Finding Goody Two Shoes

"You don't drink, don't smoke, what do you do?"

Following an insipid showing in the Scottish Cup Final, I wanted to build on James’s excellent analysis from last week on midfielder passing value.

James’s piece highlights the creative passing deficit in the current midfield, or “how we exorcise the ghost of Matt O’Riley”? Or: you don’t pass, don’t create, what do you do?

In particular, James raises concerns about the positive (or lack thereof) of passing contribution from Arne Engels and Paolo Bernardo, and even Reo Hatate, relative to O’Riley, David Turnbull, and I’d add Aaron Mooy of recent times.

This brings into question the recruitment analysis methodologies and risks associated with breaking down stubborn and well-organised defences, as we saw in the Cup Final.

James focuses on the on ball value of passing. This makes sense given passing accounts for roughly 75% of all on ball actions.

Searching the site’s archive, I’ve been writing about this for at least three years now. Indeed, the whole Huddle Breakdown started due to debates about Scott Brown and the misfiring midfield.

For comparative purposes, I propose that Ange Postecoglou (remember him: park the bus pragmatist European trophy winner?) and his 2022-23 season are comparable to this season under Brendan Rodgers.

Remember 2022-23?

Postecoglou’s treble year, and I analysed all the midfield “eight” options across a range of metrics. Here is a summary of the results.

The individual numbers in the individual categories will become clear when we add in this year's cadre for comparative purposes.