Stat Attack - Crystal Palace v AFCB

Written by Matt Stevenson

Here’s the xG from a very disappointing display. No shots on target says it all. We’ll look at the formation later, but the first 20 minutes were fairly sterile, with an xG of 0.06 for Palace and 0.07 for AFCB. Ayew then had a minor chance and Zaha a much bigger chance (2 in 5) with all the pressure coming from Palace with eventually Eze scoring (53%). Zaha tricked Zabarnyi, he isn’t the first and won’t be the last, with Ayew flicking the ball for an unmarked Eze to score. Looking at the highlights, Kelly had Eze although had to move to Ayew when he ran behind Rothwell. At half time the xG was Palace 1.50 and AFCB 0.13. The second half seemed a damp squib, the xG was 0.39 for Palace and 0.15 for AFCB so neither side deserved much although a rocket from Eze (1 in14) in the 58th minute sealed the game, the pass from Olise to Eze was also special. A day certainly to forget about from the AFCB perspective. As a side note, Anderson was lucky to escape a red card early on for a punch on Lerma, which could have changed the game, although this shouldn’t excuse the lack of an attacking threat.

Man of the match against Crystal Palace

Lerma

Kelly

Christie

Mepham

Neto

Someone else

There is the caveat that players could have been switching wings (I was listening on the radio so don’t know) but the clump of five players in the centre circle seems unusual. Billing (29) appears to be stationed near the right wing, with Mepham (6) behind him which seems a strange pair to play against Zaha. I’m not too sure what the plan was. We made 3 subs at 60 minutes. Brooks (7) for Billing (29), Smith (15) for Vina (18) possibly with Kelly (5) moving to the left of a back 4 with Mepham (6) central and Moore (21) for Christie (10). In the 73rd minute, Anthony (32) came on for Ouattara (11) and took a position on the left wing. In the 81st minute, Cook (4) came on for Rothwell (14) in a like-for-like swap.

Av Posit.JPG

Zabarnyi and Kelly had the most touches of the ball with 82 each. In the opposition half and final third Solanke had the most touches with 24 and 16 respectively.

We had 17 touches in the opposition’s penalty area, with Solanke having 5. Anthony managed 3 penalty area touches in his 20-minute cameo.

Zabarnyi attempted the most passes with 65. The average completion rate was 80%, with the best performers being Zabarnyi (92%) and Rothwell (90%). Of the starting 11 all players had 65% completion rate or higher which was not what I was expecting from the commentary. Lerma attempted the most passes in the opposition half (14) whilst Ouattara most passes in the final third.

AFCB attempted only 5 crosses, being successful 3 times, once from Christie, Ouattara and Rothwell.

Our players tried to take on a man 15 times, being successful 7 times. Christie had a 100% record and the highest number of successes with 3. Ouattara was quiet in this respect with only two attempts, being successful once.

We created 4 chances (none of them big) . Palace created 13 chances with two being big

We had 4 attempts (none big) noting that chances can be provided after saves, deflections or a defensive error and not created. We didn’t hit the target. Palace had 17 attempts, 2 big, hitting the target five times.

AFCB won 15 of 26 aerials duals with Mepham winning 4 from 5.

We made 32 tackles winning 20 with Kelly winning 4 out of 4, Mepham 3 out of 3, and Lerma winning 5 from 6.

Lerma had the most defensive actions with 17, with Kelly on 16. Lerma made most interceptions (3) and made most recoveries (11). Mepham made the most clearances (7) whilst five players made one block each.