The Myth of Player X

By: Isaiah | December 5th, 2007

Let’s say, for a moment, that you’ve never read a single article in Sport or Marca and that you’ve just seen a statistical list of achievements for Player X. This is what it says:

Year 1: 15 goals in 33 games
Year 2: 9 goals in 35 games
Year 3: 17 goals in 29 games
Year 4: 21 goals in 32 games

Riddle me this: what was the best year for Player X? Certainly Year 2 looks the worst out and Year 4 the best, right? Everyone knows how tricky statistics can be, how they can hide behind various smoke screens, so let’s break it down in terms of goals per game and percentage of goals scored by the team:

Year 1: 15 goals in 33 games is a goal every 2.2 games. It was also 23.8% of the total goals scored that year (63).

Year 2: 9 goals in 35 games is a goal every 3.9 games. It was also 12.3% of the total goals scored that year (73).

Year 3: 17 goals in 29 games is a goal every 1.7 games. It was also 21.3% of the total goals scored that year (80).

Year 4: 21 goals in 32 games is a goal every 1.5 games. It was also 26.9% of the total goals scored that year (78).

Which year would you, looking purely at statistics, choose as the best of those 4 years? Would it be the year that Player X scored more goals in more games and scored a greater percentage of his team’s goals in doing so? Regardless of how those goals are scored (free-kicks, penalties, open play), 21 goals is measurably better than 17 goals, even when you take the number of games and total goals into account. In fact, especially when you do so.

Let’s look at the current year (Year 5) in question for Player X: 5 goals in 9 games. That is a goal every 1.8 games. It is also 18.5% of the total goals scored by the team. Year 5 is, of course, measurably worse than Year 4 and only just worse than Year 3 in terms of goals per game. The team is on pace to score 74 goals, while Player X is on pace to play 15 more games. Were the pace to continue, the final numbers would be 14 goals ( 13.3, but you can’t have 1/3 of a goal) in 24 games. If Player X continues at the same pace and plays in the rest of the games (24), then the goal tally would be 19 goals in 33 games, or a goal every 1.73 games. To be exactly precise, that would be .25 worse than Year 3 in terms of goals per game, but 2 goals better in actual number.

Now imagine if opened up the newspapers and found the press maligning Player X, calling him lazy and lacking in quality. Would that be fair or right? I’m sure most of you know who Player X is: he’s Ronaldinho, the “black sheep” of the family, the man who fiddled while Camp Nou burned. Ridiculous, thinks me.

In total, Ronnie has scored 84 goals in 174 appearances for Barcelona, an average of a goal every 2.07 games. In La Liga, he is slightly less free-scoring: 67 goals in 140 appearances, or a goal every 2.08 games. Let’s compare this to the “resurgent” Raul, who has a long-standing position as a goal-scorer. He has played in 460 league games for Real Madrid and has scored 195 goals. That’s a lot of games and a lot of goals, but it’s a goal every 2.35 games. That’s appreciably worse than Ronaldinho, who isn’t even a forward! Not high-profile enough? Wayne Rooney has played in 108 league games for Manchester United and has scored 45. That is a goal ever 2.4 games. Kaka is another big name bandied about as a great player these days: 46 goals in 140 games, a goal every 3.04 games. And to round out this illustrious group, let’s look at Francesco Totti: 158 goals in 377 matches for Roma. That’s 2.38 goals per game. Robinho, a man considered to at least be living somewhere near Olympus by many of the merenge persuasion, has scored a “scant” 18 goals in 79 league appearances (a goal every 4.38 games), but is still highly regarded in Spain. Strange too that wonder-worker Frederic Kanoute has scored 54 goals in 105 appearances for Sevilla (1.94 games per goal). Prolific is one word used to describe him.

Then there’s the question of assists. I can’t say I particularly understand when an assist is given in soccer, but let’s assume that assists are given in the same manner across the board. In last year’s Serie A, Kaka served up 6 assists in a year for which he will win the Balon D’Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year awards. Ronaldinho, in a year in which he was slammed in the press, got 8 assists. 8 goals is less than 21. 6 assists is less than 8. Individually, Ronaldinho had a much better year than Kaka. Odd, then, that Ronaldinho has found himself on the receiving end of such distrust and dislike from the journalists covering his sport.

