Perhaps I take the quality of Cesc Fabregas for granted and when Cesc is not quite at his best, he is still often one of the better performers on the pitch. I also think that when Cesc has been good this season, he has contributed to many of our goals and that has boosted up his ratings. His highest rating
At the start of season 2009/2010 I decided to write player ratings after every Arsenal game for the players who started the games, to go alongside my match thoughts. The same ratings were jotted down this season and the final figures are quite interesting.
I didn’t rate substitutes as a five minute cameo can obscure the ratings and give you inaccurate figures. Players who started the games would be a cleaner and easier way of doing it.
I have calculated the average ratings for each of the players in all the different competitions. I wanted to know if the average ratings would match my thinking. I wonder if any subconscious bias would show up with my favoured players. I also wanted to know if the lower figures would match those who haven’t been at their best this season.
The ratings have been broken down by competition, so I shall start this article with the Premier League only. In the next few days I shall include the other competitions.
Premier League 2010/2011
Player of the season.
I was very surprised with the results for the player of the season. Last season Robin Van Persie collected the highest average with 7.25 from 14 games, given his fantastic end of season form and run of goals, I would have expected him to have lead the way this year playing five games more than last season but in fact I have rated him lower with 7.05 which puts him in third place. In the Arsenal Vision end of season awards for this season, I claimed that Cesc Fabregas was my most disappointing player of the season as he struggled to wriggle free from injury but looking at the ratings, Cesc Fabregas has racked up the highest average ratings in total with 7.23 from 22 starts.
Perhaps I take the quality of Cesc Fabregas for granted and when Cesc is not quite at his best, he is still often one of the better performers on the pitch. I also think that when Cesc has been good this season, he has contributed to many of our goals and that has boosted up his ratings. His highest rating was 8.5 which he received on two occasions against Bolton and Wigan both at the Emirates.
Name Starts Ratings
1. Cesc Fabregas 22 7.23
2. Lukasz Fabianski 14 7.21
3. Robin Van Persie 19 7.05
4. Bacary Sagna 33 7.03
5. Samir Nasri 28 7.02
Who wants the gloves?
With Manuel Almunia in disappointing form this season, it was mostly down to the Poles in goal to claim the number one shirt at Arsenal. Fabianski’s injury allowed crowd favourite Wojciech Szczesny to take over the second half of the season and start 15 league games. Szczesny managed to gain an average rating of 6.90 which is actually lower than I thought he would get, probably due to our end of season slump. Almunia only managed 8 starts and finished with the 3rd worst total rating of 6.06 which for only eight games is quite poor but it was Lukasz Fabianski‘s performances that stood out, coming only second to Cesc Fabregas overall, he totaled a rating of 7.21 with some stunning performances at Manchester City, Wolves and Birmingham City all away from home earning him a rating of 8 in each of those games.
Name Starts Ratings
1. Lukasz Fabianski 14 7.21
2. Jens Lehmann 01 7.00
3. Wojciech Szczesny 15 6.90
4. Manuel Almunia 08 6.06
Disappointment of the year
The bottom five players all have one thing in common. They have all had under nine starts in the league for season 2010/11. Some of that has been down to injury and some has been down to not being able to reach top form.
Kieran Gibbs has struggled with injury and has had to fight his way back to fitness on several occasions. He was given a run in the side during Clichy’s absence at the end of the season and his lack of form and games meant that we did not get the chance to see the best of the Englishman. He only managed 4 starts and had the worst overall average rating with 5.38.
Denilson, Almunia, Ramsey and Bendtner also had low ratings but as I said, they have not had many games so it is difficult to really assess them without a run in the team. One player who did rack up an impressive 25 starts was Andrey Arshavin and in that time he managed 6 league goals along with 11 assists which is pretty good at any standard yet his average rating was remarkably low at 6.36, lower than the 6.68 he collected the season before with the same amount of starts.
Perhaps his work has been too subtle for my eyes at times but his lack of application at points during the season has lowered his rating when perhaps his craft in the final third may have pushed him further forward in the ratings for another supporter.
Name Starts Ratings
1. Kieran Gibbs 4 5.38
2. Denilson 6 6.00
3. Manuel Almunia 8 6.06
4. Aaron Ramsey 5 6.10
5. Nicklas Bendtner 3 6.17
6. Andrey Arshavin 25 6.36
New kids on the block
Five new players were added to the Arsenal squad this season. Three came in via the transfer market and two were promoted from the youth and reserves to the first team.
The two center backs were at the opposite ends of the spectrum with Laurent Koscielny coming out on top of the newcomers with an average rating of 6.92 from an impressive 30 games. Squillaci started ten less with only 6.65 as his average rating. Surprisingly Jack Wilshere came in at 11th overall but that figure should really be 9th as Lehmann and Vermaelen only managed to start in 1 and 5 games respectively.
Name Starts Ratings
1. Laurent Koscielny 30 6.92
2. Wojciech Szczesny 15 6.90
3. Jack Wilshere 31 6.89
4. Marouane Chamakh 18 6.75
5. Sébastien Squillaci 20 6.65
Top Premier League team performances
The players ratings have been counted for each match and an average is calculated. Here are the top five performances judging by the ratings.
1. Wigan (h) 3-0 (7.77)
2. Manchester United (h) 1-0 (7.64)
3. Chelsea (h) 3-1 (7.59)
4. Birmingham City (a) 3-0 (7.45)
4. Manchester City (a) 3-0 (7.45)
4. Blackburn (a) 2-1 (7.45)
The ratings are massively down on last season’s high of Tottenham (h) 3-0 (8.59) so I am wondering if either my ratings have dramatically lowered this season or if I have made a mistake in last season’s Top Premier League team performances stats, that spreadsheet has gone walk abouts so I won’t be doing anything about that now.
Team of the season based on top ratings in each position (Regardless of games played)
Worst team of the sea
son based on lowest ratings in each position (Regardless of games played)
* Please note these figures are based only on the Premier League season 2010/2011
EXAMPLE OF AD POSITION
