His lack of goalscoring early on in his Barcelona career might have drawn some critics, but Luis Suarez is the best signing of the season in terms of chance creation - ahead even of Barclays Premier League assists king Cesc Fabregas
CIES Football Observatory have compiled the top 12 signings of the season in the top five European leagues for rigour, take-ons, recovery, chance creation, distribution and shooting - using statistics to analyse and narrow them down.
And £75million summer buy Suarez comes out on top in the 'chance creation' category ahead of two of the Premier League's finest, Fabregas and Swansea City's Gylfi Sigurdsson.
SO, HOW ARE THE RANKINGS WORKED OUT?
Here are how the CIES Football Observatory Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) work:
Chance creation: ability to put team-mates in a good position to score.
Shooting: ability to take advantage of goal opportunities through accurate shooting.
Take on: ability to create dangerous situations by successfully challenging opponents.
Distribution: ability to keep a hold on the game through efficient passing.
Recovery: ability to minimise goal opportunities for opponents through proficient interception work.
Rigour: ability to minimise goal opportunities for opponents through robust duelling.
Suarez seems to finally be finding his feet at the Nou Camp, and he scored twice in the 2-1 win at Manchester City in the first leg of Barca's Champions League last-16 tie - but it's his work in support of team-mates which has really impressed his manager and supporters since his summer arrival.
He has scored just 10 times in all competitions in 24 games, but there is no crisis because of a love for the new Suarez – the one who makes their all-star front three of him, Lionel Messi and Neymar tick.
That new-found selflessness puts him ahead of Fabregas in terms of chance creation - despite the Chelsea star's 15 assists in the Premier League this season. That has obviously come at a sacrifice though, and Suarez hasn't been able to get close to the No 1 signing in the shooting category: Chelsea's Diego Costa.
CHANCE CREATION
1. Luis Suarez Barcelona
2. Cesc Fabregas Chelsea
3. Gylfi Sigurdsson Swansea
4. James Rodriguez Real Madrid
5. Toni Kroos Real Madrid
SHOOTING
1. Diego Costa Chelsea
2. Antoine Griezmann Atletico Madrid
3. Khouma Babacar Fiorentina
4. Luciano Vietto Villarreal
5. Felipe Caicedo Eibar
Top scorer in the Premier League with 17 league goals, and having played a key part in the Blues' Capital One Cup triumph against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, nobody would contest that £32m Costa has settled perfectly into the Stamford Bridge set-up.
Behind him is Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann who looked to have been signed primarily as the creative force to feed another signing, Mario Mandzukic, but instead has been showing his own goalscoring prowess in a more advanced role.
Some more surprising names in that list come from Fiorentina, Villarreal and Eibar in the form of Khouma Babacar, Luciano Vietto and Felipe Caicedo respectively - with West Ham's bargain buy Diafra Sakho coming in just outside the top five in seventh. Alexis Sanchez, despite his recent drought, is 12th.
TAKE ON
1. Karim Bellarabi Bayer Leverkusen
2. Angel di Maria Manchester United
3. Alexis Sanchez Arsenal
4. Diego Perotti Genoa
5. Sadio Mane Southampton
DISTRIBUTION
1. Xabi Alonso Bayern Munich
2. Cesc Fabregas Chelsea
3. Toni Kroos Real Madrid
4. Gary Medel Inter Milan
5. Ivan Rakitic Barcelona
Jose Mourinho's summer business has been widely lauded and it is perhaps telling that Fabregas is also second in the 'distribution' indicator, with none of Chelsea's former players who moved on making it into the top 12 of any of the categories.
Fabregas is only ousted in the list focused on efficient passing by Bayern Munich's Xabi Alonso, who is top ahead of his replacement at Real Madrid, Toni Kroos, in third. Inter Milan's Gary Medel, who signed from relegation Cardiff City in the summer is fourth with Ivan Rakitic fifth.
Players from the Premier League dominate the 'take on' group, with Angel di Maria (second), Sanchez (third) and Sadio Mane (fifth) - although all fall in the wake of Bayer Leverkusen trickster, and reported Manchester United target, Karim Bellarabi.
RECOVERY
1. Walter Gargano Napoli
2. Wendell Bayer Leverkusen
3. Dusan Basta Lazio
4. Jin-su Kim Hoffenheim
5. Davide Astori Roma
RIGOUR
1. Dejan Lovren Liverpool
2. Davide Astori Roma
3. Michael Keane Burnley
4. Sergi Gomez Celta Vigo
5. Ermin Bicakcic Hoffenheim
While there are some surprise names on the lists, perhaps the biggest is Liverpool's £20m centre back Dejan Lovren, who somehow finishes top of the 'rigour' category for 'ability to minimise goal opportunities for opponents through robust duelling'.
Lovren, widely regarded as a transfer flop, finishes ahead of Roma's Davide Astori - who also scored highly in the 'recovery' category - and Burnley's Michael Keane.
And Rafael Benitez seems to have done good business in signing Walter Gargano for Napoli. He tops the 'recovery' category with only one English-based player in the top 12, Manchester United's Daley Blind - in 12th place.
0 comments:
Post a Comment