Perhaps it’s just my American-ness coming through here, with these stats, but let’s go beyond them, to the style of play, to the questions of tactics and placement. Let’s be clear: I believe that players have a certain style, a certain way they play best and that teams either work for or against that. What I mean is, either you’re a central midfielder or a striker or a defender, but you also have a set role within that position. As a midfielder you can be a myriad of options, including holding midfielder, wing, center, attacking, etc. You get the point. Ronaldinho plays as a midfield/forward on the left side. He can play in the middle on occassion, but generally prefers to sweep to the left. It’s his natural tendency despite being quite capable of playing in other positions. Take a man out of his position and he’ll naturally not be as good.

Ronaldinho’s “demise” has certainly been well documented across the web and I’m no stranger to the “What the hell is going on with Ronaldinho?” posts because it’s easy to forget that the rest of the team factors in. Teams got wise sometime last year to the fact that you have to pressure Eto’o-less Barcelona and there’s little any team on earth can do when teams sit 8 in the box and defend for 90 minutes. There has been criticism that Ronaldinho slows the game down too much, that he traps the ball and watches the defense collect in front of him before he takes them on, but this is a slightly erroneous way of describing what’s going on. When a team has 5 defenders against you and you’re part of a 3-man forward line (think Ronnie, Messi, and Henry here), you end up with a fewer options. You can try to beat the player in front of you, you can shoot off a long pass to one of the other forwards, or you can wait until your backup arrives. What has happened to Ronaldinho is that, faced with 5 defenders, 2 of whom are covering him and 2 of whom are covering Messi, Ronaldinho has been forced to attempt to shoot balls to Henry, but he hasn’t proven himself truly capable of beating defenders in close. He excels at the long-ball style (note several of his goals), but so far hasn’t found the rhythm of the offense or the defenses he’s facing, thus it’s been harder for Ronaldinho to find space. There are relatively few chances for counter attacks for Barcelona as almost no one leaves the back defended shorthanded until they are down a couple of goals. What Messi provides is certainly a bit of trickery that Ronaldinho would do well to find in himself again. I do not deny that he has failed to recreate his former self in terms of his willingness to take on defenders, but he is also being asked to take on a larger selection of defenders that know more about what he’s going to do than they did before.

What Ronaldinho really brings to the table is what Kaka and Totti bring: the ability to be the man in the middle of plays who gets no assist, but gets the ball rolling. Understandably the fans want to see a little more razzle dazzle out of him and a little quicker action. They’re used to that and, to be honest, Ronaldinho has slowed his game down a bit. Rather than relying on his obvious talent to show him the way through a defense, he should improve his workrate and create more of that space on his own. It’s never truly been his style to do so, but he needs to begin to look for those easy advantages rather than sitting back and having the rest of the midfield do the “tedious” work for him. Barca plays pretty amazing keep-away, but has so far failed to get into an offensive rhythm on fields that are smaller than the Camp Nou’s. Eto’o discussed that in a recent interview, stating that it changes your tactics; the issue for the team I think goes back to the striker. Henry hasn’t yet learned how to play with Spanish defenses, how to string them out, and that’s big for Barca, who need spacing to create opportunities. And apparently the woodwork is to blame for the “lack of goals” this year (Barca are third in the league in goals scored).

As a supporter of Barcelona, it’s my duty to support the players on the roster (except Ezquerro, he doesn’t count), but even so, I don’t believe Ronaldinho deserves the criticism he’s receiving. Look at his stats, look at the way his presence alters games, the way his free-kick ability puts almost everyone on earth at the edge of their seats, the way his passes still fall in stride to a teammate 50 yards away. Put a striker in front of him who can open up holes and I think you’ll see that Ronaldinho returns to his best sometime in February. Deco’s return will also alleviate pressure to be the provider as well as scorer, since Bojan will come on only to spark more offense (potentially coming on for anyone in the lineup, but most likely Henry, Eto’o, or Ronaldinho due to his positional abilities), that will settle the positions a little and get the team working towards the tactics used during the 05-06 season.

I certainly welcome other opinions on this matter. There are dissenters amongst us, some of whom appear here, but I’d be more than happy to hear what anyone and everyone has to say about Ronaldinho. I am beginning to relax a little about the league because I can see us shaping into an extremely solid group of players, a true team that will begin to dominate shortly.

Category: Barcelona

Tags: Barcelona, Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry

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