With an international break coming roughly a month after my first Swans stats summary, I thought now would be as good a time as ever to go for part two. Let's call it a monthly feature. With seven Premier League games played, more of the first team squad have had a chance to feature and a chance to build up some stats to look at. As before, I'll be rolling out my "awards" at the end, including one or two brand new ones, such as the Kool & The Gang Award for best goal celebration. First, we'll take a look at each area of the field, starting with the attack.

ATTACK
The attack has improved a good deal since last time; six goals in the last three games after none in the first four. Those six goals have been scored by five different players. Scott Sinclair leads the charge with two goals, although both have come from penalty kicks. Of course, keeping a cool head and managing a precision finish from the spot are skills not every player is bestowed with. Danny Graham finally got off the mark, and Leroy Lita, Nathan Dyer and Ash Williams round off the scorers so far. Interestingly, the player with the highest percentage of shots on target - Stephen Dobbie with 57% - has yet to score. In fairness, he's hardly been given much chance to do so, mostly seeing action as a late sub if at all.

On the subject of shooting accuracy, it is also interesting to note that Scott Sinclair, whilst leading the team in goals scored, has the worst shooting accuracy at just over 18%. This statistic is particularly misleading when you consider the following; if a player always puts a weak shot straight at the keepers chest, he will probably not score often, but will have a very high shooting percentage. A player such as Sinclair however, has hit the woodwork more than once and has seen several shots miss the goal entirely by mere inches. In other words, Sinclair is aiming his shots at the parts of the goal the 'keeper won't reach. His accuracy might look bad on paper, but his choice of shot is arguably much more dangerous than the example player who likes to aim for the goalie's chest. Sinclair has also taken the most shots in the team with 22, demonstrating why he ended up as the Swans top scorer last season.

MIDFIELD
If you've read any of my posts so far at all, you'll know that I consider Leon Britton to be among the team's best players. Last time I examined the stats, he justified my love by dominating both pass completion percentage and tackling effectiveness. This time out is no different. Britton again leads the team in pass percentage with a still staggering 92% success rate and again leads the team in successful tackles, winning 67% of his challenges. There are also many times when Britton dispossesses an opponent so skilfully that I'm not even sure it qualifies as a tackle, such is the lack of physical contact and drama about the way he operates. If the league counted "takeaways", I have no doubt he would lead that category, too.

Britton's counterpart in both position and inside leg measurement - Joe Allen - has also begun to assert himself. Allen is the midfield's second most successful passer (88%) and is also team's second best overall tackler (59%). No wonder Swansea enjoy so much possession when the team's two best ball winners are the small guys in the centre of the park. Talk about secret weapons.

It is fair to count Swansea's wingers as part of the midfield unit, given they track back a lot and also play a big role in winning the ball back. If Britton and Allen lead the team in tackling success, it is Sinclair and Dyer who boast the most tackle attempts, with a muscular 44 a piece. Dyer is the more effective of the two, with a 57% success rate compared with Scotty's 45%. If Sinclair's percentage seems a little lean, consider that central defender Ash Williams has the exact same figure, and you realise it is more a case of Dyer being surprisingly good at tackling rather than anyone else being poor.

DEFENCE
Speaking of Ash Williams, the rock at the heart of the Swansea defence has continued to put in consistently strong performances. Williams leads the team in both blocks (10) and clearances. His 29 clearances are especially impressive, given the team's second highest total, belonging to Angel Rangel, is 17.

Rangel, the Swans overall best statistical performer last time we took a look at these figures, hasn't let himself slip, either. He leads the team in interceptions with an impressive 22 (Williams is second with 15) and passes made (579), over a hundred more than second place Williams (472). Unselfish stuff from the Spaniard, who completes a class act with the second best successful tackling percentage on the team (65%), first among defenders.

Elsewhere along the back four, Garry Monk has chalked up an outstanding second-best team-wide passing percentage of 91%, whilst Neil Taylor proves to be both the second best tackler (48% challenges won) and second most frequent tackler (33 attempts) in the defence. Taylor might not lead any one category yet, but he does show respectable figures across the board, a measure of his continuing development of a strong all-around game.

Taylor does have the slightly dubious distinction of being joint-first for most yellow cards along with Kemy Agustein with two each. You could argue that since Agustien picked up his yellows in fewer games, he should rightfully claim the top spot as his own. Since we're looking at discipline, Ash Williams leads the team in fouls conceded with nine, one more than second place Scott Sinclair.

AWARDS
OK, now on to the fun stuff. It's awards time! We have two new categories this week. The Kool & The Gang award for best goal celebration and the Trigger Happy award for most shots taken. Here are this month’s "winners”:

Golden Boot (top scorer) : Scott Sinclair (2)
Previously No-one

Sniper (best shooting accuracy) : Stephen Dobbie (57%)
Previously Stephen Dobbie (60%)

Trigger Happy (most shots taken) : Scott Sinclair (22)
No Previous Award

Midfield General (best overall passing and tackling) : Leon Britton
Previously Leon Britton

Tackle Factory (best combined attempts and success rate): Angel Rangel
Previously Nathan Dyer

Brick Wall Award (blocks) : Ash Williams (10)
Previously Ash Williams (5)

Angel Interceptor (most interceptions) : Angel Rangel (22)
Previously Angel Rangel (12)

Golden Hoof (most clearances) : Ash Williams (29)
Previously Angel Rangel (13)

Defender in Disguise : Nathan Dyer
Previously Nathan Dyer

Hard To Handle Award (player who has drawn the most free kicks) : Scott Sinclair (19)
Previously Scott Sinclair and Nathan Dyer (9)

Chopper Harris Award (most free kicks conceded) : Ash Williams (9)
Previously Ash Williams and Scott Sinclair (4)

Big Bad Wolf Award (most red cards) : None yet!
Previously None

Little Bad Wolf Award (most bookings) : Kemy Agustien (2 in 4 games)
Previously None

Chivalry's Alive and Well Award (best discipline) : Leon Britton (0 cards, 0 fouls in 6 games)
Previously Too Many To Mention

Kool & The Gang Award (best celebration) : Leroy Lita
No Previous Award

I'll be back in a few days to comment on the Swans players involved in Wales' international victory and to post up a new "performance index". See you soon.

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