Ajer and Billing

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,557]

9 minutes ago, Bonzo said:

These anecdotal assessments of Ajer are mostly off beam.

His tackling stats are better than Gibson and Hanley's and he's quicker than both.

Plus he's strong in the air and his pass completion is excellent.

The data for all three is in Who Scored- look it up.

This player loves to tackle and he's 6' 5'' and is surprisingly agile and well balanced for a big lad plus he's got some gas for a CB. 

If Webber is going to spend a fat wedge on this player it is because even at £10m plus he sees value.

That should say it all. 

 

Well - according to WhoScored Hanley and Ajer both won 70% of their tackles and Gibson won 75%. Hanley also won 70% of his headers, Ajer 66% and Gibson 60%.

There is nothing there about their pace of course (although UEFA stated on their website that Grant Hanley's top speed at the Euro's was the same as Mbappe's).

Maybe most interesting, is the data on WyScout that shows that Ajer only wins about 50% of the 50/50s he is involved in and Hanley and Gibson both win about 66% of theirs. Which hints at the suggestions he isn't strong enough, or on the front foot enough in his defensive actions.

Obviously these basic numbers don't mean a huge amount out of context, but they certainly don't show Ajer has better stats than the existing defenders at Norwich. Use of stats is generally seen as not being particularly useful when identifying defenders as it is hard to measure the important things like positioning, decision making and concentration. 

 

 

[birchfest 397]

2 minutes ago, Bethnal Yellow and Green said:

Well - according to WhoScored Hanley and Ajer both won 70% of their tackles and Gibson won 75%. Hanley also won 70% of his headers, Ajer 66% and Gibson 60%.

There is nothing there about their pace of course (although UEFA stated on their website that Grant Hanley's top speed at the Euro's was the same as Mbappe's).

Maybe most interesting, is the data on WyScout that shows that Ajer only wins about 50% of the 50/50s he is involved in and Hanley and Gibson both win about 66% of theirs. Which hints at the suggestions he isn't strong enough, or on the front foot enough in his defensive actions.

Obviously these basic numbers don't mean a huge amount out of context, but they certainly don't show Ajer has better stats than the existing defenders at Norwich. Use of stats is generally seen as not being particularly useful when identifying defenders as it is hard to measure the important things like positioning, decision making and concentration. 

 

 

I guess the question to ask is, do the coaching staff at Norwich see room for growth in those areas? If we are in for him they obviously think he’s got a decent starting platform and we can push him on a bit. Would be curious to know is Celtic had a CDM last season (I have no idea), they had a pants season and he might well have been exposed to more attacks without a decent screen in front of him, unlike our defence who had Skipp working hard in front as a first line of defence.

[king canary 7,580]

6 minutes ago, Bethnal Yellow and Green said:

Well - according to WhoScored Hanley and Ajer both won 70% of their tackles and Gibson won 75%. Hanley also won 70% of his headers, Ajer 66% and Gibson 60%.

There is nothing there about their pace of course (although UEFA stated on their website that Grant Hanley's top speed at the Euro's was the same as Mbappe's).

Maybe most interesting, is the data on WyScout that shows that Ajer only wins about 50% of the 50/50s he is involved in and Hanley and Gibson both win about 66% of theirs. Which hints at the suggestions he isn't strong enough, or on the front foot enough in his defensive actions.

Obviously these basic numbers don't mean a huge amount out of context, but they certainly don't show Ajer has better stats than the existing defenders at Norwich. Use of stats is generally seen as not being particularly useful when identifying defenders as it is hard to measure the important things like positioning, decision making and concentration. 

 

 

Yeah I remember Ted Knutson (may have the name wrong?) who used to work for Brentford saying statistical analysis is much more difficult for central defenders and keepers than any other position. Difficult to put a stat on how well positioned a central defender is and you can even argue a defender who makes more tackles might actually be worse positionally. I remember Russell Martin used to get lots of praise for last ditch tackles when I decent amount of the situations only arose because he lost a header or was badly positioned.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,557]

5 minutes ago, king canary said:

Yeah I remember Ted Knutson (may have the name wrong?) who used to work for Brentford saying statistical analysis is much more difficult for central defenders and keepers than any other position. Difficult to put a stat on how well positioned a central defender is and you can even argue a defender who makes more tackles might actually be worse positionally. I remember Russell Martin used to get lots of praise for last ditch tackles when I decent amount of the situations only arose because he lost a header or was badly positioned.

Stats tend to favour centre backs who will come rushing out of position to win a challenge or a header, which is great if it comes off, but very bad if they miss. 

FYI Knutson is the person who owns the company that provides Norwich all their data. He use to do a regular podcast that was really fascinating on data in football, unfortunately it is rare now as he got in trouble with customers for giving away too much information. 

[Ken Hairy 3,760]

Ajer is a must sign imo, we're screaming out for a CB that fans want to play as a CDM instead....... 😏

[king canary 7,580]

7 minutes ago, Bethnal Yellow and Green said:

Stats tend to favour centre backs who will come rushing out of position to win a challenge or a header, which is great if it comes off, but very bad if they miss. 

FYI Knutson is the person who owns the company that provides Norwich all their data. He use to do a regular podcast that was really fascinating on data in football, unfortunately it is rare now as he got in trouble with customers for giving away too much information. 

