Chelsea's Cyborgs: Player Usage Chart

All the way back on the 20th January of this fine year I wrote about Chelsea and cyborgs. Each week Mourinho was running a bunch of players who looked like this:

Those guys could run forever, couldn't get injured and they wouldn't lose. Machines. It's no surprise then that this Chelsea team walked the title with plenty of games to spare.

The player usage chart below is an attempt at visualizing just how heavily Mourinho leaned on his core players.

The further right on the chart, the more starts made. The bigger the bubble, the higher the % of minutes played.

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Chelsea had FOUR players play over 90% of the minutes available in the Premier League: Hazard, Matic, Terry, and Ivanovic. It's incredible that  Chelsea were able to run those crucially important players so much without them breaking down, or wearing down, or giving up.

But the heavy usage doesn't end there. 

• Cahill and Fabregas played over 80% of the available minutes.
• Willian and Azpilicueta over 70% of the available minutes.
• Costa and Oscar rounded out the first 11 with around 60% of the minutes played.

The 10 names you read above are Chelsea's complete outfield team and those names can all be found on the right hand side of the chart above. There was little rotation from Mourinho, Chelsea suffered the lowest number of man games lost to injury by a significant and almost unbelievable margin and that meant there was little need to use the inferior squad players like Cudrado, Remy, Luis, or Mikel. 

Chelsea's squad players are fine pros one and all but the gap in talent from the squad players to the cyborg starters is significant, as it is with many other clubs. But Chelsea were never in a position where they had to use their squad players for anything other than garbage time, to cover the odd suspension or fill in for Costa's hamstrings.

I don't know if Chelsea has a unique training and recovery program in 14/15 that prevented fatigue and injury, or whether it was blind dumb luck (last season only Ivanovic, Terry and Hazard played over 80% of the available minutes and the squad players were generally more involved). It is what it is and Chelsea benefited greatly from it this year during their title winning campaign.

But will that skill/luck sustain next season? Will the cyborgs be just as unbreakable?

Get The Data

Player	Starts	Age	Position	% Mins	Minutes
Andreas Christensen		19	D	0.4	12
Branislav Ivanovic	38	31	D	100.0	3420
Cesc Fàbregas	33	28	M	84.5	2890
César Azpilicueta	29	25	D	72.6	2484
Didier Drogba	8	37	F	25.0	856
Diego Costa	24	26	F	61.0	2085
Eden Hazard	38	24	M	98.8	3379
Filipe Luis	9	29	D	27.5	939
Gary Cahill	33	29	D	87.3	2985
Izzy Brown		18	M	0.3	11
John Obi Mikel	6	28	M	20.4	697
John Terry	38	34	D	100.0	3420
Juan Cuadrado	4	26	M	18.2	312
Kurt Zouma	7	20	D	18.8	644
Loïc Remy	8	28	F	19.5	668
Nathan Aké		20	D	0.5	17
Nemanja Matic	35	26	M	91.3	3124
Oscar	26	23	M	59.6	2038
Ramires	12	28	M	32.2	1102
Ruben Loftus-Cheek	2	19	M	3.9	134
Willian	28	26	M	70.7	2418

The Enlightened Era (2009 - 2015): Shots On Target For/Against

Another interactive chart, this time one that shows the importance of shots on target on both sides of the ball.

Notice the cluster of teams in the bottom right of this chart. These are the teams that post very good shots on target numbers in both attack and defense. These teams, as you can see by the bubble colour, are the teams that frequently populate the top 4 in the Premier League.

Getting your shots on target is pretty damn important.

- Size of the bubble indicates points won.
- The further right a team is on the chart, the higher the shots for per game.
- The lower a team is on the chart, the lower the shots against per game

Full Page Link.

   

The Enlightened Era (2009 - 2015): Scoring%, Save% & PDO

Another Interactive chart that shows Scoring% (goals for/shots on target for) and Save% (100- goals against/shots on target against)

We see a group of bubbles clustered around the top right of the chart (good scoring% & save%). Those bubbles in the sweet spot of this chart are more or less made up of just 3 teams: Man City, Man United & Chelsea. Are the 'Big 3' consistently lucky? Or do these 3 clubs have such superior talent on their squads that are consistently able to post both high scoring and save percentages?

