andersj
Nick Powell Expert
Or maybe we dont. But lets do so anyway.
Some facts;
- We have conceded 12 goals in 12 games. Only three teams have been better; Liverpool (10), Sheff Utd (9) and Leicester (8).
- No team in the PL have conceded fewer chances according to expected goal stats, 11,10 exga in 12 games. Liverpool are close with 11,74.
- We also give away relatively few few shots in our own box, 5,6 per game. Man City give aways 5,4 per game, Chelsea 5,5 per game, Liverpool 6,3 per game and Leicester 5,7 per game.
What is really worth noticing is the improvement from last year when we
- conceded 54 goals in 38 games, 1,42 goals per game, 42 % more than this year,
- had an expga of 52,30, 1,38 xga per game (a similar improvement in other words)
- gave away 7,5 shots in the box per game
We have done this;
- Without an experienced/established midfielder in our team for most of the twelve games.
- We have lacked a proper DM all season. Matic looks even slower when he plays than last year (a decline we have seen since he arrived) and we lost our best experienced defensive midfielder in Herrera.
- We have played Young and a rookie at left back
Some will argue that its down to style, but our last coach was not exactly gung-ho either.
It is also worth noting that while we did concede fewer goals in 17/18 (28) stats indicate that was more down to de Gea that season (who was not human). We had an xga of 1,15 and gave away 6,9 shots in our box that year. Despite having both Matic (who was better then) and Herrera available to us.
In fact, the only period I can think of where we have been stronger for a longer period of time was probably the spell where Mourinho appeared to make Jones/Rojo into a good defence in 16/17 (up until Rojos injury).
Plenty in here moan about Maguire and Lindelof. And I agree that Lindelof has not been very good this season. But I do believe that the two of them are underrated and that stats support it. Particularly by a couple of posters in here who made up their minds early, as they favoured someone else.
Can we keep it up? Improve upon it? Or did I just jinx it with McT out injured after the break?
Some facts;
- We have conceded 12 goals in 12 games. Only three teams have been better; Liverpool (10), Sheff Utd (9) and Leicester (8).
- No team in the PL have conceded fewer chances according to expected goal stats, 11,10 exga in 12 games. Liverpool are close with 11,74.
- We also give away relatively few few shots in our own box, 5,6 per game. Man City give aways 5,4 per game, Chelsea 5,5 per game, Liverpool 6,3 per game and Leicester 5,7 per game.
What is really worth noticing is the improvement from last year when we
- conceded 54 goals in 38 games, 1,42 goals per game, 42 % more than this year,
- had an expga of 52,30, 1,38 xga per game (a similar improvement in other words)
- gave away 7,5 shots in the box per game
We have done this;
- Without an experienced/established midfielder in our team for most of the twelve games.
- We have lacked a proper DM all season. Matic looks even slower when he plays than last year (a decline we have seen since he arrived) and we lost our best experienced defensive midfielder in Herrera.
- We have played Young and a rookie at left back
Some will argue that its down to style, but our last coach was not exactly gung-ho either.
It is also worth noting that while we did concede fewer goals in 17/18 (28) stats indicate that was more down to de Gea that season (who was not human). We had an xga of 1,15 and gave away 6,9 shots in our box that year. Despite having both Matic (who was better then) and Herrera available to us.
In fact, the only period I can think of where we have been stronger for a longer period of time was probably the spell where Mourinho appeared to make Jones/Rojo into a good defence in 16/17 (up until Rojos injury).
Plenty in here moan about Maguire and Lindelof. And I agree that Lindelof has not been very good this season. But I do believe that the two of them are underrated and that stats support it. Particularly by a couple of posters in here who made up their minds early, as they favoured someone else.
Can we keep it up? Improve upon it? Or did I just jinx it with McT out injured after the break?