It feels like the piece missing from your analysis is something around set piece quantity and effectiveness. You have the open play side covered, but the game has shifted so much towards adding in set pieces on top of normal open play that it probably deserves some attention. Until the last coupe of years it felt like this area was more of an occasional bonus, but now it is a core competency for Arsenal (even if some muppets think it is ruining the league). I am not nearly as gifted on the stats and analysis side as you are, but I am sure there is something that could be added into this kind of an assessment. I think it would also explain some of the gap in the vibes-based view which is very much on the positive side of things vs. the numbers don’t lie view that looks less than rosy.
Yeah, when I first started it certainly was not nearly as much of a focus. The historical comps would be thrown off (but maybe that’s happening now with open play).
Thanks Scott. Shots proceed goals. Deep completions proceed shots. What proceeds deep completions? Healthy attackers. I don't think its overly optimistic to think that these KPIs improve over the next 10 game sample if Ode/Marti/Kai/Madueke/Gyok are fit. Unfortunately we have to be realistic that them staying fit is not guaranteed.
I think one of the reasons we see attacking numbers down, while our set piece goals are up, is that teams defend deep and we get more corners, I don't see it as an open play goal problem at all. If we had more open play goals, we would have fewer goals from corners and free kicks. I mean, it's pretty obvious. I am also not surprised that our attacking numbers are down when our entire attacking roster is on the treatment table. That seems obvious to me. I also think that if there is one stat that is of interest, it's that deep completion stat. But again without forwards, who are you going to hit with a deep completion? I think that the sample size is not big enough to be hyper critical of what Arsenal are all about, especially given that they are better than every other team trying to play the game. In the ONE stat that really matters, points on the board, we are the leaders. And that makes me happy.
Good stuff Scott!
It feels like the piece missing from your analysis is something around set piece quantity and effectiveness. You have the open play side covered, but the game has shifted so much towards adding in set pieces on top of normal open play that it probably deserves some attention. Until the last coupe of years it felt like this area was more of an occasional bonus, but now it is a core competency for Arsenal (even if some muppets think it is ruining the league). I am not nearly as gifted on the stats and analysis side as you are, but I am sure there is something that could be added into this kind of an assessment. I think it would also explain some of the gap in the vibes-based view which is very much on the positive side of things vs. the numbers don’t lie view that looks less than rosy.
Yeah, when I first started it certainly was not nearly as much of a focus. The historical comps would be thrown off (but maybe that’s happening now with open play).
Thanks Scott. Shots proceed goals. Deep completions proceed shots. What proceeds deep completions? Healthy attackers. I don't think its overly optimistic to think that these KPIs improve over the next 10 game sample if Ode/Marti/Kai/Madueke/Gyok are fit. Unfortunately we have to be realistic that them staying fit is not guaranteed.
I think one of the reasons we see attacking numbers down, while our set piece goals are up, is that teams defend deep and we get more corners, I don't see it as an open play goal problem at all. If we had more open play goals, we would have fewer goals from corners and free kicks. I mean, it's pretty obvious. I am also not surprised that our attacking numbers are down when our entire attacking roster is on the treatment table. That seems obvious to me. I also think that if there is one stat that is of interest, it's that deep completion stat. But again without forwards, who are you going to hit with a deep completion? I think that the sample size is not big enough to be hyper critical of what Arsenal are all about, especially given that they are better than every other team trying to play the game. In the ONE stat that really matters, points on the board, we are the leaders. And that makes me happy.