Monday 31 March 2014

Sunderland vs West Ham United

Monday 31st March 2014
19:45
Stadium of Light

Sunderland vs West Ham United

Analysis
Win this, and we're pretty much safe.

Three points puts us at 37 points with 6 games to go. That'd be 11 points clear of 18th place Cardiff City, 12 points clear of 19th place Sunderland (though they will still have two in hand), and 13 clear of dead and buried Fulham.

This is a big, important game. The sort of game Sam Allardyce was born to manage, and the sort of game that probably won't fetch the best Monday night viewing figures!

Key Player
Sunderland have a number of important players in their ranks, and will need a number of them to hit some kind of form between now and the end of the season if they're to survive.

Adam Johnson had a glorious January, scoring five and creating two in four appearances. Sebastien Larsson, Craig Gardner, Jack Colback and Fabio Borini have all played important roles for the Black Cats in recent times, while the likes of Phil Bardsley, Lee Cattermole, Liam Bridcutt and John O'Shea have the experience and defensive knowhow to make life difficult for opposition attackers.

But for me, Sunderland's key man is on loan Swansea City midfielder Ki Sung-Yueng.

The South Korean international has scored three goals from midfield this season, created 25 chances and won an impressive 59% of his 58 tackles. He has been an all round, consistent presence in the middle of the park this season.

But what puts Ki apart from the rest is his ability and composure on the ball. The midfielder has completed a quite remarkable 91% of his passes in a Sunderland side not renowned for it's ball playing ability. And, unlike the accusations offered lobbied toward his parent club, Ki plays the majority of passes forward (58.8% of his 1076), and doesn't mind going long when required (9% or 98 long balls).

In the 3-0 away derby victory, Ki was a metronome in the middle of the park, completing 97% of his passes - overall, his team completed 75%.


But not only can the Korean keep hold of the ball, but he is perfectly skilled when travelling with it. Ki takes on an opposition player a little more than once a game (25 in 24 appearances), but when he does, he is very effective, completing 88% of his take ons.


I've seen talk this week that West Ham are interested in bolstering their midfield ranks with Raul Meireles in the summer. But maybe Ki should be on the list of targets too...

How do you stop them?
After their good form a couple of months back, Sunderland have failed to win since their derby victory back on the first of February, losing four and drawing one of their following five games.

And the Black Cats have a pretty poor home record this season in the league. In front of their own fans, Sunderland have collected just 12 points (three wins, three draws) from 14 games. In fact, if the league were compiled from home form only, Sunderland would sit bottom of the league.

In their last two home games, Gus Poyet's team have managed a 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace, and a two goal defeat at the hands of Hull City. Both teams adopted very different styles of play, and I believe the best way to nullify Sunderland at home is to approach the game in the manner that Hull did. While Palace sat back, defended deep and ground out a point, Hull refused to allow Sunderland into their penalty area.

The image below shows the overall heat map of the game. What you can see, is that the Hull penalty box was the least active area in the game and was barely troubled throughout - particularly when compared to the Sunderland area.


By putting Sunderland on the back foot, tackling high up the park, and using their 3-5-2 formation to congest the middle of the field and crowd out Sunderland's attack, Hull managed to keep the Mackems at arms length.

Weakest Link
Sunderland have had two key weaknesses this season.

Firstly, their inability to score goals. Strikers Steven Fletcher, Jozy Altidore and Fabio Borini have managed 7 goals between them in a combined 70 Premier League appearances. And, other than Adam Johnson, nobody else has really stepped up and chipped in.

But their real weakness has been individual errors - and the main culprit has been someone who should really know better.

For a man with more than 400 career appearances - 300+ of these in the Premier League and European competition - 23 England caps, 9 domestic cups, 5 Premier League titles and 2 Champions League winners medals under his belt, Wes Brown has been abysmal.

The former Manchester United defender is supposed to provide an experienced, reliable head at the back for Sunderland, but has completely failed to do so this season. In a side that has committed 12 errors leading directly to a shot on goal, Brown has made more than any other player, with three mistakes - one of which led to a goal. On top of this, Brown has committed 11 fouls and received three red cards, leaving his side in the lurch on numerous occasions.

