The heart breaker for the soccer coach, and sometimes the game maker.  If you look at the stats for the English Premier League over the past 10 years you can see a marked upward trend in the number of penalties  awarded, with 2001-2 only seeing 39 awarded, to the 101 awarded in the past season.  And no wonder it can be such an important moment in a game, as around 80% of penalties (in that league at least) result in a goal.  Last year it was Arsenal who gave away a whopping 9 penalties, though not an uncommon tally over the past decade, there has only been one team to concede 10, which was Blackburn Rovers in 2006-7.  Five years previous they conceded or won zero penalties. Times have changed. 

What do the stats look like?

Which club is more likely to concede a penalty? Well if past history is an indicator of future behaviour (and we know it is not…but bear with us) then Aston Villa are a safe bet. Looking at those teams currently in the EPL who have played there for the past 11 years.  They have managed to give away 55 penalties, an average of 5.5 per season.  And which team does the analysis show that manages to be awarded the most penalties?  Manchester United I hear you cry – most of them in the last 2 minutes at Old Trafford, right?  Wrong.  It’s Arsenal, who have accumulated 56 penalties, converting 46 of them since the beginning of the 2001 season. Check out all the stats here, at this wonderful website myfootballfacts.com. Including the fact that Matt Le Tissier in his career at Southampton scored 48 times from 49 spot kicks. All in the top flight of English football.  Awesome.    

A penalty kick may be awarded when a defending player commits a foul punishable by a direct free kick against an opponent or a handball, within the penalty area (“the box” or “18 yard box”).  

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Right now we are working on the App part of system so it will work on both Android and Windows Mobile devices. That means you will no longer need an Apple device to track your performances and record your player stats.  

Interested in using Statzpack to track your records with your Android or Windows mobile phone or tablet?  Then email us at newapp@statzpack.com.  

I wanted to share an article I came across that details who must be the grandaddy of soccer analysis, Charles Reep.  As we use modern technology to help coaches and players improve their game, we are certainly not new to the task of recording stats.   Reep started to carry out match analysis in 1950 (long before many of us were born) and centrally believed that most goals were produced within 3-5 passes/moves.

“Not all revolutionaries are fondly remembered. Barney Ronay examines the controversial legacy of Charles Reep, football’s first tactical statistician.  Published in June 2003 in When Saturday Comes - which in itself is a fantastic journal for all things soccer related (be warned – visit that site and prepare to see an hour of your day leave you…)

Soccer Analyst

Wing Commander Charles Reep has been called many things. Twenty years ago the Times dubbed him “The Human Computer of the Fabled Fifties”; an obituary described him more simply as “a football ana­lyst”; while a slightly empurpled Brian Glanville once declared him a member of FA coaching director Char­les Hughes’s “band of believers and acolytes”, the arch­angel of “a fanatical credo, a pseudo-religion”.

Few figures in English football history have attract­ed as much vitriol or as much ideological zeal. The loth­ario of the long ball, Reep has remained unfathomably seductive to a roll-call of many of the most influential coaching figures in post-war domestic football. He is the national game’s deep dark secret; we know he’s bad for us, but we just can’t help ourselves.” 

Read the full article here.

Set yourself up on Statzpack
 Overview of the Dashboard on Manager
 

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I was struck by how open Mondays night game was, and how there seemed to be so much space when attacking (particularly for Man United, and particularly towards the end of the game).    Gary Neville mentioned that the pitch is really big at Old Trafford in his recent biography, and anyone who has been lucky enough tovisit it will tesify it is a large field.  This made us want to investigate…. according to this website (though dated in 2007.. gives us an idea):    http://soccerlens.com/premier-league-pitch-sizes/3683/     – it’s the second-biggest pitch in the league… in fact, it’s 786 square yards bigger (by area) than White Hart Lane where Tottenham, the defeated team play!  Spurs ground is small, close, intimate – probaby more theatre than the Theatre of Dreams.  I don’t think it’s a coincidence that United tend to drop off rather than press when they’re not in posession, and are so effective on the counter-attack using all that space with quick decisive, youthful, direct attacking soccer. 

