A lot was made of the statistic the Daily Mail ran with yesterday. Cesc Fabregas, one of the worlds greatest creators of goals, has more assists in his record breaking start to the season as Jack Wilshere has in 95 PL games.
It is, of course, a meaningless comparison. Jack will never be a Cesc style player. He plays deeper, and his skill sets are nothing like those Cesc excels at.
One player who Jack should look at and model his game on is the Real Madrid and Croatian star Luka Modric.
Modric was one of the standout out players every season he appeared for Spurs. A deeper lying playmaker who took the role of transition of ball from defence to attack, and did so really well in the PL.
But when you look at Modrics stats for Tottenham you will notice the assists.
In his Tottenham career Modric played 160 times. He was credited with 27 assists.
Compare that to Jacks stats. 24 assists in 148 games.
Even at Real, where all you have to do to get an assist is pass to Ronaldo allegedly, his stats are 21 assists in 121 appearances.
Of couse stats like this only tell a small part of a players ability. I am in no way suggesting Wilshere is anywhere near the level of Modric. But if you want to use the Cesc has more assists in 17 games than Wilshere has in 95 to prove anything then you may as well use this comparison in defence.
The comparison between Cescs and Jacks assists is probably up there with the worst pieces of sports journalism ever. Especially as they could have made a far better, and more relevant, point by comparing Cesc to Ozil since they both joined their current clubs.
The Wilshere/Cesc stat.... In perspective.
posted on 24/12/14
Wilshere will never be any good. Overrated as hell. Pointless player
posted on 24/12/14
comment by Robbing_Hoody -Escape goating pre-madonnas so ... (U6374)
posted 9 minutes ago
Remind me again what your fecking point is DJ. Is it that they have picked out Wilshere as a comparison and you think it's unfair because Fabregas is better than most? Is that what you've been writing about for two days?
Fact is for Jack to be compared to anwhere near elite he needs to do a lot more cos otherwise he's Joe Allen on coke.
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The point is they are comparing a world class, assist making superstar to someone whose main role is to connect defence to attack.
Unless Modric was also useless and remains so?
posted on 24/12/14
"Jack will never be a Cesc style player. He plays deeper"
Just how deep does he play? CB?
posted on 24/12/14
It is, of course, a meaningless comparison. Jack will never be a Cesc style player. He plays deeper, and his skill sets are nothing like those Cesc excels at.
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Thats the problem in a nutshell. Wilshere should play deeper and Wenger really should be training him to sit deep. He has shown glimpses of very good long range passing and understanding of the game as shown by his improvement for England. But instead Wenger wants to play him higher up the pitch like Cesc does with Matic sitting.
posted on 24/12/14
Wilshere is seriously overrated. Cesc is a Spanish Frank Lampard. Pure numbers and will always deliver.
Cesc Song
Walcott Ozil Cazorla
Sanchez
Is a great attack.
posted on 24/12/14
At the end of the day it's 95 games vs 15 games.
It's ridiculous not to state that Wilshere has under achieved in terms of assists. The only excuse for him is the players in front of him are often total donkeys.
posted on 24/12/14
comment by ☂ (U19684)
posted 6 minutes ago
At the end of the day it's 95 games vs 15 games.
It's ridiculous not to state that Wilshere has under achieved in terms of assists. The only excuse for him is the players in front of him are often total donkeys.
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Yet the Wilshere v Modric stats are very similar? Maybe, just maybe, Cesc is an outstanding player in a team who is set to benefit from his set pieces (12 assists from set pieces, the Chelsea fan said didn't he?) and free play.
Why is it Cesc v Jack, rather than Cesc v Ozil and Jack v Modric (ie two players whose roles are pretty similar)
posted on 24/12/14
Thing people seem to be overlooking...
Cesc is a world class assister.
Cescs record this season is smashing records. Not even the likes of Bergkamp, Cantona, Gerrard or Cesc at Arsenal, got close to what Cesc is doing.
Look at Luka Modrics record. A top class CM in a similar role to Jack...
posted on 25/12/14
Modric is better than Wilshere will ever be, and they aren't really even similar players. Jack's an eye catcher who doesn't do much productive. Luxury player, albeit a poor one. Second touches should never be tackles. JW's very often are.
posted on 26/12/14
Modric is vastyly overrated. I was stunned the Real Madrird wasted money on him to be honest.