Phil Jagielka received Everton’s player of the year award for the 2014/15 campaign, but was he a worthy winner?
Certainly, in a season where defensively we have been found wanting, the selection of a defender as our player of the year may have raised some eyebrows in certain quarters.
Like many in the squad, Jagielka appeared to be carrying a World Cup “hangover” into this season, following England’s poor showing at the tournament, where Jagielka himself received his fair share of criticism.
Indeed, in the first 3 games of the season, where the blues shipped 10 goals, Jagielka made 3 defensive errors which led to chances for the opposition. Despite a shaky start though, he soon rectified this and only made 1 more defensive error for the rest of the league season.
The England man is leads to way in terms of clearances, averaging 10 per game. His various defensive partners all lag behind, with Sylvain Distin averging 9.1 clearances per game, Antolin Alcaraz 7 and John Stones 6. All 3 obviously have played a lot less than Jagielka, who has been almost ever-present, only missing the one league game.
Jagielka is joint top with Stones in terms of blocks, with both averaging 1.1 per game, although Jagielka has been dribbled past on average more often than Stones and Alcaraz. Of course all have played varying amounts of games, and this must be taken into account.
Aerial duels are also a strong point for Jagielka, having won an average of 2.9 per game, with only Distin ahead of him on the score. Perhaps surprisingly, Jagielka is way down in terms of tackles won, averaging 1.4 per game, compared to Muhamed Besic who leads the way on 2.5. However, the fact that our holding midfielders dominate this table, while our centre backs are further down, suggests this is a general trend rather than anything individual. Much of the tackling and dispossessing in games is indeed done “in the middle of the park.”
Defensively then, Jagielka is pretty much there or thereabouts on the majority of fronts. Moreover, despite playing centre-back, Jagielka also finds himself as our 4th top scorer with 4 league goals, which frankly is a poor reflection on the rest of the squad more than anything, but is still a decent return from the skipper.
Statistics obviously only tell part of the story and can be interpreted in different ways. They don’t, for example, bear out his leadership qualities, particularly in the second half of the season. He is perhaps not the most vocal captain, but when we were right in the relegation mire, he truly did lead by example. His role in dragging us to middle table cannot and should not be underestimated.
If that still doesn’t convince you then surely, if nothing else, the last minute, half volley, equaliser at the Kop end gives him the edge over everyone else…