Despite this, Sunderland do concede less goals when the defender is playing (1.1 with and 2.1 without), though this figure is affected greatly by the start of the season under Paolo Di Canio - where Brown was out of the side and the entire side was leaking goals like nobodies business.

And Brown has won 60% of his aerial duels this season, despite playing in a side whose lack of ability in this area has led to whoscored.com calling their aerial duels a real weakness in this side. Though the former England defender has only contested 3.3 duels per game this season, and hasn't come up against anyone playing a traditional target man this season.

I reckon we'll draw this. We'll be resolute, defend well, but won't really threaten to score.

 Head to Head 
36% Head to Head Win % 38%
31 Won 32
22 Drawn 22
32 Lost 31
123 Goals Scored 131
131 Goals Conceded 123

 Recent Form 
L L L D L L Last 6 W W L L L W
3 Goals Scored 8
14 Goals Conceded 8
  
D W W L W D Home/Away Form L W D W L L
5 Goals Scored 5
4 Goals Conceded 10
  
 Form Player (excl. GK) 
 (Last 6 League) 
Adam Johnson - James Tomkins
6 Appearances 6
395 Minutes Played 540
  
119 Sum Squawka Performance Score 129
20 Average Squawka Performance Rating 22
  
117 Passes Attempted 170
89 Completed 124
76% Success Rate 73%
  
11 Chances Created 0
1 Assists 0
  
8 Attempts on Goal 1
3 On Target 0
1 Goals 0

12 Take Ons Attempted 0
8 Successful Take Ons 0
67% Success Rate 0%
  
9 Tackles Made 14
6 Successful Tackles 9
67% Success Rate 64%
  
2 Interceptions 17
1 Clearances 51
0 Blocks 2
1 Defensive Actions Per Game 12
  
4 Aerial Duels 38
2 Won 26
50% Success Rate 68%

0 Defensive Errors 0
0 Leading to a Goal 0
  
 Last Meeting 
14 December 2013
  
4-2-3-1 Starting Formation 4-2-3-1

Vito Mannon - Jussi Jääskeläinen
Ondrej Celustka - Guy Demel (58')
John O'Shea - James Collins
Wes Brown - James Tomkins
(82') Phil Bardsley - George McCartney
Lee Cattermole - Mark Noble
Ki Sung-Yueng - Ravel Morrison
Emanuele Giaccherini - Joe Cole (75')
Sebastian Larsson - Mohamed Diamé
(72') Fabio Borini - Matt Jarvis (56')
(73') Jozy Altidore - Modibo Maïga

 Subs 
Jordan Pickford - Adrián
(82') Andrea Dossena - Rǎzvan Raţ
Valentin Roberge - Joey O'Brien (58')
Cabral - Jack Collison (56')
Craig Gardner - Matthew Taylor
(72') Adam Johnson - Alou Diarra
(73') Steven Fletcher - Carlton Cole (75')

 Absentees 
 Injured/Doubtful 
Sunderland: Kieran WestwoodSteven Fletcher
West Ham United: Winston Reid, James Collins, Joey O'Brien, Matt Jarvis, Marco Borriello

 Suspensions 
Sunderland: n/a
West Ham United: n/a

  Opposition Last Time Out (League)
vs Liverpool
 Goals Scored: 1
 Goals Conceded: 2
 Starting Formation: 5-3-2

  Vito Mannone

  Phil Bardsley  Santiago Vergini  John O'Shea  Wes Brown  Andrea Dossena (83')

  Liam Bridcutt  Lee Catermole

  Emanuele Giaccherini (61')

  Jozy Altidore  Connor Wickham (61')

 subs:
Oscar Ustari
  Valentin Rogerge
  Ki Sung-Yueng (61')
  Sebastian Larsson
  Adam Johnson (61')
  Jack Colback (83')
  Ignacio Scocco
  
 Best Player: Ki Sung-Yueng
 Squawka Rating: 45
 Worst Player: Santiago Vergini
 Squawka Rating: -26
  
