Statistical Analysis: How well has Shinji Kagawa done since joining Man United?

Shinji Kagawa joined United from Dortmund for around £12 million in the summer. The Japanese play-maker has had a disrupted start to life in the Premier League, as a result of a few injuries. Despite this, he has still made a decent impact, although has been relatively low key in comparison to other big summer signings such as Cazorla or Eden Hazard.

Statistical comparison

Mins per goal Conversion Mins per chance created Mins per clear cut chance Pass accuracy

Kagawa 181 38% 60 302 90%

Hazard 269 21% 41 239 85%

Cazorla 216 19% 35 259 88%

Mata 204 26% 28 186 85%

Kagawa’s statistics are clearly quite impressive on the face of it. Most striking is his goal scoring record and conversion which are very, very high. Although this is impressive, it is somewhat misleading as he has played less than the other players and three of his five goals came in one game against Norwich, which somewhat skews the statistics. In truth, one would need to observe Kagawa over a stretch of games, even a whole season, to get an accurate idea of his goal scoring prowess, but this is still impressive.

In other areas, namely in chance creation he is inferior to the other play-makers. However, this is not to say that he is ineffective in this regard. His passing accuracy is very impressive and he has often been shifted out to the left, which is not his natural role and has likely negatively affected his creative capacities.

He also plays a bit deeper than the other players in question, retaining the ball effectively, rather than shooting and creating as frequently as the others (hence his high conversion). Below is a look at his action areas from the victory over Norwich in which he netted a hat-trick:

As we can see here a lot of his action is in the centre of the park, where he is often found collecting the ball and distributing it. Kagawa is very effective at keeping possession ticking over for his side. We can also see here how he is often utilized in a wide left role for the club, not really his natural position. Kagawa is probably most naturally behind a centre-forward in the sort of Wanye Rooney no.10 role, rather than as a left sided play-maker.

Conclusion

Kagawa has been a very good signing for United but his injuries and subsequent lack of playing time have halted his progress and led to a lack of attention from the media and outside of Manchester. Playing from outwide is not ideal for him and in truth he’d be best used behind a front man in a no.10 role, the role occupied by Wayne Rooney. His goal scoring stats are very impressive as are his possession stats which mean that we might see him really push on and make a huge impact next season, if he can remain fit and if United can find a real role for him in the side.

via Statistical Analysis: How well has Kagawa done since joining Man United? | Think Football.