It’s no surprise that Mesut Özil, Arsenal’s mercurial playmaker, has been grabbing the headlines. He has 10 assists after featuring in just 11 matches, and he’s the new owner of the Premier League’s record for consecutive matches with an assist. But a closer look at his statistics shows that he may be starting to go downhill – albeit from a very high peak. If Özil’s only job were to assist goals, then there’d be no point writing this post. His real job, though, is to make Arsenal better than anyone else would at the same position on the field. That…
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Month: November 2015
Chelsea has changed, even if Mourinho hasn’t
What’s happened to Chelsea? The English Premier League’s reigning champions have had a horrendous start to the season, even if their decline in form had already begun last term. I’ve heard a variety of explanations ranging from fatigue to style of play to what’s-the-matter-with-Matic, but another one has been on my mind for some time. A month ago I mooted the idea on Twitter that Mourinho’s attack on Eva Carneiro lost him the confidence of his players. Now, you might read this and say, “Hey, aren’t you a data analyst, not a psychologist?” – and you’d be right. Yet a…
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