According to the statisticians, Matt Ritchie has created more chances than any other player outside the ‘big six’ over the opening two weeks of the new 2021/22 season.
This comes from Twitter account ‘The Other 14’, who confirm that he created FIVE chances in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa and four in our opening day loss to West Ham.
It helps that he’s on set pieces, however these are impressive numbers from our left wing-back, seeing him outperform the likes of Adama Traore, Emi Buendia, Richarlison, Harvey Barnes, Ismalia Sarr and Raphinha in the creativity department.
Elsewhere at Newcastle, Allan Saint-Maximin is second on our list of key creators, having set up four chances in that 4-2 defeat to the Hammers.
See The Other 14’s ‘chances created’ tables below, seeing Ritchie sit on top of both:
I still maintain that Jamal Lewis is deserving of a chance and more suited to this 5-3-2 system that requires our wing-backs to get up and down the line, however this highlights Ritchie’s ability to put good balls into the box.
The issue is, we aren’t posing enough of a threat from open play, with our first shot on target coming 96 minutes into Saturday’s dismal defeat at Villa Park.
