A season in stats

Marouane Fellaini won more tackles, ground duels, aerial duels and made more passes than anyone else at the club.

Marouane Fellaini was also second in the league with 84 tackles, and won the ball 190 times in midfield, by far the most in the top flight.

Kind of blows away the "he's lazy" argument some know-nothings say about him. I think he also covers more ground than anyone else at the club.

12 ? Steven Pienaar attempted 4 more though-balls than anyone at the club, despite only playing 14 games.


Quite a startling stat. And a big reason why we were so shite the first half of the season.

Exactly James. We must sign him up, and get in another creative player on loan.

Fellaini's stats also impressive and for me, my Player of the Season would be:

1. Jelavic for making such a massive difference.
2. Pienaar for improving our play ten-fold
3. Fellaini for being a rock.

Without these 3 there is no way we would have made up so much ground after January.

Interesting stat - Baines-Evra-Cole comparison.

I like Evra and Cole, while always thinking Baines the best of the 3. But not by this much.

Ryan (227) - Couldn't agree more. Never understand the slagging off he gets in here sometimes.

Also, I realize Heitinga and Fella's fouls lead to free kicks nearer our goal, but at least they're letting attackers know it won't be easy the closer they get.

I'd also recommend the executionersbong statistical review of the season that tw links to, some very interesting statistics there :-

¡ö64% of our goals were scored in the second half ¨Conly Man City scores a higher %. We also score just 36% of our goals in the first half ¨C again, only Man City score a lower %.

¡öWe conceded 12.5 shots per game, which is an improvement on last year¡¯s total of 13.3 per game
¡öIn total we have kept 12 clean sheets, which is the best since our 2008/9 total of 17 ¨C still the highest in the Moyes era.
¡öHeitinga, Jagielka, Baines and Hibbert all have 9 clean sheets from games they have started in the back four. Distin has 7, Neville 5.
¡öOnly the Manchester clubs have conceded fewer, and only City fewer at home¡­with just 3 goals shipped at L4 since the Bolton
¡öOnly Liverpool (32%) spent more time in the opposition half than us (31%) This is often down to us pinning sides into their own half by closing off forward passing angles and ¡®boxing¡¯ them in. ¡öThe best passing accuracy recorded was Jack Rodwell at 87.6%; however the player who has filled his role Darron Gibson is second on 84.1%. Tellingly however, Gibson is more involved and makes 30% more passes per game than Rodwell. ¡öJags is ranked 10th in the top flight for most accurate long balls per game (6.6) with a 57% accuracy. Heitinga¡¯s accuracy was better ( 60%) and more accurate playing on the rightside of the centre back pair using his better right foot for the diagonal. Both were put in the shade by Gibson whose long passes hit their target 77% of the time. ¡öGibson has the best winning % (55%) although for the second season running Leon Osman¡¯s figures in terms of importance make him the key man; when he plays the Blues win 46% with a drop to 20% when he doesn¡¯t; the biggest drop in the squad.

The Fellaini and Baines stats - quite apart from the other useful things they do so well - explain why we are going to be lucky to fend off bid money bids for them this summer.

As for fouls commited - that's down to the decisions referees make. Its close to a meaningless statistic. I expect nothing from league refs, and usually get less.

So it's official - Tony Hibbert is a better defender than either Cole or Evra.

Who'd have thunk it

Fuck me Kevin, thats must be why the saying goes, lies, damned lies and statistics...

Pienaar's 4 though balls being the most shows how much we're crying out for a creative central midfielder,for far too long we been one dimensional,totally relient on crosses.Problem is we need at least 2 wingers before we can think about bringing a centre midfielder in.

Fellaini's stat's are very impressive.I wouldnt take much notice of all the fouls he commits,much the same way it happened to Duncan,ref's have in their head that there going to punish him even if he's done anything.

" Louis Saha scored 8 goals in his final 50 league games for Everton. Jelavic came in and scored 8 in his first 10 league games."

Hang your head in shame Louis.

Kevin, Kris - Why are Cole and Evra so much better than Tony? Because they're in the news more?

"18 ? Tony Hibbert was dribbled past more than any other defender at the club"

"Patrice Evra and Ashley Cole were both beaten 29 times".

