ENGLAND'S BOX PENETRATORS?

After England's 2-0 win against Albania, Thomas Tuchel was crying out for more box penetration (grow up!). He wanted more runs into the box, passes into the box, and players to go 1 v 1 to carry the ball into the box.

Is Morgan Gibbs-White the man to satisfy Tuchel's desire for more penetration? (seriously!) 

Here is the data for English players from the Premier League to see who England's best penetrators are (The Sun probably had a trophy for that back in the day!)

The metrics I've considered are:

• Touches In The Box

• Passes Into The Box

• Carries Into The Box

• Take-On's Attempted & Success

• Shot & Goal Creation

I haven't had time to write many thoughts out. I'm also not claiming this as an expert analysis. So if you have any thoughts on the relevance of the data, or other ideas I'm all ears! Maybe it's time for MGW to play a wide role. Maybe he's unlucky and just has to be patient behind Bellingham & Palmer.

TOUCHES IN THE PENALTY BOX

As the old saying goes, you can't be a box penetrator without touching balls in the box! This is the obvious place to start, how much do the players get involved in play inside the penalty area.

The chart below plots the number of touches each play has in the penalty box per 90 mins on the vertical axis. The horizontal axis provides the context of how many touches those players have in the final third. You'd expect players that have more touches in the final third to also have more in the box. The red trend line shows the average relationship between the two measures. Player further above the line do more box crashing than average, players below the line do less.

(Rashford is included twice. In red for his stats from Man Utd and in purple for his form at Villa. You will notice they are very different.)

Thoughts on the Touches In The Box chart:

• England miss Grealish, Saka, Madueke as prime penetrators.

• Rashford is revitalised at Villa compared to his form at Man Utd

• If you were picking from the current squad on this measure you'd choose Rashford on the left, Bowen on the right with Gordon/Foden/Rogers second choice.

PASSES v CARRIES INTO THE PENALTY BOX

Finding ways to penetrate the box is probably the hardest part of football, or at least is should be if the opposition can defend. There are two measures for how players penetrate the box available on FBRef. Either pass the ball to someone already in there, or carry it in yourself. It's the ode pass n move versus the ball greedy dribbler.

Thoughts on the Passes Into The Box chart:

• Rashford is flying again.

• This is one area Foden delivers but doesn't excel this season.

• The first choice pairing would be Rashford & Gordon, but if those two both had to play on the left, then it'd be Rashford left and Foden right.

• Rogers & Bowen would be your next choices.

Thoughts on the Carries Into The Box chart:

• Grealish & Saka not being an option is a big miss.

• The Villa version of Rashford could fill the gap.

• Again Gordon is the next best option, but injured and likes to play on the same side as Rashford.

• So your first choice pair would be Rashford left, Bowen right.

• Shout out to CHO who deserves to be in this conversation, but with stiff competition on the left side. Could his recent run on the right for Forest be a way into the England setup?

TAKING ON DEFENDERS

The last chart looking at the specifics of trying to penetrate the box, is a look how willing and how effective players are at going past defenders 1v1. The horizontal axis is how often players attempt to take on their man. The vertical axis is how successful they are at doing it.

Thoughts on the Take-On chart:

• Rashford cements his place if the Villa version turns up.

• CHO is good at 1 v1's but doesn't attempt them often compared to the likes of Eze, Rogers, Bowen, and Gordon.

• Grealish & Saka not being an option is a big miss again, especially Saka as the main right-sided threat.

• A lot of the best players in this metric all like to play from the left or centre. Rashford, Eze, Rogers, Palmer.

• Therefore, yet again, the natural right-sided option to pair with Rashford now would be Bowen.

CHANCE CREATION

If we ignore the specifics of the penetrating the box, or style of play and just look at the players that create the most chances for their teams:

• Rashford yet again in great form.

• Saka & Grealish & now Palmer are the big misses.

• MGW is the next most creative player in the mix!

• CHO isn't far behind, then it's Gordon & Eze.

• Is there merit in playing MGW out of position on the right side to get his creativity on the pitch, even if he doesn't stand out as a box penetrator?

My conclusion would be:

• Tuchel sees MGW as a No 10, which means he's behind Bellingham and probably Palmer for game time.

• England miss Saka as a top right-sided option. Bowen should be picked with Saka out, but maybe there is an opportunity for CHO to put himself in the picture on the right where there is less competition.

• Grealish needs to quit the pints and get back to form.

• Rashford's form at Villa means he deserves a chance on the left with Gordon second choice when fit. If Rashford's form drops back then CHO should be considered as the competition to Gordon.

• Foden is the player who would/should be missing out, not just on the eye test but the data as well.

Any statistical data is from FBRef.com & based on players Premier League minutes

@danscapephoto