Wolves analysis -2023 so far

[Northampton_wolf]

So for statos -

Premier League Stats: 2023-24 Season | The Analyst

The home for daily updating English Premier League stats for the 2023-24 season, both on a team and player level via Opta.

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Middle of the pack for XG For



Bottom for expect goals against -... (open play)




Build up style




middle of the road for press




If we look at players

Expected goals - cunha is highest but still in about 25th position for league



Expected Assists

Neto and Hwang in the front



Chances created per 90 from carries,

you can vary the stats on this




Cunha and bellegard already leading carry distance - and then cunha high on progress



Obviously traore at the top..



Sa has faced second highest shots but should have conceded 2 more than we have, so has saved well.

 

[Northampton_wolf]

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In regard to progressive caries
Wolves in the top 6



Tackles and interceptions

Wolves second




So it does seem to show a combatitve pressing team, hence why we may be falling off in the second half.

 

[SuperGran]

Doing well on everything except the actual winning games and gaining points tally

 

[Northampton_wolf]

Who's run fastest and furthest so far this season?

Find out which players are leading the way following the first four Matchweeks of 2023/24

www.premierleague.com

Top speeds - up to round 4

 

[Westbakejazz]

Unfortunately XG doesn’t win you games

 

[Northampton_wolf]

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[Sussex Wolf]

Doing well on everything except the actual winning games and gaining points tally

And preventing the opposition from scoring, or having chances to score.

In short, attack ok, defence appalling. Or in thirds, attacking third ok, middle third good, defensive third poor.

 

[Northampton_wolf]

Also highest on succesful dribbles. So most tackles, most succesful dribbles, 3rd on most interceptions, and about 7th or 8th for pressing.

So you can see the style we are playing which is definitely different to under JL

But basically we are bottom for expected goals against, this means our defence especially second half is leaky.

We are progressive and attacking, but no ****ing end product but our XG much higher than other years.

Its missed chance of Silva/cunha etc already this year.. same old wolves, but now we really are leaky (typical of GON - bournemouth, played good football, scored goals and were attacking, but were very leaky at times - it either worked or didnt get it right.)

We dont have a defensive four of the quality of a city or an arsenal

 

[Sussex Wolf]

Also highest on succesful dribbles. So most tackles, most succesful dribbles, 3rd on most interceptions, and about 7th or 8th for pressing.

So you can see the style we are playing which is definitely different to under JL

Interesting insights. Would be interesting to compare some of the key stats in halves. I suspect a lot of the positive stats for progression would be even better if just in the first halves, and far lower in the second halves. In fact, the whole style looks different in first vs second halves.

 

[KBWWFC]

Pressing stats + most tackles completed with highest xG against. Doesn't bode well.

 

[KBWWFC]

Interesting insights. Would be interesting to compare some of the key stats in halves. I suspect a lot of the positive stats for progression would be even better if just in the first halves, and far lower in the second halves. In fact, the whole style looks different in first vs second halves.

Yeah once Mr Derry and Mr O'Neill have given them their customary half time pashun they play like they can't be *****.

 

[Northampton_wolf]

Pressing stats + most tackles completed with highest xG against. Doesn't bode well.

Will be interesting to see how this changes throughout the season, but i agree with sussex if we just used first halves, ie palace, united, and liverpool it will look even more profound

 

[Yduti]

I think the problem is O’Neil can’t organise a defence

 

[KBWWFC]

I think the problem is O’Neil can’t organise a defence

As shown during his time at Bournemouth.

Really not sure what Hobbs has seen in him, other than he's got a coaching badge and can knock up a decent PowerPoint in 24h.

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

For all the xG fans I think we'd have taken being 5.68-9.24 down from the fixtures we've had all day long. Sadly if you can finish then you'll still be hopeless.

Although this made me laugh here's a quiz for you - what's missing from this graphic and why?

 

[Yduti]

We got only one real st and that guy is sasa
Fabio is championship level and can’t play lone 9 cunha is not a 9

 

[Northampton_wolf]

Everything screams gon at bournemouth, we dont have personnel in defence to do it.

