Smith v Farke update

I know this doesn’t really matter but the Watford game reflected the point in the season where Farke and Smith had managed the same number of league games (11) so I thought it would be interesting to do an updated comparison. I meant to post this during the winter break but forgot.

Thus far Smith hasn’t massively improved chance creation (0.83 to 0.81 XGfor) although watching the games there is a sense we are now more dangerous since going a bit more direct in recent games. In terms of goals scored he has definitely improved us 0.71 to 0.45 although if we hadn’t scored 3 against Watford then it would have been the same.

Defensively he has improved us both in terms of XG against (1.7 to 1.97) and goals conceded (1.73 per game to 2.36).

Perhaps most importantly he has improved the PPG from 0.45 to 1.

Finally, I thought it was interesting that it took us 98 days of the season to get at least 6 points (Southampton) whereas, we got our most recent 6 points in 6 days.

None of this is to criticise Farke, just out of interest really and to see if the stats back up the sense of progress we are seeing on in the performances. One thing a few people have mentioned recently which I think is true is that the fundamental difference between the two is Farke was ideological about a particular approach to football whereas Smith is pragmatic about the best way to use the tools at his disposal.

Posted By: Knitted Jesus, Feb 6, 09:30:34