THE LEGS OF CRISTIANO RONALDO VALUED AT 140M US$ - 103M € | REAL MADRID

According to "Economia & Negocios" - a Spanish Online Financial source - the value of the legs of Real Madrid player is 140M US$ ( or 103M€ ). The Spanish Football Club Real Madrid has renewed its "insurance policy" & has lifted the value of the legs of Cristiano Roanldo 3% more than the last policy.



In case of a severe & serious injury that would risk the "future" of the Portuguese star Real

SERGIO RAMOS FOR 65M€ | REAL MADRID OPEN TO OFFERS

Spanish Sports daily "AS" has picked up & put on their cover the story that came out of another media source - a National Sports late-night radio - that Real Madrid Central Defender Sergio Ramos has a serious fall-out with President Florentino Perez. The relationship is said to be deteriorated to the extent that if another Club was to offer around 65M€ Real Madrid would let him go. 

True or

SPANISH FOOTBALL CLUBS | EUROPA LEAGUE GAMES RESULTS

Europa League Group action tonight with three Spanish Football Clubs - Real Betis, Sevilla FC & Valencia CF - all in action. Here is a summary of the main events, the final score-results & all the goalscorers




French Club Lyon defeated "troubled" Real Betis 1 - 0 in their Group I game. The Spanish Football Club continues with its low form transferred on from the domestic competition but still

FIFA RANKINGS NOV 2013 | SPAIN Nº1

FIFA has released its monthly ranking. Here is the Top 10 Football Nations for November 2013:

1. Spain 1507 pts

2. Germany 1318

3. Argentina 1251

4. Colombia 1200

5. Portugal 1172

6. Uruguay 1132

7. Italy 1120

8. Switzerland 1113

9. Holland 1106

10. Brazil 1102




Spain continues in the Nº1 spot even though the team lost to South Africa in their last Friendly International match. There

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UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL RESULTS | REAL SOCIEDAD - REAL MADRID GAMES

UEFA Champions League Group matches continued tonight with Spanish Football Clubs Real Sociadad & Real Madrid with their respective matches. Bad news away in the Ukraine for Real Sociedad & good news for Real Madrid with their home duty. Here is a brief summary of events, the final results-scores & all the goalscorers.




Ukrainian Club Shakhtar Donetsk won 4 - 0 Real Sociedad in their Group A

WORLD SOCCER | MESSI THE MOST VALUABLE ( MONEY ) PLAYER IN BRAZIL 2014

Once the 32 Nations were determined which will participate in the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup Final in Brazil, the financial firm "Pluri Consultancy" asked itself: what is the monetary value of each the 732 players that will be present & participating in Brazil 2014?The results are no surprise, FC Barcelona player Lionel Messi is a current monetary value of 139,6€ putting the Argentine in the

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP RESULTS | ATLETICO DE MADRID - FC BARCELONA

UEFA Champions League Group matches this Tuesday with Spanish Football Clubs Atletico de Madrid & FC Barcelona in action. Both Spanish Teams are secure for the next stage & have the role of deciding how the rest of the Clubs in their Groups fair especially for the important second place. Here are the final scores-results & all the goalscorers.




Russian Club Zenit St Petersburg hosted Atletico

AC MILAN INTERESTED IN ATLETICO DE MADRID MIDFIELDER KOKE

News out from Barcelona based Spanish Sports daily "Mundo Deportivo" announces the firm interest from Italian Club AC Milan for Spanish International & Atletico de Madrid midfielder KOKE. The 21 year old has exploded onto the Football scene under Coach Simeone to become a crucial element of the Atletico team.



According the news source AC Milan has already transmitted to the players

REAL MADRID TO LOAN ALVARO MORATA TO TOTTENHAM HOTSPURS ?

