One of Sheffield United’s outstanding performers of the season so far has been the experienced deep-lying playmaker, Oliver Norwood.
The 31-year-old is looking to get promoted to the Premier League for the second time as a Blade. Norwood gained promotion out of the Championship three seasons running: starting with Brighton in 16/17, then he got promoted with Fulham in 17/18, and then with United in 18/19 during his first season with the club.
According to transfermarkt, Norwood is in the final year of his contract. With the way he’s started the season, there may well be a contract extension coming his way.
Out of the whole of the Championship so far, Oliver Norwood ranks as the 2nd best player on WhoScored with a rating of 7.70.
Let’s take a look at his heatmap for the season so far:
Norwood has started all 8 of United’s games, picking up 3 assists and 1 exquisite free-kick goal.
The experienced midfielder has completed 81% of his passes per game, and he’s averaging 2 key passes per game. He has contributed to 20% of United’s chances this season.
Last season, Norwood had a shooting accuracy of 16% and averaged 1.01 shots per game. However this season, his shooting accuracy sits at 38% and has averaged 1.68 shots per game. Clearly, the coaching staff have encouraged Norwood to shoot more this season and his accuracy has improved considerably.
It’s not just offensively that he’s improved on compared to last season. His tackle success rate last season was 64%, averaging 2 tackles per game. This season he has a tackle success rate of 84% and averages 3 tackles per game. Meanwhile, the number of ball recoveries made per game is still the same (7).
Norwood is overrated , it’s alright saying he makes us tick , he also puts us under pressure . He’s fine when teams stand off us , when they step onto us the game passes him by , he can’t tackle and is slow , yes he makes the odd decent pass but usually its sideways or backwards or doing a lot of pointing . We should be looking to replace him if want to be up there this season.