 Top 5's (Min 5 Apps) 
 Goals Scored 
Adan Johnson 7 - 7 Kevin Nolan
Steven Fletcher 3 - 6 Carlton Cole
Emanuele Giaccherini 3 - 3 Joe Cole
Fabio Borini 3 - 3 Ravel Morrison*
Ki Sung-Yueng 3 - 3 Mohamed Diamé

 Assists 
Adam Johnson 4 - 5 Kevin Nolan
Jack Colback 2 - 3 Andy Carroll
Craig Gardner 1 - 3 Matt Jarvis
Emanuele Giaccherini 1 - 3 Mark Noble
Fabio Borini 1 - 2 Stewart Downing

 Passing Accuracy 
Ki Sung-Yueng 91% - 83% Mark Noble
Jack Colback 88% - 81% Stewart Downing
Valentin Roberge 86% - 79% Joe Cole
Lee Cattermole 85% - 79% Joey O'Brien
John O'Shea 83% - 78% Kevin Nolan

 Chances Created per game 
Adam Johnson 1.5 - 1.8 Stewart Downing
Sebastian Larsson 1.4 - 1.5 Mark Noble
Marcos Alonso 1.3 - 1 Matt Jarvis
Emanuele Giaccherini 1.3 - 1 Kevin Nolan
Ki Sung-Yueng 1 - 0.8 Andy Carroll

 Successful Dribbles per game 
Emanuele Giaccherini 1.3 - 1.8 Mohamed Diamé
Marcos Alonso 1.3 - 1.1 Mark Noble
Adam Johnson 1.2 - 0.9 Guy Demel
Phil Bardsley 0.9 - 0.9 Stewart Downing
Ki Sung-Yueng 0.9 - 0.6 Matt Jarvis

 Tackles per game 
Marcos Alonso 3.6 - 2.7 Mark Noble
Lee Cattermole 2.8 - 2.2 Mohamed Diamé
Phil Bardsley 2.5 - 2 James Collins
Liam Bridcutt 2.5 - 1.9 Kevin Nolan
Valentin Roberge 2.4 - 1.8 Matthew Taylor

 Aerial Duels Won per game 
Steven Fletcher 3 - 8.4 Andy Carroll
Jozy Altidore 2.5 - 4.4 James Tomkins
John O'Shea 2.4 - 3.5 James Collins
Wes Brown 2.1 - 2.6 Carlton Cole
Marcos Alonso 1.8 - 2.4 Winston Reid

 Manager 
Gus Poyet - Sam Allardyce
38.7% Current Club Win % 41.4%
12 Won 53
6 Drawn 32
13 Lost 43
  
43.5% Managerial Career Win % 39.9%
98 Won 347
65 Drawn 231
62 Lost 290

2 Sides Managed 7
1 League Titles 2
0 Cup Wins 0
  
Brighton & Hove Albion First Managerial Role Preston North End
10/11/2009 Start Date 30/09/1992
4y 141d Experience 21y 181d

Thursday 27 March 2014

West Ham United 2 - 1 Hull City

26/03/2014
19:45
Boleyn Ground

West Ham United vs Hull City
 Goalscorers: 
1-0 Mark Noble 
1-1 Nikica Jelavic 
2-1 James Chester OG 

 Analysis 

The fact that Sam Allardyce doesn't understand why West Ham fans were unhappy with last night's performance just goes to show that he doesn't understand West Ham United.

 General Play 
4-2-3-1 Formation 3-5-2
(22) Adrián - Allan McGregor (-36)
(-23) Guy Demel - James Chester (-2)
(1) James Collins - Alex Bruce (1)
(45) James Tomkins - Curtis Davies (14)
(13) George McCartney - Ahmed Elmohamady (11)
(24) Mark Noble - Jake Livermore (1)
(14) Matthew Taylor - Tom Huddlestone (66)
(-16) Mohamed Diamé - David Meyler (21)
(7) Kevin Nolan - Maynor Figueroa (16)
(13) Stewart Downing - Shane Long (-21)
(-17) Andy Carroll - Nikica Jelavic (23)

(11) Roger Johnson - Steve Harper (0)
(1) Joe Cole - Liam Rosenior (-3)
()  - Yannick Sagbo (5)

