2018/19 Gylfi Sigurdsson

[MikeH72]

You're just assuming he did something poorly despite what the stats say just because of your opinion of the player here mate. There is not a chance you know exactly where he won the ball all 6 times compared to where Gana won the ball.

I never assumed he did anything poorly, I just said the stat itself is useless. I can say with a degree of certainty that Gana won the ball back in more important areas than Gylfi.

 

[BlueToff]

he is a luxury player, a player the top 6 would use to come off the bench or in rotation.
I expected him him at the very least to bring in quality from set pieces, I dont think he has scored a free kick yet

His set pieces need to improve, they've been poor this season.

But, you can't expect him to score from free kicks that are 40 yards out on the wing. When was the last time we won a dangerous free-kick that he took?

Last season we didn't win one. I know that for a fact. Any dangerous free-kick (you know, edge of the box stuff) wasn't won while Gylfi was in the team (either due to injury or bad form).

The first time I recall us winning one in ages, Baines took it and it was crap. It was about March/April time when Gylfi was out of the team injured.

I think we won one against West Ham and he fired it into the wall. The one Walcott won against Arsenal, Digne took.

 

[MikeH72]

His set pieces need to improve, they've been poor this season.

But, you can't expect him to score from free kicks that are 40 yards out on the wing. When was the last time we won a dangerous free-kick that he took?

Last season we didn't win one. I know that for a fact. Any dangerous free-kick (you know, edge of the box stuff) wasn't won while Gylfi was in the team (either due to injury or bad form).

The first time I recall us winning one in ages, Baines took it and it was crap. It was about March/April time when Gylfi was out of the team injured.

I think we won one against West Ham and he fired it into the wall. The one Walcott won against Arsenal, Digne took.

2 against West Ham and he hit the wall with both. Is there a stat for that?

 

[BlueToff]

I never assumed he did anything poorly, I just said the stat itself is useless. I can say with a degree of certainty that Gana won the ball back in more important areas than Gylfi.

I think that's a fair assumption, but as you said, you'd expect that.

But what about the stat that shows he was involved in creating more chances on the pitch than any other player? Is that not worth something?

Because that is the area that we all want Gylfi to actually be effective in, isn't it?

 

[Parker]

His set pieces need to improve, they've been poor this season.

But, you can't expect him to score from free kicks that are 40 yards out on the wing. When was the last time we won a dangerous free-kick that he took?

Last season we didn't win one. I know that for a fact. Any dangerous free-kick (you know, edge of the box stuff) wasn't won while Gylfi was in the team (either due to injury or bad form).

The first time I recall us winning one in ages, Baines took it and it was crap. It was about March/April time when Gylfi was out of the team injured.

I think we won one against West Ham and he fired it into the wall. The one Walcott won against Arsenal, Digne took.

I agree with everything you say mate but we had 2 dangerous free kicks against West Ham and he hit the wall with both.

 

[BlueToff]

2 against West Ham and he hit the wall with both. Is there a stat for that?

I mention that later in the post.

As I said, they've been crap this season.

Last season he hardly had any so it's stupid saying 'he's not scored a free-kick'.

Richarlison hasn't scored a 45-yard volley yet, has he?

 

[BlueToff]

I agree with everything you say mate but we had 2 dangerous free kicks against West Ham and he hit the wall with both.

Aye mate, mention later in the post.

I meant last season.

As I said, crap against West Ham. I remember the one in the second half that went straight into the wall. Can't remember the first, but I trust that it happened!

 

[CRIMHEAD]

ok fair enough then that's one ( I was thinking of the time Walcott won the ball back then won a free kick on the edge )

I genuinely can't remember any other key passes to be fair

Literally every pass he made was at least an important pass in the first half. Seriously, watch it again. He had a 50 yard pass switching fields to the left wing that was insane and set up a break where we should’ve done better off the top of my head. He was absolutely fantastic in the first half. He also was indeed irregularly aggressive in the tackle as well for some reason. Not sure I care that our playmaker was going that, but he wasn’t just jogging around. He is constantly moving and working his butt off.

 

[Parker]

Personally, I think Sunday showed that he can play the 10 role. He's definitely had more good games than bad this season in the position anyway.

 

[MikeH72]

I mention that later in the post.

As I said, they've been crap this season.

Last season he hardly had any so it's stupid saying 'he's not scored a free-kick'.

