On this week's podcast Gavin and Owen picked out a team of the best Scottish teenage footballers right now. The side is outlined below, click the link in the tweet above to hear the podcast for more detail about the playing style of each and the thinking behind our selection.
The biggest of things require the least preamble and this, well, this is the distance from your seat at Hampden to the pitch, the average number of inches of waist added to kilt sizes since the trip to France in 1998 and the likelihood (thanks Covid-19!) that the Euros will played without Tartan Army supporters regardless of whether we qualify or not all added up together. It's big. One match to decide if we qualify for our first men's international tournament in over 20 years. So, what are the quick details we need to know about Serbia?
For our first This Week In Premiership Stats look at individual players we're going to keep it pretty straightforward. A little less of me pointing wildly at charts of percentage breakdowns of passes made per attack and a little more of just chatting about who kicks the ball at the goal the most. So, here are the players that pull the trigger the most from open play in the Scottish Premiership so far this season and their average xG per shot.
Nearly a full round of eleven matches each for the twelve Scottish Premiership teams seems like a fair point to at which to stop and take stock. Points win prizes but some other numbers can give us a more reliable indication of which team's form might actually carry them to the podium.
Feel like Ross County should have scored more goals than they have? Think Hibs have fluked their way to third? Unsure whether to place that bet on Hamilton Accies surviving another season? Let's take an early look at the Pure Fitbaw Expected Goals Table and pick out a note for each team.
Let's take a quick look at what's changed from last season to this in terms of the percentage of their total non penalty Expected Goals that has come from six different groupings of chance creation type for each Premiership team.
Is the team you support getting a larger share of their chances from starting moves in the opposition half and using just a few passes before shooting? Are they more or less reliant on set pieces?
First, a look at what's happened to the average for the division and, as you read the note for each team , keep in mind that a change doesn't mean a team is better or worse at it or getting more or fewer chances from that category - just that the percentage of their total that comes from that category type has changed. >
You know, there’s a difference between like and love. I like football but I love it when Scotland win at football. And that's now seven wins from the last eight matches so let's run through the ten things I love about this Scotland team right now.
On Friday 9th October 2020 at 5:30pm Scotland u21 host Czech Republic u21 in a Euro 2021 qualification match. Pure Fitbaw's Owen Brown will be co-commentator on the SFA's live stream of the match and we've put together a watch along pack which can be downloaded or read below.
To follow on from the first #EuropeanFitbaw podcast of this 2020/21 season we're having a continental period at Pure Fitbaw. Colin Cunningham kicked us off with a data scouting article that unearthed some unheralded attackers, Byron Hutchison put the spotlight on players to watch in the Bundesliga and we're in France for the next selection; my five from Ligue 1.
Almost exactly a year ago Scotland lost at home to Russia (6/9/19) and away to Belgium (9/9/19) in Euro 2020 group stage qualifiers. A hard sell if you were to travel back in time to then and try to convince Steve Clarke about the future but Euro 2020 has been postponed, many of the great goals you thought Matt Le Tissier scored simply did not happen - a beautiful strike instantly deleted, wiped out forever every time he tweets something idiotic - and our opponents tonight, the Czech Republic, have had to call up an entirely new squad and coaching staff with about a day's notice. Here's how we win!
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