Stat Attack – Ipswich Town v AFC Bournemouth

Written by Matt Stevenson

Here is the xG from the Ipswich game. Ipswich’s best chance came early on (whilst I was still trying to get radio commentary) but Sky says that Delap puts it wide following a corner (rated 3 in 10). I still hadn’t got things sorted for Tavernier’s huge chance. Kerkez broke down the left crossed it for Tavernier who had to tap it in, but somehow scuffed it wide with his left foot when he should have gone with his right (rated 94%). There weren’t many chances until Ipswich scored. Following a long throw-in that caused problems, Burgess pulled the ball back cleverly for Chaplin to score (1 in 5). The next big incident was Ipswich’s disallowed goal. Delap was adjudged to have fouled Kepa, which was a decision that I doubt would have been overturned if not awarded and there was a mismatch at the far post with Cook marking Burgess who headed in. The rest of the half was uneventful, with scrappy chances, with a few more for AFCB. The xG at the interval was Ipswich 0.83 AFCB 1.27, although this was heavily influenced by Tavernier’s chance.

The second half started with AFCB having more dominance. Cook had a 1 in 10 effort in the 51st minute, and Kluivert miscued a 1 in 6 attempt in the 45th, but the next reasonably good chance (1 in 6) fell in the 66th minute to Unal who headed wide. From then to the 85th minute, Ipswich were the better team and had a 1 in 7 chance in the 70th minute when Szmodics’s hot was parried away by Kepa. Then in the 86th minute, the game changed. Kerkez played the ball through to Ouattara and Muric inexplicably came out to challenge allowing Ouattara to play the ball across to Unal to head in (2 in 3). It was now all Bournemouth, and in the 94th minute Billing played the ball wide to Semenyo and overlapped him to find Brooks, his shot (1 in 4) was saved by Muric, but the ball dropped kindly for Ouattara to slam it home (1 in 2). This was pretty much it and the final xG was Ipswich 1.32 AFCB 3.28 with Understat having it slightly closer with Ipswich 1.57 and AFCB 3.49 but still a comfortable victory margin.

There was 1 change to the team who beat Spurs with Cook replacing Adams (who was reported to have been rested following two 90 minutes in a short period after a long injury layoff). The full-backs Smith (15) and Kerkez (3) were advanced to the level of Christie (10) and Cook (4). Semenyo (24) started on the left wing, with Tavernier (16) on the right. Kluivert (19) played supporting Evanilson (9). The first subs came in the 64th minute at 1-0 down. Ouattara (11) replaced Kluivert, moving to the left, with Tavernier coming into the central midfielder spot and Semenyo moving to the right. The second sub was Unal (26) for Smith (15), a centre-forward for a right-back, with Cook moving to replace Smith and Unal playing alongside Evanilson. Ten minutes later, Brooks (7) replaced Tavernier, and playing centrally looking at the average positions, and Billing (29) replaced Evanilson but played as an advanced midfielder. At this point, from a radio commentary, working out the positions was difficult, and the last sub, at 1-0 down in the 86th minute changed things more. Hill (23) replaced Christie and Huijsen (2) was pushed forward into a makeshift centre-forward, with Hill apparently in centre-midfield. A minute later it was 1-1, but we kept pushing for the equaliser, although Huijsen dropped back alongside Zabarnyi (27).

Huijsen had the most touches with 82. Semenyo had the most touches in the opposition half and in the final third with 53 and 42 respectively.

Huijsen attempted the most passes with 69, Cook attempted the most in the opposition’s half (31) and Tavernier attempted the most in the final third (23). We averaged 81% pass completion. Of the starting 11, Smith, Huijsen and Tavernier had completed over 85%.

AFCB players tried to take on a man 21 times being successful 11 times (Semenyo was successful 6 times from 8 attempts).

AFCB players were tackled 20 times with Semenyo being tackled 6 times.

AFCB attempted 23 crosses, being successful with 3 (from Cook, Kluivert and Semenyo). Cook attempted 6 crosses.

AFCB had 41 touches in the opposition’s penalty area with Semenyo having 7 and Kluivert 10. Ipswich had 30 touches in our penalty area.

AFCB created 16 chances (4 big). Ipswich created 7 chances, 2 big. Kluivert created 3 chances with Billing, Ouattara and Semenyo 2 chances each. Billing created two big chances as did Ouattara and Kerkez.

We had 22 attempts (5 big) noting that chances can be provided after saves, deflections or a defensive error and not created. We hit the target 6 times. Ipswich had 18 attempts, 2 big, and hit the target 5 times. Kluivert and Semenyo had 4 attempts each, with the big chances falling to Ouattara 2, Tavernier and Unal.

AFCB won 19 of 44 aerials duals. Both Cook and Zabarnyi both won 4 out of 6.

AFCB won 23 of 31 tackles. Zabarnyi won 6 from 6, Semenyo 4 from 4 and Billing won 3 from 3.

Zabarnyi made the most defensive actions with 20 (a new season high). Huijsen made most interceptions (4), Christie, Semenyo and Zabarnyi made joint-most recoveries (10). Huijsen made most clearances (7) and Zabarnyi made four blocks

The Opta expected goals had Tavernier highest (1.01) largely due to the simple chance, followed by Unal at 0.78 and Ouattara at 0.62. For expected assists, Opta had Billing top at 0.41, Christie second with 0.28. I’m not sure why Kerkez isn’t getting a high assist for his cross to Tavernier.

The foul count was AFCB 13, Ipswich 7. Semenyo made most fouls (5) with Kerkez and Zabarnyi fouled twice each.

According to Opta, Kluivert made an error leading to a chance.