In a league without a salary cap and a wide spread of budgets it is likely that we see some form of talent skew throughout the table. 

Full Page Link.

The Enlightened Era (2009 - 2015): Shots For/Against

An interactive chart that gives us a quick and dirty understanding of the importance of shots counts both for and against. 

Score effects, finishing skill, ability to prevent high quality chances against are still a thing but shot volume, over the course of a full season, is, was, and will continue to be very important.

- Size of the bubble indicates points won.
- The further right a team is on the chart, the higher the shots for per game.
- The lower a team is on the chart, the lower the shots against per game.

Full Page Link.

The Enlightened Era (2009 to 2015)

Playbook

 

Full Team Name & Season	Goal +/-	Goal%	Goals For	Goals Against	Points	Shots For	Shots Against	Shots +/-	TSR	SoT For	SoT Against	SoT +/-	SoTR	Scoring%	Save%	PDO
Arsenal 09/10	42	66.9	83	41	75	17.4	10.2	7.2	63.0	6.1	3.6	2.5	63.0	35.6	70.1	105.7
Aston Villa 09/10	13	57.1	52	39	64	13.1	16.1	-3.0	44.9	4.2	4.3	-0.1	48.9	32.9	76.4	109.3
Birmingham 09/10	-9	44.7	38	47	50	11.9	17.3	-5.4	40.8	4.1	4.8	-0.7	46.0	24.5	74.2	98.7
Blackburn 09/10	-14	42.7	41	55	50	12.9	10.8	2.1	54.4	4.2	4.1	0.1	50.6	25.5	65.0	90.4
Bolton 09/10	-25	38.5	42	67	39	14.7	16.3	-1.6	47.4	4.3	5.7	-1.4	43.0	25.8	69.0	94.7
Burnley 09/10	-40	33.9	42	82	30	12.1	16.8	-4.7	41.9	4	6	-2	40.1	27.5	64.2	91.6
Chelsea 09/10	71	76.3	103	32	86	21.9	9.8	12.1	69.1	7.6	2.8	4.8	73.3	35.8	69.5	105.3
Everton 09/10	11	55.0	60	49	61	15.5	13.4	2.1	53.6	5.1	4.3	0.8	54.3	30.9	69.9	100.9
Fulham 09/10	-7	45.9	39	46	46	12.2	14.7	-2.5	45.4	3.8	4.6	-0.8	45.1	27.1	73.7	100.8
Hull 09/10	-41	31.2	34	75	30	10.2	17.4	-7.2	37.0	3.2	5.7	-2.5	35.5	28.3	65.6	93.9
Liverpool 09/10	26	63.5	61	35	63	16.9	10.2	6.7	62.4	5	3.6	1.4	57.8	32.3	74.6	106.9
Manchester City 09/10	28	61.9	73	45	67	13.8	13.6	0.2	50.4	5.1	3.8	1.3	57.5	37.4	68.8	106.2
Manchester United 09/10	58	75.4	86	28	85	18.3	10.9	7.4	62.7	5.8	3.5	2.3	62.6	38.9	78.8	117.7
Portsmouth 09/10	-32	34.0	34	66	19	14.0	15.5	-1.5	47.5	4	5.4	-1.4	42.4	22.5	67.8	90.3
Stoke 09/10	-14	41.5	34	48	47	10.6	15.3	-4.7	40.9	3	5.4	-2.4	35.3	30.1	76.8	106.9
