The season in stats: mentally tough Chelsea start too slowly and over-rely on Drogba

Both this year and last much has been said about the age of Chelsea’s squad and how it will hinder the club’s charge for the title. Having kept detailed stats – on both the team’s performance and for individual players – since the Premier League began back in August I decided to take a look back at the records for the season so far to see what, if anything, they told us about the impact of an ageing squad.

While I was at it, the statto in me rose to the surface one again (it first came to the fore back in early June when I looked back at Hiddink’s incredible record at the club), and I found a number of other ‘interesting’ things…

Age isn’t affecting performance…so far
Far from fitness and stamina being a weakness, if anything Chelsea’s performance improves as time wears on and other teams tire. The vast majority of goals have been scored in the second half and two were scored after 90 minutes were up to steal last-gasp wins.

But Chelsea start too slowly
If age is affecting the team then its preventing Chelsea from sprinting out of the blocks. Chelsea haven’t scored in the first 30 minutes of any of the nine games they’ve played so far this season. Conversely two thirds of all goals conceded have been scored in the first half of matches, and two of those were scored before 20 minutes had passed.

The characteristic mental toughness is still there
All that experience is counting for something: surely there isn’t a more psychologically strong team in the league? In addition to the two goals that have been scored after 90 minutes, over a quarter of Chelsea’s goals (5) have been scored within five minutes of half time as other teams lose concentration. Chelsea have also won games having conceded first once in every three games they’ve played.

Drogba is the most important player on the pitch
The Ivorian has played a direct part in over half of all Chelsea’s goals, scoring six and contributing four assists. Take that away, what have you got? You get my point.

Three players are shouldering the goal-scoring burden
Together Drogba, Ballack and Anelka are scoring most of the goals – two thirds of them, actually. If one or two more players can chip in with a few more, the season will progress a whole lot more smoothly.

The goals scored to conceded ratio isn’t what it could be
Without scoring heavily, and despite the capitulation at Wigan on Saturday, Chelsea have still scored three times more goals than they have conceded. That’s not actually a bad ratio – better than both the season records for 06/07, 07/08 and 08/09, but not quite as good as 05/06 and far behind the stats for the record breaking season in 04/05 when Chelsea scored five times more goals than they conceded.

Lampard isn’t as deadly
Whether it’s down to diminished form or his new more advanced role is open to debate, but Lampard hasn’t been as effective this season. He’s only scored one goal so far – and that was from the penalty spot. He’s still made an important contribution, however, contributing four assists. Is his lower pass completion rate – just 60% against Fulham, for example – a problem, or just an indication that his more attacking role requires a more adventurous approach?

For a full set of Chelsea team and player season stats broken down by competition, click here. If you think there’s any set of stats that would be useful or interesting to add to this page, let me know and I’ll start recording them.

Comments

[chelsfan]

interesting. frank hasn't scored so many goals - but don't you think he's contributing in other ways?

drogba needs to not get injured