10 things I read this month that you should too

Apr 27th, 2012 - Posted by Andrew_Brocker in Betting Theory, Football

bettingexpert blog editor. Always taking the alternative route to finding the value.

What's worth reading out there in the sports blogasphere? As the month comes to a close, Andrew once again delivers us his 10 things he read that we should too.

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Six reasons why this Championship season has been worse than last year

The Seventy Two blog takes a look at the 2011/2012 Championship campaign. Has this season been as good as last year? They give us 6 reasons while this season's edition has failed to live up to expectations.

"Reading are worthy champions and their extraordinary run has been something to behold, but the remarkable has been few and far between this term in comparison with the 2010/11 campaign."

Alternative EPL Data Visualisation : The Cann Table

On his blog A Beautiful Numbers Game, Zach Slaton reminds us of the Cann Table. What is the Cann Table? Well it's an alternative visualisation of the Premier League table that was popularzied by the late Jenny Cann, that rather than listing clubs based on table position, it ranks them by points won.

"It's a relatively straight forward and non-complex way to view how teams are performing relative to each other. It uses all the same data as a normal league table, but instead of arranging the positioning of clubs based upon table position it arranges them based upon point total."

Remembering Football On The ZX Spectrum

Football simulations have become one of the most profitable genres in the video game industry. In this great piece, Ian King from TwoHundred% takes a look back at 10 football games that were developed for the ZX Spectrum video game system that first came on the market 30 years ago.

"It encouraged the birth of an entire industry, from large companies to cottage industries, and amongst the genres of game that would come to manifest themselves over the next decade or so, football would come to be recognised as a market share grabber."

Everton just hate starting over

The On Goals Scored blog takes a look at Everton under the guidance of manager David Moyes and their seemingly traditional good run of form towards the end of each season, making a sweet analogy with their namesake confectionary - the toffee.

"Much like the chewing of the confectionary from which the Toffees take their nickname, an Everton season is tough and laborious at first, before easing up and becoming more pleasant as it goes on."

Are relegation 6-pointers important?

Mirko Bolesan takes a look at how the results of matches between clubs in the lower depths of the Premier League table impact upon their chances of surviving relegation from season to season. Do '6 point' matches make that much of a difference?

" I’ve done this by taking a look at the record of clubs in the Premier League over the last fifteen years who have finished in 17th and 18th position. I have examined where each of the clubs have picked up points; this analysis effectively shows us where survival is secured."

The sacking of football managers as an exact science

The SportingIntelligence blog posts a great article by Tom Markham on the issue of assessing a coach's performance and whether or not sacking a coach necessarily leads to an improved team performance.

"In the modern game, spending power has become increasingly important for a club to be successful. However, there are contrasting views on whether sacking a football manager leads to improved team performance on average."

The Brief Decline of the Premier League Hat-trick

The guys at Zonal Marking take look at the occurence rates of Premier League hat-trick since the league's inception, noting that the frequency of hat-tricks dropped significantly through the period of Chelsea dominance in the years 2004 to 2007.

"Last season, the number of Premier League hat-tricks was at its highest level since 1994, and this season looks like continuing the trend – with six games to go, the figure is one behind last season’s level."

I'm not your typical professional sports bettor

The Beyond the Bets blog introduce you to Jack Zito. Who is Jack Zito? He's a self proclaimed betting handicapper employed by Covers.com whose short lived career lasted a total of 9 picks before he was proved to be a fraud.

"On April 10, Covers Experts trotted out a handicapper named Jack Zito, a 21-year-old whiz kid who not only “cashed in the Hilton NFL Supercontest” but also has a team of statisticians working on his behalf. The problem? His name isn’t Zito, he did not compete in the Supercontest and he also does not have a team of statisticians."

Some graphic illustration of this season's Premier League

The Decision Tech blog takes us through some visualisations of the 2011/2012 Premier League campaign. Most interestingly we see how the Decision Tech league simulation assessed each club's chances of winning the Premiership, finishing top 4 and being relegated as the season progressed.

"At the start of every season, we run a simulation to produce a chance of each team finishing at each position. Each team is given a team strength which is derived based on the team’s weighted historical performances. "

We get what we deserve with football punditry

So many of us are disatisfied with the current stable of football punditry. Why is modern football punditry so abysmal? As Jack Howes on Soccerlens tells us, we might get better if we weren't all so precious.

"So if football is so popular, then why as a nation do we put up with idiots giving us patronising dull stupid dumb drivel for every game we watch?"

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