They're better defenders than Hibbert how exactly?

And how much poorer defenders are they than Baines? Mr. All-offense, no-defense Baines.

Keith (289) - And may they both keep kicking. If we can get out fast, I'll bet a lot of those exact same challenges stop being called.

Everyone loving a winner and all.

Rodwell best passing ? The toffeelady has a longer pass yardage... she can spray it round everywhere sometimes ! Never backwards.

Well, that buggered my opinion of Hibbert.

I was never a fan, but I figured that, whilst he may have been useless with the ball (worst crosser, after all), at least you could rely on him doing a decent job in snuffing out the opposition winger. Apparently not.

As for Drenthe being our most efficient (though not most prolific) tackler...

Shows how much I know.

Also, I?d echo Dennis?s recommendation about checking out the Executioner?s Bong website, as well as Zonal Marking, which is where they unashamedly draw their influence from.

"Best Tackle % (+20 tackles) ? Drenthe 88%"

That can't be right. Drenthe's a liability who can't / won't / doesn't contribute anything without the ball, work back or tackle...isn't he?

James @ 375,

They are better defenders because they simply are better players - watching and understanding football provides more evidence to show this than any stat will. What the relatively meaning stat you have referenced doesn't consider is that Hibbo didn't come up against the likes of Lennon, Walcott or Valencia, who are a few of the only wide men in the league who actually take the full back on regularly. I'd also wager that Evra and Cole spent more minutes on the pitch than Hibbo did.

The Bad:
18 ? Tony Hibbert was dribbled past more than any other defender at the club.

Not necessarilly "The bad".

Look at Hibberts tackling style, Old fashioned slide tackling from the side. Two reasons for this, he can at times be deployed very narrow, too narrow for my liking and he often lets defenders come onto/past him before tackling them successfully.

Being dribbled past doesn't necessarily mean he was beaten.

Its a safer tactic as well you can try and tackle a winger head on, which is more difficult and if you dont win, youve been beaten. Tackling side on as a winger tries go past you is easier and safer.

"Watching and understanding football provides more evidence to show this than any stat will" . . . Indeed it will

You dont have to beat many of todays full backs, players like Evra, or indeed our own Bainsey. The stand so far off, the wingers are often able to deliver crosses unchallenged.

Tony Hibbert strength is that he makes it very difficult to get in a cross. in other words They generally HAVE to beat him first.

Full backs should be judged on how many crosses they allow tro come in from their side, thats their primary function

If as a full back you can force the winger to take you on and then make it impossible for him to deliver any sort of quality. . .thats job done

"Tony Hibbert strength is that he makes it very difficult to get in a cross. in other words They generally HAVE to beat him first." - Exactly Dave and they have only done is once every two games. Doesn't sound too bad when stated like that does it?

True Dave, although in the modern game there is a lot more to a full back's game than simply stopping crosses coming in. Hibbo has his strengths - most of which are defensive and therefore won't make any headlines - but he's not in the class of a Cole (hugely underrated in my opinion because he's slightly odious) or an Evra (excellent over the years but on the wane)

Tony, without wanting to be pedantic, Hibbo didn't play in 38 games and without checking the stats, I'd be pretty sure he didn't play 90 mins in all the games he did play.

Paul (341) I agree on the need for a creative midfielder but I also think a big part of that stat is having Jelavic up front who actually looks for through balls. It's no good trying to play them for people like Strac, Vellios and Cahill because they don't make the runs to utilise them. Hopefully next year the other midfielders will be looking for that type of pass more.

Jimmy makes a good point there. Jelavic is always up top on the last defenders shoulder. We haven't had that since we had a fit and firing Yak

He wasnt far away though Noel.
Surprisingly Hibbo played in 33 games last season (4sub)

Another interesting stat about him; For a man who inexplicably (for me at least) has a reputation for giving away penalties collecting red cards.He only recieved one yellow card all season.

slightly off topic but still stats

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/may/23/premier-league-accounts-profit-debt

RS's wage bill is sinful!

Noel (395) - "They are better defenders because they simply are better players".

Oh, haha, thanks for clearing that up.

