Frustration..

By: Moka | November 25th, 2008

That’s the one word I’d use to describe what Kaká has been going through recently. In the game against Torino, he had a few nice touches and passes here and there, but he’s clearly performing below-par, relatively. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a trademark run, or a genius through-pass, or a goal that would make one’s jaw drop. The result = frustration, which leads to cheap (yes, I like to be objective) attempts at getting a goal.

He was lucky against Chievo, but against Torino, he was given the yellow card. Both incidents were worthy of a yellow card, in my opinion. Have I lost some respect for Kaká? No, because these things happen in football, and these two incidents, quite frankly, surprised me because I can’t recall any other similar incidents. At the end of the day, Kaká is no C. Ronaldo.

Kaká is suspended for the game against Palermo, so my guess is that he’ll feature in Thursday’s match against Portsmouth, while Ronaldinho is rested. If that’s the case, I see this game as a chance for Kaká to regain confidence and form, seeing as though he’ll be the center of attention. I’m optimistic for Thursday, and again, Kaká’s return to form is a matter of time.

Quantitatively, his dip in form is evident:

08/09:

Appearances: 15
Shots: 43
Shots on goal: 11
Goals: 4
Shots per game: 2.87
Efficiency of shots: 25.6%
Goals per appearance: 0.267

07/08:

Appearances: 39
Shots: 129
Shots on goal: 56
Goals: 17
Shots per game: 1.44
Efficiency of shots: 43.4%
Goals per appearance: 0.436

06/07:

Appearances: 60
Shots: 177
Shots on goal: 63
Goals: 26
Shots per game: 1.05
Efficiency of shots: 35.6%
Goals per appearance: 0.433

Yes, I know there are many other factors to consider in these numbers such as penalty goals and others, but generally speaking, it’s clear that he’s taking more shots per game, but is missing the target more often than not and that’s a sign that he’s simply out of form.