Which of Swansea's goalkeepers has the higher win percentage?
Following on from yesterday's blog, (looking at the Swans' win percentage with & without Leon in the team) another suggestion from the same tweet asked if I could look at Swansea's goalkeepers, and whether there was anything to be noted by comparing their win/loss statistics.
It seemed an interesting exercise, and seeing as the only news kicking around is tenuous links with Jefferson Montero - AKA "Jeff" - it made sense to get cracking and have a look. For ease of analysis I put a table together (below) - have a look, it makes for interesting reading!
As you can see, in the first season our overall league performance echoed Vorm's (given his almost constant presence), but the statistics do seem to back up what many fans - myself included - were saying last season, that at the time Tremmel seemed to offer a safer pair of hands. There was never any doubting that Vorm was a superior goalkeeper but as well as seeing us through our Capital One Cup run Tremmel excelled in the league when called upon.
That's why this season is such a mystery. What's happened Gerry? One win in eleven games? Ouch. I'd love to be able to say that these nasty statistics were simply down to poor team performances, but I do remember numerous occasions where I thought the goal conceded was a bit soft from a goalkeeping point of view. It's far from being exclusively his fault, and he has been unlucky on a number of occasions - I've lost count of the amount of times Ash seems to have deflected the ball past our keeper this season - but you live and die by the sword and you can't argue when the final whistle blows.
In the overall statistics Tremmel does fare better, but that's largely due to our Capital One Cup run last season. Five league wins in twenty four outings across three seasons is far more telling, compared with twenty-five in seventy-nine for Vorm. I know who I prefer between the sticks right now.
It seems after enjoying a purple patch last season Tremmel's form has faded, and it's been echoed in the results. This season in all competitions Tremmel has won four of twenty-one games, whereas Vorm was won nine of twenty-two. A quite staggering difference given how the German has performed in the past, and a bigger disparity than I'd ever have anticipated. What's more, he's lost twelve games this season to Vorm's six. Quite remarkable that he's lost double the amount of games and won less than half the amount managed by his Dutch teammate.
I'm sure the Swans' analysis team are aware that we've only won once with Gerhard between the sticks this season, though what they make of these types of statistics we can't say. What I can say though, is that I've got my fingers crossed nothing happens to Michel Vorm between now and the end of the season.