Debates, Players - Written by BlueChampion on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 4:39 | 1,242 Views | 23 Comments | Add Comment
Are we short on ‘match-winners’ this season?
Such a bad question especially after Drogba dismissed Arsenal single handedly last weekend. But take a long hard look at the question. Different players making important contributions in different matches is fine. Do we now have those talismanic two or three players who will always bail us out and get us the win?
Every team has them. Teams like Man Utd have about four or five match-winners and that’s why they’re on top. Match-winners need not be bought, they can be made or groomed too. It is the responsibility of the manager to identify the match-winners in his team, protect him and get the best out of him.
And let’s not confuse match-winners with ‘very good’ players. If those very good players can make that difference and win matches for us, yes they are match winners. We had a lot of match-winners in Chelsea in the last few seasons and that was one of the reasons why teams came in with a defeatist mentality when they played us. Someone always bailed us out. When all players miraculously failed, the manager would save the day.
Now, see what ACTIM index has to say. The Actim Index is the official player ratings system of the Barclays Premiership, Coca-Cola Championship and Scottish Premier League. It is compiled and distributed by PA Sport, a subsidiary of the Press Association. The Actim Index ranks players on a weekly basis according to their performances on the pitch, both by position and in an overall chart, throughout the season. The Actim Index rankings are based on a player’s aggregate score for all matches played.
Calculated using a mathematical formula developed by PA Sport alongside statisticians from Salford University, each player’s contribution to matches is examined including goals, shots, passes, dribbles, tackles, crosses, saves, clearances, blocks, interceptions, time on the pitch and number of points gained by their team. So, it goes to some minute details too. It is possible that someone who scores gets lesser points than someone who didn’t purely because of other attributes that are being measured. The data is collected by a representative from the Professional Footballers Association (PFA), usually an ex-player, at every Premiership and Championship league match. Video footage is then used to verify the information before the Index is generated and published.
This ACTIM index latest publication on the top 5 strikers, midfielders, defenders and goalkeepers is here. I’ll break the suspense for you. Out of these 20 players which is made up 5 players from each category, the total number of Chelsea players is ONE. Let’s see who that is. Let’s go over ratings by category.
Didier Drogba had injuries and also was missing due to the African Cup. If there is one match winner in Chelsea, that’s gotta be him. Other strikers don’t find a place too. Drogba has been our best and first choice striker this season too but he does not feature in the list. When he is missing there, I can’t expect Anelka or Kalou there. See, I’m not even talking about anyone else.
Yes, Frank Lampard is the man. The lone Chelsea man in the list of top 20 premier league players. Despite being out due to injury for considerable periods of time, he finds a place in this elite list. We thought Ballack has been fantastic for us this season. May be, we’re just comparing his this season with his first season in England. He has improved but not well enough to be in the top 5 midfielders list of premier league. Essien was one the best midfielders of the league last season.
Belleti, who was in the run for the player of the season, is missing in the list. I would have liked to see Belletti there. John Terry’s position was shared by Alex for long period of time but even if Terry had played all season, I don’t think he would feature in the list. Carvalho has been brilliant sometimes and but has been error prone too. He has been little inconsistent with his performance.
We always have prided that we have the best goalkeeper in England (Europe?). Even our second choice keeper was the best in England once. It’s kind of hard to see that Cech has not measured up to be in the top 5 goal keepers in premier league.
Now, hurt your eyes and check this overall list. This has listed all the players in the descending order of points scored irrespective of their position on the pitch.
I don’t think you’ll be surprised to know that Cristiano Ronaldo tops the list. Though we find only one player in the top 5 lists, there are 4 Chelsea players in the top 25 players in the overall list, where Arsenal also has 4 players and Man Utd has 5. What does it mean if we have players in overall list and but not in the top 5 lists? It can translate to ‘our striker has been brilliant for us but there are 5 or more better performing strikers in the league’. The way I see it, it boils down to the point on match-winners.
There are players who were match-winners before but not anymore - Petr Cech, Michael Essien, Frank Lampard come to mind. There are players who were not match-winners before but are fast becoming ones. What do you think about the ‘match-winners’ situation in Chelsea this season?
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23 Comments
1. BlueFan nr:1
2. trueblue
joe cole certainly deserves to be in d top 5 midfielders
3. ish
joe cole only really started performing after the christmas break. I think chelsea is more like a high class aurion then a mitsu evo. We dont break, dont, never have too many problems with parts and perform quite well. We dont have the sudden bang of an evo though. i think to have that bang chelsea would need vastly different players and styles. Only drogba, j.cole, kalou and malouda have the oomph to suit that match winner type game.
