Derby County are at rock bottom of the 2021-22 EFL Championship, but it has nothing to do with on-field performances. It has everything to do with points-deduction for entering administration and financial irregularities. Derby have performed like a solid mid-table team, with 11 wins, 13 draws, and 15 losses. One of their best performers this season has been Welsh striker Tom Lawrence. The 28-year-old has already equalled his career-best season with 10 goals to his name.
Seen above are the performances of Tom Lawrence relative to the rest of the league in passing and progression. In addition to his 10 goals, Lawrence has provided five assists this season. He is performing as xA (expected assists) predicted, with 0.11 assists per game. The Welshman is also involved in Derby’s build-up, with nearly 29 passes per game, and a pass accuracy of 83.02%. He has also been one of the better players in ball progression as he has completed three passes into the final third every game. Lawrence has also been ranked in the upper quintile for long passes per game, smart passes per game, and through balls per game this season.
Given in the above visual is the shot map of Tom Lawrence this season. All but one of his goals have come from inside the box. Even though he has not missed many big chances, he does tend to shoot riskier shots from outside the box. As a result, he has hit only 32 shots on target out of 87 he has taken so far this season, giving him a shot accuracy of 36.8%. So, he needs to improve his decision-making when taking shots.
Seen in the above visual are the pass sonar, xT timeline, and xT map of Tom Lawrence this season. With five assists to his name, Lawrence has been the go-to man for threat creation at Derby. He frequently creates an xT value of over 0.5 throughout a match, and he touches 1.0 occasionally as well. Lawrence has been creating threats from both the flanks this season, showing that he is a versatile player who can play on both wings
Tom Lawrence has been the best player in the Derby squad this season by some distance as he is the team’s top scorer as well as the top assist provider. The big question now is whether he and his supporting cast can help Derby stave off relegation.
