Weird football things/stats that just don't sound right

[Aritro]

There's f***ing loads I find weird about the fact that Ward-Prowse's 8 now places him at equal fourth for direct free kicks in the Premier League since Opta started keeping stats on it in 2003.

Firstly, why did they only start keeping stats on it in 2003?  They were keeping stats on all sorts of obscure s*** well before then - from memory Houllier was a fan of their stats.

Secondly, I can't believe this is the league table for direct free-kicks in the Premier League since 2003:
 

18

David Beckham

12

Thierry Henry

Gianfranco Zola

11

Sebastian Larsson

Cristiano Ronaldo

Laurent Robert

10

Morten Gamst Pedersen

Ian Harte

9

Frank Lampard

Jamie Redknapp

Nolberto Solano

8

Christian Eriksen

Juan Mata

James Ward-Prowse

 

Those are some pretty paltry numbers.   Apparently these are the numbers for the top 5 leagues since 2010

 

 

Based on that, scoring 1 goal a season for a decade will get you fourth on that list.

I was thinking, while brushing my teeth - when I do all my important thinking - that if TAA really steps up his free-kick game, we could maybe count on him getting 5-6 a season.

Having looked at the numbers now, it appears that if he scores two a season for for the next seven seasons, he'll equal Beckham's tally at the top of that first list.

So I suppose what we have learned is that people hardly ever score free kicks.

[stressederic]

Well unless Beckham scored 18 free kicks in about 5 months in 2003 then that list isn’t right. 

[Tosh]

For all that gladiatorial posing and always taking a direct free kick, Ronald is not that good at them.

[Earl Hafler]

On 13/08/2020 at 15:50, philmatthews said:

Ross County's three first team keepers are all called Ross.

Their fourth has Ross as his surname

[Maldini]

Gini has played 2 games more for the Netherlands than Marco van Basten did and has scored only 4 goals less than him.

[New York Red]

On 18/11/2020 at 18:12, Maldini said:

Gini has played 2 games more for the Netherlands than Marco van Basten did and has scored only 4 goals less than him.

That’s a bloody weird one. 

[New York Red]

Pinched this from Quora. The biggest cities in Britain without football teams.

I’m going to take the definition of ‘cities’ literally. We have formal ‘cities’ in the UK which are distinct from urban and built-up areas. I’ll also take football team to mean top 6 English leagues - so professional, but the best semi-professional (which might have a shot of getting into the big leagues); or the top leagues in the other nations.

I make it Wakefield - population 325,000 in the metropolitan district named after it (so not just the city), and very much a Rugby League city, with no top 6 league football team either in the city or the metropolitan district.

Next up is the City of Westminster. London of course has many teams but Westminster is officially its own city and doesn’t have one.

If both of those are cheats then I think its Canterbury, population 150,000, with a team in the Southern Counties East League Premier Division. I’ve never really understood why Kent hardly has any teams, but it doesn’t.

Other cities with no teams in the top 6 leagues include Lancaster, Winchester, Worcester, Durham, and most of the small cities: Ripon, Ely, St David’s, St Asaph, Wells, City of London etc.

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

stats are for the most part a load of b******s

[Jarg Armani]

Warrington town at level 7. St. Helens hasn’t got a team that I know of. 

[Redwire]

2 hours ago, Jarg Armani said:

Warrington town at level 7. St. Helens hasn’t got a team that I know of. 

St Helens Town in NW Counties Div 1 North, level 10.

They won the FA Vase in 87 beating Warrington Town in the final.

[smithdown]

I think in 300 years historians will look at Brexit and say but of course none of these places that voted for it had a decent football team and that is what they meant by being left behind.  If there was a club it had recently been relegated and wasn’t coming back.

[Ripley]

The easy to believe bit: Christian Benteke’s 2 goals today take him to 6 from 82 games for Palace. 
 

The slightly harder to believe bit: This takes him to joint 3rd on Palace’s top scorers in the PL

[Ombudsam]

1 hour ago, Ripley said:

The easy to believe bit: Christian Benteke’s 2 goals today take him to 6 from 82 games for Palace. 
 

The slightly harder to believe bit: This takes him to joint 3rd on Palace’s top scorers in the PL

He got something like 17 in his first season from memory so that must be 6 in his last 82. 

[Ripley]

10 minutes ago, sammy & a said:

He got something like 17 in his first season from memory so that must be 6 in his last 82. 

You’re right, of course, but you still should have stayed in bed today

[kop205]

Only three Everton players in history have scored more league derby goals than Divock Origi.

[Tosh]

Chelsea’s longest serving player just left the club having joined in 2011. He played for them 3 times...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55675775

[Ostrich Man]

Norman Whiteside is 5 months older than Dennis Irwin, his 34th birthday was the same month as the 1999 European Cup Final.

[LFCNeil90]

Saw these earlier:

Kabak is the first Premier League player with a palindromic name signed on a palindromic date (1/2/21)

Sheyi Ojo was signed by Liverpool as a 14-year old on 11 November 2011 - or 11/11/11.

[PhilM]

12 hours ago, LFCNeil90 said:

Saw these earlier:

Kabak is the first Premier League player with a palindromic name signed on a palindromic date (1/2/21)

Sheyi Ojo was signed by Liverpool as a 14-year old on 11 November 2011 - or 11/11/11.

I'm confused. Doesn't that second fact contradict the first one?

[Jarg Armani]

3 hours ago, philmatthews said:

I'm confused. Doesn't that second fact contradict the first one?

Racecar Kabak A man, a plan, a canal, panama! Kabak, racecar.

[PhilM]

Not sure if this counts, but the day before yesterday, Porto won, drew, and lost all the same time.

[stressederic]

Barnsley are currently 6th in the Championship and their record transfer signing is still the £1.5m they spent on Georgi Hristov in 1997.

[stressederic]

This sort of qualifies:

 

[Hassony]

34 minutes ago, stressederic said:

This sort of qualifies:

 

Must really enjoy celebrating Bastille Day on the 14th of July

[smithdown]

6 hours ago, stressederic said:

This sort of qualifies:

 

I heard a programme on the radio four about probability and statistics and the expert egghead they had excitedly raving on and on off his rocker said something like there’s at least a dozen families in Britain where everyone including the ma and da and kids all have the same birthday.  

But I reckon that’s b******s.  
 

That’s just Griezman having some sort of condition.