#26 | Riyad Mahrez - 2019/20 Performances

[simon23]

inconsistency is the only consistent with Mahrez - disappeared again - not for the first time and it wont be the last time.

 

[Clercqs]

And yet Liverpool have already won the title...at a canter.

As I said, it is not about Mahrez being a bad player, its about the good of the team as a whole. Salah is fine doing what he does because he has TAA behind him, bombing forward creating chances and getting double figures for assists every season. Same for Mane with Robertson behind him. Mahrez has Kyle Walker, standing on the halfway line, passing to Ederson.

If our full backs cant/won't get involved our wingers have to deliver far more. From a G/A per mins ratio, you might be correct (I haven't checked) but Mahrez has 9 league goals, Salah 17. Salah would arguably be disappointed with his return of 17 and yet we celebrate 9 from Mahrez because of the mins per action is better?

For me, we have a couple of options:

Option 1: We buy much better full backs who can produce in the opposition half, allowing Sterling and Mahrez to spend more time infield, where they must deliver 15-20 league goals apiece, as Mane and Salah do for Liverpool.

Option 2: We go back to what worked so well for us before, Sterling on the right and use Mahrez as a squad player.

Option 1 costs significant GBP with no guarantees of success.

Option 2 costs the amount of a new left winger and while it also doesn't offer any guarantees, we have seen it work previously.

Yes Salah and Mane gets support from their full backs but our wingers ger support from our offensive CM. And bar KDB our offensive CM haven't really been at it this season and that have cost us.
According to understat xg model we should be top of the league with 8 points down to Liverpool. Which means that if both us and Liverpool were average in taking and conceding from our chances then we'd be top with 8 points. The problem is Liverpool have been incredibly clinical and we've been horrible in that area. Chance creation hasn't been a problem, the problem has been converting them.

For example Liverpool are hugely overperforming in front of goal when the games are level or they are one goal down. They have in those moments scored 39 goals from an expected 31.
When we are level or a goal down we have scored 33 goals from an expected 42 goals. The only times we've been clinical this season are when we're already at least a goal up.
That is our problem, not Mahrez who's actually been our second most clinical player behind KDB this season while also being the second most creative player in the whole league behind KDB.

 

[OrigamiNinja]

Yes Salah and Mane gets support from their full backs but our wingers ger support from our offensive CM. And bar KDB our offensive CM haven't really been at it this season and that have cost us.
According to understat xg model we should be top of the league with 8 points down to Liverpool. Which means that if both us and Liverpool were average in taking and conceding from our chances then we'd be top with 8 points. The problem is Liverpool have been incredibly clinical and we've been horrible in that area. Chance creation hasn't been a problem, the problem has been converting them.

For example Liverpool are hugely overperforming in front of goal when the games are level or they are one goal down. They have in those moments scored 39 goals from an expected 31.
When we are level or a goal down we have scored 33 goals from an expected 42 goals. The only times we've been clinical this season are when we're already at least a goal up.
That is our problem, not Mahrez who's actually been our second most clinical player behind KDB this season while also being the second most creative player in the whole league behind KDB.

I think what can be said is that we both have different ways of analysing the game. I prefer the more traditional approach of watching and assessing based on what I see and you the newer approach of using data. I think both have their place in the game.

In my opinion, Sterling and Mahrez haven't been good enough this season (general play). I think to a certain degree, you can get away with not playing great if your numbers are special, for me 13 and 9 goals respectively is not remotely special. Forget Salah (17) and Mane (16) for a second, other Prem greats like Chris Wood (11), Teemu Pukki (11), Jordan Ayew (9), Neal Maupay (9) have comparable numbers. Granted they ply their trade up front but they do so in significantly weaker teams than City. Mason Greenwood has 8 goals, how many minutes has he had? It must be less than Mahrez.

That aside, the only stat that really matters is the number of points you have as a team and where that puts you in the table. This season we have fallen well short. There must be reasons for this and problems that require fixing? Either that, or we look at the stats, which as you have shown, tell us that we should be better and hope it turns around next season and our actual output is more in line with what the stats expect. Personally, I would prefer to be proactive and do something about it and that is where I landed with the options in my previous post.

 

[WallyA]

I think he always looks more dangerous when he plays inside (basically duh because he is an inverted winger), and you see this when he rotates with Kevin (who goes wide) and scores or creates all his goals this way.

That set-up of course only works because Kevin can then provide cross on the right, but we were successful with Leroy left and Sterling right as well.

I think Mahrez could play the false 9 role really well, he is much quicker than Bernardo and has very good link up play with Kevin. So if we buy a player like Bailey or simply use Foden, we can play a 4-4-2 (with basically 2 false 9s) Pep presses in a 442 all the time anyways.

