The best right back in the league?

According to WhoScored.com, Cedric is statistically the best right back in the Premier League. Virgil also makes their team of the season (and would appear to be the second best centre back in Europe, after Thiago Silva).

https://www.theguardian.com/football/who-scored-blog/2016/may/18/premier-league-team-season-2015-16

Lies, damn lies and statistics...?

 

Mentioned in another thread.

 

I know a man who because the stats say so, will believe it's absolutely the truth...

 

£25M and he's yours.......................who's.................................anyone's.........................

 

But worth saying again. Better than Nat Clyne, it appears.

 

What about Cuco? He's been awesome.

 

If Cuco continues to improve at this seasons rate, he will be a bloody big asset. Think his first match was against Utd at SMS & I thought he looked like a fish out of water. Some of the games in the last part of the season he looked very accomplished, most improved player by a country mile for me.

 

He was one of a few players I wanted to pay particular attention to when I replayed the full match against Palace, and I have to admit he was bloody good. He was fast to support the attack, he got back and defended well, and kept his part of the defensive shape quite orderly. He's been learning a lot.

I have to remember that we need him to sign an extension, because his contract was for one year.

 

There must be a reason why he has been preferred to Cedric............even if it is because we have run out of head bandages.

As my 10 year old said (after only a few games) "He might as well get his head bandage done before the game so he doesn't hold things up."

HE also came out with other classics of (words might not be exactly the same but more the jist:

"Is there a trophy for most red cards at the end of season awards" which of course preceded a wish for Vic to get more red cards so he could win.

"What's Van Dijk doing running up the field?" which is also one of my few criticisms of when Van Dijk gets bored and runs with the ball.

"That's got to be better than Roberto Carlos" obviously referring to Roberto Carlos's 1254th attempt at free kick's actually going in the net in worldy style.

 

Martina has been very good second half of this season. I think he can cross better than Cedric.

 

I think he is better than Cedric personally.

My Sporting Lisbon supporting brother in law told me Cedric was better going forward when we bought him before the season started although at the time he did look quite good.....going forward. Since then he has a case of the Clynes cutting back to cross instead of the first time ball.

 

I think Cedric has been ok in general (good when we played 3-5-2), which is what you expect when a young player comes into the PL. I remember when we signed Clyne, lots of potential, but lapses in concentration and mistakes stood out in his first season. Clyne at least played in the Championship so was used to the physical nature of the English game too. I think Cedric has more upside then Martina has in the long run, but I'm very happy with both going into next season after a year under their belt.

 

I think Cedric got a fair bit of undeserved stick, he didn't set the world on fire but perhaps we've been a bit spoilt by our fullbacks in the last few years. Martina has been a revelation in the second half of the season compared to how he started. Overall I wouldn't put much between them.

I think the main reason Cuco seemed to get the nod to close out the season was his long-range passing was actually his biggest strength with how we set-up with Long leading the line. A big part of our gameplan was quick aerial balls to get one of the revolving front three in behind down the channels and Cuco usually seemed to be the trigger man for those runs to be made.

Of course it would be lovely to have another Clyne back there, but I like Cedric and Martina and how they suit our different styles.

 

The WhoScored ratings are generated using an algorithm. An algorithm that is not publicly available and has never been tested in any way to show that it corresponds with reality.

It's like saying "VVD is the one of the best players on Saints, because he's the tallest." The problem isn't with statistics, it's with the crappy usage of a statistic.

You would be foolish to think that one player is better than another simply because someone scored a "7.4" for one player and "7.1" for another. What does .3 better even mean? What if one player is a GK and the other is a forward?

But it would be equally foolish to dismiss statistical analysis just because some rating doesn't match your own opinion.

Shane Long is an example. People seem to bring him up as an example as the type of guy whose contributions can't be measured in statistics. But someone posted an article about Long that attempted to assess his impact on the game in all the ways people said couldn't be quantified. And the article reached the conclusion that indeed, he was doing all those things people said he was... and it made a positive distance.

Even then, someone could argue with that author's methods and conclusions but at least it's out there and you can decide what parts you like or don't. The problem with WhoScored ratings is you have no idea how they got them. It could be some mystery box random number generator for all we know. It's qualitative data disguised as quantitative.

 

yeah, agree with most of this.

I feel like we should try to bring in an RB if possible if for no other reason than to add depth and provide competition. But if for some reason we can't, or we bring a player who winds up a dud I feel like we're still in decent shape with Cedric or Martina as a fallback. And as you said, Cedric may very well improve with experience.

 

We should try and sign that young rb who plays for Wycombe. He was their player of the season. Jason something.

 

What stats never ever tell us is what doesn't happen. If a player runs left instead of right, if a player plays square instead of forward, if a player makes a run but doesn't receive the ball, if a player shows to feet but doesn't receive the ball, if a player doesn't win a tackle, but the next player does win it.

It's the same when comparing two players in the same position. You can't say that one player would do better over another in an identical situation.

What I can categorically say is that with two, allegedly "weaker" Right Backs, we achieved our highest points total and highest Premier League position.

Ifs and buts and pots and pans.

 

Definitely worth signing. He must have been seen as a risk or more as a filler to give him such a short contract.

 

Cuco takes the best throw-ins in the team by a country mile. He thinks about them, dummies, feints, throws accurately and also throws a reasonable distance. He treats throw-ins the way they should be treated rather than just as a way to get the ball back in play.

Vin

 

Cuco most improved player this season. I can remember many were writing him off in the pre season friendlies as a bit of a donkey (even I was a little concerned). With Cedric as back up and a rapidly emerging McCarthy I think that position is sorted.