Leaky defence, nice progessive football, but you need a solanke to finish chances, so best hope hwang and sasa start getting goals and neto /cunha / bellegarde create

 

[Northampton_wolf]

FYI oneil is massive on his stats so wont be surprised if hes looking at xg and other things in his coaching and methodlogy, carries/tackles, press etc

 

[Yduti]

Everything screams gon at bournemouth, we dont have personnel in defence to do it.

Leaky defence, nice progessive football, but you need a solanke to finish chances, so best hope hwang and sasa start getting goals and neto /cunha / bellegarde create

That striker in january is a must

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

That striker in january is a must

All we need is someone with a big, strong, quick proper Premier League ready CF who is full of goals, and that they don't mind letting him go in January on a loan to buy arrangement for a cut price fee next summer.

Shouldn't be hard to find.

 

[bigwolf]

As shown during his time at Bournemouth.

Really not sure what Hobbs has seen in him, other than he's got a coaching badge and can knock up a decent PowerPoint in 24h.

An undervalued talent.

 

[Jack Russell]

Jesus Christ and I thought it was a simple game!

I notice that the stats do not record the number of times a player is expected to break wind during a match!

 

[DanishWolf]

Pressing stats + most tackles completed with highest xG against. Doesn't bode well.

If I'm not wrong Bournemouth had a very high XG against as well, which is worrying considering how defensively GON set them up.

 

[northnorfolkwolf]

I'm know I'm old school, old fashioned, old ****ing everything but as Jack Russell says - football IS a simple game. I suppose in a technological age you have to have all this and I expect clubs employ analysts to digest all this stuff but at the end of the day any football fan can tell you in 10 minutes after a game how the team did, what went wrong, how each player did etc etc. We are all pretty united on what happened v Liverpool and all these stats will just reinforce what we already know - tighten up the defence and get a ****ing CF in!

 

[WolfLing]

Our expected goals against so far is a bit skewed by having already faced 3 of the top 7, including Brighton who are top.

 

[goldeneyed]

Stats are all very well but the basic Wolves story is very simple. We miss too many chances. That in turn puts extra pressure on the defence which eventually (mainly in the second half) collapses letting in more goals for now than virtually any other team (not helped by a goalkeeper who always seems to have a mistake in him. that can prove fatal) .
We don't seem to have the stamina to sustain a high pressure game much beyond the 55 minute mark and lack Premier League quality in certain positions following the exodus. Apart from Hwang noone seems to stay cool in front of goal. Neto is the only player who actually seems to be in top form. Our forwards seem to be incapable of retaining the ball in attack. So the ball is constantly coming back adding to the burden of the midfield as well as the defence. We are crying out for a quality centre foward or for Sasa to return at least to give a focus to attacks.

Our manager remains something of a rookie and, as with what happened vs Liverpool, was completely out -foxed by a world class manager in Klopp who was missing three or four key players and could only use his two main strikers in the second half because of travel exhaustion. Half time talks seem to deflate rather than inspire.

That sums it all up for me.

 

[Supadavewolf]

I notice that the stats do not record the number of times a player is expected to break wind during a match!

That's recorded as xG, ie expected Guffs

 

[northnorfolkwolf]

That's recorded as xG, ie expected Guffs

Glad to see people are at least taking all this statistical *******s with the seriousness it deserves.

 

[WolfLing]

Our manager remains something of a rookie and, as with what happened vs Liverpool, was completely out -foxed by a world class manager in Klopp who was missing three or four key players and could only use his two main strikers in the second half because of travel exhaustion. Half time talks seem to deflate rather than inspire.

They weren't really missing that many. van Dijk and Trent were the only first teamers not to feature at some stage.

They started with a front 3 of Jota, Salah and Gakpo in the first half.

When that didn't work, they sacrificed their £40m World-cup winning central midfield player for another forward, going 4-2-4 with a front 4 of Jota, Diaz, Salah and Gakpo in the second half. When Jota and Gakpo were tired, they brought on Nunez and Elliott. When their rookie centre back was tired, they brought on £35m Konate.

It's not really rocket science. It's not like Klopp did something extraordinary. He threw on more attacking talent against the tiring legs of players that aren't as good, and Liverpool stepped up a gear as we dropped down one.

I think O'Neill is getting far too much stick after the Liverpool game. Yes, he could have done some things better, as could our players with some of their decisions, but it might not have made a difference anyway.

 

[bigwolf]

They weren't really missing that many. van Dijk and Trent were the only first teamers not to feature at some stage.

