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Tuesday, April 21, 2020 at 23:39
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“This is how football works”, a level-headed Dusan Tadic replied last week in conversation with Ajax Life. He answered a question from a supporter of Ajax through the fanzine, who was curious whether Tadic is not tired of the “nagging” about his current form compared to last season. “Different people have different opinions. I am still the most valuable player in the Eredivisie and create the most opportunities, ”he added.
By Dominic Mostert
It was a strikingly honest answer from the striker, who scored two more visits to sc Heerenveen (1-3) in the last game before the stop of the Eredivisie. “Okay, there is always room for improvement. The most important thing is that as a player you do everything to perform with your team ”, Tadic finally emphasized. The regular doesn’t seem to care so much about the opinion of the outside world. And those looking at the statistics note that Tadic’s statements are certainly defendable. The captain of Ajax is not as productive as last season, but many strikers dream of the figures he provides this season.
Most Valuable Players, or MVPsare usually crowned via the sum of the number of goals and assists. With 11 goals, Tadic is not the most prolific player in the Eredivisie – Quincy Promes, Tim Matavz (both 12), Oussama Idrissi (13), Myron Boadu, Bryan Linssen (both 14), Steven Berghuis and Cyriel Dessers (both 15) made more – but no one can match the number of assists he provided. As Tadic prepared 14 hits, he was involved in 25 goals this season. Berghuis is the closest to that: Feyenoord’s tastemaker played a leading role in 22 goals. Cyriel Dessers and Myron Boadu are the only other players in the 20.
The MVPs of the Eredivisie in 2019/20
PLAYER | CLUB | GOALS | ASSISTS | TOTAL |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dusan Tadic | Ajax | 11 | 14 | 25 |
Steven Berghuis | Feyenoord | 15 | 7 | 22 |
Cyriel Dessers | Heracles Almelo | 15 | 5 | 20 |
Myron Boadu | AZ | 14 | 6 | 20 |
Bryan Linssen | Vitesse | 14 | 5 | 19 |
Hakim Ziyech | Ajax | 6 | 12 | 18 |
Gyrano Church | FC Utrecht | 10 | 7 | 17 |
Oussama Idrissi | AZ | 13 | 3 | 16 | Quincy Promes | Ajax | 12 | 4 | 16 |
Tim Matavz | Vitesse | 12 | 4 | 16 |
Statistics can be biased. It is valuable to also consider the number of minutes played, in order to check whether Tadic also scores well in relative terms. That appears to be the case: on average every 87 minutes he is involved in a goal. Of all the Eredivisie players who had at least 1000 playing minutes this season, he performs best. Steven Bergwijn, who has since left the Eredivisie, comes close: he was involved in a goal every 89 minutes on behalf of PSV. For Hakim Ziyech, Tadic’s teammate at Ajax, this is the case every 90 minutes; furthermore, in the Eredivisie only Quincy Promes (93 minutes) remains below the limit of 100 minutes.
“And I create the most opportunities,” said Tadic. That’s right, and the competition remains far from sight. Tadic created 91 opportunities this season according to data from Opta; Ziyech (77) and Berghuis (63) follow at an appropriate distance and complete the top three. The difference is all the more striking when one realizes that Tadic rarely takes care of corners and free kicks at Ajax. For example, he took 20 corners this season, while Ziyech (93) and Berghuis (90) lead the Eredivisie when it comes to the number of corners taken. Taking care of standard situations offers players additional opportunities to create opportunities. But that way Tadic only did that 8 times; as many as 26 players more often created opportunities from standard situations. But when looking purely at the opportunities created from open play, Tadic stands head and shoulders above it: 83 chances, compared to 52 from Calvin Stengs and 51 from Mitchell van Bergen.
