How would you begin to compare the teams at the top of the Premier League in terms of attacking efficiency? The team with the most points is the most efficient? Yes, of course, but let’s suppose we drill down to individual players and find a means of comparing them
Let’s begin by suggesting that a player getting an assist (yep, many will just say, ‘it’s just a pass’) is on a par with scoring a goal as without the crucial ‘pass’ the goal would not have occurred. So a player who achieves an assist or goal has affected the match outcome. Therefore if we total goals and assists for each player and work out how often these occur per match, we can get a rough guide to a player’s individual attacking effect for his team
Some Terminology
Agp – Actual games played = Total minutes/90
GA/app – Goal & Assist efficiency per app (Total goals + Total assists)/(Agp)
Next, we could rank a player’s GA/app
Range (GA/app):
0.26 – 0.75 ( goal or assist per app ) (Average)
0.76 – 1.25 ( goal or assist per app ) (Good)
1.26 – 1.75 ( goal or assist per app ) (Outstanding)
If we examine the top 5 leagues in Europe, only 4 players fall into the ‘Outstanding’ range:
(Ligue 1) Ibrahimovic (27 goals, 11 assists, 2032mins, 25apps, 22.58Agp) = 1.68 GA/app
(La Liga) Lionel Messi (22 goals, 11 assists, 2009mins, 25apps, 22.32Agp) = 1.48 GA/app
(La Liga) Suarez (26 goals, 15 assists, 2520mins, 28apps, 28.00Agp) = 1.46 GA/app
(La Liga) Neymar (21 goals, 14 assists, 2336mins, 26apps, 25.96Agp) = 1.34 GA/app
Ibra (soon to be an Arsenal player J ) is playing in the dodgy French League, admittedly, but his stats have been superb throughout his career, so aren’t to be sniffed at.
Not surprisingly Barca’s frontline has the other three outstanding players (therefore we were always going to be on a hiding to nothing against such quality).
Now taking this idea to the Premier League, below is a rough guide on the “Attack – goal & assist efficiency” for the current Top 4 sides in the PL table.
We’ve mainly included those playing fairly regularly (at least 1/3 of total PL matches, i.e. 12 or 13 appearances and more) and only attacking midfielders and forwards.
Arsenal
Midfield
Ozil (5 goals, 18 assists, 2430mins, 28apps, 27.00Agp) = 0.85 GA/app
Ramsey (5 goals, 3 assists, 2218mins, 25apps, 24.64Agp) = 0.32 GA/app
Cazorla (0 goal, 3 assists, 1204mins, 14apps, 13.38Agp) = 0.22 GA/app
Oxlade-Chamberlain (1 goal, 1 assist, 924mins, 22apps, 10.27Agp) = 0.19 GA/app
Forwards
Giroud (12 goals, 4 assists, 1936mins, 30apps, 21.51Agp) = 0.74 GA/app
Sanchez (7 goals, 4 assists, 1746mins, 22apps, 19.40Agp) = 0.57 GA/app
Walcott (4 goals, 3 assists, 1288mins, 22apps, 14.31Agp) = 0.49 GA/app
Campbell (3 goals, 2 assists, 866mins, 16apps, 9.62Agp) = 0.52 GA/app
For interest
Welbeck (3 goals, 0 assist, 276mins, 5apps, 3.07Agp) = 0.98 GA/app
Iwobi (1 goal, 0 assist, 123mins, 6apps, 1.37Agp) = 0.73 GA/app
Brief Assessment
Mesut has tended to carry to team to some extent. The otherwise unproductive midfield has been a huge disappointment. Santi has played in the deeper role to be fair, but Rambo and the Ox have not given us anywhere near the threat they are capable of.
Our forwards have generally struggled to contribute. Giroud has the best stats but as an out and out centre forward, you would probably expect that. Theo and Alexis have struggled to hit a decent run of form and Joel has spent much of his pitch time defending.
