Opta Jabu Newsletter #6: 19 April
PSL Leaderboard for box entries and some random proxy stats.
The idea of this newsletter was to share weekly interesting data-driven stories on the PSL. That idea still stands, but we’re learning early on that this needs more planning and time to give you the right quality of story. Trying to juggle work and content is an interesting challenge, and we’re certain we’ll get it right. Maybe we’ll do it every other week. Please bear with us, as we figure this out.
This week, based on an interesting Twitter Question: a follower asked which teams lead the league for box entries.
Top five teams for touches in the opposition box this season:
549 - Orlando Pirates
520 - Sundowns
479 - Cape Town City
461 - Stellenbosch, SuperSport Utd
422 - Chippa Utd
Kaizer Chiefs are not too far back and are the next-best team with 418. What will annoy Chiefs fans is that they were 2nd on this list last season.
Top five players for touches in the opposition box this season:
When we consider players, Iqraam Rayners stands out. In fact, two of the Top 5 players play for Stellenbosch.
110 - Iqraam Rayners
80 - Tshegofatso Mabasa
77 - Bradley Grobler, Devin Titus, Peter Shalulile
74 - Relebohile Mofokeng, Lucas Costa
73 - Douglas Mapfumo
But, Jabu what happens when they get into the box?
Opposition box entries are a trendy metric nowadays, as they can easily signal intent. But there is more to a team’s attacking play than that. The big question is what happens when teams get in the box? Do they get a shot off? Does it go wide or on target? Do they pass the ball around and take too many touches? When you consider that it’s SuperSport led the league for shots taken inside the box, things get interesting. They take a shot with every 2.5 touches in the box indicating some level of effectiveness when they get into this area.
Top 5 teams for fewest Box Touches per shot:
2.5 - SuperSport
2.6 - Polokwane City
2.7 - AmaZulu, Swallows, Richards Bay
Or does this mean these are the teams that are more desperate to take a shot?
When you look at the bottom end of this list (teams that have more touches in the box before taking a shot), the teams that are higher up the table start to emerge.
Top 5 teams for most Box Touches per shot:
3.6 - Sundowns
3.1 - Cape Town City
3 - Orlando Pirates, Royal AM
2.9 - Stellenbosch, TS Galaxy
Or is this a sign of too much tiki-take in the box?
Ah Statistics. Bikinis. Etc.
