Over the years there has been habitual frustration with how and why kicker gives the grades it does. This thread is dedicated to help explain how and why kicker grades are given and distributed. Its secondary function is serve as a reference point for news fans to discuss the respective players grades. Kicker grades in Germany are taken somewhat seriously by the entire microcosm of German soccer. It is the equivalent of Sports illustrated dictating a subjective grade instead of objective stats.
German/kicker grading is basically a log logistic distribution; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log-logistic_distribution No one can really signifcantly deviate positivley above the average unlike in that pbs radio show (sorry forgot that minnesota guys name Basically very few, if any get a 6, which is the literal equivalent to an orange cone, aka the bobby wood (which is why it was sooo... Infamous that he got so many 6s (maybe a record?). A 6 in german = EPIC FAIL in americanese Very few from the entire bundesliga, if any get a 1 (i think only haaland got a straight 1 this week from the entire bundesliga games.) In terms of bias with kicker, my observational sense is that with the top team(s) they are generally +.5 bias. With middle games they are+-1.25 random and bottom teams .-5. In german a 3 is "satisfactory" But to very clear if you get a 5.5,6 or 1,5,1, (world class/ top ten in the world on that given gameday) there is no question how they person played. Edit here are kickers top xi grades: https://www.kicker.de/767532/slideshow/die_kicker_elf_des_18_spieltags_sieben_debuetanten_um_haaland Last edit, for those that want to play around, use the filter: https://www.kicker.de/1-bundesliga/topspieler/2019-20/18
This is how kicker rewards fantasy teams with its kicker grade; Spielernoten im kicker NOTE PUNKTE 1,0 10 1,5 8 2,0 6 2,5 4 3,0 2 3,5 0 4,0 -2 4,5 -4 5,0 -6 5,5 -8 6,0 -10 A 3.5 is an average bundesliga player. The problem with their grading system is that it is non linear (relative to grading points), in that 95% of population of graded players on any given day will recieve a grade between 4-2.
For those wanting to read, at a minimum the worst rated ya ever here is bobby wood (you can change the years when you scroll down) https://www.kicker.de/wood-bobby-shou-64101/spieler/2-bundesliga/2019-20/hamburger-sv-12 Here is morales (probably most games played in bl past two years): https://www.kicker.de/alfredo-morales-54579/spieler/1-bundesliga/2019-20/fortuna-duesseldorf-13 Steffen; https://www.kicker.de/steffen-zackary-86912/spieler/1-bundesliga/2019-20/fortuna-duesseldorf-13 Brooks; https://www.kicker.de/brooks-john-anthony-67717/spieler/1-bundesliga/2019-20/vfl-wolfsburg-24 Sargent: https://www.kicker.de/joshua-sargent-101171/spieler/1-bundesliga/2019-20/werder-bremen-4 Reyna: https://www.kicker.de/giovanni-reyna-118755/spieler/1-bundesliga/2019-20/borussia-dortmund-17 Adams; https://www.kicker.de/tyler-adams-99347/spieler/1-bundesliga/2019-20/rasenballsport-leipzig-15778 Mckennie; https://www.kicker.de/weston-mckennie-97143/spieler/1-bundesliga/2019-20/fc-schalke-04-2
That is this year. If you scroll down you can change the year in the right hand side. I recommend mushrooms or some other psychadelic drug before the red pill. That or wood banged the entire kicker staffs wives... Even their interns lol... Just one more mention that morales is REALLY UNDERVALUED.
I’m gonna have to dig up that university these on comparing these different rating systems. If I remember right, it found Kicker rated goalies abnormally high by a bit. Also, Kicker ratings across the board on average over time are more centered on their scale than whoscored. Whoscored tends to be in the 5-8 range, which doesn’t utilize their full scale of 1-10.