Bruno Fernandes, Cole Palmer & Alex Scott.
Bruno Fernandes, Cole Palmer and Alex Scott don't always take the best option.
Bruno Fernandes is often criticised for being reckless in possession and the stats suggest the Manchester United captain has a case to answer…
Who is the smartest attacking player in possession? Which players shoot when they should pass? And which defenders take unnecessary ricks.
Gradient Sports‘ analysis and evaluation of every player on every event that takes place during a game offers an insight into which stars are making good decisions most often and which make most questionable ones.
Thanks to their ‘possessions with a better option’ metric, we present the 10 players who have chosen the wrong option most often…
FYI: A player possession is counted from their first touch to their last touch with the ball (pass, shot, tackle). So this specific metric charts if in any event during that possession, there was a better option available.
Those tied on possessions with a better option are ranked on percentage of possession with a better option…
1) Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United) – 13 possessions with a better option
This is manna from heaven for Fernandes’s critics, including some United fans, who claim the captain is too careless and reckless in possession. If that’s the pay-off for record-breaking creative output, then should United just suck it up? A reminder: Fernandes created 138 chances last season. The next highest was Dominik Szoboslai on 78. And, this season, centre-backs aside, only Elliot Anderson has had more possessions.
2) Mohamed Belloumi (Hull City) – 9
Are there Hull fans who think Belloumi is A Problem because amid the goals and assists (two of each so far), he makes the odd ill-advised decision in possession? Are there f***.
3) Julio Enciso (Ipswich Town) – 9
Like Belloumi, Enciso has been a huge hit as the new creative force for a promoted side, but the Paraguay star has the second-highest number of shots taken when there was a better option.
4) Matheus Cunha (Manchester United) – 9
The United forward has taken 13 shots this season but for seven of them, Gradient reckon he had a better option.
5) Cole Palmer (Chelsea) – 9
Two-thirds of Palmer’s nine possessions when there was a better option centre around decisions to shoot. It’s a small price to pay to see Palmer rediscover his mojo.
6) James McAtee (Nottingham Forest) – 9
McAtee is revelling in the prominence given him to Oliver Glasner, with only five Premier League players creating more chances this season, while nobody has made more key passes.
7) Alex Scott (Bournemouth) – 9
Maybe Scott is making tired decisions since he is in the top five for total distance covered and the top three for high-speed runs.
8) Liam Delap (Nottingham Forest) – 8
Six of Delap’s eight questionable decisions involve taking shots, but eight of this top 10 have played at least 100 minutes more than the Forest new boy.
9) Igor Thiago (Brentford) – 8 As a striker, you might expect Thiago’s questionable choices to come around shots, but he has chosen to dribble more often when there were better options than shoot when a different action was best.
10) Pedro Porro (Tottenham Hotspur) – 7
Roberto De Zerbi needs to tell Porro to get his head up before shooting – six of his seven shots so far were taken when there was a better option. No one to have played more than 90 minutes this season has had as many possessions when there was a better option per 90 than Porro’s 2.96.