Best Performance
(45) James Tomkins - Tom Huddlestone (66)

Worst Performance
(-23) Guy Demel - Allan McGregor (-36)

45% Possession 55%

356 Passes Attempted 468
Mark Noble 52 Most Attempted 82 Ahmed Elmohamady

78% Passing Accuracy 81%
63% In Opp. Half 70%
Mohamed Diamé 94% Best Accuracy (min. 15 passes) 94% Maynor Figueroa

64 Long Balls 71
18% % Long Balls 15%
Mark Noble 11 Most Long Balls (excl. GK) 11 Ahmed Elmohamady

Most Frequent Pass Combination
McCartney to Downing 16 - 17 Chester to Elmohamady

 37 Aerial Duels Won 32 
 54% Success 46% 
James Tomkins 12 Most Won 8 James Chester

George McCartney 67 Most Touches 110 Ahmed Elmohamady

 Offensive Play 
10 Attempts on Goal 10
3 On Target 3
4 Off Target 6
3 Blocked 1
40% From Outside the Box 40%
Stewart Downing 3 Most Shots 3 Tom Huddlestone

7 Key Passes 8
Stewart Downing 3 Most Key Passes 4 Tom Huddlestone

21 Crosses 24
Stewart Downing 9 Most Attempted 8 Tom Huddlestone

5 Successful Crosses 9
24% Success 38%
Stewart Downing 2 Most Successful 6 Tom Huddlestone

12 Take Ons Attempted 10
6 Successful Take Ons 6
50% Success 60%
Mohamed Diamé 2 Most Take Ons 2 Tom Huddlestone

 Defensive Play 
25 Tackles Attempted 31
14 Successful Tackles 19
56% Success 61%
James Tomkins 5 Most Tackles 6 James Chester

37 Clearances 26
Roger Johnson 14 Most Clearances 10 Curtis Davies

5 Interceptions 11
James Tomkins 3 Most Clearances 3 Curtis Davies

1 Shot Blocks 3
n/a 1 Most Shot Blocks 1 Alex Bruce

 Discipline 
 9 Fouls 8 
Steven Naismith 2 Most Fouls 3 Guy Demel

0 Yellow Cards 1
West Ham United:     
Hull City:  Jake Livermore   

0 Red Cards 1
West Ham United:     
Hull City:  Allan McGregor   

 Head to Heads 
Adrián vs Steve Harper
1 Goals Conceded 2
2 Saves 0
  
4 Claims 3
4 Successful Claims 3
100% Success 100%

31 Total Distribution 29
20 Accurate 10
65% Success 34%

8 Goal Kicks 4
6 Accurate 2
75% Success 50%
  
1 Throw Outs 5
1 Accurate 5
100% Success 100%

4 Kick from Hand 4
1 Accurate 0
25% Success 0%
  
18 Other 16
12 Accurate 3
67% Success 19%

0 Errors Leading to Shot 0
0 Errors Leading to Goal 0

Andy Carroll 8 Most Passed To 3 Curtis Davies
James Tomkins 5 Most Passes From 7 Ahmed Elmohamady

James Tomkins vs Curtis Davies
15 Aerial Duels 15
12 Duels Won 7
80% Success 47%
  
5 Tackles Attempted 0
4 Tackles Completed 0
80% Success 0%
  
8 Clearances 11
3 Interceptions 3
0 Blocks 0
0 6yrd Blocks 0
  
0 Errors Leading to Shot 0
0 Errors Leading to Goal 0
  
41 Passes Attempted 32
31 Successful 26
76% Success 81%
  
0 Crosses Attempted 0
0 Successful 0
0% Success 0%
  
0 Chances Created 0
  
1 Attempts on Goal 1
0 On Target 0
0 Goals 0
  
George McCartney 8 Most Passed To 5 Liam Rosenior
George McCartney 10 Most Passes From 6 Jake Livermore

Mark Noble vs Tom Huddlestone
52 Passes Attempted 62
44 Successful 54
85% Success 87%
  
