Perfect 🤩

Brian Brobbey is the best target man in the Premier League this season

When Sunderland go long from their own half and he gets to the ball first, they keep it 79% of the time. The average for forwards is 53%. Calvert-Lewin, who wins far more long balls, is at 53%, Delap at 38%

The Massey power rating is now on markstats.club

It is 75% xG and 25% goals, adjusted for opponent strength. The rating is most useful at the start of a season, and it has historically predicted future results better than raw xG difference

Every big club gives up the ball once it leads.

The difference is what they do with the ball they keep: some start passing longer, others keep it short. Whether that depends on the opponent. Man City are the only "big" PL side whose passes get shorter when they are ahead

Liverpool passed or carried the ball into the "danger area" near Arsenal’s goal 26 times, compared with 8.3 on average for Arsenal’s opponents under Arteta. Since 2024, only one team has had more than Liverpool against Arsenal

If Liverpool had someone more competent than Kerkez and Wirtz on the pitch today, they'd be winning this first half

The first half played out pretty much exactly how Iraola would have wanted it: mostly end-to-end football with tons of turnovers.

Funny how Arsenal capitalized on that, not Liverpool

DeFeNsIvE mAsTeRcLaSs from Hürzeler 🤣

Manchester United have sacked managers for less than this.

After nine league games this season, Carrick’s United have 7 points, averaging 0.78 per game. Solskjær averaged 1.11 points per game in his final nine games, Ten Hag averaged 1.22, Mourinho and Amorim - over 1.4

Barcelona’s opponents complete 75% of their passes in build-up

Today, Real Madrid’s accuracy in a neutral game state (at 0-0 and 1-1) was 87.6% 👏

Looking at all of Barcelona’s matches under Flick, only two opponents have managed to surpass that figure

Brighton were Iraoled. Their 85% overall build-up completion looks calm, but two early goals flatter it. Before the 2-0, under Liverpool's press, they completed 75%, about what the average Liverpool opponent manages

Last season Chelsea were in the 83rd percentile of the Premier League for attack and the 78th for defence. This season they have fallen to the 41st and the 46th.

Yes, you can now download any team comparison on markstats.club as an image

Spurs were the better side in the first half, but Chelsea pressed less aggressively in the second. Spurs still had 67% possession, but at 0-0 after break, they were no longer creating more chances. Chelsea conceded from a corner just as the game was becoming more balanced

Arsenal were well prepared for Bayern’s press. Playing long and dropping Ødegaard deeper gave them a way out. They lost the ball near their own goal just 12 times, vs with an average of 26 for Bayern’s opponents. Bayern were forced to let Arsenal control possession and territory

To illustrate my previous tweet. Premier League npxGD and npGD: 25/26 from Carrick’s appointment vs 26/27 so far. United’s npGD per game: +0.94 → −0.14, with npxGD flat (+0.37 → +0.36)

Man Utd’s underlying numbers under Carrick haven’t changed at all.

25/26: +0.37 npxGD per game
26/27: +0.36

Their goal difference has:
25/26: +0.94 npGD per game
26/27: −0.14

Last season the finishing and keeping were running hot. This season it’s the other way round

United spent almost the entire first half in a negative game state, with just 36% possession.

Como keeps the ball with ease, and United can’t win it back. No surprise: only 9 teams in Europe’s top five leagues force fewer turnovers in the opponent’s danger zone than Man United

Como beating/dominating Manchester United in 2026 should actually be considered normal, if you've followed those clubs 😭

FC Risk Aversion

“Winning the title will help Arsenal shake off the pressure and play fluid football,” they said