Where do you pick the bones out of this one? Junior Hoilett has been the most regular winger over the season, with Josh Murphy, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Gavin Whyte playing their parts too.
Let's start with some basic figures.
Hoilett:
Starts: 29 (substituted in 21 - 72%)
Sub appearances: 12
Goals: 7 (0.17 per game)
Assists: 3 (0.07 per game)
Mendez-Laing:
Starts: 21 (substituted in 14 - 67%)
Sub appearances: 6
Goals: 3 (0.11 per game)
Assists: 4 (0.15 per game)
Murphy:
Starts: 16 (substituted in 12 - 75%)
Sub appearances: 11
Goals: 5 (0.19 per game)
Assists: 3 (0.11 per game)
Whyte:
Starts: 15 (substituted in 11 - 73%)
Sub appearances: 9
Goals: 0 (0 per game)
Assists: 1 (0.04 per game)
The stats suggest that Gavin Whyte is out of his depth in the Championship. No goals and 1 assist from 1,265 minutes wearing a City shirt is dreadful. It's no surprise that he has rarely featured under Neil Harris.
The stats from the others surprise me slightly. I regard Hoilett as the best winger at the club, yet Murphy scores more on average and Mendez-Laing provides more assists. I looked at how often our wingers were pulled off as that's been a norm for both Warnock and Harris. Our wide players have such an important role in tracking back and getting forward that lasting 90 minutes week in, week out is impossible. Mendez-Laing has been brought off less often than the others.
While difficult to quantify, I make it that we've won more points on average when Mendez-Laing plays than any of the others, looking at points gained when he's been on the field and points on the table when substituted. Murphy is second, Hoilett third and Whyte unsurprisingly last.
We've scored more goals per minute when Josh Murphy has been on the field than the others, followed by Hoilett, Mendez-Laing and Whyte.
Next, I turn to TOBW's favourite, whoscored. According to that Murphy and Hoilett both produce roughly the same numbers of crosses per game. Surprisingly Joe Ralls crosses more balls than anyone else. Hoilett is, without doubt, our most accurate passer of the ball. Both Mendez-Laing and Hoilett produce more key passes. Mendez-Laing produces almost double the amount of dribbles to the others and is more likely to be successful with a dribble than the others. Apart from shot shy Whyte, the others have a similar shots per game ratio. Mendez-Laing does have more unsuccessful touches than the others, while Murphy has the least number. Murphy is most likely to be dispossessed while Whyte is half as likely at the other end of the scale.
Verdict: Statistically, Hoilett, Mendez-Laing and Murphy all make compelling arguments for their inclusion. None of them particularly set fire to the division but they all contribute and, with the amount of work they do, rotation and substitutions are essential. They're all arguably replaceable, they're all arguably invaluable in some way, bar Whyte, whose game doesn't suit this team at this level.