Many Saints fans seem to think that Nathan Redmond is ineffective and done nothing this season and is not worth his place, but the statistics say that they are wrong.

In an article yesterday I made the observation that although most Saints fans I spoke to after the game against Burnley seemed to think that Nathan Redmond was our worst outfield player, that in terms of chances created etc, he actually did better than anyone else.

Now that observation is born out by statistics showing that the fans perception is not accurate.

Redmond might not yet have scored this season, but he is still way ahead of any squad member in terms of assists and chances created.

Saints have scored 9 goals so far this season, 3 of them have been from the penalty spot, but of the other 6 Nathan Redmond has been credited with the assist for 2 of them.

Add to that he has also created 20 chances for his team mates this season that have not been converted and he is way ahead of any of his team mates in this table, ironically second behind him is Dusan Tadic, also a target for the boo boys.

That means that Redmond in 9 starts and 2 as sub in the Premier League this season has averaged almost 2 key passes per game, add to that the fact that his 1.9 average dribbles per game is only bettered by Mario Lemina (2,6) and Sofiane Boufal (2.1) then Redmond seems to be influencing games a lot more than any of his team mates and certainly a lot more than a large proportion of Saints fans seem to think.

Their perception is he is playing badly, but these stats seem to tell a different story, whilst it can't be denied he is not in great form, he is not hiding during games and he is the one player who is consistently creating chances for others and is not scared to run at opponents and take a shot, yes it is not working out for him just yet either individually or for the team as much as we would like yet, but we should perhaps recognise the contributution he is making rather than take the popularist view that seems to be getting louder and making Nathan Redmond the scapegoat.

Photo: Action Images

undertoomers added 21:03 - Nov 9 Proof, if proof were needed that statistics are not worth a jot. Indeed it's utter bollocks!.
6

SanMarco added 21:12 - Nov 9 Benjamin Disraeli: "There are lies, damned lies and statistics". So he gets an "assist" for Gabbi's SOLO effort vs Newcastle. I expect Lemina was given an assist for the Boufal goal. No Saints fan, or sensible one anyway, WANTS Redmond to not be good enough. I'm afraid one good pass vs West Ham does not make him a brilliant player and the stats in this article are essentially meaningless. If they show anything it is that we are doing very poorly in the attacking part of the field - but we don't need stats for that. I DO definitely agree though that he shouldn't be made a scapegoat - as this article argues he is no worse than several others.

5

Dystopia added 21:28 - Nov 9 Of course Redmond and Tadic have the most chances created they play almost every game and all our play goes down either wing. If anything this emphasises the fact we need to change our style and or sign some better creative players more suited to our team and tactics
4

SaintNick added 21:29 - Nov 9 Fact is he is literally the only player who has created anything for Saints all season, but still some cant bare to give him some credit, football is about influencing games, not running around and looking good but creating little. Redmond rolled a lovely pass for Gabbiadini for the goal against West Ham, against Newcastle it was a decent ball which Gabbiadini took a heavy touch and had to check back, love or hate Redmond but both balls were one of the few occasions that played in Gabbiadini in the position that he likes to be, running at a defender 25 yards from goal. Yes we are doing poorly in the final third of the field, but Redmond is clearly doing more than most to change that

1

SaintPaulVW added 21:59 - Nov 9 I do sympathise a bit with him as he is a young winger suddenly expected to be an accomplished striker. My main concern is that he often appears to lose the ball too cheaply by tackle, missed shot or missed pass. Whether this is mainly down to our excessively slow collective approach play I don't know. The repeated petulance directed at other players also prevents me from warming to him.

5

A1079 added 22:15 - Nov 9 Ok, I am getting a little tired of these constant articles criticising the fans and that they are all too often wrong and effectively don't know what we are talking about. I admit, most fans may not be football connoisseurs, but we aren't all stupid. We see what we see. All the stats in the world does not change a thing - bottom line is, we aren't scoring and we aren't winning and until we change those 2 things we'll keep on struggling. By and large, I don't blame any single member of the team. It is a team sport. There are some players that will be better than others and there will be times when a player goes through a bad spell or simply has a bad day at the office. If it isn't the players fault, then it must be the coaching and manager that has it wrong. If it isn't their fault, then we have recruited the wrong players for the job or we haven't recruited the right players at all - the latter being more probable as we failed to replace Pelle, we let Rodriguez go without replacing him and we rely on a short striker and one that spends most of his time injured or too slow even when he does play or worse still the manager compounds the problem by taking our one good striker off for another, arguably less mobile one. Whilst there are fans who are too quick to jump on players backs or make ridiculous statements, most fans, and certainly most fans on this forum, in the main, have considered and sensible assessment of a situation. The fans are not stupid - we are not easily duped, we will not have the wool pulled over our eyes, we pay our money, we are there through thick and thin and we want our club to do well, we want the players to be successful and to do their best (even if their best is not always good enough) and to keep suggesting the fans don't know what they are talking about is plainly wrong.

9

steve73 added 23:10 - Nov 9 That same set of statistics also lists Maya Yoshida as our second most effective performer behind Lemina. Surely that's worth an article too. Cherry picking statistics to suit an agenda can be done by anyone. And despite these facts I'd still like to see Redmond take his 2 assists and his 'who, me?' attitude and go and be influential somewhere else.
5

JimmyMeliaPhD added 05:23 - Nov 10 Fact is, if he's "effective," we're in even deeper doo-doo than it even appears!
4

JimmyMeliaPhD added 05:30 - Nov 10 And given the position he seems inevitably to be picked in week after week, he should have scored more than 14 goals in 170+ appearances. For sake of comparison, Walcott scored 10 goals in 28 appearances for Arsenal, despite not being first choice by a long chalk. Talking up Redmond and rubbishing Yoshida is gonna get SaintNick a place in an asylum.
4

Saintsfc added 08:25 - Nov 10 Firstly I have never booed a footballer in my life, including opposition teams. Can Redmond play football of course, he gets paid 10s of thousands doing it, is he a good footballer, absolutely NOT. You only have to see him in training or look around the world at players in his position to see how bog standard if not just below, he is. Fact
2

NewburySaint added 10:14 - Nov 10 Exactly, as per your headline, hence why we never create many decent chances or score many goals!!
0

TimSaint added 10:46 - Nov 10 My piece from the Burnley Observations thread sums this up really. Redmond is supposed to be a creative player. He should be shooting at least 5 times a game, putting in at least a similar number of crosses and playing in his full back a similar number of times too. (Tadic also, may I add). He just does not seem to be the player he was last season, has become predictable and reluctant to take his man on, instead opting for a step over and a backward or sideways pass. If he was doing a good job this season, he would have been picked for the (heavily depleted) England squad again this week. If he is our best performer, then things don't look too good for the future.

0

Jesus_02 added 12:39 - Nov 10 If this is FACT , then this FACT is why we are so desperately ineffectual at the moment
0

saintpp added 12:42 - Nov 10 Youre wasting your time Nick the boo boys dont let stats get in the way of blinkered opinions .They forget how well these players have been in the past. Redmond 8 goals last year. Tadic many assist since he has been with us Forster saved us in plenty of games. But now they are all useles.s Boufal is another one,they ignore his help in the goal at stoke his pass to long for the penalty and that he earned the free kick for JWP and then post he does nothing. Booing Redmond before he came on shows the sad mentality that they have and how they can call themselves supporters I dont know.

-1

Blogs 31 bloggers

Southampton Polls