So I had some free time today and decided to... recount these as I have a lot of objections with the "official" counting which is displayed from Livescore, as they are either too liberal with assists or too strict. It's basically tailored for the Fantasy games which I believe do not really get the actual grasp of what counts as an assist and what doesn't. I've also included key contributions. I didn't bother with the only own goal we've had, which was Candreva shooting and the ball deflecting on Dimarco vs Verona. I counted it as Candreva's goal which is why he has one extra goal, but as Bluenine's list does not have the own goal, you will see that the total is also higher.
I've removed "assists" that are merely the last pass. An assist is pretty much a pass that leads to a scoring chance. Giving the ball to Lukaku or Martinez at the half way line and then after 30 meters of a run they make a goal is not really an assist, nor a contribution. Another example is Gagliardini's goal vs Sampdoria away. Brozovic made the assist but Gagliardini didn't get it properly initially, GK deflected the ball but it ended up in Gagliardini's possession for an easy goal. That's an assist. Valero vs Sassuolo was a tricky one, as Candreva's FK was going in before the tap in, but since the intention was for a cross, I counted it as an assist. There was another goal where Barella flicked the ball, Lukaku barely touched it as he fell down, Gagliardini let it end up at Lautaro, he took a couple of dribbles and then slotted it in from outside the box. No one gets an assist nor a contribution there. Slavia away game where Lukaku gets free from a Lazaro pass-clearance, Lautaro is first to the ball but makes a dummy so his defender lets the ball go. Lukaku is now free as his marker fell down, but Lazaro did not really assist him the ball. Both Lautaro and Lazaro get a contribution for the goal, but there is no assist awarded.
There are cases where a contribution could be awarded for a run that diverts and disorients the defense and leaves the scorer free. Could have given one to Lukaku for attracting Hakimi in the Dortmund game, but since Lautaro had 2+goalkeeper on him still, while he was the ball controller the entire time, so it would be unfair to Lautaro there as the extra defender wouldn't have really closed in on him anyway. In one-on-one situations that is doable. Remarkably, we did not score a goal that would warrant that kind of contribution apart from the example vs Slavia that I mentioned above.
I tried including the entire work as a 'code' but it doesn't really help. May upload if people want to see it detailed per game.
I'm going to keep tabs on this season as well with the same setup and will post it at the end of the season, or maybe the first round just to make an initial comparison with Bluenine's table. I'll probably have more time during the holidays to go as further back as possible.
edit: Just recalled that there's an omission of 2 Brozovic contributions which a) was a tackle that resumed possession. It was in fact in that goal I mentioned where Barella and Lukaku barely touched the ball. Officially, Lukaku got an assist as he had the last touch but it wasn't really directed at any teammate, whereas Brozovic tackled it towrads the opposition goal and at the feet of Barella. This was vs Shakhtar, the 3-0. The other was vs SPAL where he did pretty much the same but he flicked it towards Lautaro who did a solo run right after. But Brozo gets the contribution for restoring possession and turning a defensive action into a counter attack.
Updated picture with the above inclusions.
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