Once again I've found myself wasting part of Sunday in a whoscored rabbit hole, this time looking at our average player positions under RDZ.
I've been told off for using these before by @hans kraay fan club because the player's position can get distorted by the average. For example, play one half at right wing and the other on the left, as March sometimes did, and it'll look like that player was central. Nevertheless there's some useful info there to back up what we're seeing with the naked eye.
The most important thing is that we're, on average, more central than under Potter and players tend to stay in position. Mitoma and March attack the flanks and they stay on their side. Nevertheless, the averaging shows you a slight difference. Under Potter our wide players were very often averagely close to the touchline and the debate around where Cucurella was playing was muddied by him having a very wide average position, even when LCB. Mitoma and March look narrower but I'm going to guess that they are not - they're just starting out wide and coming inside more. Partly this is to shoot as both are inverted but they're also encouraged to come inside whenever there's an overlap from their full back (or, as in the case of the goal yesterday, Sarmiento pulled out wide). At these times both become old fashioned inside forwards. Is this why we're scoring more?
Against Bournemouth Veltman is a little bit of an outlier having played at both RCB and RB in the game, so looks like he was in between the two positions. Everyone else is showing a good RDZ shape with four at the back, a lovely little triangle between the centre mids and the "10" but the "10" also very close to the central striker for support. March and Mitoma are pushed right up as they are every game.
Against Liverpool in the 3-0 we actually sat deeper, with Caicedo protecting the centre backs, allowing the wingers and full backs to attack Robertson and Trent. Very peak Liverpool in fact. Lallana was, on average, slightly further up than Ferguson. In the cup game Liverpool congested the midfield and we reacted. The middle of the pitch was, on average, far more packed and a different type of game ensued.
As ever there are more games to look at than that and the "averageness" does contain HKFC's disclaimer, but as a whole the differences with Potter are clear. Players in specialist positions rather than moved around everywhere and an average 4-2-3-1 which is subtly tweaked out of possession with the wide players cutting from out to in and staying in the box if there's a chance on. Depth and the need for a designated CDM seemingly dependent on both the opposition and game situation. It's no surprise I'm preferring it but I find it interesting to see the extent to which stats back up what we see with our eyes during the game and also what we miss.
I've been told off for using these before by @hans kraay fan club because the player's position can get distorted by the average. For example, play one half at right wing and the other on the left, as March sometimes did, and it'll look like that player was central. Nevertheless there's some useful info there to back up what we're seeing with the naked eye.
The most important thing is that we're, on average, more central than under Potter and players tend to stay in position. Mitoma and March attack the flanks and they stay on their side. Nevertheless, the averaging shows you a slight difference. Under Potter our wide players were very often averagely close to the touchline and the debate around where Cucurella was playing was muddied by him having a very wide average position, even when LCB. Mitoma and March look narrower but I'm going to guess that they are not - they're just starting out wide and coming inside more. Partly this is to shoot as both are inverted but they're also encouraged to come inside whenever there's an overlap from their full back (or, as in the case of the goal yesterday, Sarmiento pulled out wide). At these times both become old fashioned inside forwards. Is this why we're scoring more?
Against Bournemouth Veltman is a little bit of an outlier having played at both RCB and RB in the game, so looks like he was in between the two positions. Everyone else is showing a good RDZ shape with four at the back, a lovely little triangle between the centre mids and the "10" but the "10" also very close to the central striker for support. March and Mitoma are pushed right up as they are every game.
Against Liverpool in the 3-0 we actually sat deeper, with Caicedo protecting the centre backs, allowing the wingers and full backs to attack Robertson and Trent. Very peak Liverpool in fact. Lallana was, on average, slightly further up than Ferguson. In the cup game Liverpool congested the midfield and we reacted. The middle of the pitch was, on average, far more packed and a different type of game ensued.
As ever there are more games to look at than that and the "averageness" does contain HKFC's disclaimer, but as a whole the differences with Potter are clear. Players in specialist positions rather than moved around everywhere and an average 4-2-3-1 which is subtly tweaked out of possession with the wide players cutting from out to in and staying in the box if there's a chance on. Depth and the need for a designated CDM seemingly dependent on both the opposition and game situation. It's no surprise I'm preferring it but I find it interesting to see the extent to which stats back up what we see with our eyes during the game and also what we miss.
