Missing men
Friday 12 March 2010 11:08, UK
The most misses, Dimitar Berbatov's goals and awards for goalkeepers. Martin Tyler has the stats!
Why is a high goals tally bad for your title hopes?
Martin Tyler's stats and facts column is here! Every week he will be here to offer you statistical gems to make your day, impress your mates and, on occasion, to settle the odd bet. Sky Sports' voice of football and his back-up team of experts are here to answer your questions and queries on all things statistical and historical from the beautiful game. If you have spotted something from a game or have been stumped by a pub quiz question, simply email here and he will do his best to help.Tyler's Starting Stat - Fletcher and Rooney's Italian job
I was at Old Trafford on Wednesday to see Darren Fletcher score his first Champions League goal in 44 appearances. It was another headed goal to follow up his two headers in the Manchester derby earlier this season. I also recall him scoring two with his head against Arsenal in an FA Cup tie in 2008 and a key header in a 1-0 win over Jose Mourinho's Chelsea in 2005. So Wayne Rooney isn't the only head boy at Old Trafford! However, Rooney did continue his incredible run of headed goals against Milan. In fact, his second-half strike was the first in eight goals that he's scored with his foot - and only the second in his last 11. Rooney's Champions League tally is now 19 goals in 51 games and he has scored 10 goals in his 14 games against Italian clubs. Furthermore, he has now managed braces in three different games against Milan.MISSING PERSONS
Following Nicklas Bendtner's horror show against Burnley on Saturday, what's the most shots a player has had in a game this season without scoring? Jim C. MARTIN SAYS: Our friends at Opta have been on the case for you Jim and statistically Nicklas Bendtner's game against Burnley was not quite the worst display from a striker this season. Bendtner managed eight shots against the Clarets without finding the net, but one striker has had more efforts without finding the target. That man is Wigan's Hugo Rodallega who had nine shots against Wolves in January without scoring a goal - including a penalty miss. In defence of Rodallega, his goal against Liverpool earlier this week gave Wigan their seventh win of the season - and he has scored in six of them. The only win he didn't score in was that success at Wolves - and it wasn't for the want of trying! As you can see from the table below, even the best strikers have bad days. Didier Drogba had eight shots in Chelsea's home game with Burnley earlier this season and couldn't register a goal. You do have to give these strikers credit for getting in the right positions. As a former non-league forward I always thought if you came off the field having missed a few chances it wasn't too bad, but if you came off having had no shots it was much worse!
| Date | Player surname | Team | Opposition | Venue | Total shots |
| 16/10/2010 | Rodallega | Wigan | Wolves | Away | 9 |
| 29/08/2009 | Drogba | Chelsea | Burnley | Home | 8 |
| 31/10/2009 | Bent | Sunderland | West Ham | Home | 8 |
| 05/12/2009 | Klasnic | Bolton | Wolves | Away | 8 |
| 06/03/2010 | Bendtner | Arsenal | Burnley | Home | 8 |
| 13/09/2009 | Dempsey | Fulham | Everton | Home | 7 |
| 15/08/2009 | Benni McCarthy | Blackburn | Man City | Home | 6 |
| 29/08/2009 | Keogh | Wolves | Hull | Home | 6 |
| 26/09/2009 | Dempsey | Fulham | Arsenal | Home | 6 |
| 20/12/2009 | Saha | Everton | Birmingham | Home | 6 |
| 27/02/2010 | Drogba | Chelsea | Man City | Home | 6 |
BOOK CLUB
Hi there, big fan of the column. I read about your points on Arsenal being the third most fouled in the league, yet I feel that this does not represent Arsenal getting fair protection from the referee. It would be interesting to see the cards per foul conceded ratio's on those fouls that Arsenal have suffered. I am sure there are not enough cards shown to the amount of fouls Arsenal suffer showing a lack of protection from referees. Thanks for any response! Kind Regards, James Nightingale MARTIN SAYS: The boys at Opta have been looking into this and have given us the following list detailing how many yellow cards have been awarded to the opponents of each Premier League team this season. As you can see, the most bookings are dished out to teams playing Manchester City with Arsenal in second place. 1. Manchester City (62)
2. Arsenal (58)
3. Tottenham Hotspur (57)
4. West Ham, Wigan Athletic (56)
6. Liverpool (53)
7. Manchester United (52)
8. Hull City (51)
9. Sunderland (46)
10. Blackburn Rovers, Everton (45)
12. Birmingham City (43)
13. Stoke City (39)
14. Aston Villa, Chelsea (38)
16. Burnley (37)
17. Portsmouth (36)
18. Bolton Wanderers, Fulham (34)
20. Wolves (32) Using the updated data for fouls for last week's column, we have calculated how many times each team is fouled before a yellow card is shown. As you can see, Fulham have the most cause for complaint. On average their players are fouled more than 10 times before a yellow card is shown. Meanwhile, Arsenal are statistically one of the most protected teams. Only Manchester United, Wigan and Manchester City are fouled fewer times before a yellow card is shown. 1. Fulham (10.32)
2. Wolves (9.81)
3. Bolton (9.33)
4. Chelsea (9.18)
5. Everton (9.02)
6. Burnley (9.00)
7. Portsmouth (8.63)
8. Birmingham (8.52)
9. Aston Villa (8.11)
10. Hull City (7.76)
11. Blackburn Rovers (7.51)
12. Stoke City (7.20)
13. Liverpool (7.11)
14. Sunderland (7.00)
15. Tottenham (6.82)
16. Arsenal (6.79)
17. West Ham (6.79)
18. Manchester United (6.46)
19. Wigan (6.09)
20. Manchester City (5.77)
A CUP OF ENGLISH
Hi Martin, I was re-watching the Carling Cup Final highlights and it dawned on me that all the goal scorers were English. This got me thinking and so I would like to know when was the last time only Englishmen scored in a cup final, League Cup or FA Cup? Saqib Rana (Man Utd Fan) MARTIN SAYS: That's a good spot. The goals in the Carling Cup Final were indeed all from Englishmen - namely James Milner, Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney. That's the first time it has happened in a major English domestic cup final since 2003 when Liverpool beat Manchester United 2-0 and Owen and Steven Gerrard were the goalscorers. The last time all of the goalscorers in an FA Cup Final were English was the 1999 FA Cup Final between Manchester United and Newcastle. That day Teddy Sheringham and Paul Scholes were on target in United's 2-0 win. Before last weekend, the last time three goals in a major cup final came from all English goalscorers was the 1995 League Cup Final between Liverpool and Bolton. Steve McManaman's brace won the Cup for Liverpool with Alan Thompson scoring for Bolton. The 1993 FA Cup Final replay between Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday was the previous occasion when three different Englishmen shared all of the goals. Ian Wright, Andy Linighan and Chris Waddle all scored in that one.
