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Stats and Analysis Thread

NoodleWolf

NoodleWolf

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This was suggested last week and noticed it hadn't happened yet. A dedicated place to stick stats, analysis, plots and whatnot you've seen on Twitter or r/soccer or wherever. Or YoungWolf's blogs! Like this one:

silvani.substack.com

Eagles prey on struggling Wolves

A review of the Crystal Palace defeat and preview of Tuesday's game against Arsenal
silvani.substack.com silvani.substack.com
 
Nice one NW.

Rui's shot stopping has been a bit of a worry this season, I am hoping it’s a blip but it’s one to keep an eye on for sure
 
I wonder if the fact that he is closer to his goal when facing shots has anything to do with it? He's not the biggest keeper in the world. Or is that a reflection of us as a defensive unit playing deeper this season? Also massively noticable how much he misses Doc on goal kicks - massive drop in long completed passes
 
Not familiar with GK stats. I’m assume the distance to goal is the average distance from goal the shots are coming from, and is this stat only recording shots he's saved or all of them.

I guess the shear volume of penalties conceded and set pieces will cater for this dip if it’s “all shots”
 
Fullback chance creation stats
 

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Since Wolves were promoted back to the Premier League in 2018-19, they’ve always had at least eight or nine regular players, and played just 21 players in total. This season has seen a departure from that, with just four regulars and far more rotation players compared to 2018-19.

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This is also a pretty young team, though, if you take Rui Patricio out of the equation. The Portuguese has played every minute of the season so far, so skews things slightly at the age of 32. Taking him out, the average weighted age of the team goes from 26 years and 83 days to 25 years and 238 days, the equivalent of going from ninth-youngest to fourth.

Killer stat: Wolves are starting to settle on a squad for the mid to long-term, with an average tenure of 1.9 years per player. It’s been quite chop-and-change in recent seasons, and hasn’t been higher since 2011-12, when Wolves were last in (and relegated from) the Premier League.
 
Jinky said:
I *sort* of get this, as we just let teams have the ball - but it is a slight concern and something that needs to be worked on moving forward.
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Thinking about it a bit more, it totally plays into our counter attacking approach. We let the opposition piss about with it as much as they want but try to steal it off them when they get higher up the pitch. To transition to a high pressing team requires lots of changes. I don't think we do that, and try to be a possession based team and not have defenders who are better 1 v 1. For me, high pressing and possession based go hand in hand.
 
Jinky said:
I *sort* of get this, as we just let teams have the ball - but it is a slight concern and something that needs to be worked on moving forward.
Click to expand...
If we do want to progress into a more possession based style, getting hold of the ball more must surely be part of the plan
 
prawnking said:
If we do want to progress into a more possession based style, getting hold of the ball more must surely be part of the plan
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That’s not really what it’s about though is it? It’s where you get the ball, and what your defensive shape is if you don’t win it.

a possession based team is more about what you do when you have the ball than what you do when you don’t have it.
 
At our best in the last three seasons we don't press regularly but we did concentrate on winning the ball in the right areas - ie where we could pinch it and we're immediately in a dangerous position. Jota was great at it.

Seems to have gone out of the window this season (along with defending set pieces, marking properly, etc etc) but we were a bit better at it yesterday. A couple of times we picked Leicester off in their own half, even Adama did it once!

Any analysis thread where you include Newcastle has you scratching your head as to how they aren't sat bottom of the league on about 4 points.
 
Premier Quality said:
That’s not really what it’s about though is it? It’s where you get the ball, and what your defensive shape is if you don’t win it.

a possession based team is more about what you do when you have the ball than what you do when you don’t have it.
Click to expand...

Kind of difficult to be a team that's wants to dominate the ball if you're content to let the opposition have it for long periods though.

Of course it's not as simple as all possession heavy teams have to press high and all counter attacking teams have to sit in a low block or the latter enforcing the former in either case but they are generally tied together. Klopp's Dortmund team never really cared about possession but they always pressed frantically and turned the game into an almost constant state of transition, can't say as I can think of a good example of a passive defending possession based team off hand though.
 
MARKakaJIM said:
Kind of difficult to be a team that's wants to dominate the ball if you're content to let the opposition have it for long periods though.

Of course it's not as simple as all possession heavy teams have to press high and all counter attacking teams have to sit in a low block or the latter enforcing the former in either case but they are generally tied together. Klopp's Dortmund team never really cared about possession but they always pressed frantically and turned the game into an almost constant state of transition, can't say as I can think of a good example of a passive defending possession based team off hand though.
Click to expand...
Also difficult to maintain posesssion if you’re only getting the ball back in you’re own third with men behind the ball.

Firstly got to be composed to beat the press (taking a risk in a part of the pitch where if you lose it there’s a strong likelihood it will lead to a chance for the opposition), even if you do initially beat it you’ve got limited outlets ahead of the ball, then if you manage to get it to them they’ve then got to hold it for ages/ find a pass that allows you to push the whole team 50 yards up the pitch.

Whereas if your winning the ball in the middle third or in the attacking third your naturally already in position to impose yourself on your opponent or have the opportunity to go backwards which doesn’t result in a clearance from your GK/defender like it would if you go backwards in your own third.
 
Nuno said he wants to be a possession side, but he’s never said he wants to be a high pressing side. He’s a low block manager so far, I’ve seen nothing in this “transition” to suggest he’s trying to do anything else.
 
But the point is in order to dominate possession you need to win the ball back more often, so you need to press earlier rather than how we do.

We've generally been a mid-block team (annoyingly deeper since last June though) under Nuno, who is patient out of possession. Nothing wrong with that either, I've always enjoyed watching us in that approach and how we set traps, and counter attack.
 
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