26
Mar
2020
✅ Quiz: How well do you know Man United?

✅ Quiz: How well do you know Man United?

First, an easy one — the length of this quiz is equal to Andreas Pereira’s squad number. Now, let’s test your knowledge of the Red Devils.

If you’re feeling proud (or ashamed) of your score, let us know on Twitter.

[interaction id=”5e7cd66918631a24243c321c”]

More quizzes to flex your football brain:

Can you name every club that has played in the Premier League?

How many clubs can you name from Champions League history?

2019-20 Premier League season quiz

Premier League grab bag quiz (buckle up, this one is tricky)

Posted by Curt Baker
26
Mar
2020
? Stadio: The Ultimate Supervillain XI

? Stadio: The Ultimate Supervillain XI

In the first of two related Stadio podcast episodes, Musa Okwonga and Ryan Hunn wonder: if you had to name a team of football’s supervillains, a side of unparalleled skill, strength, strategy and ruthlessness, who would they be? What devilish mastermind would coach a team of such cunning, and which suitably hostile stadium would be their home ground? See what you think of the terrifying squad they have selected, feel free to suggest your own on Twitter, and look out for the sequel: in which Musa and Ryan try to pick the one team of superheroes from football’s universe who could possibly defeat them.

Posted by Curt Baker
26
Mar
2020
The most goal-hungry strikers in Europe, according to FotMob.

The most goal-hungry strikers in Europe, according to FotMob.

Every football fan dreams of that striker who can come up with the goods on a regular basis, the one who bang in goals for fun and sometimes, just sometimes hits their peak at the club you support.

We’ve taken another look through the stats for Europe’s top five leagues to find out if any of the big name players are producing that much sought after, but rarely achieved goal-a-game ratio.

?? La Liga

Even in a season where we’ve seen less of him gracing the stadiums of La Liga due to his struggle with injury early in the campaign, Lionel Messi has proven once again that he can do more with less.

Messi’s 19 league goals have come across 22 appearances and 1,890 minutes of football. Perhaps it’s his form from dead ball situations that has helped him reach the top of our minutes per goal list for the division – with 4 coming from free-kicks and a further 3 from the spot.

??????? Premier League

Manchester City’s ever reliable frontman, Sergio Agüero has also had a fruitful campaign, scoring 16 goals despite only appearing in Pep Guardiola’s starting XI for 17 games. Taking into account the minutes he’s actually spent on the field, he is the first striker on this list to break the goal-a-game mark.

In fact, it’s been a record breaking season for the Argentine. His hat-trick against Aston Villa back in January saw him surpass Thierry Henry’s record for Premier League goals scored by an overseas player. It also set the new standard for the number of hat-tricks scored by any one player in the Premier League era.

Agüero now has 180 Premier League games in total, which puts him fourth in the all-time scoring chart.

?? Ligue 1

French boy wonder, Kylian Mbappé can do little wrong at PSG. Already a World Cup winner with multiple domestic titles and individual honours under his belt – he’s even beaten the rumours that he had fallen ill to the coronavirus earlier this month.

And although restricted, in terms of starts because of PSG’s embarrassment of riches in attacking positions, Mbappé has still scored 18 times in 20 appearances – a goal coming for every 81 minutes he has spent on the pitch.

?? Serie A

Atalanta’s Colombian international, Luis Muriel is somewhat of a super sub and comes out here as having the best minutes per goal of any player in Europe’s top five leagues.

Profiting from his side’s ability to dismantle Serie A defences (Atalanta have scored 7 on three separate occasions during the season), Muriel has scored 13 goals in just 918 minutes of football – with 7 of those coming from the bench.

Elsewhere in the league, Lazio’s Ciro Immobile has also scored at a rate of more than one a game, in terms of minutes played. We profiled his statistical battle against the league’s other top scorer, Cristiano Ronaldo in an article – here.

?? Bundesliga

Until his unfortunate injury last month, Robert Lewandowski had been up to his usual tricks – scoring goal after goal in the Bundesliga.

