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