Saturday, July 19, 2014

Is Micah Richards an upgrade of Glen Johnson?

Two seasons ago, Micah Richards was on top of the world.  He had helped City win their first Premiership and had worked his way back into England national team consideration.  Then injury devastated his career path and he has seen the pitch just a total of 18 times in all competitions since.

It's tragic since the 26-year-old is actually a pretty remarkable footballer.  In the last 5 seasons, he has made only 79 league appearances for 5866 minutes, equivalent to 65.2 matches, less than two full seasons.  Glen Johnson, on the other hand, has made 141 league appearances for 12267 minutes. Here's how they size up in the last five years combined:
npg90gc90cc90ap90pass%sacc%shot%
Johnson0.060.141.210.0882.325.55.4
Richards0.080.180.460.1182.7358.3
intp90clrp90drbp90bs90t90adw90adw%
Johnson1.892.410.730.262.511.3258.6
Richards1.644.710.520.511.922.9071.1
ccvTTI90gsp90gap90gop90tgopgopd
Johnson6.711.61.941.090.950.660.29
Richards23.38.052.021.030.991.42-0.43

Micah Richards is three years younger and is in the prime of his career, so it should not be surprising that he takes 17 of 21 categories.  Glen Johnson is 29 and in decline, but the elder still seems to be a more important factor to his sides' results.

Richards will definitely have to improve on his chances created per 90 minutes if he wants to stay hold of a starting spot on Rodgers' side.  He may make up for it in nearly every other stat, but a -0.43 goals on pitch difference is a yellow flag in the least.

Richards would be an excellent addition to our club, if he could stay healthy and right now that's an unsurety.  He would probably cost at least £10m, which is a bargain if he can give us at least three productive seasons. At the right price and passing a thorough medical, Richards is the ideal signing, certainly a better choice than Bertrand.

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