Friday, February 09, 2018

Statistically, the ICT index score of the best performing players in the English Premier League so far this season!


The ICT Index (Influence, Creativity, Threat) was a new feature that began at the start of last season's Premier League campaign, and has continued to be used for the current one.

A football statistical index, it has been developed specifically to give a verdict on any player as a Football Premier League asset.

It condenses more than 40 match event statistics for three key areas – Influence, Creativity and Threat, to generate the data into a single score.

This score is what is known as an individual’s ICT Index score, and via this data is able to offer an accurate summary on player performance.


Season 2017/18 - Last update: 09/02/18 at 10.30am GMT


For those of you currently playing 'Fantasy Premier League Football' you may want to take note!

Goalkeepers:

1. Lukasz Fabianski (Swansea) 73.3 ICT Index 
2. Jordan Pickford (Everton) 65.0
3. Jonas Lossl (Huddersfield) 63.4 (pictured right)
4. Asmir Begovic (Bournemouth) 27.4
5. Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester) 59.4
6. Jack Butland (Stoke) 58.8
7. Nick Pope (Burnley) 56.9
8. David de Gea (Man Utd) 56.6
9. Mathew Ryan (Brighton) 55.5
10. Fraser Forster (Southampton) 48.9


Defenders:

1. Marcos Alonso (Chelsea) 163.0  ICT Index
2. Héctor Bellerín (Arsenal) 127.5
3. Ben Davies (Tottenham) 115.2
4. César Azpilicueta (Chelsea) 113.4
5. Nicolás Otamendi (Man City) 109.8
6. Harry Maguire (Leicester) 108.5 (pictured right)
7. Lewis Dunk (Brighton) 106.8
8. Nacho Monreal (Arsenal) 104.8
9. Shane Duffy (Brighton) 100.9
10. Ryan Bertrand (Southampton) 98.9


Midfielders:

1. Mo Salah (Liverpool) 304.0  ICT Index
2. Kevin De Bruyne (Man City) 276.4
3. Alexis Sanchez (Man Utd) 238.8
4. Raheem Sterling (Man City) 229.3
5. Christian Eriksen (Tottenham) 215.1
6. Mesut Özil (Arsenal) 208.7
7. Eden Hazard (Chelsea) 203.3
8. David Silva (Man City) 200.6
9. Xherdan Shaqiri (Stoke) 189.7
10. Leroy Sané (Man City) 181.6 *Currently out injured


Forwards:

1. Harry Kane (Tottenham) 302.4 ICT Index
2. Sergio Agüero (Man City) 251.8
3. Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) 210.2 (pictured right)
4. Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal) 199.2
5. Romelu Lukaku (Man Utd) 195.6
6. Álvaro Morata (Chelsea) 174.5 *Currently out injured
7. Jamie Vardy (Leicester) 160.6
8. Gabriel Jesus (Man City) 136.5 *Currently out injured
9. Marcus Rashford (Man Utd) 131.1
10. Wayne Rooney (Everton) 125.2




1. Influence

Influence is the first measurement. This evaluates the degree to which that player has made an impact on a single match or throughout the season.

It takes into account events and actions that could directly or indirectly effect the outcome of the fixture.

At the top level these are decisive actions like goals and assists. But the Influence score also processes significant defensive actions to analyse the effectiveness of defenders and goalkeepers.

2. Creativity

Creativity assesses player performance in terms of producing goalscoring opportunities for others. It can be used as a guide to identify the players most likely to supply assists.

While this analyses frequency of passing and crossing, it also considers pitch location and quality of the final ball.

3. Threat

This is the third measure, producing a value that examines a player's threat on goal. It gauges individuals most likely to score goals.

While attempts are the key action, the Index looks at pitch location, giving greater weight to actions that are regarded as the best chances to score.

All three of these scores are combined to create an overall ICT Index score. That then offers a single figure that presents a view on that player as a Football Premier League asset.



