|
|
|
|
Baseball Primer Newsblog— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand
Friday, February 01, 2013
Well, it was on time last month!
|
Support BBTF
Thanks to
Adam M
for his generous support.
Bookmarks
You must be logged in to view your Bookmarks.
Hot Topics
Newsblog: Posnanski: Jeff Francoeur and ANT (58 - 7:15am, May 22)Last: BrianBriansonNewsblog: LATimes: Microsoft unveils new Xbox One console (7 - 7:13am, May 22)Last: OPS+Newsblog: Yanks, Manchester City awarded MLS expansion team (27 - 6:54am, May 22)Last: RussNewsblog: Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 5-22-2013 (2 - 6:33am, May 22)Last: Neutral Milk Dotel (Dan Lee)Newsblog: ESPN: Chapman Eats18 Pastries, Blows Save (2 - 6:27am, May 22)Last: Neutral Milk Dotel (Dan Lee)Newsblog: Mike Trout hits for the cycle in Angels' 12-0 win over Seattle (1 - 6:16am, May 22)Last: bookbookNewsblog: JM Catellier: Is Pedro Martinez a First Ballot Hall of Famer? (129 - 4:46am, May 22)Last: BrianBriansonNewsblog: OT: The Soccer Thread, May 2013 (1050 - 4:31am, May 22)Last: Swedish ChefNewsblog: White Sox Ace Chris Sale Eats and Eats and Eats Without Gaining Any Weight (82 - 4:27am, May 22)Last: you got a STEAGLES? you're gonna need a STEAGLES.Newsblog: OT: NHL is finally back thread (359 - 4:02am, May 22)Last: Robert in Manhattan BeachNewsblog: OT: NBA Monthly Thread - May 2013 (1056 - 3:41am, May 22)Last: Los Angeles El Hombre of AnaheimNewsblog: [OTP-May] Politico: Congressional baseball game, May 1, 1926 (3836 - 2:46am, May 22)Last: BurlyBuehrleNewsblog: Barry Bonds: Detroit Tigers' Miguel Cabrera 'the best' ... but not better than me (63 - 2:30am, May 22)Last: the Hugh Jorgan returnsNewsblog: Dollar Sign on the Glistening Muscle: Scouting Ballplayers in 1980s Playgirl (26 - 2:07am, May 22)Last: base ball chickNewsblog: OMNICHATTER for MAY 21, 2013 (121 - 1:50am, May 22)Last: boteman
|
|
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
I think he's a superb coach, but the fact is Arsenal have the fourth highest wage bill in England. The money's there; they just need to stop giving it to average players.
Brian Phillips wrote a great piece on Wenger a little while back that argued it's almost impossible to evaluate him overall because he wears so many hats for the club, and it's still fairly opaque as to how much of the perceived frugality is a directive from the club's higher-ups and how much is just Wenger being Wenger.
My overall impression continues to shift towards the position that Arsene Wenger the miserly director of football is letting down Arsene Wenger the visionary coach.
*We'll just ignore the way that match ended up tied ...
**All the same, I can't say Oldham didn't deserve a replay out of that ...
[EDIT] After further review ... IN SUPER SLOW-MO IT'S LEGIT, LEGIT, LEGIT!!!
Was a reason given as to why Dickov resigned a couple weeks ago?
Their league form is terrible. I thought Oldham was worth the equalizer. They carved out a lot of good chances and were positive throughout. A replay is great for their finances.
I mean, he was in a box.
Really? It sure looked like it hit the keeper's arm and not Smith. If Everton had done their jobs the game shouldn't have come down to that, but it definitely raised an eyebrow for me.
Video of the play (not in super slow-mo, unfortunately)
It certainly did, which is why I originally wrote what I did, but the last replay that FSP showed on the post-game show sure looked like the ball clearly transited past the keeper's upraised arms and didn't change directions until Smith's head connected with it. FWIW, the FSP studio crew seemed to think that replay settled the question (in addition to being super slo-mo, it may have also been a slightly different angle, unfortunately I don't have the game on dvr, so I can't go back and check that).
That's historically been a fantastic rivalry when both teams are in form. This Chelsea fan, would love to see Brentford get promoted and compete in the Prem.
Glad that Paul Ince is getting another go with Blackpool. Way too few black managers in English football at the moment. It should be interesting to see how he manages his son Tom, whose apparently a real prospect.
Not disagreeing with the general sentiment, as I think diversity is a good thing. But it's worth remembering that the demographics of the UK are very different from those of the US. The population is only about 2% black. Not sure how many black managers you'd expect, especially with so many Italian, Spanish and Irish guys taking up spots.
