Russia

A second half not without incident, but very lame in terms of excitement and action. A result predicted earlier by yours truly, although admittedly I hedged my bets a little bit by saying I wouldn’t know who would get the goal. Still, both results in a day, I’m on fire!

Back to the stats, and those good people at the Castrol Index have provided us with the evidence we needed to show that the Greek midfield just didn’t deliver the goods when it came to the crunch. When you compare the amount of ground they covered per man it shows that the hard yards just didn’t get put in. The 28427m covered by the 3 man Greek mid line works out at 9475.6m per man. The 64153m by the 5 men of Russia equals 12830.6! and the extra 3km each really showed when it came down to it. Look at the heat maps, and the result, and the fact that Greece are out, and tell me the tactics were right. You can’t.

OK, so these heat maps might not *quite* match up due to the formations that the twp teams are playing (Russia with one man up front, Greece with two), but even so, just look at the difference in the areas the two front lines are covering. Now, the Russians have been more successful, but you can’t fault the Greeks for trying. Really, you can’t. Despite the flak they’ll take for being negative, you can’t argue with the stats from the CPI, and they clearly show that Greece really are trying. Let’s see if it pays off in the second half.

Was that a penalty? Hmmmm, looked like a good shout to me - and with Russia making all the running so far in the first 15 minutes of this Group D clash, the familiar pattern of the Greeks sitting back and soaking up pressure seems to be happening again. A thought that is backed up by the statistics on the Castrol Index even after 15 minutes. Just take a look at the heat maps of the Russian midfield and the Greek defence. Greece are sitting way back and not pushing forward anywhere, let alone down the flanks, while Russia are covering the pitch in the midfield but mostly pushing on.

The stats ahead of the Greece vs. Russia match later all point to the stamina and speed of both teams, but for varying reasons. The Greeks, on the back of their surprise victory four years ago, should really have put up a better performance than they did in their first match, and their negativity has earned them a lot of criticism. The table below shows that, apart from Portugal (who are economical in their movements, but devastating with it), The Greeks ran the least distance of any side in the first round of matches. Lazy or negative? Let’s see how they go tonight.

That said, the Greeks had one of the fastest players in the tournament so far in Torosidis, second only to one of his opponents this evening, Russia’s Torbinski. They were two of only four men to break the 30km/h barrier in the first round of games, so watch out for some swift breaks tonight.

Jack thinks this one might end 3-0 for the Russians.

Tom is slightly more realistic and is going for a 1-0 result, but isn’t sure which way it will go.

The stats are provided by http://www.castrolindex.com

What a game, and who could have guessed that Euro 2008 would have become quite so explosive since yesterday… ! Incredible forward play from Spain and Holland setting them up as clear favourites (alongside Germany and Portugal) for the tournament – with good team performances all round.

However, everyone loves a hero – and today, there was only one real candidate. David Villa, hat-trick hero and forward genius was magnificent today – and as the stats, powered by the CPI, show… He had quite a magnificent performance, only getting better minute by minute 

Take a look at his top speed and distance covered, and heat map. OK, so he hasn’t covered as much ground as others on the pitch – but he doesn’t need to. 

All hail!

We’ve seen it throughout a tournament that has thrown up very little shots so far, but just a glance at the overall statistics between Spain and Russia speak volumes about why a high proportion of the ‘fancied’ teams (on the whole) are getting their way in these games. 

Although, the likes of Russia, Turkey and Poland have put in fairly gritty and determined performances, and kept pace with their rivals in terms of possession, corners, and set pieces – just look at the difference in shots on goal, taken from our good pals at the Castrol Performance Index.

It seems to me, that Spain, with their classy forwards – and incisive balls forward, are simply making more of the possession they have, than Russia are. The CPI agrees, as does Capello according to the Russia Team blog…

The commentators are claiming it’s too easy for Spain, but at 30 minutes Russia are not only edging the possession, but have also covered a good 2,000 metres more ground than their Spanish counterparts… So why are they 1-0 down, and not showing more shots on target for their higher work rate?

Well, we think a good clue comes when one compares the heat maps of the top two most industrious players – Spain’s Xavi Hernandez and Russia’s Igor Semshov. While the latter is keenly feeding balls too, and supporting Russia’s less effective strikers, Hernandez is able to sit back, mop up any lose balls – and rely on the magnificent David Villa and Fernando Torres to make the most of what balls are swung forward to them.

OK - so there’s plenty of transfer speculation about the brace-scorer Villa… Will he be going to Real Madrid or Chelsea? Either way, he doesn’t care - he’s just happy to put them away!

2-0, and doesn’t that just show pretty much exactly what we’re talking about. Stats courtesy of the CPI.