St. Francis
Coquelin received a lot of criticism today which I found odd because…
53 – Completed passes by Coquelin, 2nd among all players
85 – Percent passes completed by Coquelin, 2nd on a distinctly awful passing Arsenal
9 – Misplaced passes by Coquelin
2 – Chances created by Coquelin (both short balls into the 18 yard box)
5 – Of six tackles by Coquelin 4/4 in defense, led Arsenal
3 – Interceptions by Coquelin, 2nd on Arsenal
Statistically, Coquelin was fine today. The entire team struggled passing the ball, however, which is at least partially down to the fact that Arsenal played with Coquelin and Ox as the midfield duo for the first 69 minutes. Neither player shows the ability to drop deep, collect, organize the offense and find a line breaking pass but the combination wasn’t disastrous for Arsenal as Coquelin’s critics would like you to believe.
In the first 35 minutes Arsenal dominated possession 227-172 and the shots chart 10-1. In that time Coquelin attempted 31 passes and created two shots for his teammates. After Arsenal got the go ahead goal it’s clear the game plan is to sit back and hit on the counter. That’s why for the next 10 minutes Arsenal are out passed 29-93. In that 10 minute period Coquelin only makes TWO (!!!) passes. But to be fair, Ox only makes 3. Arsenal’s leading passers were Gibbs and Mustafi with 5 each. Neither team gets a shot off in this time.
Between the 46th and 70th minute Arsenal again regain possession and dominate 158-108, but both teams see some shots parity in this period with Arsenal having a slight lead 3-2. Coquelin and Ox again attempt the same number of passes, 20 each. But the big difference now is that Ox has clearly been told to use possession to attack Hull. He makes 5/5 of his dribbles, all down the flanks, and helps Arsenal break Hull pressure.
The only two players who passed the ball more than Ox and Coquelin are Bellerin and Mustafi. Bellerin, however, has a sub par passing night, making just 78%. The only outfield starters who were worse than him on the night were Özil with what feels like a career low 76% passing and Alexis with what is fast becoming his usual 70-something pass rate.
Wenger tried to bring Elneny on in the 69th minute to change the game but despite Elneny’s 100% (11/11) passing, Arsenal dropped to a 80% completion rate (60/74). Again, Coquelin was solid here with a 9/9 performance in that final 25 minutes. That means Coquelin and Elneny were 20/20 together leaving the rest of Arsenal to pass 40/54 – 74%.
Even that percentage is a bit misleading. The back players like Koscielny, Gibbs, Mustafi, and Bellerin were all near perfect in this period. Gibbs misplaced 2, Mustafi 2, Alexis 2, Welbeck 2, Iwobi 1, and Cech 5. Basically, we has a low percentage because we let Cech take a bunch of our passes and we really didn’t have anyone to pass to.
But the people who hate Coquelin see in all of this evidence that Coquelin is the problem. If Arsenal go long ball in the last 25 minutes, that’s because Coquelin can’t advance the ball, goes the argument. And so on.
Instead, I see a player doing exactly what he’s asked to do. He may have a limited skillset in possession but he did create two shots and took one (very poorly struck) shot for himself. He’s also an effective shield in front of the back four and he did very well today playing with two very different center mids who he hasn’t had much chance to play with this season.
GRAPHS
10 – Shots Arsenal took in the first 35 minutes of the match today against Hull
18 – Shots Arsenal took in the first 35 minutes of the previous five Premier League matches, total
1 – Shots Arsenal allowed Hull to take in the first 35 minutes of the match today
26 – Shots Arsenal allowed the opposition to take in the Previous five Premier League matches, total
1 – Match Arsenal finally got off to a strong start!
@7amkickoff
Sources: 442 StatsZone App, WhoScored.com, and my personal database
“Statistically, Coquelin was fine today” but otherwise he was poor
It does show what a pile of shit stats often are. Denilson would be a legend if not.
“But the people who hate Coquelin see in all of this evidence that Coquelin is the problem.”