Thursday, February 01, 2018

Babe of the Month - New Grand Slam Winner Caroline Wozniacki


Caroline Wozniacki was born on 11th July 1990 in Odense, Denmark and was the daughter of Polish immigrants, Piotr Woźniacki and Anna Woźniacka. Caroline is a professional tennis player, who to date has won over $29 million dollars in prize money. She currently resides in Miami, Florida.


























She is the current World No.1 on the WTA Tour, having previously held this position for 67 weeks between October 2010 and January 2012.

Caroline turned professional in July 2005 and has won 28 WTA singles titles in her career, including six in 2010 and 2011. She was runner-up at the 2009 and 2014 US Opens but only won her first Grand Slam title last Saturday (27th January) at the 2018 Australian Open and returned to the World No. 1 ranking on 29th January 2018 as a result.

Caroline Wozniacki celebrates with champagne last Sunday - the day after her first Grand Slam Tournament win in Melbourne, Australia.

At the Australian Open in Melbourne, Wozniacki was seeded second, her highest seeding since the 2012 Australian Open. She defeated Mihaela Buzărnescu in straight sets before going on to beat Jana Fett in three sets after being down 1–5 in the third set and saving two match points. She then beat Kiki Bertens and Magdaléna Rybáriková both in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals, she beat Carla Suárez Navarro in three sets to advance to her second semi-final since 2011. In the semi-finals she beat Elise Mertens to advance to her third Grand Slam final and her first since 2014. In the final she defeated top seed and world No.1 Simona Halep of Romania in three sets, to become the ninth woman to win the title after being match point down. After winning her first grand slam title, she has subsequently regained the world No.1 ranking again.

Caroline Wozniacki kisses the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup after winning the 
2018 Australian Open.

Caroline's best friend is her fellow Danish tennis player Malou Ejdesgaard, who has been her doubles partner in five tournaments. Wozniacki is also close friends with Serena Williams, Agnieszka Radwańska and Angelique Kerber. She speaks Danish, English and Polish fluently and knows Russian.

A fan of English Premier League team Liverpool, she wore a Liverpool shirt signed by footballer Steven Gerrard on court in the 2011 Qatar Ladies Open.

In 2009, Wozniacki signed on to become an endorser for the line of tennis apparel designed by Stella McCartney for Adidas. She wore her first 'Adidas by Stella McCartney' tennis dress at the 2009 US Open. She currently has partnership agreements with Babolat, Rolex, Adidas, USANA, The Players' Tribune and Mundipharma. On 20th December 2010, she signed a three-year deal to endorse Turkish Airlines' business class service. In 2012, Wozniacki became an endorser of Compeed BlisterPatch. At the end of 2013 she switched her racquet sponsorship from Yonex back to her long-time partner Babolat. In 2015, Wozniacki became an endorser of Godiva Chocolatier.

On 2nd November 2014, Wozniacki made her marathon debut, completing the New York City Marathon in a time of 3:26:33. This time was good enough to qualify for the 2016 Boston Marathon, but Wozniacki said she will not run another marathon for a few years.



Wozniacki appeared in the 2015 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, following in the footsteps of other number one-ranked singles tennis stars: Steffi Graf (1997), Serena Williams (2004), Venus Williams (2005), Maria Sharapova (2006) and Ana Ivanovic (2010) who have appeared in the issue.

Caroline was in a relationship with Northern Irish professional golfer Rory McIlroy from 2011 until 2014. She announced their engagement on her Twitter page on January 1, 2014. On May 21, 2014, it was announced that McIlroy had ended the engagement: "The problem is mine. The wedding invitations issued at the weekend made me realise that I wasn't ready for all that marriage entails. I wish Caroline all the happiness she deserves and thank her for the great times we've had."



On 14th February 2017, Valentine's Day, Wozniacki revealed on her social media accounts that she was in a relationship with former NBA champion David Lee, later being confirmed by her family. The couple got engaged in November 2017.


You can follow Caroline on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram