To Keep or Not To Keep Part 5: Johan Djourou

Morning all,

It’s quite an exciting day today with Arsenal’s last pre-season friendly before the start of the Premier League. I will have a preview of sorts for you later but just to get the day started I am going to continue with the “To Keep or Not To Keep” series this time focussing on Johan Djourou.

Here we have another player who is much debated as Arsenal fans look for a solution to solving the defensive woes at the club. With the rise of Koscienly last season and the disappearance of Squillaci, for many Djouorou became the man seen as the weakest link in our defence.

Before we have a look at the stats perhaps it is worth taking into consideration a couple of factors that may have contributed to the negativity surrounding Djourou last season.

I believe the biggest contributing factor was the fact that he had a very promising season in 2010-11 so much so that, his injuries coincided with dips in form for the club. He, in the absence of Thomas Vermaelen, came to the fore and was the lynchpin of our defence. Don’t believe me?

Player	Apps	Mins Played	Goals Conceded	Goals Conceded per game	G.C. per 30 Minutes
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

As you can see Djourou in this regard certainly had a good season. So in many ways the expectations he set was the instrument of his own demise. Especially when we take into account the second contributing factor of him playing out of position for the majority of his appearances as he was used to cover a full back injury crisis, something he was clearly never comfortable doing.

With those two factors in mind we can now look at how he compared to the other centre backs in the squad last season.

Player	Apps	Mins Played	Goals Conceded	Goals Conceded per game	G.C. per 30 Minutes
Vermaelen	29	2478	25	0.86	0.30
Mertesacker	21	1830	25	1.19	0.41
Koscienly	33	2874	42	1.27	0.44
Djourou	18	1166	21	1.17	0.54

Centre-backs sorted by goals conceded per game 2011-12

Quite a contrast from last season, from being the defender that conceded the least goals per 30 minutes he goes to the defender conceding the most goals per 30 minutes. In fact the goals conceded per minutes on the pitch is almost double Vermaelen and over double the goals conceded per 30 minutes last season.

Player	Apps	Mins Played	Clean Sheets	Games per Clean Sheet
Koscienly	33	2874	11	3.00
Vermaelen	29	2478	9	3.22
Mertesacker	21	1830	6	3.50
Djourou	18	1166	4	4.50

Centre-backs sorted by games per clean sheet 2011-12

Unsurprisingly, Djourou’s “games per clean sheet” is also the longest, taking 4 and a half games per clean sheet which is significantly higher then all those above him. Important to note is that in 18 appearances we only had 4 clean sheets with him playing.

It is therefore surprising given the above two tables that Djourou would be more successful in the tackle than both Vermaelan and Mertesacker. Below is a table sorting the players by tackles per 30 minutes and as you can see he made a good account for himself.

Player	Apps	Mins Played	Tackles	Tackles per game	Tackles per 30 Minutes
Koscienly	33	2874	85	2.58	0.89
Djourou	18	1166	26	1.44	0.67
Vermaelen	29	2478	47	1.62	0.57
Mertesacker	21	1830	17	0.81	0.28

Centre-backs sorted by tackles per 30 minutes 2011-12

This again shows the promise that Djourou shows even in a relatively poor season.

Player	Apps	Mins Played	Interceptions	Interceptions per game	Interceptions per 30 Minutes
Koscienly	33	2874	104	3.15	1.09
Vermaelen	29	2478	70	2.41	0.85
Mertesacker	21	1830	37	1.76	0.61
Djourou	18	1166	15	0.83	0.39

Centre-backs sorted by interceptions per 30 minutes 2011-12

Unfortunately, as you can see the good tackling wasn’t translated into a high interception rate and though this can partly be attributed to the fact that he would have less need to intercept (when compared to a central defender) balls at right back.

Player	Apps	Mins Played	Chances Conceded	Chances Conceded per game	Chances Conceded per 30 Minutes
Vermaelen	29	2478	266	9.17	3.22
Koscienly	33	2874	325	9.85	3.39
Mertesacker	21	1830	210	10.00	3.44
Djourou	18	1166	145	8.06	3.73

Centre-backs sorted by Chances conceded per 30 minutes 2011-12

Again, in terms of chances conceded, Djourou is trailing behind his peers and to anyone that watched him last season; that will come as no surprise. Although Mertesacker actually conceded more chances per game, in terms of time on the pitch, Djourou gave away more chances per 30 minutes.

Player	Apps	Mins Played	Defensive Errors	Defensive Errors per game	Defensive Errors per 30 Minutes
Koscienly	33	2874	3	0.09	0.03
Vermaelen	29	2478	3	0.10	0.04
Djourou	18	1166	2	0.11	0.05
Mertesacker	21	1830	3	0.14	0.05

 Centre-backs sorted by Chances conceded per 30 minutes 2011-12

I was hoping that this statistic would glean some information or provide us with a good indication as to whether he would be good enough but needless to say, the above shows that whilst he is joint bottom, he is pretty much on par with the rest of the players in terms of defensive errors.

So what do all these numbers really mean. They clearly suggest that in spite of some good tackling statistics, he is consistently ranking toward the bottom of the defenders we have. Does that mean he is not good enough and should be sold? Strangely, not necessarily.

He is clearly not good enough to be a automatic starter, that is undeniable, stats or no stats. Just watching him play in recent months tells you that. However by holding him up to those standards distorts opinion because he is essentially a fourth choice centre back and in an ideal scenario his playing time will be limited hoping our main centre backs remain fit.

So in that perspective, as a fourth choice centre back who can come into the centre of defence if injuries dictate so, then he is not a bad choice. As the first table shows, his goals conceded per game in the 2010-11 season indicate he can do a job when required but he not the versatile option who can fill in at full back as Wenger deployed him last season.

It is strange to have four full backs out all at the same time for a prolonged period of time, something I cannot remember happening in my lifetime. (Doesn’t mean it hasn’t.) However with that in mind, and if Djourou’s role is taken into its proper context, we are looking at a fourth choice centre back who can be a useful squad player who as seen in 2010-11, can do a job.

So it is with this logic that I think Djourou is a keeper. I just hope he never has to play right back again! Especially against Manchester United.

I will be back soon with a preview/news update blog later today.

Good day to you all.

GoonerVerse.

(Stats compiled using EPLindex.com – powered by OPTA)