' THE FULL STATS THAT TELL THE STORY ON CITY 2014-15 "

The full, revealing Cardiff City statistics that show the Bluebirds are a shot-shy route one team with impressive heading ability


Thurs 14th May 2015

Football correspondent Chris Wathan assesses the statistics that tell the story of Cardiff's 2014/15 season


Russell Slade made it clear before Cardiff City’s final game of the season that sometimes you can’t hide from the facts.

Fighting his corner from suggestions a change should be considered at the Bluebirds before the summer work to avoid more disappointment next term, the former Leyton Orient chief didn’t duck the under-achievement as he said: “Excuses are useless and the numbers never lie.”

Now the final ball of the regular Championship campaign has been kicked, the truth about the Bluebirds’ season is spelled out through some fascinating statistics.

A question of style... or lack of
Looking at the stats, the unavoidable, uncomfortable conclusion that Cardiff are a shot-shy route one side who pass the ball less than the vast majority of their rivals and whose best way of scoring is with the head.

Their percentage of long balls played per game is higher than all bar four teams in the division – including relegated Millwall and Blackpool – with more than a fifth of their passes aimed down the pitch.

Percentage of passes classed as long balls
21.4%
Cardiff City

19.1%
Championship average

It is probably why their passing accuracy is among the lowest in the division while their possession share of 44.4% is lower than 21 of the other sides in the second-tier.

Passing accuracy
1. Bournemouth 79.5%
2. Derby 79.2%
20. CARDIFF 69.3%
23. Blackpool 66.3%
24. Ipswich 64.7%
Such numbers don’t necessarily equate to failure – even though the majority of the promotion contenders are at the other end of the scale – with Ipswich leading the way for long balls and lowest on accuracy yet still in with a chance of play-off promotion. Conversely, Brighton are among the best passers in the division and had a struggle to avoid the drop into League One.

Average Championship possession percentage
Bournemouth
Norwich
Derby
CARDIFF
Blackpool
Birmingham
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Using your head
Unfortunately, Cardiff have had little tangible success to go with their methods and it’s easy to see why fans have not been inspired by the ploy with an average of 12.5 attempts on goal every game the sixth lowest in the division – and a quarter of them coming in the form of headers.



% of Cardiff goals coming from headers
Cardiff City's Sean Morrison gets above Rotherham's Scott Wootton to head at goal
31.5%
Out of their respectable 57 goals scored – in the middle of the Championship rankings – there is an obvious reliance of the set-piece with almost a third of Cardiff’s goals coming from that avenue, not including penalties.

That will have been boosted by the two open-play goals scored against Nottingham Forest where tentative signs of a greater emphasis and encouragement to pass the ball were seen, something that has slowly crept into Cardiff’s game to varying success in the final month or so of the campaign.



Average passes per game
373
Cardiff

433
Championship average




Give us a chance
Cardiff may well need those improvements with the ball to have any hope of pushing on next term, their lack of creativity still a concern with an average of just nine chances a game made by the side – the fifth lowest in the division. What has helped is a fairly impressive conversion rate from their shots, scoring from 9.87% of their attempts on goal.

Taking the positives, Cardiff’s top-half finishing position was better than most of their ‘rivals’ in such statistics showing that they can look to climb higher next term if they improve their game having already shown they can get points when performing so unconvincingly.



Team Stats — Cardiff City
GeneralDefenceDistributionAttackDiscipline
General

Games Played
46
Average Possession
45%45%
Duels Won
50.5%50.5%
Aerial duels won
50.7%50.7%
Offsides
94


The positives
Furthermore, while the statistic can sometimes highlight a side being under pressure, the desire to win the ball can be seen as a highlight from their average 18.6 tackles made a game – the eighth highest in the league – and a sixth-best aerial duals won by the side over their 46-game season.

Defensively, they were midtable in terms of shots on their own goal and made just three errors that led to the opposition scoring – bettered only by one other side – and a total of ten defensive errors in total, although that is slightly skewed by the fact they see so little of the ball to make what the statisticians deem to be mistakes.


Their strength in the air is also highlighted with just the seven headed goals conceded – the fourth lowest – while they managed 18 at the other end, accounting for 32% of their total goals scored, the highest in the Championship.




Conclusions
Slade might claim it’s all a case of lies, damned lies and statistics. But they are what they are. What they mean? The Bluebirds fans can judge for themselves.

annis stats are for people who like to manipulate things? as it says Ipswich in playoffs yet not good stats! and we appear to be low with most stats yet we finished 10th only stat that matters is goals that win matches! swans are point in question they only won 2games by more than 1 goal! for all their possession 1 goal good enough to win most of their games, and not disagreeing with stats but doesnt prove anything really

annis stats are for people who like to manipulate things? as it says Ipswich in playoffs yet not good stats! and we appear to be low with most stats yet we finished 10th only stat that matters is goals that win matches! swans are point in question they only won 2games by more than 1 goal! for all their possession 1 goal good enough to win most of their games, and not disagreeing with stats but doesnt prove anything really

Allan, They really dont interest me stats.

