As a reminder of the scoring system I'm using, I tried to devise a system that is as fair and representative as possible, but as you can imagine, it's a pretty tough task. The system I went with gives points for each game, weighted from positions 1-5, with extra points for being man of the match (ie first). Every person suggested scores at least a point.
It's noticeable that the games with the highest number of replies have been the games where a neater consensus has been reached. So if you are at a game, then please take just two seconds to list up to five players who deserve some credit, and then by the end of the season this might be an interesting tool to use when deciding a player of the season. Certainly the more people who reply, the more accurate it will be.
In the 24 games played so far, 21 players have scored points, ranked below in order. The number in brackets is the number of points I've equated the nominations to. It'll mean nothing in itself, but it's useful to see the proportions of who is trailing who by how much.
Guy Branston has stretched his lead at the top, and with Zebroski banned for tonights game, he is in danger of sliding away. Mansell is up into 3rd and O'Kane has jumped to 4th after good displays recently. Benyon is 5th at his time of departure, so despite being the top scorer, hasn't been as valuable to us this season as a number of other players. Nicky Wroe is down in 9th, so not the same level of loss to the team (unless you live in Barnsley). It'll be interesting to see where they finish at the end of the season as new players come in, but I'd bet that Benyon will be higher than a number of players who have been here for the whole season, including Billy Kee unless he takes his opportunity to get a run in the team.
The exact numbers and rankings are below:
1. Branston (84)
2. Zebroski (76)
3. Mansell (63)
4. O'Kane (58)
5. Benyon (56)
6. Ellis (54)
7. Nicholson (52)
8. Bevan (40)
9. Wroe (24)
10. Stevens (18)
11. Robertson (13)
12. Kee (11)
13. Oastler (10)
=14. Rose (5)
=14. Carlisle (5)
=14. Gritton (5)
=17. Senda (3)
=17. Charnock (3)
19. Hemmings (2)
=20. Macklin (1)
=20. Lathrope (1)
The following list shows how many times out of the maximum possible (24), a player has been nominated for inclusion by someone at the game, to see who is playing consistently and who is scoring their points with the occasional excellent performance.
Zebroski is still heading this table, suggesting that despite not giving man of the match performances, is still performing reasonably well each week. The top 7 have all played at around the same level of consistency, which is a good thing for the squad, with the goalkeeper and fringe players obviously featuring less. Benyon has scored points in 17 of the 24 games this season, so that requires either Robinson or Kee to step into his shoes. Wroe has scored points in 8 of the 24, which probably a slightly disappointing figure for someone in his position.
1. Zebroski (20)
2. Branston (19)
=3. Nicholson (18)
=3. Mansell (18)
=5. Ellis (17)
=5. Benyon (17)
7. O'Kane (16)
8. Bevan (11)
9. Stevens (10)
10. Wroe
11. Robertson (7)
12. Kee (5)
=13. Oastler (3)
=13. Carlisle (3)
=15. Hemmings (2)
=15. Gritton (2)
=17. Senda (1)
=17. Charnock (1)
=17. Rose (1)
=17. Macklin (1)
=17. Lathrope (1)
Seeing as I posted only three games ago, if you've taken the time to read all this, I'll give you a little extra treat, the first list, divided by the second list to give a points per scoring performance. This should be interesting to see when a player plays well, what kind of level he is at. It's also a fairer way to judge Bevan, because he only scores points when the team doesn't play well and he has a lot to do. I've only included the major players to keep it sensible.
To help put these into some perspective, the man of the match for each game scores 7 points, second place scores 5, third 4, fourth 3, fifth 2, and anyone else nominated at least once 1.
1. Branston (4.42)
2. Zebroski (3.80)
3. Bevan (3.64)
4. O'Kane (3.63)
5. Mansell (3.50)
6. Benyon (3.29)
7. Ellis (3.18)
8. Wroe (3.00)
9. Nicholson (2.89)
10. Kee (2.2)
11. Robertson (1.86)
12. Stevens (1.8)
So Guy Branston is scoring big points nearly every time he appears, averaging between a 2nd and 3rd place performance (If this doesn't make sense to you I apologise, you aren't familiar with the scoring system I'm using, but even if you just look at the numbers they should tell you something (I hope!)). Whereas Danny Stevens, even when he's included as worthy of scoring man of the match points for his performance, is on average performing between the 5th and 6th best player on the pitch.
Bevan is right up there, so when he's needed to produce a big game, he has done so. This is a much fairer way to judge him in particular because he doesn't tend to score points unless the outfield players have played poorly. O'Kane is also right up there, turning in big man of the match performances. Whereas Nicholson is regularly in the MOTM list (18 times in 24 games) but is averaging being about the 4th best player on the pitch in those 18 games, suggesting he's incredibly consistent but doesn't give MOTM performances.
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In the 24 games so far, Guy Branston has been voted man of the match by you the most times, with 5.5 (Branston and Bevan were joint Man of the Match for Oxford away, so they get 0.5 each).
Chris Zebroski and Eunan O'Kane (4 each) are trailing behind, with Scott Bevan (3.5), Elliot Benyon (3) and Lee Mansell (2) other multiple winners. Mark Ellis and Kevin Nicholson have also been nominated with a single win apiece.
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I hope you find these interesting, and if you have then please contribute to the MOTM threads if at all possible. I can't emphasise enough just how much better it is when there's a large number or replies for a game.
Chris
