I thought he would be a key player in City's season and so it is proving. He has transformed our midfield. Have a read of this: http://squawka.com/news/2013/11/11/...-norwichs-relegation-dog-fight/2013111134264? I love the expressions in the photo and CH's quiet smile.
Fantastic player, honestly could see him playing for a champions league team on the future. He will be huge for us this season. No doubt. Incidently squawka is one of the best football sites around. They really use stats well and generally hit the nail in the head. I am surprised that they gave MOTM to Fer, Howson was mine. Those two have been real highlights this season. Long may it continue
No real surprise going just by the stats. Fer's contribution to the game in terms of shots, passes, pass completion, chance creation, take-ons, tackles and interceptions was the greater. In fact Howson didn't outdo Fer on any point of comparison, while matching him only in ball recoveries and blocks. Sky gave MOM to Snodgrass. That seems a far more subjective choice. Can't deny Snoddy's role in the win was huge, but when you look at Rat's stats and see how much space and freedom he enjoyed down that wing you have to wonder what Snoddy and Martin were doing. I guess it illustrates the difference when there are only the two in central midfield and no Tettey sitting behind them.
Talk about a game of two halves! First half I thought Leroy was absolutely shocking, comfortably the worst I've seen him play in a City shirt - and then after the break he was bloody brilliant, an absolute revelation! The guy is a beast, and a fantastic footballer as well - incredible signing for £4m. It's very early days I know, but he could well turn out to be one of the very best footballers to ever wear the yellow and green, certainly in my lifetime anyway
@Robbie The stats don't cover certain things which contributed to individual performances in that second half. For example Howsons determination and hunger in the second half was second to none and it was that spirit which turned that game around for us. How are those traits indicated through stats?
Brilliant player, but it's not often I say this..... But I agreed with jamie redknapp, it's time he starts using his ability to influence games like he did in the second half of the west ham game more often, rather than just doing things well and neatly sitting deep. Good to see he got called up for the netherlands just now, would be great to see him go to the world cup
billy, he played in the last 2 qualifiers for them - ok the netherlands had already qualified. there is a lot of competition for central midfield though for brazil - schneider, van der vaart, de guzman, strootman to name a few
Guess I will be saying a few silent prayers to the god of football over the international break then!
He's got a couple of other ones too: 'Ferrader' (courtesy of FC Twente fans - 'verrader' is 'traitor') 'De Uitsmijter' ('The Bouncer')
Thats what I meant, he'll do well to get in the squad, hopefully his performances for us this year will be that good he has to go.
He has been head and shoulders our best player this year, I think he's really allowed Jonny to play to his full potential too.
I guess the answer is that they are represented indirectly through the events recorded in the stats. "Hunger and determination" are expressed by actions on the field, e.g. hunger in hunting down the ball, determination in winning it back, or tracking back to make an interception or a tackle, etc. etc. Of course totting up tackles made etc, doesn't fully register distance run, or making runs to create space, draw defenders, and so on. Howson was certainly one of the players to most influence the game on Saturday, but Fer's stats indicate no less hunger and determination on his part -- he did more of virtually everything than Jonny over the game as a whole. There's a lot of on-going research into how best to "capture" the crucial components of a game of football. It's a process comparable to the emergence of a science from superficial everyday knowledge. An example would be the question "How important are tackles?". Virtually everyone will say that tackles are a hugely important element in a game. But maybe the more important element is ball recovery, regaining possession, and tackling is often a very inefficient method of recovering possession. Dispossessing a player with the ball, e.g. by surrounding him and forcing him into giving away possession without tackling him, is often far more effective (Arsenal, Barcelona and teams like them are adept at this, and when they play each other tackles are relatively rare). Similarly, it would be wrong to rate defenders just by the number of tackles they make. A really good defender may make relatively few tackles, because his positional sense and reading of the game allow him to intercept the ball before it gets to an attacking player who he would then have to tackle! It's actually fascinating stuff and I'm sure we will see constant development in terms of the concepts used in analysing games and player performance etc.
Ferrader comes more from the Feyenoord fans, alongside Wijnaldum and Castaignos, these were regarded as the future of Feyenoord but all three left, Castaignos to Juventus, Wijnaldum to PSV and Fer forced a transfer to FC Twente. Born and raised in Rotterdam, the Feyenoord supporters considered this treason to the club that financed his development and gave him a chance in the first team.
As a centre mid Fer will always be involved in the game, not saying he is not a very good player though. My MOTM would be Snodgrass, constantly up and down the pitch and did a lot of Russ' defending for him.
Firstly the second paragraph I completely agree with. I would much rather look at interceptions a defender makes than tackles. Maybe it's because I appreciate intelligence in the game more than brute. I do love seeing a perfectly timed tackle and obviously that takes intelligence as well as strength to pull off but much rather see defenders being one step ahead of play. That is my preference anyway. I understand your point. I think you can read into it through statistics to an extent. The reason I thought Howson was better was because he played a huge part in the turn of momentum in the second half, his determination to press their midfield constantly and dispossess opponents as well as his drive to get the ball forward. He made a couple of superb runs in the second half which got the crowd going as well as the rest of the players. It gave the overall mood of the game a huge lift which was needed. I don't know if that side of it can be seen through statistics. I find stats really interesting and no doubt,they indicate a certain players contribution, I just don't think they always tell the whole story.
