The 2023-24 Premier League season is now history, but the record-breaking achievements of champions Manchester City continue to spark reactions and interest in how their unprecedented success was achieved.
Alongside renowned football commentator Martin Tyler and Sky Sports TV reporter and journalist Ben Ransom, MM explored the data behind Manchester City’s historic, goal-laden title-winning season. We also delved into their respective approaches to data-driven commentary and reportage, emphasising the importance of timing and relevance.
Tyler, now in his 51st year as a commentator – having called his first match in 1974 – had high praise for City’s achievement under Pep Guardiola.
“It’s historic,” he said. “To put it into some perspective, I think there are four things that are outstanding in the Premier League. Alan Shearer’s 260 goals, Arsenal’s invincibility (2003-04), Leicester City’s 5000-1 title win (2015-16), and City’s four in a row.”
Guardiola’s side scored most of their goals at the Etihad during the 15:00 time slot, netting 24 times, while their highest away tally came during the 20:00 matches with 12 goals.
Across the 380 matches played, a total of 1,246 goals were scored, with home teams accounting for 54% and away teams 45%. The 15:00 kickoff had the most matches scheduled, 132 in total, and consequently produced the highest number of goals in the season with 442, aligning with the overall average of goals scored during the season.
The 15:30, 16:00, 18:00, and 20:15 kickoffs recorded an average of four goals per game.
On how kick-off times may affect player performance, Ransom, who covers 15 to 20 matches per season at the Etihad, said: “From my own interpretation it only feels like the 12:30 kickoffs, the lunchtime kickoffs, have less goals, whether that’s because it takes everyone a bit of time to warm up both the players who obviously have to move their schedule forward by a few hours.”
In a season that went down to the wire, City were dominant in front of goal on their travels, registering the most shots with 326 and the most shots on target with 149 away from home. Overall, the champions recorded a total of 690 shots, with 278 on target.
Liverpool, who finished third in the league, registered 790 shots – the highest in the season. The Reds, now on the verge of claiming a record-equaling 20th league title, also delivered the most corner kicks, with 287.
Just as data is crucial for evaluating a team’s season, it is equally vital for practitioners in successfully carrying out their duties.
“It’s difficult to define data in my field,” Tyler said. “We use to call it facts and figures or stats or information. And my way of working is to try and reach out to every conceivable tool that a commentator can use, and use it, hopefully in the proportion for each game that it merits. So if there is strong data on a player, for example, who is a key member of the team, then you would investigate. A simple one is on how many goals they’ve scored, e.g. five goals in four appearances.
“I think that’s not really data in terms of diving into the depths of expected goals and things like that. But for me, it’s data. Recently, during a game, there were players who played on their birthday, two for West Ham and one for Leicester. Those things, I think that’s data driven, but you might not call it data.”
Tyler provided commentary for 25 Premier League games during the season under review but typically gets assigned seven to eight games a month. MM asked him how commentators decide the best way to infuse data during a live game. “That’s the skill,” he responded.
“And it’s not an exact science at all. We’ve all had games as commentators where you’re talking about something, and then five seconds later the ball is in the net at the other end of the ground, and you’re almost caught catching up with the goal. So the skill is knowing when to apply it.
“So, I had the Jamie Vardy ‘11 goals in a row’, and it was mentioned at the top, but you don’t keep hanging on, banging on about it, because it ruins the moment when he does it. If he hadn’t done it by the 90th minute, at the end, you can say, well, it’s got to wait for another day, or something like that. But picking the moment and nailing down the moment is the challenge, really. And it’s still a challenge in my 51st year as it was in my first year.”
For Ransom, whatever data he includes in his match-day preparation must be valuable not only to him but also to the audience.
“I’ll look through the fixture list. I quite often go back through results. I like to see form and that kind of thing as part of my preparation. And if I find anything in that, then I will pick it out, but it’s got to be interesting.
“I don’t think fans really care about xG specifically – I think they care about goals; I think they care about their team winning. So any stat, any data, anything like that, you want to relay. You have to break it down in the simplest terms possible. And it’s also got to be interesting, and it’s got to leave the listener, the viewer with a feeling, for example, of I would never have guessed that. And if you’ve got that reaction, then you’ve picked out the perfect piece of data, in my mind.”
True to Pep’s unique tactical style, his City side committed the fewest fouls all season on their way to securing the four-peat, with 148 at the Etihad Stadium and 139 in away matches. Meanwhile, AFC Bournemouth recorded the most fouls in the season, an equal number at home and away, totaling 506.
As Man City marched to their historic four-peat, referees were also busy handing out marching orders to players.
Anthony Taylor handed out 127 yellow cards, while Matthew Donohue, who officiated in only two matches, showed 13 yellow cards, averaging 6.5 per match – almost twice the overall average. Robert Jones and Michael Oliver each showed five red cards. In total, 57 red cards were issued throughout the season, with two of those to the champions – at the Etihad.
“I like the fact that the game is moving back towards giving the power under control of the match to the referee that’s appointed to take charge, because I think that’s right. I think their interpretation of a situation, whether it be a penalty or whether it be a red card, is really important. And that’s what football was always built on,” Ransom said.
In what was truly a remarkable season, the last matchday delivered the highest number of goals scored in a gameweek, with 37 goals.
With a campaign that will be talked about for decades and the difficulty of winning league titles, what are the odds of another Premier League team replicating City’s achievement of winning four consecutive league titles?
“It’s a really tricky one to answer because the fact that no team has ever done it previously suggests that it’s incredibly difficult to win four Premier League titles in a row. But to say we’ll never see it again, I think is wrong, because the fact that a team has done it once means that obviously, another team can potentially do that. But I don’t think we’ll see it for a long time,” Ransom concluded.
Feature Image: Emmanuel Etim
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