Stats that quantify why we aren't good enough...

[Frang]

I was staggered how quickly the ball is racing toward the Everton half when Walcott and Coleman mainly Walcott have the ball deep in opposition half and on Tuesday I was disgusted with how cheaply we gave the ball to Leicester,the basics have escaped us badly

Top young coach is our Marco

How very dare you

 

[ToffeeTim]

It was simply a thought of course. We are kinda woeful in front of goal. But imagine if we kept the ball and got 4 or 5 more chances a game relative to the competition as a result?

Of course you would always like to create more but we still need to find the cutting edge to put them away.

There's no hunger from our players to get out the end of anything. And no composure when they do.

We have far too many players who think it's OK to only want to play in front of the opposition. They've no interest in getting in behind to stretch a team.

Everything we do needs to be quicker too. Playing with no intensity is pointless. It's easy to defend. It's lazy.

 

[Moomin]

We are third bottom in the form table, and our next game is against Bournemouth who are second bottom.

6 pointer next week.

 

[Big Fat Sam]

Cool, there's a Marco Silva thead for those types of complaints. You got a comment about our ball control and his tactics relative to it?

No mate.

 

[banno]

Makes sense. We can all see that Richarlison and Walcott are good in space or need space to run into but ball to feet with back to goal they are wasteful. They are crowded out quickly and with other players not showing quick enough for a pass they easily lose possession. Also the same Culprits try far too many flicks or attempt to ease the ball on which becomes instantly a percentage ball.

With our attacking style too many times we are beyond the ball awaiting the pass/cross which doesn't come because we lose it hence too many players in front of the ball equalling too many opposition players running freely at us. Ball retention or lack of it is costing us and stopping us dominating games.

 

[nsno-chris]

Makes sense. We can all see that Richarlison and Walcott are good in space or need space to run into but ball to feet with back to goal they are wasteful. They are crowded out quickly and with other players not showing quick enough for a pass they easily lose possession. Also the same Culprits try far too many flicks or attempt to ease the ball on which becomes instantly a percentage ball.

With our attacking style too many times we are beyond the ball awaiting the pass/cross which doesn't come because we lose it hence too many players in front of the ball equalling too many opposition players running freely at us. Ball retention or lack of it is costing us and stopping us dominating games.

This was evident so much against Leicester; however I’d still say it was tactics. Most good teams always have a spare man or 2 close to the ball carrier so the move can easily flow. Second half against Leicester and Digne broke, our 4 attacking players all went a good 15/20 yards in front of him with their backs to play. He was swamped because he had no outball and everyone was out of position.

That comes from training ground. Yet at the start of the season that wasn’t evident, they broke as a unit with one supporting the other

 

[TheVelourFog]

all of our front 3 try to dribble through the opposition, as opposed to the top teams who pass it around or over the opposition

and Messi they ain't

 

[Kurt.]

...most of you who have a brain and know anything about footy can see that our problems are not tactical, it is the quality on the ball. We simply don't have it.

A couple intersting tidbits on Whoscored:

We are DEAD LAST in "unsuccessful touches" and 2nd worst in the league in "dispossessed".

Think about that. Now those stats are a bit dubious and subjective. They are both going to be higher for any team that has the ball a lot. However, those are really high. To be high in one vs. the other might indicate some sort of tactical preference. But is this the fault of Marco Silva's particular tactics? Considering he's never been a Pep type coach that LOVES possession, I don't believe so. It's that our players aren't good enough with the ball.

Now Richarlison is the worst on the team in both categories, and I think it's definitely the weakest part of his game, but he's also been playing up top for us a bit. But Theo Walcott isn't producing like Richarlison and he's #2.

Being "dispossessed" is a relative stat as if you are holding the ball a lot, it's going to happen. Gomes is on the high end, but he has the ball more than anyone and leads our team in successful dribbles. Digne is high, but he averages over 2 key passes a game. Walcott is inexcusable. Coleman isn't great, either.

In terms of "unsuccessful touches", which is defined as 'bad control', against, Richarlison, but Walcott is right behind him. Bernard is high, but he's low on the dispossessed scale and he creates chances. He also is a good passer as his #'s indicate as such. Digne is unreal, he rarely makes a bad touch when we watch him and his numbers indicate the same. Coleman is again too high for his position. Gylfi is high, but he's average over 2 key passes a game and is usually doing so in the opposition's final 3rd.

Sooooo...my conclusions?

Even those we have a lot of possession, that we create a lot of chances, that we even have some decent dribbling numbers, those numbers are WAY too high.

The right side is indeed the problem, they aren't taking care of the ball, and it's pretty obvious. Coleman needs to sit down along with Walcott, but the team as a whole needs to do better. Silva might want to even consider sitting down Richarlison and playing Lookman out left, but he probably just needs a rest and better support.

I might do a more thorough analysis with those numbers relative to possession.

Stats can be used to prove/disprove just about anything. I prefer to use my eyes and judgement

 

[peteblue]

The only stat we need is the league table, it tells you everything.....

 

[GrumpyBlue]

2 Tottenham
3 Man City
4 Chelsea
5 Arsenal
6 Man Utd
7 Leicester
8 Watford
9 Wolves
10 West Ham
11 Everton
12 Bournemouth
13 Brighton
14 Crystal Palace
15 Newcastle
16 Burnley
17 Cardiff
18 Southampton
19 Fulham
20 Huddersfield


The only stat that matters really

 

[nsno-chris]

2 Tottenham
3 Man City
4 Chelsea
5 Arsenal
6 Man Utd
7 Leicester
8 Watford
9 Wolves
10 West Ham
11 Everton
12 Bournemouth
13 Brighton
14 Crystal Palace
15 Newcastle
16 Burnley
17 Cardiff
18 Southampton
19 Fulham
20 Huddersfield


The only stat that matters really

Missed the league leaders off mate. May as well set the misery free

 

[GrumpyBlue]

Missed the league leaders off mate. May as really set the misery free

No idea what you mean mate...

 

[TraffordBlue]

We obviously have certain positional problems but I think our biggest weakness at the moment is our lack of ability to face adversity and dig in to get a result when things go against us, and more simply us making costly errors.

I think unsuccessful touches and our players being dispossessed would be a more minor issue if we weren't gifting goals to the opposition. Pickford's error at Anfield wasn't related to that, Spurs' equaliser wasn't, West Ham's goals were down to poor goalkeeping and defending. Yesterday's Keane error would come down to an unsuccessful touch I suppose.

The team needs to find some heart and ability to fight back when under pressure.

 

[tim cahill]

We obviously have certain positional problems but I think our biggest weakness at the moment is our lack of ability to face adversity and dig in to get a result when things go against us, and more simply us making costly errors.

I think unsuccessful touches and our players being dispossessed would be a more minor issue if we weren't gifting goals to the opposition. Pickford's error at Anfield wasn't related to that, Spurs' equaliser wasn't, West Ham's goals were down to poor goalkeeping and defending. Yesterday's Keane error would come down to an unsuccessful touch I suppose.

The team needs to find some heart and ability to fight back when under pressure.

If our players kept the ball better then all of the goals mentioned above could been prevented. Just because the last mistake we made that led to the goal didn’t involve an unsuccessful touch or a player being dispossessed doesn’t mean that hasn’t contributed to us conceding.

If the opposition don’t have the ball they are very unlikely to score and were giving up possession far too cheaply recently.

 

[tim cahill]

The only stat we need is the league table, it tells you everything.....

No it doesn’t.