Statistics Round up - Last season

So, to help cheer us up after Snake-boy and Tekkers have both left, I thought I'd do a quick stat-check and see if we'll miss them

Before we begin

Source of all stats is whoscored.com, and they're manually transcribed, so many mistakes are very possible.
For almost all players, stats are "per game", so passes per game, succesful tackles per game etc.  This can be a little bit distorted by subs, but for most players is a fair benchmark.
I've used stats from the premier league, so excluding cups etc.  If I'm looking at non PL players, I've used their main league.  
Percentage stats are total of all percentage stats.
for one player, Grealish, who has made a significant number of substitute appearances in the season (10 of 17 were as a sub), I've shown stats per 90 minutes played, rather than per appearance.
And I'm going to make 3 posts, because using "Tables" code is a bit tricky...

Midfield

Midfield	Why	Pass completion	Key Passes	Tackles	Runs	Nr of Passes
Fabregas	Compare	87%	2.8	2.6	1.4	80
Hazard	Compare	87%	2.7	0.7	4.8	58.4
Gana	Joiner	86%	0.9	3.1	1.5	64
Sanchez	Key	83%	0.3	2.8	0.3	45.8
Westwood	Key	84%	1.3	1.2	0	49.1
Delph	Leaver	85%	1.3	2.1	2.2	59.8
Cleverley	Leaver	86%	0.8	2.3	0.3	45.6
Grealish	Star	93%	2	1.1	2.5	37.9

First, a quick look at the players we lost.  

Cleverley made lots of tackles, created a little bit, but quite stationary.  A tidy passer, (86%) but one of the least involved Passes per game at 45.6.  No big loss.
Then Snake, who got about a lot, was the heart of our midfield, a lot of the game goes through him, around 60 passes per game, and again tidy, but also breaking up play.  Good for him.  Then look at Fabregas, or Hazard, and just cry for him.  He was a solid midfielder, but no way a top 4 midfielder.  I'm very glad that the stats say he's a Man-City bench-warmer, born and bred.

Gana (or Gueye) is interesting as well.  He tackles more than Delph, and goes on more runs, seeing a bit more of the ball in the process.  Looks like a tidy addition, and can do the job Delph did, but a little bit better.

I was hoping to find something amazing about Sanchez, who I do really like, or Westwood but they are both journeymen.  Nothing particularly astounding about either one.

Then Grealish.  When you look at Grealish per 90 minutes, he's frankly astounding.  He's getting close to the Hazard levels of performance, with an amazing 93% pass completion.  This is the best in the league by around 3%.  Then 2.5 runs per game;  that's 12th best in the league.  And 2 key passes per game?  16th best in the league.  And don't forget, this is with 10 substitutions.  Jack Grealish is statistically, one of the best players in the league.

Snake wrote:I want to set the record straight, I'm staying at Aston Villa Football Club

Attack

Attack	Why	Pass completion	Shots	Runs	Mis-controlled	Goals per Game
Benteke	Leaver	66.7%	2.8	0.6	2.3	0.4
Gabby	Baseline	75%	1.6	0.7	1.1	0.2
Aguero	Compare	86%	4.5	2.6	1.9	0.8

Again, looking at Benteke, he scored a LOT.  His stats aren't that impressive.  He had a season of 2 halves, and actually, 0.4 goals per game isn't as good as we all thought.  Yes, he had a storming run of 10 goals in 10 games (or whatever it was).  Everything else isn't THAT impressive.  Don't get me wrong, it's clear that we'll miss him, and his stats are a bit fouled up as part of this was recovering from injury, but look at Aguero, and you see he's still got some way to go.  Good luck with Liverpool.

Unfortunately, this brings me to Gabby.  Now, a bit harsh as Gabby has played on the wings a lot this season, but he's not making enough succesful dribbles.   Actually, 0.7 succesful dribbles, and 0.6 unsuccesful.  He does have a (surprisingly...) good touch in terms of mis-controlling balls, but as a striker who struggles to break 10 goals a season...  

We don't have any stats on Kozak from this season, but last season he scored 4 in 15.  I know we've all mostly forgotten if he's any good, and as much as I love the Czech republic, I'm not convinced he's our solution either.  BIG gap here in the team.

Defence

Defence		Pass completion	Tackles	Interceptions	Clearances	fouls
Okore	Key	86%	2.2	2.9	6.5	0.9
Clark	Key	79%	1.6	1.9	8	0.8
Baker	Key	77%	1.3	1.6	9.2	0.6
Bacuna	Key	79%	1.3	0.7	0.9	0.8
Amavi	Joiner	75%	3.9	4.6	3.9	1.8
Richards	Joiner	88%	1.9	1.9	1.7	0.6
P Jones	Compare	85%	2.4	3.2	7.5	1.2
Ivanovic	Compare	81%	2.3	1	3.6	1.1

So this is a bit more interesting.  

First, Baker;  9.2 clearances would put him top 10 in the league for anticipation, a good sign for someone who didn't feature that much last season.  Clarke and Okore compliment each other nicely, with good tackling , clearances and interceptions.  (Okore was 12th in the league for interceptions last season)

Ok, then Just pause and look at Amavi - on paper, (and on stats sites) he's the best left back in Europe, I think.  Tackling everywhere, incterceptions everywhere, and a fair number of clearances for a left back.  

Richards looks a little weaker than I'd imagined on paper, but I'm fully behind him re-vitalising his career with the Villa, and hope he goes on to become a legend.

Conclusions

We won't miss Snake, and Gana should be a fair replacement.
Tekkers was a beast for 10 games last season, but we've forgotten the dross - £32m is a good price if it's reinvested.
We need to buy Strikers (I'd say 2)
Amavi looks the nutts on paper.
And Grealish is clearly the best player in the premier league.

Looking forward to the new season.  Hope you enjoyed...

Very interesting! Amavi looks a fantastic buy based on this.

Thanks for taking the time to put these together. :)

Baker was played wrong in a lot of games under Lambert where he was encouraged to sit back a little and sweep with Clark (as opposed to one player attacking the ball and the other sweeping). At least that's how it looked to my eyes. 

At the very least, he's a fantastic option to have when you know you're going to come up against an aerial bombardment.

Gana Gueye and Amavi both look extremely good on paper but the concern will be how long it takes them to get up to speed. 

And look at the number of shots Aguero takes in a game! He won't get that kind of service from Delph. :)