Anderson

Status
Not open for further replies.

Steven Seagull

Full Member
Joined
Aug 31, 2010
Messages
9,207
Location
The Clockwork Orange tulip technician.
Funny how the poor form of our wingers was rubbished by many when offered up as a reason why Scholes didn't play so well, and yet now it is already almost an early excuse for Anderson in case he doesn't light the game up on Wednesday.
He doesn't have to "light the game up" though does he? A solid performance where he stays involved and makes some good forward runs will be an improvement over the crap we've had in the last 2 games. That should be enough to keep his place too
 

Will Absolute

New Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2009
Messages
7,982
Location
Southern Ireland
Anderson's attitude and effort have been outstanding this season. No sulking about having to come off the bench.

Is he done with the sloppy passing and ready to consistently produce moments of magic like we saw on the weekend? I'm still not a believer.

But until United buy a midfielder, there is an opportunity there for Anderson to seize and to prove himself. Now is the time, and you sense by his attitude that Anderson knows it too.
Imo, too much is made of 'sloppy passing'. Anderson is an 'adventurous' passer in the Giggs mould. The day his pass completion stats equal the safety first Cleverley's, he won't be Anderson anymore.

For better or worse, Fergie has to let Anderson be Anderson. (not to say he can't improve his concentration and eliminate carelessness, but he's a risk-taker)
 

Brightonian

Full Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2012
Messages
14,138
Location
Juanderlust
Imo, too much is made of 'sloppy passing'. Anderson is an 'adventurous' passer in the Giggs mould. The day his pass completion stats equal the safety first Cleverley's, he won't be Anderson anymore.

For better or worse, Fergie has to let Anderson be Anderson. (not to say he can't improve his concentration and eliminate carelessness, but he's a risk-taker)
Agreed, it's half the reason he changes our play so much. And it's why they play so well together, but never look quite as good when there's only one of them playing. With just Cleverley we play a bit too safe, and with just Anderson we have too little control.
 

Skywarden

Full Member
Joined
May 18, 2009
Messages
7,785

marjen

Desperately wants to be like Noodle
Joined
Jul 11, 2009
Messages
8,643
Location
At the back post
Whatever you say about stats, him being higher than Ferdinand and Scholes is fecking impressive.

There's no way such a progressive passer as Anderson has any right to be placed higher than a CB like Rio.
 

Joemo

whistling in the wind
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Messages
8,342
Probably because most of his passes that don't reach their target are counted as off-target shots
 

teague

Full Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2005
Messages
460
Whatever you say about stats, him being higher than Ferdinand and Scholes is fecking impressive.

There's no way such a progressive passer as Anderson has any right to be placed higher than a CB like Rio.
He's only had one league start so far this season. That stat will surely come down soon enough.

In the champions league, where he has started three matches, his passing percentage is 85% which puts him behind, Rio, Carrick, Evans, Evra, Cleverley, Fletcher, Giggs, Rafael, Kagawa, Buttner, RvP and just on par with Rooney and Chicharito.
 

gooDevil

Worst scout ever
Joined
Oct 2, 2008
Messages
25,162
Location
The Kids are the Future
The top 20 passers by % in the EPL are:

1. Anderson 93.1 (Manchester United)
2. Arteta 93.0 (Arsenal)
3. Mertesacker 92.9 (Arsenal)
4. Ferdinand 92.6 (Manchester United)
5. Scholes 92.2 (Manchester United)
6. Ki Sung-Yeung 92.1 (Swanea)
7. Britton 92.0 (Swansea)
8. Chico 91.9 (Swansea)
9. Allen 91.7 (Liverpool)
10. Lescott 91.3 (Manchester City)
11. Nasri 91.2 (Manchester City)
12. Cleverley 91.2 (Manchester United)
13. Cahill 91.2 (Chelsea)
14. Evans 91.1 (Manchester United)
15. Gallas 90.6 (Tottenham)
16. Steven Taylor 90.6 (Newcastle)
17. Skrtel 90.6 (Liverpool)
18. Guly 90.4 (Southampton)
19. Mikel 90.3 (Chelsea)
20. Terry 90.2 (Chelsea)
 

Baxter

Full Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
11,738
In fairness his average passes are much less than the other players in that list.
 

Brightonian

Full Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2012
Messages
14,138
Location
Juanderlust
Basically, he's barely played this season, so no stats like this are worth much. And when he does get playing, I highly doubt it'll be the pass completion rate that is most impressive.
 