The ethnicity that has always been over-represented in this respect are Scots.
How long does that go back though? My wild-assed guess is that is that the percentage went up as the money did, and teams had more incentive to go search for talent across the globe. Also probably correlates with the rise of African football as a whole. Then again, I don't really have that much of a reference before 1990 or so. But if it's a more recent thing, you wouldn't necessarily expect many of them to have worked their way into coaching gigs. And if it's more transient in nature, then you wouldn't necessarily expect them to hang around in England after their playing days are over.
Well, yeah. We are awesome.
By 1980 we had already had plenty of teams in baseball with majority-black starting lineups. So if you figure that the "Jackie Robinson moment" happened 30 years later in Britain (in 1978 England also got its first black international player, Viv Anderson), it makes sense to not have many black people in the power structure today.
Also awesome, the first paragraph of Wikipedia's bio on the first black Football League player:
Except for the guy who threw the lighter at Kolarov, of course.
Viv Anderson?
Agreed that you wouldn't expect a high number of black managers at this point, but definitely a few more than exist today. Hughton has been solid for Norwich and I'm hoping that he opens some doors. Hesky seems perfect for a managers job in the future, but goals might be a problem for his side.
Agreed. I did a 3-month internship in Edinburgh during grad school and fell in love with place and people.
That is strange, they did play a lot of subs. Isn't the final next Sunday?
Teehee.
Is he somehow right on a technicality? Maybe SAF and Wenger and Moyes and... probably a few others were outside England at that precise moment?
Perhaps he meant to say he is the 'best dressed manager in England'. He always looks pretty sharp.
Maybe he said it while in a ditch or buried up to his arms on a beach or something, so that technically he was in England while the other managers were on England.
I do think that such an honor puts Mancini in the running for best manager in England. But at the same time, you have to give AVB credit for winning the New York Invitational Cup. If it were up to me, I would declare it a tie between those two.
In each of the past two seasons, during the short-lived part of the year before City unceremoniously failed their way out of the Champions League, he routinely mentioned that they had "3 games per week" to prepare for. This might technically be true in an occasional week (Sunday-Wednesday-Saturday) but it's not really true in any meaningful sense (since, in that example, the following week would only see 1-2 games). This always annoyed me, especially because he used it as an excuse for underachieving in Europe.
Unlike all the other teams in the Champions League.
Well yes, and that. That's perhaps the stronger point. But I was mostly concerned that he actually thought he had 3 games per week to prepare for, because he really didn't.
We'll see this season because they ain't qualifying for UCL unless the Spurs lose a couple key players to injury.
That seems like a vast overbid. It's 4 points. There's a lot of football left to play.
Might be of interest here.
I understand. I just believe they are a very overrated ball club. They do have an easy schedule the rest of the way, but I don't think it's enough.
Been noted.
I predict England will lose in the quarter finals due to an overturned decision.
Michael Cox on La Viola's on-again-off-again love affair with Stevan Jovetic.
The outside guys are far more aggressive and comfortable with going towards the touchlines to take on wingers, and as a result I'd guess the organizational and communication issues between a back 3 are more complex than with a back 2. But they still seem to play in a line mostly, though the center guy seems to have more freedom to step out to take on attackers if the defense is set (wingbacks have started to return to support the outside CB's).
3 back systems tend to require a lot more versatility from players. The major advantage is that you can create situation where you have an extra man in the key area of the field, at any given time. The drawback is that you need players to slide out of their natural positions, and be able to play there, and also know when to do this. And failure to do so can get punished pretty harshly.
For CB's that basically means that the outside back on the side which is deemed the danger area, slides outside to deal with that danger, either in support of the winger, or as a substitute FB if the winger is caught upfield. Leaving the other 2 backs much like they are in a back 4, which is why in practice, you don't see the middle one playing much of a role as a sweeper.
Walcott already looks dangerous, yet the new English(?) announcer keeps harping on the fact that Arsenal can't lump it up to him to hold. We get it already!
Arsenal is going for it and the Wilshere/Cazorla/Walcott pairing looks frisky. Could be some goals in this one.
Yeah they look like top class right now. They appear much stronger than Barca, Real, United, Juven or anyone else right now.
Diaby has been in poor form. Not spending the cash for a midfield destroyer is biting them in the, ahem, arse.
I think you've summed up Arsenal's recent struggles pretty well there. That said, they're only 4 points behind Spurs who are supposed to be in great form so I try not to talk too much crap.