Leicester City
Midfield
Albrighton (1 goal, 7 assists, 2440mins, 31apps, 27.11Agp) = 0.30 GA/app
Dyer (1 goal, 1 assist, 227mins, 12apps, 2.52Agp) = 0.79 GA/app
Forwards
Mahrez (16 goals, 10 assists, 2468mins, 30apps, 27.42Agp) = 0.95 GA/app
Vardy (19 goals, 8 assists, 2723mins, 31apps, 30.26Agp) = 0.89 GA/app
Okazaki (5 goals, 2 assists, 1638mins, 29apps, 18.20Agp) = 0.38 GA/app
Ulloa (3 goals, 3 assists, 684mins, 23apps, 7.60Agp) = 0.79 GA/app
Brief Assessment
Leicester City have produced amazing conversion rate stats with Mahrez & Vardy giving standout performances throughout the season. Ulloa has proved a super sub with high figures for low performance numbers. They seem to have little of the ball, allow the opposition plenty of shots, but convert an abnormally high number of their own chances.
Tottenham Hotspur
Midfield
Alli (7 goals, 9 assists, 2128mins, 29apps, 23.64Agp) = 0.68 GA/app
Eriksen (6 goals, 9 assists, 2312mins, 28apps, 25.69Agp) = 0.58 GA/app
Chadli (3 goals, 2 assists, 869mins, 22apps, 9.66Agp) = 0.51 GA/app
Lamela (3 goals, 5 assists, 1852mins, 28apps, 20.58Agp) = 0.39 GA/app
Forwards
Kane (21 goals, 1 assist, 2741mins, 31apps, 30.46Agp) = 0.72 GA/app
Heung-Min Son (2 goals, 1 assist, 856mins, 21apps, 9.51Agp) = 0.32 GA/app
Brief Assessment
Totteringham seem to have found a balance, with everyone chipping in. Even those we may have previously regarded as reject such as Chadli and Lamela have performed fairly well.
Manchester City
Midfield
De Bruyne (5 goals, 9 assists, 1556mins, 19apps, 17.29Agp) = 0.81 GA/app
Silva (2 goals, 10 assists, 1678mins, 22apps, 18.64Agp) = 0.64 GA/app
Toure (6 goals, 5 assists, 2037mins, 26apps, 22.63Agp) = 0.49 GA/app
Navas (0 goal, 4 assists, 1639mins, 26apps, 18.21Agp) = 0.22 GA/app
Forwards
Aguero (16 goals, 2 assists, 1785mins, 23apps, 19.83Agp) = 0.91 GA/app
Iheanacho (3 goals, 1 assist, 414mins, 20apps, 4.6Agp) = 0.87 GA/app
Bony (4 goals, 2 assists, 1030mins, 21apps, 11.44Agp) = 0.52 GA/app
Sterling (6 goals, 2 assists, 1792mins, 28apps, 19.91Agp) = 0.40 GA/app
Brief Assessment
Aguero is class as we all know. De Bruyne’s injury seemed to wreck any chance City had of winning the title everyone thought was theirs. Iheanacho has excellent figures like Ulloa’s.
How about the stats of some of the other players who’ve had good seasons in the Prem?
Would they make a good shopping list of Premiership-ready purchases for the summer?
West Ham
Payet (8 goals, 8 assists, 1952mins, 23apps, 21.69Agp) = 0.74 GA/app
Liverpool
Firmino (8 goals, 8 assists, 1570mins, 25apps, 17.44Agp) = 0.92 GA/app
Everton
Lukaku (18 goals, 6 assists, 2514mins, 29apps, 27.94Agp) = 0.86 GA/app
Watford
Ighalo (15 goals, 5 assists, 2567mins, 30apps, 28.52Agp) = 0.70 GA/app
Chelsea
Costa (11 goals, 6 assists, 2017mins, 24apps, 22.41Agp) = 0.76 GA/app
Written by JM