Statistical overview of the season so far in the Telemach First League: the numbers helped us (also) to reach the best eleven in the league
A good quarter of the championship is already behind us, the national break in the Telemach First League and we took advantage of it to take a slightly different and more detailed statistical look to help us answer the question of who are the best individuals in the league so far.
With Aljoša Matko (Celje) facing a longer absence due to a foot injury, Rui Pedro and Dardan Shabanhaxhaj will (probably) fight it out to be the king of shooters. Rui Pedro (unlike Matko and Shabanhaxhaj) scored 2 of his 7 goals from penalties.
The best assistants are Matija Kavčič (Bravo) with six assists and Sandro Jovanović (Aluminij) with five assists.
If we combine goals and assists in a “hockey” way, it gets even more interesting.
The league’s leading scorer (Rui Pedro) scored 2.75 goals more than the quality of his shots (xG). With 4.25 expected hits, it is at the top of the list of expected hits. It should be taken into account that he scored 2 goals from the harshest penalty, which totals 1.5 xG. Of all the players listed in the graph, only Matej Poplatnik scored fewer goals than expected. His difference is -0.11 hits, which doesn’t really play a significant role.
Looking back at SofaScore which uses the world-famous Optina algorithms, the most statistically successful player so far is Mario Kvesić (Celje), even though he played only 337 minutes.
It is interesting to look at the opportunities created. The most productive Mura forward is Dardan Shabanhaxhaj (15), the driving force behind Mura’s average season.
The picture is slightly different in terms of chances created per game.
If we look at the passes for a moment, it is no surprise that three of the top four are Celje players. This may change, as Celjani have appointed a new coach – Alberto Riera has been replaced by Damir Krznar.
It is also interesting to see the duels won. This is where all duels count, both in attack and defence. Agustin Doffa (Olimpija), who was one of the best players in this category last year, is not among the top five.
Looking at the goalkeepers, Klemen Mihelak (Mura, 20) scored the most goals, followed by the newly injured Matevž Vidovšek (Olimpija) with 19. It should be added here that Mihelak also had the most shots on goal (67). The latter had the most saves of any goalie in the league.
It is often colloquially said that a goalkeeper doesn’t score points, he keeps them. In this case, it’s worth looking at how many goals the goalkeepers have prevented. Maribor’s captain Ažbe Jug is the king here, preventing almost 4 more goals in his own net.
Finally, we can use the stats to compile the best eleven in the league so far (4-4-2 system):
Goalkeeper: Jan Koprivec (Koper)
Left wing: Gašper Jovan (Aluminij)
Right side: Tin Hrvoj (Radomlje)
Left central defender: Marcel Ratnik (Olimpija)
Right central defender: Klemen Nemanič (Celje)
Left wing midfielder: Danijel Šturm (Domžale)
First central midfielder: Marko Bozic (Maribor)
Second central midfielder Gašper Trdin (Bravo)
Right-sided midfielder: Sandro Jovanović (Aluminij)
First striker: Dardan Shabanhaxhaj (Mura)
Second striker: Aljoša Matko (Celje)
Coach: Albert Riera
This text was automatically translated using AI.