Friday Night Links

Here are my favorite links from the last two weeks that were soccer...

• 7AM Kickoff has some excellent commentary on how Arsenal have done amongst the Big Six this year, as well as some observations about the upcoming transfer window.
• Sounder at Heart reviews the initial release of the MLS Castrol Index, and sees some major flaws.  So far I have been unimpressed with Opta's stats as they relate to MLS.  There was much hype going in to the season regarding unprecedented access to world-leading statistics, yet all we're getting is the highly processed output with minimal transparency from Opta that prevents any independent analysis.
• Sounder at Heart proposes a +/- scoring system for MLS players based upon the shots taken when the player is on the pitch.  My previous research on the EPL indicates that shot differential actually lowers the odds of winning and instead should focus on shots-on-goal differential, but Sounder at Heart's proposal is a good start.
• The NY Times' Goal blog dives into the 2011 MLS player salary data and identifies the eleven best deals to be had.
• TwoHundredPercent's review of Lord Sugar Tackles Football indicates that the program's examination of the Premier League left much to be desired.
• TwoHundredPercent explains the various levels of ecstasy associated with cup competitions, championships, and relegation battles and attempts to quantify which is the sweetest.  Unfortunately, we Americans have no first hand knowledge of the latter given the franchised monopolies of our pro sports leagues.
• Soccer By the Numbers continues to examine where goals come from.
• Soccermetrics is developing some very interesting methods for weighting goals to identify who scores the highest value goals.
• OnFooty uses regression models to identify which of the following is more important: clean sheets, corners, or cards.
• The Over Lapping Run details what looks to be an awesome summer of soccer friendlies here in the US.
• FootieBusiness considers what "success" should look like for MLS.
• The Swiss Ramble has a great analysis of what Norwich City's impending promotion to the Premier League will mean for their finances.
• Climbing the Ladder has an interesting alternative history to the last few Champions League competitions based upon an alternative rule: only the champions from each league are admitted to the competition.
• A bad sign for Arsenal supporters who attend live matches: ticket prices are going up.