Shine like Shinnie: The stats behind Derby’s midfield general vs Stoke – data analysis | OneFootball

Wayne Rooney’s Derby County currently sit on 12th (before any points deductions at the time of writing) in the EFL Championship table with their recent win against Stoke City at home on Saturday. It was Derby’s first win at home this season and the Rams would be looking for more victories at Pride Park Stadium if they want to get something out of this crazy start to their season.

Rooney lined up his team in a 4-2-3-1 formation where holding midfielder Graeme Shinnie shined as the best player for the home side. The 30-year-old was involved in both the goals directly with two assists and was the player of the match.

We look at his stats from the game to analyse his performance further.

Graeme Shinnie started on the left side of the double pivot alongside one of the goal scorers Max Bird. He spent most of his time on the left side of midfield hugging the sideline in his own half and almost equally venturing forward in the opposition half keeping to the left only trying to feed balls in. He drifted towards the right as well sometimes and also dropped deep to provide a defensive shield to the centre-backs as well as carry the ball out of the defensive third.

Shinnie played a total of 27 passes during the match with his accuracy on the average side with 77.78%. He played passes almost all over the pitch, out of defence, into the attacking third, teeing off Max Bird for his wonderous long ranger and also delivering the set piece for the second goal. He played three through balls through the left wing where the passes had xT as high as 0.042.

He received the ball only 17 times and mostly in the defensive half of the pitch. He received the ball in the opposition half only when he drifted on to the left-wing and towards the right midfield from where he took the freekick for the second goal.

He intercepted passes higher up the pitch potentially breaking down attacks from Stoke City and dispossessing others off the ball deep in his own half rather comfortably without giving away any fouls cheaply.

Shinnie did win 50% of his aerial duels during the match and also emerged victorious on two defensive duels. He mostly circulated the ball for Derby ensuring the possession stays with them alongside minimising any kind of threat at the defence acting as a screen and clearing it away.

The veteran is one of the more experienced players in the Rams side and he has to show his experience in clutch games like this if Wayne Rooney’s men really want to put up a fight in the league.