At that point, he had played more minutes than any of the other players who’ve topped our charts for the different divisions here – but he’d also scored more goals – 25 at a rate of one every 81 minutes. That’s good, even by his own extremely high standard.

Our stats for the Bundesliga do of course miss one player who’s recently joined the league. And if you know the FotMob back story originating in Norway, you’ll know he’s a particular favourite of ours! ???

Erling Braut Haaland moved to Borussia Dortmund in January and following the resumption of the season after the winter break, went about scoring 9 goals in his first 512 minutes for the club. A hat-trick came in the first half-hour of his debut against Augsburg!

So, why doesn’t Norway’s new hero appear in our table? He simply hasn’t started enough games or played enough minutes to appear. Yet!

If you fancy a deep dive into any of the countless statistics we cover on various league around the world, simply search by country, select a league profile and swipe right to the stats tab.

For more of this kind of thing, make sure you give us a follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Posted by Curt Baker
25
Mar
2020
This is a Carlos Vela appreciation post.

This is a Carlos Vela appreciation post.

Back in 2017, LAFA made the decision to sign Mexican striker Carlos Vela as their first ever designated player. It was a major call that has shaped MLS ever since.

When Vela left Spanish La Liga club, Real Sociedad to move to the league’s then-newest expansion team, his career had been a case of what might have been. He had finally established his reputation at La Real but the fractious relationship with the Mexico national team and his experiences at Arsenal meant he had never quite lived up to early expectations.

Two years later, at the end of a record breaking 2019 season he was celebrating his status as the league’s MVP.

Vela’s statistics from 2019 speak for themselves. As early as mid-August, he broke Sebastian Giovinco’s all-time MLS record for the combined number of goals and assists in a single season, also securing LAFC’s play-off place in the same game against Real Salt Lake.

By September, and the penultimate week of the regular season Vela went on to equal the Golden Boot scoring record for a single season, only set by Atlanta United’s Josef Martínez in 2018 – an astonishing 31 goals in 30 games.

That meant just a single goal in LAFC’s final game against Colorado Rapids would be enough to make history. Instead, he scored a hat-trick to set a new standard for the future!

Unfortunately, for Vela and his team – their hopes of adding the MLS Cup to the Supporters Shield they had earned in the regular season where ended by Seattle Sounders in the Western Conference Finals, but not before Vela had added another two goals and an assist to his final tally for the year.

34 regular season goals and 15 assists meant that Vela was involved in 49 of LAFC’s total of 85 goals across the campaign. To put that in to context, 7 MLS sides scored fewer than 49 goals in total!

His end of season average FotMob player rating of 8.46 out of 10, per game was also one of the highest we’ve seen from a player in any league for which we carry full statistics.

And Vela’s form didn’t look like letting up any time soon, with him starting the 2020 MLS season with two goals in the two opening games. One of them, a trademark lob against David Beckham’s Inter Miami. ?

With the future uncertain and MLS on hold, we can only wonder what further feats Carlos Vela will come up once football does finally restart.

For more of this kind of thing, make sure you give us a follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Posted by Bill Biss
25
Mar
2020
The most goal-hungry strikers in Europe, according to FotMob.

The most goal-hungry strikers in Europe, according to FotMob.

Every football fan dreams of that striker who can come up with the goods on a regular basis, the one who bang in goals for fun and sometimes, just sometimes hits their peak at the club you support.

We’ve taken another look through the stats for Europe’s top five leagues to find out if any of the big name players are producing that much sought after, but rarely achieved goal-a-game ratio.

?? La Liga

Even in a season where we’ve seen less of him gracing the stadiums of La Liga due to his struggle with injury early in the campaign, Lionel Messi has proven once again that he can do more with less.

Messi’s 19 league goals have come across 22 appearances and 1,890 minutes of football. Perhaps it’s his form from dead ball situations that has helped him reach the top of our minutes per goal list for the division – with 4 coming from free-kicks and a further 3 from the spot.

??????? Premier League

Manchester City’s ever reliable frontman, Sergio Agüero has also had a fruitful campaign, scoring 16 goals despite only appearing in Pep Guardiola’s starting XI for 17 games. Taking into account the minutes he’s actually spent on the field, he is the first striker on this list to break the goal-a-game mark.

