3 Stats regarding our season thus far...

Interesting stuff... And boy have we missed HBA.

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/1534196-3-surprising-statistics-about-newcastle-this-season

If there's one word that has summed up Newcastle United's season thus far, it would probably be "surprising." If you answered with "disappointing, you'd also be correct, but we're playing nice here.

It's been interesting to see the Magpies come back into some form since January, since it highlights that the fans were correct all along when they were clamouring for new signings in the summer.

Newcastle haven't had the depth to cope with any sort of injuries, let alone the procession of bad luck that has befallen the squad. Hatem Ben Arfa, Steven Taylor, Ryan Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini, Yohan Cabaye; all have missed substantial playing time, and it's been to the detriment of the team.

Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson and James Perch are useful utility players, but they're not first-team Premier League players. Newcastle tried to use them in that manner and were frequently exposed.

However, there have been surprising statistics present all through the season. For the sake of relevancy, the three statistics present are from recent fixtures or surveys.

Hatem Ben Arfa's contributions demonstrate his real value to the team.

Hatem Ben Arfa is the Second-Best Dribbler in Europe

Fans of the Toon will not be surprised by this at all, and in fact have been making claims to this effect since his arrival on Tyneside. However, the extent of his success may be the thing that surprises.

HamroFootball.com carried out a survey across La Liga, the Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1, and the results would have been a joy to read for the Toon Army.

At the time of the survey, Ben Arfa had attempted 64 dribbles in total, completing an average of 4.9 successful dribbles per game. Only Franck Ribery fared better, averaging 6.1 successful dribbles per game.

Bear in mind that Lionel Messi finished sixth and Luis Suarez limped in 10th, and also bear in mind that Ben Arfa has been sidelined with injuries for a lot of the year. That sort of efficiency rate is impressive in any season; however, in a campaign where the side has played poorly and the player himself hasn't been at full fitness, this is exceptional.

James Perch's Passing Stats Belie His Critics

The man affectionately known as "Perchinho" has come under attack this year—including the slight swipe at him earlier in this article—and it's true that he sometimes passes through games with little impact. Sometimes he will emerge from the 90 minutes with nothing but blame, having made an error that contributed to another defeat.


Perch's passing efficiency against Chelsea solidified a good performance.
With the ball at his feet, however, he is a bright spot in a team that has been lacklustre at best. Over the past two games, Perch's passing efficiency has been impressive and exactly what his team needed.

Perch followed the Chelsea game with an ever better showing against Spurs.
Given his chance to prove himself in the wake of the January window, Perch has delivered. Against Chelsea, he completed 37-of-43 passes in the Newcastle midfield (via FourFourTwo Stats Zone), enabling the more creative players to run the attack.

He built on this in the next game too. At White Hart Lane he only let one pass go astray, completing 33-of-34 and holding down the defensive aspect of the midfield in Cheick Tiote's absence. If not for Gareth Bale, the game would've ended very differently.

Perch has proven that he can contribute to this new-look Newcastle team, showing English determination amongst French flair.

The No. 23 is Important, After All

Following the horrendous Jim Carrey vehicle of the same name, there were many people ready to dismiss the idea of the No. 23 having any significance at all.

The away victory against Aston Villa was very important, for both teams and for the same reason. After 23 games, Newcastle and Villa were on 20 and 21 points, respectively, which constituted their worst-ever Premier League season.

Before this fixture, the Magpies hadn't won away from St. James' Park since May, when a victory against Chelsea spurred on dreams of the Champions League in a season to remember.

This time, the victory at Villa Park ignited a spark in the team that saw Chelsea again on the receiving end of defeat. Moussa Sissoko carved his name into Magpies lore with a last-minute winner that justified Alan Pardew's decision to raid Ligue 1.

Villa dropped into the bottom three following defeat to the Toon. It was a stark reminder that it would've been Newcastle in the relegation zone had the situation been reversed.

 

Bit long winded but thanks for the stats


Pretty sure Newcastle players produce rather good stats
For instance Andy probs won the the ball 9/10 for his games with Newcastle

Cabaye probably has the best long passing distribution and completion rate in the leauge.

Guti has proberly ran more distance than any other player (this happened last season)

Ben arfa is the best dribbler in the world :


I know its unfair on the lad but i think Tim Krul has stopped half as many shots this season. Be interesting to know if te above is correct

 

It wasn't just the bout of injuries that was the problem.
For instance, Cabaye at the start of the season and the other players as well, played atrociously and we were lucky to have gotten the 3 or 4 pts we got despite playing poorly. To me I believe it was Cabaye experiencing a burn out after a great campaign with us and then Euro. He is no doubt the most important player in our team...

HBA having 4.9 successful dribbles to me is an absolutely amazing stat. Think about who's been playing behind him, it's freaking Simmo. And they constantly double team him for entire games...
Excites me to think what happens when he plays with Debuchy...
Also, let's not forget that Ribery has either Lahm or David Alaba(whom I rate) playing fullback for him thus he's 1st.

Point on Perchy. That is why those passing completion% is an overrated stat. Sergio Busquets was consistently one of the highest pass completion players... Taking nothing away from him as a very good player, all he does is make short simple passes to the Barca playmakers or to pass the ball around in defence.
This was the reason why I was so frustrated with Jenas when he played for us, and the same reason some of you criticise Parker that he could only make a 5m pass backwards(I'm not attacking you guys for this, it's true anyway)

Give me a player who has the talent and ability to send a 30m raking crossfield ball any day with a slightly lower passing %..
On that topic, I really don't care if Perchy gets 33 out of 34 passes or 26 out of 34, as long as the key stat for his position, are the no. of tackles that he wins.
Hell, even Willo could have a 90% passing completion if all he did was clear the ball into touch, or make a 5m pass to a nearby player all game, instead of Hoofing the **** out of it.

 

Yeah, the Perch stat is a bit of a non-story, but he was more accomplished in that role than ever before, I thought. He didn't make a decent forward pass, but he spread the ball nicely and looked confident.

The more interesting and relevant stats for him are his tackle success-rate and distance traveled, but I don't think anybody will argue Perch hasn't done well this season.

Not surprised by Ben Arfa's stats, he's a lot like a cheaper version of Hazard, only if he had Mata and all the talents of South America around him, I reckon he'd be considered better. He at least makes the odd feeble attempt to use his other foot.

 

Not so sure about feeble attempt! Nowhere as feeble as Santon I''m sure!

He scored a screamer against Villa with his right foot at the start of the season!