The Times: The Nations Top Players (Mathematically Calculated)

[Dokko]

Newcastle's Rankings according to their formula

 

1. Obafemi Martins (35)

2. Kieron Dyer (46)

3. Shola Ameobi (115)

4. Steven Taylor (139)

5. Oguchi Onyewu (159)

6. Antoine Sibierski (168)

7. Damien Duff (175)

8. Craig Moore (183)

9. Emre Belozoglu (197)

10. Peter Ramage (208)

11. Scott Parker (215)

12. James Milner (228)

13. Paul Huntington (239)

14. Charles N'Zogbia (248)

15. Steve Harper (261)

16. Celestine Babayaro (262)

17. Shay Given (264)

18. Titus Bramble (297)

19. Nolberto Solano (318)

20. Stephen Carr (352)

21. Nicky Butt (358)

 

The numbers in brackets are their overall rankings out of 403.

 

I must be a really poor footie fan as i thought Butt has been our best central mid by a country fuking mile.

 

I know am not the only one thinking it. 

[Guest Invicta_Toon]

so no-one remembers Parker being the mutts nuts on Pro-zone then?

[Ronaldo]

Lehmann fifth best player in the league. He isn't even the fifth best keeper.

 

absolute bullshit that, not a clue what you're talking about

[Guest Triglett]

I'm sure that Arsenal fans would agree that Lehmann hasn't been at his best this season. Neither has Hleb - 10th FFS! 

[Mowen]

It's a fairly shit list, but the Fink tank is an experiment - it doesn't claim to be definitive or even right, and is an example (as it's crerators would no doubt confirm) of how difficult it is to accurately map statistics to sport. Isn't it just run by a maths geek who loves football? Sort of a hobby that found its way into the paper?

 

Their match predictions are quite good as well, I'm pretty sure they made a fair amount of money by backing their system when the bookies strongly disagreed (it gives a % chance of home win away win and draw). It's a fairly pointless exercise in the main, but it's quite an enjoyable read, imo.

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

Lehmann fifth best player in the league. He isn't even the fifth best keeper.

 

absolute bullshit that, not a clue what you're talking about

 

Indeed, at times he's fucking brilliant. Mad as a bag of cats though.

[Guest nufc 4 life]

to qualify for it you have to have played 400 minutes of footbal Ameobi only played a maximum of 90 right and Onyewu must of only played around 200?

You do realise Amoebi actually played several games for us at the start of the season.

 

lol i do now forgot about that it was way too long ago.

[Rob W]

some of their stuff is quite good - the advantage of palying at home, the amount of time you hvae to take a suceesful penalty

 

but this is ridiculous - anyone playing regularly for a sucessful team is bound to look good whereas a brilliant player (eg Given) playing at Muppet Utd will look like shit...........................

[Cajun]

welcome to sports science kids

 

so glad we're getting some scientists into the club

 

Bore off, how you think you can possibly argue against Allardyces methods getting results!

[Joe_F]

Lehmann fifth best player in the league. He isn't even the fifth best keeper.

 

absolute bullshit that, not a clue what you're talking about

 

Cech, Jaskelleinen,Given,Friedel,Reina are all better keepers IMO   

 

Got a clue now big mouth

[Gash]

Lehmann fifth best player in the league. He isn't even the fifth best keeper.

 

absolute bullshit that, not a clue what you're talking about

 

Cech, Jaskelleinen,Given,Friedel,Reina are all better keepers IMO 

 

Got a clue now big mouth

I would have to disagree i think Lehmann is one of THE best keepers in the league, people just dont like him because of his antics, he is a pure goalkeeper good shot stopper, but not a no nonsence keeper like Cech or jussi

[Cajun]

Lehmann fifth best player in the league. He isn't even the fifth best keeper.

 

absolute bullshit that, not a clue what you're talking about

 

Cech, Jaskelleinen,Given,Friedel,Reina are all better keepers IMO  

 

Got a clue now big mouth

I would have to disagree i think Lehmann is one of THE best keepers in the league, people just dont like him because of his antics, he is a pure goalkeeper good shot stopper, but not a no nonsence keeper like Cech or jussi

 

He can be a bit dodgy at times though tbf.

[Guest Invicta_Toon]

welcome to sports science kids

 

so glad we're getting some scientists into the club

 

Bore off, how you think you can possibly argue against Allardyces methods getting results!

 

how can you argue this list isn't a product of sports science?

 

 

[Guest alex]

welcome to sports science kids

 

so glad we're getting some scientists into the club

 

Bore off, how you think you can possibly argue against Allardyces methods getting results!

 

how can you argue this list isn't a product of sports science?

 

 

Surely it's all about how you apply this sort of thing. Which Allardyce clearly knows how to do well.  blueyes.gif

[Guest Triglett]

Fuckin eejit's still standing this. I mean, fair enough if it was just an experiment for a laugh, but this bloke's still hailing it as the definitive guide. Moron.

 

Robinson is best defence of our model

 

Lampard above Gerrard? McCarthy above Drogba? Hleb in the top ten? You’re having a laugh.

 

No, we aren’t. First, these rankings are based on the contributions made this season. They aren’t a basic measure of talent. I’ve lost count of the number of people who say that Lampard isn’t all that good, despite, er, all those goals. And yes, he does well with lots of passing, say his critics, but that’s because Chelsea base their team around him. I see, so one of the best teams in Europe is based on him, yet he is overrated, is he? Second, inevitably what a player does on the pitch depends on his team-mates. He may be a dominant player or be sharing the work.

 

Many critics of our list cite their own eyeballing as evidence against us. How many games did you actually see? And how much of it did you spend concentrating on a particular player? If you watched Drogba in every game, how could you have watched McCarthy as carefully? You also brought to the table all your prejudices – overestimating some actions, underestimating others. Statistics bring biases, but our method is much better than eyeballing. We use every game and every move and we relate them to points objectively.

 

And in any case, opinions differ. One Arsenal fan wrote to me in disgust – Hleb is hopeless. Another texted me “Hleb is a genius”. Some of these subjective views surprise me. Tottenham Hotspur fans are quick to defend Paul Robinson, who was ranked 402nd out of 403. I’d put it like this – has it occurred to you to wonder why a team with one of the best attacks in Europe came fifth in the Barclays Premiership?

 

Finally, all stats have limitations. The model doesn’t deal quite as well with players who are categorised as defenders but play part of the season in midfield. So it’s not perfect. But we think it’s an exciting step forward.

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/fink_tank/article1867878.ece

 

Wonder if it's ever occured to him that football is a team game