4. bluefan nr:1
liverpool forever
not
5. Arthur
Allright, Grant has won a match. Every dog has its day! I know what Grant has been capable of. I know how much influence he has had on key players. So I can safely say that he has fluked a result against Arsenal once again with LUCK on his side with an offside equaliser.
He has given me many reasons to make me believe that he is as stupid as he looks and that’s Sunday’s result was a fluke with the help of an offside goal.
Grant’s secret mission is to nullify the chelsea match-winners one by one. So far he has managed to do that with Cech, Essien, Drogba & Lampard. Drogba still showed the heart and scored two goals because he wanted to protect the home record and he HATES Arsenal, if you know him. Those were the motivations.
The change of plan to longballs must have been from Terry. The TOAD had already said that he does not believe in longballs and we would pass only on the grass. So, it could not have been his idea. Credit should go to Terry and Clarke.
6. Arthur
Ranieri beat a very powerful Arsenal team full of matchwinners in the champions league quarterfinals. It was a good win, but Ranieri was still not the right man for the Chelsea job. Just because AG has fluked a win over Arsenal does not really make him Einstein overnight.
7. Troeger
If a keeper can be a match-winner, in other words, if goal scoring isn’t required to be a match-winner, I think we must mention Maka as well. In his day, he changed the course of games, protecting our lead with his intelligent defensive midfield play. And seeing him recently, it seems that his day isn’t quite over yet…
8. Den
i think ballack, lampard, Cole, anelka, drogba, kalou, essien are all match winners
9. Kris
If you remove Ronaldo from Man U squad, then we need to see how they perform. Remember the begining of the season without Ronaldo and Rooney, how much they suffered.
See Arsenal performance without Fabregas clicking and Adebayor silent.
I think someway we have been lucky than last year that we don’t have one or two 20 goal a season player but many 5 - 10 goals a season players.
7 games to go . Let see
10. Nihongo Blue
@BC
its 4 players in top 25 but just 5 players in top 100. That shocking isnt it.more shocking in the fact that after number 22 the next chelsea player is at rank 70 in petr cech. Of these 5 players anelka should not be counted because he is in the list for his goals for bolton. that leaves us with 4 players in top 100.
LAMPARD rank 16
KALOU rank 21
JOE COLE rank 22
CECH rank 70
So what has happened here. lets see one by one
1. Goal Keeper: Cech
He is the best of the lot . Its just because of less number of games he is down there. he has just had 14 goals against him in 21 matches with 14 clean sheets and 51 saves.
While PA number 1 james has had 33 goals against him in 31 matches with 13 clean sheets and 118 saves.
and the best comparision will be with reina number 3 who has had 24 goals scored against him in 31 matches with 14 clean sheets and 43 saves.
So its just because of lack of goals. If you will see average cech is much above all.
*****rest later*********
11. Nihongo Blue
***lack of GAMES
12. bestboyvijay
hello all
its a long time since i posted.
why do we need match winners???? when the team wins, let it be a team effort. we do not require match winners… it creates a false sense of hope surrounding him…we had that with terry and cech last season…without them we felt hopeless….thats not the feeling to be created. …every spoke is a vital cog in the wheel. the goals in this season have not only come from drogba and lampard but also from kalou,cole,ballack etc.
lets hope that drogbas season starts from now. we are having players whose form is on the rise…ballack,j cole,lampard and even terry…his confidence must be high…once this machine gets rolling we can easily go into the cruise mode without out and out match winners…and thank whom for this machine????mourinho for building it and AG for not tinkering with it…and hey to RA for buying the parts…all are responsible and i thank all for the great entertainment…..
13. TBF
@Moderator
delete my comment awaiting moderation……………it was a misunderstanding
14. king blues
pizarro scored 2 in the league………10 odd starts
drogba 9……..20 odd starts
shevchenko 4……..not more than 7 starts
kalou 6……….more than 20 starts
i concider every chelsea player as a match winner(PIZARRO AGAINST BIRMINGHAM)
these are misleading stats if our players didnt miss any match then the top ten would be ours. the ACN,injuries,4-3-3 not fitting most of the players……… should be the main reason for this
15. BlueChampion
TBF - Just in case you missed this one the other post:
You post a comment and sometime later you think it’s missing, you abuse me with the filthy cheap language and boom, you actually find that your comment is still there. How does that make you look like?
