Nasri's surprising stats vs Silva

[McFcMiKe7]

What on flying fuck is "a gliding ghost"?

Nasri, obviously.

 

[Saif1994]

Your ridiculous stats Make no differentiation between a defence-splitting, chance-creating pass and a stupid, negative, move-destroying backwards pass. That's why they don't show the yawning gulf in class and effectiveness between silva and Nasri .

You're going to eat this post in 12 months mate. :)

Good OP. It's too easy to slate Sami. New season clean slate is what is in order. I expect him to flourish.

Yep, I do expect him to do much better than last season. He's certainly capable and under a new manager (he likened Pellegrini to Wenger) he can start fresh. We'll see what happens in 1 year and then we can look back.<br /><br />-- Sat Aug 10, 2013 12:34 am --<br /><br />

Hello everyone,

Some of the statistics from last season were quite surprising to me. In particular, these pass completion stats from the premier league:

David Silva Pass Completion was 85.4%

Samir Nasri Pass Completion was 90.8%

Now, it must be pointed out that Silva made about 12 more passes per game, however it also shows just how valuable Nasri is to our team. We were very quick to write Nasri off, even though he is still 26 years old, simply to make way for Isco. (By the way, I've seen Isco play for Real Madrid and he's a quality player offensively in terms of creativity, dribbling and passing, but he simply does not provide enough defensively and can lose the ball quite easily. He's only 20 so its understandable.)

It could also have something to do with Nasri's more cautious approach. This is of course a good thing as Silva is the man to take risks and try out difficult passes and dribbles whereas Nasri will be relied on to hold up the ball and pass the ball around safely. Every team needs this balance just like with Iniesta & Xavi, Schweinsteigger & Kroos etc.

Nasri also provided 7 assists and scored a couple of important goals. Silva did 1 better in terms of assists, and scored 2 more goals. Arguably both of them had rather poor seasons and we can only hope they will improve this year under a new system and style.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41XBcSn4Rfs[/youtube]

Either way, I'm just making a point that we are undervaluing Nasri even though his stats were very much comparable to Silva's. Just as we were undervaluing Dzeko (not anymore I think). I'm not sure where this player preference or rejection stems from but I think everyone is susceptible to doing this. Perhaps its because of the media or that we are taking a player's reputation or achievements with the national team into account. Both players can improve next season, but they are a lot closer in terms of ability than many people think. The burden on these two players is especially higher now that Tevez has left although we add a new dimension with Navas and Jovetic.

Ignore the snide remarks, keep up the good work!

At least you add value to the forum

Yes I'll try to do that thank you! :-)

 

[Saif1994]

No idea why people keep bollocking this guy. He creates decent talking points and poses a few questions worth thinking about and actually provides detailed reasoning behind what he says. I also love watching any kind of City videos so keep it up OP.

As for Nasri, I'm expecting to see a better Nasri this season, something similar to what he was at Arsenal, a player willing to run at defenders and take them on with some nice interchanges with the other attacking players. I think he'll have to perform to get a sniff anyway this season with the options we have. Always got the impression he was instructed by Mancini not to dribble it and instead just keep possession, hopefully pellegrini gives him the confidence he's probably lacking and we see some of the old Nasri at City finally.

Finally. Thank you. If only most people on here were like you...

I agree, Mancini seems to have restricted him to the left also and given all responsibilities to Silva. That is why we lack options sometimes. Looking forward to the new season!

 

[CityStu]

I like stats. In fact I love stats but it pains me when people see an statistic and make a big deal of solely that. Stats aren't useless at all and they're great when used to back up a point. However, in this instance you've based your whole point around a statistical anomaly that doesn't really mean much as it doesn't account for pass direction, distance, pressure on the passer, pressure on the recipient, etc. A better judge of a creative player's output is their key passes (passes leading to a goalscoring opportunity) in which Silva averaged a league high 3.3 per game in contrast to Nasri's decent but worse 2 per game. Looking at key passes instead of assists takes away the error induced by the player taking the chance.

All that said, Nasri's pass accuracy is very good - he just needs to believe in his own ability a bit more IMO. I wouldn't begrudge him taking a few more chances to progress attacks if it meant losing possession a little more often. I hope Pellegrini's man management will bring the best out of him.

