Rinomhota and Laurent - differences and similarities

[SCIAG]

Our new midfield duo are having a great season. One of the great things about them is that they have developed a great understanding already, and they make a fantastic unit. But I think sometimes we focus too much on the unit and lose sight of what they’re like as individuals.

The obvious difference is physicality. Laurent is significantly bigger and stronger, while Rinomhota is probably the quicker of the two. This is often reflected in their positioning. Laurent tends to be positioned to the left, where his height can help out Richards, while Rinomhota tends to be on the right, where currently Holmes has the physicality to cover for Rinomhota and Rino’s pace might sometimes come in more use. In practice this doesn’t seem to make much difference, though, as they have both challenged for the same number of headers. Yes Laurent succeeds more often, but it doesn’t seem like he is going in for more headers to protect Richards, or Rinomhota is letting bigger players win his headers for him.

Defensively, Rino is harder to get past. He makes slightly more successful tackles and is dribbled past much less often than Laurent. He also commits more fouls despite being so slight. They’re matched for blocks and interceptions.

Beyond that, there are significant differences in their attacking play. Rinomhota has never been a great technical player. His close control is good (he has a bad touch slightly less than once per game) but he doesn’t have a particularly expansive passing game. This doesn’t hold him back because he makes intelligent use of the ball and is good at finding simple offloads to our more creative players. Laurent is no Swift or Olise, but he’s noticeably more ambitious with his passing than Rinomhota. For starters, the two have the same pass completion rate this season, but Laurent has completed far more passes. He gets himself involved more and seeks out the ball a lot more. Laurent averages 55 passes per match while Rinomhota averaged 43.

Furthermore, Laurent’s passes tend to be longer. It isn’t simply a case of ambition. Rinomhota and Laurent have failed with a similar number of long passes this season (R: 1.6, L: 1.7). Laurent however has had more successful long passes. Laurent has set up two goals this season, while Rino hasn’t set up any, but this is perhaps due to chance - Laurent makes a key pass (leading to a shot) 0.6 times a match, but Rino isn’t far behind with 0.4, so it is only a matter of time before he sets up a goal. Contrastingly, Olise plays 1.9 key passes a game, while Ejaria plays 1.8.

Finally, dribbling/ball carrying. This is a big part of their game. One thing that stands out is that Rinomhota is very rarely tackled - he makes one unsuccessful dribble every ten matches. I think it is fair to say that this is because he offloads the ball before he gets into trouble rather than because he is the best dribbler in the world. Rino does draw more fouls, though I’m not sure how to interpret that. However, Laurent attempts far more dribbles. While he fails much more often, because he’s trying more often he actually completes more dribbles than Rino. (It will surprise nobody to know that Ejaria has the most successful dribbles in the squad by far, the most unsuccessful dribbles in the squad by a smidge, and that along with Bright Samuel he leads the league in successful dribbles).

In conclusion - Rinomhota is truly the heir to Harper. He does the simple things very well, maintains control, and never lets the side down. Laurent on the other hand is a little more of a risk taker. He seeks the ball out more often and will try an expansive pass or a risky dribble slightly more often than Rinomhota. All the same, it is not wrong to say that they are very similar players. Stylistically they really do have a lot in common and the differences only appear when you look closely.

I don’t know if anyone here has a subscription to any of the really advanced tools for comparing players. All my points above are evidenced by Whoscored, which is just basic Opta data. I know other statistical tools will allow you to compare passes in a more analytical way, which I would be interested to see. But hopefully someone found this interesting.

[Snowflake Royal]

I got as far as you saying Rino is slight before I gave up. He's not even remotely slight. He's one of our more physical players and sturdy as oxf*rd.

[Hound]

yeah I scanned through whoscored similarly recently to check both their stats. I was interested especially to see just whether Laurent had been as good as I was thinking or whether it was a bit of bias. But he rates very highly - nearly a '7' in a difficult position to score very highly. Rated about 30th in the league which is pretty impressive,

They certainly combine well and make a great partnership. Lovely to see and helps put into context just how rubbish our midfield has been over the last few years

[9165]

Its quite simple.. Rino and Laurent are the updated Sidwell and Harper!

