How The Best Premier League Centre-Backs Suit Their Teams Tactics – Data Analysis

We are just over 20% of the way into the 2023/24 Premier League season, and the table is starting to take shape.

In terms of individual performances, each season, we get the same questions: who is performing well?

Who is underperforming?

Is “x” player past their best?

We will address those questions regarding the performance of central defenders in this data analysis.

This analysis aims to highlight top performers in several key areas, on and off the ball, which may give some context as to which teams are performing well defensively within the finer details rather than defensive metrics as a whole unit.

In some areas, within passing statistics, for example, the data may also provide some insight into some of the tactics on display in the league.

Criteria

With this data analysis, we aimed to include a broad range of English Premier League centre-backs, casting a wide net, as it were.

To achieve that, the analysis includes 46 CBs across the 20 EPL sides, with each team having at least two participants – those being the two centre-backs with the most minutes played for their team in the EPL this season.

Some teams have a third participant – these have been included if their minutes total is too high to ignore and is close to the first two.

While we could have simply left the third option players out, their high minute total indicates that they are essential members of their team(s) and may go on to play a vital role in their campaign.

Every CB involved in this analysis has, at the time of writing, before matchday nine has taken place, played a minimum of 300 Premier League minutes this season.

Furthermore, some players are centre-backs by trade who have played a significant number of minutes this season but have also featured in another position, such as full back, on numerous occasions.

These players have not been included.

Joe Gomez of Liverpool is a good example that fits this description.

You will notice that, although we said that 46 players are involved in this data analysis, there are not 46 players in the bar graphs throughout the report.

While this was done because there was no possibility of fitting all 46 players onto a bar graph, this direction also allows us to focus on the top performers in the metrics in question.

The scatter graphs, however, feature all 46 centre-backs.

To avoid the scatter graphs looking too chaotic, some will only feature a selection of the 46 names – the missing names will still have data points, and the key performers will always be visible.

Defensive Stats

This segment of analysis will contain metrics and statistics that you would expect a defender to be judged upon – from defensive duels to fouls made; these data entries really help us understand which defenders are excelling on a consistent, weekly basis, and which ones need to step up.

As this data analysis aims to highlight the league’s best CBs this season, the focus will be on the leading players in each metric, with occasional brief mentions of other players when relevant.

We start with a bar graph representing the average number of successful defensive actions per 90 made by each player.

This is a solid base to start from in terms of evaluating the data of a CB, as this metric encapsulates every defensive metric in one number, allowing us to gain an overall view of which defenders are performing in an entirely defensive manner.

While you initially may have expected the top 10 players or so to be full of players from the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, etc., some of the players at the top of this graph play for clubs who are currently in the bottom half of the table – a result of their respective clubs having to do more defending. 

With that being said, credit should still go to players like Marcos Senesi of Bournemouth – with 13.96 successful defensive actions per 90, he has quickly demonstrated reliability at the back for his side, and this may come in handy if his team find themselves in a relegation battle come the latter stages of the season.

Burnley’s Jordan Beyer (13.52) and Sheffield United’s John Egan (12.09) have both also proved their defensive reliability and consistency for their respective sides – sides again that, in the early stages of the season, look likely to be among the relegation battlers.

Having looked at the overall defensive contribution in the previous graph, we can now start to break the data down and look more closely at specific metrics, starting with defensive duels, a defender’s bread and butter really.

Not only are we looking at the frequency and win rate of the defenders, but the bar chart also shows us how many of their team’s defensive duels average they contribute themselves.

This method of data presentation enables us to delve deeper and identify the actual standout performers throughout the league table.

If you want the player with the highest success rate with defensive duels, look no further than Nottingham Forest’s Willy Boly, winning an impressive 83.33% of his challenges on the ground.

He also ranks nicely in terms of Forest’s defensive duels, contributing 10.64% of their average per 90 – that percentage equates to 6.52 defensive duels every 90 minutes.

One name you will see pop up a lot throughout this data analysis is AFC Bournemouth’s Marcos Senesi, particularly in the charts that demonstrate contributions to team metrics.

In this case, Senesi leads the way thanks to the portion of tackles he offers to Bournemouth’s game-to-game average, making an astonishing 16.29% of the Cherries’ defensive duels.

Other players that offer high engagement levels in this way include Brighton’s Lewis Dunk, Sheffield United’s John Egan, Chelsea’s Axel Disasi, and a host of other defenders.

We continue the defensive side of this data analysis by looking at how many fouls each player averages per 90.

Making fouls is simply part and parcel of being a defender, but making too many fouls could create huge problems for the team.

This metric is being discussed as it is highly relevant to the previously discussed tackling.

Curiously, but certainly not shockingly, the player who makes the most successful defensive actions per 90 in this group, Senesi, also averages the most fouls, making 1.84 per 90.

Only a handful of others exceed a foul a game, including Everton’s Jarred Branthwaite, Brentford’s Kristoffer Ajer, and a few more.

Ajer, interestingly, averages fewer tackles per 90 than his CB teammates Ethan Pinnock and Nathan Collins but makes more fouls per 90 by some distance – perhaps an indication of over-aggressiveness in Ajer’s game.

