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Thursday 7 November 2013

Analysis of the top 6 Midfield in the English Premier League Part -II

Continuing from where we left off in the first post, we analyze the midfield of Liverpool, United and Spurs in this following post. It would be followed by the analysis of the top 3 midfield in the different aspect of play such as Attacking, Passing and Defending. So here we go:

Liverpool:

Possession -52.5; Yellow Cards -10; Red Cards- 0; Shots per goal- 20.67.


Games
Goals
Shots
A
KP
T
Interc
PA
ATB
AC
ALB
Gerrard
10
2
18
2
25
27
13
86.7
3
21
74
Lucas
8
0
1
0
3
42
24
89.5
0
19
0
Henderson
10
0
16
0
12
29
8
86.7
0
3
39
Coutinho
5
0
4
0
8
10
2
77.4
4
3
4
Moses
6
1
8
0
6
6
5
85.9
1
2
10
Sterling
7
0
1
0
6
11
1
83.5
0
0
3
Allen
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
66.7
0
0
0
Aspas
6
0
2
1
7
4
2
76.6
1
1
2
Alberto
5
0
2
0
0
1
1
84.7
0
0
0
Total
59
3
62
3
67
130
56
81.96
9
49
132
(A;Assists; KP:Key Passes; T: Tackles; Interc: Interception; PA: Pass Accuracy; ATB: Accurate Through balls; AC: Accurate Crosses; ALB: Accurate Long Balls).

Liverpool Midfield, has played 59 matches altogether as a unit. With only 9 players it is the top 6 midfield which has least number of personnel.  The amount of games played by the Liverpool midfield highlights the reliance on the 3-5-2 formation .Gerrard and Henderson lead Liverpool stats, in the amounts of games played with each playing 10 games.  Gerrard also leads the stats for Goals, Shots taken, Assists, Key Passes, Accurate Crosses and Accurate Long Balls. This signifies that even at his age he is still the go-to man at Liverpool. Lucas leads in the defensive side of Liverpool with 42 tackles and 24 interceptions. He also leads in the Passing Accuracy stats for the team. In the through ball department no one has threaded a pass through opposition defense more than Coutinho.

As a Unit the Liverpool midfield has scored 3 goals and taken 62 shots to achieve that. It highlights the wastefulness of the midfield. The midfield has played 67 key passes and has accumulated 3 assists. The defensive nature of the midfield is pretty impressive averaging 13 tackles a match along with 5.6 interceptions a match. The passing Accuracy as a whole for the midfield is mere 81.96% which explains their possession stats of 52.5%. The unit has played 9 through balls along with 49 accurate crosses and 132 accurate long balls.  Inspite of making over 130 tackles the midfield has committed lesser amount of fouls as they have only accumulated 10 yellow cards in the league so far. This stats shows that how much dependent Liverpool are upon their SAS strike partnership to get them goals. With a meager return of 3 goals and 3 Assists it is fair to say that Gerrard &co have a lot of room to improve as an unit. As was revealed in the Arsenal match that if the SAS are kept quiet then the midfield has very little to offer.

Manchester United:

Possession-56.5%; Yellow cards-15; Red Card-0; Shots per Goal-8.4


Games
Goals
Shots
A
KP
T
Interc
PA
ATB
AC
ALB
Carrick
9
0
4
0
12
16
39
86.9
0
1
64
Cleverly
7
0
3
0
6
17
7
89.6
0
1
34
Valencia
8
1
2
1
6
15
14
85.9
2
3
3
Young
4
0
3
0
4
4
2
80.8
0
1
7
Nani
5
0
12
0
10
8
1
77.2
0
5
4
Rooney
9
5
28
3
16
5
5
78.5
2
6
42
Kagawa
3
0
1
0
3
7
4
88.2
0
0
7
Fellaini
5
0
8
0
1
5
8
89.5
0
0
12
Janujaz
6
2
14
1
4
6
7
81
2
0
10
Welbeck
6
2
9
0
1
5
7
85.6
0
0
3
Total
62
10
84
5
63
88
94
84.32
6
17
186
(A;Assists;KP:Key Passes; T: Tackles; Interc: Interception;PA: Pass Accuracy; ATB: Accurate Through balls; AC: Accurate Crosses; ALB: Accurate Long Balls)

It has been a dreadful opening for United in the EPL so far.  Their key players look out of form and they have a 2 man midfield which needs external help( e.g. dubious penalty, red cards, Fergie time) to maintain their challenge at the top. But after Ferguson’s retirement, the favor that were extended to them in the past has been relatively less (e.g. Young diving for penalty).
In the 10 matches so far, they have employed 10 personnel in their midfield. They have played 62 matches amongst them. This shows that the midfield has seen a fair bit of rotation. This could lead down to the fact that barring Rooney everyone else has underperformed.  It is no surprise that Rooney leads the United midfield in the amount of Games played, Goals, Shots, Assists, Key Passes, Through balls & Crosses. Carrick chips in with most Interceptions made and played the most Accurate Long balls. Januzaj and Valencia together with Rooney have put most accurate through balls. Cleverly has made the most amounts of tackles for United.

