This seasons stats.

[ExiledAjax]

10 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Shots conceded would've been useful too, but I digress.

689. Second highest in the division behind Charlton. 

211 on target allowed. Only 3 clubs allowed more.

14.98 per game.

14.39 at home, 15.57 away.

To borrow your phrase "quite woeful".

 

[IAmNick]

One that surprised me a bit was that I think the average age of our starting 11 was 26.3 years, 10th oldest in the division. For some reason I assumed we had a comparatively young team - but I suppose from memory we struggled to even put the youngster on the bench at times this season.

Really disappointing.

[ExiledAjax]

10 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Bentley's high save ratio- he was one of the top 5 or 6 IIRC

9th. Save % of 70.2. The top keeper was Rodak at Fulham with 76.7%. Bentley was fine, a solid Champ keeper. Did as good a job as Smithies, and better than Woodman at play-off achieving Cardiff and Swansea. Difference being Smithies faced only half the number of shots on target, Woodman about 60%. Let that sink in.

He's not the greatest keeper ever but we can get top 6 with Bentley in goal.

[Curr Avon]

22 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

Eliasson. Personally I hope we are retaining his services until the new manager gets appointed and can take a look at him. He may not have worked in the 352 under LJ but in certain formations and systems, and under a different man, he could be exceptional. Whether a new manager wants to use such a system none of us can tell, but hopefully we can at least give the new man that decision to make himself.

I would love City to play a high pressing 4-3-3, similar to Brentford, with Niclas on the left of the front three.

[Portland Bill]

Under 50% possession over a season, this from a manager who told us we were a passing side, sums LJ’s management up. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

10 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

9th. Save % of 70.2. The top keeper was Rodak at Fulham with 76.7%. Bentley was fine, a solid Champ keeper. Did as good a job as Smithies, and better than Woodman at play-off achieving Cardiff and Swansea. Difference being Smithies faced only half the number of shots on target, Woodman about 60%. Let that sink in.

He's not the greatest keeper ever but we can get top 6 with Bentley in goal.

Thanks.

I remember seeing weekly stats in The Game through periods of season that had him top 5/top 6 for saves. Think it possible I'm talking about total saves whereas you're talking about % saved of those faced?

Maybe that tailed off too, total saves?

[Mr Popodopolous]

2 minutes ago, Portland Bill said:

Under 50% possession over a season, this from a manager who told us we were a passing side, sums LJ’s management up. 

Playing a central two, or a three which contained Palmer (and to an extent Paterson) isn't IMO a way in which a side takes the initiative through control of the ball.

[ExiledAjax]

9 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Thanks.

I remember seeing weekly stats in The Game through periods of season that had him top 5/top 6 for saves. Think it possible I'm talking about total saves whereas you're talking about % saved of those faced?

Maybe that tailed off too, total saves?

He was up in the top half dozen by % early on yes. I can't set the stats to look at it precisely but I definitely did a hefty post on here at some point after about 15 games all about him. He tailed off after his baby and then after Christmas, as many people noticed.

Still, 70% is a decent ratio. If we can reduce the amount of work he has to do, reduce it to somewhere down to just a couple of shots on target each game, then we should be down under 50 goals conceded. That then means we only need to score 65 to get +15 GD, which is about the GD of your average top 5 team.

[Mr Popodopolous]

With regards to the interception points raised higher up the thread.

Gave this a bit of thought. Better for possession based sides? I do believe that Interceptions and strategic pressing are steadily overtaking tackling. Probably rather better in a side that controls the ball more often than not though!

[Davefevs]

11 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Interesting stats...and a lot of it not good!

Shots conceded would've been useful too, but I digress.

Is this for all competitions? I'm personally most interested in the League as the Cup was nothing that exciting or interesting this year.

Around 10 shots per game is quite woeful.

Under 50% possession and under say 75% passing accuracy is indicative of a lack of control.

16 tackles per game isn't too bad-I'd argue tackling is on the decrease, interceptions and screening part of the direction of travel but stats may well prove me wrong!

The clinical nature of our strikers, with not a lot of creativity- this being borne out with the shots and possession, arguably the passing accuracy too- is heartening. Absolutely. It's something to build on, that and Bentley's high save ratio- he was one of the top 5 or 6 IIRC, which was in part due to the fact we were conceding quite a lot of chances.

