To Keep or Not To Keep Part 4: Seb Squillaci

Evening all,

With only a week to go until the Premiership, re-enters and subsequently takes over our lives I find myself giddy with anticipation. So much so that I check the news aggregators such as NewsNow almost every other minute such is my excitement.

I thought that my time would be better spent if I were to just write another blog and to that end I shall continue the To Keep or Not toKeep Series which started with the analysis of Walcott’s impact over the pastfew years.

I have had lots of feedback with the last few posts, through Twitter, Comments and Polls and it is amazing that despite the apparent clamour to sell some of the fringe players, opinion has almost always been divided around the 50/50 mark. Take today’s poll where at the time of writing 50% believe we should keep him and the mathematicians amongst you would have worked out that 50% believe he should be chopped. I was somewhat surprised by this as most people I speak to seem to want him out but this certainly doesn’t seem to be the case on this wider forum.

Perhaps it is time to try a player that is certain to unite Arsenal fans in their opinions of whether we should keep them or not. After covering Walcott, Ramsey and now Arshavin, all attacking players I think it is time we look at a defender and what better (or worse) place to start then with Sebastien Squillaci.

Signed as an experienced centre back at a time we were crying out for them, he arrived from Sevilla with a steady reputation. He seemed like an astute and almost inspired bit of business.

Unfortunately, and it will not come as a surprise to you I am sure, but the signing didn’t quite work out as planned. Squillaci was involved in many a calamitous decision in his first season and he clearly lost the faith of both the Manager and the fans. This didn’t help his confidence and it only got worse for him. It seemed like a perpetuating situation where the worse his confidence got the worse his performances got and he is to this day stuck in this vicious circle.

I could give you various facts & figures such as he only played 11 minutes of top tier football and even then managed to cost a goal but it is essentially pointless. Anybody that has watched Arsenal play with Squillaci in the team knows, apart from on a few rare occasions, the defence has looked shaky.

Player	Apps	Mins Played	Goals Conceded	Goals Conceded per game	G.C. per 30 Mins
Djourou	22	1796	15	0.68	0.25
Vermaelen	5	450	6	1.20	0.40
Koscienly	30	2617	36	1.20	0.41
Squillaci	22	1817	28	1.27	0.46

Centre backs sorted by Goals Conceded per game 2010-11 season.

As you can see from the above table; Squillaci conceded the most goals per game and most goals per 30 minutes when compared to the other centre backs at the club. What is perhaps surprising to some is to see Djourou sit atop the league of centre backs in terms of goals conceded. Of course Vermaelen was injured for almost the entire season but many seem to forget that in his absence Djourou played admirably. (More on that in the Djourou feature tomorrow.)

This is clear indication that his performances directly impacted the teams defensive performances. This information on it’s own is certainly not conclusive as we know stats do not tell the whole story. For instance Squillaci could have played against the top teams where as the others may have played in some “easier” games. To dispel any notion that the above is just a coincidence, please look at the following.

Player	Apps	Mins Played	Tackles	Tackles Per Game	Tackles per 30 Minutes
Koscienly	30	2617	60	2	0.69
Vermaelen	5	450	10	2	0.67
Squillaci	22	1817	37	1.68	0.61
Djourou	22	1796	23	1.05	0.38

Centre backs sorted by tackles per game.

Player	Apps	Mins Played	Interceptions	Interceptions Per Game	Interceptions per Minute
Vermaelen	5	450	17	3.40	1.13
Koscienly	30	2617	91	3.03	1.04
Djourou	22	1796	48	2.18	0.80
Squillaci	22	1817	45	2.05	0.74

Centre backs sorted by interceptions per game.

As you have no doubt noticed Squillaci is trailing behind the other defenders in interceptions per game and behind both Vermaelen and Koscienly in tackles per game.

Let’s be honest here, he just hasn’t worked out and as such should be moved on as soon as possible. He in short is certainly in the “Not To Keep” section.

Enjoy the rest of your evening.

GoonerVerse.

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