Created opportunities in the Eredivisie
PLAYER | CLUB | OPEN GAME | STANDARD SITUATION | TOTAL |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dusan Tadic | Ajax | 83 | 8 | 91 |
Hakim Ziyech | Ajax | 44 | 33 | 77 |
Steven Berghuis | Feyenoord | 42 | 21 | 63 |
Sergio Peña | FC Emmen | 44 | 18 | 62 |
Calvin Stengs | AZ | 52 | 8 | 60 |
Mark Diemers | Fortuna Sittard | 31 | 28 | 59 |
Joey Veerman | sc Heerenveen | 43 | 13 | 56 |
Simon Gustafson | FC Utrecht | 42 | 10 | 52 | Mitchell van Bergen | sc Heerenveen | 51 | 0 | 51 |
Gustavo Hamer | PEC Zwolle | 22 | 27 | 49 |
Opta also makes a distinction between “opportunities” and “great opportunities”. A high chance is defined by the statistics agency as’ a situation in which the player can reasonably be expected to score, usually in a one-on-one situation or close-up, where the ball has a clear path towards the goal and there is there is little to any pressure on the player who shoots’. And also in this classification Tadic finishes at the top, albeit at the same level as Ziyech. They both prepared 23 great opportunities; Berghuis follows with 16 great opportunities created. In this case, it should be noted that Ziyech spent fewer minutes on the field than Tadic (1617 versus 2172), and thus prepares more great opportunities in relative terms.
How often players create opportunities in the Eredivisie
PLAYER | OPPORTUNITY | LIKELY | OUT OPEN GAME |
---|---|---|---|
Hakim Ziyech | every 21 minutes | every 70 minutes | every 37 minutes |
Dusan Tadic | every 24 minutes | every 94 minutes | every 26 minutes |
Steven Bergwijn | every 30 minutes | every 167 minutes | every 30 minutes |
Joey Veerman | every 32 minutes | every 442 minutes | every 41 minutes |
Sergio Peña | every 32 minutes | every 178 minutes | every 45 minutes |
Cody Gakpo | every 32 minutes | every 243 minutes | every 50 minutes |
Steven Berghuis | every 33 minutes | every 132 minutes | every 50 minutes |
Oussama Tannane | every 34 minutes | every 150 minutes | every 64 minutes | Quincy Promes | every 35 minutes | every 214 minutes | every 44 minutes |
Calvin Stengs | every 36 minutes | every 154 minutes | every 42 minutes |
In any case, these are figures that every striker can be satisfied with. Also a striker from Ajax. But there is indeed considerably more grumbling on Tadic than last season. Ajax Life let your own supporters vote for the Ajacied of the Match after each match, and the results count for the Ajacied of the Year election organized by the supporters association. Tadic finished third last year, now he is only eleventh. Positive compared to last season is that goals more often come from open play (last season he used 11 penalties; this season 3). In addition, Tadic has already given an assist more after 25 matches than last season after 34 games.
The figures are indeed less than last season. In the 2018/19 season he scored an average of every 104 minutes in the Eredivisie, this year he does that every 197 minutes. The difference in the statistics can have multiple explanations. The overall form of Ajax and Tadic specifically, and the fact that he is a year older (31 years) than when he was in the shape of his life, are obvious. The ‘breakpoint’ in the attacker’s season can be used as an argument for the first conclusion. In his first 10 official appearances, so in all competitions, he scored 8 goals this season. He then needed 32 duels to get to the same number. One explanation that can be overlooked, however, is the role he plays in Erik ten Hag’s team.
Tadic played 1209 minutes this season, or 55.7 percent of all his playing time, as “false” center-forward in the Eredivisie. In it, he scored 4 times and delivered 11 assists: as a center forward, he was therefore involved in a goal every 81 minutes on average. As a winger, on both the left and right flank, Tadic recorded 963 minutes of play (44.3 percent of the total), scoring 7 times and giving 3 assists. On average he was involved as a winger every 96 minutes in a goal. The difference between every 81 minutes and every 96 minutes does not seem that big, but it is clear how Tadic’s qualities are expressed. As a false striker, he is good at holding balls with his back to the goal, creating opportunities for fellow players from that position. Whoever puts Tadic in the striker does not have to expect many goals. But in that place he is relatively more often involved in goals than on the flank.
The comparison with last season will continue for a while. Then Tadic was not only involved in 41 goals in the Eredivisie (28 hits, 13 assists), but also made magnificent appearances in the Champions League, especially in the away match against Real Madrid (1-4). It might not be realistic to expect Tadic, or his teammates, to hold that level. The Serb has probably played the best season of his career. But he does have a good season. “Last season was fantastic,” he said. “We won the double and just missed the Champions League final. If you then compare and find that it is less now, you can stop the same story for every player. ”