Two big name players, £100m worth of talent if tabloids are to be believed. But every Manchester United fan knows that no player is bigger than the club, and hence so some of them would probably understand if Fergie cashed in on Ronaldo and let Tevez go this summer.
The overriding question is whetheror not United really need Ronaldo and Tevez.
In the first part of this article I focus on Tevez, the underlying points of contention are:
1) Whether or not United really need him.
2) Is he worth £32m?
3) Is he right when demanding more playing time?
In the league this season, United scored 68 goals, conceded 24 and had a goal difference of 44. That was exactly equal to Chelsea and nine goals less than Liverpool who conceded three more goals the champions. So on the domestic front, United weren't the top scorers, and on a European stage, we were nowhere near Barcelona's 105 goals.
#Goals Player / PL Rank
18 Ronaldo - 2
12 Rooney - 10(=6th)
9 Berbatov - 26(=25th)
5 Tevez - 62
4 Carrick - 67
4 Vidic - 82
3 Fletcher - 98
2 Giggs - 133
2 Macheda - 140
2 Park - 148
2 Scholes - 151
Of the 68 goals, Ronaldo scored 18, Rooney 12, Berbatov nine and Tevez five.
That's 64.7% of United's goals from the FAB FOUR.
That's 44 of 68 goals from 4 players. The rest of our squad only scored 15 goals.
The next top scorers are Carrick & Vidic with four a piece, Fletcher (3), then Park, Scholes, Giggs and Macheda all on two.
Tevez has contributed 7.35% of United's League goals, compared with Ronaldo's 26.4%, Rooney's 17.65%, and Berbatov's 13.23%.
Looking at league assists, Tevez fares no better, having made only 3 League assists all season, placing him 9th in United's tally and 109th in the League rankings.
That list reads:
# Assists / PL Rank
10 Berbatov - 2
8 Giggs - 12
7 Carrick - 21
7 Rooney - 26
6 Ronaldo - 31
3 O'Shea - 106
3 Park - 107
3 Tevez - 109
2 Evra - 131
2 Scholes - 164
Player % Goals .........Player % Assists
Ronaldo 26.4%.................Berbatov 18.18%
Rooney 17.65%.................Rooney 12.73%
Berbatov 13.23%..............Ronaldo 10.91%
Tevez 7.35%......................Tevez 5.45%
Being ranked 4th in both % Goals and % Assists simply isn't good enough. Yes, he's competing against some of the best players in the world, but if he wants to command a comparable wage, and his "rights owners" want to command a comparable transfer fee, surly his output in the most important domestic club competition has to match.
There's no use him outshining the performances of Welbeck and Macheda, because he's not being compared to a pair of in-experienced teenagers, he should be matching the output of Rooney at least, as he is so often compared to the man who shares a similar, all-action style.
Instead, he's lagging behind by a clear 10% on goals, and 7 % on assists, which in real terms equates to 7 goals behind and 4 assists adrift.
Those who argue for Tevez, and that he scores "important goals" and is a "vital cog" in the Man United machine, the stats prove otherwise.
The Premier League's statistics house, ACTIM(R), analyse all objective measures of a players game, and rank them accordingly, including stats on ground coverage, distance run, touches, completed and uncompleted passes, shots on target, shots off target, tackles, saves, clearances, headers etc. Interestingly, ACTIM(R) don't rank Tevez inside their top 100 Premier League players, United have 10 players inside the top 100, as follows.
ACTIM INDEX
ACTIM Rank / Player Points
4 Berbatov - 586
10 Vidic - 540
11 Ronaldo - 517
15 Van Der Sar - 481
36 Rooney - 423
69 Evra - 369
77 Carrick - 357
78 O'Shea - 356
86 Ferdinand - 343
88 Fletcher - 343
90 Giggs - 342
This shows that Tevez, isn't as effective on the pitch as his team-mates, and even if he is just outside the top 100, he'd be on a maximum of 322 points, a whopping 264 points behind United's most effective player, Berbatov and 20 points behind Giggs. True, he's had a slight disadvantage in the time stakes, but in the big games, when he's had the chance to shine, he's been remarkably, and disappointingly quiet.
No doubt his all-action style endears him to the fans, but the club pays for efficiency, and is usually not very lenient on players who waste chances and don't "toe the party line".
By Vishnu Chari
Lies, damn lies and Actim Stats.
ReplyDeletedude, it's a exhaustive collection but reduce the stats and put in more text. Or change the title. Nice work!
ReplyDeletewhat a pointless article. the fact will always remain, tevez was simply better than berbatov in both players first seasons at united as preferred starters.
ReplyDeletetevez has also scored 15 goals this season (hes had far less league games than berbatov so of course he's gonna score a few less!), but in all competitions tevez has scored MORE GOALS than berbatov despite being 3rd choice. he's scored BIG goals in important games for united consistently.
fergie dropped berbatov to the bench for the most improtant games of the season in the competition he wants to win most and the one berbatov was signed to help united retain, that says it all. he wasnt even first choice coming off the bench either. no way either player is worth £32m, but this whole business of trying to make out tevez isnt good enough for united while berbatov supposedly is just a whole load of crap to be frank.
i cant believe tht these statistics are just being let by and are used as evidence to comment on Tevez's performance.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all regarding the PL stats, if we were to use playing time to calculate the goal %, ie say how many goals scored every 90 mins. then we will see those numbers change dramatically coz many of Tevez's appearances havent been the full 90 mins whereas Rooney, Berbatov, and Ronaldo have played pretty much 90 mins every time they have started.
Second of all we have realized that United scored a majority of its goals in the first half especially the matches which we have won, so automatically the no of potential assists for Tevez goes down especially in the light of the fact that there is no urgency to score goals.
Using these stats to compare with Rooney and others is senseless. Also the games that Tevez has started have generally been those in which the other better players have been rested which means he doesnt have the same quality around him as he had last year when he was in prolific form.
Thirdly, saying that he isnt toeing the managers line is a bit harsh especially since the club has no line ie are we signing him or not, if there is clarity he wouldnt be given the opportunity to open his mouth against the club, but still that is no justification for him to go to the press.
Numbers can be manipulated in any way u you want but this just sheer absurdity.
And the article never answered the question about is he right in demanding more playing time which just goes to show these stats are no basis to judge that.
In fact what should be seen is the no of goals per unit of time say 0 mins and no of goals scored per 90 mins of first half time only then these stats can mean something.
How many times has it been that the subs are brought on in the 2nd half when the game has already been decided.
Whatever else maybe the reason to debate whether Tevez deserves more time or not and whether he should stay or not these stats shouldnt be one of them.
Hmmm, shouldnt you take into account the number of games they started? From the statistics at ESPN Soccernet, Tevez had 15 goals and 6 assists from 35 starts, whereas Berbatov had 14 goals and 9 assists from 36 starts (excluding internationals).If we are only talking about PL games, dont foreget that Berbatov started 29 games where Tevez started only 18 games. Of course there are many other factors in play but personally i dont think Tevez is as bad as you made him out to be.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, shouldnt you take into account the number of games they started? From the statistics at ESPN Soccernet, Tevez had 15 goals and 6 assists from 35 starts, whereas Berbatov had 14 goals and 9 assists from 36 starts (excluding internationals). If we are only talking about PL games, dont foreget that Berbatov started 29 games where Tevez started only 18 games. Of course there are many other factors in play but personally i dont think Tevez is as bad as you made him out to be.
ReplyDeleteTevez had twice the impact that Berbatov did, just look at the teams that Berbatov got his goals against. Manchester United should keep Tevez and trade Berbatov in for Benzemas left leg.
ReplyDelete