In fact, it’s been a record breaking season for the Argentine. His hat-trick against Aston Villa back in January saw him surpass Thierry Henry’s record for Premier League goals scored by an overseas player. It also set the new standard for the number of hat-tricks scored by any one player in the Premier League era.

Agüero now has 180 Premier League games in total, which puts him fourth in the all-time scoring chart.

?? Ligue 1

French boy wonder, Kylian Mbappé can do little wrong at PSG. Already a World Cup winner with multiple domestic titles and individual honours under his belt – he’s even beaten the rumours that he had fallen ill to the coronavirus earlier this month.

And although restricted, in terms of starts because of PSG’s embarrassment of riches in attacking positions, Mbappé has still scored 18 times in 20 appearances – a goal coming for every 81 minutes he has spent on the pitch.

?? Serie A

Atalanta’s Colombian international, Luis Muriel is somewhat of a super sub and comes out here as having the best minutes per goal of any player in Europe’s top five leagues.

Profiting from his side’s ability to dismantle Serie A defences (Atalanta have scored 7 on three separate occasions during the season), Muriel has scored 13 goals in just 918 minutes of football – with 7 of those coming from the bench.

Elsewhere in the league, Lazio’s Ciro Immobile has also scored at a rate of more than one a game, in terms of minutes played. We profiled his statistical battle against the league’s other top scorer, Cristiano Ronaldo in an article – here.

?? Bundesliga

Until his unfortunate injury last month, Robert Lewandowski had been up to his usual tricks – scoring goal after goal in the Bundesliga.

At that point, he had played more minutes than any of the other players who’ve topped our charts for the different divisions here – but he’d also scored more goals – 25 at a rate of one every 81 minutes. That’s good, even by his own extremely high standard.

Our stats for the Bundesliga do of course miss one player who’s recently joined the league. And if you know the FotMob back story originating in Norway, you’ll know he’s a particular favourite of ours! ???

Erling Braut Haaland moved to Borussia Dortmund in January and following the resumption of the season after the winter break, went about scoring 9 goals in his first 512 minutes for the club. A hat-trick came in the first half-hour of his debut against Augsburg!

So, why doesn’t Norway’s new hero appear in our table? He simply hasn’t started enough games or played enough minutes to appear. Yet!

If you fancy a deep dive into any of the countless statistics we cover on various league around the world, simply search by country, select a league profile and swipe right to the stats tab.

For more of this kind of thing, make sure you give us a follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Posted by Bill Biss
25
Mar
2020
? The Blizzard: Manchester City 3-2 QPR, 2012

? The Blizzard: Manchester City 3-2 QPR, 2012

“It’s finished at Sunderland, and Manchester United have done all they can. That Rooney goal was enough for the three points. Manchester City still alive here. Balotelli…”

It was only a matter of time. In this episode of Greatest Games, Football Ramble Daily, in association with The Blizzard, revisits the most extraordinary final day of any modern Premier League season. Listen below.

You can find more from Football Ramble Daily on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Posted by Curt Baker
25
Mar
2020
? Fantasy Five-a-Side: Arseblog

? Fantasy Five-a-Side: Arseblog

Football Ramble Daily welcomes a DIY football podcasting hero to today’s episode of Fantasy Five-a-Side as Jim is joined by blogger and podcaster, Andrew Mangan – aka Arseblog!

His five-a-side team features an intoxicating mix of Italian sophistication, French guile and Brazilian chain-smoking panache – all of whom will have a go in goal. Listen below!

You can find more from Football Ramble Daily on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Posted by Curt Baker
25
Mar
2020
?? FotMob’s Best Rated Americans Abroad.

?? FotMob’s Best Rated Americans Abroad.

Apropos of nothing in particular, we’ve spent some time today working out FotMob’s best rated US eleven, based on those players who’ve spent the current season overseas.

To do this, we ran through those leagues for which we carry full stats and picked out the best performing Americans per position.

