There has been a great deal of hubbub surrounding Swansea City Football Club lately.  The Welsh team sits a comfortable 9 points above the relegation zone whose confines they were widely tipped to finish within. Now they are media darlings, champions of the beautiful game in a league which neglects the subtler aspects of the sport in favor of a more physical brand of play. Some have even likened the style of Brendan Rodgers’ Swans to that of Barcelona, with Leon Britton, apparently, Xavi’s British twin!      Indulging the claims of the Swansea-Barca likene... [More]

Neymar is one of the exciting young players in Brazil, one who has been attracting the attention of many of Europe's top clubs.  Santos, his club, have even gone so far as to slap a 30 million Euro price tag on him. Without doubt he is an exciting young talent but are there any statistics from his performance in the campeonato that merit this valuation?   Since Neymar is a striker, goals is the first statistic that springs to mind and with 17 goals, good for second in the league, Neymar certainly appears to be a special talent.  However, of those 17 goals 4 were from the penal... [More]