Sunderland 09/10	-8	46.2	48	56	44	11.7	16.3	-4.6	41.8	4.2	3.3	0.9	56.2	30.2	54.8	85.0
Tottenham 09/10	26	62.0	67	41	70	17.9	13.7	4.2	56.6	5.9	4.4	1.5	57.5	29.6	75.4	105.1
West Ham 09/10	-19	41.6	47	66	35	14.4	15.9	-1.5	47.5	5	5		50.3	24.6	65.1	89.7
Wigan 09/10	-42	31.9	37	79	36	14.6	14.3	0.3	50.5	4.6	4.6		49.9	21.3	59.4	80.7
Wolves 09/10	-24	36.4	32	56	38	11.5	15.6	-4.1	42.4	3.1	5.6	-2.5	35.8	26.9	73.7	100.6
Arsenal 10/11	29	62.6	72	43	68	17.2	10.6	6.6	61.9	6.3	3.6	2.7	63.3	30.3	68.8	99.1
Aston Villa 10/11	-11	44.9	48	59	48	13.3	15.8	-2.5	45.7	4.3	4.4	-0.1	49.8	29.1	64.5	93.5
Birmingham 10/11	-21	38.9	37	58	39	10.6	18.2	-7.6	36.8	3.2	6.3	-3.1	33.5	30.6	75.8	106.4
Blackburn 10/11	-13	43.8	46	59	43	11.9	16.2	-4.3	42.3	3.6	4.8	-1.2	42.6	34.1	67.6	101.7
Blackpool 10/11	-23	41.4	55	78	39	14.0	19.5	-5.5	41.8	4.2	5.8	-1.6	42.4	34.2	64.4	98.5
Bolton 10/11	-4	48.1	52	56	46	15.0	15.8	-0.8	48.7	4.6	5.1	-0.5	47.4	30.1	70.8	100.9
Chelsea 10/11	36	67.6	69	33	71	19.6	11.6	8.0	62.8	6.4	3.5	2.9	64.9	28.3	75.0	103.3
Everton 10/11	6	53.1	51	45	54	15.3	13.3	2.0	53.5	4.8	3.8	1	55.5	28.2	69.0	97.1
Fulham 10/11	6	53.3	49	43	49	14.4	14.1	0.3	50.5	4.5	4.3	0.2	51.3	28.5	73.6	102.1
Liverpool 10/11	15	57.3	59	44	58	15.3	13.0	2.3	54.1	5.4	3.7	1.7	59.1	28.8	69.0	97.8
Manchester City 10/11	27	64.5	60	33	71	14.4	13.5	0.9	51.6	4.7	3.8	0.9	55.1	33.9	77.1	111.0
Manchester United 10/11	41	67.8	78	37	80	16.3	12.1	4.2	57.4	5.6	3.3	2.3	62.9	36.8	70.4	107.2
Newcastle United 10/11	-1	49.6	56	57	46	13.3	13.3	0.0	50.0	4.4	3.9	0.5	52.8	33.3	62.0	95.3
Stoke 10/11	-2	48.9	46	48	46	12.7	14.4	-1.7	46.9	3.8	4.6	-0.8	45.3	32.2	72.3	104.4
Sunderland 10/11	-11	44.6	45	56	47	14.0	14.5	-0.5	49.1	4.1	4.7	-0.6	46.2	29.2	68.7	97.9
Tottenham 10/11	9	54.5	55	46	62	17.3	14.9	2.4	53.7	5	4.8	0.2	51.1	28.8	74.9	103.7
West Brom 10/11	-15	44.1	56	71	47	15.7	14.1	1.6	52.7	4.8	4.7	0.1	50.8	30.4	60.1	90.5
West Ham 10/11	-27	38.1	43	70	33	15.1	18.3	-3.2	45.2	4.6	6.2	-1.6	42.4	24.7	70.3	95.1
Wigan 10/11	-21	39.6	40	61	42	13.4	13.3	0.1	50.2	4.5	4.9	-0.4	47.6	23.5	67.4	90.9
Wolves 10/11	-20	41.1	46	66	40	12.1	15.1	-3.0	44.5	3.7	5.1	-1.4	41.6	33.1	66.2	99.2
Arsenal 11/12	25	60.2	74	49	70	16.8	10.5	6.3	61.5	6.2	3.5	2.7	64.0	31.4	63.2	94.5
Aston Villa 11/12	-16	41.1	37	53	38	11.5	15.3	-3.8	42.9	3.6	4.5	-0.9	44.7	26.8	69.0	95.8
