| Statistical Reflections on Ipswich 1 - Wigan 0 22:14 - Dec 16 with 488 views | unstableblue |
24 hours later and my word that table stills look a lot healthier. That scrappy, mainly low quality, but full of heart display, can hopefully provide that little lift the team needed to secure form improvement prior to much needed January reinforcements.
We're the only team from the bottom 6 to have a win in the last 6 games; and Brentford's demise is staggering - 5 losses and a draw in the last 6, since the departure of their manager.
The Blades on Saturday will be a very different proposition, and an unlikely win would be an even bigger boost - but hey why not? As you can see from this interesting summary (below) of the game from a stats web-site, what we lack in quality up front and in our full backs, we are aggressive and we are stealing the ball and we are playing with energy.
What we must stop doing is giving silly free kicks away on the edges of the box or in good crossing positions. Teams such as Sheffield United will not be as kind to us as Wigan.
Also from the deeper stats is shows that Gerken, Sears, Pennington and Chambers were our highest rated players and I would agree through the whole game they played well. It is of note just how many passes Pennington and Chambers are making and with relatively good passing accuracy. For all Saturday's low quality we are passing better in passages; I am convinced that Lambert's strategy of playing out from the back with the goalkeeper is our best approach. While none of us wanted this relegation fight, we had to move away from aimless punting. Especially when we now lack a decent target man, or when our opposition can dominate us in the air (how massive was that Wigan Centre Back yesterday.... surprisingly he wasn't that bad on the ball).
Nolan in the first half did some decent stuff and again you could just see there is a good footballer in there, PERSONALLY I think he was our best player in the first half (sorry its because "mick hatred has twisted my mind"). He had our highest passing accuracy through the whole game. I would agree he needs to do more in the final third to really hurt teams with more cutting balls.
Our shots, crosses and through ball stats were woeful yesterday. And Wigan had far more shots - 16 to 2. But we had more possession, more passes and much better passing accuracy. And the BBC web-site said it was 'a poor game' or as Paul Cook stated: "Today, I felt our lads worked, I felt it was a good game, two honest teams having a good go at each other on a really poor day for football. The game was never going to be a good game, it never was. I felt unfortunately for us we’ve come out on the end of a result we didn’t deserve but that’s football.”
The conditions were some of the worst at PR in years - a swirling wind that seemed to switch direction continually. What was good about the win apart from the points is that we actually won with Knudsen, Chalobah, Downes and Lankester all playing relatively poorly. If those players can up their game, espcially Chalobah, then we'll be a better proposition on Saturday. Downes is looking a more mature player, but got a bit overrun. Chalobah was his usual hair-pulling self - moments of class and then loose possession and errors. The ref was dire, and was refereeing the game outcome not the moment. I was surprised Chalobah wasn't subbed as the Wigan players were trying to get him sent off. Lankester had an off day with his touch off, but I hope Lambert perseveres.
Roberts was ultimately ineffective and lacked quality to hold the ball up and release players, but I do think he was a relative handful and put energy into the game. Sears showed moments of real class but was starved of service. I actually think Spence was better against Wigan got forward as the stats state, but its a low bar.
Can't wait for The Blades - COYB
STATS SUMMARY
STRENGTHS
Ipswich
Stole the ball often from the opposition
Wigan
Created a high number of chances relative to their possession
Were effective at creating goalscoring opportunities from set-pieces
WEAKNESSES
Ipswich
Were aggressive
Gave away a lot of free-kicks around the box
Wigan
Were poor at finishing
Lost possession often
Commited a high number of individual errors
STYLES
Ipswich
Played with width
Attacked down the right side
Wigan
Had a high shot frequency when in possession
Favoured long balls
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