Gloversblog (Page 15)

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In a series of posts I am going to be looking into Yeovil Town’s Central Midfielders, their individual stats, positioning and how they get on in different combinations.

In this, the first part I will look at High level stats, construction, and positioning. Coming up later in the week will be the second part on attack & defence and a third and final piece on the different combinations that Mark Cooper has used so far this season.

Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Seven players have played in central midfield this season, Matt Worthington, Charlie Cooper, Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, Josh Owers, Morgan Williams, Josh Staunton and Jordan Maguire-Drew. The latter two played in the cup against Didcot, whilst Williams started 3 league games at Defensive Midfield (DM), for the data analysis all 3 players are excluded.

Also included Brett McGavin from Torquay as a reference point. He is one of, if not, the best midfielders in the league who is not at Yeovil. When we look at positioning we will look into Luke Russe from Bath a bit more depth.

There will be a lot of terms you may not be aware of such as “Smart Pass” or “Key Pass”, if so please visit Wyscouts Glossary here

HIGH LEVEL

Here are each players high level stats.

NameFootAgeAppearancesMinutesGoalsAssistsPPMPoints Difference
WorthingtonRight25201971222.190.05
CooperRight26131115021.73-0.41
Lo-EvertonRight2113987131.83-0.30
OwersLeft219628103.000.86
McGavinRight2317139060
RusseRight2422208500

If you were planning to play 2 in the middle, from an quick initial look you would say Worthington and Owers should start as when they play the team picks up more points.  Lets dive deeper into the data to see if it aligns.

CONSTRUCTION (AKA PASSING)

NamePasses per 90Pass Accuracy %Accurate Passes per 90Long Passes per 90Long Pass Accuracy% of Long PasesPasses to Final Third per 90Passes to Final Third AccuracyThrough Passes per 90Key Passes per 90Smart Passes per 90
Worthington39.5483.95%333.2447.89%8%6.8571.33%0.640.370.32
Cooper43.5979.81%356.7045.78%15%9.7760.33%1.610.080.16
Lo-Everton39.2186.51%342.286%5.1166.07%0.730.550.46
Owers23.6573.33%173.4415%5.8856.10%0.860.140.14
McGavin44.0383.53%373.6353.57%8%7.971.31%0.580.060.45
Russe37.2180.05%306.3555.10%17%6.9965.43%0.470.090.22

From this we can see that Cooper makes the most passes on average, however, both Worthington and Lo-Everton are both more accurate with their passes. Whilst Owers plays less passes and his accuracy is below the other 3.

Charlie Cooper sends the ball forward
Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

Cooper also plays more long passes than the others despite his accuracy being below 50%. Bother Cooper and Owers pass the ball long 15% of the time. Whilst Lo-Everton only plays long passes 6% of the time.

When passing to the final third Owers’ and Cooper’s accuracy goes AWOL. Cooper attempts nearly 10 a game which is 3 more than Worthington who has the second most passes to the final third, however, Worthington’s accuracy is 11% better.

With Key passes and Smart passes, Lo-Everton is a class of his own. Whilst it shows Owers and Cooper are more conservative players not looking for the miracle ball, or could it be they are more defensive as if you compare these two metrics to Russe they are pretty close.

PROGRESSION

Next up is Progression (attempting to draw the team significantly closer to the opponent goal by running with or passing the ball)

NameProgressive Passes per 90Progressive Pass AccuracyProgressive Runs per 90Ball Progression per MinuteBall Progression by run per 90Ball Progression by passes per 90Deep Complitions per 90
Worthington6.8082.551.192.52.178.110.82
Cooper7.3572.530.732.483.1214.870.97
Lo-Everton5.0272.731.912.125.3012.081.64
Owers4.870.291.22.6512.780.57
McGavin6.7368.272.522.7511.920.32
Russe7.3467.650.522.090.997.120.3

Worthington’s accuracy here is a step above the others, his ball progression per minute is also 2.5 meters per minute. At the other end Owers, who doesn’t run or pass the ball as much as the others only progresses with the ball 1.2 meters per minute.

ONE LINE SUMMARY ON EACH PLAYER

Worthington – Best passing midfielder we have.

Cooper – Good passing accuracy but when going forward his accuracy drops.

Lo-Everton – Our most creative player in the middle of the pitch.

Owers – Only left footed player of the 4, doesn’t have the ball as much as the others.

POSITIONING
VS BATH CITY

Yeovil lined up 5-2-3, with Cooper & Worthington in the middle. This formation changed to a 4-4-2 near the end of the first half after Dawes had replaced Whittle.

From this passing position graphic you can see that Yeovil’s midfield were all central right. Leaving Dawes/Whittle alone on the left. I found this surprising especially as Jordan Thomas was attacking the side where the space is on the picture above, 61% of Bath’s attacks came down this side.

Attacks wise with the position of the central midfielders, you would assume most attacks came from the right or centre. However, only 48% came from the right, 50% came from the left (Thanks to Mr Dawes), whilst only 2% came through the middle despite playing incredibly narrow, were we missing Lo-Everton?

Cooper & Worthington only made 36 passes between them the whole game, only 1 pass to each other the whole game, despite them playing so close, or is it because they were playing too close?

7 of Cooper’s 15 passes went to the starting centre backs, 3 to Young and 3 to Dawes. 6 of Worthington’s passes went to Smith, and 8 to the starting centre backs.

There is a reasonable gap between defence and midfield.  You can see below, Hayfield, Bath’s number 8, had a bit of space to work in.

If we look at Bath’s passing position chart, guess which player Russe is?

