Last week, we looked at five talents from the Vanarama National League who have had an excellent season so far and have the potential to make the step up to the EFL in the future. Well, this week, we continue in our search for non-league talents, as we look to find the most creative players in the National League North and South (step 2, sixth tier in England) according to the data. This data analysis will dive into several key metrics to see who excels in a creative fashion – from pure goal assists to various passing metrics; we hope to highlight some names who are critical to their teams’ tactics.
Criteria
We wanted to keep this analysis open in terms of criteria as we want to find the top performers in terms of creativity regardless of position and age. The only condition we have set in this tactical analysis is that we are only considering players who have played a minimum of 600 minutes at the time of writing – this will allow us to see who is performing consistently over the course of the season.
To select a base group of players for analysis, we have viewed the assists ranking across the National League North & South – the top 25 players in this metric at the time of writing will be used for every metric included in this analysis. Of course, this will eliminate some players who you may have thought would be included in the data, but exclusion does not mean they are not creative. We have selected the top 25 players in the assists rankings as these players lead the way creatively, which fits this article’s purpose – we will be able to see how creative and effective these players are outside of just assisting goals.
Chance creation
This first section of analysis contains metrics and statistics that relate directly to assisting goals as well as data that scratches beneath the surface in chance creation, looking at actions that could lead to assisting a goal. Crosses, key passes, and through balls are all included here to see where the assists could be more likely to come from.
Let’s start with the obvious one – assists but with the added context of the team contribution metric (how much a player’s assist tally contributes to their team’s goal tally. E.g. – assisting one goal of a team’s tally of 10 goals would result in a team contribution rate of 10%). While we could have included the team contribution rate to other metrics in this analysis, it would not be totally relevant due to the variety of positions and roles included. For example, when we get to the crossing metric later on, there would be little point in looking at the team contribution % when there are players who naturally cross less (CFs, CMs), so ultimately, the information would not be pertinent to the analysis purpose.
Looking at assists alone, Luke Coulson of Dartford leads the way with seven assists at the time of writing, and as you can see, he also ranks second) in terms of team contribution, setting up an impressive 21.21% of Dartford’s goals this season. The winger also has five goals to date, so he is clearly an incredibly influential figure for the club.
However, Coulson’s team contribution rate is not the highest in the group. That crown belongs on the head of Boston United forward Jimmy Knowles. The former Mansfield Town youngster has bagged five assists this season, but Boston’s tally of 21 league goals means Knowles has assisted an astonishing 23.8% of their goals – he also has four goals to his name, so Boston will be extremely pleased with the way he has settled into life in the National League North.
Tom Blackwell (six assists for Braintree Town) Ewan Clark (six assists for Bath City) sit behind Coulson in the assist charts, with a whole cluster of players currently sitting on five assists along with Knowles – Rob Ramshaw (Spennymoor Town), Jak McCourt (Buxton), and Justin Johnson (Chorley) for example.
This next graph allows us to compare two differing stats in one view – key passes and shot assists. These two metrics share some similarities in definition, but while a shot assist refers to any pass that comes before any shot is taken, the key pass metric considers passes that create an immediate & clear goal-scoring opportunity for a teammate. Both metrics are important for creative players as they demonstrate how consistent they are at providing these important passes.
Ranking well for both metrics is Torquay United winger Jack Stobbs, who averages 2.23 shot assists per 90 (the highest of the 25 here) and 0.93 key passes per 90 (second in the group, but has the highest total tally across both leagues with 16 key passes). In terms of shot assists, Coulson (2.16), Jordan Young of Yeovil Town (2.16), and John Goddard (2.11) of Slough Town all show a positive consistency.
The highest frequency for key passes comes from Chippenham Town midfielder Tom Meyhew, who posts an enviable average of 0.98 – creating a critical chance almost every game on average; some feat. As we mentioned, Stobbs is hot on his tail, as is Ewan Clark, who averages 0.9 key passes per 90. Interestingly, despite his high key pass rate, Meyhew has one of the lower rates for shot assists per 90 (1.29).
Moving onto another deadly weapon for creating goal-scoring opportunities – through balls. Extremely difficult to execute as they require excellent timing and technical precision from both the passer and receiver. One player has made through balls a staple of his game in comparison to the other 24 in the group. Warrington midfielder Sean Williams is that man, attempting a remarkable 2.51 through balls per 90, the highest of any player in NLN/NLS – an accuracy rate of 28.26% is not as bad as it may first look when you compare it to other players with a lower attempt average. Williams has five assists to his name – one of them has been via a through pass, while the other four have come from set pieces.