Blackburn 11/12	-30	38.1	48	78	31	11.9	16.4	-4.5	42.0	3.8	4.9	-1.1	43.5	33.6	58.1	91.6
Bolton 11/12	-31	37.4	46	77	36	13.0	17.3	-4.3	42.9	4.3	5.7	-1.4	42.9	28.2	64.5	92.7
Chelsea 11/12	19	58.6	65	46	64	17.7	11.8	5.9	60.0	5.9	3.8	2.1	60.9	29.0	68.1	97.1
Everton 11/12	10	55.6	50	40	56	13.7	12.5	1.2	52.3	4.3	3.6	0.7	54.8	30.5	70.4	100.9
Fulham 11/12	-3	48.5	48	51	52	14.2	15.5	-1.3	47.8	5.1	5.2	-0.1	49.7	24.6	74.1	98.7
Liverpool 11/12	7	54.0	47	40	52	17.6	11.2	6.4	61.1	5.4	3.3	2.1	62.0	22.7	68.5	91.2
Manchester City 11/12	64	76.2	93	29	89	19.4	10.5	8.9	64.9	6.6	3.3	3.3	66.5	37.2	77.0	114.2
Manchester United 11/12	56	73.0	89	33	89	17.0	13.4	3.6	55.9	6.4	4.1	2.3	61.1	36.6	78.7	115.3
Newcastle United 11/12	5	52.3	56	51	65	12.9	14.3	-1.4	47.4	4.1	4.3	-0.2	48.6	35.9	69.1	105.0
Norwich 11/12	-14	44.1	52	66	47	13.5	16.2	-2.7	45.5	4.3	5.5	-1.2	44.0	31.7	68.4	100.1
Queens Park Rangers 11/12	-23	39.4	43	66	37	14.2	16.6	-2.4	46.1	3.9	5.1	-1.2	43.6	28.7	66.0	94.6
Stoke 11/12	-17	40.4	36	53	45	9.9	14.2	-4.3	41.1	2.5	4.7	-2.2	34.6	38.3	70.2	108.5
Sunderland 11/12	-1	49.5	45	46	45	12.1	16.3	-4.2	42.6	3.7	4.4	-0.7	45.9	31.9	72.3	104.2
Swansea 11/12	-7	46.3	44	51	47	12.4	15.7	-3.3	44.1	3.8	4.9	-1.1	43.7	30.3	72.7	103.1
Tottenham 11/12	25	61.7	66	41	69	18.4	12.2	6.2	60.1	6.1	4.1	2	59.7	28.7	73.5	102.2
West Brom 11/12	-7	46.4	45	52	47	14.3	15.6	-1.3	47.8	4.4	4.4		49.7	26.9	69.2	96.2
Wigan 11/12	-20	40.4	42	62	43	13.7	14.7	-1.0	48.2	4.3	4.8	-0.5	47.2	25.9	65.7	91.7
Wolves 11/12	-42	32.8	40	82	25	12.4	17.6	-5.2	41.3	4	6.8	-2.8	37.1	26.3	68.2	94.5
Arsenal 12/13	35	66.1	72	37	73	15.7	10.6	5.1	59.7	5.4	3.7	1.7	59.6	35.1	73.4	108.5
Aston Villa 12/13	-22	40.5	47	69	41	11.5	16.8	-5.3	40.6	3.7	4.9	-1.2	43.3	33.3	62.7	96.0
Chelsea 12/13	36	65.8	75	39	75	16.5	12.2	4.3	57.5	5.6	4.3	1.3	56.5	35.4	76.1	111.5
Everton 12/13	15	57.9	55	40	63	16.7	11.9	4.8	58.4	5.4	3.7	1.7	59.3	26.6	71.8	98.4
Fulham 12/13	-10	45.5	50	60	43	12.1	16.8	-4.7	41.9	4.2	5.1	-0.9	45.2	31.3	69.1	100.3
Liverpool 12/13	28	62.3	71	43	61	19.4	11.4	8.0	63.0	6.1	3.7	2.4	62.5	30.6	69.1	99.7
Manchester City 12/13	32	66.0	66	34	78	17.4	10.4	7.0	62.6	6.1	2.9	3.2	67.3	28.6	69.6	98.2
Manchester United 12/13	43	66.7	86	43	89	14.8	12.9	1.9	53.4	5.6	3.9	1.7	59.0	40.4	70.9	111.3