0 Key Passes 4
0 Assists 1
  
2 Attempts on Goal 3
1 On Target 1
1 Goals 0
  
2 Take Ons Attempted 2
1 Take Ons Successful 2
50% Success 100%
  
3 Tackles Attempted 4
1 Tackles Completed 2
33% Success 50%
  
1 Clearances 0
0 Interceptions 1
0 Blocks 0
0 6yrd Blocks 0
  
0 Errors Leading to Shot 0
0 Errors Leading to Goal 0
  
Kevin Nolan 6 Most Passed To 16 Ahmed Elmohamady
Stewart Downing 8 Most Passes From 13 Ahmed Elmohamady

Andy Carroll vs Shane Long
2 Attempts on Goal 0
0 On Target 0
0 Goals 0
  
0 Key Passes 1
0 Assists 0
  
30 Passes Attempted 14
17 Successful 8
57% Success 57%
  
1 Take Ons 1
0 Sucecssful Take Ons 0
0% Success 0%
  
20 Aerial Duels 12
11 Duels Won 2
55% Success 17%
  
Kevin Nolan 6 Most Passed To 3 Liam Rosenior
Adrián 8 Most Passes From 4 Jake Livermore

Wednesday 26 March 2014

West Ham United vs Hull City

Wednesday 26th March 2014
19:45
Boleyn Ground

West Ham United vs Hull City
Analysis
It's not so much a 'save our season' game as such, more a 'it'd really help if we won this game' game, but that's not quite as snappy.

After four fantastic victories on the bounce, we've now had three pathetic defeats, during which we've created a woefully inadequate 14 attempts on goal, and an embarrassing four shots on target.

And now we turn our attention to a Hull City side who have been in fine recent form, and all but secured Premier League football for next season with their comfortable two nil victory over West Brom at the weekend.

Key Player
I had a bit of a difficult time picking Hull's key player. Midfielders Tom Huddlestone and Jake Livermore have been a consistent, calming presence in the middle of the park this season. Strikers Shane Long and Nikica Jelavic have come in and formed a lively, promising partnership since January, and goalkeeper Allan McGregor has single handedly won games for the Tigers this season.

But the player I believe to be central to Hull is centre half Curtis Davies.

After spending the previous two seasons plying his trade in the Championship with Birmingham City, Davies has readapted to the Premier League as if he'd never been away.

So far this season, Davies has made a remarkable 248 clearances, 27 blocks, and 83 interceptions. He's also won 64% of his 201 aerial duels, and 55% of his 84 tackles.

Not content with being a defensive rock, he's also bagged himself a couple of goals, create four chances, and even managed an assist (for Shane Long last weekend).

http://www.squawka.com/comparison-matrix

How do you stop them?
According to whoscored.com, Hull City's main weakness this season has been their ability to keep possession. Despite being able to call upon ball players like Huddlestone and Koren, Steve Bruce's side have a difficult time in possession when pressed.

By hassling and harrying the Tigers' defence and midfield, teams have often been able to render them unable to create chances and score goals.

Excluding the recent defeat to Manchester City, the past two occasions that Hull have failed to score in the league have come against Southampton and Crystal Palace. Both teams put a lot of pressure on the ball all over the pitch, causing mistakes and lack of composure.

Against Southampton, Hull posted a pass completion rate of just 64%, and resorted to a number of long balls into the box - failing to play to the strengths of their new striker partnership. The image below shows the tackles Southampton attempted. As you can see, they attempted an astonishing 41 tackles all over the park, often pressurising the Hull defence.

http://epl.squawka.com/hull-city-vs-southampton/

Against Palace, Hull still managed an impressive pass completion of 84% and controlled 55% possession in the game. However, despite the overall dominance, they created just five chances from open play, and were largely restricted to attempts from range.

The image below shows Palace's tackles. Tony Pulis' side attempted less tackles from the Saints, and fewer in more advanced positions, but put in plenty in the middle of the park, forcing the likes of Huddlestone and Livermore to offload the ball without creating too much danger. Between them, the two England midfielders managed to create just the one chance on the day.

http://epl.squawka.com/crystal-palace-vs-hull-city/

Weakest Link
It feels a little strange saying it, but Hull City don't really have a weak link. They have a very strong spine to their side in McGregor, Davies, Huddlestone, Livermore, Long and Jelavic, and have been able to rotate around their key players, and be creative in their approach to games.