The tough & long negotiations between Real Madrid & English Premier Club Tottenham Hotspurs build relationships. In the end the "wheeling & dealing" makes friends between the Directives of both Clubs which later turn into benefits & deals.News from Spanish daily "Gazeta" reports that Real Madrid & Spanish U-21 International Alvaro Morata forward will be a "Winter Transfer Market" addition for

SPANISH FOOTBALL RESULTS | ROUND 14 LIGA SATURDAY MATCH RESULTS

Spanish Football returned with Round 14 Liga action with games packed full of goals. Here is a brief summary of the main events, all the final results - scores & the goalscorers.




Valladolid played Osasuna on Friday night & went down 0 - 1 to the late 84th min goal from Oier. The match was fairly linear without much great moments with both sides not being about to find many chances. Valladolid

LIONEL MESSI TO LEAVE FC BARCELONA AT THE END OF THE SEASON ?

Has World Soccer star Lionel Messi decided to leave FC Barcelona next season? 

Before getting into the "nitty-gritty" lets set some things beforehand firmly in place. The news comes from a FIFA Agent who is more an eccentric TV personality who appears in a late night popular national Football TV show which at times goes beyond the orthodox. Apart from hundreds of thousand TV spectators receiving

SPANISH FOOTBALL FLASHBACK | HISTORIC PICTURE OF SPAIN 11 AGAINST MALTA 12 - 1 RESULT

Relatively quite on the Spanish Football News front today. All the media is either shouting for Cristiano Ronaldo to be given the FIFA Golden Ball, or updating on all the FC Barcelona injuries like Messi, Alves & Valdes, speculating on the substitute player for injured Real Madrid midfielder Khedira, commenting on the "horrific" Messi jacket at his European Golden Boot presentation or heating up

LIONEL MESSI "EUROPEAN GOLDEN BALL AWARD" & THAT JACKET

FC Barcelona & Argentine International Football Player Lionel Messi was handed the "European Golden Boot 2012-2013" in the city of Barcelona. The numbers are impressive: 46 goals in 32 games at an average of 1,43 in the Spanish Football League - La Liga. The Award is his third, with his previous "Boots" being given in season 2009-2010 ( 34 goals ) & 2011-2012 ( 50 goals ).




The Barça star

SOUTH AFRICA 1 SPAIN 0 | INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY MATCH RESULT

The current World Champions Spain lost 1 - 0 to South Africa in their Friendly International match played tonight. A well deserved victory for the South Africans who were more motivated, more enthusiastic & more willing to fight the 90 minutes for a prestigious victory. 




Spain possibly put forward their worst match in a long time. Perhaps its was the "sweet memories" of 2010, the nostalgic "

ALBANIA 0 SPAIN 2 | U-21 EURO GROUP QUALIFIER

The Spanish Football U-21 National Team travelled to Albania for their Group match qualifier for the 2015 European Championships. The final result a 0 - 2 victory for Spain which virtually assures them a place in the Euro U-21 Finals & keeps them top of their Group with 18 points, that is, 6 straight victories to date.  



The games was not easy at all for Spain. Albania put up a rough & sticky

XAVI HERNANDEZ | THE MOST AWARDED PLAYER IN SPANISH FOOTBALL HISTORY

Who is the current - & active - Football Player with most Titles in Spanish Football History?

Until recently it was Real Madrid legendary winger Francisco Gento with 24 Titles, but the the recent Spanish Super Cup Title to FC Barcelona ( over Atletico de Madrid ) at the start of the season made midfielder Xavi Hernandez the most awarded player in Spanish Football. The FC Barcelona player has

MANCHESTER CITY EYES REAL MADRID SERGIO RAMOS FOR NEXT SUMMER ?

The news piece coming up is not new & is recurring. From England & its Press ("Sunday People") comes the news that Manchester City is interested in the services of Real Madrid & Spanish International Defender Sergio Ramos. It is also written that Manchester City will be willing to put forward a first offer of around 38M€ for next summer.



