After spending the past two days reviewing the finer details of the attacking and defensive statistics for all League One clubs, it’s time to establish whether or not the figures reveal anything about tactics and what the overall ranking is for the league based on this figures alone, not results.

G = Goals | ATTr = Attacking Ranking

C = Conceded | DEFr = Defensive Ranking

BAL = Balance between ATTr and DEFr | BALr = Balance Ranking

OV = Overall (Total of ATTr + DEFr) | OVr = Overall Ranking

ALP = Actual League Position | Diff = Difference between OVr and ALP

The figures show that the number of goals does not necessarily reflect the quality of wider attacking play and attacking team philosophy. For instance Bournemouth have scored the second highest goal total however they are ranked 11th and conversely Carlisle have scored only 12 despite having an ATTr of 2.

The opposite has been found in the defensive ranking. This shows a strong defence equates to a low number of goals conceded as found by Sheffield Wed, Southampton, Carlisle, Brighton and Colchester all in the top 5 DEFr.

Balance, i.e. the difference between ATTr and DEFr, shows where the quality or priority of each team is. A higher positive BALr indicates a team is set up to put pressure on the opposition and are best at / prefer an attacking game and the inverse is applicable to a minus / low BALr where teams tend to sit behind the ball and are strongest in defence. An middle ranking figure such as the BALr of 13 given to Sheffield Wednesday indicates the team is equally strong in both attack and defence.

Town are joint 3rd in the BAL field which only emphasises the inequality between the quality or our attack and defence. We are beaten by Peterborough, notable only for their we’ll score one more than you approach to the game and by Notts County who play entertaining attacking football. Given the wide disparity between our attack and defence perhaps this best demonstrates Danny Wilson’s disappointment with our forwards this season, and why he is not seeking to bring in an experienced defender on-loan and is looking for a striker instead?

At the other end of the scale the BALr statistically confirms Brighton, Colchester and Charlton all play and benefit from their tight defences and rarely look to put continuous pressure on their opponents, often relying on the counter attacks to get results.

In terms of the overall ranking, field OVr demonstrates the how good is each team, where a high ranking i.e 1 for Sheffield Wednesday indicates they are the best overall team because of the excellent attack and defence, whereas Walsall have the worst overall team. In terms of Town, our rank of 15 equates well to our actual league position. There are some anomalies in the figures, i.e. Leyton Orient are 3rd, Charlton are 19th and Bristol Rovers 21st, very different from their actual league position. I can only put these down to variables outside of the assessment. I expect these figures will better reflect the league after more games and the teams more spread out (in terms of points) in the actual league table.

I’d be interested to hear what you have to say about these statistics. Do they represent what you have seen in the 10 games so far?