These are two positives to build on but there's a lot of work- not necessarily in terms of squad IMO but tactics, setup, mindset- control- to be done!

May have to reassess my views a bit on Williams- I still think he's too old and worry about him in even a medium, let alone higher block- but the most interceptions and passes, credit where it's due there.

Here’s Wyscout’s data 

@ExiledAjax thought you might like too.

 

[ExiledAjax]

2 minutes ago, Curr Avon said:

I would love City to play a high pressing 4-3-3, similar to Brentford, with Niclas on the left of the front three.

The Benhrama/Mane role?

9 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

With regards to the interception points raised higher up the thread.

Gave this a bit of thought. Better for possession based sides? I do believe that Interceptions and strategic pressing are steadily overtaking tackling. Probably rather better in a side that controls the ball more often than not though!

Surely a possession based side would be expected to have fewer interceptions, same as they'd expect to make fewer tackles.

The key bit of data is what happens after the interception. If the action immediately following the interception is a pass then does it go forwards, backwards or sideways? Does it tend to go to a defender, a midfielder, a striker or a goalie? Do we retain possession beyond that initial pass or are we being immediately counter-pressed and losing the possession we've just won. Where on the pitch is all of this happening? I'd love to be able to take a look at this kind of detail.

Anecdotally I suspect that the majority of our interceptions happened in our own third of the pitch, and that the answer to my questions above are "backwards, defender/goalie". We didn't play the high press this season. Intercepting in your own half means you still have a lot to do if you're going to successfully counter-attack. Our shite passing stats show we failed to counter through the middle and instead often regressed to a long pass up to no-one in particular. Brings me back to my line that we were a counter-attacking side that forgot how to counter or attack.

[ExiledAjax]

7 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Here’s Wyscout’s data 

@ExiledAjax thought you might like too.

 

I may treat myself to wyScout for next season tbh.

Pass accuracy forward and into the final 3rd. 65.7% and 54.57% respectively. Is that good? Seems low on the face of it, likewise smart passes and progressive passes. Also, I presume those figures are per game - ie we averaged 134.61 forward passes per game. Suspect that is about mid-table.

[Mr Popodopolous]

18 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

The Benhrama/Mane role?

Surely a possession based side would be expected to have fewer interceptions, same as they'd expect to make fewer tackles.

The key bit of data is what happens after the interception. If the action immediately following the interception is a pass then does it go forwards, backwards or sideways? Does it tend to go to a defender, a midfielder, a striker or a goalie? Do we retain possession beyond that initial pass or are we being immediately counter-pressed and losing the possession we've just won. Where on the pitch is all of this happening? I'd love to be able to take a look at this kind of detail.

Anecdotally I suspect that the majority of our interceptions happened in our own third of the pitch, and that the answer to my questions above are "backwards, defender/goalie". We didn't play the high press this season. Intercepting in your own half means you still have a lot to do if you're going to successfully counter-attack. Our shite passing stats show we failed to counter through the middle and instead often regressed to a long pass up to no-one in particular. Brings me back to my line that we were a counter-attacking side that forgot how to counter or attack.

What I mean I guess is Interceptions seem more if a natural fit with possession and pressing based football.

Was it Alonso who once said that if he tackled it's owing to a mistake something like that.

Yes we failed to counter through the middle and often being outnumbered was a reason. 

Think mix of interceptions and pressing- in the right zones- can lead to a quick turnover and strong counterattacking game. Amazed though given the shortcomings that we finished 12th!

[The Coach]

3 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

What I mean I guess is Interceptions seem more if a natural fit with possession and pressing based football.

Was it Alonso who once said that if he tackled it's owing to a mistake something like that.

Yes we failed to counter through the middle and often being outnumbered was a reason. 

Think mix of interceptions and pressing- in the right zones- can lead to a quick turnover and strong counterattacking game. Amazed though given the shortcomings that we finished 12th!

I believe that was Maldini 

[Davefevs]

5 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

I may treat myself to wyScout for next season tbh.

Pass accuracy forward and into the final 3rd. 65.7% and 54.57% respectively. Is that good? Seems low on the face of it, likewise smart passes and progressive passes. Also, I presume those figures are per game - ie we averaged 134.61 forward passes per game. Suspect that is about mid-table.

I haven’t forgotten that I need to send you some team data, the bit of downtime I had was creating the Reading and Hull stuff, and updating the dashes up to date.