As Ibrox Noise revealed earlier, the numbers released today confirm Ryan Kent number one in the Scottish Premiership for the most important stat for a creative attacker: chances created.
This is the stuff before assists and goals – this is the advanced point of an attack which sets these things up.
In short, you don’t get an assist if there’s nothing behind you putting you in the position to create one, and that’s where Rangers’ Kent comes in – it’s why he’s so maligned by fans – he’s not visibly getting so many assists, but instead is selflessly creating them and chances for other players.
So instead of him being in the limelight and getting all the credit, he’s giving that to everyone else and is being unfairly slaughtered because fans don’t realise what they’re seeing and what he gives to the team.
But what about the others? Sakala? Morelos? Tillman? Barisic?
These are all the most potent Rangers playmakers at Ibrox, and the Noise now takes you through their numbers:
Chances Created: Kent, 2.36, Sakala, 1.99, Morelos, 2.03, Tillman, 1.89, Barisic 1.71
Assists per 90: Kent, .27, Sakala, .29, Morelos, .21, Tillman, .22, Barisic .22
As you can see, Kent is by the top for created, and fractionally second to Sakala for assists per 90.
The others? Tillman lags a fair bit, and for a player lauded for assists and goals, he’s not particularly a standout this season. And that’s exactly what Kent is doing for him. Kent makes all the chances and guys like Tillman get the headlines.
Morelos? His numbers are ok, but the assists do highlight that like Sakala, he’s a bit selfish, but he’s nowhere near as bad as the Zambian.
Sakala would rather shoot and waste a chance than making the assist. And we look at the Zambian’s numbers, imagine how much better he’d be if not selfish!
But Kent just isn’t. He is the number one in the league for chances created, and has been all season. Remember earlier this campaign pointing out he topped the same chart at 36 at the time?
It hasn’t changed.
But the most telling numbers are Tillman. Not really that impressive when we look at the deeper numbers. Not for someone who is supposed to all be about playmaking.
But he still gets fan favour?
Numbers really do give the best insight.