I decided to compare him to the other defensive midfielders in the top 5 of the Premier League. I chose the players by checking who played the most in defensive midfield for each team respectively. Eg. Yaya Toure played at CDM 8 times, compared to Barry's 16, therefore Barry was chosen. I wanted to include Fellaini, but he did not play a single match as a defensive midfielder, he only played as a central midfielder and attacking midfielder, if you would like to see his statistics, you can look here. All statistics are from whoscored.com and are for the Premier League only.General:
Appearances(Sub)
|
Yellows
|
Reds
|
Aerial Duels Won(%)
|
Man of the Match
| |
Arteta
|
34(0)
|
6
|
0
|
35/67 (52)
|
7
|
Ramires
|
28(7)
|
8
|
1
|
40/72 (56)
|
1
|
Barry
|
27(4)
|
6
|
0
|
53/91 (58)
|
1
|
Carrick
|
34(2)
|
3
|
0
|
17/31 (55)
|
1
|
Sandro
|
22(0)
|
4
|
0
|
19/53 (36)
|
0
|
Arteta's seven man of the match performances show how important he was to Arsenal.
Defense:
Tackles(per game)
|
Interceptions(per game)
|
Blocked Shots(per game)
|
Fouls(per game)
|
Dribbled(per game)
| |
Arteta
|
108(3.2)
|
97(2.9)
|
7(0.2)
|
74(2.2)
|
37(1.1)
|
Ramires
|
112(3.2)
|
55(1.6)
|
10(0.3)
|
53(1.5)
|
34(1)
|
Barry
|
64(2.1)
|
44(1.4)
|
6(0.2)
|
38(1.2)
|
17(0.5)
|
Carrick
|
83(2.3)
|
76(2.1)
|
19(0.5)
|
30(0.8)
|
41(1.1)
|
Sandro
|
72(3.3)
|
80(3.6)
|
9(0.4)
|
34(1.5)
|
10(0.5)
|
A deep-lying midfielder's defence role is generally to protect the back four by breaking up play through tackles and interceptions. Sandro leads the group in these areas but played about 65% of the amount of games that Arteta played, and didn't get any man of the match awards compared to the Spaniard's 7. Many pundits credited Carrick with Manchester United's success and the more stable defense as the season wore on; his performances weren't as good as Arteta's. Statistics don't always reveal the full story, but the north-London players did a lot better than the other 3.
Attack:
Goals
|
Assists
|
Key Passes
(per game)
|
Dribbles
(per game)
|
Fouled
(per game)
|
Pass(%)
|
Long
Balls(%)
|
Through Balls(%)
| |
Arteta
|
6
|
3
|
26(0.8)
|
19(0.6)
|
49(1.4)
|
2517/2750
(91.5)
|
179/205
(87)
|
6/15(40)
|
Ramires
|
5
|
1
|
20(0.6)
|
27(0.8)
|
46(1.3)
|
1102/1294
(85.2)
|
63/92(68)
|
1/3(33)
|
Barry
|
1
|
2
|
36(1.2)
|
6(0.2)
|
26(0.8)
|
1574/1823
(86.3)
|
86/111
(77)
|
3/9(33)
|
Carrick
|
1
|
4
|
37(1)
|
8(0.2)
|
32(0.9)
|
2443/2774
(88.1)
|
208/277
(75)
|
3/12(25)
|
Sandro
|
1
|
2
|
23(1)
|
16(0.7)
|
29(1.3)
|
798/931
(85.7)
|
55/72(76)
|
3/3(100)
|
Linking up the play between defence and attack, controlling the speed of the game,being able to hold the ball under pressure and passing are important for defensive-mids going forward. Arteta leads the way with goals scored and is second in assists. His pass percentage was the third highest in the Premier League. Ki-Sung Yueng (92.7%) and Jamie Carragher (92%) were higher. Mertesacker was fourth with 91.48%. A surprising statistic is that Arteta was second last in key passes per game; with all of his other good statistics I expected that one to be high as well. Once again Sandro did relatively well; I'm quite impressed by his numbers, AVB has a tough decision in his position.
Overall the man with the Lego hair proved that he is one of the best (if not the best) defensive midfielders during our most recent campaign, hopefully he remains injury free and continues to play well.
Regards
why Arteta hasn't been called up to the spanish team??....It clear that his statistics last season has out passed those of Sergio B..of Barca. Xavi and Arteta would make a beautiful partnership...COME ON SPAIN GIVE MIGUEL ARTETA A CHANCE
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that he should be playing for Spain, but I am very happy that he hasn't. It will allow him to play more often for Arsenal.
DeleteI think we're going to need a new DM sooner rather than later. For one, Arteta is 31. He has some years in him still, but the larger issue to me is that he and Ramsey fill such similar roles. Ramsey's only settled into the DM role this year, and so he's bound to improve. As we look around, I'd like to see us sign someone with a little more steel to his game.
ReplyDeleteIronically, Diaby, should he ever return to form, could be just that man. I don't think he'll play at all for the first team this year, so a signing would be nice!
I wouldn't mind Ramsey playing CDM by himself in 2 seasons, but a physical midfielder could also be good.
DeleteRamsey made a complete turnaround in the second-half of the season, especially when he moved into the DM position. His statistics are not as impressive because he had a crap 1st half of the season as a winger (wtf) that significantly skews his averages, but look his numbers after he started starting regularly (late January- and definitely by the CL games). The man was impressive and his partnership with Arteta was nearly as significant as the Mertesacker/Koscielny partnership.
ReplyDeleteWhen Wenger started playing Ramsey at wing I thought that would lead to the end of his time at Arsenal, but he really came good towards the end of the season.
Deletemikel arteta 2517/2750
ReplyDeletepass(%) (91.5) ramires 1102/1194
pass(%) (85.2) !!!!????why 85.5?
Thanks very much for pointing this out, I wrote it incorrectly. it should have been 1102/1294.
Delete