That’s you and your 15 mates.
In other words, “he was good on the basis of everything we could measure, but when you add in my subjective nonexpert opinion and allow that to outweigh the data, he was poor.”
I’ll take the data every time. Maybe you can get a guest spot on bill simmons’ podcast and talk some nonsense about being a “body language doctor” like he does.
I like the graphs a lot, it shows how dominant we were and great to have a strong start, let’s hope we keep doing that. Hull had some good results recently so a good win.
England rugby won, Spurs lost, so not a bad day I’d say.
Rugby schmugby.
Some people like other sports as well as football. The horror! Great day of sports results all round 🙂
Football and footballers could learn a thing or two from rugby.
Whats the Y axis?
The vertical one ?
@CLEGooner y axis represents the amount of goals the team is expected to score I believe.
exG
PL record when Coquelin starts: 8-5-5
PL record when he does not start: 7-0-0
Not only that but in 3 of the games he started results changed for better after he was subbed off (2 ties from losing position and 1 win from tied position)
Oxneny vs. Bayern please!
without context, those game stats are meaningless. Who was Coq partnered with? I’d bet a bunch of them were with Ramsey or ElNeny. What are the Coqzorla stats? also Coqxlade…
Le coq was fine today but there is definitely some spark missing from the midfield at the mo.. Just no one recieving the ball in the middle of the park..
Xhaka and his quick long range passing. Ox was good, but I think he’d be better out on a wing with Xhaka and Coq in midfield.
Any news on Santi? sniff…sniff…
OX ???
In reply to Carlos santana the ox bossed that midfield today ???
Yeah he definitely did he’s been class there but there’s no player coming into the middle to actually receive the ball, mainly in the number 10 area. Not singling out a player but we need a player to get the ball in that tight area and release players on goal.
We need players to link up in the middle.. Ox to özil.. Shows how much we’ve missed those sort of passes from Santi.. Ox is more than capable though.. I think he could be amazing in the mid.. Even his tackling is great.. Puts good pressure on players and has great pace and can dribble like a beast at times..
Interesting analysis of Coquelin. I find he gets a lot of unfair criticism. Yes he was poor against Chelsea but other than that I think a lot of it has been unjustified. I don’t think Blogs is a big fan of his either.
Is it particularly surprising that Ozil and Alexis pass completion numbers are so low? I feel they should be judged more on key passes instead. Most good striker shouln’t have a pass completion of even 90% as I would see it as them playing safe and not trying enough ambitious passes.
@bromley part of why Özil is special is his ability to attempt audatious passes, create 5+ chances and still maintain a 88%+ pass completion rate. And the stats above suggest he was bad.
Does anyone know how far we ran versus Hull? I gather in recent matches we have been running less than the oppo.
Coquelin’s performance might have been underrated, while Ox’s was overrated.
Either way, the ease with which Hull were able to move centrally from their third through the middle third was worrying. And it’s not a phenomenon limited to this game. Having said that, our CMs are such a mess at the moment, it’s hard to find any real clarity.
Whats the Y axis on the graph?
Expected goals which is based on shot quality, it’s been explained in some of the previous by the numbers posts
HERE’s a tasty stat for you courtesy of BBC : EVery pundits favorite team Liverpool Klopp vs Rodgers : Jurgen Klopp’s record after 54 games at #LFC W 26 D 16 L 12 Brendan Rodgers’ record after 54 games at #LFC W 26 D 16 L 12#StatCave Groundhog day? And they say it only happens to Arsenal? After countless managerial changes where is Liverpool with the title? They have not won it for half a century. Someone whisper that to the pundits. Team in crisis? Weak mentality? Change of managers helped much? In recent seasons they have been erratic finishing… Read more »
Brilliant analysis. Spot on!
Fair enough.
However, you’ve only focussed your attention on Liverpool. How about looking at Chelsea, whose 3 managerial changes in the last 3 years has brought 2 league titles?