He is number 19! Bath are a lot more symmetrical on the eye, not that symmetrical means better on the grass. Note number 2 Raynes and 15 Jordan Williams, they made 26 passes to each other. The most in the game, was this because of Yeovil’s lopsided midfield?

VS DARTFORD

Sonny Blu Lo Everton tries his luck. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.Yeovil lined up 4-4-3, with Cooper, Lo-Everton & Worthington in the middle.


You can see from the image, Cooper (24) is the deeper of the 3, almost level with Wannell (6), unsurprisingly because of their closeness Cooper passed to Wannell 7 times during the game, which was over 20% of his passes.

Worthington (8) filling the left space which was empty against Bath, makes 12 passes to Dawes, thats over quarter of his passes. Less than 20% of his passes were to the centre backs.

Lo-Everton only made 21 passes the whole game, 33% to the centre backs, next highest was 20% of his passes going to Jordan Young.

Cooper and Lo-Everton passed to each other 3 times
Cooper and Worthington passed to each other  8 times
Worthington and Lo-Everton passed to each other 5 times

Was Lo-Everton too far forward and isolated or was it because Cooper was playing too deep and/or playing further to the left?

Attack wise 45% came from the left and 42% through the middle.

POSITIONING CONCLUSION

The data sample is too small to jump to any firm conclusions. However, it does raise a couple of questions, Cooper and Worthington seem to bunch in the examples shown. Are they too similar of a player to play in the same team or could it be that the players may struggle with the changes in tactics each game.  This is especially apparent when you look at Bath’s positioning, they have system and stick to it and have strong cohesion.

Another thing to bear in mind is 3 of the 4 players are right footed which means the balance is out. Left footed centre backs are rare in today’s game. Thanks to Wannell it is not a problem for Yeovil, however is left footed central midfielder an issue?

Maybe in part 2 some of these questions will be answered…

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It wasn’t quite the fairy tale return to Huish Park after four weeks on the road, in-form Hampton and Richmond came to town and battled to a 0-0 draw. Ian was at Huish Park and here are his conclusions…

It was another game where we spurned chances. It’s become a growing theme in recent games that we’ve not been able to finish good chances. We saw it at Chippenham and Dartford on the road, and it was the same on the return to Huish Park. Rhys Murphy had two good opportunities in the first half and Frank Nouble should have scored when he was played through by Sonny Blu Lo-Everton. With Hyde and Stevens injured, Fisher still finding fitness and Cox back at Exeter we could do with a top up up top.

Rhys Murphy wide of goal. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

You can see why Hampton and Richmond have enjoyed a good run. They had early chances in both halves and we struggled to break them down. They were disciplined defensively and when they our press and got the ball to Jake Gray they had good moments around the edge of the box. When they brought on Bloomfield in the second half if gave them an extra man up top and his physicality gave our defence an extra battle to contend with. While Joe Day had more routine saves to make, I thought we were pretty comfortable defensively.

Sonny Blu Lo Everton tries his luck. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

We took too long to get some pace on.  It wasn’t until the 88th minute that Will Dawes was introduced and he had one sprint down the wing which had Hampton backpedalling towards goal. It was a flat atmosphere at Huish Park, and we needed a spark to get the fans going. Dawes gives us that with his direct running so it was a shame to not see him earlier. Without Stevens, Dawes is the only attacking pace we have and when Mark Cooper says he wants to strengthen in the forward areas, that’s where I think we could do with more.

Jay Foulston had a solid debut. Our Friday night signing came straight into the team while Alex Whittle is still recovering. He got himself into good positions going forward and looks to have fitted in straight away. Before the match, Mark Cooper said he’d been on the club’s radar for a while but the deal wasn’t financially possible until now with Taunton’s troubles. We’ve been wanting depth at left back to provide cover for Alex Whittle and now we’ve got a genuine battle for position.

Jay Foulston finds his man. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

I have questions about the midfield. We’ve reverted to a three, with Charlie Cooper, Matt Worthington and Lo-Everton. Matt Worthington was given a license to roam yesterday but spent of a lot of time in left midfield in the 2nd half as it became more of a 4-4-2. In the switch to 4-3-3, I feel we’ve taken away from the attack. It was a familiar tale to the start of the season with a lot of possession in between the boxes but that lack of magic as we entered the box. I think we’ve got four good centre midfielders in Cooper, Worthy, Lo-Everton and Josh Owers and I think we’ve played better with two in midfield rather than three. Three gives us control of game but if Jordan Young doesn’t produce a moment there’s no one else who can.

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Welcome to Yeovil, Jay Foulston!

There’s a new Glover in town, Jay Foulston has followed Jake Wannell from Taunton to Yeovil and it’s an exciting signing, Callum Hallett has taken a deep dive into the new man in town… here’s what we can expect!

In this analysis I will be explaining who Jay Foulston is and what sort of player he is using, prior knowledge as well as getting a point of view from @Jaakecruump, who has watched many of the Welshman’s games over the last few years! Finally I will be using stats from the brilliant @Hoopsss to backup my points to give people a clear understanding of what type of player Yeovil have signed.

Enjoy the read! It’s a lot of words!

 

What sort of player is Jay Foulston?

Foulston is a player Yeovil have been crying out for in the last couple of weeks. A versatile, left footed defender who can play at left wingback in a 5, left back in a 4 or even left side of central defence in a 3 or 4! His quality both on and off the ball at such a young age (23) is why this is such a brilliant signing for Mark Cooper and his Yeovil side. This is vital for a manager like Cooper as we know he is always changing his formation game by game and even in games as well!

I spoke to former Taunton Town media assistant Jake Crump to get an opinion on the Glovers’ new signing from the eyes of someone who would’ve seen the talented defender player dozens of times for the Peacocks.