WHAT'S BERBATOV WORTH?
Hi, I have a debate with a few other Man U fans regarding Berbatov. I think he is an absolute waste of space who hasn't contributed anything to the Man U cause but others think he has scored important goals that have provided United with a number of points. Can you tell me in the two seasons he has played for Man U how many of his goals have actually helped Man U win points. For example, I remember him scoring the winner at Old Trafford against Middlesbrough apart from that I think all his goals have come in games we have been winning in anyway. Thanks, WBM. MARTIN SAYS: I understand what you are saying and it is clear that Berbatov is a very talented footballer. Below I have detailed all 18 Premier League goals Berbatov has scored in his two seasons at Manchester United and detailed when the goals came. This season: nine goals:
| Opponent | Final score | When goal came |
| Wigan | 5-0 | 2nd |
| Stoke | 2-0 | 1st |
| Sunderland | 2-2 | 2nd |
| Blackburn | 2-0 | 1st |
| Hull | 3-1 | 3rd |
| Wigan | 5-0 | 4th |
| Burnley | 3-0 | 1st |
| Portsmouth | 5-0 | 4th |
| Everton | 1-3 | 1st |
| Opponent | Final score | When goal came |
| West Brom | 4-0 | 3rd |
| Stoke | 5-0 | 3rd |
| Middlesbrough | 1-0 | 1st |
| Chelsea | 3-0 | 3rd |
| Bolton | 1-0 | 1st |
| West Brom | 5-0 | 1st |
| Fulham | 3-0 | 2nd |
| Newcastle | 2-1 | 1st |
| Tottenham | 5-2 | 5th |
HANDS ON THE PRIZE
Mr Tyler, following Mark Schwarzer's success in the Premier League's Player of the Month competition, I was wondering whether you could tell me whether goalkeepers win the award nearly as much as other positions, and if there are any players between the sticks who stand above the rest in this respect? Thanks, Jake (Canterbury) MARTIN SAYS: Since the inception of the Premier League Player of the Month award in August 1994, just seven of the 146 winners have been goalkeepers - that's less than five per cent. The majority of winners have been forwards, followed by midfielders and defenders: Player of the Month winners by position:
Forwards: 71 (nine shared)
Midfielders: 58 (one shared)
Defenders: 10
Goalkeepers: 7 Mark Schwarzer is the first goalkeeper to win since Peter Cech in March 2007 - and incredibly the Chelsea stopper ended a seven-year wait for a goalkeeper to win the prize. As you can see from the list below, Tim Flowers is the only goalkeeper to have won the award more than once - with Blackburn in January 1997 and with Leicester City in September 2000. Goalkeeper winners:
1. David Seaman, Arsenal (April 1995)
2. Tim Flowers, Blackburn (January 1997)
3. Alex Manninger, Arsenal (March 1998)
4. Tim Flowers, Leicester (September 2000)
5. Paul Robinson, Leeds (September 2000)
6. Petr Cech, Chelsea (March 2007)
7. Mark Schwarzer, Fulham (February 2010)
TOP SCORERS, BUT NOT TOP...
Dear Martin. Manchester United are the joint top scorers with Arsenal. Both have 66 goals, which seems very high and it seems a shame that one of these high scoring teams will fail to win the title this season. My question is this. Has a team ever scored this many goals by this stage of the season before? If so, did they end up winning the title? Thanks, Verinder. MARTIN SAYS: You sent your question before the weekend games Verinder and as I'm sure you know, Arsenal are now the top scorers with 69 while United are on 67. As you suggest, this is a very high return. After 29 games of last season Liverpool and Manchester United were the joint top scorers with just 49 goals each! In the history of the Premier League only two other sides have scored more than 66 goals after 29 games. After 29 games in 2001/2002, Manchester United had scored 69 goals. After 29 games in 2004/2005, Arsenal had scored 67 goals. Would you believe that neither of those sides went on to win the title in those seasons? United were beaten by Arsenal in 2002 and Arsenal were edged out by Chelsea in 2005! In conclusion, the teams that have scored more than 66 goals after 29 games have never gone on to win the title... which is a good omen for Chelsea fans (unless the Blues score more than one goal in their 29th game at home to West Ham!)
