Seven stats that show Adil Aouchiche should be starting for Sunderland

Tony Mowbray says Adil Aouchiche is 'ready' for a Sunderland start - and the statistics more than back that up.

Michael Graham | Nov 16, 2023

Seven stats that show Adil Aouchiche should be starting for Sunderland /

The jury is still out to some extent on a few of Sunderland’s summer signings, but Adil Aouchiche has certainly made a very positive impression.

What’s more, he’s managed to do it without even starting a game yet.

The former Paris Saint-Germain man scored his first goal for Sunderland in the 3-1 win over Birmingham last week, and Tony Mowbray has gone on record that he is close to getting first start for the club.

“I think he is ready, and we’ve said that,” Mowbray said of Aouchiche after the Birmingham win. “He was going to play away at Leicester, he was going to start that game, but he picked up an injury and so we went again with Jobe (Bellingham).

“We feel he’s up to speed now. We felt he was before and we were ready to put him in, but he picked up that knock. He’s up to speed again and he’s come on and scored for us.

“Somewhere down the line, around the Christmas period when we have so many fixtures, he is going to be starting football matches. And if he is scoring goals, then it’s going to be the other lads asking me why they’re not playing, and I’ll be telling them it’s because Adil keeps threatening the goal, scoring and creating. That’s football, a competition within a competition in your club.”

When Mowbray says Aouchiche is ready, it is easy to see why. He actually leads all Sunderland players in SEVEN metrics. So let’s have a look at which ones they are.

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Adil Aouchiche attacking

Adil Aouchiche celebrates first Sunderland goal / IMAGO

Shots per 90 – 4.6

If we were to tell you that Jack Clarke has 2.9 shots per 90 this season and he is Sunderland’s second-most prolific shooter, that should provide all the context you need on Aouchiche.

The Frenchman clearly has a positive mindset when it comes to getting his shots away, and that can only be a good thing for an attacking player.

Shots on target per 90 – 1.5

Okay, considering we’ve just said that Aouchiche gets more shots away that anyone else in the Sunderland side, you might not be especially impressed at only 1.5 per 90 getting on target.

Context is again important here, though. Whilst 1.5 shots on target per 90 sounds low, it actually places him in 11th place in the entire Championship.

Expected Goals (xG) per 90 – 0.76

The whole ‘expected goals’ thing is a relative newcomer to statistics in football and it hasn’t won over everyone yet. Some people love it, some consider it nonsense. All it really is, though, is an attempt to distinguish quantity from quality.

What this figure for Aouchiche tells us, then, is that he is getting his shots away from good positions. Again, for context his figure is the fourth best in the entire Championship.

Expected Goals and Assists (xG + xA) per 90 – 0.95

This is mainly an extension of the last figure really, but with adding his expected assists in too. What is interesting here is that although Aouchiche is probably regarded more as a creative player than a goalscorer, his Expected Assists (xA) is relatively low. It actually ranks fourth in the Sunderland squad behind Alex Pritchard, Jack Clarke and Patrick Roberts – no shame in that of course.

However, added to his expected goals as a metric for goal-threat, and Aouchiche ranks fourth in the whole Championship.

Adil Aouchiche defending

Adil Aouchiche Sunderland QPR — Adil Aouchiche making his mark defensively too / IMAGO

One thing that has been abundantly clear under Tony Mowbray is that if you are not defending, and pressing, from the front, you’re not going to be playing in his Sunderland team.

The former Celtic boss puts a huge emphasis on the importance of that, and Sunderland’s ability to win the ball in advanced areas is a massively effective element of their play.

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Mowbray has gone on record saying the reason Luis Hemir did not play more, even when he was the only available centre-forward, was because he lacked the aerobic capacity and willingness to press.

With Aouchiche also being a newly-signed young player from a foreign league, it would be easy to assume that he also needs time to adapt to the defensive side of the game. That, though, is far from the case.

Interceptions per 90 – 2.6

It is likely that anyone who has seen Aouchiche this season has immediately spotted that his appreciation of space is exceptional. He seems able to read the game and pull off into space to receive passes, and that serves him well defensively too.

No Sunderland player has made more interceptions per 90 minutes than Aouchiche (2.6) this season. In fact, no other Sunderland player averages above 1.7.

Successful Tackles per 90 – 2.6

That’s right. Thought Trai Hume was the king of tackling at Sunderland this season, did you? Okay, he is. Trai Hume’s tackling is utterly glorious and one of the most wonderful sights in nature. No one can deny that.

Aouchiche has still made more than him per 90 minutes this season, though, hard as that is to believe.

Possession Won In Final 3rd per 90 – 2.0

As mentioned, Sunderland’s ability to aggressively press high up the pitch is a key part of their arsenal, and the stats show that Aouchiche is doing it better than anyone.

It’s not really close either. The players with which he would be competing for a place, Jobe Bellingham and Dan Neil (0.6) are some way behind him.

In fact, only one player in the entire Championship, Ipswich’s Kayden Jackson (2.1) can better Aouchiche in this metric right now.

Should Adil Aouchiche be starting for Sunderland?

The first concession you’d have to acknowledge is that while these statistics are certainly attention grabbing, they do come from a relatively low number of minutes on the pitch.

However, they are also very impressive and Aouchiche has made eight appearances off the bench now, so he isn’t some unknown quantity.

There is unquestionably a strong case for starting Aouchiche, but who would he play instead of? Neil and Jobe have both done exceptionally well this season and there is also the experienced duo of Alex Pritchard and Bradley Dack to consider too.

You do sense, though, that Aouchiche will get his chance soon, and once he does he will be very tough to displace.