Announced this there are other Clubs doing the "

EQUATORIAL GUINEA 1 SPAIN 2 | INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY MATCH RESULT

A festive atmosphere for the Spanish Football National Team which played Equatorial Guinea in an International Friendly tonight. It was a celebration for the locals as the World Champions visited an ex-Spanish colony & the historical ties helped with the off-field friendliness & joy while on-field the locals were "hard" at times. The final result was a 1 - 2 win for Spain which could ( & should )

Getting defensive

Attack-minded defenders have long been considered one of the key ingredients to a successful fantasy team, and while I may personally suggest this quest is sometimes overpursued, there's no arguing with the overall premise that such a player can be extremely valuable.

Two issues arise though.

First, managers tend to overvalue this threat, paying huge premiums which simply cannot be justified. The most obvious example of this in recent times has been Leighton Baines (who has rarely justified the huge premium required to get him) though we've seen similar trends in the past with the likes of Thomas Vermaelen, Nemandja Vidic and even Joleon Lescott.

Second, managers tend to overvalue past success, which can be ill advised at the best of times but is particularly dangerous with defenders. With a few notable exceptions, defenders tend to enjoy limited chances to earn points and the sample sizes involved are generally very small. Thus, a player with the odd goal coming from a handful of shots is no more likely to score again than any number of comparative players who haven't yet registered a goal this season. Of course, we're not saying those "unlucky" few are any more likely either, but the latter are almost certainly held by fewer managers and probably come with a lower price and thus deserve our attention.

The chart below can be sorted by team and plots a player's price against his expected points purely from attacking means (xP). We're trying to identify players whose production exceeds or matches those available in his price bracket and this is best done on a team by team basis (as otherwise you are trying to compare too many variables at once). Once you identify the 'best' options from each team, you can then move on to comparing them all considering other factors.

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A note on expected points. In the model, two bonus points are awarded for each goal, based on a approximate study of how these are generally handed out. Hence, if a player has racked up enough shots to score exactly one goal, his xP would be eight rather than the six you might expect.

Arsenal
Sagna and Mertesacker have produced the same attacking points to date with the Frenchman ahead by a couple of points in xP. Given this fact alongside Mertesacker's much higher ownership number (15% vs 1%) and Sagna's slight discount, Sagna looks like the better pick if you were choosing one today, though Mertesacker owners shouldn't feel overly rushed to move him.

Aston Villa
There's really nothing to see here and if you want to invest in this back line you should do so based on playing time and price tag. That could lead one to settle on Baker given his 3.9m price, assuming you are confident on him holding off the challenge of Clark when Luna resumes his left back duties. This isn't a great defense but they've been reasonably good both at home (-1% SiB +/-) and away (-3%), but don't expect to get much on the attacking side of the pitch from your Villains.

Cardiff
Caulker is the only defensive player to notch any points, and coupling that with his name recognition leads to a potentially dangerous situation. Four total attempts, with two on target strongly suggests that his two goal haul to date has been fortuitous and thus that 0.9m premium over Ben Turner looks unjustified.

Chelsea
Ivanovic leads all defenders in xP to date with a very impressive 17 and managers have done well to recognise this, with a 25% ownership already racked up. With a risk rating of 1.2, he looks as safe as anyone in this team and the other 25% of managers who currently own Terry, or particularly Cole and Luiz, should strongly consider making a move to Ivanovic next time they have a spare transfer (or use their wildcard).

Crystal Palace
Delaney owns a slight advantage in xP here, but not enough to justify his higher price tag. If you are interested in this defense (hot tip: you shouldn't be) then Moxey - who boasts a perfect risk rating of 1.0 - is your man.

Everton
To date, this one is a no brainer. Coleman trails Baines in actual points by five but that total is far from enough to justify the extra 2.2m required outlay. Add in the fact that Coleman actually tops Baines in xP and you see that the young Irishman should be the pick here. One caveat which the model doesn't account for is Baines' threat from the spot but it's highly unlikely that Everton will earn enough spot kicks for Baines to deliver superior value to his cheaper colleague. The 17% of owners still holding Jagielka - who offers a reasonable though unexciting attacking threat - should consider a move to Coleman when re-shuffling their pack.

