Player Focus: Ronaldo's Creative Exploits Shine in November Round-up

With November now behind us, for most the first half the season is winding down, with a warmly-welcomed winter break on the horizon (unless you play in England of course). It's been a month that for many has perhaps underwhelmed and, such has been the unfathomable goalscoring prowess of mssrs Ronaldo and Messi in recent seasons, it's somewhat of a shock statistic that neither scored more goals than they made appearances over the past 30 days.

The former was, however, WhoScored.com's top rated player of the month with an outstanding score of 9.46, with no player having netted more goals in November. Nevertheless, Cristiano Ronaldo's tally of 4 in 4 appearances is something that 5 other players could match, and when you consider that one of those is former West Ham flop Modibo Maiga you might be forgiven for thinking that there were few standout performers over that time.

Ronaldo's lofty rating comes courtesy of another surprising turn of events, having registered more assists than goals in November, with a remarkable tally of 7 in just four matches. To put that into perspective, the forward's previous 7 assists came across 25 Liga appearances, with the Real Madrid star averaging 4.3 key passes per game last month having averaged just 1.6 per game over the course of last season.

Now working from a more central position and closer in tandom with Karim Benzema - another of the six players to notch 4 league goals in November - Ronaldo is flourishing, and it's been a similar story in the case of Eric Choupo-Moting over the past month. The Cameroon international has made a strong start to life in Gelsenkirchen with Schalke and has excelled in a centre forward position alongside Klaas-Jan Huntelaar of late.

The former Mainz flyer came closest to rivalling Ronaldo's ratings in November, with a score of 8.56 over his three appearances. Choupo-Moting scored twice in an important 3-2 victory over Wolfsburg and went on to register two assists against his previous employers last time out, with only three players completing more dribbles in the past month despite the fact that he featured in just 3 of the 4 league matches possible.

One of those is Arjen Robben, who ranks third in WhoScored.com's ratings for November (8.40), scoring and consequently picking up the man of the match award in 3 of his 4 Bundesliga appearances last month, with the other coming from the substitutes bench in Frankfurt. The Dutch winger completed the second most dribbles over the past 30 days (21), while only three players created more chances for teammates (15), with Robben perhaps a little unlikely to register just the one assist.

It's clear, then, that despite the fact that no player was really in scintillating goalscoring form there were still some hugely impressive attacking performances last month. Meanwhile there was one player in particular who stood out, statistically at least, for his contribution in terms of regaining possession.

Caen midfielder N'Golo Kante was certainly in the thick of things in November, producing an astounding 33 tackles to outperform any other player in Europe's top 5 leagues by at least 13. The 23-year-old's tally of 11 vs Monaco was the most in a single match, with the 10 he managed against Metz ranking second in that regard, and the Frenchman was one of a number of young stars that continued to raise their profile with some impressive displays.

Ligue 1 is certainly home to a host of hot prospects right now, with the likes of Serge Aurier, Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco and Nabil Fekir among those to have enjoyed themselves in November and certainly worth keeping an eye on over the coming months. The former appears in the WhoScored.com team of the month and will be hoping that his displays will have convinced Laurent Blanc that he is able to hold down the right-back spot at PSG over Gregory van der Wiel.

Elsewhere Kevin De Bruyne, who registered 4 assists to take his league tally to 9 for the season, continues to impress with Wolfsburg to make the best XI in central midfield alongside Maxime Gonalons. The Lyon captain has been back to his best recently and is relishing the task of leading a young side back into the Champions League, securing a rating of 8.26 in November.

Which players do you think were most impressive over the last month? Let us know in the comments below