Jimy_Hills_Chin

Desperately wants to be ITK
Joined
Jun 26, 2010
Messages
10,892
Location
ITK
He's only had one league start so far this season. That stat will surely come down soon enough.
Exactly.

He doesn't have enough minutes under his belt for the stat to be taken seriously. Ando is the type is to have a match at 95% then one at 75% too. I would be surprised (pleasantly) if he is in the Prem top 20 accurate passers by the end of the season.
 

gooDevil

Worst scout ever
Joined
Oct 2, 2008
Messages
25,162
Location
The Kids are the Future
United's team passing % stats make for impressive reading.

1. Anderson 93.1
2. Ferdinand 92.6
3. Scholes 92.2
4. Cleverley 91.2
5. Evans 91.1
6. Vidic 90.5
7. Kagawa 90.1
8. Evra 89.4
9. Young 89.3
10. Welbeck 88.9
11. Buttner 88.6
12. Carrick 88.4
13. Rafael 88.2
14. Fletcher 87.5
15. Smalling 86.9
16. Valencia 86.8
17. Hernandez 84.6
18. Rooney 83.9
19. Nani 83.8
20. Giggs 82.9
21. Van Persie 82.3
22. Powell 77.3
 

Jimy_Hills_Chin

Desperately wants to be ITK
Joined
Jun 26, 2010
Messages
10,892
Location
ITK
We are joint second in Europe, with Bayern, for team pass completion. No prizes for guessing who is first.

Cynics will tell you that is because teams are now dropping off us and letting us have the ball whilst we zombie pass for a while until we hit Tony V.
 

Brwned

Have you ever been in love before?
Joined
Apr 18, 2008
Messages
50,855
You seem literally obsessed with stats.
Yeah, more than anyone else on here and I thought we had some right stat-geeks already! I like stats more than most but I only really find them useful when there's a huge range of opinions and they can be used to provide a tiny bit of clarity. It seems like there's a growing number of people that use stats as one of their main ways of judging a player which I find very strange.

Anyway, I agree that Anderson's limited playing time so far means that it's such a small sample range it shouldn't be paid attention to in any way. Regardless of that there's no doubt in my mind that Anderson has improved his passing consistency each year he's been here. It goes against the common theme that he hasn't improved in any way that was popular just 12 months ago and might even be popular now, but it was very evident. To provide a little evidence of that...

11/12: 442/514 - 86%
10/11: 567/684 - 83%
09/10: 466/584 - 80%

So it'll be no surprise to me to me to see him consistently in and around the 90% mark this year, particularly given our focus on possession play as a team this season.
 

Ekeke

Full Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2006
Messages
53,544
Location
Hope, We Lose
Exciting news lads. Ando has the highest pass completion rate in the Prem and the 5th highest in Europe.

http://www.whoscored.com/Statistics

:drool::wenger:
Does it really matter that much when he has made 0.3 key passes a game? Arteta is second by 0.1% and he creates a chance 1.2 times per game. He also plays deeper. 0.3 is slightly less than Evans btw.

Anderson also has 0.3 dribbles per game so far... Not too inspiring when its probably the best part of his game
 

Theon

Lord of the Iron Islands
Joined
Oct 14, 2011
Messages
13,292
We are joint second in Europe, with Bayern, for team pass completion. No prizes for guessing who is first.

Cynics will tell you that is because teams are now dropping off us and letting us have the ball whilst we zombie pass for a while until we hit Tony V.
Well that's certainly a factor. Our passes haven't been the most expansive this season. Players like Clev, Young are constantly playing the safe pass.
 

MrMojo

New Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2011
Messages
3,629
Location
Manchester
Yeah, more than anyone else on here and I thought we had some right stat-geeks already! I like stats more than most but I only really find them useful when there's a huge range of opinions and they can be used to provide a tiny bit of clarity. It seems like there's a growing number of people that use stats as one of their main ways of judging a player which I find very strange.

Anyway, I agree that Anderson's limited playing time so far means that it's such a small sample range it shouldn't be paid attention to in any way. Regardless of that there's no doubt in my mind that Anderson has improved his passing consistency each year he's been here. It goes against the common theme that he hasn't improved in any way that was popular just 12 months ago and might even be popular now, but it was very evident. To provide a little evidence of that...

11/12: 442/514 - 86%
10/11: 567/684 - 83%
09/10: 466/584 - 80%

So it'll be no surprise to me to me to see him consistently in and around the 90% mark this year, particularly given our focus on possession play as a team this season.
I think most people could be forgiven for not picking up on a 3% increase in passing accuracy.

