The Interlull grinds ever onwards, like a hangover on a long train journey with many stops, engineering works and no buffet.
For those who fancy get really getting stuck into some heavy analysis, I want to recommend Statsbomb to you. To give you an idea of what waits, here are few extracts to whet your whistle:
In 77 minutes against an entrenched defense, Eriksen had 9 key passes, 3 shots, 3 shots on target, 71% passing completion. That’s a damned fine day for an attacking midfielder.
How Rare Was Eriksen’s 9 Key Pass performance? a 9+ KP performance rare, it hasn’t happened at allin England either this season or last. That’s nearly 500 matches without one. I checked with Duncan Alexander at Opta, and he said the last person to do it was Leighton Baines in September 2011! So we’re actually looking at like 2 in 800 matches.
Andros Townsend has one fluke, completely-by-accident goal from 45 shots this season!
His average shot distance is 26 yards!
He has 0 assists in 10 games!
Get. The. €üςk Out.
Townsend’s performance so far this season is exactly what Shakespeare was thinking of when he wrote, “Full of sound and fury. Signifying nothing.”
I’d be fascinated to hear considered thoughts on the piece.
[divider]
And of course, in a world Cup year …The Midget Gem is in the press again. The usual fare. This time an “exclusive” with The Express:
I have never once said I wanted to leave this football club. Even when I left the first time, I didn’t say I wanted to leave the club. All I will say is that I want to play.
I would rather say to the gaffer, ‘Give me a chance’. I don’t want to go to him and say, ‘I am leaving the club’. I love the club and everybody knows that. I have got a special relationship with the fans and even when I left before, the club dentist called me during a Spurs game so I could hear the fans were still singing my name even when I was a Portsmouth player. I will never forget that.”
God have mercy upon our souls.
[divider]
We’ve been linked of course with Clint Dempsey as a loan deal during the MLS break. Any loan would run from the start of January through to the end of February. Adrian Hanauer Seattle Sounders’ general manager told the world’s press:
Clint’s contract allows him to go on loan for the off-season. All parties are working on a deal and we won’t be surprised if it happens.”
Pros: He could do a job for us. If André is hell bent on this inverted winger thing, then having Deuce as an alternative to Siggy and Azza Blud doesn’t sound like the worst idea in the world, if you’re only looking for a bit of variety that would only coat 60 days wages.
Cons: An unkind person might suggest his career at Sounders has flat-lined. One goal in 9 games, 0 assists, 46 shots, 10 on target, 2.8 dispossession’s per game (the Sounder’s second worst offender) there’s more besides, but none of points towards any sort of renaissance that might confuse him an obvious “must have.” [divider]
[divider]
