Quick Season Overview - Standard Liege

It’s been a while since I wrote a blog post so I thought I’d take a quick look at Liege’s performance this season. Nothing too in-depth or lengthy, just a quick overview.

FrankBet odds placed me with a 12/1 shot of the title. That would have meant 7^th place and probably a fight to gain that last playoff spot. Early to mid-season we confounded critics with a meteoric rise to the top of the table, alongside the other Belgian sides, but as the games kept on coming, Brugge and Anderlecht dropped off, leaving me to fly the Drapeau de la Belgique. In the end, the sides of Alex Mclean (Olympiacos) and Grant Cameron (Dynamo Kyiv) proved too strong, both featuring players that wouldn’t look amiss in division 3. The confirmation of automatic promotion didn’t come until the 37^th game, but then again, Belgium has always been late to the party.

Malcolm provided some excellent analysis of the teams at the start of the season allowing me to evaluate any improvement on player ratings provided during the season, either by ratings increases or transfers.

The original ratings for Liege at the start of season 3 are as follows;

GK         88

Def         87

Mid        87

Att         87

Top15    86

Top21    85

Ave        86.67

Whilst the first eleven were of a reasonable standard, it’s clear that any back up players in the squad weren’t really up to scratch. What isn’t reflected in the analysis is age. I took over an ageing team of players, so my initial transfer dealings valued age over rating. Many of the players that left were replaced with younger, but lower rated players. I reviewed each players season statistics of the previous season and current season IRL and made a judgement as to whether the players would have value in bundling together for higher rated transfers in Top100.

After a season of begging, borrowing and scraping to drag my team into better shape, I’ve now got a side with an average age of 26, and a value roughly £40 million higher than when I took over.

The current patented Malcolm rating is as follows;

GK         88

Def         87.75

Mid        87

Att         88.5

Top15    87.46

Top21    87.14

Ave        87.64

As you can see the overall squad average has improved by +1. This may not seem much, but it’s more than you think. Also as previously mentioned, a good proportion of those are also a few years younger. However the analysis shows where I should be working on for my next transfer deals, the midfield is obviously the weakest area based on purely ratings so expect to receive a few bids in the pre-season.

The analysis also gives a potential indication as to the expected performance next season in Division 4. Granted, the statistics are now a full season out of date and Division 4 was notoriously close, but based on a Season 3 starting point, only 2 teams have a higher overall average, Chievo Verona (87.67) and Torino (88), and one of those has been relegated to Division 5.

Again, I’m not saying I’m going to finish second, every club will have made transfers with the aim of improving their sides, it’s just analysis based on statistical evidence. And if science and maths have taught me anything, it’s that they know what they know, and know what they don’t know. Manager tactics, transfers, injuries, Christ even a day where you forget to set your team can disrupt your entire season, none of those things can be measured. But I’ve not done too badly so far...

Manager stats wise, I’ve got an average of 2.4 points per game, not too shoddy. In order of Ave points per game, the top 10 managers are;

Scott McKenzie                  2.66

Gursimran Brar                  2.57

Jess Jobe                             2.50

James Foster                       2.40

Roy Keane                          2.36

Feargal Hickey                   2.30

Nick Wheels                       2.23

Heath Brown                      2.17

Joe Jordan                           2.16

Mike Scallotti                     2.15

Obviously some of those listed have played literally a hundred or so more games than me but it’s a nice little confidence boost going into the new season.

Good luck with Season 4 all!