EFL Stats Gallery: Defensive duels, xT, Padj and more from Millwall vs Coventry City | OneFootball

Millwall hosted Coventry City at The Den on Matchday 8 of the 2021/22 EFL Championship season. The match ended in a draw with a scoreline of 1-1. Viktor Gyokeres gave Coventry City the lead just nine minutes into the game. Their lead stood only for 12 minutes, as George Saville equalized for The Lions on 21 minutes. Coventry City moved up to fourth in the Championship table with that point, with 16 points from the first eight games. This was Millwall’s fifth draw of the season, as they now stand at 18th with just eight points and one victory in the first eight games of the season.

We’ve broken down all the key stats for you to digest, including;

* shot maps

* xT (expected threat)

* pass networks

* xG timelines

* Defensive duels

* average positions and much more!

We also try to answer some questions for you with the visuals;

Which club had more shots on target among Millwall and Coventry?? Which player had the highest xG rate in the entire match?

To navigate the stats gallery simply click on the numbers to move through the pages.

At the end of the gallery, you’ll be able to download the full PDF stats report.

Gary Rowett set up the Millwall team in a 3-4-2-1 formation, transforming into a 5-2-3 in the defensive phase when out of possession. Bartosz Bialkowski started in goal for the Lions, behind three centre backs Jake Cooper, Murray Wallace and Daniel Ballard. Ryan Leonard played as the rightwing-back and Scott Malone as the left wing-back, with Maikel Kieftenbeld and goalscorer George Saville as the two central holding midfielders. Tom Bradshaw and Jed Wallace were the two attacking midfielders playing behind the striker Matt Smith.

The average positions of the Millwall players show that they were playing in more advanced positions on the field, and showed high pressing throughout the game with a lot of energy. The striker and attacking midfielders were helping out in buildup in midfield, while the wing-backs provided the team with the required width.

Mark Robinsset set up Coventry City in a 3-4-1-2 formation, shifting to a 5-3-2 in the defensive phase. Simon Moore started in goal behind the three centre backs Jake Clarke-Salter, Kyle McFadzean and Dominic Hyam. Ian Matsen played as the left wing-back and Todd Kane as the right wing-back with the two holding midfielders Ben Sheaf and Gustavo Hamer. Callum O’Hara played as the only attacking midfielder behind the two forwards Matt Godden and goalscorer Viktor Gyokeres.

The average positions of the Millwall players show that they had divided the team into five attackers and five defenders. Their back five had average positions inside their own box, while the other five players always had average positions in the opposition half. Their strikers Godden and Gyokeres had an average position in the final third, and substitute Tyler Walker had an average position in the opposition box for the last ten minutes of the match. The home team Millwall had a decent match as they had an xG of 0.79 in the game where they attempted a total of 11 shots on the opposition goal. They had a total of four shots on target and were able to score a goal. On the other hand, Coventry had a higher xG of 1.03, as they took a total of 14 shots in the game, with three on target and one goal. Both teams had a similar number of attacks in the match and had almost similar possession and passing stats.

Millwall striker Tom Bradshaw had the highest xG in the match with 0.32 and he also took four shots in the game. Coventry’s goalscorer Gyokeres also took four shots in the game and completed ten dribbles in the match. Dominic Hyam had the most passes into the final third with 24 passes. The xT timeline of the match shows that Coventry City had a much better start in the match, creating a lot of threats and opportunities in the first thirty minutes. Both teams created some amount of threat early in the second half, before a dull period in the game after the hour mark. The xG timeline of the match shows a continuous increase in xG for both teams, with Coventry City ending up with a higher xG than the home side.

Millwall’s pass matrix showed that they did not have as many passes as Coventry in the match and had lesser possession. Ryan Leonard had the maximum number of passes attempted, with 62, while he also received the most passes, with 32. Wallace attempted 42 passes and received 23, while goalscorer Saville attempted 30 and received 23 as well.

The pass matrix of Coventry City shows that they completed a very high number of passes in the match and had decent possession. Kyle McFazdean attempted and received the most number of passes with 69 and 54 respectively, followed by Maatsen with 67 and 45 and Ben Sheaf with 63 and 47.

The pass zones of The Lions show that they had a lot of passes in the match, especially on both wings and the right side of midfield. Jed Wallace made five passes into the opposition box, while he also put in the most crosses, with eight. The home team also put in a decent number of crosses into the box from both the wings.

The passing zones of The Skyblues show that they completed most of their passes all around the midfield areas. Gyokeres put in six passes into the opposition box, which was the highest. Coventry put in a lot of crosses, especially from the right-wing, but most of them were unsuccessful crosses.

The xT creation zones of the home team show that they were only able to create a little threat from their attacks, especially in the major attacking positions upfront. Joe Wallace created the highest xT from passing.

Other than Joe Wallace, who had the highest xT from passing for Millwall, no there player had high. Joe Wallace was also the only one to have created expected threat(xT) from his dribbling skills in the match.

The xT creation zones of Coventry show that they created a decent amount of threat in various attacking positions around the opposition box. Todd Kane had the highest xT (expected threat) creation among the Skyblues.

Other than Todd Kane, Jake Clarke-Salter and Gustavo Hamer also had a high xT creation from their passes. In terms of xT creation from dribbles, Gyokeres had the highest xT followed by Callum O’Hara and Ben Sheaf.

Millwall faced a large number of defensive duels in the match, most of them being on the defensive area of the field.  Murray Wallace won the most number of duels for the,, winning four of them.

There were a lot of aerial duels in the match for the Millwall players, most of them being around near the opposition box, due to their strategy of putting in aerial balls into the box. Matt Smith won a tool of 19 aerial duels in the match for them, with Bradshaw also winning six.

Daniel Ballard made the highest number of loose ball recoveries for the home side, recovering the ball four times. The Lions made a lot of loose ball recoveries in the midfield. Coventry City players were involved in a lot of defensive duels, especially on the right side of midfield and defence. Kyle McFazdean made the most defensive duel wins for the, winning a total of six.

The Skyblues had to face a very large number of aerial duels while defending because their opponents were attacking with a lot of aerial balls. Clarke-Salter won the most aerial duels with six followed by Dominic Hyam, who won four.

Coventry City players made a lot of loose ball recoveries on the right side of the defence and also in the midfield. Kyle McFazdean was highly energetic and recovered a total of ten loose balls.

It was an interesting game between Millwall and Coventry City, in which the home team will be happier with the draw. This was Millwall’s fifth draw of the season, as they have had one win, collecting eight points from the first eight games. Coventry would think they deserved to win the match, but should still be satisfied as they are now fourth in the EFL Championship Standings.

If you want to download the stats report in PDF format you can do so here:

EFL Championship Stats: Millwall vs Coventry City