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January Transfer Window 2023

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BlueToff said:
I mean he is a creative player but he's not a playmaker who runs a game, for sure.

The evidence is there. He ranks pretty high for chances created (11th in the whole league with 28, all of those from open play) and then when it comes to assists he ranks joint third in the league with 5, behind only Saka (6) and KDB (9).

So I mean, that is 'creative' by most metrics, there's no pretending about it. It's why we want him to be playing further up but we then don't seem to have a way of connecting the dots regularly enough to get the ball to him, and he just either fades completely or runs about like a mad man and we lose all shape. He isn't though someone who's going to play an outrageous pass like De Bruyne or an inch-perfect throughball.

Worth noting there that he's vastly outperforming his expected assists, which are only at 1.6 (2 to round up as we all know you can't provide .6 of a goal). This is the actual way you quantify the quality of chances he's making.

Most players at the top are outperforming their xA (even De Bruyne), but most of them not by the scale that Iwobi is, so basically some of those assists he's got have relied on the players finishing them to have done better than would be expected - like Dom v Palace for example.

All that being said, I do think it's an issue we rely on Iwobi to be our ONLY creative outlet and have nothing else to offer from anyone, with the wingers and full-backs the main culprits there. So we need signings - a creative player for sure - to take the burden off and hopefully improve on what Iwobi offers.
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You’re picking a sample size of what, 15 games, where as you say, he’s vastly outperforming the expected assists - the metric of how good the chances created are. He’s not been creating good chances, that you’d expect forwards to score from.

He’s creative in the same way that any attacker/attacking midfielder is creative. An attacking midfielder starting every week should have the highest number of chances created in a team or be right up there, something far wrong if they don’t. Same as a centre back will have the highest number of blocks.

The question is, is he a particularly good creative player? Over the course of his career, not really. Average. Capable of great things but not often or consistently enough. Add that he has no goal threat and adds up to…sell.

I do think getting him playing closer to the striker and upgrading Gordon/Gray might get more out of him creatively, it’s a tough shift I guess trying to play with that pair of duffers.
 


TheBigIguana said:
Same terms isn't going to get signed
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As I said, incentives to take it up to higher wages - he's already on about £70-80k so IMO it shouldn't be tons higher than that.

He's been good, was great for spells last season and at the start of this. It's not his fault it's all on him to create but at the same time I understand the concerns of tying a player down that, for his good form, probably wouldn't be attracting tons of interest on the open market even though it's sensible to tie him down.

Everton weren't fending off offers for Iwobi this summer and I honestly doubt they would be in January regardless of his decent form.
 
BigDuncTributeBand said:
You’re picking a sample size of what, 15 games, where as you say, he’s vastly outperforming the expected assists - the metric of how good the chances created are. He’s not been creating good chances, that you’d expect forwards to score from.

He’s creative in the same way that any attacker/attacking midfielder is creative. An attacking midfielder starting every week should have the highest number of chances created in a team or be right up there, something far wrong if they don’t. Same as a centre back will have the highest number of blocks.

The question is, is he a particularly good creative player? Over the course of his career, not really. Average. Capable of great things but not often or consistently enough. Add that he has no goal threat and adds up to…sell.

I do think getting him playing closer to the striker and upgrading Gordon/Gray might get more out of him creatively, it’s a tough shift I guess trying to play with that pair of duffers.
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I mean in fairness mate Saka's xA is 2.6 so he's not miles off in that regard, every player who gets a lot of assists tends to be out performing their xG.

I don't think Iwobi's a player anywhere near the levels of some players who haven't created as many chances or haven't got as many assists. But he's not really the problem at all.

Let's say, dream scenario, that we go and get Kudus in. Well, it's not Iwobi who will be dropping out of the team.

FWIW I do also think Iwobi was Arsenal's leading chance creator in his final season there, but they had a much better team than us of course. So yeah I do think he's creative, he just isn't the stylish playmaker we think of, and he won't ever be able to replicate the magic of James or De Bruyne or anyone like that.
 

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