# 11
Modibo Maïga
DOB: 03/09/1987
Position: Striker
West Ham United Career
Joined: 18/07/2012
From: FC Sochaux-Montbéliard
Reported Fee: £4,700,000
League
Appearances: 2(15)
Goals: 2
Assists: 2
Average Capello Index Rating: 61.54
Debut: 18/08/2012 vs Aston Villa
Debut Goal: 28/08/2012 vs Crewe Alexandra
Analysis
Throughout the summer so far, a common feeling among West Ham supporters is that the club need both a striker, and a winger who scores goals. The general feeling is that the likes of Joe Cole, Ricardo Vaz Te, Matt Jarvis and Matthew Taylor are unlikely to trouble the goalscoring charts regularly enough to make up for the likely tactic of a one man strike force.
There is a feeling among some, though, that the answer may lay within the club already. Step forward last seasons's £4.7m summer signing Modibo Maïga.
Hopes were high in July 2012 when the club announced the rather expensive signing of Malian striker Maïga. At that point, he was our most expensive recruit of the window, and had been publicly courted by Newcastle United's famously effective French scouting team.
Yet, despite the odd moment of quality, the 2012/13 season didn't have a lot to write home about for Modibo. Starting in just 4 of his 19 appearances (2 of 17 in the league), and scoring just 4 goals (2 in the league), averaging just 25 minutes per appearance, and a failure to play 90 even once in the league were the story of Maïga's season.
Unfortunately, the over riding memory of the Malian's debut season wasn't his spectacular goal against Southampton back in October, but his being hauled off after just 30 minutes against Spurs shortly afterward.
Despite all of that though, there are a number of supporters (myself included) who hope to see the attacker given another season to prove himself.
For Maïga to claim the right wing spot as his own, Sam Allardyce will need to see increased confidence on the ball. Maïga attempted just 10 dribbles in league games last year, just one per 60 minutes, with 4 of them successful. In fact, his a lack of ability to take on and beat a man has been one of the bigger criticisms from supporters.
However, looking back at his time in France with Sochaux, beating his man was something Maïga relished. For West Ham, he beat his man just once ever 150 minutes. In his final two seasons in Ligue 1 though, this figure comes down to once every 85 and 73 minutes, respectively.
To put this into context, using Opta's performance data, West Ham's key winger last season, Matt Jarvis, managed to beat the man once every 94 minutes.
Another area in which Maïga's confidence appears to have taken a knock since moving across the Channel has been his attempting a shot on goal.
In 2010/11 when he bagged himself 15 goals, he averaged a shot once every 18.5 minutes in the league. However, in his debut season in East London, Maïga attempted just 14 shots in total, one every 42.9 minutes. Considering that his appearances lasted only 25 minutes on average, this means he attempted just one shot per two appearances.
The image below shows the accuracy of his shots. Of the 10 shots that weren't blocked, four hit the target, with two of those ending up in the back of the net.
http://www.squawka.com/players/modibo-maiga
As I mentioned before, there have been a few moments of promise. A goal line clearance was all that prevented him bagging a goalscoring debut against Aston Villa, two goals in two starts in the cup, the wonderful goal against Southampton and the icing on the cake against Chelsea are some of the stand out moments.
However, the key moment that made me change my mind and believe he deserved another year came against Reading.
Maïga had not appeared in the 17 games since New Years Day against Norwich; he'd only made the bench on three of those ocassions. So when he was named among the substitutes for the final game of the season against Reading, few expected him to make any contribution. However, coming on for the final 10 minutes, Maïga impressed.
It may have only been a short cameo on the final day, but Maïga worked up and down the right flank. He completed all of his passes, and even worked back to win a tackle about 30 yards centrally from the West Ham goal. He also completed all 8 of his passes, with one a beautiful cross for Kevin Nolan's hat trick goal.
The image below shows those passes.
(Green = Completed; Yellow = Led Directly to a Shot on Goal)
http://epl.squawka.com/west-ham-united-vs-reading/19-05-2013/english-barclays-premier-league/matches
If Maïga is to claim the right wing spot as his own, he will more than likely need to wrestle it away from the player in the squad most similar to himself; Ricardo Vaz Te.
Vaz Te managed to secure the starting role toward the end of last season with a series of solid performances. However, he is famed for inconsistency and frustrating the masses with his decision making. It seems fair to suggest that the right wing position is the one that is least secure in the side.
Bearing this in mind, I've compared the performances of the two in a series of performance measures. The table below illustrates the minutes per shot, goal, chance created and possession lost, by the two players, and the success rate of aerial duels, tackles, dribbles, and a breakdown of passing success rates.
Interesting, each player is the more successful in 5 of the performance areas, and they tie in the remaining two. Maïga scored more regularly (mins per goal), lost possession less frequently, won more of his attempted tackles, completed more attempted dribbles, and had a more successful long ball game.
Vaz Te, on the other hand, attempted shots and created shooting opportunities more regularly, won more aerial duels, and was more successful when passing with head and with crossing.
The figures below demonstrate how evenly matched the two men are in terms of performance data. Obviously Vaz Te has proven his ability over a longer period of time (playing around 1,000 minutes more), but the the differences in each of the areas are minute.
Although it's not really supported by the statistics, there is something about the way in which Maïga plays that excites me. The way in which he tore through the Southampton defence to score his first Premier League goal, and the bizarre shift in weight to execute a fantastic curling finish will live long in my memory.