Fulham
You really don't want to touch this entire team right now and there's nothing here to change that well reasoned opinion. Riether enjoys a marginal advantage in the attacking threat column but is well overpriced at 5.0m, even if he does carry a low risk rating. Just don't bother, please.

Hull
Davies boasts by far the best xP and actual points to date but seeing as you're surely only employing a Hull defender as a minimum price bench filler, 4.6m seems too steep a price to pay for only a marginal attacking advantage. This isn't a bad defense (SiB +/- of -2% at home and away) and they certainly hold value as 5th defender types but I'd personally lean towards one of the 4.0m options with Rosenoir looking nicely settled in this lineup at right back with Elmohamady moving further upfield.

Liverpool
Glen Johnson has been the best attacking threat to date, yet hasn't been rewarded for his efforts so far. Purely on this added threat, he doesn't appear to justify the extra cost, but given his added security in the first team (he's yet to be benched and his risk rating is only impacted by injuries) it might just be worth looking at Johnson if you either don't have Mignolet or want to double down on this useful unit. If Cissokho really locks down that left back spot it becomes arguable that Johnson's superiority in xP is insufficient to justify the extra 0.7m outlay but for now the Englishman just about holds the edge.

Man City
Not unexpectedly, Kolarov leads this team in xP yet - again, as expected - it's his risk factor (2.8) which renders him very hard to own unless your team budget has swelled to the point when you can routinely sit a 5.3m player. Even then it would be hard to own him as you're never quite sure who will start but if you feel you have a good read on Pellegrini's team selections, it's hard to argue with Kolarov's upside. Elsewhere no one really excels and you're faced with a contest between Nastasic and Zabaleta who are closely matched in terms of risk factor and attacking points potential.

Man Utd
Purely on attacking threat, Evra is just about worth the extra expense over his cheaper colleagues, but when you factor in his risk rating, he becomes even more attractive. Jones' occasional deployment in midfield has been something of a non-issue to date with the utility man failing to offer much going forward even when deployed further upfield. At 0.5m cheaper than Evra he's a tempting proposition though with Rafael on the mend to vulture a large slice of the right back minutes, the ever reliable Frenchman remains a solid investment.

Newcastle
Putting this week's poorly timed suspension aside (the Magpies get Norwich at home next), Debuchy is the clear pick here and is one of the more extreme outliers in this piece. He enjoys a perfect risk rating, leads the team in actual attacking points which are totally supported by his xP, yet he's owned by just 1% of owners, only good for 3rd on his own team. This isn't a great defense so if you're planning on benching a Newcastle player most weeks then perhaps Yanga-Mbiwa at 4.4m makes some sense, but if you plan on starting him, Debuchy's high floor and ceiling make him a useful pickup.

Norwich
No one really stands out here and thus it seems prudent to defer to risk rating rather than attacking potential, which would point us towards Turner as the best investment here. Whittaker's owners - presumably not paying attention or putting out other fires - should obviously look to divest with their man offering neither security nor upside.

Southampton
Lovren's 11 attacking points are nice, but his price is getting dangerously high and if you're looking to buy now, you're too late. Clyne should be a consideration given his significantly lower price tag and increasing security (he's played every game since GW4), ahead of Shaw who seems to face a more sustained threat from Fox. At 5.4m, Fonte might be the 'Goldilocks' option with a nice balance of security, price and upside, though if pushed I would personally lean towards the potential value of Clyne.

Stoke
Huth and Shawcross just about justify their half million premium over Cameron and Pieters, though it's probably close enough that you wouldn't rush to make a move if you owned either of the full backs. Fans of differentiation will want to note Huth's 2% ownership versus Shawcross' 10%.

