The Scholes Co-Efficient

[llcc]

With such a full squad and debates at almost every position, and especially in CM, a discussion about who uses the ball the best might be interesting. We have a gold standard in Paul Scholes, whose abilities to take good care of the ball, provide a pressure relief valve for any player in trouble near him, mix in the incisive forward passing to the right degree with very low failure rates, and demoralize the oppo in terms of trying to pressure high without result are very underrated by casual fans or those who don't get to see him play regularly.

One of United's great strengths has long been the ability to pass the opposition to death. The degree of skill and type of application has varied over the years, eg the possession standard right now is not as high (nor as low) as it has been in the past, partly due to a young squad and also due to the incredible higher-risk penetration capabilities we have in the squad, both in terms of dribbling, hard-running counterattacks, and defense splitting passing. Frequently, quantitative stats are quoted, so-and-so completed this %, so and so completed that %, stats that ignore the quality of the decision-making, the degree of difficulty, and how quickly one keeps the balls moving. So how do you think the squad rates in terms of this decision-making, degree-of-difficulty, rapid ball movement co-efficient?

I've broken it down by attack, midfield, and defense although there should probably also be an absolute ranking for the whole squad since the roles overlap so frequently.

Attack


Midfield


Defense


Comments

[llcc]

Attack
Berbatov
Rooney
Giggs
Ronaldo
Park
Tevez
Nani
* i haven’t seen enough of the following to think I can rank them: Manucho, Wellbeck, Fraizer

Midfield
Scholes
big gap
Carrick
big gap
Fletcher
Anderson
big gap
Hargreaves
*Gibson, Possebon,

Defense
Rio
Evans Vidic
Rafael Evra
Brown
Neville
huge gap
O’Shea
*Simpson, Fabio

Comments - this obviously isn’t a perfect exercise, but I would love to see the discussions on several of the players.
Hargreaves - You could call slowing play down the Hargreaves Co-Efficient. This might not be fair given his lack of extended runs in the side and he may not lose it that much, but in terms of not knowing where the next move is, requiring a ton of touches, and really slowing the play down, Hargreaves is among the standard-setters for our squad.
Evra - hard to rate. one of the first you’d want on your side in five-a-side w cones, but the lack of demonstrated consistent crossing ability is a deficiency for an attacking back. Can provide amazingly quick interplay on most of the pitch.
Carrick - second only to Scholes in terms of calming the play down and using the ball rapidly, efficiently, and safely-when-required/penetrating-when available.
Tevez - of late, has become a junior Hargreaves in terms of slow turnaround/number of touches required to keep the ball moving.
O’Shea - do passes to oppo count?
Ronaldo - this is less of an important metric for a finisher of his caliber. Can provide a killer pass when arsed.
Neville - rated on current form… sad to watch.
Vidic - big improvement in this area. As has been mentioned on this board, fancies himself as more than just a hard-nosed player, and usually passes within his capabilities.
Giggs/Rooney/Berbatov - can be maddening with the excessive flicks at times, but high risk passing is part of the detail in their area of the pitch. I’d like to see fewer flicks though, they all have the capability to unlock defenses with higher % plays

[J'can]

With such a full squad and debates at almost every position, and especially in CM, a discussion about who uses the ball the best might be interesting. We have a gold standard in Paul Scholes, whose abilities to take good care of the ball, provide a pressure relief valve for any player in trouble near him, mix in the incisive forward passing to the right degree with very low failure rates, and demoralize the oppo in terms of trying to pressure high without result are very underrated by casual fans or those who don't get to see him play regularly.

One of United's great strengths has long been the ability to pass the opposition to death. The degree of skill and type of application has varied over the years, eg the possession standard right now is not as high (nor as low) as it has been in the past, partly due to a young squad and also due to the incredible higher-risk penetration capabilities we have in the squad, both in terms of dribbling, hard-running counterattacks, and defense splitting passing. Frequently, quantitative stats are quoted, so-and-so completed this %, so and so completed that %, stats that ignore the quality of the decision-making, the degree of difficulty, and how quickly one keeps the balls moving. So how do you think the squad rates in terms of this decision-making, degree-of-difficulty, rapid ball movement co-efficient?

I've broken it down by attack, midfield, and defense although there should probably also be an absolute ranking for the whole squad since the roles overlap so frequently.

Attack


Midfield


Defense


Comments

Not quite sure how to answer the question given the title o the thread. Am I supose to say for example Carrick = .75 Scholes (with Scholes being the standard by which they are all judged?

Alright poor attempt at being a wise guy,

Here is my comment: It is hard to do what you ask not all passes are created equal (as you alluded to) but not all recirepnt are created equal either. A poor pass to a Tevez may be a good pass as he will chase it down versus to a Berbs who might look at you with the get the hell out of here look. How do we account for that?

And does decision making take into account the time of the game the pass is attempted? for example the outlet pass to Giggs that led to the Rooney chip against Citeh was a good pass in terms of end prodcut (good shot on goal forcing the keeper to make a scurried save). But equally good would have been for our keeper to hold onto the ball since the clock was running down and grind the game to a halt. (I think the goalie make the outlet pass but I could stand corrected). How does that factor in?