Saturday morning...
Me at my local newspaper stand (big lottery/betting place as well) this morning: "So Mr. Peters, how was the game last night"
Mr Peters: "What can I say, the whole country will be talking and talking today. Van Persie's goal was special. But 5-1. Even God above could not see that coming"
Me (in my mind): Hmmm... indeed. With 67% of you officially atheist, what can one expect...
Me (back with volume turned up): "so, how is the football betting going?"
Mr. Peters: "Oh my God... we only had bets on 1-1 or 1-0 in Netherlands's favour. I believe there was not one person that bought a 5-1 bet slip last night. It ha been a great day for Dutch football and the bookies. For that matter, any rookie bookie made tons of guilders last night. Thank you Mr. Van Gaal".
Me: "Van Gaal... you must thank Van Persie"...
Mr. Peters: "Do you know anything about football, my dear Indian friend".
Me: "Hmmm, I write a football blog..."
Mr. Peters: "Blog or Frog.... Van Gaal got his tactics right last night. Let me explain..." and he proceeded to open his little I-pad mini and opened the FIFA website (see below)
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/round=255931/match=300186510/statistics.html
Mr. Peters: "Our coach got three things right. One: we never let the Spanish midfield get into a rhythm. Two: we played in our half and waited for the counter attacks with long balls. Three: We knew the Spaniards would push up and leave gaps at the back. I suggest we look at the heat maps in the Castrol statistics.If I change the player to Ramos or Alonso, see how much they were pushing into midfield. Contrast that versus the Dutch. We played deep and never gave space. Even Sneijder, Robben and Van Persie played deep in our half".
Me: "Nice site....I love the heat maps"
Mr. Peters: "Now ..next lets look at the passes.... Spain had 674 passes to only 423 for the Dutch. But that hides the real truth. Spain did their tiki tika style and had only 58 out of their 674 passes long. Guess what. The Dutch had 95 passes out of 423 long. That is more than 20% of total passes. Which means that when the Spanish defense played forward, they were caught out by the counter attacks and long passes. You will remember that Blinds's long pass from the centre ended up in the Superman goal from Van Persia... and Ramos and Alonso were nowhere close"..
Note: Stats from FIFA:
Spain: 674 passes, 229 short, 387 medium and 58 long.
Netherlands: 423 passes. 90 short. 238 medium. 95 long.
Me: "I am beginning to like this Castrol website at FIFA".
Mr. Peters: "and then two other points to note. The entire team never gave a chance to the Spanish midfield. Xavi and Iniesta were onlookers yesterday. And importantly the Spanish striker Diego Costa was too slow. His top speed was 6.94 Kmh and had 2 shots at goal while our star Van Persie had 4 shots and his top speed was 8.01 kmh."
Me: "you are statistics central, Mr Peters. I am impressed".
Mr Peters: "Mr George... impressed with Van Gaal. But then you will not like the fact that Van Gaal is joining your rival club Manchester united as coach after the world Cup."
Me: "I know... but we Gunners have Wenger..."
Mr Peters: "Wenger, Pellegrini or Mourinho.....Van Gaal is going to get Manchester United to winning ways. Listen, I got to go now. That will be 4,30 for your FT weekend newspaper"
Me: "Thank you Mr. Peters. And guess what based on what you said, I am off to buy Ladbrokes and Manchester United shares. Fijn weekend Meneer"...
Me at my local newspaper stand (big lottery/betting place as well) this morning: "So Mr. Peters, how was the game last night"
Mr Peters: "What can I say, the whole country will be talking and talking today. Van Persie's goal was special. But 5-1. Even God above could not see that coming"
Me (in my mind): Hmmm... indeed. With 67% of you officially atheist, what can one expect...
Me (back with volume turned up): "so, how is the football betting going?"
Mr. Peters: "Oh my God... we only had bets on 1-1 or 1-0 in Netherlands's favour. I believe there was not one person that bought a 5-1 bet slip last night. It ha been a great day for Dutch football and the bookies. For that matter, any rookie bookie made tons of guilders last night. Thank you Mr. Van Gaal".
Me: "Van Gaal... you must thank Van Persie"...
Mr. Peters: "Do you know anything about football, my dear Indian friend".
Me: "Hmmm, I write a football blog..."
Mr. Peters: "Blog or Frog.... Van Gaal got his tactics right last night. Let me explain..." and he proceeded to open his little I-pad mini and opened the FIFA website (see below)
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/round=255931/match=300186510/statistics.html
Mr. Peters: "Our coach got three things right. One: we never let the Spanish midfield get into a rhythm. Two: we played in our half and waited for the counter attacks with long balls. Three: We knew the Spaniards would push up and leave gaps at the back. I suggest we look at the heat maps in the Castrol statistics.If I change the player to Ramos or Alonso, see how much they were pushing into midfield. Contrast that versus the Dutch. We played deep and never gave space. Even Sneijder, Robben and Van Persie played deep in our half".
Me: "Nice site....I love the heat maps"
Mr. Peters: "Now ..next lets look at the passes.... Spain had 674 passes to only 423 for the Dutch. But that hides the real truth. Spain did their tiki tika style and had only 58 out of their 674 passes long. Guess what. The Dutch had 95 passes out of 423 long. That is more than 20% of total passes. Which means that when the Spanish defense played forward, they were caught out by the counter attacks and long passes. You will remember that Blinds's long pass from the centre ended up in the Superman goal from Van Persia... and Ramos and Alonso were nowhere close"..
Note: Stats from FIFA:
Spain: 674 passes, 229 short, 387 medium and 58 long.
Netherlands: 423 passes. 90 short. 238 medium. 95 long.
Me: "I am beginning to like this Castrol website at FIFA".
Mr. Peters: "and then two other points to note. The entire team never gave a chance to the Spanish midfield. Xavi and Iniesta were onlookers yesterday. And importantly the Spanish striker Diego Costa was too slow. His top speed was 6.94 Kmh and had 2 shots at goal while our star Van Persie had 4 shots and his top speed was 8.01 kmh."
Me: "you are statistics central, Mr Peters. I am impressed".
Mr Peters: "Mr George... impressed with Van Gaal. But then you will not like the fact that Van Gaal is joining your rival club Manchester united as coach after the world Cup."
Me: "I know... but we Gunners have Wenger..."
Mr Peters: "Wenger, Pellegrini or Mourinho.....Van Gaal is going to get Manchester United to winning ways. Listen, I got to go now. That will be 4,30 for your FT weekend newspaper"
Me: "Thank you Mr. Peters. And guess what based on what you said, I am off to buy Ladbrokes and Manchester United shares. Fijn weekend Meneer"...
1 comment:
Neil I like this. Keep it going. Abhijeet
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