Jose Sa, the triumph of analytics

The clock shows 95:55. The five minutes late have been overcome, but the game is not over yet. Manchester United have another chance to take at least one point from the Wolves at Old Trafford.

Ronaldo is behind the ball but Fernandes is the one executing. A third Portuguese stands under the Wolves’ goal and has no intention of winning in his corner.

Jose Sa blocks, the ball goes to the side, the referee whistles and the 28-year-old goalkeeper sinks into the arms of his teammates. The Wolves are winners at Old Trafford for the first time since February 1980, 42 years later.

Moutinho scored the historic goal, Sa and Pontense are among the top wolves. And the truth is, scorer heroes are a relatively rare phenomenon for this team.

The Wolves rank 8th in the Premier League and have only scored 14 goals in 19 games. Fewer goals than the Wolves have scored Norwich Tail, who have eight and need ten miracles in a row to prevent relegation.

With such a miserable attack, the Wolves would have to fight to save themselves with Burnley and Newcastle. Instead, it’s 8th, three points behind United.

The motto is “Defense and Holy God”. Or, to put it more correctly, Defense and Saint Sa. The Portuguese is already considered one of the Premier League’s transfers of the year, one of the top lifts of the summer of 2021.

Behind just De Gea

Why; At the moment only De Gea has done better than Sa when it comes to rejections. Only the United Spaniard puts Sa on the list of goalkeepers who saved their team from the most goals.

See the corresponding graphic with the data from FBref.com.

De Gea has found its shape again. The Spaniard ate 7.5 fewer goals than the average goalkeeper would eat in his previous finals.

Second, Jose Sa. The Portuguese follows with a performance he believes has conceded 6.6 fewer goals than the average goalkeeper would accept.

Both are the only goalkeepers with a really special presence, as none of the other players saved their team from more than two goals.

The triumph of analytics

Wolves hero Jose Sa, Sa’s transfer candidate, Sa’s best Premier League goalkeeper. Above all, Jose Sa’s triumph of analytics.

This is the only way to characterize Portugal’s perfect transition from the Super League Interwetten to the highest league in the world.

Sa is doing what he did in Greece in the Premier League

Sa does in England what he did in Greece for two years: he eats less than expected.

Here is his presence at Olympiakos for the two years 2019-21.

Sa has played 139 finals and the average goalkeeper would eat 32 of those goals. The Portuguese ate 23, saved Olympiacos from nine goals.

That presence was his passport to the Premier League, it persuaded the Wolves to give Olympiakos eight million euros and make him theirs.

The summer analysis told the truth

We presented these data in the summer in the video analyzed by Sa and Vatslik. We then explained what Olympiacos lost to the Portuguese and what they got with the Czechs.

Several friends then hastened to disagree, even scoff. “Ha-ha, the most misguided comparison, what does what a goalkeeper did in Seville have to do with what someone did at Olympiacos, is it the same to play in Spain and the same in Greece?”

They didn’t understand, they didn’t want to understand, it doesn’t matter. Numbers and metrics have the same value, whether you understand them or not, they don’t depend on anyone’s point of view.

Of course, you can compare goalkeepers from different leagues. Why don’t you look at how many goals they conceded, but how they fared relative to what the average goalkeeper would do in his place?

Sa and Watslick are doing what they have done over the years

And it is time to acknowledge the importance of this assessment. Sa went to the Premier League and continued what he did in Greece. He eats fewer goals than expected, he is consistently better than the average goalkeeper.

The wolves saw and caught that, the Portuguese continue to do it. It doesn’t matter if the championship is more difficult.

Vatslik was also in Seville

Vatslik is the same in Greece as it is in Spain. In the summer we saw the Czech with the Sevilla shirt eating up and down what an average goalkeeper would eat, it was -1 / + 1 goal on average.

Well, he did the same when he was first in Greece. As we saw in the analysis of the first half of the season, Vatslik ate 0.7 goals fewer than expected, which means he is eating more or less what he should eat this year, what the average goalkeeper would eat.

Even if he no longer plays in Spain with Sevilla, even if he no longer plays in Greece with Olympiacos.