Introduction
Due to the particularity of the goalkeeper position, many clubs tend to ignore the problem of this position in their signing plans. Modern goalkeepers must master the skills of long and short passes while completing their own work. Guardiola's criteria for choosing a goalkeeper fits this point, and Joe Hart was replaced by Edson because of his rough foot technique.
Although Everton had a good start to the 2020/21 season, the performance of Pickford really disappointed Toffee fans. The England's number one goalkeeper has always attracted attention, but his repeated low-level errors made Ancelotti and a headache. A good example is that in the Merseyside derby against Liverpool this season, he directly gave Liverpool a chance to score because of his handling of high-altitude ball errors.
Maybe Ancelotti is considering whether he should find a replacement for Pickford. In this article, we will select a similar replacement for Everton from goalkeepers with similar styles. Finally, we will compare the data of these goalkeepers. A shortlist of three was selected, and the final choice still depends on Ancelotti.
Why Everton needs to choose a replacement for Pickford
Everton has been worried that Pickford’s low-level errors will bring hidden dangers to the team’s defensive end, so they signed the former Rome goalkeeper Robin O Elson competed with Pickford. Pickford often made some low-level mistakes in the initial stage of the new season, and these mistakes also made the team's defense suffer.
In the game against Brentford in Everton above, when the opponent dropped the ball into the penalty area, Pickford was in a good position, and the opponent forward did not give him any pressure. However, Pickford hit the ball directly to the opposing forward, who easily sent the ball into the empty goal.
Pickford’s weakness in handling high-altitude balls has repeatedly appeared many times, which can no longer be attributed to the category of technical errors. As shown in the picture above, Everton played against Fleetwood. Pickford received the ball under pressure from the opposing forward. Although this is not easy for the British goalkeeper, he still has a better way to deal with this situation. For Pickford, the safest way is to clear the ball as soon as possible, but on the contrary, he still tries to get rid of the opponent's forward by dribbling. The result can be imagined.
Sweden goalkeeper Olsen
Everton tried to put pressure on Pickford by introducing Sweden international Robin Olsen, so as to try to make him reduce these stupid mistakes. But from the actual situation, this approach did not work, and Olsen was only a temporary measure to solve the Pickford problem for Everton.
The figure above compares the data of Olsen and Pickford this season. As we have seen, Pickford did a better job defensively and he conceded very few goals. Pickford has a larger percentage of strikes, which means he chose more shots than Olsen. In general, Olsen is a good goalkeeper, and Pickford is better in attacking. Data comparison of
Before starting the analysis, because our scope of consideration will be limited to those high-level goalkeepers and goalkeepers with rich experience in the top league, our data only includes goalkeepers from the top five European leagues; if we want to Looking for a permanent replacement for Pickford, age is one of the issues we need to consider. Since the peak age of a goalkeeper is about 34 years old, we only consider goalkeepers under 32 to ensure that he is in The rising period of his career may be at its peak; since Everton does not want to spend too much money to upgrade the goalkeeper position, and considering that the market price of Pickford is about 27 million pounds, we set The value cap of 40 million pounds; at the same time, in order to ensure that the data we analyze will not produce false results due to the game time of certain goalkeepers, our data will only include 2019/20A goalkeeper who has played more than 1,600 minutes during the season. After
determined the above-mentioned data analysis standards, we got the following three charts of the shortlisted comparison data list. These charts will tell us which goalkeepers are closer to Pickford in terms of playing style (people who are similar in one area are marked in orange, and those who are similar in two areas are marked in green).
The above chart compares the number of passes and the success rate of all goalkeepers per 90 minutes. Although passing accuracy is important for modern goalkeepers, it does not reflect the goalkeeper's playing style, so we only observed players with similar passes per 90 minutes. Pickford can contribute 18.66 passes per 90 minutes, with a completion rate of 81.51%. Alban Lafon seems to be closest to Pickford in this stat. The Fiorentina goalkeeper, who has been loaned to Nantes in the new season, has 18.34 passes per 90 minutes and a completion rate of 82.09%. Lafon is one of the youngest players among all the goalkeepers investigated. The 21-year-old has performed very well in Nantes this season. At the same time, he has also played 9 times for the French U21 team. The goalkeeper Dragovsky, who also played for Fiorentina, was one of the best young goalkeepers in Serie A last season. He made 18.87 passes per 90 minutes, but his completion rate was only 78.14%.
Fiorentina goalkeeper Lafon
Sampdoria’s Odro performed better than Pickford in terms of passing statistics. Although his 18.51 passes per 90 minutes are almost the same as Pickford’s, he The pass success rate (87.90%) is much higher than Pickford. Atalanta's goalkeeper Grini and Lyon's goalkeeper Anthony Lopez have more passes than Pickford, and Lopez's pass success rate is as high as 92.54%.
The next data we will compare is the success rate of all goalkeepers and their average pass length. Coincidentally, Olsen's data is very close to Pickford. Pickford’s pass success rate is 55.60%, while Olsen’s pass success rate is 55.40%; Pickford’s average pass length is 45.80 meters, while Olsen’s average pass length is 45.10 meters. Everton seems to have signed Olsen based on Pickford's template, and the comparative data also proves this. Z4z
La Liga Celta goalkeeper Branco
Atalanta's Cranio got the opportunity to play for the Italian national team in the 2019/20 season. This Cagliari goalkeeper has a pass success rate of 51.60%, with an average pass. The length is 40.70 meters. The goalkeeper Ruben Blanco, who played for La Liga Celta, also has close statistics with Pickford, with a pass success rate of 53.90%.
