BBC SPORT | Euro 2008 blog

Lies, damned lies and statistics

Phil Gordos
19 Jun 08, 05:45 PM

Vienna

Whenever someone mentions the word "statistics" I can't help but think of past Miss World competitions. And in case my wife is reading this, the last one I watched must have been at least 20 years ago. Yep, that's long before we met, my love.

Anyway, the BBC Sport website's Player Rater has thrown up some interesting numbers following the completion of the group games at Euro 2008...

No prizes for guessing that Spain's David Villa, with four goals from two games, is top of the pops thanks to an average rating of 8.69. Second is Russian playmaker Andrei Arshavin (8.67), though he's only featured in one match because of suspension, while third is midfielder Wesley Sneijder (8.57), one of four Dutchmen in the top 10.

There's a bit of a surprise at four. Celtic and Poland goalkeeper Artur Boruc occupies that spot with a highly commendable 8.37 rating from three games. I could go on but I'll give you the full top 10 at the bottom of this blog.

At the other end of the scale, well, it's a guy called Mariusz Jop. He's Polish and picked up just 3.2 for his performance against the Austrians. He was hauled off at half-time. Not much better were the French trio of Abidal, Anelka and Gomis, with 3.89, 4.31 and 4.49 respectively.

Here's one for you, the most improved player is Turkey skipper Nihat, breaker of Czech hearts. He scored 5.72 in his first game - the 2-0 defeat by Portugal - but bounced back spectacularly, his two-goal salvo against Petr Cech netting him 8.97.

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The list of top 10 teams throws up a bit of a surprise. One of the quarter-finalists fails to make it. Any guesses? Italy maybe? Perhaps Russia? What about Turkey? Well, actually it's Germany. That's them nailed on for the title then.

Finally, here's the Player Rater's team of the group stages based on a 4-4-2 formation: Boruc; Lahm, Pepe, Ooijer, Van Bronckhorst; Turan, Sneijder, Deco, Robben; Villa, Arshavin.

Ten best players at Euro 2008*
Villa, Spain, striker, 2 games: 8.69
Arshavin, Russia, striker, 1 game: 8.67
Sneijder, Holland, midfielder, 2 games: 8.57
Boruc, Poland, goalkeeper, 3 games: 8.37
Turan, Turkey, midfielder, 2 games: 8.28
Van der Sar, Holland, goalkeeper, 2 games: 8.14
Torres, Spain, striker, 2 games: 8.11
Klasnic, Croatia, striker, 1 game: 8.0
Van Nistelrooy, Holland, striker, 2 games: 7.99
Van Bronckhorst, Holland defender, 2 games: 7.96

Ten worst players at Euro 2008*
Jop, Poland, defender, 1 game: 3.2
Abidal, France, defender, 2 games: 3.89
Anelka, France, striker, 3 games: 4.31
Gomis, France, striker, 2 games: 4.49
Odonkor, Germany, midfielder, 1 game: 4.54
Streller, Switzerland, striker, 1 game: 4.64
Nasri, France, midfielder, 2 games: 4.7
Gekas, Greece, striker, 2 games: 4.71
Gomez, Germany, striker, 3 games: 4.73
Shirokov, Russia, defender, 1 game: 4.74

(*According to users of the BBC Sport Player Rater)

I've also had a quick chat with our bloggers in Austria and Switzerland about Euro 2008.

Fletch, Jacqui Oatley, Steve Wilson and John Murray have seen quite a few games for the BBC - TV, radio and online - since the tournament began, so I thought it'd be a good idea to find out what the best goal, best game and best moment of the tournament was so far.

Jacqui and John both agree that Michael Ballack's stunning free-kick against Austria was their favourite goal. Jacqui says it was the "one moment of brilliance in an otherwise forgettable match" while John reckons it must have "set a new European Championship record for the hardest a ball has been hit".

In fact, John can't get enough of that goal. He says his favourite moment thus far was the reaction from the fans inside the Ernst Happel Stadium when it went in. John's also a big fan of the super slow-motion TV pictures of him striking it. I'd have to agree with him about that. Sometimes the cameras pick the wrong moment to slow down the action but that was just perfect.

Jacqui picks another Germany game as her favourite of the tournament. This time Joachim Loew's side ended up on the losing side, beaten 2-1 by Croatia in Klagenfurt. "I watched the match sitting next to an incredibly nervous Adrian Chiles, who struggled to believe his side could really beat the three-time European champions," Jacqui told me. "The poor man was in bits."

As for Steve and Fletch, well, they are in agreement on the best game and best moment. Turkey's stunning comeback from 2-0 down against the Czech Republic gets their vote while they were both bowled over by the Dutch invasion of Berne.

Nihat's winner against the Czechs is Steve's favourite goal while Fletch plumps for Robin van Persie's strike to put the Dutch 2-0 up against France.

So now it's over to you. Let me know if you agree with our bloggers...

Phil Gordos is a senior broadcast journalist at BBC Sport Interactive. Please check our FAQs if you have any questions.

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1. At 7:55pm on 19 Jun 2008, rajiv wrote:
You are confusing statistics with opinion. Player ratings are opinions, not statistics.

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2. At 9:26pm on 19 Jun 2008, johnnyyyyyyy wrote:
Gomez, Germany, striker, 3 games: 4.73

Gomez is Portuguese Striker not german.

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3. At 10:14pm on 19 Jun 2008, JackLePage wrote:
Gomez is German.

