Each week, in The Debrief, Adam Bate picks out tactical trends and underlying statistics that you might have missed from the Premier League weekend. Here, his focus includes Southampton’s passing and Martin Odegaard’s pressing…
Monday 26 August 2024 16:06, UK
The 19 runs made by Dominic Calvert-Lewin challenging the Brighton backline on the opening weekend remain the most by any Premier League player this season. There were 17 more of them in the 4-0 defeat to Tottenham. He tops the list for attacking runs.
Not that this would be spotted even if watching the game on television - Everton's striker is rarely in the picture. His team have conceded seven goals without reply in their opening two fixtures and Calvert-Lewin has mustered only one shot. That was blocked.
He is one of only two Premier League centre-forwards to have started both games so far and not registered a shot on target. The other, Ipswich's Liam Delap, can at least point to the quality of the opposition faced by his side - Liverpool and Manchester City.
Calvert-Lewin can still claim to have had worse service. Even Delap has had more touches. And when the ball does reach Calvert-Lewin, his situation hardly improves. That story is told to us through Second Spectrum with help from the tracking data.
There is a metric that calculates the number of passing options available when a player receives possession. Calvert-Lewin averages 0.96 options when he gets the ball - one of only four players to start both games averaging fewer than a single passing option.
No wonder his expected pass completion rate, calculating the difficulty of his passes, is just 57.3 per cent. That is the lowest of any Premier League player. Interestingly, Jordan Pickford ranks third on that metric. Everton's long-ball football is just not working.
Some are surprised to see Calvert-Lewin linked with a move away from Everton given his underwhelming form and concerns over his fitness. But examine the data and it is easy to imagine that he could look a very different player in a side that could find his runs.
Martin Odegaard has had more creative performances for Arsenal than his display in their 2-0 win over Aston Villa over Saturday but his pressing led to seven turnovers of possession in their favour. He did it 16 times in the opening fixture against Wolves too.
No player has helped his side win the ball back through pressing more times than Odegaard this season. In total, he has had 133 pressing situations already. These are the sort of numbers more typically associated with workhorses than show ponies.
Arsenal's captain is capable of dazzling on the ball as well, of course. He created 88 chances from open play last season, the most by any player in the Premier League. But Mikel Arteta knows that his work out of possession is just as important for the Gunners.
It might be surprising to learn that Fulham created the second most opportunities of any Premier League team from corners last season, behind only Liverpool. It is less surprising when you see the quality of delivery from their midfielder Andreas Pereira.
The Brazilian has been at it again in the early weeks of this season, creating nine chances from set-piece situations. For context, that is more than twice as many as any other Premier League player. It has become a major weapon for Marco Silva's side.
Unusually, it is a newly-promoted side that have attempted the most passes in the Premier League so far this season. Russell Martin's Southampton side have made 1,305 of them already, putting them just ahead of the reigning champions, Manchester City.
But while City have six goals and six points, Southampton have managed none of either. Given the context of their two fixtures so far, that is alarming. They have had over an hour against Newcastle's 10 players and a home game against Nottingham Forest.
It was a deserved defeat at St Mary's too. Saints had 65 per cent of the ball but only 18 per cent of the shots. Remarkably, despite their dominance of possession, only three teams - Ipswich, Leicester and Everton - have a lower expected-goals total so far.
Southampton are averaging 683 passes per one expected goal, far more than any team bar Ipswich. It has been too passive. But do not expect Martin to change the approach. He explained that in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports ahead of the new season.
"For me, it would be crazy and illogical to get to the Premier League and then change it completely. We still need to have the intention of wanting to dominate the ball - we just need to be better at it. I do not think we stay up playing ugly as that is just not us."
Whether they can stay up playing like this is the question. Martin pointed to Forest's superior quality in the final third but the stats suggest this is a creativity problem rather than a finishing problem. Not enough of those 1,305 passes have been threatening.