The way Jake described Jay is that “he was the first player you’d fall in love with when you watched Taunton”. This is always a good thing you want to hear after signing a player is that they fight for the badge and leave nothing out on the pitch. These words are backed up with some stats from Foulston so far this season:

• 4.71 Ariel duels per 90.

• 4.59 defensive duels per 90.

• 6.12 interceptions per 90.

As Jay is a defender, these 3 stats are massively key for him, 6.12 interceptions per 90 is the 29th highest out of any player in the National League South.

Mark Cooper is a manager who likes his defenders to be commanding and powerful when challenging for duels.

However, he is also a threat going forward as well, whether that be from a set piece, which is where he scored his only goal this season, or whether it is from distance in play or in a deadball situation. Jake said that Foulston has a “fantastic strike on him!”

As we know, Wannell and Williams both have 3 goals so far this season and (Wannell especially) loves to come out of defence and have a shot if he can 

It isn’t just his shooting that causes trouble for opposition defences, his passing is impressive as well! In a Taunton side that isn’t always looking to keep the ball for long periods, Foulston still manages to make 31 passes per 90, including 7.76 progressive passes per 90. A progressive pass is ”a pass that significantly advances the ball towards the opponents goal.” Despite playing the majority of his football this season as a left sided centre half, Jay Foulston still makes 0.71 deep completions per 90. A deep completion is where “a pass is completed within the penalty area of the oppositions goal.” 

This is Cooper’s perfect style of centre half, someone who is confident on the ball, allowing his sides to progress the ball forward. Foulston will be able to show his skill set even more in a Yeovil shirt as we are a side who like to keep the ball.

How many times have we seen Jake Wannell bring the ball out of defence from that left side position, into the midfield to create a massive overload, allowing us to keep the ball?

This is exactly how Jay Foulston will thrive in this team, giving him the freedom to roam out of defence when we have the ball, giving us an extra body in midfield. So far this season, Foulston completes 1.76 dribbles per 90 and travels with the ball 2.43 metres per minute! To put that into perspective, Will Dawes does 2.5 metres per minute!

Jay Foulston chases down now Yeovil Town team-mate Alex Fisher in last season’s FA Cup tie with Taunton.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

How does Foulston fit in?

Cooper has made his intentions clear in many games this season, he is willing to change formation and player positions around on many occasions from game to game, or even sometimes minute to minute! For example, against Bath, we started in a back 5 but when Whittle got injured we changed to a back 4 or even a back 3 with Smith stepping into midfield. Personally, I believe Foulston is best suited at left centre half in a back 2 or back 3 as it allows himself a lot of time on the ball, where he can show off his quality, progressing the ball into midfield.

It will be interesting to see how Cooper sets up, and whether Foulston plays at all on Saturday. Good luck Jay!

Once again thank you too Jonathan Hooper, and Jake Crump for their help with this Foulston analysis, i hope you enjoyed the read!
 
 

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The attack, how is it going?

After a few games where we haven’t looked our best or have missed plenty of chances lets take a deep dive into the stats

Overall the top line stats suggest it is doing well…

Total Goals Scored: 42, 1st, highest in the league.
 Total Shots: 258, 6th highest in the league.
 Total Shots on Target: 136, 2nd highest in the league.
 % Shots on Target: 53%, 3rd best in the league.
 Shots per Goal: 6.14, 1st, best in the league.
 xG Created: 33.17, 6th highest in the league.
 xG per Goal: 0.79, 2nd best in the league.

In total 18 players have been involved in a goal, with 14 different goal scorers and 15 different players providing assists.

Overall it is going well, scoring above xG but personally I think we should be creating more with the names we have. That being said we are top scorers in the league even if we can’t beat a team by 3 or more goals. 5/7

What about the players?

Yeovil Town attacking players ranked by goal involvements.

Jordan Young and Jake Hyde were both on target in the 2-0 win over W*ymouth.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Jordan Young, 15 goal involvements. 6/7

Our Star boy, as many would call him. He has played 19 times (15 starts & 4 appearances off the bench) he has played 1283 minutes so far this season, that is 68% of available league game time. When he starts Yeovil pick up on average 2.53 PPM 0.34 points more than the team average and 2 highest in the squad.

He is involved in a goal every 92 minutes, best in the current squad

 Stats wise he is unsurprisingly our main man

  • 8 Goals, joint 10th top in National League North & South
  • xG 5.5, ranked 42nd
  • 53 Shots, 12th highest
  • 32 (60%) shots from outside the area, 5th highest)
  • 6.6 shots per goal
  • 6 Assists
  • Expected Assists 4.82, ranked 5th
  • Crosses not in top 100
  • Dribbling 87, ranked 20th
  • Fouled 1.73 times a game, 54th highest

 Not a 7/7 only due to him now and then having games where his shooting gets a bit erratic.

Rhys Murphy, 10 goal involvements. 4/7

Our main striker. He has played 18 times (13 starts & 5 appearances off the bench) he has played 1096 minutes so far this season, that is 58% of available league game time. When he starts Yeovil pick up on average 2.46 PPM 0.27 points more than the team average and third highest in the squad.

He is involved in a goal every 110 minutes, second best in the current squad

 Stats wise he hasn’t scored as many as he should have, nearly 3 goals less than expected, on the plus side he is getting in the right positions and having those chances.

  • 8 Goals, joint 10th top in National League North & South
  • xG 10.84, ranked 4th
  • 0.6 goals every 90 minutes, ranked 20th
  • 47 Shots, 21st highest
  • 5.9 shots per goal
  • 47% of shots on target, ranked 21st
  • 2 Assists
  • Expected Assists not in top 100
  • Fouled not in top 100

Gone with a 4/7 here, that is harsh you might say but before recent games it would have been a 5 or 6 however, he isn’t taking advantage of the chances coming his way as the xG shows.

