Edin Dzeko

[bobom]

Thought Dzeko was rather good yesterday...

 

[carlos tevez is a blue]

Thought Dzeko was rather good yesterday...

What was the score? I must have missed that match.

 

[bluethrunthru]

Always liked Edin - always puts in a shift - gets rotated yet weighs in with plenty of goals and when he is sold on and bags a hatfull whilst getting regular games we will all be saying told you so.

 

[mgreenz97]

Always liked Edin - always puts in a shift - gets rotated yet weighs in with plenty of goals and when he is sold on and bags a hatfull whilst getting regular games we will all be saying told you so.

um....

 

[sbm]

I thought that some Bluemooners might be interested in some statistics I collected for a discussion elsewhere (with ones who argue we should sell Dzeko in the summer). They were collected before our last game versus Newcastle:

Top Eleven Goal Scorers in Premier League + Aguero and Tevez

The following are: (a) goals; (b) minutes per goal (mpg); and (c) clear-cut chance conversion percentages (CCC%).

Suarez (a) 22 (b) 118 (c) 58%
van Persie (a) 19 (b) 122 (c) 36%
Bale (a) 16 (b) 143 (c) 55%
Ba (a) 15 (b) 144 (c) 42%
Michu (a) 15 (b) 161 (c) 55%
Lukaku (a) 13 (b) 110 (c) 38%
Benteke (a) 13 (b) 172 (c) 53%
Lambert (a) 13 (b) 188 (c) 62%
Dzeko (a) 12 (b) 112 (c) 59%
Lampard (a) 12 (b) 115 (c) 56%
Rooney (a) 12 (b) 133 (c) 53%

Aguero (a) 9 (b) 176 (c) 29%
Tevez (a) 9 (b) 191 (c) 50%

Once time on the pitch is taken into account, it is evident that Edin Dzeko’s overall performance compares favourably with any striker. He outperforms Suarez, van Persie, Bale, Ba, Michu, Benteke, Lampard and Rooney in BOTH mpg and CCC%. Dzeko is marginally worse than Lukaku in mpg but significantly better in terms of CCC%; he is somewhat worse than Lambert in terms of CCC% but significantly better in terms of mpg. (Anyone worried about sample sizes should aggregate this season with last season: Dzeko is a fortiori the star.)

**************

Away goals and heavy goals

Clearly it should be much easier to score at home when already beating a demoralised team 2:0 or 3:0 or 4:0 (like Aston Villa, for example) compared to coming off the bench away against a team (like Fulham, for example) that is really psyched up to hang on to a 1:1 draw against last year’s premier league champions. Clearly it would be useful to look in greater detail at our strikers’ goals:

1. Away goals

Andy Gray on Messi: “He would struggle on a cold night away at the Britannia Stadium”.

Dzeko: 7 away goals @ 98 mins per goal
Aguero: 3 away goals @ 247 mins per goal
Tevez: 2 away goals @ 432 mins per goal

2. Goals in First Half
Dzeko: 5 of 12 goals (42%)
Tevez: 3 of 9 goals (33%)
Aguero: 2 of 9 goals (22%)

3. First City Player to Score
Dzeko in 4 games (in 12 starts)
Aguero in 3 games (in 18 starts)
Tevez in 4 games (in 20 starts)

4. City Drawing or Losing at the Time of Goal

“If you look at Edin’s career for Manchester City, the goals he has scored, he has got a lot of heavy goals, goals that are very important.” David Platt.

Dzeko: 9 goals @ 150 mins per key goal
Tevez: 5 goals at 342 mins per key goal
Aguero: 4 goals @ 397 mins per key goal

5. Goals from the 75th Minute Onwards
Dzeko: 4 goals (33%)
Aguero: 1 goal (11%)
Tevez: 3 goals (33%)

6. Super-subs?
Dzeko: in 13 substitute appearances, he has scored 5 goals at 40 mpg. (His securing wins against Fulham, West Brom and Spurs prompted Platt’s post-match press conferences about his “heavy goals”.)
Aguero: in 5 substitute appearances, he has scored 1 goal at 108 mpg. (City beating Sunderland at the time of his goal).
Tevez: in 5 substitute appearances, he has scored 1 goal at 163 mpg. (City beating Chelsea at the time of his goal).

Lest it be thought that there was little or no scope for Aguero or Tevez to change these games because City were already winning, City drew 4 and lost 1 of those 10 games.

7. For games in which they started:
Dzeko: 144 mpg
Aguero: 184 mpg
Tevez: 197 mpg

**************

In response to the claim that Tevez "can do more than just score goals, unlike Dzeko most of the time’”, I presented some FACTS from Opta Sports / EPLIndex for this season’s premier league (as of before our game on 30 March). Some involve a subjective element but a huge advantage of the data is that they are compiled by people who do not think that strikers should be judged on the basis of their media reputation or their height or their ‘style’ or their nationality.

For anyone wanting to convert to 'minutes per x', Dzeko had played 1351 minutes and Tevez had played 1711 minutes.

1) Accurate through-balls
2 out of 5 attempted (40%) for Dzeko; 1 out of 13 attempted (8%) for Tevez.

2) Goal assists in open play
2 by Dzeko; 4 by Tevez

3) Chances created in open play
23 by Dzeko; 35 by Tevez

4) Clear-cut chances created
7 by Dzeko; 6 by Tevez

5) Set piece chance creation
4 by Dzeko; 0 by Tevez

6) Successful headed clearances
6 by Dzeko; 0 by Tevez

7) Total successful clearances
13 by Dzeko; 2 by Tevez

8) Possession won:
defensive third: 10 by Dzeko; 9 by Tevez
midfield third: 28 by Dzeko; 37 by Tevez
final third: 10 by Dzeko; 15 by Tevez

9) Offsides
6 by Dzeko; 10 by Tevez

9) Overran ball
0 by Dzeko; 4 by Tevez

10) Unsuccessful touches
33 by Dzeko; 42 by Tevez (almost identical 47 minutes per unsuccessful touch)

From the vast array of data provided by the EPL Index, others would no doubt have chosen to present other statistics – even Dzeko fans and certainly Tevez fans. The latter might well have chosen facts about Tevez’s contributions through set pieces he has taken himself. (One of my concerns actually has been that his often taking over corners and free kicks from Silva has not benefited the latter or the team. In fact, in my view, Silva was at his best when Tevez was playing golf in Argentina. But that's another story.)

**********
The above statistics are offered in good faith but may be subject to human error, as my head was spinning at times!

 

[BoyBlue_1985]

Minutes per goal. Something I had never heard of until Dzeko played for us

 

[IcriedwhenTueartleft]

Edin is clearly a good striker but I don't know, he just doesn't seem to fit in with our style, we don't play to his strengths

 

[LoveCity]

Napoli interested in him to replace Cavani. I imagine he could do well in a counter attacking system, plenty of space and ball to his feet in front of goal.

 

[Rammy Blue]

Napoli interested in him to replace Cavani, I imagine he could do well in a counter attacking system, plenty of space and ball to his feet in front of goal.

Part-ex?

 

[LoveCity]

Napoli interested in him to replace Cavani, I imagine he could do well in a counter attacking system, plenty of space and ball to his feet in front of goal.

Part-ex?

If we're after Cavani could be, if Cavani goes elsewhere we could just take some of the cash they get for him (no doubt that twat De Laurentiis would STILL want Dzeko cheap after getting £40million+ for Cavani) and use it on whoever we buy.