You keep disappointing me with your approach and language. Your comments of today that are held in moderation are worthy of a ban and I’m considering it.
16. TBF
@BC
It’s like i post in this topic………….my comment goes off…………..no awaiting moderation…………i try to post……….no comment goes through……….what would you have thought of that?for my part i thought i was banned…….as i had not abused anyone in earlier post…….what was i to think of that???
now it was a new experience for me that my comments were being shifted to another post………..anyway sorry for the misunderstanding……..i never like to become personal and it’s stand for everyone in cyber world.
17. TruePlatinum
if we can just sort out that right back position, get a young prospect in, we should be fine. Ivanovic will be intresting to watch but with Daniel Alves set to leave Sevilla and Micah Richards looking for a schevchenko wage, we may see another addition come june.
18. FleetofFoot
I honestly think Petr Cech and Michael Essien’s disappearances as match-winners have been the most shocking. Cech has made a number of costly errors for us this season, most notably in the 1-0 loss at Arsenal, while Essien seems unable to find his form from last season.
One match-winner you forgot however BC: Jose Mourinho.
19. a
somehow chelsea don’t seem to be the team they were 3 years ago but they had almost the same players except for crespo. No one has realy hit top form for chelsea. Drogba is just a loudmouth and doesn’t know what the hell he is saying. If my memory serves me right he was the one who dismissed ronaldo’s chances of getting 23 goals again .
20. Richard
Chelsea have gone through much changes since they won the title in 04/05 no GUDJONHSEN, DUFF, ROBBEN, these players gave us plenty match winning goals even GALLAS, However DROGBA J.COLE- LAMPARD and the rest of supremely talented players can score and turn around matches at any time HAVE faith CHELSEA we are the BEST
21. GDSamo
Arshavin is the man.
Roman has to persaude the magnificent Russian to join us.
After his inspiring annihilation of Holland in Euro Quarters, Andy Townsend said that,
“Man U should let Ronaldo go and buy Arshavin instead, he’s as good at filling the role behind the strikers and scoring.”
Go Arshavin.
(And if not what about Pavluychenko, already 3 goals at Euros - young, fast and powerful.
He beats Drogba all the way. (Drogba to go!)
We have to stop buying long-gone veterans. If you look at our team:
Anelka - 30s
Shevchenko - about 30
Ballack - closing in on 30
Beletti - Near 30
Bosingwa (looks good) but - 29ish
If we buy Deco - he’s 30.
And Ronaldinho and Eto’o are losing it.
Scolari should buy:
Arshavin
Pepe
Pavluychenko
Torres/Villa.
And im not to fussed about Kaka or Ribery(but i’d take’em).
That’s my view on the topic. lol.
sorry about the dragging essay.
22. GDSamo
I forgot to edit. soz
Quoting GDSamo @ 41804
Arshavin is the man.
Roman has to persaude the magnificent Russian to join us.
After his inspiring annihilation of Holland in Euro Quarters, Andy Townsend said that,
“Man U should let Ronaldo go and buy Arshavin instead, he’s as good at filling the role behind the strikers and scoring.”
Go Arshavin.
(And if not what about Pavluychenko, already 3 goals at Euros - young, fast and powerful.
He beats Drogba all the way. (Drogba to go!)We have to stop buying long-gone veterans. If you look at our team:
Anelka - 30s
Shevchenko - about 30
Ballack - closing in on 30
Beletti - Near 30
Bosingwa (looks good) but - 29ish
If we buy Deco - he’s 30.
And Ronaldinho and Eto’o are losing it.Scolari should buy:
Arshavin
Pepe
Pavluychenko
Torres/Villa.
Joao Moutinho (instead of Deco)
Deco would still be nice if we fail with Moutinho.
And im not to fussed about Kaka, Robinho, Quaresma or Ribery(but i’d take’em).
That’s my view on the topic. lol.
sorry about the dragging essay.
23. casey
without a doubt cech is the best. stats dont mean anythin he saves in the games most important. man u he was amazing! bosingwa is now the best right back in the prem. terry and ferdinand are the best centre back andcole is the best left bak and has had more freedom under scolari. j.cole and kalou play well together. lampard and deco are amazing. th little fellow will lure players 2 him and lampard will score 30 odd goals this seson. drogba has slipped 2 3rd best striker behinfd torres and adabeyour but i think hell be 2nd very soojn.
fun to look at in some ways. but i dont really care. we are second in the table
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