Frank Nouble finds the net in the pre-season friendly win at Buckland Athletic.
Picture courtesy of Iain Morland.

Frank Nouble, 6 Goal Involvements 5/7

Big Frank, one of only 2 players to have played a part in every league game so far this season. He has played 21 times (17 starts & 4 appearances off the bench) he has played 1552 minutes so far this season, that is 82% of available league game time. When he starts Yeovil pick up on average 2.12 PPM 0.07 points less than the team average and thirteenth highest in the squad.

He is involved in a goal every 212 minutes, eighth best in the current squad. However, he is ranked joint 3rd for second assists with 3 (passing the ball to the assister, think of Hyde’s goal against Braintree)

  • 5 Goals, joint 49th in National League North & South
  • xG 3.84, ranked 80th
  • 27 Shots, 98th highest
  • 5.4 shots per goal
  • 29.63% of shots on target, ranked 87th
  • 2 Assists
  • Expected Assists 3.04, ranked 35th

Gone with a 5 for big Frank, he has been a key player this season, scored some incredible goals and does a job for the team.

Jake Hyde, 6 Goal Involvements 5/7

Our number 9, getting a bit of a name for himself as a super sub, 1 goal when starting but 4 from the bench. He has played 16 times (6 starts & 10 appearances off the bench) he has played 694 minutes so far this season, that is 37% of available league game time. When he starts Yeovil pick up on average 2.33 PPM 0.14 points more than the team average and sixth highest in the squad.

He is involved in a goal every 116 minutes, third best in the current squad.

  • 5 Goals, joint 49th in National League North & South
  • xG 4.49, ranked 54th
  • Not in top 100, less than 26
  • 2 goals form headers, ranked 8th highest
  • Not in top 100, less than 14.29%  on target
  • 1 Assist
  • Expected Assists not in top 100, less than 1.95
  • Aerial duels per 90 10.81 ranked 53rd

Goals and Assists both over their expected numbers, had a short goal drought but back on the goal train now. I’m sure he would love to snag one when he starts soon.

Jordan Maguire-Drew was introduced after an hour at Plymouth Parkway.

Jordan Maguire-Drew, 4 Goal Involvements 3/7

JMD, started 5 of the first 6 games (the last being Havant & Waterlooville), 1 goals and 2 assists in those 5 games. However, since then he has sat on the bench 13 times and got on to the pitch 5 times, 1 assist from those appearances, a vital one at Worthing. He has played 10 times. He has played 492 minutes so far this season, that is 26% of available league game time. When he starts Yeovil pick up on average 1.40 PPM 0.79 points less than the team average and the lowest in the squad.

He is involved in a goal every 123 minutes, fourth best in the current squad.

  • 1 Goal
  • 3 Assist, ranked 22nd
  • 3.02 Expected Assists, ranked 32nd

A disappointing season so far from JMD, he has the talent but does he have the fight? I hope so, he is brilliant on his day. Given him 1 extra point for the free kick at Worthing alone.

Sonny Cox, 3 Goal Involvements 3/7

Our most recent addition. He has played 9 times (7 starts & 2 appearances off the bench) he has played 527 minutes so far this season, that is 28% of available league game time. When he starts Yeovil pick up on average 2.00 PPM 0.19 points less than the team average.

He is involved in a goal every 132 minutes, fifth best in the current squad

  • 2 Goals
  • 1 Assist

Started with a bang, 2 vital goals against Dover. I love his pace and aggression but lacking the end product in recent weeks.

Jordan Stevens, 2 Goal Involvements 2/7

If only he wasn’t so injury prone. He has played 8 times (3 starts & 5 appearances off the bench) he has played 346 minutes so far this season, that is 18% of available league game time. Less than 5 starts so no PPM for him but every time he has started, we have won.

He is involved in a goal every 173 minutes, sixth best in the current squad

  • 1 Goal
  • 1 Assist

This feels harsh, he is great….when fit. I hope he finds a fix to his injury troubles soon. Class player on his day.

Will Dawes ? Debs Curtis

Will Dawes, 1 Goal Involvement 2/7

Last is Dawes, a fan favourite but he only has 1 goal involvement, an assist against Aveley. Before we get deep into his stats I would like to point out two things, I like watching him play and that he is unlucky, many of his crosses have come off a defender and fallen to a Yeovil forward who puts it away. However, in the last two games (Bath & Dartford) he has made 15 crosses, 0 have hit a Yeovil player.

Dawes has played 10 times (8 starts & 2 appearances off the bench) he has played 723 minutes so far this season, that is 38% of available league game time. When he starts Yeovil pick up on average 2.13 PPM 0.07 points less than the team average and twelfth highest in the squad.

He is involved in a goal every 723 minutes, sixteenth best in the current squad.

From the stats we can see it matches our perception of him he loves to run with the ball and get it in the mixer.

  • Crosses 37, ranked 100th
  • Crosses per 90 4.06, ranked 21st
  • Dribbling 66 ranked 53rd
  • Dribbles per 90 7.24 ranked 14th
  • Fouled 2.2 times a game, 12th highest
  • Progressive runs per 90 4.17 Ranked 4th highest  

However, when we look at his accuracy/success it isn’t pretty

  • Crossing not in top 100, less than 10.2% hit a Yeovil player.
  • Dribbling not in the top 100, less than 51.61% are successful.

Here is where I like what he does, he isn’t afraid of getting stuck in and winning the ball back cracking work rate.