The last chart we want to compare is the passing tendency of all goalkeepers. Pickford's passes accounted for 32.42% of horizontal passes, while short or medium and long passes accounted for 47.64%. Martin Dubravka, who also played in the Premier League with Pickford, also has a similar passing tendency. 50.84% of his passes came from short or medium-to-long passes, and 34.25% came from lateral passes. From Dubravka’s data, it can be seen that he was the most in the Premier League in recent seasons. One of the underrated goalkeepers.
Newcastle goalkeeper Dubravka
The 29-year-old goalkeeper Aite Fernandez from Levante is one of the best goalkeepers in Europe this season. His passing style is very similar to Pickford. 51.39% of the Spanish goalkeeper's passes came from lateral passes, and the proportion of short or medium and long passes reached 29.90%. Leipzig’s Hungarian goalkeeper Gurać has greatly improved after leaving Liverpool. He also has a passing tendency similar to Pickford. 27.47% of his passes are from lateral passes and short passes. Or the proportion of medium and long passes reached 51%.
's best-performing goalkeeper
Next we will compare the data to find out the best-performing goalkeeper this season. The first chart below shows that each goalkeeper has scored higher/lower than expected (PS xG+/-) per 90 minutes and how difficult they are to shoot.How big is the degree (PS-xG-per-shot-in-target).
Dubravka faced most of the difficult games, his PSXG/SoT reached 0.34, and he was expected to concede 0.26 goals per 90 minutes. Newcastle's weak defense means he has more opportunities to make a lot of wonderful saves. At the same time, Southampton’s Alex McCarthy faced a more difficult shot (0.36), but his conceded goal per 90 minutes was expected to be 0.23. These two players also played a very key role on the defensive end of the team.
Jordi Masip from Villarreal in La Liga is an experienced goalkeeper. The 31-year-old goalkeeper is facing more than average shooting difficulties, and he is only expected to concede goals per 90 minutes. There is 0.18. The statistics of Gulac and Sells are also above average. Both goalkeepers have conceded more than expected, but the difficulty of shooting is lower than average. Fernandez’s PSXG/SoT is 0.27, and his expected goal per 90 minutes is 0.23. Cagliari’s Cranio is expected to concede the same goals per 90 minutes as Fernández, but he faces a less difficult shot (0.26).
The next chart we want to compare is the number of saves and the success rate of each goalkeeper every 90 minutes. Both of Dragowski's statistics are far above the average of the sample. He can send 6.33 saves every 90 minutes, with a success rate of 76.79%. Z4z
Cagliari goalkeeper Cranio
Cranio once again showed how good he is in this data comparison. The Italian was able to contribute 5.17 saves every 90 minutes in the 2019/20 season. His excellent prediction and quick response kept his save success rate at 74.41%. Z26z Udinese goalkeeper Musso’s statistics are very similar to him. Although he only made 5.05 saves per 90 minutes, his save success rate reached 74.52%, while both Lafon and Grilli’s save success rates It is above average.
The sweeping ability is an important technique that modern goalkeepers should have, and the next data we want to compare is the proportion of all goalkeepers preventing crosses and the number of attempts per 90 minutes. Atalanta's goalkeeper Spottiero prevented 12.1% of the opponent's crosses in the 2019/20 season. At the same time, his ability to contribute 1.2 clearances per 90 minutes from outside the penalty area also shows his confidence. Gulac's 1.5 clearances per 90 minutes are equally impressive. Z4z
Atlantique goalkeeper Spottiero
Lille's French goalkeeper Meignan stood out in this data comparison. He was confident in intercepting the opponent's cross without leaving the penalty area. , the 25-year-old goalkeeper prevented the opponent's crosses from reaching 11.5%. He is very good at using his 1.91m height advantage to control the ball in the air. Greene's statistics in both areas are above average. He can contribute 1.15 clearances per minute, while preventing the opponent's crosses from reaching 7.2%.
The above chart contains the best goalkeepers in this segment, and they are also very similar to Pickford's current playing style. Among them, we can see that Lafon and Pickford are the most similar, while Craignor and Pickford are the most different. The final list of
finally we screened out a three-person candidate list, and Ancelotti can choose Pickford’s replacement according to his needs.
Meignan-Lille
The 25-year-old goalkeeper Meignan, who was once selected for the French national team, is in the ascent of his career. He played for the French team for the first time in a friendly match with Ukraine in 2020. This season, Meignan has conceded only 3 goals in the 8 games he has participated in. He is currently worth only 18 million pounds. From the perspective of cost performance and potential, he is very promising.Can replace and challenge Pickford's starting position.
Greeni-Atlanta
This Atalanta's Italian gate will have a failed British time from 2016 to 2018 at Aston Villa, but he won his first chance to play for the Italian national team in 2019. . Greene has experience in the Premier League, which may allow him to adapt to the rhythm of the Premier League faster than the other two goalkeepers on the shortlist. Greene's worth is about 15 million pounds, which is a relatively cost-effective choice for a goalkeeper who has not yet reached his peak. Greene will form a strong competitive relationship with Pickford in the goalkeeper position, rather than directly replacing him, which is a positive choice for Everton and Pickford.
Cranio Cagliari
The 26-year-old Italian goalkeeper has always been associated with Rome and Inter. Although he has been injured in the first half of the 2019/20 season, his good performance this season has given him the opportunity to play for the Italian national team in 2020. Cranio’s valuation is the same as that of Meignan, at only 18 million pounds. He is also another cost-effective choice for Everton. Cranio is about to enter the peak of his career, he is also eager to transfer to a more powerful club to prove himself.
Conclusion
Through the above analysis, we are sure that although Ancelotti has not put the plan to replace Pickford on the agenda for the time being, if Pickford’s poor performance does not change in the next game, maybe Celotti will speed up this plan, and he has many options. Although England coach Southgate still trusts this England goal at the peak of his career, Pickford needs to work harder to win Ancelotti’s trust. Only in this way can he continue his presence. Toffee career.
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