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| caughtoffside.com |
"I think they are a club rugby," said the player who just got the best player in the league (PFA Player of the Year).
The Algerian Players joined to The Foxes from Le Havre in January 2014. At that time, the English Premier League Champion was still in the Championship Division (one level below the Premier League).
Mahrez then helped his team to promote into Premier League. Last season, a season in which Leicester was struggling in the relegation zone and almost got back to the Championship, was the first season for the 25-year-old players in the Premier League.
One season after playing in the top flight, no one thought that he could be a key player for Leicester, who constantly terrorize opponents with speed and high-level techniques.
Choosing the PFA Player of the Year Award (The Best Player of the English Professional Footballers Association version) is not a simple thing, let alone be able to get the title. There are many categories that can make a player get this prestigious title: scoring the most goals, create so many assists, win more points for the team, and so forth.
In the end, Riyad Mahrez is a player who was voted as PFA Player of the Year. If you disagree, maybe some facts and statistics below can open your mind.
Players who Have Biggest Impact To The Game
Honestly, there are more players who scored more often than Mahrez. Harry Kane led the list of the Premier League's top scorer with 24 goals for Tottenham Hotspur. Underneath there are Sergio Agüero (Manchester City) with 23 goals.
His teammate, Jamie Vardy, more productive with 22 goals. Likewise with Romelu Lukaku, who scored 18 goals for Everton.
Mahrez ranked fifth in the list of top scorer in the Premier League with 17 goals from 34 matches. His goal is not as much as four players at the top, but he is a midfielder who scored the most goals in the Premier League. In fact, he was more productive than the attacker Premier League in general.
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| Recap of offensive action from Premier League players. (whoscored) |
Then if we look at the list of assists, he also is not in the top position. Mesut Özil is the most generous players in the Premier League with 18 assists. While Mahrez, who made 11 assists in the third rank under Christian Eriksen (12). The number of assists is same with David Silva and James Milner until week 35th.
Mahrez is not a top player in both of the above matters. However, if we combine his goals and assists, Mahrez has been involved in 27 goals Leicester City. Moreover, in addition, he was also involved in 41 key passes and succeeded in creating 52 chances so far.
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| recap of passes from Premier League players. (whoscored) |
Only Vardy involved more, namely 28 Leicester goals (22 goals and 6 assists). But most of Vardy's goals and opportunities was the creation of Mahrez (5 goals Vardy result of Mahrez assists ), so that as the creator and finisher, Mahrez is a top class game-changer in the Premier League this season.
Players who Have Biggest Impact in The Team
If involved in 27 goals (out of 63 total goals) to his team not make us pretty confident that Mahrez is the one, we could see it from another perspective.
Putting aside for a moment about the goals, in fact, the most influential players in Leicester is N'Golo Kante. French players have topped the chart of most successful tackle in the Premier League with a remarkable number, 111 tackle success.
The energy of box-to-box midfielder which never endlessly is vital for Leicester midfielder inhabited by two players (usually side by side with Danny Drinkwater). Without the presence of Kante who brought in at the beginning of this season, it could be the midfield 'The Foxes' would've been lost many times.
So, should Kante who won the PFA Player of the Year? Can be. But it is not that simple.
Mahrez did not get involved in a defensive game as Kante did for Leicester. Mahrez more helped Leicester in the last third of the field, in their attacking third.
He just lost with Wilfried Zaha regarding success dribble. Crystal Palace's players might even get a title, a winger with the best quality in the five top European leagues. So far Zaha has scored successful dribble 3.74 (52%) per game, above Mahrez with 3.18 success dribble (55%) per game.
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| recap of dribble from Premier League players. (whoscored) |
However, we must praise Mahrez techniques are more varied than Zaha. His ability to dribble into the narrow space to get away with it always reminds us of Eden Hazard in the last season (which for some reason in this season does not give much impact as last season for Chelsea).
He always could provoke opposing players to seize it. In the end, most of them successfully deceived, while others can only break him. Mahrez violated as much as 2.2 times per game.
So, Kante defensive game can not be underestimated. However, Mahrez gives his impact on the third pitch of opponent which makes Leicester can be successful as it is today.
Players who Give The Biggest Impact to the Premier League 2015/16
We've already seen Mahrez contributions in the terms of goals, assists, key passes, creating chances, until dribble and how to build a Leicester City game this season. Can not be denied, Mahrez is the main actor for Claudio Ranieri's troops so that Leicester has the potential to make history become Premier League champions.
If we want to see the players that have the effect of this in addition to Mahrez this season, it will be hard to find.
"When I came here [to Leicester while still in the Championship], I saw the facilities they have, and they are nice teams. I never regret choosing this teams; these are my best teams" added Mahrez continue the interview in which we gave at the beginning of this article.
Mahrez finally managed to make history for being the player from the African continent who won the title of PFA Player of the Year. Unprecedented also Leicester players who earned this title.
What next story for Mahrez? He has been aproached by many teams, even Real Madrid and Barcelona are also reportedly interested in signing him.
25-year-old, he is the main actor in Leicester. Moreover, The Foxes will compete in the UEFA Champions League next season. If he moved, he must realize that he probably will not be the main actor in his new squad later.
However, whatever happens later, for now, let's just enjoy Riyad Mahrez, the Premier League's best player in 2016.
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