January is approaching which means we have already gone through the first half of the season. We are currently sitting at the 2nd position on the table, 7 points ahead of the 3rd position’s Olympique Marseille, and 8 points behind the current leader PSG. In terms of European competition, we finished at the top of the group stage and qualified for the round of 16. There are certainly a lot of improvement we can make. So, it’s time to evaluation our team.
General Performance
Defenders – Our defence is pretty solid so far. We have conceded 10 goals after 19 games in the league, and 4 goals in the UCL group stage. I’m happy with our defence in general. Our main central defender is Jason Denayer and the player that play alongside him is rotating between Cristian Romero and Joachim Andersen. Both Kenny Tete and Leo Dubois have been rotating at the right back position so far, while Melvin Bard has started most of the games as our left back before Arthur Zagre joining us.
When it comes to defenders, some of the important stats that I will look at are the interception made per game, headers won, and tackle won. To be fair, the boys did a very good job. We have a fairly good stat in interception made, with 50 being the highest and 28 being the lowest, which means all the defenders have more than 1 interception per game. In terms of headers won, our 3 central defenders have more than 65% of headers won. I hope they can do better in the future because 65% isn’t good enough. However, our defenders did very well on tackling. Everyone except Arthur Zagre has more than 85% tackles won. The other stat that impressed me is the mistakes leading to goal – 0! None of the defenders have made a mistake leading to goal, which I’m very happy with it.
Midfielders – I would actually prefer calling it creators or playmakers because most of the stats that I focus on midfielders are playmaking stats. I know it is unfair to defensive midfielders, but I don’t judge all my players just by looking at the stats. Stats are just reference to me and I will still look at their performance on the pitch. Here, I’m focusing on chances created, key passes and passing accuracy.
Unsurprisingly, most of my midfielders’ passing accuracy is in the high 80s, except Bertrand Traore. Some of the midfielders made a high number of key passes, for example, both Houssem Aouar and Jean Lucas had 34 key passes after starting 16 games. The talented wonderkid Maxence Caqueret made 29 key passes in 13 games. Hakim Ziyech came in with 24 key passes in 13 games. Even my defensive-minded midfielder Lucas Toussart made 22 key passes in 16 games. Furthermore, Hakim Ziyech and Jeff Reine-Adelaide created more than 10 chances. I personally am happy with my midfielders’ performance.
Attackers – I’m very straightforward when it comes to attackers. I want to see goals and shot on target ratio. Moussa Dembele, Amine Gouiri and Memphis Depay are the three players that I would pick as striker.
Although Memphis Depay played as the left winger at most of the time, he scored 10 goals and made 7 assists in 15 appearances. His shot on target ratio is up to 54% and he made 2.70 shots per 90. Moussa Dembele isn’t as good as last season, however, he still managed to score 8 goals in 17 games, having 57% shot on target ratio and 2.69 shots per 90. Amine Gouiri is the super sub and I think he is having a great time on the pitch. He made 14 appearances in total, 8 of them were coming on from the bench. He scored 4 goals and registered 2 assists for himself, with a 51% shot on target ratio and 2.26 shots per 90. Overall, I’m very happy with my attackers.
Top 5 performers
Moving on, let’s start with analysing some of our best players in the first half of the season. After looking at the average ratings, these are the 5 players that have been providing consistent performance – Memphis Depay, Houssem Aouar, Kenny Tete, Jeff Reine-Adelaide and Jason Denayer.
Memphis Depay
Depay has won the Fans’ Player of the Season Award last season. Again, he has been on fire in this season. He is the team leader in the dressing room, and he is a goal scoring machine and playmaker of the team. Below are the key stats.
- 10 goals and 7 assists (highest in the team)
- 7.59 average rating (highest in the team)
- 13.2km distance covered per 90 (2nd highest in the team)
- 127 minutes per goal (highest in the team)
- 5 Player of The Match (highest in the team)
- 54% shot on target ratio
Houssem Aouar
Aouar has been absolutely incredible this season. He is the maestro, the key player in the midfield. His average rating is at least 7.20 across all competitions including the league, the cup competition, UCL and even in the international competition. Below are the key stats.
- 34 key passes (highest in the team)
- 13.6km distance covered per 90 (highest in the team)
- 9 chances created (3rd highest in the team)
- 5 goals and 4 assists
- 2.36 dribbles per game
- 2 Player of The Match
Kenny Tete
Surprisingly, Kenny Tete has the third highest average rating. The Dutchman has delivered solid performances at the right back position. He has slowly become an important player this season and he has improved a lot over the last couple of months. Below are the key stats.
- 82% headers won (highest in the team)
- 2.71 interceptions per 90 (highest in the team)
- 15 key passes (most key passes from defenders in the team)
- 4 key tackles (2nd highest in the team)
- 2 goals and 4 assists
- 0 mistake leading to goal
Jason Denayer
Denayer is no doubt the best defender in the team this. He can score goals, hit amazing long passes, win headers and his performance is very consistent. Below are the key stats in this season.
- 91 headers won (highest in the team)
- 50 interceptions made (highest in the team)
- 35 key headers (2nd highest in the team)
- 2.30 interceptions per 90 (2nd highest in the team)
- 69% headers won (4th highest in the team)
- 91% tackle completion ratio
- 0 mistake leading to goal
Jeff Reine-Adelaide
Jeff Reine-Adelaide once again is the saviour of the team. He only started 12 games, and his performance is so consistent. He is a big game performer, scoring big goals and provides crucial assists when needed. Below are the key stats in this season.
- 4 goals and 4 assists
- 43 fouls against (highest in the team)
- 4.28 dribbles per game (highest in the team)
- 10 chances created (2nd highest in the team)
- 4.38 headers won per 90 (2nd highest in the team)
- 2 Player of The Match
Winter transfer window
I am very happy with my current squad to be fair and I don’t think the winter transfer window is going to be busy for us. However, we do need a left back because Melvin Bard is the only left back we have in our current squad right now. I am hoping to bring in someone who is more experienced to be our backup left back.
Conclusion
It’s been a hell of a ride so far this season. I’m not sure whether we can win the league or not, but I’m happy with our performance in the European competition. We are definitely aiming for the French Cup, so we can at least secure a silverware this season. That’s all I have for today and I will see you next week in the Lyon Journey! Take care!
ABT Football Manager 