Mason Mount has been getting plenty of criticism this season – when is he not? And his lack of outfield assists remains the main gripe of a lot of fans.
But the facts and the stats are there – Mount is producing more key passes than anyone else in his team at the moment.
According to FBREF’s numbers, he has 17. That’s streets ahead of second played Raheem Sterling on 13, third placed Reece James on 10 and fourth placed Marc Cucurella on 10.
Oh, but Mount plays every game, so of course he has the largest number, goes the counter argument. Well switch the stats to key passes per 90 minutes and nothing changes. Mount averages 2.1 a game, Sterling 1.4, James 1.1.
Mount is getting the ball into the right area, and the team are starting to gel nicely. The assists will come, and once again his critics will be forced to retreat and wait for him to have another dip in form.
Glad to see you using some actual stats, SuperFrank (it’s too rare in your pieces). But I think there is some cherry-picking going on here. For anyone who clicks on your link, the first think that will confront them is that Mount and Havertz have glaringly low goals plus assists per 90 mins! Saying the goals and assists will come this far into the season is a bit much when the likes of Gallagher and Pulisic stand out as having produced far more per 90 mins! When do these guys get more chances???