Rafa deserves credit

[antona]

With a bit of spare time today I decided to look how our record this season in terms of assembled points compare with records of our great teams from the past. And because the amount of league games was different in different times I looked at the correlation of assembled points to points available. And, the stunning fact is, this is at least our third best season in history! And if we 'll beat Spurs on Sunday, we 'll surpass our 87/88 team and only 78/79 team 'll remain better!! Rafa deserves enormous credit for that.

But I also thought about how hard it will be for us to improve even further. And how many points will be needed next season to win the league? 90? 95? 100?

Edited May 19, 2009 by antona

[M4TTA]

quite interesting that.

 

How much can you read into the points available then.

 

The teams lower in the league ie competition have worsened since then? games were "tougher"?

[fyds]

It can - as always with such things - mean whatever you want it to mean up to a point. The nature of the game has changed, the rules the difference in quality between the very top and lower regions. It's a good thing, and can be seen as a positive indicator of the great progress made under Rafa from 'maybe one day' to serious challengers/potential champions...but a large degree of it is still subjective.

[sutty]

It can - as always with such things - mean whatever you want it to mean up to a point. The nature of the game has changed, the rules the difference in quality between the very top and lower regions. It's a good thing, and can be seen as a positive indicator of the great progress made under Rafa from 'maybe one day' to serious challengers/potential champions...but a large degree of it is still subjective.

 

Some of the levellers have disappeared in making the comparison between the modern day and past football

 

Poor pitch conditions the emergence of undersoil heating as standard

 

It wasn't all that long ago that you were allowed plastic pitches.

 

Plus wealth is more concentrated. It wasn't all that unusual for a promoted team to win the league 1st season up.

[fyds]

Some of the levellers have disappeared in making the comparison between the modern day and past football

 

Poor pitch conditions the emergence of undersoil heating as standard

 

It wasn't all that long ago that you were allowed plastic pitches.

 

Plus wealth is more concentrated. It wasn't all that unusual for a promoted team to win the league 1st season up.

Exactly right, Sutty - it's not as simple as 'eggs are eggs' anymore. Also, outside of the top four, the calibre of management ranges from reasonable under the circumstances to dire. It's a much more professional, business-like and high-end centric game than it was back then...some of that is good, much of it is not so good.

 

Edit - I should add, this is pretty much the same all over Europe - very few of the bigger leagues throw up any real surprises anymore and the Champions league barring the odd one or two is often no more than a roll call from the year before. Having a genuine four-way tilt at the title when the top four are all firing makes the PL more competitive than most.

Edited May 19, 2009 by fyds

[_00_deathscar]

quite interesting that.

 

How much can you read into the points available then.

 

The teams lower in the league ie competition have worsened since then? games were "tougher"?

 

We took our foot off the pedal once we'd won it?

[Rory Fitzgerald]

Abort Operation-topple-Shankly-statue, abort abort !!

[Crazy Horse]

The standard of the league was abysmal this year, that might have something to do with it.

[drdooom]

As it stands with one game to go the point gap between 1st and 5th is 27 points and the gap betwen 5th and 20th is 29 points. Does that point to the rest of the league just being there to be beaten (or drawn with in our case) by the top teams to a larger degree than in the good old days?

[pricey]

Hasn't 3 points for a win been a relatively new introduction (80's?) or am I remembering that wrong. Do your calculations take that into account?

 

(not wanting to diminish Rafa's performance this season)

[HeWonItFromBrock]

We took our foot off the pedal once we'd won it?

 

Absolutely. Take 1987/88. We won the title with 4 games to spare once we reached 84 points and only won one of our last 4 games drawing the other 3 (dropping 6 points). A more meaningful comparison is the number of points required to confirm the champions that season as the games afterwards are completely meaningless once you have the league sewn up.

[Jarg Armani]

Absolutely. Take 1987/88. We won the title with 4 games to spare once we reached 84 points and only won one of our last 4 games drawing the other 3

 

And still managed to lose the cup final? For f*cks sake Riise!

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

looking at it - the Champions have had - 87 (this season - 87-89-91-95-90 going back to 04

 

Mancs won it in 03 with 83 & then it was less stable

 

02 - 87

01 - 80

00 - 91

99 - 79

98 - 78

97 - 75

 

etc