Richarlison hasn't scored a 45-yard volley yet, has he?

He had opportunities last season because he was the only player who we let take a set piece. He hasn’t even tested the keeper with one, I remember thinking it at various points in the season. This wouldn’t normally bother me, but it was supposed to be his niche and he doesn’t actually do much else.

 

[BlueToff]

He had opportunities last season because he was the only player who we let take a set piece. He hasn’t even tested the keeper with one, I remember thinking it at various points in the season. This wouldn’t normally bother me, but it was supposed to be his niche and he doesn’t actually do much else.

No, all of the free-kicks he took were not positions that you would expect someone to go for goal from. There were none that was actually in the areas that the ones v West Ham were.

He put in some fantastic set-pieces last season. We missed chances from most of them. Williams scored against Lyon, but remember the DCL miss v Limassol, or the Keane miss v Chelsea, off the top of my head.

 

[evertonarntwe]

Literally every pass he made was at least an important pass in the first half. Seriously, watch it again. He had a 50 yard pass switching fields to the left wing that was insane and set up a break where we should’ve done better off the top of my head. He was absolutely fantastic in the first half. He also was indeed irregularly aggressive in the tackle as well for some reason. Not sure I care that our playmaker was going that, but he wasn’t just jogging around. He is constantly moving and working his butt off.

haven't said anything there is untrue, I just can't remember 4 key passes, to me a key pass is sliding in a ball ( ie the Walcott one ) I don't remember seeing 4 of those

 

[BlueToff]

haven't said anything there is untrue, I just can't remember 4 key passes, to me a key pass is sliding in a ball ( ie the Walcott one ) I don't remember seeing 4 of those

But that isn't the definition of a key pass mate, whether we agree with it or not.

Pienaar would have been the king of key passes for us, he'd have averaged about eight a game when him and Baines linked up.

Now, in all of those chances/goals that Baines and Pienaar created, it wasn't just the person who got the assist that was recognised, was it?

That long ball that Gylfi played to Walcott for Richarlison will count as a key pass. And rightly so, it led to a chance.

 

[Papa Shango]

I work for the company that own Opta. They make money from selling the stats to broadcasters, yes, but their main market is they sell to the individual leagues/organisations, which distribute them to the teams, who use them - along with their own levels of tracking - to gauge player performances.

Nobody is saying that it should be taken as gospel.

But they are used to help see how a player is performing.

People shouldn't say 'he was anonymous' without knowing that they can back it up?

You mention key passes.

The biggest criticism of Gylfi is 'he doesn't create enough', which is absolute bull, because he does create a lot - he's our most creative player.

On Sunday, he was - by definition - the most creative player on the park. That creativity didn't lead to a goal, which is part of the problem.

Another is that he's slow, yet he was averaging our highest speed...

I'm not suggesting he doesn't need to improve. He didn't have his best game, but the stats show that he was still one of our highest performers in a number of areas. So does that say more about the team or Gylfi?

Hey I get you have to make money and all that but it's a massive con.

"Creating enough" is not really a quantifiable stat as you can create in loads of different ways, do these stats take into account an intelligent run for example that completely takes a defender out of the game even when said player was nowhere near the ball. There are all kinds of different things that result in "stats" and the results mean nothing as they can not be compared against different teams (as much as they want you to believe they can be.)

Highest speed means nothing either! He could just be running fast in stupid positions.

Again, stats show nothing. Funnily enough I somewhat agree with you overall but not by using stats to prove your point as they prove nothing as they are just a bunch of numbers.

I will take the likes of Opta down one day....

 

[Simon baker]

He did 11 high intensity sprints.

I did mention it yeh. I put it in there as I was surprised that he was our highest on average.

But the top speed stat actually show how close he is to Richarlison and DCL, and he was higher than Walcott.

Now, the caveat is obviously that meant that Walcott never got into full flow in any of his sprints, probably because there was less space when he did manage to pick up speed.

Keane was our second quickest player, which is mad, because we know he isn't quick.

Yes suppose the length of the sprints is the determining factor as both are very slow to the naked eye.

Ref siggurdson I think it’s clear people thought we were buying a Playmaker & he simply isn’t one but he is good at the bit that counts if that makes sense.

I said at the time of signing him & barkley would of dovetailed nicely as they are very different players.

If we can fit Bernard & him in the same team perhaps he will appear more effective as he will have Somebody who appears to constantly want the ball.