Newcastle United 12/13	-23	39.8	45	68	41	14.0	13.4	0.6	51.1	4.6	4.8	-0.2	48.7	25.9	62.8	88.7
Norwich 12/13	-17	41.4	41	58	44	10.9	14.1	-3.2	43.6	3.5	4.7	-1.2	43.1	30.6	67.2	97.8
Queens Park Rangers 12/13	-30	33.3	30	60	25	13.2	15.9	-2.7	45.4	3.8	5.2	-1.4	42.6	20.5	69.5	90.1
Reading 12/13	-30	37.1	43	73	28	10.4	18.6	-8.2	35.9	3.4	6	-2.6	35.9	33.6	68.1	101.7
Southampton 12/13	-11	45.0	49	60	41	13.6	11.9	1.7	53.3	4.4	4.2	0.2	51.2	29.3	62.3	91.6
Stoke 12/13	-11	43.0	34	45	42	10.2	14.4	-4.2	41.5	3	4.1	-1.1	42.4	29.8	71.0	100.8
Sunderland 12/13	-13	43.2	41	54	39	11.0	16.8	-5.8	39.6	3.7	5.3	-1.6	40.6	29.5	73.4	102.9
Swansea 12/13	-4	48.0	47	51	46	13.3	14.9	-1.6	47.2	4.4	5.1	-0.7	46.1	28.1	73.8	102.0
Tottenham 12/13	20	58.9	66	46	72	17.9	9.7	8.2	64.9	6.3	3.2	3.1	66.2	27.4	62.6	90.0
West Bromwich Albion 12/13	-4	48.2	53	57	49	13.3	15.7	-2.4	45.9	4.5	5	-0.5	47.4	31.2	69.8	101.0
West Ham 12/13	-8	45.9	45	53	46	12.9	16.5	-3.6	43.9	4.2	5.8	-1.6	41.9	28.5	75.8	104.3
Wigan 12/13	-26	39.2	47	73	36	13.2	14.1	-0.9	48.4	4.5	4.7	-0.2	48.6	27.6	59.4	87.1
Arsenal 13/14	27	62.4	68	41	79	13.8	11.9	1.9	53.7	5.6	4.1	1.5	57.6	31.9	73.9	105.8
Aston Villa 13/14	-22	39.0	39	61	38	11.3	13.1	-1.8	46.3	3.6	4.5	-0.9	44.1	28.9	64.3	93.2
Cardiff 13/14	-42	30.2	32	74	30	11.0	18.2	-7.2	37.7	3.3	6.1	-2.8	34.8	25.8	68.1	93.9
Chelsea 13/14	44	72.4	71	27	82	18.2	10.4	7.8	63.6	6	3.2	2.8	65.1	31.0	78.0	109.1
Crystal Palace 13/14	-15	40.7	33	48	45	10.9	14.0	-3.1	43.8	3.8	4.4	-0.6	46.1	23.1	71.3	94.3
Everton 13/14	22	61.0	61	39	72	14.8	13.1	1.7	53.0	5.2	4	1.2	56.3	31.1	74.3	105.5
Fulham 13/14	-45	32.0	40	85	32	11.3	17.8	-6.5	38.8	3.9	6.3	-2.4	38.5	26.8	64.3	91.1
Hull 13/14	-15	41.8	38	53	37	11.2	14.1	-2.9	44.3	3.5	4.1	-0.6	45.7	28.8	66.2	95.0
Liverpool 13/14	51	66.9	101	50	84	17.1	12.8	4.3	57.2	6.8	4.1	2.7	62.2	39.1	68.2	107.3
Manchester City 13/14	65	73.4	102	37	86	17.7	9.5	8.2	65.1	6.3	3.3	3	65.6	42.9	70.4	113.3
Manchester United 13/14	21	59.8	64	43	64	13.8	11.9	1.9	53.7	4.8	3.7	1.1	56.3	35.0	69.7	104.7
Newcastle United 13/14	-16	42.2	43	59	49	15.2	12.8	2.4	54.3	4.8	4.4	0.4	52.1	23.6	64.7	88.3
Norwich 13/14	-34	31.1	28	62	33	12.3	15.4	-3.1	44.4	3.9	4.9	-1	44.2	18.9	66.8	85.8
