AMSTERDAM – With Jozy Altidore snapping a 29-game scoring drought on Tuesday night, we found it a good time to run some numbers on his individual performance in Sunderland's 2-1 Capital One Cup loss against visiting Stoke City.
It's been a long while since the American Exports abacus came out for a single game, so let's quickly recap the aim here. During the match, we counted up a list of stat categories (some commonly used, some custom-made to help tell the story of his night statistically). Not content with simply opening a ledger, we also try to explain what the various numbers mean.
In several ways it was actually an atypical Altidore showing for Sunderland – and no, comedians, we don't mean because he scored. Often derided for things like failing to be aggressive in making his own shots and failing to use his size in the attack end, the No. 17 shirt either dispelled them all for a night, or a team-play reason for the perceived flaw became apparent.
Let's begin with the purely offensive numbers. During his time with the Black Cats, Altidore has often been criticized – including by me – for being too unselfish around the opponents' area at the expense of his own shot. We all know about the goal scarcity, but did you know he only trails Adam Johnson in assists (10 to nine) since joining Sunderland?
On Tuesday, Altidore showed that perhaps he has learned the lesson about expecting Sunderland to operate in attack like AZ Alkmaar. Though again limited in touches, especially in the final third, the striker looked far more interested in finding his own shot than he did in playing the team tic-tac-toe offense he thrived in as an Eredivisie player. Even when beat two defenders on the dribble before coughing up the ball, it was in the service of trying to bust into the box alone.
Of course, one of his shots on the night artfully found its way into the net. The other, a long-distance effort that had some steam on it, was blocked near release. And things could have gone even better for Altidore and Sunderland on the night; on four occasions, a centering feed of some sort fell just short of reaching him.
Shots/Shots On Goal
First Half: 1/1 (goal)
Second Half: 1/0
Shot Assists
First Half: 0
Second Half: 0
Key Passes
First Half: 0
Second Half: 0
Defenders Dribbled
First Half: 2
Second Half: 0
Many folks pointed out last season that the Black Cats' final-ball acumen sorely needed to improve and that clearly has not changed. The only other goal by a Sunderland striker in 630 minutes of competitive play on the new campaign was Connor Wickham's late 3-0 capper in their previous Capital One Cup win last month. Being that there were precious few area entries and a teammate only played a combo with him once (with the forward playing middleman between the give and the go), one can see this club still does not understand how to get the most production out of Altidore.
The same can be said about their general use of the target man in buildup play. Aside from a handful of long punts from the back to his chest, they did not really start to use Altidore as a cog in the offensive build against Stoke until falling behind in the 71st minute.
Attack End Hold-Up & Outlet Passes
First Half: 2
Second Half: 4
Area Entries (by pass or dribble)
First Half: 1
Second Half: 0
Now we arrive at the grittier details, meant to provide context to his physical and off-the-ball efforts.
Another way this game was unusual for Altidore was that he drew far more whistles than free kicks. His EPL fouls won vs. fouls committed ratio is nearly even and there are plenty of days when the American will earn his side a good number of offensive zone restarts. Against Stoke he drew five whistles, including a late yellow card for jawing at the ref. Some may gripe at this behavior, some may hail it as showing fire. On the plus side, one of his fouls won resulted in Johnson forcing a good save with the ensuing free kick on 34 minutes.
When it came to hanging onto the ball, though, that fouling "fire" looks misplaced. Altidore went most of the first half before his first turnover (lost dribble, mishandle, pass to no one, etc.) and won his first three tough touches (receiving in a crowd or with a defender hanging on him). After Sunderland conceded the equalizer, though, his touch frequency went down for long stretches and his handle grip went with it.
Other areas counted, at least for the night, fit into the category of unfair Altidore jibes. The guy has often been hit out at for being lazy in the high-pressure game and ineffective in the air. While he failed on Tuesday to log any takeaways from chasing defenders at the back, he did pick up a pair of fouls making attempts.
The real pressure issue for Sunderland appeared to be a lack of effort behind the attacking front, who never got support from the midfield. The same might be said about his low number of headers won; the Black Cats only managed to accurately put a single ball to his head the whole night.
Free Kicks Won/Fouls
First Half: 2/2
Second Half: 0/3 (incl. yellow card)
Tough Touches
First Half: 3 of 4
Second Half: 1 of 4
Turnovers
First Half: 2
Second Half: 4
Pressure Steals & Forced Errors
First Half: 0
Second Half: 0
Aerial Duels
First Half: 0 of 0
Second Half: 1 of 1
