My Authors
Read all threads
Decided to do a deep-dive into the #FPL season of James Maddison.

Depending on how this thread goes down, I'll do some more whilst there's no Prem footy. Thanks to @FantasyFootyFix & @FFScout for the stats & tools which helped me put this together.

Enjoy. 👍🏼
Value: Currently priced at £7.5m, a £0.5m increase on his starting value. His high point was £7.8m, reached in GW17. #FPL
Points:
Currently he has 119 points (8th best of all midfielders), averaging 4.3 points per game over the season.

This total saw notable returns of:

10 >= 5 point returns
3 >= 10 point returns

#FPL
Minutes:
Maddison has played 2,399 minutes, featuring in 28/29 GW's (averaging 86 mins per appearance), 9th of all midfielders (the majority of whom each played in all 29 GW's).

He completed 85 mins+ in all but 4 GW's.

In terms of reliable minutes, it's a big win. #FPL
Output:
He has 6 goals for the season, which compared to his midfield peers is behind the likes of Harry Wilson (7) & Jack Grealish (7) & level with Mason Mount & Todd Cantwell. #FPL
Typically thought of as more of a creator, he boasts only 5 assists so far (behind the likes of Ashley Westwood (6) & Joao Moutinho (7), and level with these fine chaps: Pablo Fornals & Leandro Trossard. #FPL
Perhaps it's Leicester's finishing though? How about the chances he's creating..? #FPL
In terms of gilt-edged opportunities - Maddison has fashioned 7 Big Chances, which is 14th best of all midfielders - behind the likes of Jordan Henderson (8) and Dwight McNeil (11). Not super-encouraging. #FPL
However, it's not all doom and gloom. When we look at chances created, his numbers are fantastic. With 74 to his name, he's second behind only the incomparable KDB (96). #FPL
Home Vs. Away...

I wondered whether or not his potential / output differed hugely when we start to consider where Leicester are playing.

#FPL
Let's get down to brass tacks:

Home (3 goals, 0 assists, 1 big chance created)
Vs.
Away (3 goals, 5 assists, 7 big chances created)

This seems to suggest that James Maddison may be more effective on the road.

#FPL
The Home Vs. Away heat-map suggests he plays slightly further forward on the road, and indeed - he has 42 penalty area touches away from the King Power, compared to 32 at home. #FPL
A potential caveat is that, whilst he has played more minutes / made more starts at home (1,225 / 14 Vs. 1,178 / 13), he did miss the 5:0 home demolition of Newcastle United in GW7 - a real sore-point for his owners at that time. #FPL
Form:
GW's 1 thru 17, Maddison was a brilliant, reliable, fun asset to own.
He accrued 88 points, a colossal 74% of his season's total to date (this period represents 57% of his playing-campaign) - an average of 5.5 points per appearance. Lovely. #FPL
During this period, he was 6th overall for points of all midfielders at that stage, but all those ahead of him were each more than £2m more expensive, and typically much more than that (e.g. Salah, Mane, KDB etc.). He represented tremendous value over a sustained period. #FPL
In fact, in terms of points-per-£1m for midfielders - he was fourth (12.1). He was 5th for shots (44) and second for attempted-assists (43) and 4th for bonus points (11).

All was seemingly rosy in the James Maddison owning camp...#FPL
However...since GW18, he's played 12 matches, averaging 82 minutes per appearance. Despite this, he's totalled only 31 points (2.6 points p/a), with only the 11 point haul away to Newcastle in GW21 seeing any attacking returns - he's currently on an 8-game run without one. #FPL
He was still creating heaps of chances (32) during this period, second of all midfielders (behind KDB (34), standard), so perhaps his total lack of assists (0) was unfortunate (though the quality of chances being created might be questionable). #FPL
What was really noticeable though, was the volume of shots diminishing. In GW's 1-17, he was averaging 2.75 shots per appearance. GW's 18-29, it was a total of just 18 shots - an average of 1.5 shots per appearance. Huge difference.

So, what changed? #FPL
His positional heat-map for GW's 1-17 was noticeably more settled. Not necessarily too much more advanced*, but the inside-left position was his to own without huge variance. Cutting in and shooting was very much part of that brief. #FPL
When compared to the latter period, his touch heat-map suggests a much more free-role right across the midfield - possibly down to the change in personnel enforced on the Foxes because of injuries. For whatever reason - he was roaming. #FPL
*This more free-role impacted upon his penalty area actions, with his average per game dipping from 3.4 (GW's 1-17) to 1.7 (18-29), and his minutes-to-shot average dipped from 32 to 55 - really significant changes. #FPL
My analysis suggests that his role subtly changed, he was seemingly playing a slightly different midfield role - and he started shooting less. Obviously form/confidence comes into it too, but there does seem to have been a change in what was being asked of him. #FPL
He's a player I really like, and I had him pegged to be Leicester's top point scorer this season. It seemed like he was on track to stand a chance for that, but the latter half of the season has really clipped his wings.

Anyway - that's your lot! Time for a pint. #FPL
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh.

Enjoying this thread?

Keep Current with Tom Campbell

Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!