Ivan Varfolomeev
Varfolomeev’s stronger example is another one taken from a defeat, this time Birmingham at home on 31 October. In 65 minutes, he completed 23 of 28 passes, or 82.1%, won eight of ten duels and all three aerial contests, and made ten recoveries. Those are encouraging returns in areas where his season figures have sometimes been less convincing. Isn’t it odd that some blamed him partly for the opening goal (me included), but actually, the numbers really stand up for the full game.
There was also 0.35 xA, giving us evidence of the creativity that emerged in the wider comparison. However, he recorded 11 losses, seven in his own half, so even this stronger example contains a fairly obvious concern. We got accurate passing, successful contests and some chance creation, alongside losses of possession in an area where they can make life difficult for everyone behind him.
Portsmouth at home on 22 August was a weaker return across more of the measures. He won three of nine duels and two of six aerial contests, both success rates of 33.3%. In his 69 minutes, he completed nine passes from 12 attempts, recorded 11 losses, six in his own half, and produced zero xA.
The 75% passing accuracy on its own doesn’t tell us much about that performance. The low passing volume, lost contests and frequent losses of possession give us a fuller picture, particularly when there was no expected-assist contribution to add to it. Birmingham showed several of the qualities that make his case interesting; getting those qualities more consistently, while reducing the own-half losses, would give us a much stronger argument for his inclusion.
Leave a Reply