Steve Bruce is probably the manager to have been the most tactically flexible this season, with his side trying out 5 distinctly varied formations. His favourites though are the 4-4-2 and 3-5-2 formations that allow him to go with a traditional strike partnership.

Recently, Hull have been playing the 3-5-2, and it seems likely that this is how they will line up against West Ham - particularly if Long recovers from a knock to make the starting line up. This formation has been very successful for them this season, but it also the approach that offers the opposition the most opportunity to test Hull's defence.

3-5-2 relies on wingbacks with great energy and enthusiasm, which Hull have in Ahmed Elmohamady and Liam Rosenior. However, to patrol the flanks alone. As the wingbacks bomb forward, they often leave large areas of space exposed for the opposition to exploit.

Perhaps the best example of this was the recent 4-1 demolition at the hands of Newcastle United. If you look at the average position maps below, you'll see that Rosenior (#2) and Elhamaday (#27) pushed high up the park to support the attack. In response, Moussa Sissoko (#7) and Yoan Gouffran (#11) had the opportunity to push on into space.

http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/720769/MatchReport

Leaving Sissoko this amount of space allowed for the Frenchman to put in (undoubtedly) his best performance of this season, and probably his best in a Newcastle shirt since his match winning performance against Chelsea last season, bagging himself two goals against the Tigers.

Below is his heat map from that game. He had some defensive work to do, helping Mathieu Debuchy deal with Rosenior. but he also had masses of space to exploit going forward, something he did with aplomb.

http://epl.squawka.com/hull-city-vs-newcastle-united/

If West Ham are to take the three points that would pretty much see us safe this season, we need to keep Hull's strike partnership quiet, pressurise the ball in the middle of the park, and get our wingers involved in the space behind the fullbacks.

If we do this, there's no reason we shouldn't win.

 Head to Head 
40% Head to Head Win % 26%
17 Won 11
14 Drawn 14
11 Lost 17
63 Goals Scored 48
48 Goals Conceded 63

 Recent Form 
W W W L L L Last 6 W W L W L W
8 Goals Scored 12
7 Goals Conceded 8
  
L L W W W L Home/Away Form L W L W D W
8 Goals Scored 9
9 Goals Conceded 3
  
 Form Player (excl. GK) 
 (Last 6 League) 
James Tomkiins - Curtis Davies
6 Appearances 6
540 Minutes Played 536
  
117 Sum Squawka Performance Score 237
20 Average Squawka Performance Rating 40
  
136 Passes Attempted 184
98 Completed 141
72% Success Rate 77%
  
0 Chances Created 2
0 Assists 1
  
1 Attempts on Goal 4
0 On Target 1
0 Goals 1

0 Take Ons Attempted 1
0 Successful Take Ons 1
0% Success Rate 100%
  
9 Tackles Made 14
5 Successful Tackles 7
56% Success Rate 50%
  
15 Interceptions 22
58 Clearances 61
4 Blocks 6
13 Defensive Actions Per Game 15
  
31 Aerial Duels 59
18 Won 37
58% Success Rate 63%

0 Defensive Errors 0
0 Leading to a Goal 0
  
 Last Meeting 
28 September 2013
1-0 Robbie Brady 12'
  
4-2-3-1 Starting Formation 4-4-2

Jussi Jääskeläinen - Allan McGregor
Joey O'Brien - Liam Rosenior
James Tomkins - Abdoulaye Faye
Winston Reid - Curtis Davies
Rǎzvan Raţ - Maynor Figueroa
Mark Noble - Ahmed Elmohamady
Ravel Morrison - Tom Huddlestone
(71') Mohamed Diamé - Jake Livermore
Kevin Nolan - Robbie Brady (80')
(71') Matt Jarvis - Sone Aluko (89')
(59') Modibo Maïga - Danny Graham (71')