  • Defensive duels per 90 7.9 ranked 79th (Josh Owers 9.32 & Charlie Cooper 7.83)
  • Interceptions per 90 5.71 ranked 53rd (Wannell 5.4 88th )

I would have scored him a 1 but his effort and tenacity gives him an extra point but his end product needs to improve, How long can he keep starting if there is no end product?

We’d love to hear your views on our attacking talent in the comments below. 

Data collected from footystats.org and Wyscout. All rankings from Wyscout and based on National league South and North combined.

PPM – Points per match

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We paid for not taking our chances: It’s not often you hear a reference to the Fab Four in a Yeovil Town post-match interview, but I cannot put it any better than Mark Cooper’s: “The lads were saying in there if some of them had six shots at John Lennon today, he’d still be alive.” That was the difference between one point and three points.
The Dartford keeper, Ryan Sandford, deservedly picked up the sponsors’ Man of the Match Award for some outstanding saves, but there are chances where we should not have given him a chance to make them. The opening couple of minutes, you would put your house on Rhys Murphy to find the net when he’s clean through and drags it wide; it’s that type of chances. Yes, we have scored more goals than any other side in the division, but in these games we have to be more ruthless.

Rhys Murphy walks away wondering how he missed an early chance.

Cox was excellent: In the first half at Princes Park, Dartford simply could not live with us (see Conclusion #1 if you’re asking ‘so why was it 1-1 at half-time?‘). Every time we attacked with the pace of Sonny Cox, Murphy and Jordan Young, they were rocking and Cox stood out for me showing a desire to battle alongside his obvious natural pace and talent. The past couple of times I have seen him, he has looked a bit off it but I thought he was a stand-out player in the first half.

Sonny Cox

In the second half, we stopped doing what was working: Having been so dominant in the first half, we seemed to stop doing the things that were working for us in the second half. Dartford upped their game and credit to them for that, but playing ‘direct’ very quickly proved itself as not working and yet when we got it down and moved it, we looked a greater threat. Don’t agree? Watch our second goal. I am, by the way, aware that (as one fellow fan told me when I remarked) if these players were perfect, they’d be playing higher. But, if we have genuine ambitions to win promotion, we have to be better than the level.

I’m looking at this as a point gained: It’s the old football cliche – is this one point gained or two points dropped? I’m going to look at it as the positive after a game of two halves. How many cliches can I fit in one conclusion?! Of the five teams in the top seven that have gone to Dartford this season, only one (Maidstone United) have left with three points and, although inconsistent, they have some good players (Moussa Diarra at the back is one we’ve come up against many times for Woking – you can’t miss him, he’s a giant!) and other teams will drop points here before the season’s done.

Let’s get back to home comforts: It’s back to Huish Park next weekend for what feels like another big one as third-placed Hampton & Richmond come to town. They have won five of their 13 away games (the third-highest in the division) but let’s not forget we have won nine of our 11 home games and are still unbeaten. Pick up points on the road and get wins at home (Cliche Klaxon), that is what makes title contenders and Hampton will not look forward to coming to Somerset. There’s a crucial Christmas period (oh, there’s another one!) coming up, so let’s make Huish Park an intimidating place for teams to come.

You know what to do next weekend, people.

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The Glovers triumphed at Bath City to keep the gap between the chasing pack to six points. Ian was in the away end at Twerton Park, and here are his conclusions…

It was not a pretty game. It wasn’t until late in the second half where we showed signs of causing Bath problems. The first half was slow, sideways and a bit too hoofy for my liking. Cooper and Worthington looked like they’d not played as a pair for a while. Alex Fisher and Frank Nouble looked like a partnership playing for the first time together. Given the exertion against Wrexham three days earlier, and the conditions, you can forgive a bit of fatigue and sloppiness. That said, Bath City didn’t cause Joe Day too many issues in goal, and defensively I thought we looked mostly comfortable.

I still don’t like wingbacks. This team does not suit a back three, wingback formation. No one can convince me otherwise. I sort of understood it against Wrexham, although I would have liked to have seen us go with what’s made us so good this season. But I didn’t get it last night. It was all very sideways amongst the back three before a big diagonal hoof. Michael Smith has been so effective overlapping a winger and the shape just doesn’t allow those same patterns of play. It was a shame to see Alex Whittle go off, however it forced us into a change eventually, with Duncan Idehen moving to left back and Will Dawes playing in his best position.

Will Dawes.
Picture courtesy of Iain Morland.

And Dawes had a great second half. Our brightest spells came from Dawes running at, and getting the better of, Bath’s right back. Dawes is such an honest footballer. There’s no ego, he works hard for the team and last night was no different. Came on at left wing back, didn’t look overly comfortable but worked hard for the team. When we changed to a 4-4-2, he was relentless on the left. He got crosses into the box and had bright attacking moments and worked back to support Idehen, who was under a lot of pressure from Bath City’s number 15, Jordan Thomas (who looks like some player by the way).

It was good to see Alex Fisher back on the pitch. The injury Fisher suffered against Southend was so horrific, that to see him back playing before the end of the year feels like a minor miracle. He divides opinion, for a striker he should score more than he does, things didn’t necessarily come off for him last night. But, after a gruelling rehab (who can forget the cage around his leg) he’s just battled through 90 minutes for the first time since the injury, against one of the better sides in the division and is back putting his body on the line for Yeovil Town.

Alex Fisher, picture courtesy of Mike Kunz

It was a huge win. Given that Torquay and Maidstone both won on Tuesday night, and that Bath have been in the thick of the chasing pack, those three points at Twerton Park are huge. The six point gap remains and there’s still a game in hand on 2nd, 3rd and 4th. You could see what it meant to the players and, specifically, Mark Cooper at the end. The performance wasn’t brilliant, but the result and feeling at the end was. Now we’re out of the cup competitions, we’ve got a straight run in the league, with one focus in mind.

