If you were previously unaware, this season The Terrace Podcast has been calculating its own assists table for the players in the Scottish Premiership. We are doing this for two reasons: one, we doubt the accuracy of the current tables on offer; and two, we believe assists to be a fundamentally flawed statistic. It is supposed to represent how creative a player is, but in order for the player in question to get a tally mark beside their name they are relying on someone else to do their job. Is it the fault of the facilitator if he offers chance after chance on a plate that teammates keep refusing to take?
In our ‘True Assist’ table we take into account the chances created and rank them in two categories: where the forward could score and where the forward should score. Then we set in place a points system and view the highlights of every top flight match in order to rank the players.
In between the start of the week twelve fixtures and the completion of week fourteen, Ryan Gauld, who had previously dropped out of the top 20, made a meteoric rise up the table and now rests in fourth place after his four assist performance against Partick Thistle. There wasn’t much change at the top but plenty of shuffling in the chasing pack, while we get a couple of new entries from some of the league’s struggling sides.
Before we get to the table let us just quickly remind you of the scoring system and the meanings of the abbreviations you’ll need to understand the league table:
Chance Created – Could Have Scored (CS) = 0.75pts
Goal Created – Striker Dispatches Tricky or ‘Half Chance Assist’ (HCA) = 0.75pts
Chance Created – Should Have Scored (SS) = 1pt
Goal Created – Striker Couldn’t Miss Assist (CMA) = 1pt
True Assist Table
1. Johnny Hayes (Aberdeen) – 8 CS; 2 HCA; 2 SS; 1 CMA = 10.5 pts
2. Stevie May (St J) – 3 CS; 2 HCA; 4 SS; 2 CMA = 9.75 pts
3. Iain Vigurs (Motherwell) – 9 CS; 1 HCA; 1 CMA = 8.5 pts
4. Ryan Gauld (Dundee Utd) – 1 CS; 1 HCA; 2 SS; 4 CMA – 7.5 pts
T5. Anthony Stokes (Celtic) – 3 CS; 1 HCA; 2 SS; 1 CMA = 6 pts
T5. David Wotherspoon (St Johnstone) – 7 CS; 1 HCA = 6 pts
T5. Emillio Izaguirre (Celtic) – 4 HCA; 1 SS; 2 CMA = 6 pts
T8. Kris Commons (Celtic) – 4 CS; 1 SS; 2 CMA = 5.75 pts
T8. Aaron Doran (Inverness) – 4 CS; 1 HCA; 2 CMA = 5.75 pts
T8. Michael Gardyne (Killie) – 5 CS; 2 SS = 5.75 pts
T11. Sean Clohessy (Kilmarnock) – 4 CS; 2 HCA; 1 CMA = 5.5 pts
T11. Paul McGowan (St Mirren) – 1CS; 1HCA; 2SS; 2CMA = 5.5pts
13. Jamie Walker (Hearts) – 3 CS; 2 SS; 1 CMA = 5.25 pts
T14. Niall McGinn (Aberdeen) – 4 CS; 1 SS; 1 CMA = 5 pts
T14. Gary Mackay Steven (D Utd) – 2 CS; 1 HCA; 2 SS = 5 pts
16. Liam Craig (Hibs) – 5 CS; 1 CMA = 4.75 pts
17. Steven Thompson (St Mirren) – 5 CS; 1 HCA = 4.5 pts
T18. Gregg Wylde (Aberdeen) – 2 CS; 1 HCA; 2 SS = 4.25 pts
T18. Stephen O’Donnell (Thistle) – 3 CS; 2 SS = 4.25 pts
T18. Nadir Ciftci (Dundee Utd) – 3 HCA; 1 SS; 1 CMA = 4.25 pts
T18. Charlie Mulgrew (Celtic) – 3 CS; 2 CMA = 4.25 pts
If you’ve enjoyed the blogs then make sure to check out the podcast. The latest episode was entitled Is That a Mitre Ball?
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