How do our full backs compare?

With most fans making it known they wanted a left back signed in January and the club seemingly trying to sign one, it would not do any harm to have a look in detail at our full back’s performance stats.

It is generally accepted that Daryl Janmaat is Newcastle United’s most accomplished full back, so he sets the bar in terms of fans’ expectations from the rest of out wide defenders. At 26-years-old, Janmaat has a bit more experience than Paul Dummett (24) and Massaido Haidara, who is still 23. However, neither of our full backs can claim to be ‘kids’ anymore and now is the time in their careers that they should be asserting themselves as Premier League level performers.

I have devised a little system whereby we look at each player’s performance stats and award the winner of each discipline 10 points with 2nd place getting 5 points. For every assist each players has, they gain 10 points. The same goes for every goal scored. However, for every mistake made that cost the Toon a goal, the players loses 10 points.

Unfortunately both Dummett and Haidara have had their injury problems this season and have missed games. Dummett has only featured in 15 games compared to Janmaat’s 24 and Haidara’s 7. In order to get a clearer understanding of each player’s respective stats over a set amount of time, I will need to include Haidara’s 15 games from last season, which brings him up to 22 overall. For Dummett, I will simply multiply his stats by a half, which brings him up to 22.5 games – both those numbers are comparable to Janmaat’s 24 then… However because Dummett and Haidara have failed to turn out as often as Janmaat, the latter begins with +10 points for reliability.

So first up is chances created. This is key passes that lead to a goal scoring opportunity. Janmaat runs away with this one with 19, which is more than the combined scores of Dummett (6) and Haidara (10). Whilst we are on the subject lets look at assists. As expected the attack minded Dutch International takes first place with 3, giving him a total of 50 points. Next up is the Frenchman with one for a total of 10 points and bringing up the rear is our Welsh full back with zero, leaving him still searching for his first points. Staying with attack stats, both Janmaat and Dummett have a goal each, whilst Haidara has none. So what about testing the opposition ‘keeper? Again Janmaat leads the way with 6 shots on target compared to the other two’s one each. On top of that, Janmaat is by far the most efficient of the 3 when taking shots – with 75% accuracy compared to 25% for Dummett and 16% for Haidara. 20 more points to Daryl.

In terms of taking the opposition on, Paul Dummett lags far behind the other two with only 9 successes. Massaido Haidara gets himself 5 points with 22. Janmaat (30) runs away with this one. So how many successful passes have our players made? Bringing up the rear is Haidara with 525. Dummett nets himself 5 points with 550 and Janmaat takes the victory again by some margin with 700.

You will be pleased to know that from near on a combined 75 games, our 3 full backs have only cost us 1 goal from a blatant defensive error. That honor goes to Paul Dummett, who loses 10 points as a consequence. So how about defensive actions such as interceptions, blocks and clearances that if not had been made would have likely cost us a goal? This is where Janmaat finally comes unstuck with only 5 to his name. Dummett gains 5 points with 9, whilst Haidara takes the day with 12.

In terms of fouls committed, Dummett gains 10 points with only 18. The other two have committed 21 each. Who is our best tackler then? Well in terms of successful tackles, Dummett takes top spot again with 52. Janmaat is not far behind with 48 but Haidara is seriously lacking with only 31. Finally, we look at successful headers. Again, Dummett is top dog by some margin with 45. Haidara takes 5 points with 25 whilst Janmaat brings up the rear with 21.

According to the above system, our best overall full back is Daryl Janmaat by a Country Mile – with 105 points. In second place is Paul Dummett with 50 points despite being deducted points for directly costing Newcastle a goal. Massaido Haidara is found wanting with 40 points.

Observations would be that whilst Janmaat is known for his forward play, his defensive play is not bad either. He puts in his fare share of successful tackles but what really lets him down is his strength in the air. Defensively Dummett is the better of the three, with more tackles and headers. That said he is pretty rubbish going forward, which is an important part of an effective full back. I’d argue that his stats suggest he should be a central defender. Haidara is a middle of the road defender, who is generally effective both going forward and back, but not particularly great in any area.

In conclusion, we definitely need a left back with a bit of class. The question is, do we let go of Dummett or Haidara? I’d say given Haidara’s stats, he’s not good enough at this level and his injury record does not help. However, is Dummett really suited to this position?

About Shamrock

Like everyone here, support Newcastle United. Not the easiest side to feel good about at times, but it's our side!

169 thoughts on “How do our full backs compare?

  1. Well Ime with STUART I’ll be shocked if they get 21/24 mil for him that will another six months off the length of his contract,will imo go for 12/14 mil at most,not for me like

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  2. That said, there’s no way he’ll keep a valuation upwards of £20m and if his head isn’t right then they can’t argue they get that money back by his goals keeping them up – so in that sense all they have done is hit themselves in the pocket and allowed an unhappy player to unsettle the dressing room….

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  3. I can’t believe WBA were stupid enough to turn down our offer for Saido personally – the kid wants out and they haven’t been selecting him regularly. They could have made improvements to their squad with that money in Jan but now they will probably get just over half that offer in the summer.

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  4. Watching WBA last night it does make me wonder how on earth we can never get passed round 3 like 🙁 👿

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  5. The FA Cup requires good old fashioned role your sleeves up and fight, passion…. But hard to progress in a competition like that when you have Sissoko, Cisse and Colo amongst your ranks! Hopefully after this summer we will have a good core of British players that understand the competition and that will drive us on!

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  6. Sham@160, Agree, seems ages since we took the cup seriously. Given it’s our only chance of glory we have to give it a go. Mind you having watched Leicester this season there is no reason we shouldn’t go for even more, that’s assuming we survive this season 😉

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  7. i see it only took the liverpool board 5 days to listen to their fans.

    it’s taken ash 8 years before listening to our fans about proper investment in the team – then again that is only for fear of missing out on the pots of gold next season.

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  8. Yes, I would pay the money for him because he’s a top class player. His head is obviously all over the place and he’s not fit because he’s not played almost all season.

    On another note, I know LVG is a bit of a **** but it’s so disrespectful to him what Man Utd are doing. Looks like the worst kept secret in football that they’re appointing Jose in the summer yet he still thinks they’re not and he will be there.

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  9. STUART

    You’d pay £25m for Berahino in the summer when he only has 12 months left on his contract??? You’ve changed your tune…had the opposite perspective regarding Austin not too long ago…

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  10. Wow west brom look in real trouble and have a stinking bad run in to come.

    You look at them: Foster, Dawson, Olson, McAuley, Brunt, Morrison, Mulumbu, Yacob are still there from when they were a tidy top half side under Woy & they now now have some useful attacking players like Sessenon, Mcmanaman, Rondon & Berahino

    They should have got better not worse, Pulis is a relic

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  11. CC

    Look at any squad in the PL these days and you’ll see tidy players. What makes the likes of Leicester so strong is playing as a unit. They have several players that if we’d been asked about signing them last summer, we’d have said no way!

    Pulis is normally brilliant at getting them to play as a team but I really think the Berahino thing has hurt them. I wouldn’t be surprised if Pulis wanted to get shot of him to have a clean slate.

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  12. I’d still say no, Momentum and confidence are making Leicester play so far above their natural level, Vardy got 26 in 109 matches before this season. Marez 7 in 51

    Next season they will be if not relegated as near as **** it

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