January is over and done with at long last, so give yourself a pat on the back for making it this far. What we’re going to do with this piece is run through the numbers behind the weekend’s football in the ISL. We’ve got three games to dissect with numbers, those games being; Pune City 1-2 Kerala Blasters, ATK 0-2 Bengaluru & FC Goa 2-2 NorthEast United. It’s a funny old game, isn’t it? I made a remark at some point in the last couple of weeks that the ISL is becoming easier to second guess but the results from this weekend indicate that it’s back to guesswork.
For all you newbies that are reading this post, I’ll quickly run through what I do with this. Essentially, I count from 1 to 25 and for each number, there’s a stat from one of the games above. Sound like your cup of tea? Of course it does. Let’s get busy…
1
red card given over this weekend. Half the amount of last week. Improvement.
2
away wins. There has now been more away wins this season, than home wins. Away days.
3
home defeats on the spin for ATK. No home comforts.
4
shots on target for Kerala. They scored two. Deadly.
5
minutes after coming off the bench, Mosquera got NorthEast’s equaliser. Impact.
6
is the position in the table Kerala now occupy. Two points off fourth spot. Touching distance.
7
goals for Alfaro this season. He scored from the spot to being Pune level against Kerala. David James’ side scored the winner not too long after. Short-lived.
8
corners for Kerala. Their highest away from home this season. Attack.
9
wins this season for Bengaluru. They’re now four points clear at the top of the table. Mind the gap.
10
points from fourth. That’s the situation ATK find themselves in with only five games left. Issue.
11
fouls made by ATK. They got no cards. Bengaluru made ten and had three yellow cards and a red. Inconsistency.
12
points at home for Pune. Their loss means that in the eight games they’ve played at home, they’ve won four and lost four. Symmetrical.
13
shots apiece in the Goa vs NorthEast game. Even.
14
minutes after being reduced to ten men, Bengaluru doubled their lead. Top.
15
long balls attempted by ATK’s skipper Jordi Figueras. Eleven found their intended target. Ok.
16
passes attempted by Kerala’s wonderfully named Nemanja Lakic-Pesic. 55% success rate. Not good.
17
shots for Pune. Ten of those were off target. Wayward.
18
long balls attempted by the utility man, Ryan Taylor. Twelve found their target. 66%.
19
is Martin Paterson’s shirt number (yes I am clutching at straws).
20
goals in Kerala’s away matches this season. Split right down the middle, ten goals for and ten against. Their number of points? Ten.
21
fouls in the FC Goa vs NorthEast game and ATK vs Bengaluru game. There were 31 in the Pune game. Whistle happy.
22
points for Pune which means Jamshedpur are level on points with them. Deadlock.
23
shots off target for all the home sides combined. Training required.
24
goals for the season for Pune now. The third highest in the league. Goals.
25
passes by Milan. What a belting name that is. He plays for Kerala by the way. Italian Job.
There we have it then boys and goals, 25 random facts for you, we got there, in the end, didn’t we? The most annoying thing is finding one for a number that you’ve already done, I do question the point in life after that. We soldiered on and we got the job done, that’s the most important thing. We’ve got an extra game next week, so that makes life a little easier.
Until the next time.
