Who Are the Most Important Players in the Premier League?
My latest column for ESPN is up. I continued my crusade in support of the idea that “soccer teams win soccer games because of the quality of their soccer players”. In this one, I identified the Premier League teams who have declined and improved the most from last season and then looked at what players on those teams have played more or less often than they did in 2022-23:
For all of Liverpool's improvement this season, they're not even the most improved team in their own city. Everton's adjusted xG differential has improved by nearly a full goal (0.93) per 90 minutes.
Once again, I think a bunch of the improvement extends back to last season, when the club replaced Frank Lampard with Sean Dyche. I'm confident in saying this because the second-most improved team also improved after replacing Lampard as their manager. Great midfielder! Terrible coach. However, there have been significant personnel changes for Everton from last season, and the team is better this season than it was last season under Dyche too.
Bye!