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Gloverscast Ben saw his FIRST live and in person game of the season on Sunday as the Glovers travelled to Wrexham in the FA Cup.

A 3-0 defeat, a Percy Pig v Cuthbert bar fight and here’s how Gloverscast Ben saw it from the Press Box.

Firstly, I thought 3-0 really flattered Wrexham, but it’s probably fair to say we took too long to get going.

In the the first half, we were clearly just trying to stay in the game for as long as possible and that meant inviting Wrexham’s plethora of attacking talent on to the back line.

Whilst, we were quick to put pressure on when the hosts came within sniffing distance of the penalty area, I was left thinking… why can’t we put that pressure on 20 or 30 yards further up the pitch?

The break downs in play were easy for Wrexham to recycle and easy to keep the pressure on, when you have the quality they do, that means chances will fall their way – they did, and they took them. You can’t begrudge them that. 

In the second half, I felt we did have the bravery to press a little higher, force mistakes in the middle of the pitch and that gave us a foot hold in the game, and chances to give our defence a rest, from the constant barrage that came at us in the first 45.

Football is a game of fine margins.

If Charlie Cooper’s long range effort dips in, if Jordan Young’s free kick is 6 inches to the left, the game is TOTALLY different going into the second half.

To go from being the width of the post away from getting the game back to 1-1, to being 2-0 down in a matter of seconds just shows how cruel football can be.

On another day, Joe Day parries the first chance away from sniffing strikers, on a another day, the finger tip he gets to Andy Cannon’s second goal is more substantial and it goes wide.

On another day, we get something out of that game and maybe take it back to Huish Park. Nobody in the crowd could have complained if that game had ended 2-2.

Jordan Young. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Jordan Young was on a one man mission

Jordan Young’s free kick was inches away from perfection, his desire to cut inside from the right and play balls across the edge of the area, shape to shoot, get in to dangerous areas and generally be brilliant showed that he has multiple facets to his game.

Now, technically it was a game of ‘nearly’ moments for Young, but it’s probably fair to say he caught plenty of eyes with his performance.

The eyes of Managers we will be coming up against soon (Hi Jerry!), the eyes of Managers at other clubs who might need a tricky winger in the near future, the eyes of plenty of fans and supporters – more than a couple of Wrexham voices spoke highly of him.

The truth is, all he did was add an Extra 0, on the end of his potential transfer fee. Let’s not pretend he’s not going to be the subject of offers and interest, because he’s shown this season he’s an EFL player in waiting.

I hope the club has the bottle to demand the very best deal for him when the time comes and has a plan in place to fill the eventual Jordan Young shaped hole that will be left.

Don’t fall in love with footballers, it only ends in tears.

I was worried about the back three.

All together now… You hate wing backs, I hate wing backs, we all hate wing backs. We got wing backs and I don’t mind saying it wasn’t half as bad as it could have been – far from it in fact.

Morgan Williams – Mr reliable, versatile, you can hang your hat on him to put in a shift just about anywhere. Duncan Idehen grew into the game brilliantly after a couple of early wobbles, he made some vital interceptions, a couple of big blocks and a couple of crunching tackles, particularly on Paul Mullen… ouch.

Finally, Jake Wannell, in the middle of the three was an absolute colossus. It’s probably fair to say that he might not have played many games of that magnitude before – with the exception of the Taunton FA Cup run of last season (grumble, grumble).

But from Taunton to the Racecourse and not look a second out of place just shows how far he’s come and potentially how far he could go in time.

I don’t think that’s the last of the defensive trio we’ll see this season, but it’s great to know we’ve got players who can do it if we need.

Finally… and I know I’ll get plenty of love for this.

Charlie Cooper, appeared as a 75th minute substitute at Welling.
Picture courtesy of Iain Morland.

We are so much better with Charlie Cooper in the side.

There’s no one that can convince me otherwise. He was tasked with trying to keep tabs on Elliot Lee, who might just be the best player outside the top two divisions, he can probably say that he did alright there. 

They were embroiled in a little sub plot throughout, both got booked, both had to be at their influential best without giving the referee an excuse to wave another card.

At one point in the second half, they quite literally exchanged snarls, just growling at each other… it was quite animalistic, I quite liked it.

He dared to go forward and had two of the Glovers more meaningful shots on goal, he dictated play when the ball broke down on the edge of our own box and stood head and shoulders above the rest in the game from where I was stood.

Cooper is, for my mind, quickly becoming the first name on the team sheet – who drops out, I don’t know, but I don’t want to go into big games without Charlie Cooper – and they don’t come much bigger than Wednesday.

 

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This is a post for both Wrexham and Yeovil fans really, however, a warning for any Wrexham fans giving this a read, it will be biased towards Yeovil.

The whole idea of this is to understand how Wrexham play. What their strengths and weaknesses are, trying to figure out how we could potentially counter, or stop, this to give ourselves the best chances of an upset (We can all hope).

Before I start I would like to give massive credit to WT_analysis who has provided me with the statistics, tables and graphs for this post. He runs a brilliant twitter account using these types of graphs to create content.

Hope you enjoy the read, any feedback or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Wrexham’s “Completed Passes For/Against”

In the image above we can see that most of Wrexham’s “Completed Passes For” are mainly made across their back line or down the sides of the pitch, clipping passes over the opposition full backs head for a forward to run on to.

In League 2, Wrexham average 49% possession in matches, which may suggest that they look to counter quickly after winning the ball back. This may be the perfect game for someone like Charlie Cooper (don’t attack me) or even Josh Owers. We need someone who will sit back when we come forward, to stop any danger of a Wrexham counter attack!

