I know some people don’t rate Powell but at least he does try to get his foot on the ball and do something positive and constructive with it. Okay, so it doesn’t come off a lot of the time and maybe he needs to be more selective about that. It could also be why he is playing in League 2 with us rather than one of his previous guises as the Peckham Pirlo with Millwall in the Championship. :-)
Powells a good footballer. His stats when he’s playing far exceed any other midfield player we have. He’d look even better if we could set up to build from the back and play through him rather than try to hit the front players too quickly too often.
Slightly confused by whether you think Hess and Francomb should’ve played in midfield or defence? You’ve said they played their best football in defence, then listed them in midfield in your team?
They’re essentially defenders. However in my system they are defensive players playing a defending role. In the current set up they’re the entire centre midfield and responsible for creating as well which is quite frankly worrying!
Given a fully fit squad neither would make my starting midfield and I’m not sure Hess would make my starting line up.
I think Powell and Hutchinson both get stick for poor passing (justifiably some times), but that’s because they are trying to create something. It’s a recurring theme that we don’t have creative midfielders, but these two do try. It doesn’t always come off, but as mentioned above they are in League 2 for a reason. Personally I prefer to see someone try and create something rather than lumping it forward time and time again.
The pass completion should really be lower the further forward you play, due to the risk / reward on offer.
Of players who have started more than 5 games Hutchinson is 3rd highest pass completion in the squad at 70.2% (Behind Matthews 73.4% and Hess 70.7%) and Powell is 11th on 67.6%.
However Powell has played far more passes than anyone else in the team at +1900 compared to say Hess (on 7 less games) who has nearly half the amount.
But yes I agree as the players who look to create I’d expect them to give the ball away more than most by taking risks….in our case the 4 lowest pass completions are from Ludwig, Tunnicliffe, Lynch and then Morris!! Which kind of tells me most of their passes are a little more than aimless balls upfield.
Last Edit: Apr 28, 2022 15:57:49 GMT by rougediable
As a point of interest I checked Man City and although the %s are higher, Grealish, Foden, Mahrez, Silva, Sterling and DeBruyne don’t even make the top 10!! With KDB coming on at 23rd in the City squad!!!
As a point of interest I checked Man City and although the %s are higher, Grealish, Foden, Mahrez, Silva, Sterling and DeBruyne don’t even make the top 10!! With KDB coming on at 23rd in the City squad!!!
But no. 1 in the goalscoring department....statistics eh!
I think Powell and Hutchinson both get stick for poor passing (justifiably some times), but that’s because they are trying to create something. It’s a recurring theme that we don’t have creative midfielders, but these two do try. It doesn’t always come off, but as mentioned above they are in League 2 for a reason. Personally I prefer to see someone try and create something rather than lumping it forward time and time again.
Exactly so - I've always had a bit of a blind spot on Payne as I don't see him affecting games as much with his albeit very tidy passing in front of the back 4. But he has his new deal so he must have something and I'll get longer to appreciate it
As a point of interest I checked Man City and although the %s are higher, Grealish, Foden, Mahrez, Silva, Sterling and DeBruyne don’t even make the top 10!! With KDB coming on at 23rd in the City squad!!!
But no. 1 in the goalscoring department....statistics eh!
That’s kind of the point being made…
It wasn’t to criticise KDBs passing ability it was to show that creative players who play in the final third of the pitch will have a lower pass success rate simply because they take on riskier passes and space / time is at a premium.
Even I could sit in front of a back four and pass it 20 times a game under no pressure. Fans should not look at the misplaced pass but consider where it was intended for, where it was played from and whether it was played under pressure or not, before judging whether it was a wasted pass or an attempt to break a team down.
Last Edit: Apr 28, 2022 19:30:10 GMT by rougediable
But no. 1 in the goalscoring department....statistics eh!
That’s kind of the point being made…
It wasn’t to criticise KDBs passing ability it was to show that creative players who play in the final third of the pitch will have a lower pass success rate simply because they take on riskier passes and space / time is at a premium.
Even I could sit in front of a back four and pass it 20 times a game under no pressure. Fans should not look at the misplaced pass but consider where it was intended for, where it was played from and whether it was played under pressure or not, before judging whether it was a wasted pass or an attempt to break a team down.
Which is exactly why I have a healthy scepticism about stats and the things people try to conclude from them. For the first 10 minutes of Tuesday’s game, the BBC site claimed that we’d had something like 70% of the possession. Great! Except that by then we were 2-0 down.
Yep sadly Sutton took their first two goals very well and clinically. I’ve had some fun presenting them as a one-dimensional long ball team and they did veer in that direction in the home fixture. But through gritted teeth you have to admit they have good players in key midfield positions and they took the game away from us quickly, to the extent that our off pitch distractions might not have made a critical difference, Sutton just had one of those good evenings