Seasonal Comparisons for Everton Matches, 2003-04
Steve Flanagan revives an old Everton
Tradition from
the Matchday Programme of the 1960s, comparing
this season's points and attendances with last season, by opponent
I have received a request from a ToffeeWeb reader who recalls that, in the Sixties, Everton used to provide a table showing the Club's performance against our opponents compared to the previous season, and wondered if we could do the same. Well, yes we can.
Following the dismal run-in over the final league games this season, we can provide a full analysis - which shows how the decline in aggregate points was steady for most of the season, despite gates that were generally up on last season.
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Current Season |
Last Season |
Comparison |
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Opponents |
|
Pts |
Att |
Agg Pts |
Agg Att |
Pts |
Att |
Agg Pts |
Agg Att |
Pts Diff |
Att Diff |
|
1 |
Arsenal |
A |
0 |
38,042 |
0 |
38,042 |
0 |
38,014 |
0 |
38,014 |
- |
-28 |
|
2 |
Fulham |
H |
3 |
34,371 |
3 |
72,413 |
3 |
37,604 |
3 |
75,618 |
- |
+3,205 |
|
3 |
Charlton Athletic |
A |
0 |
26,623 |
3 |
99,036 |
1 |
26,336 |
4 |
101,954 |
+1 |
+2,918 |
|
4 |
Liverpool |
H |
0 |
40,162 |
3 |
139,198 |
0 |
42,200 |
4 |
144,154 |
+1 |
+4,956 |
|
5 |
Newcastle United |
H |
3 |
40,031 |
6 |
179,229 |
1 |
40,228 |
5 |
184,382 |
-1 |
+5,153 |
|
6 |
Middlesbrough |
A |
1 |
32,473 |
7 |
211,702 |
0 |
28,113 |
5 |
212,495 |
-2 |
+793 |
|
7 |
Leeds United |
H |
3 |
40,153 |
10 |
251,855 |
3 |
39,151 |
8 |
251,646 |
-2 |
-209 |
|
8 |
Tottenham Hotspur |
A |
0 |
36,070 |
10 |
287,925 |
0 |
36,137 |
8 |
287,783 |
-2 |
-142 |
|
9 |
Southampton |
H |
3 |
36,569 |
13 |
324,494 |
1 |
35,775 |
9 |
323,558 |
-4 |
-936 |
|
10 |
Aston Villa |
A |
0 |
30,023 |
13 |
354,517 |
1 |
36,146 |
10 |
359,704 |
-3 |
+5,187 |
|
11 |
Chelsea |
H |
0 |
39,396 |
13 |
393,913 |
0 |
40,189 |
10 |
399,893 |
-3 |
+5,980 |
|
12 |
Blackburn Rovers |
A |
3 |
26,496 |
16 |
420,409 |
0 |
22,179 |
10 |
422,072 |
-6 |
+1,663 |
|
13 |
Wolverhampton Wanderers |
H |
3 |
37,409 |
19 |
457,818 |
3 |
40,190 |
13 |
462,262 |
-6 |
+4,444 |
|
14 |
Bolton Wanderers |
A |
3 |
25,119 |
22 |
482,937 |
0 |
27,350 |
13 |
489,612 |
-9 |
+6,675 |
|
15 |
Manchester City |
H |
1 |
40,163 |
23 |
523,100 |
1 |
37,871 |
14 |
527,483 |
-9 |
+4,383 |
|
16 |
Portsmouth |
A |
3 |
34,117 |
26 |
557,217 |
3 |
20,101 |
17 |
547,584 |
-9 |
-9,633 |
|
17 |
Leicester City |
H |
3 |
40,113 |
29 |
597,330 |
3 |
37,007 |
20 |
584,591 |
-9 |
-12,739 |
|
18 |
Manchester United |
A |
0 |
67,629 |
29 |
664,959 |
0 |
67,642 |
20 |
652,233 |
-9 |
-12,726 |
|
19 |
Birmingham City |
H |
1 |
37,197 |
30 |
702,156 |
3 |
39,631 |
23 |
691,864 |
-7 |
-10,292 |
|
20 |
Arsenal |
H |
3 |
39,038 |
33 |
741,194 |
1 |
38,726 |
24 |
730,590 |
-9 |
-10,604 |
|
21 |
Fulham |
A |
0 |
18,385 |
33 |
759,579 |
0 |
17,103 |
24 |
747,693 |
-9 |
-11,886 |
|
22 |
Charlton Athletic |
H |
3 |
37,621 |
36 |
797,200 |
0 |
36,322 |
24 |
784,015 |
-12 |
-13,185 |
|
23 |
Liverpool |
A |
1 |
44,025 |
37 |
841,225 |
1 |
44,056 |
25 |
828,071 |
-12 |
-13,154 |
|
24 |
Manchester United |
H |
0 |
40,168 |
37 |
881,393 |
0 |
40,190 |
25 |
868,261 |
-12 |
-13,132 |
|
25 |
Birmingham City |
A |
1 |
29,505 |
38 |
910,898 |
0 |
29,004 |
25 |
897,265 |
-13 |
-13,633 |
|
26 |
Southampton |
A |
0 |
29,190 |
38 |
940,088 |
1 |
31,875 |
26 |
929,140 |
-12 |
-10,948 |
|
27 |
Aston Villa |
H |
3 |
40,167 |
41 |
980,255 |
3 |
39,353 |
29 |
968,493 |
-12 |
-11,762 |
|
28 |
Portsmouth |
H |
1 |
40,158 |
42 |
1,020,413 |
3 |
40,105 |
32 |
1,008,598 |
-10 |
-11,815 |
|
29 |
Leicester City |
A |
3 |
27,039 |
45 |
1,047,452 |
1 |
31,650 |
33 |
1,040,248 |
-12 |
-7,204 |
|
30 |
Middlesbrough |
H |
3 |
32,240 |
48 |
1,079,692 |
1 |
38,210 |
34 |
1,078,458 |
-14 |
-1,234 |
|
31 |
Newcastle United |
A |
0 |
51,607 |
48 |
1,131,299 |
0 |
52,155 |
34 |
1,130,613 |
-14 |
-686 |
|
32 |
Tottenham Hotspur |
H |
1 |
40,120 |
49 |
1,171,419 |
3 |
38,086 |
37 |
1,168,699 |
-12 |
-2,720 |
|
33 |
Leeds United |
A |
3 |
40,168 |
52 |
1,211,587 |
1 |
39,835 |
38 |
1,208,534 |
-14 |
-3,053 |
|
34 |
Chelsea |
A |
0 |
40,875 |
52 |
1,252,462 |
1 |
41,169 |
39 |
1,249,703 |
-13 |
-2,759 |
|
35 |
Blackburn Rovers |
H |
3 |
36,578 |
55 |
1,289,040 |
0 |
38,884 |
39 |
1,288,587 |
-16 |
-453 |
|
36 |
Wolverhampton Wanderers |
A |
3 |
37,698 |
58 |
1,326,738 |
0 |
29,395 |
39 |
1,317,982 |
-19 |
-8,756 |
|
37 |
Bolton Wanderers |
H |
1 |
39,480 |
59 |
1,366,218 |
0 |
40,190 |
39 |
1,358,172 |
-20 |
-8,046 |
|
38 |
Manchester City |
A |