They started with a front 3 of Jota, Salah and Gakpo in the first half.

When that didn't work, they sacrificed their £40m World-cup winning central midfield player for another forward, going 4-2-4 with a front 4 of Jota, Diaz, Salah and Gakpo in the second half. When Jota and Gakpo were tired, they brought on Nunez and Elliott. When their rookie centre back was tired, they brought on £35m Konate.

It's not really rocket science. It's not like Klopp did something extraordinary. He threw on more attacking talent against the tiring legs of players that aren't as good, and Liverpool stepped up a gear as we dropped down one.

I think O'Neill is getting far too much stick after the Liverpool game. Yes, he could have done some things better, as could our players with some of their decisions, but it might not have made a difference anyway.

It was mainly a front six with Robertson and Gomes pushed right up to pin us back.

Unfortunately GON seemed to.miss that the clown and didn't change anything.when it was clear as day what was going to happen

You can say what you want about Lop but he would have seen that very early and changed us to cope much better. That's why we had those 1-0 wins last season.

Bournemouth fans have said his use of subs are forumalic and largely do nothing to change the game.

Looks like they are correct and you can set your watch by them.

 

[northnorfolkwolf]

They weren't really missing that many. van Dijk and Trent were the only first teamers not to feature at some stage.

They started with a front 3 of Jota, Salah and Gakpo in the first half.

When that didn't work, they sacrificed their £40m World-cup winning central midfield player for another forward, going 4-2-4 with a front 4 of Jota, Diaz, Salah and Gakpo in the second half. When Jota and Gakpo were tired, they brought on Nunez and Elliott. When their rookie centre back was tired, they brought on £35m Konate.

It's not really rocket science. It's not like Klopp did something extraordinary. He threw on more attacking talent against the tiring legs of players that aren't as good, and Liverpool stepped up a gear as we dropped down one.

I think O'Neill is getting far too much stick after the Liverpool game. Yes, he could have done some things better, as could our players with some of their decisions, but it might not have made a difference anyway.

As usual Wolf Ling I agree with all this. My only comment is that football is and can be unpredictable.' Little' Wolves can beat 'big' Liverpool; it's not written in the stars they will beat us. You don't need stats to know that had Cunha tapped home his open goal or had GON used his subs better we would have beaten Liverpool. This defeat was squarely down to the players and the manager.

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

As usual Wolf Ling I agree with all this. My only comment is that football is and can be unpredictable.' Little' Wolves can beat 'big' Liverpool; it's not written in the stars they will beat us. You don't need stats to know that had Cunha tapped home his open goal or had GON used his subs better we would have beaten Liverpool. This defeat was squarely down to the players and the manager.

Although I agree to some extent, you never know with the subs. What would you have done differently?

60 minutes, tries to combat Robertson overloading Semedo by bringing on Doc for the tiring Hwang and uses the same time to take off the tiring Cunha for Silva (maybe Sasa could have been used, but he would have had to battle on his own and put in a lot of yards so maybe too early). For me we could have changed the shape, but would probably have got ripped apart from being too defensive).

66 minutes RAN goes down, straight swap for Bueno (could have chosen Toti I guess).

78 minutes Lemina goes down injured and Bellegarde (who maybe should have gone earlier) are replaced by Doyle and Boubacar in basically like for like swaps.

All those happened at 1-1. I'm not saying there weren't alternatives, but I don't see a glaring error.

 

[wwbug]

We can’t score and that makes us like a neutered Tom cat.
Knowing that for four years has made me find all other statistics irrelevant.

 

[SevernWolf]

While these stats show that our defence is poor, I think that if we could put more chances away in the first half of matches, we wouldn't need to take so many risks in the second half and we'd be less likely to be caught out of position.

In short, I still blame the (lack of) decent strikers.

 

[King Henry VIII]

Although I agree to some extent, you never know with the subs. What would you have done differently?

60 minutes, tries to combat Robertson overloading Semedo by bringing on Doc for the tiring Hwang and uses the same time to take off the tiring Cunha for Silva (maybe Sasa could have been used, but he would have had to battle on his own and put in a lot of yards so maybe too early). For me we could have changed the shape, but would probably have got ripped apart from being too defensive).