Sunderland
Bardsley's heroics this past weekend catapult him atop these rankings, yet his risk rating suggests he's all but impossible to buy into. Sunderland have been a very solid defensive unit at home and there's room to add a Mackem as a 4th / 5th rotation type defender, yet it's hard to really pinpoint anyone who offers too much excitement. Looking purely at this team, O'Shea's low risk profile looks appealing, but higher upside can be found on other teams in his price bracket and thus if you want to buy in, you might need to take a calculated risk that Brown or Bardsley can lock down their places at a reduced cost.

Swansea
Chico's position on this chart will surprise many (include your humble blogger) as Davies and Rangel often impress going forward for Laudrup's team. This isn't the solid unit we saw for much of the last couple of seasons, but at 5.0m Chico's attacking upside, playing time and at least some promise of defensive value make him an intriguing option.

Tottenham
This one isn't so much obvious who we should pick as much as who we shouldn't. At 7.2m Vertonghen is valued as a defensive player who contributes big time attacking scores on a regular basis yet he's not managed to achieve that in either the actual (3) or xP (5) columns. He's essentially offered the same profile as Dawson at a 1.8m premium which is essentially the same as choosing a 5.4m scrub over Rickie Lambert.

West Brom
With Jones' injury McAuley's overall profile now looks quite promising and he just about deserves consideration despite some discomfort in paying 5.4m for him. West Brom have a good defense though, especially at home (-16% SiB +/-) and McAuley offers a sufficient upgrade over his peers to make that 0.5m worthwhile.

West Ham
Reid leads the team in xP and ownership (6%) but it doesn't look like the former justifies the latter. We saw plenty of early turnover in this team which has limited the risk rating of some players, but with Rat and Tomkins playing the last six games, they can probably be considered to be reasonably safe in Allardyce's first team and thus their lower price tags make them more attractive compared to the comparatively pricey Reid. Collins - who has yet to be voluntarily benched - looks to be the best value of all, assuming he can put his injuries woes behind him for a sustained period, though be forewarned that you are signing up for very little attacking threat.

EURO U 21 GROUP 4 MATCH RESULT | BOSNIA 1 SPAIN 6

The Spanish U-21 Football National Team maintains its dominance of Group 4 with an overpowering 1 - 6 victory over. Five straight wins with 20 goals in favour & only 5 against. 




Here are all the goals & goalscorers:


Prcic 15th min 1 - 0
Barisic own goal 33rd min 1-1
Oliver 44th min 1-2
Morata 45th min penalty 1 - 3
Muniain 61st min 1 - 4
Oliver 64th min 1 -5
Deulofeu penalty 1 - 6


Bosnia

VICTOR VALDES | CURRENT MOST EFFECTIVE GOALKEEPER IN SPANISH FOOTBALL

FC Barcelona not only loses for next season a home grown modern Club "legend" but possibly the Best inform goalkeeper currently in World Football. Victor Valdes has decided to leave FC Barcelona for new adventures as he currently moves towards a possible amazing 6th "Zamora Award" ( the least scored goalkeeper in Spanish Football).




Spanish Sports paper based in the city of Barcelona, "Sport"

SPAIN FOOTBALL TEAM PRESENTS NEW UNIFORM | MARKETING | FINANCE | POLITICS

The Spanish Football Federation presented today to a packed media audience the "new" uniform that the Spanish Football National Team will wear in the upcoming FIFA World Cup to be held in Brazil 2014. It´s an all red uniform which has been "sold" as a good luck omen for the current double European ( 2008/2012) & World Champions (2010) as Spain will attempt to make Football History if they manage

FC BARCELONA | LIONEL MESSI INJURY, THEORIES & RECOVERY

Thanks to Spanish Sports paper "Marca" & "Elisa Martin" for her fantastic infograph in reference to FC Barcelona & Argentina International star Lionel Messi, we have a clearer picture of all the injuries that the players has had & is currently suffering.