While a few players have high accuracy rates, the top three all have attempt averages below 0.4, so we would need to see a higher engagement rate to assess their contributions in this metric. One player with a good engagement rate paired with a strong success rate is Chelmsford City’s Charlie Ruff – the attacking midfielder averages 1.54 through balls per 90 (11th-highest in NLN/NLS) and is accurate 42.31% of the time, one of the highest rates in the division. One of four of Ruff’s assists have come from through balls.
We finish this segment by looking at the crossing frequency and accuracy of the 25. Of course, some players here will naturally have higher crossing engagements due to their positions, but it is still worth covering because, as you can see, some of the players involved make great use of a cross. Stobbs has already demonstrated his ability to provide shot assists and key passes, but he also clearly likes a cross, averaging a jaw-dropping 8.46 crosses per 90 – the highest in the entire division. He also has a decent accuracy rating of 30.14%, meaning just over 2.5 of his crosses meet a teammate every match – a real wide threat. He has had three assists so far this season, and they’ve all been a result of a cross.
As with the previous graph, this one also has some players with high accuracy rates but low engagement, so we will leave them to be analysed by you so we can look into the higher accuracy rates of players with higher engagement levels.
Tyler Lyttle of Brackley Town is second-highest in the group when it comes to crosses per 90 (joint-second with Clark) and has a positive accuracy rate of 41.3%, one of the highest in the division. Chorley winger Billy Whitehouse has similar registers to Lyttle, with the former Doncaster Rovers youngster enjoying a successful season so far. Currently on four assists, all coming from crosses, Whitehouse has displayed traits of an old-school winger: staying wide, beating his man with the ball on the outside, and whipping dangerous crosses into the box.
Possession progression
This segment of analysis allows us to dissect the players’ game beyond the latter actions in a move and how they contribute to ball progression. Many of the 25 players involved are in positions and roles requiring them to make significant contributions to possession. As creative, attack-minded players, they will want to progress possession forward as frequently and effectively as possible. Here, we look at some metrics that relate to that point, from dribbling to progressive passes.
While dribbling alone cannot lead to an assist, it can be instrumental in carrying possession forward into a position where an assist could then be delivered. Dutchman Justin Johnson has been a menace on the flank this season, averaging more dribbles than anyone else (11.07 per 90). His success rate of 53.06% is not to be shrugged at – that means almost six of his dribbles are completed every match; it’s very hard to defend against that kind of presence.
Stobbs makes another appearance thanks to his high success rate of 74.19% (second-highest in the league) – he also ranks seventh out of the 25 in this group when it comes to engagement – 5.39 dribbles per 90 is a solid record, particularly with that success rate.
Back to passing. And this time, we’re focusing on passes to the penalty area – a great way of progressing possession into a dangerous area. Guess who? Stobbs, again, appears thanks to his high attempt rate – despite his lower accuracy rate, he still averages 2.78 accurate passes to the box per 90.
If you’re looking for a player who ticks both boxes, it’s Whitehouse, Coulson, or Lyttle. Whitehouse offers the higher attempt average of the three (and second-highest in the group with 4.95 per 90) but with a slightly lower (yet still impressive) accuracy rate of 48.84%. Meanwhile, Coulson offers slightly less than Whitehouse in terms of engagement but slightly more in terms of accuracy. Lyttle offers 3.7 passes to the box per 90, which is lower than both players, but offers a significantly higher accuracy rate of 59.38%.
Finally, we’ll take a look at progressive passes – the act of using a pass to move possession significantly closer to the opponent’s goal, an important skill, especially in midfield and/or in transitions. Lyttle shines in this area – 8.79 progressive passes per 90 suggests that, from a right wing-back position, he is absolutely vital to his team for providing those passes that change the landscape of the attack. His accuracy rate of 93.42% is ridiculously high, telling us that this is a real skill of his.
Jak McCourt offers the highest engagement of the group, providing 12.23 progressive passes per 90 – his accuracy rate of 82.58% suggests that he is effective with them – over 10 of them are accurate every game on average.
Conclusion
Hopefully, we’ve provided you non-league fans with some context as to who is producing the creative goods in the National League North/South this season. If you’re new to English non-league, maybe this taught you about some of the talent on display in the country’s sixth tier of football. Of course, there are some players in recent weeks who have significantly stepped their game up – Curzon Ashton’s midfield dynamo Stefan Mols, for example (he had more touches in the box than anyone else across the two leagues on matchday 20 – just one example of his attacking presence and form lately) – we could go on with a whole list of talented players who weren’t mentioned and that is a credit to the pool of talent on display in the National League North and South.
Some names have been a persistent presence in this data analysis. Jack Stobbs, Luke Coulson, and Tyler Lyttle, amongst a few others, have all had strong campaigns so far from a creative perspective, and their respective clubs will be hoping it continues.
Comments