Man City release performance data for players in the 2011/12 Premier League season

Manchester City (like all Premier League teams I'm sure) keep detailed performance data for all players in the Premier League. They decided to release this data to the public last Friday, and the Guardian Data Blog interpreted their findings and made a nice table of data, showing how all the players rank against each other based on City's findings.

I thought it would be fun to pick out the best Irish performers in each category. It's almost like playing Championship Manager, and I'm not saying any conclusions can be drawn from the findings, it's just something interesting to think about.

I picked out the highest ranking player I could find. I mostly ignored players who haven't featured for Ireland in a while (e.g. Delap, Stephen Ireland, Stephen Reid), though I did include players who haven't played for Ireland (and might not ever, e.g. Marc Tierney, Anthony Pilkington). You can click the link above to see how each attribute is calculated, or take a look at the data yourself.

---

Attacking Attributes
Finishing: Doyle (29th) (Hunt is 40th)
Long Shots: Cox (22nd) (Clark is 27th)
Headed Attempts: McClean (12th) (Doyle is 38th)

---

Defensive Attributes
Defensive Headers: Dunne (10th) (Wilson is 41st, O'Shea is 45th)
Jumping: Dunne (14th) (Best is 18th, Long is 30th)
Strength: Tierney (12th) (Clark is 36th)
Tackling: Clark (27th) (Tierney is 33rd, McClean is 35th, Dunne is 38th)

---

Technical Attributes
Creativity: Hoolahan (72nd) (Pilkington is 69th)
Crossing: Tierney (10th) (Pilkington is 4th, McClean is 11th, Coleman is 14th)
Dribbling: Hoolahan (59th) (Best is 61st, McClean is 76th)
First Touch: McClean (14th) (Whelan is 22nd, Walters is 29th)
Passing: McCarthy (46th) (Gibson is 81st, Hoolahan is 94th)

---

Set Pieces
Corners: Duff (30th)
Free Kicks: McClean (36th) (Pilkington is 38th, Wilson is 43rd, Duff is 46th)
Penalties: Hunt (4th) (Walters is 13th) (Very limited data set, only 42 players took penalties)

Where is teh great Stephen Ward that this forum has defended for yonks, in any of that list ?!

MCClean definitely sticks out alright. Be interesting how he compares next year. On those stats though Pilkington should be in the squad!!!! :)

POSH - You've got a bee in your bonnet about Ward - "This Forum has defended" What are ya on about man? As someone posted elsehwere none of our exisitng LB options are ideal or fill you with confidence. I'd be in favour of trying someone else over Ward at the moment but Kelly looked very suspect last week. The likes of Clark hasnt looked all that in the odd friendly he has played. Killer is gone now. Cunningham, Tierney??? JOSH at LB, Wilson hasnt featured (or shown up to date)...... Who is the great saviour that I am missing...........

Also based on those stats its crossing we can do. So back to 4-4-2 I suggest!! :-)

I only had a bee in my bonnet about it because people used to close their eyes to his inadequacy and how horribly poor he is, and how it was predicted that he would be the cause of at least 1 goal during the Euros for Ireland. Which he was, and no one thought any problem with him starting.

Now everyone knows we need to get a replacement, but why do we always have to wait till its too late?

You missed out the bit where you name the Messiah? All options are pretty much of a muchness if you ask me.

I agree he looked dodgy pre tournament and obviously during it but I don't think anyone here was saying he was Maldini. Just that all the other options had pros and cons too.....

of course Cox has the best long shots...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by paul_oshea

I only had a bee in my bonnet about it because people used to close their eyes to his inadequacy and how horribly poor he is, and how it was predicted that he would be the cause of at least 1 goal during the Euros for Ireland. Which he was, and no one thought any problem with him starting.

---

im sorry mate but thats all in your imagination.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by paul_oshea

Now everyone knows we need to get a replacement, but why do we always have to wait till its too late?

---

why do we replace something if we dont have a better replacement? How is it too late if we dont have a better replacement?

No its not, i was saying for ages that we would be caught out with him in the Euros, but everyone seemed happy to go along with it.

We needed change, just because we dont have a direct replacement doesn't mean we didnt have alternatives.

There's a great thread called Stephen Ward that would love to include all this conversation. If you really care that much about Ward in relation to the statistics above, here's how he fares (also, I didn't note above, but there are 369 players in total in the stats):

Attacking Attributes
Finishing: 151st (1 above Simon Cox)
Long Shots: 312th
Headed Attempts: 192nd (3 ahead of Keith Andrews)

---

Defensive Attributes
Defensive Headers: 99th
Jumping: 118th
Strength: 169th
Tackling: 206th

---

Technical Attributes
Creativity: 212th
Crossing: 98th
Dribbling: 115th
First Touch: 198th (two below Duff) (the formula for this has been weighted in favour of attacking players)
Passing: 104th (7 ahead of Whelan)

---

Set Pieces
Corners: n/a (didn't take any)
Free Kicks: n/a (didn't take any)
Penalties: n/a (didn't take any)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by paul_oshea

No its not, i was saying for ages that we would be caught out with him in the Euros, but everyone seemed happy to go along with it.

We needed change, just because we dont have a direct replacement doesn't mean we didnt have alternatives.

---

Every single one of our players, with the possible exception of Sledge, was "caught out" at the Euros. I'd take you more seriously if you'd launched a similar campaign to have Richard Dunne and Shay Given dropped from the outset too.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by paul_oshea

No its not, i was saying for ages that we would be caught out with him in the Euros, but everyone seemed happy to go along with it.

We needed change, just because we dont have a direct replacement doesn't mean we didnt have alternatives.

---

?????? what are you on about?
Trap was the only man who picked him there and everyone else thought he was brutal as well.

he wants people to believe that he was the only one who thought Ward was limited. Even though its patently not true.

I know Pauls talking balls because i was the only person who defended Ward.

He is obviously not a international level full back but - he tries his best for us; does an adequate job against standard opposition; its certainly not his fault he gets picked; and its not his fault there were no other realistic &/or tested alternatives at the time.