Could Charlie Cooper be the answer in centre midfield?
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Michael Smith could be the perfect player to deal with the chipped passes over the top of his head from Wrexham because he should have the awareness to sit a few yards deeper to give himself more chance of winning the ball.

From the graph above “Completed Passes Against” on this photo we can see that the opposing teams seem to have more of the pitch covered with a dense red. The Red Dragon’s opponents seem have more passes completed in their own penalty area and defensive third.

This shows that Wrexham allow their opposition to have the ball in their own half. This may suit our style if Sonny Blu plays, as he can pick the ball from deep and dictate the pace of the game. Similarly to themselves, Wrexham’s opponents seem to complete lot’s of passes in wide areas, trying to exploit the Wrexham wide men. We may see the patterns of play between the likes of Jordan Young and Michael Smith come in to action with great effect down the right hand side!

Wrexham’s Possessions Won/Possessions Lost

The green graph in this photo shows that Wrexham mainly gain possession back in between their first and middle thirds of the pitch. This matches up to the “Completed Passes Against” where Wrexham’s opposition complete a lot of passes in their defensive half and coming into the advanced part of the middle third.

This could be a game where our midfield and defensive players complete many touches and passes between each other despite being massive underdogs. Another option could be to stick an extra body in midfield and have one less striker, this would not be a defensive switch, it would be a tactical battle to attempt to control the ball in midfield. I believe a middle three of Owers holding with Worthington and Sonny pushing on could give us a genuine chance of controlling parts of the game.

The image above shows “Possessions lost”. From this graph we can see that Wrexham give the ball away regularly in their oppositions half, although this will be heavily affected by the amount of risks they take when in possession of the ball. Sometimes this works in their favour, like in their 6-0 win over Morecambe, sometimes they will concede plenty of goals because of taking risks, like the 5 they conceded to Swindon and MK Dons.

Jordan Young. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

We have shown many times this season that we can destroy teams when we hit them on the break in games such as Southend, Gateshead and Aveley! Using the pace of Dawes and Young could be vital in this game.

Wrexham’s defensive line when under pressure

The red shaded area in this photo shows the average line of Wrexham’s back four or five per defensive action. It continues with the trend of Wrexham sitting deep when out of possession, not allowing any space in behind because of their slow defence. This will suit Jordan Young perfectly, allowing him to pick the ball up from deep, to drive into the opposing area or get a shot off from range.

Wrexham’s Shot assists For/Against

[The term “Shot Assist” means the final pass before a shot is then taken on.]

On both “Shot Assist” maps we can see that most of Wrexham’s (green lines)(Red blocks) shots come from crosses or cutbacks from wide areas pulled back to around the penalty area. This is why I believe a holding midfielder is key in this game, Wrexham always have runners coming into the box, some towards the goal, and some hold back on to the edge of the box. The two central defenders cannot be expected too mark two Wrexham forwards and the late midfield runs. Charlie Cooper or Josh Owers will be able to sweep up at those given opportunities.

Michael Smith. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Defensively a lot of “Shot Assists” Wrexham face come from a winger or a wingback playing a pass inside from a deep wide position, to a midfielder on the edge of the box, or perhaps a forward who has spun in behind the backline. We will be able to follow this trend further when of either Michael Smith or Jordan Young comes a bit narrower, into the midfield, being able to receive passes on the half turn, being able to get shots off, or slot in a forward player.

Wrexham’s Shot and Goals map

Wrexham’s shot map shows that most of their shots happen in between the penalty spot and the 6 yard box. This is to give themselves the best chance of being clinical with their shooting. They have taken 267 shots this season, scoring 41 goals from an Expected goals (xG) of 1.85 per 90.  Wrexham are out performing their xG by +0.35, having scored 2.1 goals per 90. This means it is vital for the defensive pairing of Williams and Wannell have to be completely aware of the dangers that surround them.

Wrexham’s Shots and Goals Against map

Wrexham’s “Shots Against” map makes me very excited for the game on Sunday as it seems they concede plenty of shots from outside the area and of the 28 goals conceded a few have come from long range. The Welsh side’s expected goals against (xGa) is 1.34 per 90 and have conceded a total of 1.55 goals against per 90. These numbers have however been affected by their poor defensive start to the season, where they conceded 5 to Swindon and MK Dons. The reason I am excited by this is that we take many shots from range with the likes of Jordan Young in the squad and this could be a viable way to score if Wrexham are sat so deep when out of possession.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the read, as I said before any feedback or comments are massively appreciated, as I am always trying to improve my work!

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Yeovil Town’s unbeaten run in National League South came to an end in spectacular style with a 4-1 defeat at a Welling United side who still sit third from bottom of the table on Saturday.

The result means we have not won in our last three matches in all competitions, but, courtesy of other results in the division, that we are also still eight points clear at the top.

Once his fingers had thawed out after a chilly afternoon in South London, Dave gave us his thoughts about what he made of it all…..

We played their game, not ours: First things first, Welling absolutely deserved their three points. They took their chances better than us, they defended better than us and they wanted it more than us.
But, after Jordan Young missed an opportunity to put us 2-0 up after 20 minutes, we stopped playing our game and started playing Welling’s. Once they got their equaliser, they set out to pull our defence all over the place with pace and tenacity which we simply never matched.

The view from the first half position at Park View Road.

It was a midfield crying out for Charlie Cooper: The chasm between our defence and midfield was a playground for Welling and neither Matt Worthington nor Sonny Blu Lo-Everton ever got to grips with it.
It was crying out for someone who could get the ball, do something simple with it and drive us forward and that player was Charlie Cooper.
He’s not every fan’s cup of tea, I get it, but when he came on for Worthington for the final 15 minutes, we looked much improved.