[SCIAG]

I got as far as you saying Rino is slight before I gave up. He's not even remotely slight. He's one of our more physical players and sturdy as oxf*rd.

He’s very determined and committed, but in terms of sheer physicality he’s not going to be in the stronger half of our team. Moore, Morrison, Holmes, Laurent, Meite and Joao would all be able to bench-press more and I think Ejaria would too. Put simply, he doesn’t overpower players through brute strength, but he wins the ball through good timing of his tackles and determination. Sometimes referees will just give the foul against the bigger guy, but Rino is never going to have that problem. He punches above his weight like few other players (the Championship Kante?) but he isn’t an imposing monster like Legs or Bikey.

[Snowflake Royal]

I got as far as you saying Rino is slight before I gave up. He's not even remotely slight. He's one of our more physical players and sturdy as oxf*rd.

He’s very determined and committed, but in terms of sheer physicality he’s not going to be in the stronger half of our team. Moore, Morrison, Holmes, Laurent, Meite and Joao would all be able to bench-press more and I think Ejaria would too. Put simply, he doesn’t overpower players through brute strength, but he wins the ball through good timing of his tackles and determination. Sometimes referees will just give the foul against the bigger guy, but Rino is never going to have that problem. He punches above his weight like few other players (the Championship Kante?) but he isn’t an imposing monster like Legs or Bikey.

I think you're mistaking height for strength. Ejaria's a skinny little oxf*rd with way less muscle mass than Rino.

[Millsy]

Excellent post thanks SCIAG, very useful.

Many talking points but a quick one - you mention Rino draws more fouls. I'm not surprised and it might go with what you're saying, as in he generally plays it safe and offloads well but sometimes he 'randomly' goes on steaming runs with the ball or runs onto the ball. That raises fans' eyebrows as it's often out of nowhere and I guess it surprises the opposition too. That, coupled with his seemingly decent acceleration and speed is a recipe for being hacked down frequently.

It's probably obvious I'm no tactical or analytical expert, but just saying that that doesn't surprise me.

[Snowflake Royal]

Rino is absolutely superb at just levering his body between the ball and opposition and forcing them to either back off or foul him, and when he does drop a shoulder and run past someone because they're slightly out of balance or position, he then often cuts back across them to draw the foul or force them to slow. And he can physically hold them off too.

He's such a clever player, who shows that playing simply, can be super effective. Laurent is a bit more technical and flashy, whilst still being a super solid player.

It's so nice to have a team full of smart, hardworking and likeable young players rather than the mercenary old shitty failures we've had for so long.

[Zip]

Rino is absolutely superb at just levering his body between the ball and opposition and forcing them to either back off or foul him, and when he does drop a shoulder and run past someone because they're slightly out of balance or position, he then often cuts back across them to draw the foul or force them to slow. And he can physically hold them off too.

He's such a clever player, who shows that playing simply, can be super effective. Laurent is a bit more technical and flashy, whilst still being a super solid player.

It's so nice to have a team full of smart, hardworking and likeable young players rather than the mercenary old shitty failures we've had for so long.

The word balance springs to mind. It’s been a huge problem for a number of years and never more so when Kelly and Swift were our midfield pairing. Finally it’s now sorted out. I also like the youthful starting 11. We no longer look unfit in the back end of games and score more late goals than most in the division.

[Bristol Paul]

Our new midfield duo are having a great season. One of the great things about them is that they have developed a great understanding already, and they make a fantastic unit. But I think sometimes we focus too much on the unit and lose sight of what they’re like as individuals.