0 |
34,835 |
59 |
1,401,053 |
0 |
47,284 |
39 |
1,405,456 |
-20 |
+4,403 |
|
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H |
29 |
731,134 |
|
|
38 |
739,912 |
|
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-9 |
+8,778 |
|
|
|
A |
10 |
669,919 |
|
|
21 |
665,544 |
|
|
-11 |
-4,375 |
The way the table works is as follows:
1. Points and attendances are compared between the Premiership fixtures for this season and the corresponding fixtures last season, irrespective of when they were played. For example, our first match this season was away to Arsenal. When we played Arsenal away last season, we got no points (in other words, we got beat again!) and the attendance was just over 38,000. This season, we lost again, so there is no points difference and the attendance, compared to the same fixture last season, was down by 28 spectators.
2. For clubs that have been promoted, they have taken the place of the corresponding clubs that have been relegated in accordance with the position they finished. So, for example, the winners of Division One replace the team that finished top of the relegation positions, with the runners-up replacing the team that finished in the next to last place in the Premiership, and the play-off winners replaced the bottom team. Attendance figures at away matches against the teams that have been promoted are not strictly comparable since there can be some large fluctuations in capacity of the respective grounds, which may unintentionally skew the figures. Also, there should strictly be no comparison made between the attendances away to Manchester City due to their move to a new stadium.
In the table below, this season�s matches against Portsmouth are compared to last season�s matches against West Ham United; Leicester City are compared to West Bromwich Albion; and Wolves are compared against Sunderland.
So, what do the figures tell us?. Out of Everton's 59 points last season, approximately two-thirds were won at home; however, this season, approximately three-quarters of Everton's paltry 39 points have been won at Goodison this season.
Also, despite winning 9 points less than last season, the crowd at Goodison is up by nearly 9,000 supporters. How many of these are due to teams like Wolves and Portsmouth being in the Premiership for the first time is not really a factor as the attendances for home matches against these teams is, more or less, in line with the comparative attendances from last season against the relegated teams. So we can safely say that the number of extra Everton supporters this season in the ground is up by about 9,000. Away from home, the attendances are, more or less, in line with last season, but the number of points won away from home has halved which has also caused us problems.
Looking at it this way, if we had scored the same number of points at Goodison as we did last season and, if we had won just two thirds of the points away from home that we did last season, our points total would stand at 52 which would have us in eighth place! If we had actually matched our results from last season, then we would be vying for a Champions League spot! This just goes to show how far we have actually fallen within one season.
Looking at were things have gone wrong, we can see that the final run of 6 games without a win have lost us a total of eight points compared to last season. An extra eight points would have put us on 47 points in total and into 12th place.
Also the run of seven games without a win between the victories over Birmingham City and Aston Villa cost us a further five points compared to last season, and these extra 5 points would put us on 44 points and in 13th place.
We can also analyze the figures further and see what has happened results-wise as well:
|
Result This season |
Comparative result from Last season |
Occurrences this season |
Points won/lost
|
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Win |
6 |
- |
|
|
Win |
6 |
-12 |
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Win |
5 |
-15 |
So, what does this tell us? Well, first the positive. We have won three games this season against teams that we only drew with last season. Well, so much for that; now the negative. 11 of the 17 wins last season were either draws or defeats this season and resulted in a total loss of 27 points. So, this table points to the fact that for many of the games we were winning last season, this season all we could get was a draw or a loss depending on how well the defence was been playing.
Steve Flanagan30 May 2004
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