Southampton 13/14	8	54.0	54	46	56	14.1	9.6	4.5	59.5	4.7	3.4	1.3	57.7	30.2	64.9	95.1
Stoke 13/14	-7	46.4	45	52	50	11.2	14.4	-3.2	43.8	3.6	4.6	-1	43.8	32.8	70.5	103.3
Sunderland 13/14	-19	40.6	41	60	38	12.9	16.9	-4.0	43.3	3.6	5.7	-2.1	38.8	29.7	72.5	102.2
Swansea 13/14		50.0	54	54	42	13.0	12.7	0.3	50.6	4.2	3.9	0.3	51.9	33.5	63.8	97.3
Tottenham 13/14	4	51.9	55	51	69	15.4	11.2	4.2	57.9	5.1	4.1	1	55.0	28.6	67.5	96.2
West Brom 13/14	-16	42.2	43	59	36	12.8	13.1	-0.3	49.4	3.9	4.5	-0.6	46.1	29.3	65.7	94.9
West Ham 13/14	-11	44.0	40	51	40	11.1	17.8	-6.7	38.4	3.2	5.3	-2.1	37.7	32.8	74.8	107.5
Arsenal 14/15	35	66.4	71	36	75	16.1	10.7	5.4	60.1	6	3.4	2.6	63.5	31.1	72.5	103.7
Aston Villa 14/15	-25	35.6	31	56	38	10.9	12.6	-1.7	46.4	3.3	4.5	-1.2	42.8	24.4	67.1	91.5
Burnley 14/15	-25	34.6	28	53	33	11.3	15.5	-4.2	42.2	3.3	4.9	-1.6	40.3	22.2	71.7	93.9
Chelsea 14/15	41	69.5	73	32	89	14.8	10.9	3.9	57.6	5.5	3.3	2.2	62.9	34.8	74.2	109.0
Crystal Palace 14/15	-4	48.0	47	51	48	11.6	13.8	-2.2	45.7	3.6	4	-0.4	47.6	34.1	66.4	100.5
Everton 14/15	-3	48.5	47	50	47	12.7	13.2	-0.5	49.0	4.4	3.4	1	56.4	28.1	61.2	89.4
Hull 14/15	-18	39.3	33	51	35	11.3	13.2	-1.9	46.1	3.4	4.2	-0.8	45.1	25.4	67.7	93.1
Leicester 14/15	-9	45.5	46	55	41	12.0	14.5	-2.5	45.3	3.6	4.6	-1	44.2	33.6	68.2	101.8
Liverpool 14/15	4	52.0	52	48	61	15.5	10.9	4.6	58.7	5.1	3.8	1.3	57.4	26.8	66.7	93.5
Man City 14/15	45	68.6	83	38	79	17.6	10.2	7.4	63.3	6.1	3.4	2.7	64.1	36.1	70.5	106.6
Man United 14/15	25	62.6	62	37	70	13.4	10.0	3.4	57.3	4.7	3.7	1	56.3	34.4	73.6	108.0
Newcastle 14/15	-23	38.8	40	63	39	12.3	11.7	0.6	51.3	3.8	4.3	-0.5	46.7	28.0	61.3	89.3
QPR 14/15	-31	36.5	42	73	30	14.0	16.3	-2.3	46.2	4	5.7	-1.7	41.0	27.8	66.4	94.2
Southampton 14/15	21	62.1	54	33	60	13.3	10.1	3.2	56.8	4.5	3	1.5	60.0	31.6	71.1	102.6
Stoke 14/15	3	51.6	48	45	54	13.2	12.0	1.2	52.4	3.6	3.8	-0.2	48.7	35.3	68.5	103.8
Sunderland 14/15	-22	36.9	31	53	38	10.7	16.4	-5.7	39.5	3.4	5.2	-1.8	39.5	24.2	73.0	97.2
Swansea 14/15	-3	48.4	46	49	55	11.1	14.5	-3.4	43.4	3.9	5	-1.1	43.7	31.1	74.3	105.4
Tottenham 14/15	5	52.3	58	53	64	13.8	12.9	0.9	51.7	4.5	4.5		50.0	33.7	69.2	102.9
West Brom 14/15	-13	42.7	38	51	44	10.9	14.3	-3.4	43.3	3.5	4.9	-1.4	41.4	28.8	72.7	101.5
West Ham 14/15	-3	48.4	44	47	47	12.8	15.5	-2.7	45.2	4	4.7	-0.7	45.8	29.1	73.7	102.9