Analysis: How James Maddison has added goals to his game
James Maddison’s post-match interview following Leicester City’s 2-0 win over Chelsea was a refreshing one. The versatile midfielder spoke candidly about a number of things, but there was a big focus on how he’s gone about improving his goal return.
The 24-year-old found the back of the net against Frank Lampard’s side to take his tally to five goals in eight appearances and when asked about the reason for this upturn in form, Maddison resisted the urge to give a stock answer.
“Working on my game and improving. We played Sheffield United earlier in the season and I always watch the games back and Jamie Carragher said on commentary that ‘he [Maddison] needs to get his numbers up if he wants to be challenging for the England spots and being talked about in the same bracket as others’.
“Me, the gaffer and Jack, the analyst, sat down and looked at where I can get more goals. Playing a bit deeper, I was a No.8 today, and breaking into the box and getting beyond that last line and really, kind of, almost smelling where the ball is going to drop. It’s not an easy thing to do. Frank Lampard was the best at it, arriving late and scoring goals, and that’s what I did today.”
You often hear pundits talk about how a player needs to develop an area of their game, just as Carragher did with Maddison, but it’s rare to hear players open up about it.
As you can see in Maddison’s shot map above, there’s been a significant change in his output since the start of December. In the 486 minutes he featured in up until November 30, he managed two shots in the penalty area. Roughly 18% of his efforts originated from in the box, since December 1, however, that figure stands at 50%. Furthermore, of those 11 attempts, five found the back of the net.
It sounds simplistic, and it is, but the fact Maddison is shooting from better areas means he’s able to add more value to these shots with his placement. Of the eight shots he’s landed on target, only one has hit the middle third of the goal. He’s able to pick out the corners.
His post-shot expected goals average has risen from 0.18 per 90 between August 2019 and November 2020, to 0.42 since. Granted, the latter is a small sample size, but it does highlight the benefits of shooting closer to the goal.
In fact, he’s scored as many goals from inside the area since December as he’d managed in the 40 matches prior.
Even if post-shot xG is ignored and the focus is on xG only, this subtle tweak has transformed Maddison from a player averaging a goal every 5.2 matches, to a player averaging a goal every four games. Take the sample size into account before making any sweeping statements, but this could see the Leicester No.10 add a different dimension to his game if it continues.
All the graphics and visualisations in this article use Wyscout data and were produced in the Twenty3 Toolbox.
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