 Subs 
Adrián - Steve Harper
James Collins - Alex Bruce
Guy Demel - Paul McShane
Matthew Taylor - David Meyler (80')
(71') Ricardo Vâz Te - George Boyd (89')
(71') Stewart Downing - Stephen Quinn
(59') Mladen Petrić - Yannick Sagbo (71')

 Absentees 
 Injured/Doubtfu
West Ham United: Joey O'Brien, Marco Borriello
Hull City: Joe Dudgeon, Paul McShane, Robbie Brady, Shane Long

 Suspensions 
West Ham United: n/a
Hull City: n/a

  Opposition Last Time Out (League)
vs West Bromwich Albion
 Goals Scored: 2
 Goals Conceded: 0
 Starting Formation: 4-4-2

  Allan McGregor

  Ahmed Elmohamady  James Chester  Curtis Davies  Liam Rosenior

  Sone Aluko (61')  Tom Huddlestone  Jake Livermore  David Meyler

  Shane Long (77')  Nikica Jelavic (84')

 subs:
Steve Harper
  Maynor Figueroa
  Alex Bruce
  Robert Koren (61')
  Stephen Quinn (77')
  Matty Fryatt
  Yannick Sagbo (84')
  
 Best Player: Curtis Davies
 Squawka Rating: 90
 Worst Player: Sone Aluko
 Squawka Rating: -22
  
 Top 5's (Min 5 Apps) 
 Goals Scored 
Kevin Nolan 7 - 3 Shane Long
Carlton Cole 6 - 3 Nikica Jelavic
Joe Cole 3 - 3 Robbie Brady
Ravel Morrison* 3 - 3 Jake Livermore
Mohamed Diamé 3 - 2 Robert Koren

 Assists 
Kevin Nolan 5 - 4 Jake Livermore
Andy Carroll 3 - 2 Sone Aluko
Matt Jarvis 3 - 2 Tom Huddlestone
Mark Noble 3 - 2 Ahmed Elmohamady
Stewart Downing 2 - 1 Shane Long

 Passing Accuracy 
Mark Noble 83% - 86% Sone Aluko
Stewart Downing 81% - 85% Matty Fryatt
Joe Cole 80% - 85% Stephen Quinn
Joey O'Brien 79% - 83% Jake Livermore
Kevin Nolan 78% - 82% Robert Koren

 Chances Created per game 
Stewart Downing 1.8 - 1.7 Tom Huddlestone
Mark Noble 1.6 - 1.4 Shane Long
Matt Jarvis 1 - 1.1 Jake Livermore
Kevin Nolan 0.9 - 1.1 Ahmed Elmohamady
Andy Carroll 0.9 - 0.9 Yannick Sagbo

 Successful Dribbles per game 
Mohamed Diamé 1.8 - 1.3 Sone Aluko
Mark Noble 1.1 - 1.2 Ahmed Elmohamady
Guy Demel 0.9 - 0.8 Robbie Brady
Stewart Downing 0.8 - 0.7 Nikica Jellavic
Matt Jarvis 0.6 - 0.7 Liam Rosenior

 Tackles per game 
Mark Noble 2.7 - 2.8 Liam Rosenior
Mohamed Diamé 2.3 - 2.6 Tom Huddlestone
Matthew Taylor 2.1 - 2.2 Maynor Figueroa
James Collins 1.9 - 2 Curtis Davies
Kevin Nolan 1.8 - 1.9 Jake Livermore

 Aerial Duels Won per game 
Andy Carroll 8 - 4.7 Curtis Davies
James Tomkins 4 - 3.7 Nikica Jelavic
James Collins 3.6 - 2.9 Shane Long
Carlton Cole 2.6 - 2.2 Paul McShane
Winston Reid 2.4 - 1.9 Alex Bruce

 Manager 
Sam Allardyce - Steve Bruce
40.9% Current Club Win % 44.9%
52 Won 40
32 Drawn 17
43 Lost 32
  
39.9% Managerial Career Win % 37.6%
346 Won 253
231 Drawn 167
290 Lost 252

7 Sides Managed 8
2 League Titles 0
0 Cup Wins 0
  
Preston North End First Managerial Role Sheffield United
30/09/1992 Start Date 02/07/1998
21y 176d Experience 15y 267d