If there has been one constant certainty at Atlético de Madrid over the last decade, it has been this: Jan Oblak. He arrived at the Rojiblanco club in 2014 with a mission to replace a new player. Thibaut CourtoisHe returned to Chelsea that summer after three fantastic years on loan at the Vicente Calderon. As a substitute a few months after the season started Miguel Angel MoyaThe Slovenian player managed to ensure that no one remembers the Real Madrid goalkeeper who is currently injured.
Since then, the day Atlético visited Celtic in the Champions League (21:00.)Oblak made history in the rojiblanco club and in Spanish football. Five Zamora awards prove this, because he is the one who holds the track record. Antoni Ramallets And Victor Valdes. It’s a legend, it belongs to Slovenia, but…
Performance against Las Palmas
All of the above serves to explain that Oblak is not at his best today. Emotions say this, which is still purely subjectivity, just like with the second goal in the defeat against UD Las Palmas on Friday, one cannot dare to say that he can do much more, but also say his numbers. Are they particularly bad? No they are not but performance excellence There are extraordinarily interesting figures of goalkeepers that the world is accustomed to.
See. this course Atletico conceded 16 goals in 14 matches.11 from LaLiga (pending postponed match against Sevilla) and three from the Champions League. This means an average of 1.16 goals per match. Only among those who played more than seven matches this season Kepa, Bravo, Álvaro Vallés and Mamardashvili They are improving their record in Spanish football. However, this is Oblak’s worst record since playing for Atlético de Madrid.
Only in the 2021-22 season, when he conceded 1.12 goals per game, can he come close to the numbers the Slovenian player is currently producing. His record for the rest of the season will always be Number of goals conceded per match is below 0.82. So he now concedes about half a goal more per 90 minutes of play than was normal in his career.
Fewer clean sheets than usual
This also makes his clean sheet the worst of his years at Atlético. This course was only achieved on: 28.6% of matches (4 out of 14)His worst rate so far is 31.4%, while he kept a clean sheet in more than half of his matches in his first five seasons in Madrid.
Several factors explain these numbers. But one is very clear: Oblak (almost) less than nothing. The Slovenian turned away or blocked 39 of his 54 shots on goal in the first third of the season; This rate is 70.4%. Again, season 21-22 is the only season like this and to make matters worse, it has remained at 69.2% stall since then.
Conceded more goals than necessary
According to the records of the FBref portal, advanced statistics also point to you. According to the calculations of this website, fed by data from Opta, Oblak Should have conceded 13.7 goalsdepending on the quality of the shots, known as “expected goals”. That means they conceded 2.3 more goals than expected.
But you can also guess the influence of some factors outside his individual work. It is no secret that Atlético’s football has undergone a transformation in recent months. a more evocative and daring styleHe moves away from the power and stinginess that Atlético enjoyed at many stages of Simeone’s time in charge.
This is also reflected in the fact that Oblak now passes more with his feet than ever before. It has never gone above 66% and now the success rate has increased to 75.6%He extends his success mainly with long passes. He is averaging 17 passes per game, having failed to reach 10 in most previous seasons.
The best passer and the worst defender. This is his gift Oblak will turn 31 in January There are those who have difficulty adapting to the new winds blowing in the metropolitan city. Although he remains as important to Simeone and all the red-white fans as he was the day he first took over from Moyá nine years ago.