22 Dec 2014

Carra raves 'Amazing' £25m star could be the Prem's 'player of the year'. Agree?

Who is the Premier League's 'player of the season' so far? One thing's for sure, none of Liverpool's players are currently in the reckoning, but Anfield legend Jamie Carragher insists that Manchester United star David De Gea could be the first goalkeeper in almost 25 years to win the award.

In his column for the Daily Mail today, Carra hailed the £25m-rated Spaniard's 'amazing' performance against Liverpool, and tipped him to win the prestigious personal award:

"De Gea could be player of the year. He is now the [Premier League's] No 1, having just edged past Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois. If he maintains this consistency, it might be hard to overlook him".

As much as it pains me to admit, De Gea is having an excellent season for Man United, and he's big reason why Van Gaal's team are in the top four right now. That said, is he really more effective than Courtois?

* De Gea: 22 goals conceded in 17 games (1.3 per game)
* 5 clean sheets (29% of games)
* 50 saves (2.9 per game)

* Courtois: 14 goals conceded in 18 games (0.7 per game)
* 8 clean sheets (45% of games)
* 32 saves (2.1 per game)

In my view, Carra is vastly overstating De Gea's ability and impact. How can he be the best if he concedes more goals in LESS games, and (on average) achieves fewer clean sheets?

It's like arguing that Graziano Pelle is a better striker than Sergio Aguero, i.e. totally inaccurate. Pelle has scored some goals this season, but when it comes to numbers, Aguero is clearly the more effective goalscorer.

Courtois is clearly the more effective goalkeeper. Even allowing for Chelsea's superior defence, conceding only 14 goals in 18 games is superb, and is a mark of the Belgian's current superiority.

How does De Gea compare with Simon Mignolet? Actually, let's not go there...

Author:


28 comments:

  1. If it's the year for goalkeepers we've got a couple of candidates

    ReplyDelete
  2. Both are good keepers. De Gea has had tons more shots to deal with than Courtois, so I suppose a better statistic would be shots per goal rather than goals per game. However, on the flip side I would also argue that many of the shots De Gea has stopped have been straight at him.


    Courtois gets my vote, but De Gea is up there.


    On a side note, I hope Courtois gets that ego in check... It's bugged me everytime he says something in public

    ReplyDelete
  3. i feel like De Gea is better than Courtois right now, i haven't heard of Courtois making point winning saves yet it seems De Gea does that every game and Not You is correct De Gea has such a shaky back four/three compared to the vastly stronger defensive unit Chelsea has. #YNWA

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fully agree. The goals per game stat is the tiniest part of the picture if any at all.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jamie - like your view on Dagger not belonging in LFC (replaced by the great Lovren), I don't understand this defence analysis of yours. Goals per game is surely not the most relevant factor - what about saves? And more importantly De Gea has regrettably won a lot of points for ManU with critical saves in narrow wins. Chelsea has not needed that

    ReplyDelete
  6. I honestly in my opinion think you place far too much value on statistics


    The best player in the league are Hazard and Augero
    but because Augeros always injured player of the year is Eden Hazard

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yeah but Courtois has
    Ivanovic,Cahill,Terry,Dave


    De gea has Paddy mcnair,Blackett,Smalling,Jones




    i know the stats are based on shots per save or whatever
    but i am sure most of de geas were point blank whiel courtois more efoorts liek emre cans ones which are hopeful shots

    ReplyDelete
  8. Not so long ago you told us jones wasnt shite, with all sorts of stats to back it up. 2 games, 8 shots & 5 goals would suggest different

    ReplyDelete
  9. It gives a team like M U an awful lot of bravado in how they play if the defense have great confidence that any f*** up they do will result in heroics from their goalie......


    Strength stemming from the back ie. goalie is what they had for years when they ruled. I'm pretty sure brendan had that in mind when buying Mignolet.... only to have the guy let him down spectacularly.


    with DeGea or cortois we would be absolutely flying right now, because they would have given the defense enough leeway to adjust to the new arrivals of which in some games we've had three out of four new recruits.


    ....if only.....

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think Courtois is bested only by Neuer in world football, at the moment.

    De Gea is excellent though. I think the idea that it is impossible for De Gea to be considered 'the best' of the two because he has conceded more is a major oversimplification. De Gea has played behind an ill-advised back 3 and a patchwork defence including Carrick, Blind, McNair and Blackett. Courtois has came in and replaced Cech behind the most solid defensive unit (5 of them, including Matic) in English football.

    There was a good stat on MNF the other week. It showed the importance of De Gea to United. After our game against United, we led the lead with 'defensive errors leading to shots'. We had 21. Man United were third in the league with 15. Of the 21 errors we made, 6 resulted in goals. That was the second most in the league Of the 15 errors United made, they conceded 1 goal, which was the least in the league.

