Alright folks, so earlier today I was messing around with the Croatia and Bulgaria national team stats, right? Wanted to really dig into how the defenders stacked up against each other in their recent run. Got curious after watching some highlights and figured, why not actually sit down and crunch the numbers myself?
Getting Started Wasn’t Smooth
First thing, grabbed my laptop and opened up the usual places I look for football stats – you know the popular ones. Took me ages to find a solid site with the specific head-to-head data I wanted between these two teams. Kept filtering and clicking around, getting annoyed when the pages loaded slow.
Finally found a decent batch of player stats from their last five competitive matches each. Didn’t trust the pre-baked ratings though, felt like I needed to build my own view. Copied all the messy defender rows – tackles, interceptions, clearances, passes blocked, even those unsuccessful dribble stats – straight into my trusty, slightly laggy spreadsheet program. Paste felt sticky, had to redo it twice because the columns went bonkers.
Building My Own Ratings System
This part always trips me up a bit. I wanted a simple number, not some fancy algorithm. Just something easy to eyeball. Here’s what I threw together:
- Tackles Won: These are gold. Gave each one hefty points.
- Interceptions: Super important for stopping attacks early. Good points.
- Clearances & Blocks: Desperation moves, but they count for something. Less points.
- Getting Dribbled Past: Ugh. Bad news. Minus points for each one.
- Passing Stuff: Looked only at long balls intercepted & passes blocked by opponents. Shows when they lost control.
Stared at the numbers for a while, tweaked the point values a few times – “Is a block really worth THAT much less than an interception?”. Settled on weights that felt roughly fair based on gut feeling from watching.
The Spreadsheet Struggle
Man, formula time. Always takes me longer than it should. Typed in the point formulas for each defender, cell by cell. Messed up a couple, had to go back and retype. “Dang it, messed up that minus again!” Then dragged the formulas down the whole list. Fingers crossed. Scrolled down to see who popped to the top.
Scrolled past the midfielders who got included by mistake, cursed under my breath. Fixed the filters – “DEFENDERS ONLY!”. Then… there it was. My homemade, probably flawed but honest, top defender ratings popping up.
What Popped Out
Honestly? Some surprises. That young CB from Croatia? His numbers were way up there. Solid, consistent work keeping guys bottled up. Wasn’t the flashiest name, but my points system loved him.
Then there was a full-back from Bulgaria – workhorse type. Crazy high tackles and interceptions, got dribbled past maybe twice all those games. His minus points were tiny, earned major plus points. Really jumped off my page.
And oh man, one veteran everyone talks about? His rating was surprisingly middling in my points. Looked why: kept getting dribbled past. Ouch. The cold, hard numbers hit different. Felt almost bad for him. Salary must be crazy high though, bet he’s sleeping fine!
Then today happened. Realized the whole thing actually kinda made sense. Pointed out guys quietly doing the dirty work. The expensive names? Not always the best stoppers, huh? Weird how that works.
Wrapping Up This Mess
So yeah. That was my afternoon. Went from “Hmm, I wonder…” to wrestling spreadsheets and stumbling onto some interesting findings. No fancy tools, just stubborn clicking, basic math, and trusting my eyes. The top dogs my system spat out might not be the stars, but they’re definitely doing the hard yards keeping those goals out.
Got my little list now. Feels good to actually see it laid out, even if my point system ain’t perfect. Probably forgetting some stuff. More players to check later, but hey, coffee break first. Brain hurts.
