Opta investigate the fallout of the latest round of top-flight action in Scotland.
Opta investigate the fallout of the latest round of top-flight action in Scotland.
Old Firm struggling to maintain the old order
The last six matchdays in the SPL will have brought little cheer to gamblers who like to use Old Firm sides in their accumulators.
Normally expected to win their matches, not since August have both Rangers and Celtic won both of their matches on the same weekend.
Indeed it seems that after an opening to the campaign that saw both Glasgow sides winning their opening three matches and critics moaning about the predictability of the league, in none of the ensuing six fixtures have both sides of Glasgow been celebrating all three points:
| SPL - August only |
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|
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|
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| Position |
Team |
Played |
Won |
Drawn |
Lost |
Points |
| 1 |
Rangers |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
| 2 |
Celtic |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
| 3 |
Dundee United |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
7 |
| 4 |
Hibernian |
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
| 5 |
Motherwell |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
| 6 |
Aberdeen |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
| |
|
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|
|
|
| SPL - Since August |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Position |
Team |
Played |
Won |
Drawn |
Lost |
Points |
| 1 |
Hibernian |
6 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
11 |
| 2 |
Celtic |
6 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
11 |
| 3 |
Rangers |
6 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
10 |
| 4 |
Dundee United |
6 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
9 |
| 5 |
Motherwell |
6 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
9 |
| 6 |
St Mirren |
6 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
8 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On only four occasions previously in the history of the SPL have both Old Firm sides failed to claim wins on the same matchdays for six games running, and never as early in the season.
Hibernian are the side who look best suited to take advantage of this Glasgow crisis, and having held them to a draw at the weekend, should Rangers fail to win at Dundee United on Saturday, the Hibees could leapfrog the Teddy Bears.
Hearts and Dons undone
Hearts and Aberdeen fans were so hopeful for the new season.
The two sides finished third and fourth in the SPL last season and will have been hoping to build on their success in 2008/09 in 2009/10.
However, both sides have managed only two league wins so far and Aberdeen are in seventh place whilst Hearts languish in ninth.
Opta investigate what seems to be their main problem - their inability to convert their chances into goals:
| SPL - Lowest Goals-to-Shots Ratio |
|
| Team Name |
Goals-to-shots |
| Falkirk |
5.00% |
| Aberdeen |
9.46% |
| Hearts |
9.47% |
| Hamilton Academical |
9.84% |
| Kilmarnock |
11.27% |
| St Johnstone |
13.10% |
|
League strugglers Falkirk are the only side to have converted fewer of their shots into goals this season than Aberdeen and Hearts.
For the Dons this inability to find the net has without doubt cost them valuable points - earlier this season Mark McGhee's team kept a club record five consecutive three sheets in the SPL, but won just twice during this streak as they were held to three 0-0 draws.
Only three SPL sides have had more shots than Hearts (95) this season (leaders Celtic, Rangers and Hibernian), but despite this only four have scored fewer goals.
Only in their opening game against Dundee United have the Jambos lost or won by a margin of more than one goal this season, suggesting that if their strikers had been just that little bit more clinical in front of goal then they would find themselves in a much more comfortable position in the league.
Are Falkirk already doomed?
Nine games into the season and Falkirk still find themselves without a league win. Despite only being one point off the rest of the sides in the SPL, this lack of victories will undoubtedly be a worry for Eddie May.
Indeed, Opta's investigations reveal that this long without claiming all three points at the start of a season is already looking ominous for the Bairns when compared with other sides who have gone nine games without a win to open a Scottish Premier League campaign:
| SPL - Most consecutive matches without a win at start of season |
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| Season |
Team |
Matches without win |
Final position |
| 2000/01 |
Dundee United |
16 |
11th |
| 2003/04 |
Partick Thistle |
14 |
12th |
| 2005/06 |
Livingston |
14 |
12th |
| 2001/02 |
St Johnstone |
13 |
12th |
| 1999/00 |
Aberdeen |
9 |
10th* |
| 2009/10 |
Falkirk |
9(+) |
??? |
|
*In 1999/00 Aberdeen finished bottom of a 10-team league
Falkirk are the sixth SPL side to fail to win in their opening nine matches.
Of the five teams to have done this before them, all but one has finished the campaign in bottom place. Curiously, the only side to avoid a last-placed finish from this position, Dundee United in 2000/01, is also the side with the longest winless run at the start of a season (16 games).
That season it was only a late Terrors' surge when they claimed eight wins in 15 in the new year that saved them - Eddie May will be hoping he can get his side back on track long before January.
