With Canas arrival seemingly imminent, there'll be increased competition for the central attacking midfield role next season, so with that in mind I thought I'd compare Ki with JDG: http://www.theswanseaway.co.uk/2013/04/de-guzman-vs-ki-statistical-comparison.html With the Swans rumoured to have agreed a deal for Real Betis midfielder Jose Canas, it appears there will be increased competition in the Swansea midfield next year, and with De Guzman yet to sign permanently, I thought it would be interesting to have a look at some statistics to see what kind of effect Ki & JDG have had on the team. It would be easy to just go with the obvious and leave it there. Ki still tops the Premier League charts in terms of passing accuracy, while JDG is the Swans' second top scorer, so you'd be forgiven for thinking that Ki is obviously a more defensive player while JDG has excelled in attack, and while both are partially true I feel there's more going on than meets the eye. Of late, I've felt De Guzman's performances haven't been up to the standard he set earlier in the season, and some fans are questioning his work-rate - saying that he doesn't seem to harry the opposition as much as he should. While I can't say I feel that's true, I do think that De Guzman drifts around the field too much when playing alongside Leon (or whoever else) in a deeper midfield role, and that in turn creates problems in terms of defensive organisation. When you play football like the Swans do, being heavily reliant on team shape to maintain a solid defensive footing, it's imperative that the defensive midfielders hold their position; Leon seemed to be dragged around the field an awful lot against Southampton and given how out of character it appeared it must have been to do with those around him distorting the team shape. When Michu plays attacking midfield as opposed to centre-forward I feel this exacerbates the problem, but I do feel that when Ki plays alongside Leon it gives the Swans a lot more balance. At present, I still prefer a midfield trio of Leon, Ki, and JDG in front of them, but if there was only one "defensive" midfield berth to play for, should it go to Ki or De Guzman? With all stats only relating to PL games, first up let's look at ball retention. Ki has completed 92.5% of his passes (1438/1554 - 6th in Europe in terms of passing accuracy) against De Guzman's 88.4% (1527/1727) and while JDG has played more passes in total he's also started nine more games than his Korean counterpart. Ki averages 55.5 passes completed a game to De Guzman's 54.4, so not much to choose from there, but it would seem that, given the smaller amount of starts enjoyed by the Korean, he's a little busier in terms of moving the ball around the field. De Guzman has clearly created more in attack, with six assists to Ki's two, and they average 1.6 and 1 "key pass(es)" [excuse the pun] respectively - in fairness to Ki though he's consistently been employed in a more defensive role than he'd previously been used to and I feel his natural game would see him play further forward which would in turn see him create more opportunities (as well as finally getting his first goal). A demonstration of this was when well placed (again) against Southampton, Ki opted to pass instead of shoot - as anyone who's watched Youtube videos of him can testify, the guy likes to shoot and has scored lots of goals, and I think his reluctance to shoot is due to the distinct awareness that to comply with his role in the team, he's to retain possession in situations whereby otherwise he would have had a pop. Ki averages 5.9 successful long balls per game against JDG's 3.8, further drilling home the accuracy with which the Korean dispatches the ball. I love watching Ki play as everything seems to be done with an exaggerated movement in an effort to connect perfectly, and I think sometimes it's easy to mistake it for the Korean being ponderous - the stats show this isn't the case as he's only dispossessed 0.9 times per game (against De Guzman's 1.2) and attempts the same amount of dribbles as the man on loan from Villareal (0.4). Interestingly, the Dutchman wins the ball back twice as often, with 0.9 "turnovers" per game (as opposed to Ki's 0.4), but they attempt an almost identical amount of shots (Ki with 1.4, JDG with 1.5). Ki manages over twice as many clearances per game (1.3 to 0.6), while they both complete the same amount of interceptions (1.2) and almost the same amount of tackles (Ki with 1.2 & JDG with 1.3). I think this is starting to show that some fans view that JDG is (marginally) more combative is possibly far from the mark, as it seems in terms of defensive contribution Ki is just as effective. It obviously can't be ignored that with 5 goals and 6 assists, De Guzman has been massively more potent in attack when compared with Ki's 0 goals and 2 assists, but I do feel that if Ki had enjoyed a more attacking role throughout the season the figures would be a lot more even. As mentioned above, I get the distinct impression that Ki's natural game is more attacking than we're currently seeing, and I'm hoping the arrival of Canas remedies this, as I'd love to see him start banging them in from 30 yards. [video=youtube;Rnui_7bhOQI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Rnui_7bhOQI[/video] Should we sign De Guzman permanently? Reports had previously put the price at £8million, but recently it seems that's been revised and £5million would be nearer the mark. Originally I thought that still sounded a lot, given that we're likely to have paid his wages all year and, possibly, a fee to take him on loan in the first place, but after speaking with a friend I came to the conclusion that if there was a midfielder of JDG's quality at a Premier League club who were getting relegated, and he'd scored 5 goals and got 6 assists that season, I'd be saying we should sign him up, especially if the asking price is only £5million. For a central midfielder who can clearly cut it in the Premier League, and is likely to kick on again next season, that seems a bit of a bargain, and with plenty of games to go round next year both Ki and JDG could enjoy lots of playing time in the CAM role - whether that happens though is another thing. For now, I'd like to see Leon and Ki deep, with JDG ahead of them, but if we sign Canas (and he's as good as we hope) then at present I'd still like to see Ki given a run in the team in a creative attacking role. Sure, it'll take a while for him to get out of the "pass, pass, pass" train of thought but I think ultimately it'll be worth it. Check out the video above for a demonstration of what I mean. In a cop out similar to the one at the end of the Neil Taylor v Ben Davies comparison, I'm going to say that realistically they are both important members of the Swansea squad who we can expect to improve next year, and I'd love to see De Guzman sign permanently. For £5million, anyway...
