Technical Area

The Technical Area- A Look at Nasri & Silva

While Edin Dzeko’s four goals stole the show in Man City’s incredible 5-1 win at White Hart Lane, Fantasy managers would have been very aware of one other significant aspect of yesterday’s game- David Silva’s failure to play a part in any one of the away side’s goals.

Silva had been a sensation in his side’s first two games of the season but three assists from Samir Nasri at Spurs has many a Fantasy manager wondering whether his returns will be reduced as a result of the Frenchman’s acquisition. A look at Silva’s chalkboards from City’s last two games suggests that, while there is a definite difference to his play in each game, it’s far from a negative one.

One aspect of Silva’s returns so far worth noting is he has yet to make an assist in any game so far this season; James Milner grabbed two assists in the game at Bolton and there wasn’t any fear of his returns being diminished after the game at the Reebok.

Two goals and, in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), four Bonus Points have come the playmaker’s way, so from a creative perspective, little has changed; a look at our Members Area shows Silva still had his fair share of key passes yesterday. Silva had four shots against Spurs, the same number as he had at home to Swansea and one more than he managed at Bolton in Gameweek 2.

Silva’s heat maps from the Bolton (above) and Tottenham (below) games, however, highlight how much more central he was in the opponent’s half yesterday compared to the game at the Reebok.

His passing heat maps again confirm that Silva played more through the middle and drifted wide far less- he made 70 passes against Owen Coyle’s side, with 49% of his passes coming from the wings. At Spurs, he saw almost as much of the ball, making 67 passes, with 35% of those played from the flanks- a significant drop.

Indeed, the heat maps merely back up the idea that Silva will continue to be at the heart of City’s play, dropping deep and orchestrating matters, while getting forward into dangerous areas much the same- the only real issue is how much more of a danger Nasri will be in comparison.

With Silva priced at 9.6 in FPL and Nasri 9.5, it’s a quandary that may only become apparent as the season unravels, though the fact that two of the latter’s assists came from out wide certainly boosts his appeal; Dzeko has shown that with quality service from the flanks, he’ll score plenty.

Nasri v Tottenham, Milner v Bolton

Nasri’s move to the Etihad Stadium certainly suggests he should be a stronger Fantasy prospect than he was at Arsenal last term. Incredibly, he picked up just one assist over the course of last season and has already tripled that tally in his City debut. When it comes to goal attempts, though, it’s worth noting that he had just two shots yesterday- half the number of shots as David Silva.

A comparison of Nasri’s passing with James Milner’s (in the same role) in the previous game is revealing. The number of passes each player made was almost identical -Nasri made 76 and Milner 74- but in terms of pass success, there was a substantial difference- Nasri made only 5 stray passes compared to Milner’s 17, as City kept possession far better with the Frenchman on board.

Taking it a step further, Nasri made just three unsuccessful passes in the Spurs half yesterday, all from corners; in open play, then, he didn’t give the ball away once in his opponent’s half. Milner, on the other hand, made sixteen unsuccessful passes in the Bolton half.

It backs up a quote from this article by Simon Kuper. Kuper paid a visit to Man City’s training ground and found that, just like Fantasy managers, the club pay a great deal of attention to player statistics. Gavin Fleig, City’s head of performance analysis, explained the line of thinking:

“The top four teams consistently have a higher percentage of pass completion in the final third of the pitch. Since the recruitment of Carlos Tévez, David Silva, Adam Johnson and Yaya Touré to our football team, in the last six months alone, our ability to keep the ball in the final third has grown by 7.7 per cent.”

In addition to excelling out wide, Nasri was prepared to drop deep and play central far more than Milner and his link-up play with Silva looked promising yesterday- he played 19 successful passes to Silva and received 15 successful passes in return from the Spaniard. Against Bolton, Silva played 12 passes to Milner and received just 10 back, more or less half Nasri’s tally- an indication the new boy is more on the same wavelength.

Clearly, City are a more cohesive and dangerous side with Nasri in the first XI. His addition to the City line-up makes Mancini’s side a much more dangerous team, with attacking moves far less likely to break down. With Dzeko and Serio Aguero both benefiting from his service, Spurs have already found out just how much of a difference he has made.

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2,085 Comments Post a Comment
  1. Our Man Charlie
    • 13 Years
    12 years, 7 months ago

    poss kalou move from chelski as per skysports news

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    1. Lucas Leiva
      • 13 Years
      12 years, 7 months ago

      to where?

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  2. Get up ya bum
    • 14 Years
    12 years, 7 months ago

    I wonder if arsenal will give park a contract longer than 2 years. In 2013 he's gotta go serve 2 yrs in the military. So its either let him go for free after 2 years or pay him a salary while he's on military duty.

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    1. Marknlard
      • 14 Years
      12 years, 7 months ago

      Do pro footballers get any exemption? Surely the insurance premiums alone would be enough for an exemption.

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      1. Viola
        • 12 Years
        12 years, 7 months ago

        They do get exemption sometimes.