If I have to pick a team, I'll still pick Barca, no doubt. Bayern indeed look really impressive, but a good half against a mediocre Arsenal side isn't going to sway me. That was always a mismatch. Bayern play in a cupcake league. Dortmund is the only team that can play up to their level, and their track-record against them is not good. They had a cupcake group for the CL, and lost their second game 3-1 to BATE Borisov... They are hardly invincible.
Though I suppose if they end up having to settle for the Eurpora League, that would be a meaningful step backwards.
5th place makes you the Bayern of mid-table!
I think they have to put RVP and Clichy out there, Mancunian registrations be damned.
I laugh when people say selling Nasri for 3 times as much as he's worth made Arsenal a selling club. That was genius by Arsenal!
Good points although I was less than impressed with Barca in the group stages as well. Plus, they are beat up a bit. Still I do agree they would have to be the favorites, by Bayern has to be second.
That's worth a shot. I guess you could go with Diaby as well but that doesn't seem to offer much hope of scoring the two needed to have a realistic shot in the reverse leg. The other issue they have is that they have three on yellows and I could see Arteta or Sagna doing something ill advised out of frustration.
Unless something drastically changes (like Arsene spending like a Madrid manager), Arsenal isn't going to challenge for a title in the next three years. It seems like the fans are using the "don't trade players within the division" axiom. Short term it hurts, but long-term, money is good if its reinvested in the club.
This argument is only valid if they finish in 4th this season without him.
EDIT: Or if they pull a Chelsea in the Champions League, of course.
It's just not how you beat Bayern. You sit back let them try and break you down. Strong defensive midfield, strong CB's, pace up front, and kill them on the break when they turn the ball over, and leave space behind them, whih they will.
Course Arsenal can't soak up pressure without leaking a half-dozen goals, so it's moot.
Edit: Well that might make things a little interesting at least.
Yea - Of course.
Also on that Giroud missed chances thing, I figured, this is something for which there's some amount of data. These are PL players with at least 10 "big chances" who have converted less that one-third of those:
2/10 Kevin Nolan
3/13 David Silva
3/13 Papiss Demba Cisse
4/17 Olivier Giroud
4/14 Nikita Jelavic
5/16 Arouna Kone
That seems like a pretty good list of out-of-form finishers.
But here's the problem. These are the next two guys on the list:
6/18 Sergio Aguero (well, ok, he hasn't been at his best...)
11/31 Robin van Persie (oh)
7/11 Rickie Lambert
10/16 Edin Dzeko
11/19 Michu
6/11 Shane Long
13/24 Luis Suarez
8/15 Wayne Rooney
9/17 Christian Benteke
Overall, this seems like a good listing of players who've been finishing well and players who haven't. Except for the whole RVP thing.
Both list are about what you would expect to see, except for RVP. Benteke's agent must be salivating at this point.
Lampard 9/11
Fletcher 8/11
Ba 9/15
Rooney 18/32
Yakubu 15/27
Hernandez 8/15
Cisse 8/16
Dzeko 10/20
Aguero 15/29
RVP 23/44
Bottom 5:
Kuyt 2/10
Carroll 3/13
Gervinho 3/13
Suarez 7/28
Crouch 4/16
If Arsene Wenger doesn't buy Benteke this summer, then you can stick a fork in Wenger's future, it's done. Benteke would need a year or two to finish developing, but Arsenal would then have a power forward who complements their style perfectly. He's a screamingly obviously perfect fit for their needs (an aerial threat, flair, composure) and Arsene's predelictions (young, Francophone), he won't come close to breaking Arsenal's wage scale, and Villa are in no position to refuse a power (20M+ pounds) offer even if they somehow avoid relegation.
This is quick interjection to agree and note that Shane Long is really, really good.
EDIT: RVP has so many of them, maybe he does such a good job on marginal chances that they are deemed big chances by the observers. Like an outfielder who makes hard balls seem catchable, dragging down his percentage of plays made.
It's like, he totally should have scored there man. Total objectivity.
Looking at the numbers, and following up on #995, perhaps striker conversion rates of these chances have something in common with bullpen numbers from year to year? I would think the smaller number of chances/opportunities in the respective numbers passes the smell test, at least to my (no doubt limited) head.
Definintely an interesting stat to follow - I guess if it did normalize (obviously there can be many other factors involved) it would help to support the "form is temporary, class is permanent" line of thought that I hear so often on EPL broadcasts.
According to the file that Man City gave with their Opta data when they released that year for free, a big chance is "A situation where a player should reasonably be expected to score usually in a one-on-one scenario or from very close range." which I assume is the same for this, since it's also Opta.
They must have a pretty liberal definition of "very close range", otherwise I can't see how there can be that number of big chances.
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main