Player Focus: Does An Impassioned Individual Decrease The Likelihood Of Team Success?
Football is a passionate sport. Wayne Rooney exhibited this in his foul mouthed tirade down the camera in 2011 during Manchester United’s 4-2 win over West Ham, with the striker netting a hat-trick. A two-match ban quickly followed and as Rooney hastily explained: “I didn’t realise what I had done. It was just emotions.”
There is often the argument to be made that a team needs thos sort of 'emotional' players, and particularly ones that will dig their heels in in order to stifle the impact of the opposition and go to great lengths to disrupt the flow of the game to their advantage. While it brings with it the risk of the player missing a number of games through suspension as a result of yellow or red card accumulation, fans often welcome such types regardless.
But is it really worth having a player that will attract the unwanted attention of officials and fans and increase the likelihood of the team being without said player through suspension? In Europe’s top 5 leagues last season, Elche defender Cristian Sapunaru picked up the most yellows cards (18) on the continent last year. The then Real Zaragoza right-back made 29 appearances for the La Liga side over the 2012/13 campaign, picking up a further red card in the process.
In committing 55 fouls, a staggering 23 players were penalised more during the season, reinforcing his WhoScored.com weakness of discipline, while significantly contributing to Zaragoza's collective tally of 120 yellow cards - only Espanyol (143) were cautioned more. Yet, his approach, it can be argued, aided Zaragoza last season as they won 27.6% of the 29 games he started compared to just 11.1% in the nine games he didn't. While he missed a number of those games through suspension, evidently his ‘hothead’ style helped his team pick up more domestic victories, albeit not enough as the club finished bottom of La Liga.
This notion is further reinforced by the fact that Sapunaru made 102 tackles in Spain’s top tier last year, pointing towards his impressive defensive ability, even if his impassioned displays were perhaps over the top from time to time. The Romanian was booked every 141.9 minutes, yet of every player to have made 10 or more appearances across Europe’s top five leagues, Sapunaru’s record was bettered by that of Sergio Tejera. The young Espanyol midfielder received a ticking off from the referee every 65 minutes.
The aforementioned duo, on top of their poor card return last year, also turned out for the two teams that boasted the worst disciplinary record in Europe, with both Espanyol and Zaragoza enduring underwhelming seasons, finishing 13th and 20th respectively in the Primera Division. This hints towards teams calling upon a more physical or 'passionate' playing style as a means of securing success often falling short.
In comparison, when looking at the team with the best disciplinary record in Europe’s top 5 leagues, Bayern Munich sit proudly atop of the table having accumulated just 35 yellow cards and 1 red; Luiz Gustavo (6) the most yellow carded player for the Bundesliga side last season. Securing the domestic title, the DFB-Pokal and the Champions League adds credit to the notion that accruing fewer bookings generally goes hand in hand with an impressive season.
Further weight is thrown behind this idea when taking into consideration that Manchester United also took their place in the top 10 (57 yellows, 1 red), while Bundesliga and Champions League runners’ up Borussia Dortmund, were the next best placed German side (41 yellows, 4 reds) in the table and fourth best overall. Although Reading (45 yellows, 1 red) boasted the best disciplinary record in the Premier League last season, scant consolation for their relegation, the inclusion of two domestic champions in the table points towards the need for teams to avoid including players that are likely to accrue sizeable tallies of yellow or red cards.
At the other end of the spectrum, the highest placed team in the top 10 of the worst disciplined clubs last year were Valencia (120 yellows, 8 reds), who dropped to 5th in La Liga - reinforcing the ideology that better behaved teams enjoy a higher level of success. In conclusion, the inclusion of a hotheaded individual, while showing the much talked about passion to endear himself to the fans, isn’t a necessity to a team by any stretch of the imagination.