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      2. Get up ya bum
        • 14 Years
        12 years, 7 months ago

        As far as I know the only sportsmen to get exemptions were the 2002 wc squad. That was a reward. Korea take their military duty quite seriously considering their neighbours up north.

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        1. Manamongst
          • 13 Years
          12 years, 7 months ago

          Chan Ho Park I believe, he was a Dodger's Pitcher. Other South Korean baseball players have earned exemptions from military service by helping their nation win championships in the Olympics or the Asian Games. I'm thinking football is no different.

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  3. Bod
    • 12 Years
    12 years, 7 months ago

    Any chance arsenal might go for Beneyoun, not like chelski want him

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    1. Top 210 Club
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      12 years, 7 months ago

      hope not, he won't suit them.

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      1. The Finnisher
        • 12 Years
        12 years, 7 months ago

        Rumour from the Sun was that Malouda > Arsenal for 8m

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        1. Bod
          • 12 Years
          12 years, 7 months ago

          Well he is French....

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        2. Viola
          • 12 Years
          12 years, 7 months ago

          Arsenal won't be able to afford the salary. Arensal's highest is van Persie, 10k per week.

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          1. Get up ya bum
            • 14 Years
            12 years, 7 months ago

            Surely you're missing a zero there.

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            1. The Finnisher
              • 12 Years
              12 years, 7 months ago

              He's obviously bullshitting

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              1. The Finnisher
                • 12 Years
                12 years, 7 months ago

                Or stupid 😀

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      2. Get up ya bum
        • 14 Years
        12 years, 7 months ago

        Small, check. Weak, check. Talented, check. Likes tippy tappy, check. Not english, check. Perfect fit 😀

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        1. The Finnisher
          • 12 Years
          12 years, 7 months ago

          Haha, no premier league experience? hmm what's going on Arsene??

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          1. Viola
            • 12 Years
            12 years, 7 months ago

            Age another problem too.

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      3. Bod
        • 12 Years
        12 years, 7 months ago

        I think it's been proven recently that players that suit them won't necessarily bring success :p

        It's just amrumour I heard, no weight to it, there are players they'd be much better off getting

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  4. King Nil Miss ✩
    • 13 Years
    12 years, 7 months ago

    Any news about Odemwingie? Would love to have him for the next 5 weeks..

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    1. Get up ya bum
      • 14 Years
      12 years, 7 months ago

      Doubtful for next game

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  5. Twisted Saltergater
    • 14 Years
    12 years, 7 months ago

    Wildcarders must be annoyed with ~300k of Dzeko's transfers in going to waste, no?

    For those that aren't aware or are new to the game, then once a player has risen .1m in any given gameweek, it takes typically, double the number of transfers to go up a further.1m.

    So, up .1m = 36k NTI, up .2m = 36k + 72k (a NTI of 108k).

    As you can see, it's pretty unlikely for any player to go up .2m in a GW if there's any sort of delay in the price changes kicking in.

    It's made more unlikely that once a player changes in price, the additional transfers in (or out) are erased - they don't count towards the next step increase.

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    1. Gargamel
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      12 years, 7 months ago

      Twisted Saltergater, what I said on the previous page was incorrect. Baines has not been sold 6000 times today, but this whole gameweek this far. I have no idea if he will drop.

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    2. Baines on Toast...
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      12 years, 7 months ago

      I can still very easily see him going up again, his ownership having been so low to begin with. And I'm less concerned about the potential profit than the fact that I have him in my team ahead of this and future rises anyway.

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    3. Marknlard
      • 14 Years
      12 years, 7 months ago

      Yes. But I'd be very surprised if Dzeko doesn't go up 0.2. Today's NTI is nearly 200k!

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      1. Andy
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • Has Moderation Rights
        • 14 Years
        12 years, 7 months ago

        Dzeko's NTI today is not 188k.

        It's 188k - [x]k he had up until (when is it?) 2am this morning.

        TFPL is not updated properly.

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      2. Gargamel
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 14 Years
        12 years, 7 months ago

        No, this is also incorrect. That figure is for the whole gameweek.

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        1. Marknlard
          • 14 Years
          12 years, 7 months ago

          Fair enough. Still reckon Dzeko will go up again though.

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          1. Gargamel
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 14 Years
            12 years, 7 months ago

            Yes. That part was correct 🙂

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          2. Twisted Saltergater
            • 14 Years
            12 years, 7 months ago

            As do I, but a .3m increase was on the cards if it was last year's game!

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          3. Jonah
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 13 Years
            12 years, 7 months ago

            Was it possible he might have squeaked up to a 0.4 rise on the final day before the deadline without this initial delay holding him back?

            Just thinking out loud.

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  6. Qubit
    • 14 Years
    12 years, 7 months ago

    I think my biggest concern is not making profit, but potentially getting priced out of the market slightly by unusually large price shifts that may not be repeated to even it all out (ie if other plays start to do well in gwk 10 will they still be bought on board in such numbers?).

    I dont mind missing out on price hikes (although i am on some) but the potential price drops of seemingly most of my players is a real worry and could be difficult to recover from.