Yeah I remember hearing him on Football Weekly and thinking I'd love him to be a regular but makes sense why he isn't now. Is it StatsBomb he owns?

I think on the central defender point he also mentioned they very rarely have to go on 'sprints' in game so measuring their quickness is much harder too. 

[Bonzo 198]

47 minutes ago, Bethnal Yellow and Green said:

Well - according to WhoScored Hanley and Ajer both won 70% of their tackles and Gibson won 75%. Hanley also won 70% of his headers, Ajer 66% and Gibson 60%.

There is nothing there about their pace of course (although UEFA stated on their website that Grant Hanley's top speed at the Euro's was the same as Mbappe's).

Maybe most interesting, is the data on WyScout that shows that Ajer only wins about 50% of the 50/50s he is involved in and Hanley and Gibson both win about 66% of theirs. Which hints at the suggestions he isn't strong enough, or on the front foot enough in his defensive actions.

Obviously these basic numbers don't mean a huge amount out of context, but they certainly don't show Ajer has better stats than the existing defenders at Norwich. Use of stats is generally seen as not being particularly useful when identifying defenders as it is hard to measure the important things like positioning, decision making and concentration. 

 

 

https://www.whoscored.com/Players/321085/Show/Kristoffer-Ajer

https://www.whoscored.com/Players/86593/Show/Grant-Hanley

https://www.whoscored.com/Players/86458/Show/Ben-Gibson

Gibson .3 tackles per game

Hanley .9 tackles per game 

Ajer 1.3 tackles per game

 

 

[Nuff Said 5,092]

36 minutes ago, Ken Hairy said:

Ajer is a must sign imo, we're screaming out for a CB that fans want to play as a CDM instead....... 😏

Post of the week 🤣🤣🤣

[TheGunnShow 5,933]

39 minutes ago, Ken Hairy said:

Ajer is a must sign imo, we're screaming out for a CB that fans want to play as a CDM instead....... 😏

Hey, Sorensen, let's swap around! 🙂

[rock bus 850]

1 hour ago, king canary said:

Yeah I remember Ted Knutson (may have the name wrong?) who used to work for Brentford saying statistical analysis is much more difficult for central defenders and keepers than any other position. Difficult to put a stat on how well positioned a central defender is and you can even argue a defender who makes more tackles might actually be worse positionally. I remember Russell Martin used to get lots of praise for last ditch tackles when I decent amount of the situations only arose because he lost a header or was badly positioned.

This is a really good point.

I use to think exactly the same about Ben Godfrey - he was great at last ditch tackles and also using his incredible speed to get back and make a challenge - however that was often because he was having to make up for his own mistake - be that giving the ball away or being out of position in the first place.

I'd presume this is something he has improved and why doing so well at Everton

[OTBC06 39]

On 06/07/2021 at 13:48, Bethnal Yellow and Green said:

It is like if Norwich had the option to sign someone like Chris Woods - great striker, but just wouldn't suit Norwich's style so the club wouldn't be able to make the most of him.

A bit like RVW and our playing style at the time. Wonder how he would get on here now.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,557]

 

Ajer not in starting XI for Celtic in their friendly today. Although not sure that has too much relevance, think it is a given he's off this month.

 

[king canary 7,580]

15 minutes ago, OTBC06 said:

A bit like RVW and our playing style at the time. Wonder how he would get on here now.

Badly, he'd still get knocked off the ball every time a central defender challenged him.

[Beetehleets 9]

4 hours ago, Bethnal Yellow and Green said:

FYI Knutson is the person who owns the company that provides Norwich all their data. He use to do a regular podcast that was really fascinating on data in football, unfortunately it is rare now as he got in trouble with customers for giving away too much information. 

Do you remember the name of the podcast? It sounds interesting. 

[City fan 78]

Being reported in Glasgow that Celtic have identified a replacement for Ajer. So looks like he's leaving Celtic, but moving to which club? 

[shefcanary 2,389]

5 hours ago, TheGunnShow said:

Hey, Sorensen, let's swap around! 🙂

You may jest, but I think long term Sorensen may well end up as a CB!  He has an air of Bobby Moore about him!

[king canary 7,580]

1 hour ago, Beetehleets said:

Do you remember the name of the podcast? It sounds interesting. 

Statsbomb podcast I think.

[TheGunnShow 5,933]

38 minutes ago, shefcanary said:

You may jest, but I think long term Sorensen may well end up as a CB!  He has an air of Bobby Moore about him!

Not completely jesting, as he plays there for Denmark U21s. I can definitely see him there as well.

[hogesar 9,618]

3 hours ago, king canary said:

Badly, he'd still get knocked off the ball every time a central defender challenged him.

Thank god you posted this. The revisionism on here that RVW would be quality in a Farke side hugely overlooks all the things he was really, really bad at. That's not to say Hughtons style didn't make them even more apparent, but still.

[Somerset exile 4]

Ajer has been playing in Scotland where the standard of opposition is pretty poor. A number of star players from Scottish clubs have been underwelming when they have moved south of the border.

 I think that Tosin from Fulham could be a better option.

[Thingy 36]

We need a central defender who is dominant in the air and a strong defensive midfielder. Billing and Ajer are neither.