The left leg muscle tear during last weekend Liga game will put Messi off the field between 6 - 8 weeks. Worrying for Barça & fans as Messi is

SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM | LLORENTE & BARTRA REPLACE CESC & COSTA

The past weekend of Spanish Football has caused some important injuries which has effected some National Teams with International duties coming up this week. The most talked about is FC Barcelona star Lionel Messi who could be out for up to 10 weeks from playing. Severe blow to Barça.The other talked about injuries are Cesc Fabregas & Diego Costa which have a direct impact on the Spanish Football

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SPANISH FOOTBALL | LIGA | ROUND 13 SUNDAY GAMES RESULTS

Four Spanish Football matches today - tonight which concludes Round 13 of Liga. Here is brief summary, with all the final scores - results & goalscorers. 




RCD Espanyol & Sevilla FC played an intense match, very rapid & with goals. The final result was a 1 - 3 victory to Sevilla FC, a much needed win for the visitors as things are torrid down at Seville. The first goal was for Sevilla with

SPANISH FOOTBALL | LIGA | ROUND 13 SATURDAY GAMES RESULTS

Spanish Football games played yesterday & today as part of Round 13 of Liga. Here is a brief summary of the main events, the final scores-results & all the goalscorers.





Granada won Malaga FC 3 -1 on Friday Night  & took the three points thanks to the Hat-Trick by El Arabi. Granada took advantage of numerous defensive errors that Malaga Coach Bernd Schuster cannot be happy at all about & will

SPANISH CUP DRAW 2013 - 2014 | TEAM MATCH-UPS & DATES

The business end of the Spanish Cup 2013 - 2014 was given its "road map" with the team match-ups drawn today in Madrid. The main dates are :

Home & away : 6,7,8 December - 18th December 2013
Last 16 teams : 8th y 16th January 2014
Q/Finals : 22nd y 29th January 2014
Semi finals : 5th y 12th Febuary 2014
Final : 19th of April



courtesy of marca.com


The big favourites Real Madrid & FC

Will some players always underachieve?

We had an interesting comment from a reader this week regarding the visualization posted plotting actual points with expected points. My proposition was that the players whose xP trailed their actual points by a distance were likely undervalued by the market, and while we wouldn't suggest they will somehow "make up" those points left on the table to date, we would expect their production to take an uptick assuming they continue to get chances and playing time at a relatively consistent rate. The reader had a different view:

"When I look at this chart I don't see underperformers or overperformers all I see is players on form who are capitalising on their chances (Ramsey and Rooney) and players who are of such quality that they will always out perform the normal (Aguero and Yaya) . . . I believe that if you reconstructed this table after xmas with a start date of tomorrow then the same players would occupy the two sides."

It's a fair proposition and one I wanted to examine further. I think there's a general discomfort with the idea of regressing players' production to the mean as it seems to suggest they are all created equally. A couple of responses to that:

1. For conversion rates which appear to be repeatable year on year, such as shot on target percentage (SoT%), we regress players to their own historical rates (where available). This means that if we say Olivier Giroud has an unsustainable SoT%, we're not saying his is too high compared with Danny Graham or Frazier Campbell, we're saying it's way above his own historic rate.
2. For conversion rates where we do regress to a league average (or at least use league average in a weighted average), it's because I haven't seen any evidence that players can consistently perform above the average in that given rate. The classic example is goals per shot on target (G/SoT) which tends to regress close to a mean for most players, with only a couple exceeding the average for more than a couple of years in a row (and that would be expected even if we were talking about a totally random event). There might be some repeatability there, but it's a lot less than most would expect based on purely on notions like "form", "class" or being "clinical".