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    1. Marknlard
      • 14 Years
      12 years, 7 months ago

      This.

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    2. Twisted Saltergater
      • 14 Years
      12 years, 7 months ago

      Hi Qubit, saw your post from the previous page but comments had moved on and so I missed my chance to reply.

      I'm in the same boat. Really don't want to play my WC but the players I don't mind keeping, others are transferring out with their WC. I have Yaya Toure and don't mind keeping him for the Wigan game but he's going to be 7.9m at this rate.

      Team value is so critical early doors and a real tough balance with trying to plan transfers / minimise point hits.

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      1. denial
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 14 Years
        12 years, 7 months ago

        Personally, I reckon early season, taking an few point-hits to get in players who are going to rocket in price is a good move.

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  7. Bod
    • 12 Years
    12 years, 7 months ago

    Hypothetical question, if you were arsenal manager right now, what would you do? Who, if anyone would you bring in and how much would you bid for them?

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    1. O Fenomeno
      • 13 Years
      12 years, 7 months ago

      If I was the Arsenal manager I would retire a successful and wealthy man.

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    2. Get up ya bum
      • 14 Years
      12 years, 7 months ago

      Would have raised the wage ceiling and signed Mata for starters.

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      1. Joe
        • 13 Years
        12 years, 7 months ago

        +1, Mata would have been perfect. Can't believe they let Chelsea snap him up...disappointing. You can't lose Fabs and Nasri and just lay down

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    3. King Nil Miss ✩
      • 13 Years
      12 years, 7 months ago

      Well..it´s obvious the problem is on defense...

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  8. Twisted Saltergater
    • 14 Years
    12 years, 7 months ago

    Tough Fixtures vs Tough Fixtures to Win

    A lot of folks on here warned people off buying Man United players based on tough fixtures. That still holds true but there is a distinction between tough fixtures to get a win (but where a 3-2 is likely), compared to tough fixtures where it's difficult to score.

    Tottenham and Arsenal have never been tough teams to score against, for attacking sides. Where as Chelsea, Stoke away, Liverpool away, and Man City I expect will be tough to score against.

    So, Man United's fixtures have been tough from a clean sheet perspective but not going forwards. That could flip around with their next run of games making Smalling and co. better picks.

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    1. Doosra - ☭DeclanMyGenius…
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      12 years, 7 months ago

      I never really followed that, as I'm working from my own ticker.

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    2. King Nil Miss ✩
      • 13 Years
      12 years, 7 months ago

      Agree...that´s why Rooney was a must from me since GW1!

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      1. Twisted Saltergater
        • 14 Years
        12 years, 7 months ago

        Me too. With Young, Nani and eventually Valencia providing free kicks and penalties galore, it was a no brainer!

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    3. Marknlard
      • 14 Years
      12 years, 7 months ago

      This is a good point!

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    4. DementedFlamingo
      • 14 Years
      12 years, 7 months ago

      I made a suggestion last year for two tickers. Attack and defense. Think it might have been too much extra work

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  9. Browndog
    • 13 Years
    12 years, 7 months ago

    gee ive started something here,lol

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    1. Browndog
      • 13 Years
      12 years, 7 months ago

      re baines i mean

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      1. Twisted Saltergater
        • 14 Years
        12 years, 7 months ago

        Sssshhh! He's essential 😉

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        1. Dago
          • 14 Years
          12 years, 7 months ago

          im lost? what that hes gonna drop in price?

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          1. Browndog
            • 13 Years
            12 years, 7 months ago

            na nothin, just chattin, love bainesy

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            1. Dago
              • 14 Years
              12 years, 7 months ago

              cheers man.

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          2. Doosra - ☭DeclanMyGenius…
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 14 Years
            12 years, 7 months ago

            We're all DOOMED!!! 🙂

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  10. King Nil Miss ✩
    • 13 Years
    12 years, 7 months ago

    I think TFPL has percentages updated now...not sure about entries though...

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  11. rohan
    • 12 Years
    12 years, 7 months ago

    It makes me wonder though... everyone's going berserk over the two manchester club's performance and limitless knee-jerks... here's my team... i would like to know what are the changes i should make... please people do suggest...

    given

    de laet/ simpson/ hughes/ figueroa/ l.young

    nani/ silva/ n'zogbia/ adam

    suarez/ rooney/ long

    got 1 miln in the bank.. no transfers made as of now....

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  12. Dirtman
    • 12 Years
    12 years, 7 months ago

    Average start to the season for me so played the wild card, Just wanted a few opinions on this Cleverly or jarvis (wolves) in mid field? if i have jarvis il have to go with woodgate in defence if i play cleverly then i can have richards in defence all due to price, what do you think would be the best value there?

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    1. Dirtman
      • 12 Years
      12 years, 7 months ago

      in fact might go with ward instead of woodgate but maybe wolves have had a few easier games recently?

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  13. Viola
    • 12 Years
    12 years, 7 months ago

    Hmmm... Still, I can't decide between Silva and Nasri. Shall I get both?

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