Tale Of The Tape: James Milner vs Stephen Ireland

Written by Dan on August 18, 2010

I’ve been doing a little research. I worked these same stats a while ago in the Luke Young vs Carlos Cuellar at right back comparison, so you should be familiar. However, this time I didn’t isolate games played in the same position – they’re both versatile midfielders – and I’m not comparing data from the same season.

It seems to me that we’re all optimistic about getting the Stephen Ireland from two years ago. For whatever reason, and they are surely numerous, last season wasn’t that brilliant for Ireland, but it’s fair to say that we saw Milner at his best, he did win the Young Player of the Year award after all.

So, two different seasons, two different teams, there’s plenty of caveats to this comparison. Nevertheless, if Ireland comes to us in the right frame of mind and settles reasonably quickly, perhaps he can recapture his 2008/09 form. If that happens, I think we really do have a very good replacement, it’s just a question of whether Ireland will remain happy and continue developing in the same fashion as I’m sure Milner would have.

James Milner 09/10
Stephen Ireland 08/09
36 Appearances 35
36 Starts 34
3,172 Mins 3,030
93% Season Involvement 89%
7 Goals 9
12 Assists 10
6 Man of the Match 0
Starting Position
Left Midfield 8
20 Central Midfield 18
16 Right Midfield 6
Forward 2
Per Game Metrics and Success Rates % *
0.20 Goals 0.27
0.34 Assists 0.30
1.87 Shots 1.81
0.60 On Target 0.68
0.65 Off Target 0.86
0.62 Blocked 0.27
32% Shooting Accuracy 38%
11% Goals:Shots Ratio 15%
33% Goals:Shots On Target Ratio 39%
28.91 Successful Passes 26.29
25.17 Open Play 25.31
1.45 Crosses 0.21
0.60 Free Kicks 0.33
0.31 Corners 0.21
1.39 Throw Ins 0.24
9.16 Unsuccessful Passes 6.42
5.62 Open Play 4.87
3.09 Crosses 0.65
0.17 Free Kicks 0.06
0.17 Corners 0.80
0.11 Throw Ins 0.03
76% Pass Success Rate % 80%
82% Open Play 84%
32% Crosses 24%
78% Free Kicks 85%
65% Corners 21%
92% Throw Ins 89%
1.84 Interceptions 2.64
6.10 Tackles 6.27
3.21 Tackles Won 3.83
2.89 Tackles Lost 2.44
53% Tackle Success % 61%
1.02 Clearances 1.78
0.45 Successful Clearances 0.89
0.57 Unsuccessful Clearances 0.89
44% Clearance Success % 50%
0.37 Blocks 0.24
1.59 Fouls Won 0.89
1.48 Fouls Conceded 1.57

* “Per game” statistics are calculated by dividing the total for any given metric by the total number of minutes played in a season and multiplied by 90 minutes.

It’s worth noting that 3 of Milner’s 7 goals came from the spot and if you discount those and the shots that go with them, his Goals:Shots ratio is an even less impressive 6%, meaning he scored with 22% of his shots on target. I have to say, that surprised me, I expect Milner to have scored with a higher proportion of his efforts on goal.

Oh, and when Ireland finally arrives, no one let him take the corners.

Click here for Part II which takes a look at their key statistics over the last 4 years.