The obvious difference is physicality. Laurent is significantly bigger and stronger, while Rinomhota is probably the quicker of the two. This is often reflected in their positioning. Laurent tends to be positioned to the left, where his height can help out Richards, while Rinomhota tends to be on the right, where currently Holmes has the physicality to cover for Rinomhota and Rino’s pace might sometimes come in more use. In practice this doesn’t seem to make much difference, though, as they have both challenged for the same number of headers. Yes Laurent succeeds more often, but it doesn’t seem like he is going in for more headers to protect Richards, or Rinomhota is letting bigger players win his headers for him.

Defensively, Rino is harder to get past. He makes slightly more successful tackles and is dribbled past much less often than Laurent. He also commits more fouls despite being so slight. They’re matched for blocks and interceptions.

Beyond that, there are significant differences in their attacking play. Rinomhota has never been a great technical player. His close control is good (he has a bad touch slightly less than once per game) but he doesn’t have a particularly expansive passing game. This doesn’t hold him back because he makes intelligent use of the ball and is good at finding simple offloads to our more creative players. Laurent is no Swift or Olise, but he’s noticeably more ambitious with his passing than Rinomhota. For starters, the two have the same pass completion rate this season, but Laurent has completed far more passes. He gets himself involved more and seeks out the ball a lot more. Laurent averages 55 passes per match while Rinomhota averaged 43.

Furthermore, Laurent’s passes tend to be longer. It isn’t simply a case of ambition. Rinomhota and Laurent have failed with a similar number of long passes this season (R: 1.6, L: 1.7). Laurent however has had more successful long passes. Laurent has set up two goals this season, while Rino hasn’t set up any, but this is perhaps due to chance - Laurent makes a key pass (leading to a shot) 0.6 times a match, but Rino isn’t far behind with 0.4, so it is only a matter of time before he sets up a goal. Contrastingly, Olise plays 1.9 key passes a game, while Ejaria plays 1.8.

Finally, dribbling/ball carrying. This is a big part of their game. One thing that stands out is that Rinomhota is very rarely tackled - he makes one unsuccessful dribble every ten matches. I think it is fair to say that this is because he offloads the ball before he gets into trouble rather than because he is the best dribbler in the world. Rino does draw more fouls, though I’m not sure how to interpret that. However, Laurent attempts far more dribbles. While he fails much more often, because he’s trying more often he actually completes more dribbles than Rino. (It will surprise nobody to know that Ejaria has the most successful dribbles in the squad by far, the most unsuccessful dribbles in the squad by a smidge, and that along with Bright Samuel he leads the league in successful dribbles).

In conclusion - Rinomhota is truly the heir to Harper. He does the simple things very well, maintains control, and never lets the side down. Laurent on the other hand is a little more of a risk taker. He seeks the ball out more often and will try an expansive pass or a risky dribble slightly more often than Rinomhota. All the same, it is not wrong to say that they are very similar players. Stylistically they really do have a lot in common and the differences only appear when you look closely.

I don’t know if anyone here has a subscription to any of the really advanced tools for comparing players. All my points above are evidenced by Whoscored, which is just basic Opta data. I know other statistical tools will allow you to compare passes in a more analytical way, which I would be interested to see. But hopefully someone found this interesting.

Excellent article and interesting stats. I think they are very similar in lots of ways, but also very different as your stats show. Our front four get a lot of plaudits, but those two are an equal part our of success this season, and allow the front four to do their stuff. If either get injured, then assume Semedo steps in as he’s naturally a defensive midfielder.

Don’t agree Rhino is the new Harper, Harper wasn’t particularly physical, but he was a bundle of energy and more of a box to box midfielder.

[Lower West]

Swift playing in a no 10 role will shine with these two behind him. Will revel in the freedom and space. Miss his goals.

[NewCorkSeth]

Gotta side with Snowflake here, Rinomhota is a built dude. I certainly wouldn't want to go up for a 50/50 against him. Reckon a lot of players would bounce off him.

Would say it is his intelligence off the ball that makes him as good as he is however. Very smart in possession but fantastic at Reading the game. If Ejaria wasn't so surprisingly good at making interceptions Rinomhota would be the best at it.