I'm not sure how much stock I can put into such a marginal statistical improvement, it will obviously waver by a few percent each year and could be affected by various factors like dead rubber sub appearances, low quality opposition etc.

This year is the first in four that he's improved in my opinion, give him a five game run Fergie and then we can start to properly assess.
 

I'm always right

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Dec 4, 2009
Messages
15,912
Location
Mêlée Island
Does it really matter that much when he has made 0.3 key passes a game? Arteta is second by 0.1% and he creates a chance 1.2 times per game. He also plays deeper. 0.3 is slightly less than Evans btw.

Anderson also has 0.3 dribbles per game so far... Not too inspiring when its probably the best part of his game
Well, considering the stats include appearances as a sub, that's hardly surprising is it?

"Inspiring" wouldn't be the word if he was anywhere near Arteta considering this, "superman" would be.
 

Ekeke

Full Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2006
Messages
53,544
Location
Hope, We Lose
Well, considering the stats include appearances as a sub, that's hardly surprising is it?

"Inspiring" wouldn't be the word if he was anywhere near Arteta considering this, "superman" would be.
I dont expect him to be near Arteta, he's not as good a player. But perhaps wait for him to create a couple more oppertunities than Evans before we start celebrating.
 

I'm always right

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Dec 4, 2009
Messages
15,912
Location
Mêlée Island
I dont expect him to be near Arteta, he's not as good a player. But perhaps wait for him to create a couple more oppertunities than Evans before we start celebrating.
You're still not understanding, Evans and Arteta start most games don't they? And because of that they have 90 mins to make key passes right?

That stat does not tell us how many key passes a player makes per 10 minutes on the field. It simply divides the key passes made by a player by the number of appearances the player has made, so Anderson's 5 minutes against Everton away... yep, that is included in the equation.

You either don't understand the stat or you're on a bizarre wind up.
 

Brightonian

Full Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2012
Messages
14,138
Location
Juanderlust
Ffs he's barely played! It doesn't matter whether you're using them to show him in a good or bad light, the stats are a pointless way of analysing his performances. Just use your eyes instead.

When he's had the run of ten or more games that he should have already, maybe then these sorts of stats might actually mean something, although they still won't be any substitute for a bit of common sense judgement based on watching him play.
 

Ekeke

Full Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2006
Messages
53,544
Location
Hope, We Lose
You're still not understanding, Evans and Arteta start most games don't they? And because of that they have 90 mins to make key passes right?

That stat does not tell us how many key passes a player makes per 10 minutes on the field.

You either don't understand the stat or you're on a bizarre wind up.
I knew before you mentioned it that he's been a sub all the time. He has 2 this season including appearances, all in one match.
 

Brwned

Have you ever been in love before?
Joined
Apr 18, 2008
Messages
50,855
I think most people could be forgiven for not picking up on a 3% increase in passing accuracy.

I'm not sure how much stock I can put into such a marginal statistical improvement, it will obviously waver by a few percent each year and could be affected by various factors like dead rubber sub appearances, low quality opposition etc.

This year is the first in four that he's improved in my opinion, give him a five game run Fergie and then we can start to properly assess.
a) People did pick up on the 3% difference, there were various people commenting on Anderson putting in performances like his 98/103 passes or whatever it was v Bolton and a couple of other teams, and he got plenty of praise for improving his passing game. It's just people easily forget when it comes to Anderson because he's in and out of the team so many times and the frustration boils over with him, which is why you get such ludicrous opinions like those of pocco writing him off as an average player only a few weeks ago...

b) 3% is not what I'd call a marginal difference. 3% is the difference between Scholes and Carrick, or Carrick and Gerrard. This season and every season. It's entirely representative of the difference in ball retention between these players. Of the 283 players to play 7 league games or more this year, over 150 have a passing accuracy of 80% or more. The difference between #1 and and #150 is 12.4% - this suggests to me 3% is a pretty significant difference but hey-ho what do I know.
 

Brwned

Have you ever been in love before?
Joined
Apr 18, 2008
Messages
50,855
I knew you'd like it. Your love for Anderson far outweighs your dislike for me!
 

Ekeke

Full Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2006
Messages
53,544
Location
Hope, We Lose
He's started just 1 PL match right?
Think so. Plus 78 mins from the bench at various times.

Both key passes came against QPR so up until that 31 minute involvement he hadn't made a one yet. Good to see him making it happen this week, but back to the point of waiting before we blow trumpets.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.