It's interesting when you look through the individual passing stats. Some gave it away less than I thought and others more.
The CBs passing accuracy is a little low at 87% and 89% respectively - they should really be hitting at least 90% most weeks. Saliba was the smidge lower of the two, which surprises me because he looked much more calm and composed on the ball than Gabriel, though he did try more long balls.
Zinchenko waa exactly as he looks at 96.4% - his composure and ball retention should be a shining light to the rest of them.
Ben White gave it away far too much at 77%, but he, like Saliba, looked calm and composed. But maybe not so much in the second half.
Partey is the one with the egregious pass accuracy at 68%, and it's what my eyes have told me in both games. He's giving the ball away far too much for the role he's playing. Zero key passes too... Not good at all. I'm a little worried about it.
Xhaka, by contrast, had an 88% pasaing accuracy with a similar number of passes, but also 2 key passes.
Ødegaard was fine also at 88%, but was lacking in key passes, just the one, which is not an issue for him ordinarily. He has started the season quite slowly.
So has Saka, and his 80% was put to shame by Martinelli's at 92% - who still managed one more key pass than Saka and 6 more crosses.
Jesus was low at 76% but it's always more difficult for the lone striker, especially up agaibst a back 3.
These are only numbers that don't account for many things, but if we want to average a 90% passing accuracy for the team overall - the sort of accuracy that City and Liverpool manage nearly every week that results in 60%+, again, nearly every week - we need the individual players to get a lot less sloppy. Defenders shouldn't be in th 80s, definitely not 70s, we can't have our holding midfielder at 68% - that's unsustainable and disaster zone territory, and we need the forwards to take better care of the ball too, especially Saka.