 

[Saif1994]

I like stats. In fact I love stats but it pains me when people see an statistic and make a big deal of solely that. Stats aren't useless at all and they're great when used to back up a point. However, in this instance you've based your whole point around a statistical anomaly that doesn't really mean much as it doesn't account for pass direction, distance, pressure on the passer, pressure on the recipient, etc. A better judge of a creative player's output is their key passes (passes leading to a goalscoring opportunity) in which Silva averaged a league high 3.3 per game in contrast to Nasri's decent but worse 2 per game. Looking at key passes instead of assists takes away the error induced by the player taking the chance.

All that said, Nasri's pass accuracy is very good - he just needs to believe in his own ability a bit more IMO. I wouldn't begrudge him taking a few more chances to progress attacks if it meant losing possession a little more often. I hope Pellegrini's man management will bring the best out of him.

I did mention earlier that I knew that it was because he wasn't taking risks and he was passing around safely and holding up the ball. I haven't really based it around that one stat as I've also compared their goals and assists. But yes I understand what you're saying.

Its interesting the stat you've given about key passes because that is what I'm hoping will increase for Nasri next season. This is because, as you mentioned above, his pass accuracy is above average and he simply needs more confidence. I think he likes Pellegrini so fingers crossed everything will work our well!

 

[Hartford]

Lescott's pass rate will be high but most will be to Kompany, and no more than 5 yards...

 

[Saif1994]

Lescott's pass rate will be high but most will be to Kompany, and no more than 5 yards...

I simply had to check: Lescott - 31.7%, Vinnie - 49.9%... See what I'm saying, not a lot of players have more than 90% pass completion. Even playing safe passes is difficult. I'm going to have to watch Nasri more carefully next season to see what he does to pass the ball as accurately. From what I remember he gets the ball, dribbles with it and shrugs off the opponent and then lays it off to a close player.

 

[Heart.net]

And why is it bothering you so much again ?

Say I join a band.

Say I want to promote that band.

Say I come on here and do just that without telling anyone I was in the band, but posted a video of this band with a thread containing the video with the title "This band might actually be better than Joy Division".

Say someone asks me if I'm part of the band, or friends with someone in the band, and I deny it outright even though I am part of the band.

You'd be pretty hacked off with me, right?

Well, that's exactly what he's doing.

Well, if it was a forum of that specific band and i was a fan of that band, i wouldn't care either way.

 

[goalmole]

No idea why people keep bollocking this guy. He creates decent talking points and poses a few questions worth thinking about and actually provides detailed reasoning behind what he says. I also love watching any kind of City videos so keep it up OP.

As for Nasri, I'm expecting to see a better Nasri this season, something similar to what he was at Arsenal, a player willing to run at defenders and take them on with some nice interchanges with the other attacking players. I think he'll have to perform to get a sniff anyway this season with the options we have. Always got the impression he was instructed by Mancini not to dribble it and instead just keep possession, hopefully pellegrini gives him the confidence he's probably lacking and we see some of the old Nasri at City finally.

In answer to your question as to why people keep bollocking this guy, i would submit that it is because of the type of language that he uses rather than the videos that he posts. Calling his fellow posters "dude" on a forum of this nature comes over as a tad disrespectful and isn't likely to endear him to anybody.

 

[Saif1994]

No idea why people keep bollocking this guy. He creates decent talking points and poses a few questions worth thinking about and actually provides detailed reasoning behind what he says. I also love watching any kind of City videos so keep it up OP.

As for Nasri, I'm expecting to see a better Nasri this season, something similar to what he was at Arsenal, a player willing to run at defenders and take them on with some nice interchanges with the other attacking players. I think he'll have to perform to get a sniff anyway this season with the options we have. Always got the impression he was instructed by Mancini not to dribble it and instead just keep possession, hopefully pellegrini gives him the confidence he's probably lacking and we see some of the old Nasri at City finally.

In answer to your question as to why people keep bollocking this guy, i would submit that it is because of the type of language that he uses rather than the videos that he posts. Calling his fellow posters "dude" on a forum of this nature comes over as a tad disrespectful and isn't likely to endear him to anybody.

Hahaha! For a second there I thought you were being serious!! I was like what's up with this guy now!