As an unit the United has scored 10 goals and made 5 assists. They played 63 key passes while taking 84 shots.  They have made a relatively less amounts of tackles with 88. They have hugely relied on intercepting the opposition passes in order to gain possession of the ball. The Passing Accuracy is a respectable 84.32% which explains their possession stats. They have also accumulated 15 yellow cards.  The Amount of crosses was negligible from the midfield as it relied more on long balls to spread the play. The amount of through balls played in is a decent amount of 6. The 2 man midfield has to change because cleverly is not yet world class, Fellaini has underperformed so far and Carrick is aging. The midfield needs to utilize players such as Kagawa and Januzaj more than employing players such as young and Valencia. Similar to Liverpool, the midfield has very little to offer in terms of creativity if you take Rooney out of the equation.  They have to invest in a more creative forward and abandon the primitive system of playing 2 midfield players with 2 wingers.

Tottenham:

Possession -58.7; Yellow Card -10; Red Card -0; Shots per Goal -24.


Games
Goals
Shots
A
KP
T
Interc
PA
ATB
AC
ALB
Paulinho
10
1
31
2
13
26
31
86.3
1
1
23
Sandro
6
0
2
0
1
6
4
81.1
0
0
6
Dembele
10
0
6
0
13
22
8
91.5
1
0
34
Siggurdson
8
3
18
0
8
7
6
84.2
0
5
6
Holtby
7
0
6
0
7
10
8
80.8
1
6
9
Eriksen
6
0
6
1
9
4
4
84
0
5
6
Townsend
9
1
40
0
17
12
4
85.4
1
9
6
Lennon
4
0
1
0
5
2
0
89.8
0
3
1
Chadili
4
0
9
0
10
7
2
86
0
4
3
Lamela
4
0
1
1
2
2
2
79.5
0
0
0
Capoue
3
0
0
0
1
9
12
89.7
0
0
15
Total
71
5
120
4
86
107
81
85.3
4
33
109
(A; Assists; KP: Key Passes; T: Tackles; Interc: Interception; PA: Pass Accuracy; ATB: Accurate Through balls; AC: Accurate Crosses; ALB: Accurate Long Balls)

In the 10 matches so far we have learnt that spuds have proven that  if you don’t have class it doesn’t matter how much you spend you will still be in forever our shadow.
No more comments is needed to explain their dire situation as the stats are like Spurs gameplay i.e.. ….BORING!!!!!!

Comparitive Analysis:

Attacking Analysis:

Games
Goals
Shots/Goal
Assists
Key Passes
Was Fouled
1st  Best
Tottenham
Arsenal
Arsenal
Arsenal
Chelsea
United
2nd Best
Chelsea
Chelsea
City
City
Arsenal
Chelsea
3rd Best
City & United
City
United
Chelsea
City
Arsenal

If we analyze the attacking nature of the top 6 midfields then we find that Arsenal, Chelsea and City have the most influential midfield. The have scored more goals and have recorded more assists than other 3 teams.  The only way United can find a way in this analysis is by being the most fouled midfield. Maybe all the other teams are venting out the frustration about the unfair advantage they had been receiving till last season.  The analysis shows that Arsenal are the best attacking midfield yet in the EPL.


Passing Analysis:

Games
Passing Accuracy
Accurate Through Balls
Accurate Crosses
Accurate Long Balls
Possession
1st  Best
Tottenham
City
City & Arsenal
Chelsea
United
City
2nd Best
Chelsea
Arsenal
Liverpool
Liverpool
City
Tottenham
3rd Best
City & United
Tottenham
United
City
Arsenal
United

In the Passing Analysis, Arsenal and City are a league above others in playing accurate passes and through balls. Chelsea and Liverpool are better crosser of the ball whereas United are better at playing Long balls.   The Possession stats for all the midfield also show that City again lead all other teams in keeping the ball. The above table shows that City has the best midfield passers yet in the EPL.

Defending Analysis:

Games
Tackles
Interceptions
Yellow Cards
Fouls
1st  Best
Tottenham
Liverpool
United
Chelsea
Tottenham
2nd Best
Chelsea
Arsenal
Tottenham
City
City
3rd Best
City & United
Chelsea
Liverpool
Tottenham & Liverpool
Liverpool


Liverpool are the best tacklers followed by Arsenal and Chelsea. Whereas United are better at intercepting Passes , followed by Spurs and Liverpool yet again. Interesting fact is that Chelsea having made 3rd most tackles yet in the EPL  but have recieved the least amount of Yellow cards, followed by City, Spurs & Liverpool. Spurs leads also in the amount of fouls made by the midfield. City and Liverpool follow Spurs closely in the department of making Fouls. It can be said from the table above that that Liverpool has a better defensive midfield than the rest.