How does Swansea's new powerhouse compare to the existing one?
It was awfully tempting to go all wacky with this, and analyse things like "thigh circumference" and "likelihood to hold off opponent with one arm", but instead I've actually had a go at something a bit more scientific. Ish. (You'll see why there's an ish in a bit).
Ted Knutson of Statsbomb has pioneered the use of player radars for displaying statistical performance, and I'm a big fan of this. The image below is my first effort at doing my own player radars, since I realised last night that years spent working on Microsoft Excel in offices hasn't actually been a complete waste of my time!
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| The control values column is why there's an ish. I just used values relative to representing these players' performance. |
As you can see, there isn't actually too much between them. Gomis gives the ball away on average once more per game, but is dispossessed marginally less often. His shooting accuracy is excellent too, while his pass completion is better than I'd expected. In terms of being able to build a partnership, on paper it seems they're very similar but the rangy Gomis is quite different to Bony, who while he is excellent in the air spends most of his time cemented to the ground, unmovable by man or beast.
I think even if our new signing doesn't set the world alight in his first season he's liable to bag himself ten goals, and the possibility of Bony & Gomis actually "clicking" really is something which will have Swansea fans salivating. Where that leaves Michu remains to be seen, but for now all eyes will be on Swansea's new strikeforce - Bony & Bafi - the B&B!