Just a really quick post as I wanted to try something different. ...
Just a really quick post as I wanted to try something different. There was some discussion on my Twitter timeline yesterday around exactly what sort of a player is Southampton's Jay Rodriguez. Is he a centre forward, a winger or a wide forward? Using Opta data, I created a heatmap for all the attacking touches that Rodriguez took in the Premier League last season. The attacking touches are passes, shots and takeons. Attacking Touches 
Defensive Touches I also created a similar one for his defensive touches, ie fouls, clearance, tackles, interceptions and blocked passes: 
I would say that Wide Forward is probably the best description for Rodriguez. He certainly isn't a winger as he comes into the centre a lot, and is not especially creative, with just 0.6 Key passes per90 last season. He shot at a rate of 3.3 per90, and his 15 league goals scored was well in excess of the 11.5 ExpG that our model had him in for. Anyway, that's all on Jay-Rod for now