Matchday 9 facts and figures, for Ward End and beyond….
OTHER’S WATCH
All those brazen voids in ball possession this season obviously have the squad at the bottom of the Premier League in total time of control. That doesn’t mean every other club has handled the ball better or worked harder to get it back.
Evidence comes when looking at a few comparisons to the four other clubs in the league that have also averaged less than 40 minutes of possession per match. Sunderland and West Ham have moved the ball slower, and both (theoretically) have proved less disciplined. And only Palace has pursued the ball with more vigor.
Below is the full illustration — rates for speed and type of passing, along with a roundup of challenges waged.
Possession Time Between Passes (Average)
:06.05 Hull City
:06.06 Crystal Palace
:06.28 ASTON VILLA
:06.43 Sunderland
:07.01 West Ham
% of Short Passes Among Total Passes
82.6 Crystal Palace
79.8 Hull City
78.4 ASTON VILLA
78.3 Sunderland
76.5 West Ham
Total Challenges Waged
(Fouls/Tackles/Interceptions)
391 Crystal Palace
379 ASTON VILLA
362 Sunderland
355 Hull City
347 West Ham###
AIR ALERT
Esteem is becoming dialect at Everton as the season advances, yet still those moments when the Toffees look highly Mang are happening.
In the past four matches, they’ve been beat nine times on aerial duels while defending inside the penalty area. The lag is a bizarre turn from after Everton was beat just once in the first nine times those situations came up this season.
Such a development should bring tremendous adrenaline to Christian Benteke, whose bossiness in the air has him on a current run of five straight aerial wins against defenders while attacking inside the penalty area. Below is an outline of Everton’s recent demise.
50-50 Defending Inside Penalty Area: Everton
0-3 vHull City
Wins: n/a.
Losses: Baines, Jagielka 2.
0-1 @Manchester City
Wins: n/a
Losses: Distin.
2-4 vNewcastle
Wins: Distin, Jagielka.
Losses: Baines, Jagielka.
1-4 @West Ham
Wins: Baines.
Losses: Distin 2, Jagielka.
###
SHIFT WORKER
To suggest changes in momentum are changing Gabriel Agbonlahor’s interest on the pitch is rather rash, but worth pointing out is that his productivity as a goal-seeker has lightened upon scoreline imbalance.
He has been the squad’s second most active shot-taker while the plot is level, dipped to sixth when AV has fallen behind and hasn’t yet waged an attempt with a lead in place (though, to be fair, he has only been active 59 minutes in such a setting).
Below is a look at all situational shooting this season based on the scoreline at hand.
Even Scoreline
Weimann 11
Agbonlahor 7
Benteke 4
Bacuna 4
El Ahmadi 4
Kozak 4
Clark 3
Delph 3
Tonev 1
Westwood 1
Vlaar 1
1 Behind
Benteke 9
Weimann 7
El Ahmadi 5
Bacuna 4
Tonev 4
Agbonlahor 3
Vlaar 3
Westwood 2
Clark 1
Delph 1
1 Ahead
Tonev 4
Weimann 3
El Ahmadi 2
Benteke 1
Clark 1
Helenius 1
Kozak 1
Luna 1
2 Behind
Weimann 3
Tonev 1
2 Ahead
Bacuna 1
###
—Patrick Kinmartin (PKtype@Gmail.com ….. http://goo.gl/kLJDB)
