Our Starting XI in League this season.

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strap
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Our Starting XI in League this season.

by strap » 18 Mar 2017 20:29

Despite our large squad, I was rather surprised to learn that so far this season in the League, Stam has pretty much relied on just 13 different players in our starting XI. It always seemed to me that he was tinkering match by match, but actually it's not really true at all. Right click on the image below and you'll see what I mean.



Al Habsi and Gunter are ever-present, McCleary, Williams, Beerens and Liam Moore have all started 30 or more League matches, and McShane, Kermorgant, van den Berg, Obita, Swift, Evans and Blackett have started between 20 and 29 league games.

That's a pretty tight group, with only Liam Kelly on 14 threatening to break into it. Historically, promotion or championships are generally won with tight groups like this. If memory serves, I think Liverpool won a title using only 15 different players, and our 2005/06 side had only 15 players with 11 or more league starts in it, see below. So Stam isn't really the tinkerman at all.


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Ian Royal
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Re: Our Starting XI in League this season.

by Ian Royal » 18 Mar 2017 21:18

I think if you factor in that McCleary has played right wing, right back, left wing and striker, Gunter has played right back, centreback and left back, Berg midfield and centreback, etc, etc then whilst the playing personnel haven't changed hugely, the XI has been tinkered with a lot more than just who the main starters are tells you.

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NewCorkSeth
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Re: Our Starting XI in League this season.

by NewCorkSeth » 18 Mar 2017 23:02

An interesting analysis regardless! Any way to check the results of games were our most often used players were absent?

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CountryRoyal
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Re: Our Starting XI in League this season.

by CountryRoyal » 19 Mar 2017 03:20

Without any stats to go along with, like you said, I'm pretty sure that the majority of promoted teams are the ones that used the least amount of players in a campaign. I know that this was definitely the case for Leicester and Burnley in recent years, but I think it's a pretty common theme.

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Sutekh
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Re: Our Starting XI in League this season.

by Sutekh » 19 Mar 2017 07:32

Excellent stuff Strap.

Tennai Watson seems to be far and away the most unused outfield sub. Just 2 apps out of 26 selections.

And Just for the record, Liverpool won the league title in 1966 using only 14 players. 42 league games at the time. Believe that that was also the first season in which substitutions were permitted.


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strap
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Re: Our Starting XI in League this season.

by strap » 19 Mar 2017 13:25

Ian Royal I think if you factor in that McCleary has played right wing, right back, left wing and striker, Gunter has played right back, centreback and left back, Berg midfield and centreback, etc, etc then whilst the playing personnel haven't changed hugely, the XI has been tinkered with a lot more than just who the main starters are tells you.


Yeah, good point Ian. Stam seems to tinker with formations rather than personnel.

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Re: Our Starting XI in League this season.

by SCIAG » 19 Mar 2017 19:46

I think the tinkering has really set in since January.

This also doesn't necessarily reflect the amount of tinkering going on. It shows that there's a core group Stam returns to, but not that there's a settled team.

Suggested alternative measure: average number of changes from match to match.

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Ian Royal
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Re: Our Starting XI in League this season.

by Ian Royal » 20 Mar 2017 07:32

SCIAG I think the tinkering has really set in since January.

This also doesn't necessarily reflect the amount of tinkering going on. It shows that there's a core group Stam returns to, but not that there's a settled team.

Suggested alternative measure: average number of changes from match to match.

It's definitely felt worse since Mutch and Grabban arrived. Which is odd, because Meite's looked twice the player Grabban has from the odds and ends I've seen.

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