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4. At 10:14pm on 19 Jun 2008, harpo_canada wrote:
johnny:

re #2

There is a Gomez on the German team - Mario Gomez. You may not have noticed him as he has contributed little to their effort. But he was there in 3 games. He is a German of Spanish descent.

There is a Gomes on the Portugese team - Nuno Gomes. Different spelling though.

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5. At 10:17pm on 19 Jun 2008, johnnyyyyyyy wrote:
Oh, my bad thanks for correction.

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6. At 10:18pm on 19 Jun 2008, coolinterstar wrote:
My favourite goal has to be Zlatan Ibrahimovic goals vs Sweden.

It was an absolute stunning, unstoppable, rocket of a goal. A goal out of nothing which makes Ibrahimovic a genius.

The goal came out of nothing. Did you see it coming? 1-2 BANG - GOLAZO IBRA.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic aka The Phenomenon.

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7. At 10:20pm on 19 Jun 2008, psychotic_baklava wrote:
When a number of people states their opinion on a numeric scale, its statistics..i'm afraid no confusion there rainjar...statistics can stand for everything, in this case those are the average opinions from bbc viewers on the players at the euro 2008..

And yeah, Gomez is german, while nuno gomes is portugese.

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8. At 10:25pm on 19 Jun 2008, truebluefrmbirth wrote:
I reckon snjeiders (probs spelt that wrong) last minute goal againts france was pretty good. That said, having just watched the germany - portugal final, the first goal scored by schweinsteiger simply took my breath away. I doubt it will make many peoples top ten goals of the tournament, but the speed of the move and the sublime finish was, in my eyes, amazing.

Lets hope that the rest of the tournament can continue to entertain us as it has so far!

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9. At 10:27pm on 19 Jun 2008, truebluefrmbirth wrote:
correction on 10:25, that should read QUARTER final. my bad

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10. At 10:36pm on 19 Jun 2008, Modernllama wrote:
Where's Buffon!!!!

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11. At 10:39pm on 19 Jun 2008, stramash_city wrote:
Sorry coolinterstar - Ibrahimovic is a "player" who's wasted his talent even more than Anelka! Feed me enough balls in the 6 yard box and even I could score! Probably doesn't translate well, but we'd call him a "donkey"!

For a quality team goal look at Van Bronkhurst's (poor spelling I know!). Clear the ball on the line, sprint up the wing and pop up to score. Brilliant......even though he used to play for Rangers!!

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12. At 11:28pm on 19 Jun 2008, Wot Kuyt 'e did wrote:
#8: "having just watched the germany - portugal final, the first goal scored by schweinsteiger simply took my breath away."

Fully agree. There have been some great goals in an above-average tournament, but this one - you couldn't programme it better on a NASA mainframe!

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13. At 06:47am on 20 Jun 2008, letsplay2win wrote:
I thought Zlatan is Swedish...

I think the stats are a lie yes Villa did play wonderfully well but surely there has to be a minimum amount of games played before players can be evaluated. Like for instance if a miraculous recovery happens to Cannavaro, Italy are there in the final and he has a 10 rating does that make him player of the tournament? and hes only played one game?

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14. At 08:10am on 20 Jun 2008, SimpreZola wrote:
20 years? I think you mean 20 days.

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15. At 08:46am on 20 Jun 2008, quickquip wrote:
How ironic, the first team through in the quarter- finals is the one so glaringly omitted from the top ten poll beforehand! Shows what these ratings are worth, doesn't it? Germany, yesterday just re-affirmed there pre-tourney "favorites" status, no matter what the BBC rating "damn lies" show. The best goal so far was the third Dutch goal against France by Arjen Robben, who is also the top player (in the world). Did you see the look on Gallas's face after Robben scored on that unstoppable run??!! As far as other ratings go, would give Phil Gordos blog a 4.76, quite a bit of diversity but not always alot of coherence. Miss World though, would probably give her a 10!

'

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16. At 08:54am on 20 Jun 2008, tonystark_ironman wrote:
#13: According to FIFA, the answer to your question is YES! Cannavaro was practically non-existent in 2006, after one or two good matches at the World Cup.....BANG, he's World Footballer of the Year.

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17. At 09:33am on 20 Jun 2008, giantnornironman wrote:
jhonnyyyyyy have u been watching the tournament hes a germanstriker he started up front with klose just dont go by how the name sounds. best goal snjeiders aganist france
best game holland v france best moment
watching faith terim the turkey coach after the czech second goal he near had th 4th offical crying

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18. At 09:58am on 20 Jun 2008, daveydaveydavo wrote:
@ 6
So Ibrahimovic scored a stunning goal Vs. Sweden? So that must make it the own goal of the tournemant ;-)

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19. At 10:50am on 20 Jun 2008, fantastictottiisgod wrote:
ok come on how can u say cannavaro was only good in the final of 2006?! the man was unpassable for the whole tournament, esp when u consider who his partner in defence was for nearly the whole tournament, materazzi! icidentally if taking ur team to the WC glory is not enuff to win the golden ball then...

p.s ronaldo take note, thats what GREAT players do

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20. At 10:56am on 20 Jun 2008, stonao wrote:
Goal of the tournement has to be Michael Ballack's screamer of a free-kick against Austria. i didn't see it till it bounced out of the net. pure brilliance. XD

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21. At 11:10am on 20 Jun 2008, JoaquinBibi wrote:
Robben's goal against France to make it 3-1. That just totally killed Henry!

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22. At 11:58am on 20 Jun 2008, Phil G - BBC Sport wrote:
#15
C'mon, 4.76! You've got to be kidding? Maybe I'll have a strong finish to the tournament.

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