Soccer Standards?

And this to a US sports coach may seem odd, where standard field sizes are more defined, for example American football fields are a set  360 by 160 feet.  Rugby league is played on a field 112-122 by 68 metres. In Rugby Union (yes there are two variants) the field of play on a pitch/field is as near as possible to a maximum of 144m long by 70m wide. In Lacrosse, the field of play is 110 yards (100 m) long and 60 yards (55 m) wide.) 

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We have released a new version of the Statzpack App, version 2.3 – now available in iTunes.  Take a quick tour of the App in this youtube video.

This version allows you to see custom actions in the real time summary and as usual is free of any cost.

Get the update by visiting iTunes or via the App Store on your iPhone or iPad.

Tracking a set of custom stats (or as we refer to them custom actions) allows you to build your own tailored set of stats for your players.  Statzpack lets you track a regular set of soccer stats – like goals, free-kicks, corners etc; but you can go further than this and record more performance analysis data.  When you add a game on the website you can opt to create your own set of custom actions.  We have built in a set of Default actions, but if you don’t want to track these then that’s no problem.  As you add a game just below the soccer field where you select your line-up you will see an option to create a custom set of stats. 

You can also make an action set that combines a mixture of default stats and your custom actions – say for example Goal/Attempt on Goal/Free-kick & Custom #1/Custom 2.  Make sure when add a set that you include Goal if you want to keep a score, or Substitute if you need to field different players.

You choose the soccer stats coach

 If you opt to add a new set of actions select the ‘Create New Set’ button. We’ve added a new set called Evaluation.   When you add a new set, you also be able to see every other custom stat statzpack users have added (Pre Defined Custom Actions) .

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You can earn some cash by becoming an advertising affiliate for Statzpack.

We have an excellent product and provide A+ customer service to our clients on a global basis.  Our customers include schools, colleges, soccer clubs, scouts and leagues.   Whether you are an individual, a blogger, a soccer club, league or team placing our adverts on your website can generate you extra cash. 

Soccer Affiliate

We pay high commissions for the sale of our products. For every new paying customer you provide, we pay $30.  Sign up to be a Statzpack Affiliate.  If you have any specific questions send them to affiliates@statzpack.com.

As high quality and as slick the iPhone 4 screen is, it doesn’t compare to that of the iPad when it comes to size.  And yep size matters.  Being able to see more of the screen when you record soccer stats with Statzpack improves accuracy and speed.

Tracking Soccer Stats Gets Easier

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What’s the difference between a direct and indirect free kick? How many strikers are in a 4-4-2 formation? And what’s this “injury time” business all about? Before you start tracking stats on your iPad.. .. ..

Against the run of play: When one team scores after launching a counterattack soon after it regains possession of the ball, that team is said to have scored “against the run of play.”

Attacking third: The third of the field where one team is trying to score on the opposing team’s goal.

Bicycle kick: A shot on goal taken by a player who has his back to the net and kicks the ball while both of his feet are in the air.

Booking: A term used to indicate when the referee has cautioned a player with a yellow or red card. A player is said to have been “booked.” Also known as a caution.

Cap: A recognition earned by a player whenever he plays in an international game for his country. A player becomes “capped” each time he plays for his country.

Caught in possession: A player who doesn’t move forward with the ball or passes to a teammate after receiving the ball, and who is then tackled by an opponent is said to have been “caught in possession.”

Caught square: When a through ball has beaten two or more opposing defenders because they were positioned square to one another (in a straight line across the field parallel to the goal-line) they are said to have been “caught square.”

Chip pass: A pass lofted into the air from one player to a teammate. Used primarily to elude a defender by kicking the ball over his head.

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