Bailey------Mahrez------Sterling <------ Foden can play LW or CAM in this setup (really anywhere)
---------------Kevin <------ Jesus can play anywhere across the front line (possibly even CAM, worth a look)

Kevin and Mahrez have very good shooting technique, and they don't get enough chances on goal imo compared to the other attackers.

This lets us let Sterling use his speed to go behind defenders (again) and send crosses in, or we build up from the left and he positions for a tap in.

This gives Mahrez and Kevin huge amounts of freedom as well, Pep shackles Mahrez too much by forcing him out wide imo.

 

[jay_mcfc]

Saw in the Jesus thread that when Sterling and Mahrez start we're 8-5-1 this season. Just goes to show that the team has a Mahrez problem regardless of how well he has done individually.

 

[domalino]

Saw in the Jesus thread that when Sterling and Mahrez start we're 8-5-1 this season. Just goes to show that the team has a Mahrez problem regardless of how well he has done individually.

He's a very good individual player but he slows us down and he kills a far too high % of moves with his desire to do everything himself.

It's frustrating because at times he will do what no one else does, and pull the trigger from 20 yards out and get us a goal that stops the 60 minute slogs we've had to break teams down this season.

And of course the other big problem is that his inclusion means Sterling on the left where he's nowhere near as good either.

If we get a proper Sané replacement and Bernardo finds his form again I genuinely don't think we'll see much of him next season.

 

[Craig]

He's a very good individual player but he slows us down and he kills a far too high % of moves with his desire to do everything himself.

It's frustrating because at times he will do what no one else does, and pull the trigger from 20 yards out and get us a goal that stops the 60 minute slogs we've had to break teams down this season.

And of course the other big problem is that his inclusion means Sterling on the left where he's nowhere near as good either.

If we get a proper Sané replacement and Bernardo finds his form again I genuinely don't think we'll see much of him next season.

Yeah Sterling also slows us down when on the left as the majority of the time he also takes a few touches before playing a simple pass inside. Mahrez takes the fullback on more than him since Sterling moved to the left.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

Third most chances created in the league:
KDB 27 - 28 Starts
TAA 17 - 32 Starts
Mahrez 16 - 18 Starts

He’s got 25 assists from 38 starts over two seasons for City.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

And yet Liverpool have already won the title...at a canter.

As I said, it is not about Mahrez being a bad player, its about the good of the team as a whole. Salah is fine doing what he does because he has TAA behind him, bombing forward creating chances and getting double figures for assists every season. Same for Mane with Robertson behind him. Mahrez has Kyle Walker, standing on the halfway line, passing to Ederson.

If our full backs cant/won't get involved our wingers have to deliver far more. From a G/A per mins ratio, you might be correct (I haven't checked) but Mahrez has 9 league goals, Salah 17. Salah would arguably be disappointed with his return of 17 and yet we celebrate 9 from Mahrez because of the mins per action is better?

For me, we have a couple of options:

Option 1: We buy much better full backs who can produce in the opposition half, allowing Sterling and Mahrez to spend more time infield, where they must deliver 15-20 league goals apiece, as Mane and Salah do for Liverpool.

Option 2: We go back to what worked so well for us before, Sterling on the right and use Mahrez as a squad player.

Option 1 costs significant GBP with no guarantees of success.

Option 2 costs the amount of a new left winger and while it also doesn't offer any guarantees, we have seen it work previously.

Mahrez has 9 goals from 18 starts
Salah has 17 goals from 29 starts

Add to that his assist stats - if we didn’t rotate and Mahrez started every game he’d be regarded as one of the best players in the league.

We rotate a lot because we play to win 5 trophies every season, other teams aim to win 2.

 

[OrigamiNinja]

Mahrez has 9 goals from 18 starts
Salah has 17 goals from 29 starts

Add to that his assist stats - if we didn’t rotate and Mahrez started every game he’d be regarded as one of the best players in the league.

We rotate a lot because we play to win 5 trophies every season, other teams aim to win 2.

As stated this is not about whether or not Mahrez is a good player, he is clearly a good player.

The point being made is that this team doesn’t have the full backs to accommodate inverted wingers and because of that, we look a much worse team now, than we did 2 years ago when we played with traditional wide men. Opposition teams typically pack the middle against us, they know our wingers want to come inside and our full backs can’t/won’t overlap and hurt them on the outside. If Mahrez had TAA (or similar) behind him, I would have a completely different opinion on this.

For me, we either go back to wingers on their correct side, or we replace Walker with someone who can step foot into the opposition half. There was little wrong with the Sterling/Walker partnership on that side, whereas Walker and Mahrez are an awful double act.