The remarkable statistics that show Peter Whittingham's importance to Cardiff City..
' Peter Whittingham '
By Phil Smith
Tuesday 23rd August 2016
The evergreen midfielder has been infield by Paul Trollope after spending the second half of the previous campaign drifting towards goal from the left wing.
He has become the heartbeat of Cardiff's philosophy and his creative output is streets ahead of any of his team-mates.
His 10 clear chances created put him seventh in the entire division so far, aided by his set-pieces but also a consequence of his excellent long passes over the top of opposition defences. That's over double any of his team-mates, with Cardiff only having two players in the top 50 across the Championship.
Chances created
18
Ross McCormack (Villa)
14
Tom Cairney (Fulham)
13
Gary O'Neil (Bristol City)
12
Matthew Palmer (Burton)
11
Wes Hoolahan (Norwich)
10
Peter Whittingham
Whittingham is also in the top 15 for passes completed with 229, no mean feat given that this statistic invariably favours defenders. One place and one pass above him is Joe Ralls. The pair have played every league game so far and these numbers reflect how important they are to setting Cardiff's tempo.
It doesn't end there for Whittingham, whose 23 crosses are again in the top 15 across the league and is way ahead of any other Bluebird.
Emyr Huws revealed last week that he hopes to play in a deep-lying playmaker role but for the time being the 31-year-old Whittingham looks to have that position nailed down. Huws could become very important however, as the schedule will be very demanding and if Whittingham misses any league games the responsibility on his replacement to match his staggering creative output will be huge.
Peter Whittingham of Cardiff and Sone Aluko of FulhamPeter Whittingham of Cardiff and Sone Aluko of Fulham
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