Pythagorean table for French Ligue 1 (2012-11-05)
Categories: Soccer Pythagorean: Tables
We conclude our Pythagorean tables for the first quarter of the major European football league season with the table for France’s Ligue 1. The table is for matches played up to 5 November 2012 and the league Pythagorean exponent is 1.70.
I’ve been saying for some time that the value of the soccer Pythagorean is to identify those clubs who are performing significantly different from their expectations, which should motivate further examination of their performance. The Ligue 1 table provides a case in point. Saint-Étienne have the most negative Pythagorean residual at -6. But if you drill down to their results in the league, les Verts lost three of their first five matches (9 scored, 5 conceded) but haven’t lost since (10 scored, 3 conceded). One of those two losses was to Lille on a stoppage-time goal, and the seAcond was a bad home loss to lowly Sochaux. So it’s possible that Saint-Étienne’s residual represents their recovery from a poor start to the season. We’ll see if that’s right as the season progresses.
As for everyone else, it appears that PSG and Lyon deserve to be at the top, but Marseille are a surprise. Reims have combined multi-goal wins with narrow defeats on their way to a -4 residual. Other sides worth a closer look are Bastia, Montpellier, and Nice.
| League Table | Pythagorean | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | W | D | L | Pts | Δ |
| Paris Saint-Germain | 11 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 17 | 7 | +10 | 22 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 21 | +1 |
| Marseille | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 8 | +6 | 22 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 18 | +4 |
| Lyon | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 19 | 10 | +9 | 21 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 20 | +1 |
| Toulouse | 11 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 18 | 11 | +7 | 19 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 21 | -2 |
| Valenciennes | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 23 | 12 | +11 | 18 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 20 | -2 |
| Saint-Étienne | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 19 | 8 | +11 | 18 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 24 | -6 |
| Bordeaux | 11 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 13 | 10 | +3 | 18 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 18 | +0 |
| Lille | 11 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 15 | 12 | +3 | 17 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 18 | -1 |
| Rennes | 11 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 13 | 14 | -1 | 16 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 15 | +1 |
| Reims | 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 9 | +3 | 15 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 19 | -4 |
| Lorient | 11 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 19 | 21 | -2 | 15 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 14 | +1 |
| Bastia | 11 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 17 | 26 | -9 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 11 | +3 |
| Ajaccio | 11 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 15 | -5 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 12 | +1 |
| Brest | 11 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 17 | -6 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 12 | +1 |
| Montpellier | 11 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 16 | 16 | +0 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 15 | -3 |
| Nice | 11 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 15 | 17 | -2 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 15 | -3 |
| Sochaux | 11 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 11 | 18 | -7 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 12 | -2 |
| Evian | 11 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 11 | 19 | -8 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 9 | -1 |
| Troyes | 11 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 11 | 20 | -9 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 9 | -2 |
| Nancy | 11 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 18 | -14 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 6 | -1 |
