Number Crunching

[Matterz 67]

With silly season about to kick in and inevitably Chelsea FC get linked with every player with an overall Fifa14 stat of 80 and higher, I thought it might be good to take a look at where exactly we need strengthening based on statistics (actual stats, not Fifa14 stats), and based on such who would be the best options to strengthen these areas.

So firstly, let's take a look at where Chelsea have been statistically weak over the past season...

Goals - Its pretty obvious really, we don't score enough goals. Chelsea have scored the 3rd most goals in the Premier League with 69 which is almost 30 shy of the top two.

Possession - 8th in the Premier League and 20th in Europe with an average of 55% per game.

Passing Success - 7th in Premier League and 19th in Europe with an average of 83%. Obviously if we improve our passing success, our possession should improve as well

Tackles - 10th in Premier League and 69th in Europe for number of tackles per game with an average of 19.2. Interesting considering we probably have the best defense in the Premier League as well as in Europe. It seems as though we absorb pressure well, but dont really dispossess opponents easily. A problem seeing as we are strong on the counter attack and the more we can dispossess the opposition, the more our possession will improve.

i think we would all agree that we obviously need strikers, a left back, and strengthen the midfield. Based on the above, it would suggest that we are desperate for someone who scores a lot of goals upfront, someone who makes a lot of tackles and has a high passes per game and passing success statistic, and a left back who pretty much does the.

i will be posting some research on these areas of who would be our best options based on this over the next few days and am really looking forward to all of your thoughts on them.

[Spike 12,049]

I think the stats for interceptions are quite low also. Which is nuts considering the already low stats for tackles.

[Jase 43,479]

Didn't know there is a player named 'Number Crunching'..

*moving thread to the MHS place*

[zolayes 14,489]

I dread to think what the rankings are for % of shots on target ,,,, And goals to attempts must be horrendous

[Styles 9,790]

I think the stats for interceptions are quite low also. Which is nuts considering the already low stats for tackles.

Even more surprising is that because playing off the ball and counter-attacking is the preferred method we really should be better at winning the ball back and intercepting.

[Spike 12,049]

I think the stats for interceptions are quite low also. Which is nuts considering the already low stats for tackles.

You're clamouring for the attention that Choo Choo gets.

Don't make it so obvious, BM.

[Matterz 67]

I dread to think what the rankings are for % of shots on target ,,,, And goals to attempts must be horrendous

Surprisingly we actually rank 4th in Europe for shots per game and 1st in the Premier League with 17.9 shots per game. On target also isn't bad, we rank 7th in Europe with an average on 6 per game, compared to first in Europe for both average shots and shots on target Real Madrid with 19.6 and 8.1 respectively. Really highlights how shit our strikers actually are, but I will get into more specifics on strikers later this evening.

[Matterz 67]

I think the stats for interceptions are quite low also. Which is nuts considering the already low stats for tackles.

Interceptions are pretty low across the board really so its difficult to measure, the real significance appears to be with tackles. Later I will show how Nemanja Matic, who is a machine at tackling based on the stats, compares to targets such as Toni Kroos, Luca Modric and Ross Barkley.

But I think again the problem seems to be that we don't break up opposition play enough and not that we aren't great passers. If we had another player in midfield making tackles and distributing quickly, players like Oscar, Willian and Hazard would all have improved passes per game stats because they would have the ball more and would be able to counter more which they are best at.

[zolayes 14,489]

i know we are top for shots per game .. but goals / shot ratio cant be good

[Matterz 67]

i know we are top for shots per game .. but goals / shot ratio cant be good

1.86 goals per game and 17.9 shots per game, 6 on target, so no not very good.

Another interesting stat is that we have only scored 5 goals from a counter attack which accounts for 7% of our goals.

[Matterz 67]

We also average 1 through ball per game out of an average of 513 passes per game. No wonder Torres battles to find the net.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Our defending still has to improve, as long we play more open, we realy dont look like best defence in world.

The thing is in best CBs who average 2.5 tackles per game and 2.5 interceptions (roughly), while our CBs Terry and Cahill average just 1 tackle and 1 interception.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

I do want to see statistics for chances created. We've always blamed lack of decent strike force for lack of goals (which, don't get me wrong, is totally valid), but is there also a problem with the guys behind the strikers?

[Matterz 67]

I do want to see statistics for chances created. We've always blamed lack of decent strike force for lack of goals (which, don't get me wrong, is totally valid), but is there also a problem with the guys behind the strikers?