Jarred Branthwaite, while showing plenty of promise in many areas, raises some alarms with his high fouling rate – he makes 0.9 fouls per 90 against 4.79 defensive duels per 90 – that’s almost one foul every five tackles, a hazardous way to carry yourself at the back.

Being dominant in the air is another essential attribute for a central defender.

Recently, there has been debate about the height of a centre-back, more specifically, the height of Manchester United player Lisandro Martínez – with the argument for many being that he is too short to play the position.

When examining his data, we see that he makes few aerial duel attempts (1.75 per 90) and has a woeful success rate of just 12.5%, the lowest of the group by some margin. 

Meanwhile, the most engaged CBs in the air feature Pinnock (6.27 per 90) and Willy Boly (6.09 per 90), but their success rates fall among the average cluster.

Regarding the highest success rate in the air, Martínez’s Manchester United teammate Raphaël Varane ticks that box.

While the Frenchman has a very low aerial engagement, he has won every aerial duel he has featured in this season.

When looking for the player who attempts more aerial duels than the average and wins his fair share too, van Dijk is the man.

So far, he has won 85.19% (second highest in this group) of his 4.48 attempts per 90, showing absolute consistency in the air.

Consider, for a moment, where and how van Dijk is involved in aerial duels.

While there is no doubting his aerial dominance, many of his battles in the air come from opposition long passes after Liverpool’s press forced the direct approach – Klopp’s side press with a purpose, often looking to angle the press and force the opposition in a particular direction, so there remains the possibility that they try and push the opponent to clear the ball into van Dijk’s area.

Additionally, he excels at reading situations and reacting quickly, particularly in his own defensive zone.

As a defender, reading the game and anticipating dangerous passes is a must-have skill.

This includes making interceptions, breaking up opposition build-up, and stopping those killer through balls.

While we could have used the PAdj interceptions data, which balances the numbers after taking into account each team’s possession statistics, we decided to use the true interception stats, compared with the contribution percentages, allowing us, again, to see how significant a portion of their team’s interceptions each CB makes.

It comes as no surprise that two Liverpool defenders lead the way in this department, given their aggressive tactics on and off the ball.

Skipper van Dijk averages 6.91 interceptions per 90, contributing to 19.22% of Liverpool’s interceptions.

Interestingly, you will find his teammate Matip slightly lower in both metrics yet still one of the most efficient CBs in the league regarding interceptions.

This is an indication that Klopp likes his CBs to be aggressive in leaving their line to break up a pass, which is not a surprising feat given Liverpool’s intensity on and off the ball.

Other players like Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Jordan Beyer (Burnley), and Max Killman (Wolves) all display strong engagement levels relative to their team’s tendency to make interceptions.

Contributions in possession

It likely goes without saying, but the modern game requires defenders to be capable on the ball in the Premier League, with many sides even wanting their CBs to be an important part of varying possession phases.

From being able to carry the ball out of defence to playing those diagonal passes to shift the possession into space, there are several productive ways a central defender can contribute to their team’s attacking play.

Here, we examine some key data related to passing and dribbling.

We kick things off by looking at some of the most frequent dribbling CBs the EPL has to offer while also looking at how reliable they are in carrying the ball.

It is worth noting that the highest average per 90 out of the 46 defenders is under two dribbles per 90 – while a CB may offer the occasional dribble, it isn’t a staple of their game.

Brentford’s Kristoffer Ajer is the most frequent dribbler of the 46, but his success rate of 33.33% suggests that he isn’t finding too much success with this method of play.

Of the frequent dribblers, Tottenham’s Micky van de Ven offers the highest dribbling success rate, currently with a 100% completion rate.

He is the only player who averages more than one dribbler per 90 with a faultless completion rate.

While the passing metric is a little broad in terms of passing judgment on a player’s passing ability, this graph will be relevant and usable as a point of reference for the graphs that follow.

But since we’re here, it makes sense to credit some of best passers of the ball at CB in the league this season.

We’ll focus on that cluster of players in the top right as these individuals have a high average of passes per 90, matched with a high pass completion rate, a fantastic combination of stats to have, no matter the player’s position on the pitch.

Chelsea’s Thiago Silva – not only does he have the fifth-highest average for pass attempts, but he is also the most accurate – completing 96.43% of 74.34 passes per 90.

Context is important here, in terms of his individual style of play – he averages a high passing engagement.

Still, he is yet to attempt a single dribble this season, according to our data.

It won’t surprise you that a Manchester City player averages the most passes in this group.

Rúben Días averages 78.96 passes per 90, and that statistic comes with a pleasing completion rate of 94.37%. 

Now, I know what you’re thinking – why include forward passes?

Surely the majority of a CB’s passes can only go forward as the only player deeper than them is the goalkeeper?

While it is true that the CB often has the majority of play in front of them, we still see a high number of passes back to the keeper or lateral passes to a full-back or partnering CB.

Suppose a central defender can consistently pass forward accurately.

