Worrying Arsenal Statistics
Tuesday 17th September, 2019 16:35
After watching Arsenal give up a 2-0 advantage to Watford, who were bottom of the Premier League table and had just replaced their manager, I knew that there would be some interesting analysis of the statistics.
Scott Willis was first over at Arseblog to give his stats and opinion. And today, Tim @7amkickoff has given his verdict (after his little rant at the weekend). They're definitely worth a read.
Scott's blog post points out that that this was "statistically the worst of any Arsenal team in the Premier League era". We conceded 31 shots during that match. Arsenal have never conceded 31 shots in the Premier League before now.
David Luiz has conceded two penalties in his last two Arsenal matches. He only conceded 3 penalties in 160 Premier League appearances for Chelsea. This could suggest that the issue is with how Arsenal play, rather than the player. But as also Tim points out, Pereyra dived to win the penalty (which was my thought at the time, when watching in slow motion, as he seemed to go down far too easily). Despite VAR, the penalty was still given. I can only assume they reasoned that Pereyra went down (easily) to avoid injury after Luiz stuck his leg out in a way that allowed Pereyra to draw the foul.
VAR has also come into criticism as it apparently can't be used on restarts, which is why Deulofeu stepping inside the box to intercept the pass from Sokratis didn't rule out their goal even though it was all on camera.
Arsenal were also fouled a lot by Watford, and the only foul committed by Arsenal in a dismal second half was the penalty.
While you could argue both goals, and despite the number of fouls Watford made, there's still a strong argument from the statistics that Arsenal were lucky to even get any points.
Emery needs to do something. He's been in charge for 14 months and despite a nice run of 22 games last season we finished poorly (throwing away our chance of a Champions League place, despite the teams around us trying to hand it to us on a plate). This season needs to see an improvement, but based on these last few performances I'm not convinced he's the right person.
Josh Kroenke (and Stan) have been criticised for their lack of investment in the past, but with the players we've signed it looks like they may have invested something in an attempt to remain competitive. If we fail to win a Champions League spot, and at this rate I think we will blow it, I think we have to blame Emery. His training and tactics don't appear to be working, and it feels like there's a story behind the way Koscielny forced his way out of the club (as well as Monreal's somewhat surprising departure).
Once Bellerin, Tierney, and Holding are back in the squad, and Lacazette has recovered from injury, there will be no excuses and no hiding. I don't think we'll sack Emery during this season, but I suspect Josh Kroenke may already be looking into a successor.
SPOILER: I don't think it's going to be Freddie.
Scott Willis was first over at Arseblog to give his stats and opinion. And today, Tim @7amkickoff has given his verdict (after his little rant at the weekend). They're definitely worth a read.
Scott's blog post points out that that this was "statistically the worst of any Arsenal team in the Premier League era". We conceded 31 shots during that match. Arsenal have never conceded 31 shots in the Premier League before now.
David Luiz has conceded two penalties in his last two Arsenal matches. He only conceded 3 penalties in 160 Premier League appearances for Chelsea. This could suggest that the issue is with how Arsenal play, rather than the player. But as also Tim points out, Pereyra dived to win the penalty (which was my thought at the time, when watching in slow motion, as he seemed to go down far too easily). Despite VAR, the penalty was still given. I can only assume they reasoned that Pereyra went down (easily) to avoid injury after Luiz stuck his leg out in a way that allowed Pereyra to draw the foul.
VAR has also come into criticism as it apparently can't be used on restarts, which is why Deulofeu stepping inside the box to intercept the pass from Sokratis didn't rule out their goal even though it was all on camera.
Arsenal were also fouled a lot by Watford, and the only foul committed by Arsenal in a dismal second half was the penalty.
While you could argue both goals, and despite the number of fouls Watford made, there's still a strong argument from the statistics that Arsenal were lucky to even get any points.
Emery needs to do something. He's been in charge for 14 months and despite a nice run of 22 games last season we finished poorly (throwing away our chance of a Champions League place, despite the teams around us trying to hand it to us on a plate). This season needs to see an improvement, but based on these last few performances I'm not convinced he's the right person.
Josh Kroenke (and Stan) have been criticised for their lack of investment in the past, but with the players we've signed it looks like they may have invested something in an attempt to remain competitive. If we fail to win a Champions League spot, and at this rate I think we will blow it, I think we have to blame Emery. His training and tactics don't appear to be working, and it feels like there's a story behind the way Koscielny forced his way out of the club (as well as Monreal's somewhat surprising departure).
Once Bellerin, Tierney, and Holding are back in the squad, and Lacazette has recovered from injury, there will be no excuses and no hiding. I don't think we'll sack Emery during this season, but I suspect Josh Kroenke may already be looking into a successor.
SPOILER: I don't think it's going to be Freddie.
