Chelsea Individual Statistics, October 2011

[Melanicus 5,208]

The big improvement in method for this update is the inclusion of a baseline from last season for certain statistical categories and an accompanying change in the coloring scheme. The way it goes now is:

• If the player is new to the team, he gets a yellow background.
  
• If the player is performing better in a specific category than last year, he gets a green background.
  
• If the player is performing worse in a sprecific category than last year, he gets a red background.
  

To compare how the player is performing compared to the last statistical update, typographic emphasis is used:

• If the player is performing better in a specific category than last month, he gets bolded.
  
• If the player is performing worse in a specific category than last month, he gets italicized.
  

OVERVIEW

Our dynamic full back duo Captain Unibrow and Angry Man With A Woman's Name continue to lead the team in appearances and minutes played...the latter of whom would have played every single minutes of every Premier and Champions League match if not for 45 minute cameo of Team Mascot Paulo Ferreira.

Frank Lampard continues to play like a man 10 years his junior (can we give credit to AVB here for some stellar man management?), perhaps explaining why Josh McEachran can't get a meaningful game outside of the Carling Cup, while our collection of yellows and reds and starting to overflow the trinket box.

One thing is for certain though...we're passing and shooting (although not necessarily "finishing") much better than last year and Branislav Ivanović has had a very nice month statistically, even becoming our highest ranked player in the Castrol Rankings.

SHOOTING

Daniel Sturridge - SHOOTAH - carries the goalscoring/shooting flag for the team, along with Fernando Torres (maybe that's why he's a bit averse to passing to him?). Florent Malouda & Raul Meireles continue to blast hopelessly from long range, while Ivanovic remains far and away our greatest threat from set pieces.

PASSING

Oriol Romeu & Juan Mata are your unsurprising leaders in this area, the former of whom sports impressive per-game averages and incredible accuracy with his basic, midfield-engine-room passes.

We can see some patterns emerge here as to how our passing has changed from last year: not only have we improved in accuracy, we're passing it a lot more (and not just in our defensive/neutral zone). There's a clear increase in medium length passes (which aim to move the feet of the defense) and an emphasis on direct north-south passing (defenders having a greater preference for forward passes; attackers having a greater preference for backward passes) rather than sideways uselessness.

POSSESION

Minor formula alterations aside, Juan Mata is still our creativity leader and, along with Frank Lampard, is the only player seemingly capable of consistently (at least 1-in-3) delivering good crosses.

Thanks to our recent struggles, a lot of our passing metrics are lagging behind last year's ineffectiveness, although there a few standouts who have clearly played better (Jose Bosingwa , stand up - also Nicolas Anelka and Lampard). Despite the sea of red, the passing mobility metric is mostly green, which is another confirmation of our increased directness this season.

And somebody please find the real Florent Malouda and show him some tapes from last season. The man can't be getting much sleep with all that red (neon) glowing in his row.

DEFENSE

Oriol Romeu provides another bright spot here, along with Branislav Ivanovic...but the rest is not pretty viewing. What Florent Malouda's line is to Possession, Ashley Cole's line is to Defense. Can we start railing on him and leave our favorite Portuguese Defensive Liability to continue his London-wide hunt for some eyebrow tweezers? Just look at those two lines and tell me how we can be so angry with the Unibrow, while largely giving Ash a free pass.

Thanks for reading, this article is taken from: http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2011/11/3/2532257/chelsea-individual-statistics-october-2011-dont-mess-with-the-unibrow. All credits go to this fantastic website!

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Glad you cited the original source

[Melanicus 5,208]

Glad you cited the original source

I know "stealing" is bad, because once someone has stolen my video.

[Blue Armour 4,165]

Interesting stats...particularly the one regarding regarding "both" our full-backs...

This one leads to another question; "Do we really need two bombing wing backs, namely Cole and Bosingwa to play on the same team in every match?"

[steve5221 91]

Can't find the AVB thread so gonna put it here as it mentions statistics. Interesting stat in the telegraph today saying Ferguson's win percentage at Man U over his entire career is 59%. AVB's is currently 61%, keep the faith......

[LDN Blue 7,903]

I know "stealing" is bad, because once someone has stolen my video.

Assholes.

[Santiago 15]

Thanks by the stats, Artinho. Great thread. I was looking for something like this. Very detailed.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Great thread and stats Artinho. I wish we could have a similar thread that is updated after every game. This really is a great way to asses our players.

On another note, Romeu is looking very impressive. 98% passing percentage in three games is out of this world!

[bluephoenix 1,125]

interesting stats

[MGuerreiro 252]

Thanks for the stats. Really helps with monitoring the players. And wow Oriol Romeu, his passing stats are astonishing, he has really impressed me in the few games he has played, think we have a real gem if we manage to keep him. I like how this underlines the fact that we pass alot more then in recent years, despite all the criticism Villas-Boas has had in this forum I firmly believe that he is the one that will take our club to further glory, I have massive faith in the young Portuguese.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Another interesting thing is Lampard's creative skills have surpassed Mata's in the stats. Just shows how much our legend has been underrated at the start of this season.

[gary gordon 1,777]

As soon as a saw Ashely cole was 183 on the castrol ranking i stopped reading..

[BlueLion. 21,491]

We've had 16 games under Villas-Boas. Won ten, drawn three, lost three. Par for the course I'd say, we are just about where most fans would have expected at this stage.

[steve5221 91]

I have been on the official Premier League website and have looked at our players goals and assists ratio combined for the season so far.

Lampard - 100%!!!!!!!

Sturridge - 71%

Mata - 66%

Ramires - 40%

Anelka - 33%

Mierlies - 33%

Drogba - 29%

Bos - 27%

Terry - 27%

Torres - 25%

Malouda - 22%

Cole - 18%

I am not a huge fan of lampard, but with those stats he has to be in the team. From that if you say that either mikel or Romeu play as the holding mid, then our front 5 should be: Ramires, Lampard, Mata, Anelka and Sturridge. What is dissapointing is that Terry is ahead of Torres and by that he should be 3rd striker behind Anelka and Drogba. I will do this again at the end of the season to see how they have changed...