Whilst considering how our midfield has performed I thought I'd dig into some stats (shocker). This is just information which (for me) makes interesting reading and especially highlights why Holtby should not be moved on.
These are only league stats and unfortunately I did not have stats for Bentaleb.
Here's the commentary:
I hope I didn't bore too many of you. If you got this far, well done. I won't be proof reading!
These are only league stats and unfortunately I did not have stats for Bentaleb.
Here's the commentary:
- Capoue and Sandro are our midfield destroyers (no shit). Both contribute very little to attacking play and creativity and are there to intercept and clear balls.
- Dembele is somewhat more defensive than I thought. His ball recovery is fantastic to compare with everyone else and his tackling is top notch (85% success rate) and although he does not intercept anywhere near what our midfield destroyers do he does dribble past players with an excellent 79% success rate about 3 times a game. Although not a creative force his stats there are respectable. I'm sure we would all like to see him shoot more however he doesn't get into the final third as much as all the other midfielders (destroyers excluded).
- Paulinho has had the most goal attempts and as we know his accuracy is fairly low (28%) however he does get into the box to get his shots away (clearly he's suffering from Soldadoism). If he sorts out his accuracy you can understand the Lampard comparisons. His assist stats are about as good as Capoue and Sandro's which isn't great however he does link up in the final third more than Dembele. His defensive stats to me show he is not a defensive midfielder, something some people still think although his tackling is equal to Sandro the rest of the defensive stats are nowhere near.
- Sigurdsson seems to have similar stats to Paulinho but with greater shot accuracy and worse defensive stats. To me, take out his attacking threat, Sigurdsson doesn't seem to offer too much more.
- Holtby's stats the way I read them are mostly pretty good. Most shots on goal per 90 minutes played however with a very poor accuracy of 20%. Our most creative player with the highest number of through balls by far and 2.4 chances created per 90 minutes played, only equalled by Eriksen. Has received the ball in the final third the most times than anyone else and even has an excellent tackling rate, only second to Dembele and the best interception rate behind Sandro and Capoue.
- Eriksen, although not getting as many shots away as Holtby, Paulinho and Sigurdsson does have a fantastic 64% accuracy. As creative in terms of chances created as Holtby he still has plenty of scope to improve especially with link-up play in the final third. Decent enough defensive stats.
- Lennon, to be honest I'm not his biggest fan - he needs to get more shots away however his chances created stat is good with close to 2 clear cut chances created per 90 minutes and his link-up play in the final third is similar to Eriksen's. Although he is known for his dribbling his success rate so far has been poor (38%) and for someone like Lennon to only have 1.4 successful dribbles per game it's rather odd. People then mention his defensive attributes but with the worst succesful tackle rate of all the midfielders (0.9 per 90 minutes) and rather low defensive stats all round I don't see it. Perhaps a "tracks back" stat is required here.
- Townsend - 40 shots of his 46 have been outside the box and 16 have been on target giving him a below average 35% accuracy. Has the most shots by far per 90 minutes with 4.2 meaning his 16 on target are the most by any midfielder. Assist stats similar to Lennon's and link up play in final third is slightly better (second only to Holtby's). No surprise that he's had the most dribbles than anyone (with a 60% success rate) resulting in 5.2 successful dribbles per game - not bad when you consider Dembele's 3.2 the next closest and that it's 4 times more than Lennon. Defensively as bad as Lennon except for ball recovery which is fairly decent.
- Chadli, who people want to see the back of already. Worst shooting accuracy with only 2 shots on target out of 17 taken however his creativity is 0.1 better than Lennon's and Townsend's with 2 chances created per 90 minutes played. His link up play in the final third is somewhere between Lennon's and Eriksen's and his dribbling success is similar to Lennon's. Where Chadli does excel though is in aerial duels, having a total more than anyone else which considering his game time is quite a lot and winning 2.4 per 90 minutes played. Decent in the tackle he does also seem to clear the ball a lot with only Sandro and Capoue clearing it more.
- Finally Lamela, who has had the least amount of game time in the league than anyone else in midfield (361 minutes total). His stats aren't great but they are not awful either. His creativity in the final third in terms of passes received is good and he dribbles more than anyone other than Dembele and Townsend. Defensively his stats are also surprisingly decent, he likes to tackle a lot, gets some interceptions and has a decent ball recovery. Overall we need a bigger sample for him.
I hope I didn't bore too many of you. If you got this far, well done. I won't be proof reading!
Last edited:
