Traffic Lights

Not content with stealing blogging ideas from the exchange forums, I have lowered myself even further by enhancing my ratings spreadsheet with a 'traffic light' feature that I saw on some obscure blog out there. I like the idea, because it shows at a glance whether teams are currently meeting expectations, or whether they are over or under performing. From a ratings perspective, I would like to see mostly yellow - as these are results that were close to expected. Over the last six games, Tottenham Hotspur are the consistent team in the EPL, with their last five games finishing as expected, whereas Arsenal and Stoke City are the unpredictables. Spurs are also the only team without a single red (under-performing) rating, while Chelsea, Manchester United and WBA are the only three who have failed to exceed expectations at least once.

In the Championship, my top rated team is currently Reading, although they are currently outside the play-off spots. Reading and Watford do not have a red between them, but Portsmouth, Coventry City and Preston North End do not have a green between them.

League One sees the only team with all green - rather surprisingly Notts County currently languishing in 16th place in the league but apparently destined to place higher. Peterborough United and Rochdale are the most consistent teams.

In League Two, strugglers Hereford United are the in-form team exceeding expectations in five, and meeting in one, of their last six matches. Gillingham and Crewe Alexandra are also red free, while Bury don't have a single green.

In the Conference, Eastbourne Borough and Rushden and Diamonds both lack a green, while Hayes and Yeading United don't have a red. I guess when expectations are low, it's easy to meet them. I must remember that for work.

Back to the top teams, and in Serie A Udinese are red free while Juventus and Catania have no green. In Spain, every team has under-performed at least once, with Real Madrid the only team that hasn't over-performed at least once. Sochaux are the most consistent team in France, performing as expected for the last five matches, and Wolfsburg are the same in Germany, although they and Stuttgart are the only two not to excel in six games.

How useful this new feature will be remains to be seen, (early thoughts are that it could at least be an extra filter), but it's kind of interesting. Well, to me.

Thanks to Mark for the idea.