In that case, this highlights an attacking desire and the ability to move the possession in a positive direction, which is what we’re looking for here.

Again, focusing on that top right square of names will tell us which CBs are frequently making forward passes with reasonable accuracy – names like Thiago Silva, who is the most accurate in this area, along with his Chelsea teammate Axel Disasi, Brighton’s Jan Paul van Hecke, Varane – the list could go on.

These players may go under the radar in terms of this metric, but their managers and head coaches will be fully aware of their ability to move the ball forward in possession.

Long passes from defence are a feature that, for a while, were considered in lower regard to a possession-based approach, with shorter passes being the focus.

Direct play was more associated with teams battling to survive the drop in the Premier League, but it is now an essential element in the approach play of most teams, to a degree.

Even Manchester City, renowned for their possession dominance, can rely on the long-passing ability of their goalkeeper, Ederson, to add a different dimension to their tactics.

As you can see in the graph above, most of the 46 CBs in this analysis average under five long passes per 90, and there are only a handful who exceed that average with an above-average accuracy rate.

Crystal Palace’s Marc Guéhi matches that description and then some.

Averaging 4.65 long passes per 90 isn’t the highest of the group by any means, but his completion rate of 68.18% – highlighting not only his ability in a long pass but the know-how of when to attempt the technique.

However, he offers a substantial percentage for Crystal Palace’s long pass tally, making 13.88% of the Eagles’ long passes per 90.

Van Dijk offers similar characteristics in this metric as far as the data goes.

Bournemouth are no strangers to a direct approach, as evidenced by Senesi’s remarkably high 12.31 long passes per 90 – the only player to average over 10 in this group, too.

His accuracy isn’t too bad either, with an above-average completion rate of 58.21%.

Not only is he the most frequent long passer of the 46 players here, but he is also very active compared to his Bournemouth teammates, making an astounding 31.86% of their long passes each match.

Looking at players who don’t attempt many long balls but are reliable when called upon, we see names of players who play for teams that like to dominate possession – Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs, for example.

Arsenal’s William Saliba ticks that box – averaging less than three long passes per 90, but that is still 10.36% of Arsenal’s long passes per game.

He also boasts the highest completion rate of the 46 (76.92%).

The progressive passes metric shares some similarities to the long passing metric; only with progressive passes data can we see which players make long passes that move their team’s possession significantly closer to the opposition goal.

While this sounds just like a long pass, remember that long passes can go from flank to flank or defence into midfield, whereas here, we are looking at long passes that move in a more blatantly attacking direction.

While there are a few players with accurate track records in this metric, there are also a fair few who make a small number of progressive pass attempts.

Saliba offers a small engagement with a high accuracy, while players Ream, Silva, and Disasi (amongst others) offer a high engagement with a high accuracy.

In terms of zooming in on individual contribution to team progressive passes, surprise surprise, Senesi blows the other 45 defenders out of the water.

He averages 13.22 progressive passes per 90 – 25.1% of his team’s tally but still maintains a strong consistency, evidenced by his accuracy rate of 77.67%, one of the higher completion rates on the graph. 

Interestingly, two of three Brighton CBs in this report – Lewis Dunk and Adam Webster- offer a high percentage of their team’s progressive pass tally.

It would be fair to suggest that this is a tactical instruction, particularly for Dunk, who offers a high engagement as well as a high accuracy rate.

Passes to the final third can come in various forms.

Of course, there is the classic direct ball in the air, which can be effective if executed well and at the right time.

Still, there are also opportunities for CBs to step into midfield if their team controls possession, allowing them to play passes into the final third.

And finally, there are line-breaking passes – passes played on or off the ground from the CB’s initial position that break the hypothetical unit lines of the opposition, with the ball finding its way into an advanced player in the final third.

Several players do well in this area, but the most accurate of the 46 is Manchester United CB Varane, whose completion rate is 93.88% from a high engagement of 10.11 attempts per 90.

And, as you can see, his portion of passes to the final third is a sizable one for United, making 10.13% of their balls into the attacking third.

Bournemouth’s Senesi has posted high engagement numbers for long and progressive passes, and he had an above-average completion rate for those two.

His contribution percentage to Bournemouth is, again, very high.

However, his completion rate fell below average this time despite still having a high engagement.

Of course, several environmental factors can influence this – his teammates, the quality of the opposition, etc. – but he may appear to be slightly more patient in some areas to try and find a better opening for a pass.

We see Lewis Dunk and Adam Webster both appear high on the contribution percentage chart, another piece of evidence for the suggestion that Roberto de Zerbi likes to utilise these two players heavily in Brighton’s build-up play.

Conclusion

We are still in the early stages of the 23/24 campaign, but we are already starting to see some centre-backs who are going to be key players in the months to come.

Some players have stood out positively on and off the ball, offering quality and consistency.

While we (somewhat expectedly) saw substantial numbers from CBs at some of the Premier League big boys (Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City, etc.), players like Ethan Pinnock, Jordan Beyer, Marcos Senesi, and more prove that teams in the bottom half have some real individual quality in the defensive ranks.