The good news is that this is fairly easy to test. Below we've plotted players' +/- score as of this week (which shows the difference between their actual and expected points with a positive score meaning their expected exceeds their actual) against the same metric from the midway point of last season. I picked that point in time based on the reader comment about Christmas but I'm fairly confident a similar conclusion could be drawn from pretty much any two comparable samples:

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The first observation is that we see very little correlation from year to year. 10 players outperformed their points total last season by at least 10 points, yet only one of these (Podolski) has managed to outperform his total to date by even 5 points. Similarly, eight players underperformed their underlying stats by 10 or more points last season, and of these two (Lambert and Cisse) have once again failed to match their live up to expectations. On the flip side we've seen players like Aguero, Rooney, Lallana, Suarez, Michu, Walters and Fellaini benefit or suffer from huge reversals in fortune over the two samples.

One of the things I love about sports writing is that it can be a gateway into so many interesting subjects, and while I'm not learned enough to talk about most of them here, I would venture that there is an element of bias regarding the way we judge the above. When a player like Ramsey explodes in a small sample, we tend to quickly absorb that information into our collective psyche and it becomes the new self evident truth that he is a great player (despite several seasons of reasonable yet unspectacular play, at least from a fantasy perspective). We then place too much weight on these recent events, much like how people stop swimming after a shark attack, despite the fact there are countless things more likely to really kill them that they ignore every day. I believe the term for this specific type of bias is referred to as the availability heuristic.

In the chart we see Aguero has the second highest +/- score for 2013 and one could rationalise that being due to his superior skill and quality teammates. Indeed, that's possibly true to a point. However, he had those very same skills and most of the teammates last year too, yet was actually one of the biggest underperformers last year, serving as a constant source of frustration for his owners. Or take van Persie. Last year he ascended to a new level and was casually thrown into conversations alongside the best in the world, and thus the fact he outperformed his xP by a full 13 points through half a year could be discounted as him simply being better than everyone else. Fast forward 10 months and we have a player who has only just caught up to his xP total for the year, having suffered through some bad luck these past couple of months.

As a final check, the colour coding relates to the players' team's league position ranging from 1st (green) to last (red). I wondered if we'd tend to see players from the better teams show an ability to repeat positive seasons as they benefit from more quality chances per game. I guess this works to a degree in that those in the bottom left quadrant generally play for better teams, yet there's not enough here to really draw any solid conclusions.

It's always good to challenge forecasts like the ones you find in these pages - especially the ones found in these pages! - but caution should also be exercised when dismissing data which contradicts our current view of the game. There are certainly aspects of a player's game which can consistently be above average (SoT% for one) but others seem far less repeatable. The current iteration of the model adjusts for these differences and thus that's why we're going to see turnover in the players who over or underachieve expectations. 

SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAMS | EUROPA LEAGUE RESULTS - SCORES

EUROPA LEAGUE action tonight with three Spanish Football Clubs scheduled for their respective Group matches. Here are the final results-scores & all the goalscorers.




Valencia CF managed to get a 2- 3 win away at St.Gallen & in the process secure their participation in the next stage of the tournament. Even match which was decided in the end by young Valencia midfielder Sergio Canales with his

SPANISH FOOTBALL NATIONAL TEAM | LIST OF 23 PLAYERS FOR UPCOMING FRIENDLY INTERNATIONALS

Spanish Football National Team Coach & Selector Vicente Del Bosque handed in this afternoon his list of 23 players called up for the upcoming Friendly Internationals against Equatorial Guinea (16th of Nov.) & South Africa ( 19th of Nov.).
The main novelty was the call up of Atletico de Madrid Brazilian-Spanish forward Diego Costa. The player has played two Internationals for Brazil, but having

Points versus expected points

The below chart is something I've posted before and am tweaking for the new website so I thought I should post it now and get your feedback while also hopefully providing a quick view to identifying some players to research further:

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UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RESULTS | ATLETICO DE MADRID - FC BARCELONA GROUP GAME SCORES

UEFA Champions League tonight for the two remaining Spanish Football Clubs which were scheduled to play their Group games - Atletico de Madrid & FC Barcelona - with each gaining positive results & securing their place in the next stage of the tournament. Here are the final results - scores & all the goalscorers.