They're both terrific players. Even allowing for the natural tendency to be more critical of our own team's players, I don't consider those 2, or any other defenders, to be better than our own.

James,

If you don't believe there is another defender out there better than those at Everton, then that's either blind faith, blissful ignorance or both. One thought does come to mind though: if you are so sure there are none better than Hibbo, why did you ask why others were suggesting Evra and Cole were better players and then point to some meaningless, apples vs oranges (i.e. right back vs left back) stat as if this were some sort of evidence that Hibbo is better?

Dave,

Oddly enough the only penalty or red card I can think of is the Clattenburg game.

I cringe when I see stats applied to football, George Best never played in a world cup so he must have been shit - not the greatest player these shores ever produced.

By the same reasoning the greatest player in English football was Phil Neal because no-one until Giggs had more medals.

Allardyce is the biggest advocate of this pseudo scientific shite, what an endorsement.

Statisics are the absolute truth. It's how idiots interpret them that is the problem.

Barry,

I agree as stats alone tell you nothing. But they can give an idea of what some players strengths are.

I bet stats could tell you Paul Holmes was a terrible defender, Paul Gerrard was a terrible keeper, and 'Jigsaw' Barlow was... well Jigsaw.

Great debate this ? I would say Hibbert has proved his worth and our defensive record in general backs that up. If he was mostly shite he would have been exploited on a regular basis. Anyway, don't you agree that he is the defender who is applauded most for his tackling? He is a consistent and strong tackler. And now a goalscorer... ;-)

Noel (494) - "if you are so sure there are "none" [my emphasis] better than Hibbo"

Never said that and you know it. I rate both Cole and Evra. I said "They're both terrific players".

But we're talking about back-liners. There ISN'T a great disparity among the top ones. I say Hibbert (with Heitinga, Baines, Jags, and Baines) easily belong with Cole and Evra and any others that make the telly more than our fellows. Or rather as you put it, my "blind faith, blissful ignorance or both".

You think ours aren't as good as them. Fine by me.

James,

At post 375 you asked why people believe Evra and Cole to be better players than Hibbert. I responded to that giving a reason why.

Then you said at post 460 "I don't consider those 2, or any other defenders, to be better than our own" in direct response to my saying that "those 2" are better players than Hibbert is.

Yet at post 782 you claim you never said that you believed there are none better than Hibbert.

For the record, your "you think ours aren't as good as them" is diversionary horse shit. The only one of ours I mentioned was Hibbert (aside from Drenthe) and the only comparison with others was my view that Cole and Evra are better players than him.

Noel - Again, my prompt was you saying, "They are better defenders because they simply are better players". Is that so? How easy. Who knew except you?

"Yet at post 782 you claim you never said that you believed there are none better than Hibbert".

"None better"? You made that up and come here saying I said it.

For the rest, you lept in slagging my opinion about one of our defenders; a damn good defender, Hibbert.

I, in turn, wondered why you thought mentioning Hibbert with Cole and Evra was up for debate.

Defenders are defenders because they're not good enough in the attack. Just like when we were kids.

Evra and Cole are goo backliners. But they'd have to play their way into our squad. Because we have the best group back there in the EPL.

You agree? Disagree?

Worst thing in TW is someone being boring responding to my post. You're on the edge.

James Flynn,

We do not have the best backline in the premier league. We conceded the less than all bar two which puts us third.

Also, that alone doesn't tell you what each player contributed in other ways I.e. Leighton Baines is a part of that defence but also gives a lot going forward.

Okay James, just to clarify, your comment (about Hibbert):

"I don't consider those 2, or any other defenders, to be better than our own."

And my saying you said there were "none better" (than Hibbert, who we were discussing) is me making things up to misrepresent you.

I never said mentioning Hibbo vs Cole & Evra is not up for discussion, simply that I don't think those stats were comparable for a right back versus a left back (e.g. they come up against different wingers every week)

Since you asked, I agree 100% they'd both struggle to get in our team, due to Baines. I don't agree we have the best defence overall - statistically or otherwise - but it's a strong one.

I do hope you don't find that a boring response to your post.

PS apologies for the late reply!