Quote Originally Posted by the other bob wilson View Post
Is Neil Warnock going to look at the stats you mention and be satisfied? Surely not. We get the idea that he doesn't value possession as highly as many other managers, but is he really satisfied when his team pass the ball to a standard that would embarrass a League One side like we did this season on our bad days (e.g. Huddersfield and Everton at home)? I refuse to believe that he is and so I would hope that, even if it still means our possession figures are under 50%, there is an acknowledgement that we need to retain the ball better.
whoscored.com is a great source of info on stuff like this.

In 2017/18, when Burnley finished 7th, they had 45.1% possession and 70.5% pass accuracy.
In 2015/16, when Leicester won the league, they had 44.7% possession and 70.5% pass accuracy.
Last season we had 39.1% possession and 63.9% pass accuracy.

There was also a comment on Stoke City's long ball game. Passing stats only go back as far as 2009/10, but Stoke's possession stats ranged between 42-44.5% under Pulis. After he was sacked, Stoke's possession stats went up to 48% and then 50% for 2 seasons. Those 3 seasons were the most successful Stoke had in the Premier League. They dropped to 43.7% for their relegation season.

Another interesting little stat is that over the cours of the 2009/10 season, 8 Premier League teams had less than 70% pass success rate. Since 2013/14, only 3 teams have had a pass success rate of less than 70% - Palace in 2014/15, Burnley in 2016/17 and us this season.

Since possession records began in 2009/10, no side has had as little possession as we had last season. 2 sides have had fractionally worse pass accuracy stats, both in 2009/10, after which passing in the Premier League improved somewhat. In terms of possession and pass accuracy, this season we comfortably were the worst in the Premier League this decade.