Atletico de Madrid won 4 - 0 Austria Vienna & secured the top spot of Group G &

CRISTIANO RONALDO GETS EUROPEAN FOOTBALL RECORDS & GIVES THEM TO REAL MADRID

There is no doubt that Portuguese International & Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo is perhaps at his best level of his entire career in Football. The player is an authentic goal scoring machine both in Spanish Liga & in European competition. Last nights exhibition in Champions League against Juventus not only gave Ronaldo a goal but in doing so gave the player two individual records in

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RESULTS | REAL MADRID - REAL SOCIEDAD GROUP GAMES

UEFA Champions League action tonight with two Spanish Football Clubs - Real Madrid & Real Sociedad - with Group match duties. Here is a brief summary of the main events, the final results - scores & all the goalscorers.




It was a virtual final for Juventus as they needed at least not to lose & thus stay in touch in the Champions League tournament, while Real Madrid needed at least a draw to

SPANISH FOOTBALL | NEXT STOP FOR LEWANDOWSKI ?

The Barcelona based Sports press has been giving Borussia Dortmund Polish International Forward Lewandowski plenty of attention these days. According to the local press sources Barça Coach Martino has asked for a "pure Striker" - a Number 9 - for the upcoming Winter Transfer Market & Lewandowski maybe the main target. Added to this the speculated transfer price is said by Barcelona media to be

REAL MADRID - REAL SOCIEDAD | UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE MATCH PREVIEWS - POSSIBLE LINE-UPS

UEFA Champions League Group games commence tonight with two Spanish Football Clubs in action: Real Madrid & Real Sociedad. As habitual Spanish Sports paper "Sport" elaborate info-graphs with pre-match info & their idea of a possible starting 11 team line-up.




Real Madrid travel to Turin to play Juventus. Attractive match beforehand were the Italians are taking this as a final. They need to win

SPANISH FOOTBALL | LIGA | ROUND 12 MONDAY NIGHT GAME RESULT

Spanish Football tonight with the last game of Liga Round 12 played. The teams were Elche & Villarreal & after 90 mins of intense & entertaining Football the final result was 0 - 1 . Both teams tried hard all night & worked up their opportunities, all that failed was the definition & of course there was the sharp reflexes of the goalkeepers. But the surprise came when everyone was packing up to

Gameweek 11 Preview

Post any questions in the comments below, on Twitter or on Facebook and I'll get to the best ones before this week's deadline.

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SPANISH FOOTBALL | LIGA | ROUND 12 SUNDAY GAMES RESULTS

Spanish Football had scheduled four matches of Liga Round 12 today-night with the following final results-scores & goalscorers.




The 40th min "screamer" goal from Pabon for Valencia CF possibly saved the job of his Coach Dujik as the team won 0 - 1 away to Getafe. The visitors did well to then keep out the locals which created chances but failed to convert. Important win for Valencia which

SPANISH FOOTBALL | LIGA | ROUND 12 SATURDAY GAMES RESULTS

Spanish Football continued today with four scheduled matches of Liga - Round 12 - with plenty of goals. Here is a brief summary, the final scores-results & all the goalscorers.




Real Sociedad continue with their "recovery" overrunning Osasuna 5 - 0 at home. The visitors lost a man to a red card with the scoreline 2- 0 & this opened up the flood gates for Real Sociedad to swarm the visitors.

SPANISH FOOTBALL | LIGA ROUND 12 GAME RESULT | FC BARCELONA 1 RCD ESPANYOL 0

Spanish Football does not stop. Liga terminated its Round 11 yesterday & tonight Round 12 kicked off with a city of Barcelona derby. The always intense & fierce FC Barcelona - RCD Espanyol finished after 90 mins in a 1 - 0 victory for Barça.




FC Barcelona did not play their usual efficient & dominating game that we have been spoiled with these last seasons. Apart the opponent finds extra