Stats 23/24

Cook made most defensive actions with 12. Cook made most interceptions, Neto made most recoveries, Solanke and Zabarnyi made most clearances whilst no player made a block.

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According to Opta, AFCB made no errors leading to chances or goals.

The foul count was AFCB 10, Newcastle 4. No AFCB player conceded more than 2 fouls or was fouled more than once.

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The Opta expected goals had Solanke (1.14) as most likely to score for AFCB with Sinisterra (0.62) and Semenyo and Tavernier (both 0.22) next. For assists, Christie (0.20) and Solanke (0.13) were above 0.10 – Sinisterra’s header that rebounded back to Solanke must not be counted as an assist by Opta. AFCB had an xGc of 0.49 and conceded none.

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I was looking at the match report on FBref today and it has a figure for "long balls." We had 87, Newcastle had 57. I felt like we hit many more long balls (whatever they are) than usual yesterday. I may see if I can find those for the season.
 
Kicks_On_66 said:
I was looking at the match report on FBref today and it has a figure for "long balls." We had 87, Newcastle had 57. I felt like we hit many more long balls (whatever they are) than usual yesterday. I may see if I can find those for the season.
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And here they are:
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I sort of expected to see that our better performances feature more long passes, and that seems true only in part (NUFC and WHU). The draws against Brentford and Chelsea and the Burnley win do not stand out for long passes.
 
And so we reach the end of Block 2 with 4 away points and 8 at home. The away total is about where this model anticipated we should be, the home total is only one off the pace:
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That away win looks very nice on the black trace, and as I look at the fixtures list I see a lot more more points out there for a team playing as this one has in the last two matches.
 
Here is continued visual confirmation of "the transformation". These last two matches are also statistically at a higher level than what came before.

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Improvement in xG conceded (or against) is harder to measure with these charts (because the lower limit is zero) but some signs are there.
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The main thing I like about these is those green symbols denoting wins.
 
Here’s the xG from the Sheffield Utd game that was one-sided. The first 10 minutes were event-free but AFCB were dominating possession. Then we scored, Semenyo cutting in from the right finding Tavernier through on Foderingham to slide it home (rated 2 in 5). We were creating a lot of about 1 in 10 chances (Tavernier *2, Kluivert and Solanke) but doubled the lead in unusual circumstances. An overhit ball ran through to Foderingham who miscontrolled it and was pickpocketed by Kluivert, who curled it in from a tight angle (rated 3 in 10). Many wouldn’t have seen it clearly, I didn’t as I was watching Solanke and Trusty square up thinking the ball had run through to the keeper. Kluivert did well to hound United’s keeper and to take advantage. At half-time the xG was Shef Utd 0.06 and AFCB 1.36 and the home team was booed off. The Blades’ fans mood didn’t get any better when in the 50th minute we went 3-0 up. Smith picking out Tavernier making a blind side run from the left to score (rated 47%). Three minutes later it was nearly 4, a shot by Semenyo (rated 1 in 11) saved by Foderingham rebounding quickly to Solanke who couldn’t steer it in (rated 57%). We kept pushing forward with two more 1 in 10 chances from Billing and Christie and a near 1 in 5 chance from Sinisterra between the 63rd and 73rd minute. In injury time Kerkez drove forward and shot just wide (rated 1 in 10) but in the final throes (the 96th minute) McBurnie had a good chance and headed home (rated 1 in 3) to remove the clean sheet. The final xG was Shef U 0.82 AFCB 3.14, although OPTA had it as Shef U 0.81 AFCB 2.71. This was our highest xG of the season, surpassing the 2.02 (Opta) at Brentford.

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The most notable thing for me on the average position was that it was almost identical to the positions against Newcastle indicating that we are settling into the way Iraola wants to play. The full backs Kelly (5) and Smith (15) were advanced of the centre backs, Senesi (25) and Zabarnyi (27) with Cook(4) and Christie (10) holding. Semenyo (24) was a little deeper and more central then against Newcastle, with Kluivert (19) pushed higher and closer to Solanke (9). Kerekez (3) replaced Kelly (5) at half time due to Kelly’s injury in a like for like swap. On the 66th minute two attacking players, Kluivert and Semenyo were withdrawn, Billing (29) replacing Kluivert in the 10 role and Sinisterra (17) replacing Semenyo on the right. On the 82nd minute Brooks (7) came on for Tavernier, but played on the right, I’m not sure who moved to the left side.

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Zabarnyi had most touches of the ball with 78 followed by Senesi (77) and Smith (70). Kelly had 57 touches in 45 minutes. Tavernier had most touches in Shef Utd’s half (48) and the final third (29).

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We had 28 touches in the opposition’s penalty area, Kluivert leading the way with 7, followed by Solanke and Tavernier with 5. Sinesterra had 4 penalty area touches in his 30 minute spell.

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Zabarnyi attempted most passes with 67, followed by Senesi with 60. Tavernier attempted most in the opposition half (26) followed by Christie (24). Tavernier attempted most passes in the final third with 10. Of the starting 11, Zabarnyi had the highest accuracy with 85% - Solanke, Neto had below 60% completion rate.

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AFCB attempted 16 crosses, being successful with 5 (2 from Cook).

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Our players tried to take on a man only 17 times, being successful ten times. Semenyo was successful 3 from 5, Kluivert 2 from 3 with 4 players succeeding on their only attempt.

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We created 18 chances (two big – both Tavernier’s goals. Shef U created 8 chances with one big (their goal).

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We had 23 attempts (5 big, 2 for Tavernier, one each for Solanke, Sinisterra and Kluivert) noting that chances can be provided after saves, deflections or a defensive error and not created. We hit the target 11 times. Shef U had 10 attempts, 1 big, and hit the target twice.

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AFCB won 28 of 55 aerials duals the highest value by a long distance this season. Cook won 4 out of 4.

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AFCB won 15 out of 20 tackles. The only people to lose tackles were Christie 4 from 8 and Zabarnyi 2 from 3, neither of which were poor records.

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Christie and Senesi had 13 defensive actions. Cook made most interceptions, Christie made most recoveries, Senesi made most clearances whilst Zabarnyi made most blocks.

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According to Opta AFCB made no errors that led to a chance (and therefore, by extension a goal).

Smith gave away most fouls (2) whilst six AFCB players were fouled once. There was one AFCB booking, Billing in a scrimmage, whilst Shef U had 4 players booked.

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Matt Stevenson said:
Zabarnyi had most touches of the ball with 78 followed by Senesi (77) and Smith (70). Kelly had 57 touches in 45 minutes. Tavernier had most touches in Shef Utd’s half (48) and the final third (29).

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We had 28 touches in the opposition’s penalty area, Kluivert leading the way with 7, followed by Solanke and Tavernier with 5. Sinesterra had 4 penalty area touches in his 30 minute spell.

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That Kelly stat!
 
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