Chelsea

Oscar - Key Passes 1.4 Ave Passes 37.3 Pass Success 83%

Hazard - Key Passes 2.6 Ave Passes 43.8 Pass Success 83.3%

Willian - Key Passes 2.6 Ave Passes 39.4 Pass Success 85.6%

Bayern Munich

Ribery - Key Passes 2.5 Ave Passes 53.9 Pass Success 83.9%

Gotze - Key Passes 1.4 Ave Passes 44 Pass Success 87.7%

Robben - Key Passes 1.7 Ave Passes 30.6 Pass Success 81.7%

Manchester City

Silva - Key Passes 3.3 Ave Passes 68.6 Pass Success 87.9%

Nasri - Key Passes 2.6 Ave Passes 53.7 Pass Success 91.3%

Navas - Key Passes 1.9 Ave Passes 34.2 Pass Success 85.8%

Real Madrid

Bale - Key Passes 1.5 Ave Passes 26.8 Pass Success 75.7%

Isco - Key Passes 2.1 Ave Passes 41.6 Pass Success 89.1%

Di Maria - Key Passes 2.7 Ave Passes 39.7 Pass Success 82.8%

Total

Chelsea - Key Passes 6.6 Ave Passes 120.5 Pass Success 84%

Bayern - Key Passes 5.6 Ave Passes 128.5 Pass Success 84.4%

Man City - Key Passes 7.8 Ave Passes 156.5 Pass Success 88.3%

Madrid - Key Passes 6.3 Ave Passes 108.1 Pass Success 82.5%

Based on that, our three attacking midfielders are slightly better than both Bayern and Madrid, bearing in mind we average a lot less possession than all these sides. If we can keep possession better we should be closer to City's stats.

So it appears that there is nothing wrong with our attacking trio in terms of creativity.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Chelsea

Oscar - Key Passes 1.4 Ave Passes 37.3 Pass Success 83%

Hazard - Key Passes 2.6 Ave Passes 43.8 Pass Success 83.3%

Willian - Key Passes 2.6 Ave Passes 39.4 Pass Success 85.6%

Bayern Munich

Ribery - Key Passes 2.5 Ave Passes 53.9 Pass Success 83.9%

Gotze - Key Passes 1.4 Ave Passes 44 Pass Success 87.7%

Robben - Key Passes 1.7 Ave Passes 30.6 Pass Success 81.7%

Manchester City

Silva - Key Passes 3.3 Ave Passes 68.6 Pass Success 87.9%

Nasri - Key Passes 2.6 Ave Passes 53.7 Pass Success 91.3%

Navas - Key Passes 1.9 Ave Passes 34.2 Pass Success 85.8%

Real Madrid

Bale - Key Passes 1.5 Ave Passes 26.8 Pass Success 75.7%

Isco - Key Passes 2.1 Ave Passes 41.6 Pass Success 89.1%

Di Maria - Key Passes 2.7 Ave Passes 39.7 Pass Success 82.8%

Total

Chelsea - Key Passes 6.6 Ave Passes 120.5 Pass Success 84%

Bayern - Key Passes 5.6 Ave Passes 128.5 Pass Success 84.4%

Man City - Key Passes 7.8 Ave Passes 156.5 Pass Success 88.3%

Madrid - Key Passes 6.3 Ave Passes 108.1 Pass Success 82.5%

Based on that, our three attacking midfielders are slightly better than both Bayern and Madrid, bearing in mind we average a lot less possession than all these sides. If we can keep possession better we should be closer to City's stats.

So it appears that there is nothing wrong with our attacking trio in terms of creativity.

Key passes are defined as passes before any shot. They're misleading and the fact that we apparently have more key passes in the team than Bayern or Madrid (both who score plenty more than us) should tell you that.

Apart from Hazard, our attacking trio hasn't been creative enough or decisive enough in the final third. We take the most shots in the EPL but a lot of them are speculative and non threatening. You don't need stats to tell you that.

[Matterz 67]

Key passes are defined as passes before any shot. They're misleading and the fact that we apparently have more key passes in the team than Bayern or Madrid (both who score plenty more than us) should tell you that.

Apart from Hazard, our attacking trio hasn't been creative enough or decisive enough in the final third. We take the most shots in the EPL but a lot of them are speculative and non threatening. You don't need stats to tell you that.

My point is that our attacking three players are clearly doing something right, I believe that it is the link up play between them and the strikers that is the problem, generally there is no one in a good position for them to be more effective. If we had someone better up front who could link up with them and hold the ball up, we should see far more goals. Our strikers hardly ever feature the full 90 minutes, and they are rotated more than any other team. If we had more consistency up front we would definitely see more possession and ultimately more goals.