With the goalkeeper and defence already chosen for England’s best XI (Full England Defence Article Here) we will now look at what England’s best midfield would be for Euro 2012.
We have again given the player who came out on top in each section of the comparison 5 points, the player who came second 3 points and the player that came third 1 point and then added up the totals.
We have used Opta statistics from the 2011/2012 season up to and including the matches that took place on Sunday 15th April 2012.
Centre Midfield
The results for the centre midfield comparison show that the older players have still got it as Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes come out on top just ahead of Frank Lampard and Michael Carrick.
Frank Lampard has scored 11 goals this season which is 6 more goals than Steven Gerrard and an impressive 8 more goals than Paul Scholes. This averages out to a goal every 195 minutes which again is better than any other player in this comparison.
As well as scoring goals Lampard also comes out on top in the amount of chances he has created for his team, as he creates a chance every 43 minutes - the joint best score in this comparison with Gerrard. This is 13 minutes more often than Scholes and Milner and 40 minutes more often than Carrick, Barry and Cleverley.
Gerrard has also created the highest amount of clear cut chances for his team as he has created one more clear-cut chance than Parker and Lampard and 2 more clear-cut chances than Milner, Barry and Carrick. This is also 188 minutes more often than Cleverley, 199 minutes more often than Scholes and 312 minutes more often than Lampard.
It is also not a surprise that Paul Scholes tops the list for pass completion percentage as he has completed 92.5% of his passes this season. This staggering pass completion percentage is 2.73% better than his Manchester United teammate Michael Carrick, 3.04% better than his other teammate Tom Cleverley and 3.06% better than Scott Parker. Scholes also wins the ball back for his team in the midfield third every 19 minutes, which is 2 minutes more often than Barry and 4 minutes more often than Parker.
As well as winning possession of the ball well in the midfield third, Scholes also rarely loses possession of the ball as he only gives the ball away every 169 minutes which is only beaten by Rodwell who loses possession every 232 minutes. Rodwell also impresses with his tackling as he has won 83.33% of his tackles this season which 1.51% better than his nearest rival Cleverley and 7.72% better than Lampard.
Michael Carrick also scores quite highly in this comparison and has the best ground and aerial 50-50 percentages. Carrick has won 9% more ground 50-50s than Scholes this season and 11% more than Parker. He has also won 67% of his aerial 50-50s this season, which is 3% better than Gerrard and 5% more than Barry who are his two nearest rivals in this statistic.
Barry also wins back possession of the ball in the defensive third more often than any other player in this comparison by winning the ball back every 30 minutes. This is 3 minutes more often than Parker and 7 minutes more often than Carrick. Although, Parker and Carrick make more interceptions per minute than Barry as Parker makes an interception every 28 minutes, Carrick makes an interception every 32 minutes, while Barry only makes an interception every 40 minutes.
Therefore, as Gerrard and Scholes score highest in this comparison they are the obvious choices for centre midfield; although a defensive midfielder may be needed to play behind them. If this is the case then Michael Carrick would get the nod as he is the highest scoring out of all the recognised defensive midfielders.
Centre Midfield Choices: Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes
Defensive Midfield Choice (If we play 4-3-3): Michael Carrick
Next Page: English Wingers compared… to view please click on the next page button bottom right / top right.
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About the Author
Categories: Arsenal (NN), Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Chelsea, EPL, EPL Index Featured Article, EPL Index Statistical Comparisons, EPL Opta Stats, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester Utd, Newcastle Utd, Norwich City, Opta Stats, QPR, Stoke City, Sunderland, Swansea City, Tottenham Hotspur, West Bromwich Albion, Wigan, Wolves
Tags: Barry, Carrick, Chamberlain, Cleverly, England, EPL, epl opta stats, Euro 12, Gerrard, Johnson, Lampard, Lennon, Milner, Opta Stats, Parker, Rodwell, Scholes, Walcott
This article has had 24,482 Views
Just gos to show how Steven Gerrard really is still world class, I just wish Jack Wilshere was fit enough to play as he would be the perfect foil for either Gerrard or Scholes.
Gerrard has created more clear cut chances for Liverpool this season than Lampard has for Chelsea and he’s played over 1,000 minutes less!
Also proves what most people would say, Gerrard and Scholes are the two most naturally and technically gifted midfielders that England has ever produced.
What? Ever hear of Glenn Hoddle or Gazza?
without being bias, Dyer would get in on the right side beofre any of these.
how can you play 443? no keeper
Joe Hart is the keeper? there is no strikers in the formations as they will be compared in the next article
I’ve spotted that now and amended. Thanks for pointing it out!
If you’re using OPTA stats then how come the best midfielder statistically isn’t in the table?
Leon Britton!!
You’ll never again lose the ball in midfield
Enough said.
And who’s making up these comparisons on the wing? Don’t Sinclair or Dyer get a look in when you have the likes of Young, eh? Downing? Milner? at least use players who are in form and have pace like a real winger.
To everyone that asked why Dyer wasn’t included, he was looked at but his stats did not get in the top 3 in any of the comparisons so he would of scored 0 points!
Pilkington would get more points than Milner for his 8 league goals alone. Not much in using opts stats if you’re leaving out players with better stats
I am writing a follow up article on players who have not been mentioned by the media and how they compare to the first XI players like pilkington and sinclair etc – hope this helps
Looking forward to it.
I rarely get excited enough to bother commenting on an article. But this one really does get my goat. The scoring system is completely arbitary. There is no account taken of the clubs that these players play for….an this is where it all goes wrong for England. There is also no account taken of which teams these players have “performed” against. You may have ended up with the “right” players but to be honest it’s nonsense (and unlike my fellow Jacks, I wouldn’t even bother pushing the claims of any of our English players as they ain’t quite good enough). There are miles too many factors excluded such as experience, teamwork, motivation etc.
This is an article based on stats alone as it is a stats website! and the Swansea players apart from Graham who features in the striker comparison will be included in my follow up article about players who have not been mentioned by the media for a call up and how they compare to the starting XI!
Stats in a vacuum mean nothing at all. The system that enabled the players to generate these stats schould most definitely be taken into account for us to compare them in any meaningful way and even if you dont want to do that – for whatever reason – there is much to be learned from the interrelation of these stats which your laughable point system does nothing to illuminate.
I agree with you that stats don’t provide everything but I believe they serve an important purpose which is to measure trends in how players are performing. Of course stats can’t factor in the concepts you mention such as teamwork, experience and even things like big match mentality which is a fuzzy concept anyway but thought I’d add that one in. However, stats are important in being to locate for example players’ weaknesses or where they are strong. If you can see that your defensive midfielder isn’t winning the ball back enough for example, then the stats enable you to see that and then you can go from there and try and improve or work on that player’s tackling.
Face it, stats aren’t everything. Scotty Parker is England captain whether you like it or not, and will be in that starting 11.
Tom Cleverley’s stats assessed over Arteta…really??
Only English players in this one mate – Arteta is not lined up for the England squad. Please read the article and don’t just look at the images. Thanks