Stat Attack

Smith had most touches in the game, followed by Tavernier and Cook. Tavernier had most in the opposition’s half and the final third. Solanke had a relatively small number but made them count with the goal.

Touches.JPG
 
Six players played 40 or more passes: with Lerma making 67. Christie, Solanke and Tavernier had success rates above 90% with no-one who played a pass below 2 in 3 successful. Lerma played most passes in the opposition half and Billing most in the final third (with a success rate of 90%).
Pass All.JPGPass Opp.JPG
 
I’ve done a quick game by game analysis, at Forest we had most second most passes in the opposition half (after Arsenal) and the most in the final third. In total, it was second most in all games bar Arsenal at home. Forest was the first game where the passing success rate was above 80% for each of all passes, passes in the opposition’s half and passes in the final third.

Passes GbG.JPG
 
Kelly had the most aerial duels (6) although wasn’t particular successful (33% success rate). Contrastingly, Lerma won all 5 of his, and Smith won 3 of 4. Cook made most tackles (6) and was successful in 4, then followed by Christie who won 2 of 4.
Aerial.JPGTackles.JPG
 
Interesting stuff with the pass comparison over recent games.

First chance O'Neil has had to really stamp his view on things and there is a notable difference.

Now, it's far too early to tell. That could have been due to the scenario that we found ourselves in dominating 45 minutes of football and chasing a comeback. Will be interesting to keep watch on...
 
Here’s the xG from the Newcastle game. The overarching message is that there were few chances, with O’Neill’s tactics working well to restrict Newcastle, who had their lowest home xG of the season despite being awarded a penalty. Previously it had been 1.98 vs Forest, 2.30 vs Man City and 4.17 vs Palace. There were only two chances rated above 1 in 10, which were both the goals – Billing’s clever diversion of the ball’s trajectory (rated 2 in 5) and Isak’s penalty (4 in 5). Despite Newcastle having the majority of the ball, they were largely smothered, with only two small chances created after the 80th minute. We did have a scary ‘moment’ in the 43rd minute with Joelinton hitting the inside of the post (with Neto doing very well to kick it away) then saving from Joelinton and Fraser, but each shot was rated as a low probability (about 1 in 20).

xG.JPG
 
We started with 4 at the back, but switched to 3, or 5, at half time. Unfortunately, I can only access average positions across the game. An interesting feature is that Zemura played almost as high up the pitch as Billing and more advanced than Christie. This may have been to try and stifle the forward runs of Trippier, although this only partially worked with the England full-back being Newcastle’s main threat. Moore and Stephens came on late and I’ve missed them off the graphic.

AvPos.JPG
 
Neto had most touches, followed by Christie, then the back four. In the opposition half Tavernier and then Zemura had most touches, which was also the case for the final third.

Touches.JPG
 
No player made more than 30 passes, which was much less than at Forest. Of the starting 11, Solanke made the fewest with 8, although his work rate was excellent as normal. The completion rate was typically around 70%, although Cook and Tavernier broke 85%. In the opposition half it was largely Tavernier, Zemura and Christie, with the Scot at 90% completion.

Pass All.JPG

Pass Opp.JPG
 
Billing, Mepham and Solanke all have 5 duels, with varying levels of success. Solanke was normally competing with the giant, and physically aggressive, Burn, so it is unsurprising he only won 1.
Aerial.JPG

For the second game running, Cook made most tackles (7) and was successful in 4. No-one else made more than 3 tackles, as Newcastle played the ball about a lot, without achieving much penetration.

Tackles.JPG
 
Neto made a remarkable number of recoveries (18). Christie and Cook (both 8) were next followed by Billing (7). Senesi (7). Lerma and Mepham (both 5) made the most clearances as expected from the centre backs. The large number of recoveries from our keeper, together with the relatively low number of clearances and blocks may indicate that Newcastle was looking to create a very good chance, but repeatedly overhit, or misdirected through balls.

Interceptions.JPG
 
I just discovered this thread the other day, and if it's OK, I will drop in a chart that I am keeping on points. Its purpose is to keep me from panicking as the season progresses. The idea is that not all games are created equal, so I started out by setting aside the 12 matches against the "Big-6" clubs. I struggled a little at the beginning of the season about include Man Utd, but I end up leaving them in among the usual suspects. Then I assigned a goal of 27 points from the remaining 13 home matches, and 13 points from the 13 remaining away matches. The chart shows the home and away points against their respective "bogeys", and then the resulting totals.

AFCB8.png

You see that at the moment we have 4 home and 4 away points. That is ahead of schedule for away games, right on the bogey for home games. Three home games coming up that need to yield some points. Winning 2 would be OK, another point beyond that would be better.
 
Here are a few stats:

Travers has the lowest save percentage of any keeper in the league at 45%. Even marginally lower than the guy at Leicester who I’m not sure goal keeper is even his natural position (around 47%.)

Conversely Neto is in the top five goal keepers in the top five European leagues for save percentage, at around 90%.

We are only one of two teams in the league to average less than ten shots a game along with Villa, our XG is comfortably the lowest in the league so far at 3.3. The next lowest is on 5.3.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

;