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Dylan

By Dylan
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Bobthe4th Toronto Blue Jays

Bobthe4th

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
Who's your fav team Bobert?

 

I support Darlington who are currently playing in the 6th division of the English league system. Historically we've usually been a 4th division team (the lowest level of English league football) - but after we went out of business a few years ago we had to start again all the way from the non-league (i.e. semi professional) 9th division. It's my Dad's fault I support them - he used to watch them in the late 60's with my grandfather as they were the nearest team to where they lived at the time.

 

The one bonus of supporting such a terrible team is that I really appreciate watching top level football live - a lot of fans of big teams take it for granted. The first Premier League game i ever went to was a 0-0 draw between Leeds and Ipswich. I remember coming out of the ground enthusing about the skill of the players while the rest of the crowd were grumbling about what a boring game it had been! I've since been (often with my Dad) all over England and Europe to watch teams play at the highest level, while also getting to up to 5 Darlington games a season.

jays4life19 MVP

jays4life19

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
I support Darlington who are currently playing in the 6th division of the English league system. Historically we've usually been a 4th division team (the lowest level of English league football) - but after we went out of business a few years ago we had to start again all the way from the non-league (i.e. semi professional) 9th division. It's my Dad's fault I support them - he used to watch them in the late 60's with my grandfather as they were the nearest team to where they lived at the time.

 

The one bonus of supporting such a terrible team is that I really appreciate watching top level football live - a lot of fans of big teams take it for granted. The first Premier League game i ever went to was a 0-0 draw between Leeds and Ipswich. I remember coming out of the ground enthusing about the skill of the players while the rest of the crowd were grumbling about what a boring game it had been! I've since been (often with my Dad) all over England and Europe to watch teams play at the highest level, while also getting to up to 5 Darlington games a season.

 

Neato!

 

I'm a die hard Bayern fan.

Bobthe4th Toronto Blue Jays

Bobthe4th

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
Neato!

 

I'm a die hard Bayern fan.

 

Bayern are one of the teams that often play friendlies in North America so you might get the chance to see Davies play for them in Canada one day!

 

I've been to about 50 English grounds, including the majority of the big teams, and most of the top European ones. Real Madrid's Bernabeu is the best stadium I've seen a game at, but Bayern's Allianz Arena is easily in my top ten.

 

The biggest gaps I want to fill are Newcastle's stadium, Ajax (haven't seen them live either), Benfica's Estadio de Luz, and Celtic. I'd also love to go to the Maracana in Brazil and Boca Juniors' La Bombonera, but I'm not sure that I'll ever get the chance to go to Rio or Buenos Aires.

Bobthe4th Toronto Blue Jays

Bobthe4th

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
Bob you going to watch the Carabao cup today? I really like Burton over Nottingham Forest today

 

Haha, that's the League Cup which is the 3rd competition in England so I rarely pay attention until the later rounds.

 

Interesting fact - the Burton manager is the son of the greatest ever Nottingham Forest manager. If you're genuinely interested you could watch the film the Damned United (stars Michael Sheen as Brian Clough), which tells the story of when Clough took over at Leeds United (my local team). A rare excellent sports film.

Pendleton Vancouver Canadians

Pendleton

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Posted
Posted
Haha, that's the League Cup which is the 3rd competition in England so I rarely pay attention until the later rounds.

 

Interesting fact - the Burton manager is the son of the greatest ever Nottingham Forest manager. If you're genuinely interested you could watch the film the Damned United (stars Michael Sheen as Brian Clough), which tells the story of when Clough took over at Leeds United (my local team). A rare excellent sports film.

 

Speaking of football movies, what was your take on Green Street Hooligans?

Pendleton Vancouver Canadians

Pendleton

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
Pendleton who's your fav soccer team?

 

I barely follow the sport, and have never really cheered for a particular team besides the Netherlands in international play. I could see choosing whatever big club de Ligt ends up transfering to.

jays4life19 MVP

jays4life19

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
I barely follow the sport, and have never really cheered for a particular team besides the Netherlands in international play. I could see choosing whatever big club de Ligt ends up transfering to.

 

Are you dutch?

Pendleton Vancouver Canadians

Pendleton

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
Do you like stroopwaffles?

 

I don't know what that is, or nearly enough about Dutch culture. Some day I'll travel there and see where my family came from

  • 2 weeks later...
jays4life19 MVP

jays4life19

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted

The question is whether Davies is that sort of impact player. In order to answer that question, Pro Soccer USA contacted the German stats company Goalimpact, which uses an algorithm to measure the impact individual players have on the field.

 

The system is described as follows on the companies homepage: “Starting at approximately two seasons of data input into our system, we can evaluate the current and forecast reliably the player’s future real strength. This is what we call the Goalimpact.”

 

The database in short measures the extent that a player contributes to the goal difference of a team. A player with a high goal index rating contributes significantly to a positive goal difference when he is on the pitch compared to when he is not on the field.

 

“We average the impact of all games of a player’s career for all clubs, competitions and seasons in relation to all other players in our database. This rating is adjusted by teammate’s values and the opposition strength and by such factors as the number of minutes played, home advantage, fatigue degree and red cards in a game.”

 

The best players in the world achieve above 200 index points. Also, every club and league has an average value. The average for the first German Bundesliga, for example, is approx. 119 points with peaks of up to 162 on average for top teams. Spanish La Liga has an average of 111 points and Italian Serie A is rated with a Goalimpact score of 104 on average.

 

In Biermann’s book “Matchplan,” the company’s founder Jörg Seidel compares his statistics to those of a handicap in golf or the Elo rating system in chess. To put it in Biermann’s words: “Seidel doesn’t suggest that Thomas Müller is a better player than Karim Benzema when the former scores 195 and the later 190. He only suggests that the former is a more valuable player for his team than the later.”

 

To make the system work, Goalimpact has put together a database that includes 320,000 players from over 200 leagues. Goalimpact includes datasets from leagues from all over the world including many youth competitions.

 

The system also takes into account age. A 21-year-old player, for example, is calculated to play, on average, worse than a 26-year-old, an age when many players reach their peak. Even a relative age effect is included in which youth players born in the second half of the year are given a handicap in the database – players born in the second half of the year often struggle in youth teams as they play against older players.

 

When Biermann wrote his book, Seidel pointed out that Alphonso Davies was the highest ranked player in the system with numbers that ranked him alongside Cristiano Ronaldo.

Bobthe4th Toronto Blue Jays

Bobthe4th

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted

UEFA have introduced the Nations League to replace most European international friendlies. 4 tiers of seeded groups with the winners of the top tier meeting in the semi finals early next year.

 

It’s been successful so far, with more competitive games than you normally see in friendlies. Lots of surprises too. On seeding, the 4 winners would have been expected to be France, Portugal, Spain, and Belgium. Only Portugal of those teams qualified and there are other surprising results like Germany getting relegated to tier 2!

 

England (late winner vs Croatia), Netherlands (late equaliser vs Germany), Portugal, and Switzerland (shock 5-2 winners over Belgium after being 2-0 down) will be in the semis.

 

England were outclassed by Spain in the first game (Spain then beat Croatia 6-0), but came back to dominate twice vs Croatia, and win a thriller in Spain 3-2. Our midfield is still weak creativitly, but we’re now playing 4-3-3 with really good wingers. 18 year old Jadon Sancho has forced his way into the squad after winning player of the month in Germany will Dortmund.

 

Exciting times to be English. When Oxlade-Chamberlain returns from injury and Ben Foden gets more playing time for Man City (or on loan) we’re going to be a big threat at the Euros in 2020!

Bobthe4th Toronto Blue Jays

Bobthe4th

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
Pendleton - your Dutch team is looking like they’re back. They won a tough group and the young players like De Ligt and De Jong are complimenting established stars like Van Dijk and Depay.
Bobthe4th Toronto Blue Jays

Bobthe4th

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted

 

Davies is in a great spot to get playing time too. Robben and Ribery have been Bayern’s first choice wingers for years but are both likely in their final seasons (both are mid 30’s). And 18 year old Jadon Sancho at Dortmund has taken the Bundesliga by storm winning the latest player of the month.

 

Elite young players should all be flocking to Germany, a high quality league with genuine chances of playing.

Bobthe4th Toronto Blue Jays

Bobthe4th

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted

I went to a Chester City game today - the first time I've ever seen a shot go so wide it ended up in another country!

 

http://i.imgur.com/1BVaLXN.jpg

  • 1 month later...
  • 4 weeks later...
jays4life19 MVP

jays4life19

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted (edited)

Happy Alphonso Davies champions league debut everyone!

 

Game at at 3pm vs Liverpool. It's apparently suppose to be a big game. This guy named Kingsly Coman is suppose to start, but has some doubts after suffering an ankle injury at the end of the last game. If he does not go; Alphonso Davies should see some major playing time.

 

Bets:

15$ on Bayern @ 3.37 odds. Pays: 50.49

 

15$ over 2.5 goals @ 1.65 odds. Pays: 24.68

 

 

Prediction: 2-1 Bayern with Davies scoring 2 goals.

Edited by jays4life19

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