GK – ?? Ethan Horvath, Club Brugge (FotMob rating 6.74)

Let’s start off with a statistical anomaly as our goalkeeper has actually only started two games in the Belgian top flight this season! Horvath has played second fiddle to former Liverpool stopper, Simon Mignolet but has impressed when he’s had his chance, keeping one clean sheet and conceding only from the penalty spot in his other game.

LB – ??????? Antonee Robinson, Wigan Athletic (FotMob rating 6.76)

Although born in England, Robinson has of course pledged his allegiance to the States in international football. The left back was a mainstay in Wigan’s side in England’s second tier but looked all set for a massive transfer to Serie A giants, Milan in January.

Sadly, a heart defect was picked up on Robinson’s medical, meaning his dream move was cancelled and he has been unable to play since whilst awaiting treatment.

CB – ??????? Tim Ream, Fulham (FotMob rating 6.68)

Almost ever present at another English Championship side, Tim Ream has been central to Fulham’s plans as they look to return to the Premier League at the first time of asking, following their relegation at the end of 2018/19.

Captain of his side, Ream is also the only player over 30 to appear in our best XI.

CB – ?? John Brooks, Wolfsburg (FotMob rating 6.73)

Part of Wolfsburg’s core defence, in both the domestic Bundesliga and Wolfsburg’s Europa League campaign, Brooks has recovered well after missing the tail end of last season through injury.

He was even on the scoresheet as the German side sadly bowed out of European competition in the Round of 16.

RB – ?? Sergio Dest, Ajax (FotMob rating 6.85)

The teenage Dest is enjoying his breakthrough season at one of Europe’s most exciting sides having starred for Ajax’s youth side in the Dutch second tier last year.

He too has played his part in Europe, gaining his first continental experience in Ajax’s own excursions in the Europa League.

CM – ?? Julian Green, Greuther Fürth (FotMob rating 7.12)

Albeit playing in the German second division, Green is actually our best rated player to make this team.

His 4 goals in 14 league games from midfield this year has seen him already match his return for the whole of last season.

CM – ?? Weston McKennie, Schalke 04 (FotMob rating 6.52)

Another player plying his trade in German football, this time at the highest level – McKennie has made 20 appearances for a Schalke side looking to qualify for European football next season.

He scored his first goal of the campaign in a recent draw with Hoffenheim, where he was also awarded the FotMob player of the match.

CM – ??????? Duane Holmes, Derby County (FotMob rating 6.76)

Now in his second season with Championship side Derby County, Holmes has shown some real form – particularly following the arrival of Wayne Rooney as player-coach at the club.

The majority of the 25-year-olds goals and assists have come since the turn of the year. We particularly enjoyed this effort.

FW – ??????? Christian Pulisic, Chelsea (FotMob rating 6.70)

Much has been written about Pulisic this season, with many seeing his struggles to fight his way into Chelsea’s side following his permanent transfer from Borussia Dortmund as outright failure.

We would temper that, to say that when he has had a run in the team, his stats have been encouraging – particularly around the spell in which he scored his first hat-trick for the club at Burnley late last year.

FW – ?? Andrija Novakovich, Frosinone (FotMob rating 6.50)

Following one substitute appearance for English side, Reading at the start of the season, Novakovich moved to Frosinone, in Italy after the end of the European transfer window.

Second flight football in a completely new country appears to have taken him some time to adjust to, but since scoring his first goal in November, in a game in which he also provided two assists – he hasn’t looked back.

FW – ?? Timmy Chandler, Eintracht Frankfurt (FotMob rating 6.85)

The fourth player on our team to be based in Germany, Chandler perhaps provides some much needed experience to this side – having played in one of the world’s top leagues for a decade now.

He has scored 4 goals in 10 starts so far this season.

Is our team missing anyone? Perhaps a Josh Sargent (FotMob rating 6.44), or a Tyler Adams (FotMob rating 6.47)? Neither quite made it due to players scoring a higher rating in their position but taking in other factors, like the standard of the league and the quality of the opposition – should we have included them?

For more of this kind of thing, make sure you give us a follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Posted by Bill Biss in SendAsPush, Trending, World News