HomeZ OLD CATEGORIESArsenal (NN)Arsenal Season Stats Review 2011/2012 | The Midfield & Front Three

Arsenal Season Stats Review 2011/2012 | The Midfield & Front Three

Front Three

Up top there have been many changes throughout the season. Starting with a 3 striker system that didn’t work out, Wenger soon reverted to the wingers and false 9, epitomised by Benayoun’s presence in the team in the final few games of the season. On the left we’ve saw Gervinho make his debut season, Chamberlain alert the hype police with some impressive performance, Ramsey make an interesting and successful cameo against Everton before a disaster against QPR and finally Benayoun prove that he has been much under-used this season.

Gervinho’s successful start to the season came before Wenger had fully changed the system. Playing as part of the front 3, he was great at beating a man, hitting the line and flashing it across goal, as we saw in some of his 6 assists. His 4 goals, as a figure alone, are not a bad return for a winger in his first Premier League season it’s when taken into account the amount of chances he has had, missing 11 clear-cut ones, second only to Robin Van Persie, the striker. However, his final third passing accuracy of 80% was the highest of any player in the front 3 and he does look a good player in flashes. Unfortunately, with the African Cup of Nations a constant disruption it’s hard to tell whether he will find this consistency and return to the player who outshone Hazard at Lille.

We’ve also seen Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on the left, but with only 556 minutes played his season can’t be measured in stats, rather the fact he has emerged as a future star for Arsenal. When he gets the ball there’s often only one thing on his mind and that’s get the ball forward. Capable of beating a man, out-sprinting and out-muscling many defenders and able to pick a pass, next season could be a massive one for yet another Southampton academy graduate.

Finally on the left we have Yossi Benayoun. I think it’s all but confirmed we won’t be signing him permanently which I feel is a shame. His professionalism is a cut above the rest, he didn’t need to care about us  finishing 3rd on Sunday yet he chased a lost cause and scored the opening goal, and his ability hasn’t gone with age. With a shooting accuracy of 87% and 4 goals, one of them a risky header and another the one against West Brom, he is a good member of the squad to have. Wenger’s gamble of playing him in the big games against Tottenham and Man City in the latter half of the season paid off massively, with Benayoun putting in outstanding performances against both and helping the side retain possession. The team has been crying out for someone who can come from the bench and make a difference and Benayoun has been that player this season, he will be missed. Another likely departure from our left flank will be Andrei Arshavin. Having scored 3 goals in 8 appearances for Zenit it’s obvious he still has the talent. Unfortunately his application has all but disappeared and I would be surprised if we retained him this summer.

Over on the right flank we have Theo Walcott. With 8 goals and 8 assists you can’t argue that it’s been a productive season for him, it’s the fact he could have doubled both stats that make him so infuriating. For every dinked finish or ball flashed across goal to Van Persie there’s a ball trickling out for a goal-kick. He attempted the most dribbles on the team with 103, but only 34% were successful (Rosicky sits on 67% and Gervinho 45% for comparison). His attacking half passing accuracy was the second-worst with 67% yet he created 41 chances, higher than all our other wide-players. His season was affected by no recognised right-back behind him for weeks his form really hit the skids. At least he finally proved he does have character with his second-half performance against Tottenham in the 5-2 win and hopefully being part of England’s disastrous campaign at the Euro’s this season won’t affect him too much.

(Before I gush about el capitano I’d just like to say that Park played 6 minutes of Premier League football this season and Chamakh 169. I don’t even want to get into it)

Finally, Robin Van Persie. With 30 goals in the league he has won the Golden Boot, the Football Writer’s Award and Player of the Season. Only Cristiano Ronaldo and Alan Shearer have scored more in a single season (31) if I’m correct. With 21 more shots than his closest rival Wayne Rooney, they both had the same shooting accuracy of 58% with Robin hitting 12 more on target. The fact Arsenal never won a penalty at home makes his goal tally even more outstanding. While hauling this goal tally, he also led the team in chances created with 92 (including set-pieces), 21 clear cut chances, 9 assists and he hit the woodwork 10 times so that 30 goals could have been even more. In the attacking half, his passing accuracy of 85% was the highest on the team, remarkable considering he was most often dealing with two defenders on him. If we are to stand any chance of sustaining a title-challenge next season we must hold on to him because he truly is one of the greatest in the world at the moment, unplayable when he is on form.

This season has been one to forget for Gooners. While there are some good memories; the 5-3 over Chelsea, 5-2 over Tottenham, return of Henry and the emergence of Chamberlain, the bad moments and infuriating form outweigh most. With Champions League qualification secured we should see transfer business conducted a lot quicker than last season, as we have seen so far with the signing of Podolski and the bid for Kagawa. Hopefully this continues and the players we have work their hardest on the training ground because, with a few world-class additions, we could well mount a title-challenge next year and give City and United a run for their money.

All of the stats from this article have been taken from the Opta Stats Centre at EPLIndex.comSubscribe Now (Includes author privileges!) See Demo’s and videos about the Stats Centre & read about new additions to the stats centre.

Alex Johnston
Alex Johnston
Disciple of Bergkamp
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