Missing some things..

It is fortune to be here on a "holiday" as they say. Yet no matter what we do, we are always missing something to do something else.There are a couple of big things I am missing for instance back in the USA.

For example:  my daughter Abby has her Senior night at high school for Basketball and I will miss it. That's why I have prepared this video to be shown on the Gym floor that evening Tuesday.


Only kidding. I want to not worry about getting killed at night in my sleep by an angry 18-year old.

Seriously, I cannot believe this is it for Soccer and basketball for my daughter. It has always been about her experience yet being along for the ride for my wife and I has been it's own journey. Good, bad, injured, healthy, whatever. Great stuff

Good thing we are moving to wherever Abby goes to college so we can continue watching her play sports, study, go to clubs......
'

Only kidding. Please see picture above

Another reflection on the Spurs game yesterday and Manchester United

The town of Tontenham is in tough shape it appears. Lots of closed places and looks like it has been hit hard by business environment. It is crazy that there is place right in the middle of it where people make 20-50 thousand pounds a week.

The town is very Islamic and of other colors (other than white!) I had a pint (OK, two pints) ina  pub that was owned and run by a consortium of Rastas and white woman. I saw a Beyonce video for the first time. The place became packed ultimately for the match at 1:30.

The crowd was very different from the Leyton Orient family-type atmosphere I saw. Almost all guys, pretty bitter at just about everything and very business-like. I was surprised by the orderliness of the beer situation-can;t bring it in the seats, people sit down for the match, and the sections of the stadium are very reserved for "home" or "visitor" seating. People have asked me in both matches who I was for and my naive response was "'I am just here for the soccer"   One guy called me a "Mad Yankee"-I assume the mad means I am a pycho..............

Numbers and soccer

I hated math and numbers when I was a kid. ask my parents. Ask Mr Flannigan Hyde. Ask Mr. Sami. I began to actually see the use of them and the application of them to the world when I read the Sporting News subscription my dad had. It applied statistics and math to every sport of the time, particularly baseball. I was hooked.

I saw the same type of application to numbers with the stock market and company financials. It is really really ironic (the situation is actually in the dictionary!) that I teach Finance and use simple math to college students. I believe my parents are still in a state of disbelief.

I read a lot about soccer and try to see the same numerical connection to the game of football as other sports. After all: numbers don't lie!  The book I am reading these days is called "the numbers don't lie: Why everything you know about soccer is wrong" It is a Bill James type perspective where numbers are used strategically for success. (Moneyball)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/27/sports/soccer/with-new-book-seeking-truth-in-statistics-of-soccer.html?_r=0
 I think the book can piss people off as it refutes the common "knowledge" that a fan or novice coach might have. Some of the issues listed in the first half of the book:

• Chelsea has gathered 32 million pieces of data from 12-13,000 games
• On corner kicks, only 1 in 5 result in a shot-only 1 in 9 of those shots result in a goal
• Authors say (And I think prove) football is a 50-50 game:half luck and half skill
• Average number of goals is 2.66 per game over all four European leagues
• Bookmakers have a harder time picking soccer scores than other sports
• Two anaylysts data suggested that 1/2 of World cup matches are decided by luck, not by being better or worse.
• The team that shoots more, actually wins less than half the time
• defenders on average touch the ball almost 2 times as much as the forwards  60 vs. 30

More on this later but I can see that as a coach, one always wants to be somewhat detached from the emotion of the game and goal of the training (or even game!) I some cases, I think I observed on my own watching a zillion games live  or on TV that corners are a lot of excitement over nothing for exmaple.

On the other hand, I have something to say to young players who want to start on defense because they are a bit nervous on the field: "sure, you can be a back-by the way Julie/Bill, you will probably touch the ball more than anyone on the field!"

