Written by Matt Stevenson
Here is the xG from the Leicester game. The first chance happened in front of the AFCB fans with Senesi heading wide from a reasonably good chance (1 in 9). We always looked the better team, but Leicester scored in the 15th minute, poor communication between Kerkez and Tavernier allowed Buonanotte to run at Senesi, he dropped a shoulder and then fired a shot which gave Kepa no chance (rated 1 in 4). It was a poor goal to concede although this doesn’t detract from the finish. We had a few minor chances the best being an effort from Semenyo (1 in 5) that was blocked and a shot from Tavernier (1 in 8) that was wide. Leicester were understandably trying to slow the game down as much as possible and counterattack. They managed to get Vardy in who dragged an effort poorly wide (2 in 5) and it would have been a close VAR call should he have scored. The first half petered out and the xG at half time, was Leicester 0.76 AFCB 0.61. As an aside, there may have been a strong penalty shout against Zabarnyi, from comments on the forum, but I couldn’t see this clearly within the ground.
The second half was all attack against defence, with Leicester having a token effort in the 86th minute. In the 48th minute, Zabarnyi had a free header (1 in 8) that hit the post, and shortly after Christie forced a good save (1 in 10) and from the corner, Ouattara headed wide (1 in 4). Our largest rated chance (45%) fell to Ouattara although Sinisterra’s chipped cross was slightly too high and Ouattara hit the bar. The chances were only minor with Leicester defending well until added on time when Unal had two chances – the first (1 in 8) was put wide, as was an even better chance (3 in 10) from inside the six-yard box. The final xG was Leicester 0.79 AFCB 2.16. Understat also had AFCB in front, at 0.91 vs 1.95, but on a different day AFCB could have won this comfortably. These values were more in AFCB’s favour than the recent 3-1 win against Southampton.
Man of the match against LeicesterSemenyo
Cook
Zabarnyi
Christie
Senesi
Sinisterra
Scott
Someone else
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There was 1 change to the team who beat Southampton as Kluivert came in for Ouattara. The shape was as expected, with Kerkez (3) playing the most advanced of the defensive line, level with Cook (4) and Christie (10). The wide men, Semenyo (24) and Tavernier (16) both played high, with Evanilson (9) sometimes isolated up front. The average positions can be misleading due to the number of changes that happened in the game. At half-time, Ouattara (11) came on for Kluivert (19) with Tavernier switching to a central attacking midfielder role and Ouattara playing left-sided. On 63 minutes, Iraola replaced both full backs with attacking players. Scott (8) replaced Smith (15) with Cook (4) moving to right back and Scott playing centre midfield and Sinisterra (19) replaced Kerkez (3) with Ouattara dropping to left back. After 74 minutes, Unal (26) replaced Christie (10) and we may have played two up top. In the 81st minute, Brooks (7) replaced Evanilson (9) and played on the right, with Semenyo (26) probably being shifted inside. The final three subs all had an average position close to, or inside, the final third as AFCB piled on the pressure.
Senesi attempted the most passes with 60, Cook attempted the most in the opposition’s half (29) with Semenyo attempted the most in the final third with 15. We averaged 81% pass completion. Zabarnyi (93%), Kerkez (90%), Smith (88%) and Senesi (88%) had the highest percentage of completed passes of the starting 11. Evanilson only had 44% completion rate.
AFCB players were tackled 14 times with Tavernier tackled 5 times.
AFCB had 33 touches in the opposition’s penalty area with Semenyo having 8. 11 of our players had touches in Leicester’s box. Leicester had 8 touches in our penalty area.
We had 17 attempts (3 big) noting that chances can be provided after saves, deflections or a defensive error and not created. We hit the target twice. Leicester had 6 attempts, 2 big, and hit the target twice. Semenyo and Evanilson had 3 attempts each, with the big chances falling to Ouattara (2) and Zabarnyi (1).
AFCB won 22 of 28 tackles. Both Cook and Semenyo won 4 out of 5.
The foul count was AFCB 14, Leicester 11. Senesi made most fouls (4). Both Kerkez and Senesi were fouled twice.
According to Opta, AFCB made no errors leading to a chance
Your say…
northstandmark
Wow. I knew our xG would have been reasonable, level if not nudging above Leicester. But that’s more pronounced than I thought it’d be. Nicely underscores the issue.
I thought that early header was a better chance than 1 in 9 as well. – To join the conversation, click here.