Charlie Cooper, appeared as a 75th minute substitute at Welling.
Picture courtesy of Iain Morland.


Our attack looked as much of a worry as our defence: Against Chippenham four days earlier, we could at least point to plenty of attacking play and a good performance from the opposition keeper, but I don’t recall Reice Charles-Cook in the Welling goal to have a huge amount to do.
Frank Nouble looked out of sorts, Sonny Cox struggled to get much of a foothold on the game and when Rhys Murphy came off the bench he looked typically lively, but missed a chance you’d have put your house on him to score.
In fact, the only major save I remember Charles-Cook having was from Alex Fisher, who put himself about well when he came on. It was good to see him back after such a long time and hopefully he can push those ahead of him in the pecking order to spark them back in to action.

No-one else wants to punish us: The positive was that, for all the chuckling there will be for our misfortune among other National League South sides, no team managed to take advantage of it.
Third-placed Hampton & Richmond, who are in the most in-form side in the division, were the only one of the top seven to win yesterday and both second-placed Aveley and Bath City in fourth fluffed their lines by dropping two points each on the road.
It will probably stick in the craw of our seagull bothering ‘friends’ in W*ymouth that they did us a favour with a late equaliser against Aveley.

The National League South table following Saturday’s 4-1 defeat at Welling United.

There’s something special about this squad: These players have shown us time and again that there’s something special about them and that has not changed in three matches.
Yesterday at Welling was a bad (very bad) day at the office, but there’s characters and quality in this squad which we have not seen much of in the past decade. That did not change at Torquay (in the Trophy), last Tuesday night at Chippenham or this weekend.
Alex Fisher spoke post-match about there being some “home truths” in the Yeovil dressing room and this is when the experienced heads need to lift the troops.
Wrexham in the FA Cup (don’t look at their result from the weekend, by the way) is a ‘free hit’ which no-one outside of South Somerset expects us to do anything with and then we have two more away dates – at Bath City and Dartford – before we can taste the comforts of home again.

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A frustrating evening in front of goal and a crazy own goal saw Yeovil Town’s winning run in National League South ended with a 1-1 draw at a Hardened Huish (Hardenhuish) Park, Chippenham last night. 

A crowd of 1,326 swelled by another fantastic turn out from Somerset was there to see it all, including one who travelled from somewhere outside Blackpool – and here are Dave’s thoughts from his spot frozen to the away terrace……

How have we only scored one? When you’ve scored more goals in three months than you did in the whole of last season, we can’t complain about going forwards too much – but it was our finishing which let us down. Chippenham keeper Will Henry must feel robbed not to get the sponsors’ Man of the Match after making two or three great saves, perhaps the sponsors agreed that we made it too easy for him by hitting so many shots straight at him. Matt Worthington has probably never had a better chance to score in his 201 matches, it was an off night for Rhys Murphy (see below), and Sonny Cox could not really get in to the game. Thank goodness for the predatory instincts of Jake Hyde. He’ll hate being called ‘super sub’, perhaps we can bring him off the bench after a minute and then unleash him. The stats don’t lie, 11 shots on targets to Chippenham’s six should have been enough to comfortably put that to bed.

Jake Hyde celebrates his goal at Chippenham Town.

The most ridiculous own goal you’ll ever see. This was the view of the lads watching on National League TV and I’m glad that it wasn’t the player heading firmly in to his own net that it looked from the away end. Duncan Idehen, who I thought looked composed alongside Morgan Williams, found himself in an awkward position so you can’t blame either of them particularly. Losing the ball in midfield like we did is the worst part of the whole affair. Joe Day made one outstanding save in the second half but otherwise I don’t remember him having to be ‘super Joe Day (is) in goal’ too much and, when you don’t finish your chances, that kind of a freak own goal is always going to cost you.

Duncan Idehen

A night to forget for Rhys Murphy. On another night, there would be a picture of Rhys Murphy holding a match ball and at least three fingers up. Will Henry did well to deny him once, he had what looked a clear penalty turned down by the referee, but there were a couple of occasions where he looked like he wanted to walk the ball in. I found echoes of last season shouting ‘put your laces through it, Rhys.’ The man knows goal-scoring better than I do, but he will be frustrated. Not used that word as much this season, have we?! Then, to add insult to frustration, he goes and picks up a fifth booking for what looked like dissent and now misses an important league game at Bath City in a couple of weeks time. Silly, silly boy, Rhys.

We missed Jordan Young – but not just him. There was a big Jordan Young shaped hole in a team which particularly in the first half was crying out for a bit of creativity. The optimist (aka Ben) in me told me at half-time that we had to be patient, the pessimist in me told me the first half was very heavy going. All a bit flat and nothing to really get behind, you just wanted a magician like Young or a speedster like Jordan Stevens to excite and create something from nothing. But, whilst Duncan Idehen looked competent alongside Morgan Williams, the lack of Jake Wannell stood out for me.
A lot of what has been good about our play in our winning run has been built from his composure playing the ball out from defence and that stood out.

Jake Wannell.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

We’re nine points clear at the top. Let’s not get carried away. It was a disappointing night by the standards we have set this season. But, we actually extended our lead at the top of National League South to nine points with both Aveley and Bath City also being held to draws. Third-placed Maidstone United briefly cut it to eight points with a win on Monday night, so – despite the fact it feels like a defeat (Michael Smith, 2023) – we were actually better off come 10pm than we were at 7.45pm on Tuesday night. We always knew there was going to be a bit of adversity, especially with important players missing, but this is far from anything to lose heads over. Bring on the Welling!