    I think Courtois is the better 'keeper, but De Gea is far more important to Man United than Courtois is to Chelsea.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Also, I take issue with the idea that Aguero is a more effective goalscorer than Pelle purely because he has scored more goals. Is Charlie Austin a more effective goalscorer than Robin van Persie? Berahino a safer bet than Rooney?

    ReplyDelete
  12. You really need to stop comparing keepers with such black and white statistics. De Gea is playing behind of a horrendous backline.

    ReplyDelete
  13. exactly you get it

    ReplyDelete
  14. You really need to stop using such black and white statistics. De Gea is playing behind a horrendous defense.

    ReplyDelete
  15. You said it. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  16. The stats are not exactly helpful here... De Gea is working 10x harder than Courtois, so much so that Utd would be in serious trouble without him, he is the difference between 3pts and 0pts... Not the case with Courtois at all...
    I hope LFC can pull their finger out and sign us one of those sort of GK's.. Long before LFC were even mentioned in the same sentance as Perin, I stated how much I like this kid and that I wish we would buy him, fingers welded togther, we do just that in January....

    ReplyDelete
  17. if Austin has more goals than Van Persie *this season* then yes, he is a more effective goalscorer. That doesn't mean he's a better player overall, just more effective at this moment in time.

    Austin has 11 goals vs. RVP's 7, and he's playing in a vastly inferior team. As such, he is clearly a more effective goalscorer. That may change by the end of the season, but right now, in the context of the Premier League, Austin has more goals, thus he is more effective. I don't see how that's arguable.

    Re Rooney and Berahino - they player different positions, so not really comparable. One is an out-and-out striker, the other usually plays deeper.

    ReplyDelete
  18. .... Read again :D


    That's the point I'm trying to make.
    Stats only tell part of the story. Goals per game ignore the quantity of shots, goals per shots on target ignore the quality of shots. The defense itself isn't directly relevant, but it does skew almost every single stat.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Terry McDermotts perm10:39 pm, December 22, 2014

    Im not denying de gea is playing very well for a second, but I do think its a bit like the emperors new cloths with him. After the Liverpool game everyone was saying how great he played. The truth is its easy to look good as a keeper when every shot is straight at you.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  20. I would have to agree in this instance that Austin has been a more effective goal scorer so far this season, but goals alone is a terrible stat.


    Goals per game, mins per goal, shots per goal, shot accuracy, goal involvement stats (including key passes and assists) all are more telling statistics than just 11 goals vs 7 goals.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I'm not suggesting that goals alone is the only stat to use when assessing goalscorers. A striker's primary role is to score goals, therefore, goal ratio is the primary stat used to assess effectiveness.

    Sorry, but that that irrefutable. All the other stats you mentioned can be used to build up a clearer picture, but goals-scored is the main stat for strikers.

    Look up any comparative analysis of strikers in an form of media, and the first stat cited will always be goals-scored, not shots-per-goal, key passes etc.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid decision. We don't need Origi right now. Daniel Sturridge is returning soon and Balo is already fit. The two together I believe will solve our striker problems. Absolute waste of time and money to bring back Origi so early, it's basically telling him ''Ok, we're in trouble right now, solve our losing problems''. Except the reason we are losing will have nothing to do with goals being scored anymore. Dan+Mario will be more than enough yo solve our problems, I guarantee it. Sign a world class defender damnit, try for Hummels, Leandro Castan hell even Bonucci. Anything to solve our defending problems. BR is much known for developing players, but when it comes to the transfer part of things, I'd rather be blindfolded and throw darts on a board to decide our next player.

    ReplyDelete
  23. What is your source for this information, as Didi Hamman says FSG pulled out of the Remy deal,because his agent was looking for extortionate fee's. ??????

    ReplyDelete
  24. So, you pay these guys Millions upon Millions, and then have to show them how to do their job, gimme a break.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Last time I checked, Orogi had not scored in TEN games. We have spent enough on him already.

    ReplyDelete
  26. No source, it's my guess.


    Didi Hamman didn't give an explanation why Remi was flown to USA, kept there for few days, before settling financials. Also, what you are saying if true, that makes it even bad - if a player's agent asks for a last minute price hike, you break the deal & make it public. It's a good enough reason not to go for the player.


    BUT THEN, why this failed medical drama? If Didi is right, then I am relieved that Remi didn't go to Court - you are putting an allegation to a professional player on his fitness, because his agent was looking for a fee that's according to you isn't justified.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Unfortunately it seems so, but that's a reason why we have coaches anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  28. If he came in now, all eyes would be on him to take the responsibility Sturridge and Balotelli should be taking. Yes I include Sturridge. He knows his injury history, he should have retired from England duty after the world cup. Origi is a very talented player but he is not going to score 20 goals in his first six months in the Premier League. He's off the boil now and I think all of this has to do with the ridiculous deal that we have with Lille but it was of their asking and they can deal with the consequences now. When he comes in next summer, give him another year to fully develop and then watch him bang in the goals for fun. I don't expect the true value of this deal before 2016/2017

    ReplyDelete