Stat Attack – AFCB v Wolves

Written by Matt Stevenson

I’ve decided to add a TLDR at the top of the stats too.

But first the simple statistic. We are 2 points better off than the corresponding games last season. It’s beginning to look worrying as we are unlikely to beat Liverpool and Spurs later in the season.

The TLDR

At half time we had been the better team, although there were few chances

Cook’s send off stifled all our attacking threat

Only 7 touches in the opposition penalty area – the previous lowest was 23 which was away at Liverpool

We were only successful with 1 cross from 14

We only won 8 of 29 aerial duals

Philip posted impressive stats although was credited by Opta for the mistake which led to the goal, although many would be looking towards Neto..

Yet again this was 0 points, but it felt like a kick in the teeth. The xG timeline shows that Wolves had a big chance in the 5th minute, but this wasn’t from Neto’s shot but from the follow up after poor play by our Neto where Hee-Chan got his head on the ball (rated 1 in 2). After this Wolves had an xG of 0.11 before half time. AFCB had Solanke’s goal (rated 3 in 5) which seems high but also half chances (about 1 in 8) for Solanke. The game was dull, but we were 1-0 and at half time it was AFCB 0.95 and Wolves 0.75. % minutes into the second half it had all gone wrong. Wolves broke and Cunha scored with a good finish (rated 1 in 14) then Cook saw red multiple times. He first hacked down Hee-Chan, then as they went into alpha-male mode put his head forward. Whilst the Wolves’ forward wouldn’t have been hurt it was a clear red. From that moment on, our xG was 0.07 whereas Wolves’ piled forward adding 1.52, with the biggest chance falling to Hee-Chan who slashed a half follow wide after Neto had parried it into a dangerous area (rated 1 in 3). For all the chances, it was still 1-1 at 88 minutes and we might have earned a battling point. But, and I’m being generous here, Neto sensed we could win it and played a goal kick to Philip on the edge of the box, he didn’t control it well, turned and with the ball stuck under his feet was bundled over. It was a debatable foul, but the ref didn’t give it and two quick passes later Kalajdzic was through tucking it inside Neto’s left post (rated 1 in 2). Kelly’s reaction towards Neto spoke volumes. At the final whistle, the XG was AFCB 1.02, Wolves 2.30 (understat) and AFCB 0.63 Wolves 2,35 (Opta).

The data I can access doesn’t allow average positions to be split by time, so the starting formation will be distorted by Cook’s sending off. The back 4 was as expected, Cook (4) being in front of Philip (29) must be due to Philip dropping deep after the send-off. Brooks (7) and Scott (14) were substituted soon after we went to 10 men, so their positions should be accurate, these were replaced by Christie (10) and Rothwell (8). Outtara (11) directly replaced Tavernier (16) presumably due to his pace on the counterattack. Just before the Wolves winning goal, Moore (21) replaced Solanke (9) presumably with the intention of holding the ball up and being good at set pieces and Senesi (25) replaced Kerkez (3) with Kelly (5) moving to left back, according to the Solent commentary.

Kelly had most touches with 56 followed by Philip (51). Philip had most touches in the opposition half with 31. Tavernier had had most touches in the final third with 21 out of his 33 touches.

We only had 7 touches in the opposition’s penalty area, Solanke having 4. This is extremely low, the previous lowest value was 23 away at Liverpool.

Kelly attempted 41 passes followed by Zabarnyi (36). Philip and Brooks attempted most in the opposition’s half (18) with Tavernier attempting most in the final third (12) with Brooks close behind.. We averaged 75% completion, with Tavernier and Philip of the starting 11 having the best returns 88% and 84% respectively.

AFCB attempted 14 crosses, being successful with 1 (from Kerkez). I’m presuming crosses must be aerial, as Philip assist to Solanke was not counted.

Our players tried to take on a man 25 times being successful 8 times. There were no stand-out performers for AFCB in this respect with our 32% success rate disappointing, Kerkez will be disappointed with zero from 3 attempts.

We created 6 chances (none big). Wolves created 18 chances with two of them big. Hee-Chan’s effort in the 73rd minute and Kalajdzic‘s goal.

We had 7 attempts (one big) noting that chances can be provided after saves, deflections or a defensive error and not created. We hit the target four times. Wolves had 21 attempts, 4 big, and hit the target 7 times.

AFCB won only 8 of 29 aerials duals. Between them, Solanke, Philip, Kelly and Kerkez won 2 out of 17

We won 18 out of 27 tackles with Philip winning 3 from 3

Philip had most defensive actions with 15. Philip made most interceptions, Neto made most recoveries, Philip and Kelly made most clearances whilst 5 players made 1 block each.

According to Opta, AFCB made one error leading to a shooting chance and goal. This was the madness in the 89th with the mistake being credited to Philip, although many would claim that the decision by Neto to pass him the ball was the initial mistake.

Four players conceded 2 fouls, with three of our players being fouled twice.

The Opta expected goals had Solanke (0.48) as most likely to score for AFCB with Rothwell next highest on 0.06. For assists, only Philip (0.56) and Brooks (0.11) were above 0.10. AFCB had an xGc of 2.35 and conceded 2.

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Your say…

AFCBmattjamr wrote…

Wolves and Everton were the real test and to take 0 points from those is unacceptable. I don’t think his ‘style’ (can you even call it that) of play works in the premier league, especially with the personnel we have.
We brought him in to take us to the next level and after 9 games we look arguably worse than last season.
GON got his first-ever management job and managed to grind out some points pretty quickly – AI hasn’t been able to do that.

It’s a real shame because I really like the guy but we need points sooner rather than later.

His old club currently sits 8th in La Liga so maybe he wasn’t as instrumental to his success as we were led to believe.- To join the conversation, click here.