But Russell Slade is suppose to be obsessed with them.

f**k off watham you jack b*stard

f**k off watham you jack b*stard

Jack, I do believe Watham really has it in for Slade and wont let it go

annis stats are for people who like to manipulate things? as it says Ipswich in playoffs yet not good stats! and we appear to be low with most stats yet we finished 10th only stat that matters is goals that win matches! swans are point in question they only won 2games by more than 1 goal! for all their possession 1 goal good enough to win most of their games, and not disagreeing with stats but doesnt prove anything really

Allan, They really dont interest me stats.

But Russell Slade is suppose to be obsessed with them.

Its way of sport in general annis, tbh its not good as it tends to cloud judgements and effect way things are done! Probably why city were so bad last season if you are right about Slade.
As for wathan it proves my point!

f**k off watham you jack b*stard

Jack, I do believe Watham really has it in for Slade and wont let it go

I think it's because when Slade walked out on him in press conference and I don't blame him and also when we went back to blue the conference with Dalman and Choo announcing the return back to blue Dalman had a bit of a go at Watham for asking "why the u turn" and Dalman didn't like his choice of words and Watham being a jack he likes to stick the knife in a bit.

f**k off watham you jack b*stard

Jack, I do believe Watham really has it in for Slade and wont let it go

I think it's because when Slade walked out on him in press conference and I don't blame him and also when we went back to blue the conference with Dalman and Choo announcing the return back to blue Dalman had a bit of a go at Watham for asking "why the u turn" and Dalman didn't like his choice of words and Watham being a jack he likes to stick the knife in a bit.

I think your right and since then, he's been on Slades back 24/7.

f**k off watham you jack b*stard

Jack, I do believe Watham really has it in for Slade and wont let it go

I think it's because when Slade walked out on him in press conference and I don't blame him and also when we went back to blue the conference with Dalman and Choo announcing the return back to blue Dalman had a bit of a go at Watham for asking "why the u turn" and Dalman didn't like his choice of words and Watham being a jack he likes to stick the knife in a bit.

I think your right and since then, he's been on Slades back 24/7.

There is no need for it and why should he be bothered when he is a jack?

f**k off watham you jack b*stard

Jack, I do believe Watham really has it in for Slade and wont let it go

I think it's because when Slade walked out on him in press conference and I don't blame him and also when we went back to blue the conference with Dalman and Choo announcing the return back to blue Dalman had a bit of a go at Watham for asking "why the u turn" and Dalman didn't like his choice of words and Watham being a jack he likes to stick the knife in a bit.

I think your right and since then, he's been on Slades back 24/7.

There is no need for it and why should he be bothered when he is a jack?

Although slade loosing his cool maybe showed the pressure he was under but I think slade having a dig at Watham for being a jack was golden and he showed a bit of bite. Too much mutual respect these days with the jippos, my hatred still runs deep and when you got one writing bitter stories in our press creating negativity it winds me up.

annis stats are for people who like to manipulate things? as it says Ipswich in playoffs yet not good stats! and we appear to be low with most stats yet we finished 10th only stat that matters is goals that win matches! swans are point in question they only won 2games by more than 1 goal! for all their possession 1 goal good enough to win most of their games, and not disagreeing with stats but doesnt prove anything really

Your right stats can be manipulated and in this case that's exactly what has happened. The author claims they are "The Full revealing Cardiff City Statistics that that show the Bluebirds are a shot-shy route one team with impressive heading ability."

The truth is they are not the FULL STATS but are selective and chosen only to support the agenda of the author, and that agenda is to put RS and the club down.

At least the vertically challenged muppet has put his name to this article.

f**k off watham you jack b*stard

Jack, I do believe Watham really has it in for Slade and wont let it go

I think it's because when Slade walked out on him in press conference and I don't blame him and also when we went back to blue the conference with Dalman and Choo announcing the return back to blue Dalman had a bit of a go at Watham for asking "why the u turn" and Dalman didn't like his choice of words and Watham being a jack he likes to stick the knife in a bit.

I think your right and since then, he's been on Slades back 24/7.

There is no need for it and why should he be bothered when he is a jack?

Although slade loosing his cool maybe showed the pressure he was under but I think slade having a dig at Watham for being a jack was golden and he showed a bit of bite. Too much mutual respect these days with the jippos, my hatred still runs deep and when you got one writing bitter stories in our press creating negativity it winds me up.

I agree he should just f**k and write about his own club.