I guess I see him as a kind of maverick. A player who may go missing for large portions of a game, but possesses that unknown quality that means he can suddenly turn it on and change the outcome of a match. I like a player with a bit of flair, someone unpredictable, and I think Maïga can be that man for us.
Besides, almost £5m is a lot of money for a club like West Ham to throw the towel in after 12 months.
Throughout the summer so far, a common feeling among West Ham supporters is that the club need both a striker, and a winger who scores goals. The general feeling is that the likes of Joe Cole, Ricardo Vaz Te, Matt Jarvis and Matthew Taylor are unlikely to trouble the goalscoring charts regularly enough to make up for the likely tactic of a one man strike force.
There is a feeling among some, though, that the answer may lay within the club already. Step forward last seasons's £4.7m summer signing Modibo Maïga.
Hopes were high in July 2012 when the club announced the rather expensive signing of Malian striker Maïga. At that point, he was our most expensive recruit of the window, and had been publicly courted by Newcastle United's famously effective French scouting team.
Yet, despite the odd moment of quality, the 2012/13 season didn't have a lot to write home about for Modibo. Starting in just 4 of his 19 appearances (2 of 17 in the league), and scoring just 4 goals (2 in the league), averaging just 25 minutes per appearance, and a failure to play 90 even once in the league were the story of Maïga's season.
Unfortunately, the over riding memory of the Malian's debut season wasn't his spectacular goal against Southampton back in October, but his being hauled off after just 30 minutes against Spurs shortly afterward.
Despite all of that though, there are a number of supporters (myself included) who hope to see the attacker given another season to prove himself.
For Maïga to claim the right wing spot as his own, Sam Allardyce will need to see increased confidence on the ball. Maïga attempted just 10 dribbles in league games last year, just one per 60 minutes, with 4 of them successful. In fact, his a lack of ability to take on and beat a man has been one of the bigger criticisms from supporters.
However, looking back at his time in France with Sochaux, beating his man was something Maïga relished. For West Ham, he beat his man just once ever 150 minutes. In his final two seasons in Ligue 1 though, this figure comes down to once every 85 and 73 minutes, respectively.
To put this into context, using Opta's performance data, West Ham's key winger last season, Matt Jarvis, managed to beat the man once every 94 minutes.
Another area in which Maïga's confidence appears to have taken a knock since moving across the Channel has been his attempting a shot on goal.
In 2010/11 when he bagged himself 15 goals, he averaged a shot once every 18.5 minutes in the league. However, in his debut season in East London, Maïga attempted just 14 shots in total, one every 42.9 minutes. Considering that his appearances lasted only 25 minutes on average, this means he attempted just one shot per two appearances.
The image below shows the accuracy of his shots. Of the 10 shots that weren't blocked, four hit the target, with two of those ending up in the back of the net.
As I mentioned before, there have been a few moments of promise. A goal line clearance was all that prevented him bagging a goalscoring debut against Aston Villa, two goals in two starts in the cup, the wonderful goal against Southampton and the icing on the cake against Chelsea are some of the stand out moments.
However, the key moment that made me change my mind and believe he deserved another year came against Reading.
Maïga had not appeared in the 17 games since New Years Day against Norwich; he'd only made the bench on three of those ocassions. So when he was named among the substitutes for the final game of the season against Reading, few expected him to make any contribution. However, coming on for the final 10 minutes, Maïga impressed.
It may have only been a short cameo on the final day, but Maïga worked up and down the right flank. He completed all of his passes, and even worked back to win a tackle about 30 yards centrally from the West Ham goal. He also completed all 8 of his passes, with one a beautiful cross for Kevin Nolan's hat trick goal.
The image below shows those passes.
(Green = Completed; Yellow = Led Directly to a Shot on Goal)
If Maïga is to claim the right wing spot as his own, he will more than likely need to wrestle it away from the player in the squad most similar to himself; Ricardo Vaz Te.
Vaz Te managed to secure the starting role toward the end of last season with a series of solid performances. However, he is famed for inconsistency and frustrating the masses with his decision making. It seems fair to suggest that the right wing position is the one that is least secure in the side.
Bearing this in mind, I've compared the performances of the two in a series of performance measures. The table below illustrates the minutes per shot, goal, chance created and possession lost, by the two players, and the success rate of aerial duels, tackles, dribbles, and a breakdown of passing success rates.
Interesting, each player is the more successful in 5 of the performance areas, and they tie in the remaining two. Maïga scored more regularly (mins per goal), lost possession less frequently, won more of his attempted tackles, completed more attempted dribbles, and had a more successful long ball game.
Vaz Te, on the other hand, attempted shots and created shooting opportunities more regularly, won more aerial duels, and was more successful when passing with head and with crossing.
The figures below demonstrate how evenly matched the two men are in terms of performance data. Obviously Vaz Te has proven his ability over a longer period of time (playing around 1,000 minutes more), but the the differences in each of the areas are minute.
Although it's not really supported by the statistics, there is something about the way in which Maïga plays that excites me. The way in which he tore through the Southampton defence to score his first Premier League goal, and the bizarre shift in weight to execute a fantastic curling finish will live long in my memory.
I guess I see him as a kind of maverick. A player who may go missing for large portions of a game, but possesses that unknown quality that means he can suddenly turn it on and change the outcome of a match. I like a player with a bit of flair, someone unpredictable, and I think Maïga can be that man for us.
Besides, almost £5m is a lot of money for a club like West Ham to throw the towel in after 12 months.
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