Toffees

THE TOFFEES

What Sort of a Nickname is that? The Toffees (or The Toffeemen) is the established and traditional nickname for Everton FC.  It originated very early in the history of the club, by association with not one but two local Toffee Shops that figured in Everton's early history: Ye Anciente Everton Toffee House was located within a "mint ball's throw" of the Queen's Head Hotel in Village Street, where much of Everton's early development as a Football Club occurred.  The Toffee House was the operation of Old Ma Bushell, who was the original Toffee Lady, and actually invented Everton Toffees.  This confectionery was sold in huge quantities to the hungry hordes as they journeyed from far and wide to watch Everton play in the new Football League, firstly in Stanley Park, and Priory Road.  Then at Anfield, Everton's third ground. Mother Nobletts Toffee Shop was located near Goodison Park, and figured prominently after the move from Anfield in 1892.  Old Mother Nobletts was placed on the horns of a dilemma when that momentous decision was taken to move the great club from Anfield to the new Goodison Park.  But, being the mother of innovation, Mrs Nobletts hit upon a great idea as direct competition for the Everton Toffees patented by her arch rival, Old Ma Bushell.  Mother Nobletts invented Everton Mints.

Gamblling

It is interesting that gambling is so common everywhere here. At the game, there were odds posted of who would win today, if Spurs would finish top 4, breakout odds of several individual players would score 1, 2, 3 goals today. Emmanuel Abedayer was the most likely to score and he did. I am surprised becasue he is a very lazy, talented player. If I had any balls I would would have bet that the second best offensive player, a named Roberto Soldado would score. He wasn't even posted which is IRONIC as he was purchased from a Spanish club for lots and lots of English Pounds  (26 million)
 

He has 5 goals. Yep 5 with the season half over. 

Anyway, I am not a fan of gambling but it is so open here and there is no real line in any shops. No hookers or people shooting up and snorting though (in public)

Spurs vs. Everton

Wel played l, I saw a tremendous event today as Totonham played Everton. (I believe the Everton nick name is the "toffees" more on that later. Awesome, close match all through the game. Everton outplayed the spurs in the first half but could not score.

Great seats for the match. The fans are really intense and bitter about every little thing. I heard the F*&K word used so many times and in so many ways it actually took the fun out of it. About 37,000 fans there.


I watched the warmups and realized that both teams have a USA goalie. A mentioned earlier, Tim Howard starts for Everton. But I forgot that until Brad Friedel was the starting goalie for Spurs for a while. He is the backup now but was one of the top players in that position for a time.
It is curious that the US has a reputation for not  developing more quality players in the world pool of talent, yet the US is recognized for this factory of players.

I think tomorrow I am laying low-I walked a lot again today.

Cheers

First game I attended

I went to see a lower league (but good nonetheless) today. Leyton Orient vs. Peterborough and it was a good match between the two. Some observations of the teams.
The players are mostly the same athletes as the Man United and Chelseas. However, the technical skills of the players are clearly not as exact and precise as a Juan Mata or Suarez. For examples, passes were consistently a little off, so the defender could jump in. Or the right wing/outside half of Leyton could not receive the ball cleanly even though he could easily blow by the opposing back.

Fans are totally into it: Parents, sons/daugthers, grandparents.Nice atmosphere overall and you can feel there is a lot of history here. The coolest thing I saw was a stadium official approach the handicap section on the sideline with a full team set (real teapot) to serve them.  So cool.

 (The bastard did not offer me any but that is OK

I was right on the field for this match-probably the last time that happens!.

Peterborough had a dominant back four with the outside backs very talented and making effective runs and crosses to the midfield and one decent forward. The second half, the left back was involved in many puhes forward and really wore out the Leyton midfield.

Leyton had a weak midfield offensively but worked hard. They counterattacked and connected with the one good forward and hit the post in the first half. The forward scored on a nice flick header via a corner to make the stadium (called "Matchstadium"  original right?) go nuts.

Late in the second half the midfield was dying and should have been subbed. Two really quick goals, one a nice blast from the top of the penalty area with no defender within 5 yards of him, and second giveawy under pressure by the weak mid let to a tap in-game over. Crowd was very quiet but huge turnout of loud Peterborough fans.

Tomorrow (Sunday Feb 9th)  I see the "spurs" play Everton at the home field Tottenham. The spurs goalie is Tim Howard of the US. Did you know that the US for some reason is well known in soccer for it's goalkeeper development?