Where England right to pick Mason ahead of Shelvey?

I saw an article recently from a Swansea fans website and it asked why Ryan Mason was picked above Jonjo Shelvey for England so given he is now in the news, we'll take a look.



The stories at the moment are that Mauricio Pochettino and Paul Mitchell like the former Liverpool midfield player. He has experience but is still only 23, which I have to say surprised me, he seems to have been around for ages. There will be many who immediately say he wasn't good enough for Liverpool so he isn't good enough for us but that is a little too simplistic.

There are many reasons a club lets a player go, Steven Caulker left us because he wanted to be playing every week and we couldn't guarantee him that. A particular manager may not like a player yet another see something in him, some develop later than others, Ryan Mason is a late developer because of injuries.

There is no doubt Jonjo Shelvey is a competent midfield player but what would he add to the Spurs squad? He may be young but unless we feel we can improve him he is more of the same, he isn't adding to the quality, it seems to me. So how does he fare against Ryan mason, do the statistics explain why Roy Hodgson preferred him to Shelvey recently?

Premier League Games Only

Shelvey - Mason
Played: 31 - 31
Minutes: 2,449 - 2,316
Pass Completion: 79% - 84%
Forward Passes: 64.19% - 69.40%
Key Pass Time: 1 every 97.96 minutes - 92.64 minutes
Chance Creation Time: 1 every 81.63 minutes - 79.86 minutes
Goals: 3 - 1
Assists: 5 - 4
Positive Attacking Action: 1 every 19.59 minutes - 23.16 minutes
(Total Minutes divided by Shots, Goals, Assists, Key passes, Chances Created combined)
Shot Accuracy: 41% - 42%
Tackles Won: 34.04% - 44.93%
One-on-One Success: 67.57% - 60.71%
Heading Success: 50% - 40%
Defensive Action: 1 every 30.23 minutes - 22.48 minutes
(Total Minutes divided by Blocks, Clearances, Interceptions)

There is something in their for both sides but defensively Mason holds sway and he made nearly double the successful tackles that Shelvey did. Their shot accuracy is about the same, Shelvey wins the heading duel and has a little more success when taking on an opponent. Passing forward is more dangerous than a backward pass yet Mason passes forward more often and has a higher completion rate.

Similar players but the statistics suggest that Mason wins the duel and in an era of keeping the ball, the forward passing and completion statistics, when you add them to stronger defensive statistics, possibly explains why he has been picked by Roy Hodgson over Jonjo Shelvey.

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