Tim Krul and Michel Vorm are in top form in the Premier League. Yesterday both kept a clean sheet in a duel between their clubs. For Vorm it was clean sheet number eight already, which makes him the goalkeeper with the most clean sheets of the league.
Krul is already at Newcastle for years, but it’s this season in which he made his final break through. He’s just 23 years old, very young for a keeper, but his manager emphasized that if he is good enough, age doesn’t matter. Michel Vorm (28) was considered a gamble when he was bought this summer, but he turns out to be a bargain for Swansea City.
So, two great goalkeepers about whom the supporters in England seem to be ever enthusiastic. But who is the best of the two? With a statistical comparison we try to get closer to answer of this question. Closer, as stats don’t tell everything – they for example make nog distinction between a world class save or an easy catch.
Michel Vorm: If it goes wrong, it goes wrong
Michel Vorm got most clean sheets (8) of the Premier League. An impressive achievement, but what does it really tell us about his qualities as a goaly? There also have been several matches in which he conceded many goals. If we compare the amount of goals both had to allow so, Vorm got 20 against which is more than Krul’s 19 (both from 16 matches).
What we can conclude is that Swansea in half of the matches is capable of not conceding any – but the other half of the matches are defensive disasters. In matches in which Vorm concedes at least one goal, he concedes 2,5 goals on average. Which is among the worst of the league.
Krul concedes more per shot
In general, Michel Vorm is more busy than Tim Krul. Swansea allowed more shots on goal (83) than Newcastle (61). This of course doesn’t tell us anything about how hard of easy those shots are to save. Some shots might be from a bigger distance, while others are easy finishes. So, aware of this nuance, we can conclude that Krul is able to stop a lower percentage of shots on goal (69%) than Vorm (76%).
Krul punches more
Also in the processing of shots, Vorm seems to perform better. Krul has a tendency to punch the ball away more often (he did that already 14 times), while Vorm did that only four times. They both try to intercept crosses more often than average. In air duels, Krul seems to be not too fortunate. Although he only had two duels in the air, he lost both. Vorm had four and won all.
If Vorm has the ball, he is distributes it better than Krul. The accuracy of his kicks, trows and passes is 64%. Krul gives the ball away to opponents most of the times, with his bad accuracy of just 40%.
Vorm rules in tough circumstances
If you are the keeper of Swansea City, you have to be prepared for the worst: tough circumstances in which you have to face attackers in one-on-one’s more than once. This happened to Vorm nine times so far, almost twice the average a Premier League keeper had. But every time, the full 100%, Vorm won. Tim Krul is not that good in ground duels. He lost two out of three.
Also when we look at the penalties, Krul is not a hero. He faced five and stopped just one, against Chelsea. Vorm is called the penaltykiller and deserves that title: he stopped two of the three penalties he faced.
Who sees Krul make brilliant saves every week must admit he is a super talented player. But the statistics suggest he is not as complete yet as Michel Vorm, who outperforms his young collegue so far.
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