Small correction as well: a century is 50 years. Liverpool last won the league 27 years ago, so it should be a quarter of a century.
@crash fistfight – a century is 100 years moron!
Mistyped by Crash Fistfight I’d guess as he has said quarter century. Meant “not 50 years”?
Still, the point is Scousers have never won the PL – and it seems that history these days starts with PL! Lazy media reporters.
That’s all fine except I think you’ll find it’s nearer a quarter of a century since the mugsmashers won the title than half (1990, the year after “IUFGN”). Stats do need to be based on facts. Otherwise we’re into alternative facts and fake news territory.
We need Jack back, fit and motivated to play for Arsenal. He can be the heir to Cazorla.
Jack’s just as overrated as Ramsey and Ox. He’s found his level at Bournemouth, unless he’s willing to sit on the bench as the token home-grown player for a big club. Comparing him to Cazorla is a massive insult to Cazorla.
No “On the whistle” today? Quite enjoy James’ debriefs!
I think Blogs dropped it because nobody watched it (apart from you of course).
A lot of people watch it. It’s probably better than his match reports. I personally prefer it after a good/bad performance. Today was just at par.
Please watch Coq race past opponents high upp the pitch failing to intercept – he does that from tim to time – leaving us vulnerable
Thanks 7am again for another excellent and interesting analysis. I agree with you and the stats that Coq is doing the job he has been given well. But the big question is really wether we are a better team with him playing or without him. When out of possession he is our standout midfielder by a very long margin. In possession though he generally puts a lot more pressure on the players around him to take responsibility for playing out from the back and in recent games it’s obviously caused us major problems. Even alongside Xhaka or Santi against the… Read more »
Statistics statistics….. That reminds me of someone call Denilson and his perfect stats….
I aint no coach but I know in football you try to win asap. Wenger has made into how you win. That’s why the gunners are forever trying to weave a way through congested crowd of defenders. Pool beat the flying Spurs easily with a through ball. Wenger is unlikely to play this type of game. He likes to pass all day and that’s the problem If Arsenal fail to qualify for the cl,he must go asap because he is deluded with his tactics of passing all day and not shooting until you see the whites of the goalie’ eyes.WH… Read more »
Liverpool beat Spuds by pressing high and moving the ball very quickly with runners taking positive positions. This sort of game is difficult to maintain for a whole match, hence poorer second half, let alone whole season but is feasible against teams who come to play openly as Spuds did. Against teams set up to just defend, as most teams in relegation area tend to do, there is not that room. That’s why you see Scousers have such poor results against Hull, Swansea, Southampton and why we gave to be patient in finding the spaces. If we do it well,… Read more »
Is that the Liverpool that couldn’t score against Hull last week in a 0-2 loss? Is that the flying Spurs who are equal on points with us? Are we flying? I do agree with your starting point. Perhaps weaving our way through crowded defenses has something to do with deep lying defenses that require meticulous weaving to unlock? And Arsenal Wengers philosophy in football is all built around verticality and he loves nothing more than the through ball. He coaches it into his players and values players with the ability to see and make such passes more than any other… Read more »
Don’t understand this graph one bit. Never seen one with a y-axis, x-axis and an Al-exis together! (^_~)
gunner smith – correct me if i’m wrong, but i thought i heard the commentator say arsenal have scored more goals than any other premier team…?
Well, same as Scousers, 3 more than Chelski, 5 more than ManC, 8 more than Spuds and 16 more than Manure.
We’re going to need El neny or Xhakas passing ability against Liverpool. But Coq must start that game.
Our problem yesterday was not taking our good chances in the first half because we will always give chances to the other team.
Always feel better when we are 2 up as we can then press on for more and cover the chances that the other team could score a couple.
Prefer 4 up with just added time left!
Looking ahead; I see a big surprise coming at the Allianz Arena on Wed. Arsenal will get a good result from that game.
Ospina Bellerin Mustafi Koscielny Monreal Xhaka Coq Ozil Welbeck Alexis Ox(on the right).