With the help of StrataBet data, we take a look at Swansea City’s attacking numbers so far – who’s involved in our attacking build-up play and the players with the most assists and shots. As well as that, we’re also able to see who’s creating the most shots for who – what are our best attacking link-up players so far?
Firstly, let’s have a look at where we’re creating chances on the pitch. Compared to teams like Middlesbrough, Birmingham City and Millwall in particular, Graham Potter’s Swansea City are mostly assisting shots with horizontal passes, while the teams mentioned are more direct and assisting shots from deeper positions.
The map below shows all of the passes (shot assists) before a shot is taken. The red-amber-green colour scheme shows the quality of the goalscoring chance with red being “Poor” and dark green being “Superb”.
We appear to be far more active down the left flank than the right, with many chances created from the likes of Jefferson Montero and Barrie McKay with squared passes and crosses from within the final third and many within the final 18 yards of the pitch.
Attacking Build-Up – Who’s Involved In The Play Before A Shot on Goal?
The data table below shows the players involved in the play before a shot is taken. Across the top shows what’s called “Secondary Player” – the passer who passes to the assister – these are listed down on the left.
So for example, looking at the very first number in the table – 4 – Bersant Celina has passed 4 times to Jefferson Montero to then assist a shot at goal. The colour scheme shows the average shot quality so you can see the players creating the better chances – though this is reliant on the shooter!
It’s worth noting here that Matt Grimes is third highest for making the most penultimate passes before a shot on goal with 5. Not only is Oli McBurnie also our highest goalscorer but he’s also heavily involved in the build-up play too. The data shows he has helped both Celina and McKay to create two chances each so far this season after six games.
Secondary Player – Assisting the Assister
Primary Player – The Assister
The next data table below now looks at who’s assisting shots for which players and it’s no great surprise here to see Jefferson Montero topping the charts here with 11 shot assists – despite not making a League start as yet. As the greens show, he’s creating some great chances with a wide distribution of who he’s creating chances for. Again, Oli McBurnie is also assisting shots (8) while Bersant Celina performs well here also.
Below, across the top shows the Players assisting the shots and down the left are the players taking the shots on goal. Celina is just out in front with 10 shots ahead of Oli McBurnie (9). It’s also worth mentioning here that any shots without an assist are removed from the data. Same goes for the table above, any shots without a secondary assist (pass before the assist is made) aren’t included.
The data shows a good distribution of shots and assists across the whole team with Oli McBurnie, Bersant Celina, Jefferson Montero and Barrie McKay especially performing best.
In terms of best link-ups, McBurnie has assisted 4 of Celina’s 10 shots so far, with Celina returning the favour on three occasions. And looking at players passing to the assisters, Celina again has been the player to pass to Montero 4 times to then create a chance.
This article was written with the aid of StrataData, which is property of Stratagem Technologies. StrataData powers the StrataBet Sports Trading Platform.
