Fulham and Bournemouth are back in the Premier League after sealing the two automatic promotion places, but who were the best passers for the 2021/22 Championship season?
A total of 746 players featured in the English second-tier this term across the division’s 24 clubs over 1,104 games. Reading relied on the most men with 36 turning out for the Royals as they finished the season in 21st. Coventry, meanwhile, used the least with 25 for 12th.
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Swansea were among the many teams to field around 30 players with Russell Martin using 31 different names. His group would achieve the highest collective number of passes with 27,505, per WhoScored. A far greater tally than Fulham in second, who registered 25,034.
Bournemouth were another considerable step behind the Cottagers in third with 22,255. While neither the Cherries nor Swansea featured in the top 14 for accurate long balls, as Sheffield United just edged Marco Silva’s title winners with 1,328 to the Cottagers’ 1,323.
Swansea, Fulham and Bournemouth were the best at short passes with 22,460, 19,756 and 16,706. Naturally, their successes also saw individuals flourish. The five best Championship passers for total attempts during 2021/22 all came from the Jacks, Cottagers and Cherries.
Swansea’s Matt Grimes topped Championship total passes for 2021/22 season
Swansea midfielder Matt Grimes topped the charts for the Championship’s best outfielder for total passes in the 2021/22 season. The 26-year-old recorded a total of 4,530 with the Swans, more than one thousand higher than the 3,516 set by Fulham defender Tim Ream.
Kyle Naughton put two Swansea players in the top three with 3,249 to edge Cottagers ace Tosin Adarabioyo’s 3,061. Lloyd Kelly was the best Bournemouth player for passers in the Championship this term, as the 23-year-old defender registered 2,913 under Scott Parker.
No other Cherries star featured in the top 10, with Sheffield United’s Oliver Norwood sixth on 2,734. QPR’s Yoann Barbet was seventh (2,602), the Blades’ John Egan in eighth (2,591), Derby star Curtis Davies was ninth (2,471) and Coventry’s Dominic Hyam was 10th (2,466).
Matt Grimes led Swansea to top short pass success in 2021/22
Grimes’ Championship-high haul of total passes also helped to the best short passer record during 2021/22. The Swansea ace played 3,990 successful short passes with just 256 going astray over his 46 appearances. Fulham’s Ream also built his tally mostly with short passes.
Ream ranked second by a considerable margin from Grimes with the Cottagers centre-half stroking 2,872 short balls over 46 games. He also misplaced 246, to edge Naughton in third by just two short passes. Even though the Jacks defender only played 38 times this season.
Adarabioyo ranked fourth with 2,413, ahead of Flynn Downes (2,246), Kelly (2,159), Davies (2,030), Ben Cabango (2,001), Norwood (1,976) and Egan (1,871) in 10th. QPR centre-back Barbet just missed out on 10th-place with 1,811 ahead of Coventry’s Hyam with 1,789.
Oliver Norwood best Championship outfield player for long passes in 2021/22
Norwood, Adarabioyo and Kelly took the top spots for long passes by an outfield player in the 2021/22 Championship season. The Sheffield United midfielder led the way with 279 over his 44 outings this term, from Adarabioyo’s 244 in 41 games and Kelly’s 228 over 41.
Ream ranked fourth with 224, from Egan (215 in 46) and Barbet (212). Luton defender Kal Naismith was seventh with 192 in 42 games to Middlesbrough’s Paddy McNair (190 in 42), Nottingham Forest’s Joe Worral (184 in 39) and Preston’s Benjamin Whiteman (167 in 44).
Sam Johnstone was the best Championship goalkeeper for long passes during the 2021/22 season with the West Brom star amassing 364. His tally eclipsed the 345 set by Bristol City ace Daniel Bentley, Preston’s Daniel Iversen (32) and Forest’s stopper Brice Samba (275).
Fulham and Reading share top spot for most key passes by a Championship player
Fulham and Reading share the top spot for the best tally of key passes by a Championship player in the 2021/22 season. Harry Wilson and John Swift each created 102 goalscoring chances over their respective 41 and 38 appearances, leading to 19 and 13 assists each.
Jed Wallace created the third-most chances with 94 for Millwall, ahead of Huddersfield ace Sorba Thomas (90) and Coventry’s Callum O’Hare (86). Forest star James Garner carved the sixth-most on 83, to Bournemouth’s best offering of 71 set by 22-year-old Jaidon Anthony.
Coventry, Blackburn Rovers and Middlesbrough had stars round out the top 10 for chances created. Viktor Gyokeres, Joe Rothwell and Marcus Tavernier fashioned 69, 68 and 68 each to narrowly edge QPR’s Ilias Chair and Sheffield United’s Norwood, who both offered 67.
Wilson and Swift lead the way for Championship assists during 2021/22 season
Having offered the highest total of key passes respectively, Wilson and Swift also head the chart for assists over the 2021/22 Championship season with their 19 and 13 respectively. Bristol City forward Antoine Semenyo and Millwall’s versatile Wallace ranked third on 12.
Two players in QPR’s Chris Willock and Huddersfield’s Thomas offered 11 assists over their respective 35 and 43 appearances. Andreas Weimann for Bristol City, Brenan Johnson with Forest, Rothwell of Blackburn and Bournemouth’s Philip Billing round out the top 10 on 10.
Six goalkeepers recorded one assist each during the 2021/22 Championship season in Alex Palmer with Luton, Blackpool stopper Daniel Grimshaw, West Brom’s backup David Button and first-choice Johnstone, Coventry’s Simon Moore and Blackburn ace Thomas Kaminski.
Swansea’s Grimes, Sheffield United’s Norwood, Fulham’s Wilson and Reading’s Swift, then, were among the Championship’s best passers for the 2021/22 season. Cottagers boss Silva will hope Wilson is as effective in the Premier League after their promotion as champions.
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