Arsenal have qualified for the Champions League next season and few players have been instrumental in that hard-fought journey. One of these players is Jill Roord.
However, she won’t be taking part in that particular tournament as a player for Arsenal, following her move to VfL Wolfsburg. But in this analysis, we take a look at how she has performed in the 2020/21 season of the Women’s Super League, and what she will bring to the German club.
The WSL data used in this analysis comes from Wyscout. Below, Roord has been compared to fellow top flight players operating in the central midfield and attacking midfield positions, as those were the roles she occupied the most. Every player to play more than 800 minutes during the 2020/21 term has been included in the dataset.
Progression
In the scatterplot above, we see the metrics of progressive passes per 90 and progressive runs per 90. To judge the ability to progress the ball when in possession, we look at these metrics.
As you can see, Roord doesn’t stand out in these metrics, but doesn’t do badly either. She scored on average with 3.14 progressive passes per 90 and 0.71 progressive runs per 90 in the 2020/21 WSL season.
Final third passing
Here, we see the metrics of passes into the final third per 90 and passes into the penalty area per 90. The graph shows us how a player performs with passing to the final third or attacking third, which shows us how well the player progresses the attack into decisive zones of the pitch.
Similarly to her progression stats, Roord doesn’t stand out in these metrics but still performed above average in the 2020/21 WSL season. She has 3.98 passes into the final third per 90 and 1.6 passes to into the penalty area per 90.
Chance creation
In this scatterplot, we see the metrics of key passes per 90 and through passes per 90. These metrics help look at how chances and scoring opportunities are created. There is no one definition for chances created, but these metrics help us understand whether a player has contributed to that.
Roord does quite well in terms of key passes, performing above average with 0.32 key passes per 90. On the flip side however, she doesn’t do as well with her through passes, scoring below average with 0.51 per 90.
Shooting
Roord’s contribution in terms of shots puts her a league above many of her peers. This graph shows how many shots were taken per 90 and what percentage were on target. The midfielder enjoyed 2.69 shots per 90, with 50% of those hitting the target in her games for Arsenal last season.
Goal contribution
In the scatterplot above, we see the metrics of expected goals per 90 and expected assists per 90. These metrics show us the probability of a certain player getting a goal or an assist per 90 minutes. Roord does very well in the expected goals statistic, as she has 0.42 xG per 90. In terms of expected assists, she performs just below average, with 0.07 xA per 90.
These are the expected goal contributions, but in reality, the numbers are slightly different. She has 0.42 xG per 90 minutes with a total of 6.59 xG. In reality, she scores 0.45 goals per 90 with a total of seven goals overall. This means she is over-performing, with seven goals against 6.59 xG.
The same can be said for the expected assists. She has 0.07 xA per 90 minutes with a total of 1.02 xA. but in reality, she gave 0.13 assists per 90 with a total of two assists for the season. This means she over-performed here too, with 1.02 xA against two assists.
Conclusion
Jill Roord has played in several different positions throughout the season and her data shows where she exceeds and where she needs to improve. If we look at the roles of a central midfielder – progression and key passing – she has to up her game. Most of her peers are doing better in these metrics. However, wen we focus on the metrics concerned with an attacking midfielder, especially finishing, she is one of the best on her position. Shooting, scoring goals and delivering assists is undoubtedly what she does best.
It’ll be hard for Arsenal fans to see Roord leave, after making a lasting impression on the North London side. However, fans of VfL Wolfsburg will be excited to see her develop and perform in the attacking midfield position. Overall, Roord is a great signing for the German outfit and this is another step in her progression for the Dutch international team.
