Fernando Torres, who looks ineffective, and it likely to be moving to pastures new.
At the back Chelsea have lost Ashley Cole and John Terry to injury in recent weeks. If we look at the defense we see that they have conceded 44 SoT and 145 TSH (Shots including blocked shots) and allowed 11 goals. Last season in the sample they conceded 13 goals and 50 SoT, with 143 TSH. In this respect, then, Chelsea display very similar data for the two seasons when looking at this sample of corresponding games.
| AGAINST CHELSEA | GOALS | ON TARGET | SHOTS | FINAL 3rd Accuracy | FINAL 3RD PASSES | POSSESSION |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wigan 2012 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 72% | 157 | 52% |
| Wigan 2011 | 1 | 6 | 14 | 65% | 130 | 50.80% |
| Newcastle 2012 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 59% | 75 | 47.50% |
| Newcastle 2011 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 48% | 81 | 36.60% |
| QPR 2012 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 67% | 98 | 52.70% |
| QPR 2011 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 62% | 123 | 41.70% |
| Stoke 2012 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 67% | 96 | 40.30% |
| Stoke 2011 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 46% | 87 | 28.60% |
| Arsenal 2012 | 1 | 4 | 16 | 80% | 161 | 51.40% |
| Arsenal 2011 | 0 | 4 | 13 | 72% | 124 | 56.70% |
| Norwich 2012 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 58% | 99 | 31.10% |
| Norwich 2011 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 48% | 98 | 30.44% |
| Spurs 2012 | 2 | 10 | 26 | 67% | 94 | 42.20% |
| Spurs 2011 | 1 | 4 | 16 | 69% | 108 | 54.80% |
| Man Utd 2012 | 3 | 5 | 15 | 76% | 124 | 51.30% |
| Man Utd 2011 | 3 | 9 | 16 | 69% | 179 | 55.80% |
| Swansea 2012 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 79% | 145 | 52.20% |
| Swansea 2011 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 62% | 78 | 46.20% |
| Liverpool 2012 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 78% | 138 | 56.80% |
| Liverpool 2011 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 62% | 99 | 42.50% |
| WBA 2012 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 64% | 115 | 35.30% |
| WBA 2011 | 1 | 7 | 25 | 71% | 122 | 45.70% |
At West Brom – Chelsea dominated but were too slow to recycle possession, with too many negative passes. Torres was isolated and did not muster a single shot on goal. Reading the articles on the game it sounds like West Brom sat back and used the counter-attack, while Chelsea were unable to get behind the defense, turning it into a narrow game for Chelsea, who played into the hands of West Brom.
| Scoring 1st | 0-15 | 16-20 | 31-45 | 46-60 | 61-75 | 76-90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea 2011 Won | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Chelsea 2011 Lost | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chelsea 2011 Drawn | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Chelsea 2012 Won | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Chelsea 2012 Lost | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chelsea 2012 Drawn | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
As you can see, Chelsea have won five and drawn two when scoring first this season in the sample, and if we add the Reading game then we have a very respectable 75% win ratio this season when scoring first. Chelsea have conceded first this season three times and lost 66% of the games.
| Conceding 1st | 0-15 | 16-20 | 31-45 | 46-60 | 61-75 | 76-90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea 2011 Won | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chelsea 2011 Lost | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Chelsea 2011 Drawn | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chelsea 2012 Won | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chelsea 2012 Lost | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chelsea 2012 Drawn | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
We’ll leave you with a quick look at the Chelsea scorers this season and their goals to shots on target ration:
| CHELSEA STATS | GOALS | SHOTS | ON TARGET | GOALS / ON TARGET |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Torres | 4 | 24 | 12 | 0.33 |
| Hazard | 3 | 29 | 10 | 0.3 |
| Lampard | 3 | 9 | 5 | 0.6 |
| Mata | 4 | 25 | 9 | 0.44 |
All of the stats from this article have been taken from the Opta Stats Centre at EPLIndex.com – Subscribe Now (Includes author privileges!) Check out our new Top Stats feature on the Stats Centre which allows you to compare all players in the league & read about new additions to the stats centre.
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Categories: Chelsea, EPL Index Featured Article, EPLIndex Tactical Report
Tags: CFC, CFC Stats, Chelsea, Di Matteo, Di Matteo Chelsea Stats, Di Matteo fired, EPL, epl opta stats, EPL Stats, Opta Stats, premier league, Premier League Stats
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I have contacted a number of football writers for the broadsheets via twitter and I am also in email contact with one. The opinion on raw football data was very interesting. Some people were very hostile and said that there was no place for it. If you look at ESPN which is data driven there is an article on why there is no place for football data. The chap who I am in email contact said that the readership are not interested in data. He is correct.
But what is more interesting is the hostility by some to raw football data and the reason is that they do not have this knowledge. EPL INDEX via OPTA allows you took look at the raw data but I have never seen it discussed in a broadsheet. If you have then please provide a link.
In America they discuss sports data but in this country people are more interested in What David Beckham had for lunch. In 10 years time there will still be no football data in Sports writing in the UK. The barrier to entry for any budding sports writer(No i do not want to be one) as my writing style is not strong enough is that it is impossible to get into what is a “closed” club. I will continue to look at data and I am not put off.
Try getting a sports writer to RT your sports blog on twitter. There is no chance of that as they are worried about the new kids on the block. I am rather to old to be the new kid on the block.
Good stuff Jonny – yeah I’d keep going mate. It’s a different look at data and not the type of blog you’d see all the time.
See all the time? send me some links.
Read my comment again