66 minutes RAN goes down, straight swap for Bueno (could have chosen Toti I guess).

78 minutes Lemina goes down injured and Bellegarde (who maybe should have gone earlier) are replaced by Doyle and Boubacar in basically like for like swaps.

All those happened at 1-1. I'm not saying there weren't alternatives, but I don't see a glaring error.

Not changing the shape, and instead making like for like changes, is the glaring error.

We were getting our **** pushed in due to a simple tactical change by Liverpool, and trying to do exactly the same thing but with slightly different people wasn't going to change that. I also disagree that playing Doherty anywhere other than RWB could ever be the answer. It's Saunders-esque. The only way I could see it working is if we used his heading ability to constantly kick long to him on the flank.

We needed changes that would allow us to hold possession better and push higher up the pitch to alleviate pressure on our defence. We just kept inviting pressure while holding on to a 1 goal lead. That means you are basically asking your defence to be constantly better than their attack which just isn't likely to happen.

We needed to go 5 at the back to combat the four attackers, and push Robertson back. Up front, we either needed to put Sasa on with extra legs running through the middle to play off him, or put someone on with Fabio for him to link up and interplay with.

That, along with some fresh legs in the middle, might have been enough to give us a foothold in the match again.

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

Not changing the shape, and instead making like for like changes, is the glaring error.

We were getting our **** pushed in due to a simple tactical change by Liverpool, and trying to do exactly the same thing but with slightly different people wasn't going to change that. I also disagree that playing Doherty anywhere other than RWB could ever be the answer. It's Saunders-esque. The only way I could see it working is if we used his heading ability to constantly kick long to him on the flank.

We needed changes that would allow us to hold possession better and push higher up the pitch to alleviate pressure on our defence. We just kept inviting pressure while holding on to a 1 goal lead. That means you are basically asking your defence to be constantly better than their attack which just isn't likely to happen.

We needed to go 5 at the back to combat the four attackers, and push Robertson back. Up front, we either needed to put Sasa on with extra legs running through the middle to play off him, or put someone on with Fabio for him to link up and interplay with.

That, along with some fresh legs in the middle, might have been enough to give us a foothold in the match again.

See I have said elsewhere that maybe when Doc came on we should have gone 532. However look at what you're asking for. Would that have enabled us to hold possession further up? Would people have been on here by 3pm saying his defensive change had invited more pressure? Would Doc as a RWB have pushed Robertson back? I don't think I could be confident it would have been better.

 

[purplepault69]

It was mainly a front six with Robertson and Gomes pushed right up to pin us back.

Unfortunately GON seemed to.miss that the clown and didn't change anything.when it was clear as day what was going to happen

You can say what you want about Lop but he would have seen that very early and changed us to cope much better. That's why we had those 1-0 wins last season.

Bournemouth fans have said his use of subs are forumalic and largely do nothing to change the game.

Looks like they are correct and you can set your watch by them.

And what would you specifically suggest was the answer ??

 

[King Henry VIII]

See I have said elsewhere that maybe when Doc came on we should have gone 532. However look at what you're asking for. Would that have enabled us to hold possession further up? Would people have been on here by 3pm saying his defensive change had invited more pressure? Would Doc as a RWB have pushed Robertson back? I don't think I could be confident it would have been better.

I'm only asking for a manager who can make sensible tactically adjustments. I'm m not here saying they would guarantee us a win but I think they would definitely have given us a better chance.

Let me ask you this: if someone asked you at the 55 minute mark what subs you thought would be best, would you ever have said swap Hwang for Doherty the way we did?

It genuinely feels like he identified the correct problem but came up with an absolutely mental solution.

It isn't about the individual player, but the extra man. We were doing well first half as our FBs were pushing high and linking with midfield and attack. When Liverpool went to basically a front four it smothered us and let them push high instead. Having the extra body would've prevented that being as effective and hopefully stopped out possession becoming so disjointed.

Making that change, alongside going to 2 up top should have given us a much better outlet and ability to get out of our own half.

 

[VancouverWolf]

That striker in january is a must

Yes please. No messing around……get somebody really good.

 

[VancouverWolf]

I think our frequent loss of possession is a big factor.
I know some Mixers think our first half vs Liverpool was brilliant but our first half possession was a measly 35% whilst theirs was 65%.