Interesting statistics. I think Ki appears to have a lot more poise on the ball than JDG or anybody else for that matter. He does play the deeper midfield role and that's not necessarily playing to his strength. When he's playing up tempo Ki can be far more effective especially in the final third from what I've seen. I would like to see him play in a more forward role. I though Canas was more of the dogged ball winner type - is this not the case.
Great post Scotswan. I think i'd agree in prinicple that both are important to the future of Swansea. I would love to see Ki play in a bit more of an attacking role, every week I predict him to score but alas, to no avail so far. I do hope we sign JDG, as you mentioned I think he will improve next season and one thing we also have to remember is that Leon is not going to be around forever.....(i know, horrible thought isn't it!!!)
No, it is! I simply meant if we have Canas & Leon as first choice defensive midfielders, there's only one (attacking) place left in the midfield (assuming Michu is playing up top) and at present I'd prefer to see Ki given a go there.
Interesting read considering a lot thought Ki's passes went astray a lot. Should Canas arrive, we play him and Leon. I would like Michu in an AM position with a new striker coming in. That leaves no places for Ki or De Guzman. For me, don't sign DG and have Ki as a super sub.
So with Canas / Leon, JDG / KI, Michu/TBD, Dyer/Routledge/Pablo/Lamah, Moore / TDB, we have double coverage at all positions except Moore and Michu unless you pair Moore and Michu. This gives us a lot of flexibility. For example, away from home or against certain teams, we could play Canas/Leon together, otherwise play one of them and two more offensive minded midfield players. Then there's the 3 amigos (wingers) option. Then there's Michu up front. Michu behind Moore. It's almost staggering the permutations you could create out of this squad and be tactically agile during a game from the bench. I would like to see more of Ki. I like his height. He is becoming a better tackler. There is a bit of niggle in him. It would be interesting to see what it looks like with Ki behind Michu and then Leon with somebody else .... perhaps Agustien if he's fit (he's the only alternative for now since Jazz is away - but not my first choice - Jazz on the other hand would be).
Top post, Scott. That video was an eye-opener and Ki looked value for the £5 million we paid for him. I was particularly impressed with his dead ball ability and it was nice to see that he can take chances with either foot. I know that videos show only the best of a player but that best looked pretty good to me. With his shooting ability, it begs the question as to why he isn't doing more of it. It seems to me that had he pulled the trigger more often, he could have added six goals or more for us that could make a difference to our league position. I think it must be a confidence thing because I'm sure that Laudrup hasn't instructed him not to shoot and he has frequently found good positions but hasn't gone for it. Once he gets the first I'm sure it will lead to a few others. It also alters our opponents perspective of us. If they are aware that he is something of a "sharpshooter" they would have to move to close him down, which then creates more space for Michu and co. Interesting stuff.
I'd very much agree with the first paragraph. Against "better" teams I think we would be much better off going with Leon and Canas (assuming he signs), with JDG (a midfielder by trade) ahead of them. Against "weaker" teams, we could then play the three wingers formation. Interesting indeed. I do wonder if his reluctance to shoot is down to tactical instruction though? I'm not saying Laudrup has told him to not shoot, but given his natural game (to which I refer to the video) it's clear he's being asked to do something completely different to that for the Swans. With that in mind, any time you think about shooting you're going to have a little voice pop up in your head saying "you could pass here" - I think the only way to remove that doubt is to say "go on son, have a go at CAM for a few games and bang in a few goals". It may not work, but I'd love to see him have a go...
Anyone send the video to ML. It's pretty clear that the man knows where the goals are - push him forward. I thought that it was his introductionon Saturday that got us going again and we really should have got a couple of goals in the last 20 minutes
Already saying that "we should go with Leon and Canas in midfield" is a bit premature isn't it ? How can we be sure that even if he does sign that he'll be any better than Ki or JDG ? We signed Pablo to fill the gap left by Sinclair and look how that's turned out - I don't remember bitching anywhere as much about Sinclair as we do about Pablo. Just because it's a new signing doesn't automatically mean it's an improvement.
Agreed Stereo, Canas has got to earn his place in the side. However, if everything turns out ok, then I'd like to see Britton Canas Routs Michu Dyer/Lamah/Pablo/New winger New Striker
Exactly - if we have agreed to sign him, you've got to fancy him to go straight into the matchday squad, if not the first XI. Given that he's defensive, that either means drop Leon or he'll partner him.
