Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Applying NHL Goalkeeper stats to the English Premiership

In the English Premiership, goalkeepers often face the most scrutiny and pressure. It's a simple truth of football that custodians need to maintain concentration during long periods of inactivity and then make a save, clear a ball or claim a cross. When they fail, often it costs their team a goal. In short, to have a reliable man between the posts is the foundation of a solid defence.

There are many methods of evaluating goalkeeper efficacy such as Goals Conceded and Saves but rarely with this position do stats tell the full story. As with statistical application across all sports, much depends on interpretation. The only GK stats readily available don't take into account things such as howlers (for which Tottenham's Gomes must be very thankful), nor aspects of defending which usually fall to the 'keeper such as communication, marshalling a defence or their (in)ability to deal with crosses. The one stat however which doesn't appear is Save Percentage.

Save percentage in football doesn't fully measure a goalkeeper's efficiency but it can provide some small insight into how the goalkeeper for each team performs. Often GKs are exposed to "no win" situations due to the size of their goalmouth, their defences' positioning and the skills or pace of an opposition player. Save percentage and Goals Allowed Average are key indicators as to an NHL custodian's performance, even though they still don't fully reflect a backstop's value.

To port those NHL numbers across to the Premiership makes for interesting reading. The following table is arranged by Goalkeeper Save Percentage. It shows (perhaps) why Fulham's David Stockdale got such big raps while covering for Mark Schwarzer earlier in the season and that Joe Hart's slight slip in form this year since returning to City from Birmingham is perhaps overstated.

For the full analysis, visit the Goalkeeper Stats page.




Top 15

Team

Goalkeeper

Games

Saves

Conceded

GAA

Save %

Fulham

David Stockdale

7

26

6

0.86

0.81

Tottenham

Carlo Cudicini

7

21

6

0.86

0.78

Man City

Joe Hart

36

107

33

0.92

0.76

Stoke City

Asmir Begovic

27

93

31

1.15

0.75

Tottenham

Gomes

30

115

39

1.3

0.75

Chelsea

Petr Cech

37

98

32

0.86

0.75

Man Utd

Edwin van der Sar

32

80

30

0.94

0.73

Bolton

Jussi Jaaskelainen

34

118

47

1.38

0.72

Fulham

Mark Schwarzer

30

91

35

1.17

0.72

Arsenal

Wojciech Szczesny

14

42

17

1.21

0.71

West Ham

Robert Green

36

154

66

1.83

0.7

Wigan

Ali Al Habsi

33

112

49

1.48

0.7

Sunderland

Craig Gordon

15

50

21

1.4

0.7

Arsenal

Lukasz Fabianski

14

36

14

1

0.7

Liverpool

Pepe Reina

37

96

43

1.16

0.69

Bottom 5

Team

Goalkeeper

Games

Saves

Conceded

GAA

Save %

Newcastle

Tim Krul

19

47

32

1.68

0.59

West Brom

Boaz Myhill

6

18

13

2.17

0.58

Blackpool

Paul Rachubka

1

6

5

5

0.55

Man Utd

Tomasz Kuszczak

5

6

5

1

0.55

Wigan

Chris Kirkland

4

5

12

3

0.29

Image of Mark Schwarzer courtesy: free-football.tv

Image of Carey Price courtesy: leshabitantssontmagnifique.wordpress.com

No comments:

Post a Comment