Abdoulaye Seck: Why is he not a regular starter for Antwerp? – data analysis

Abdoulaye Seck is a 27-year-old central defender for Antwerp in the Belgium First Division A. The Senegalese, Seck, has been identified by Toni Bilandzic in his data analysis piece on centre-backs in Belgium. The data outlined Seck as an effective central defender overall, with impressive comparative data in defensive duels, aerial duels, interceptions and progressive passes. However, the Senegalese defender only made 13 league appearances throughout the 2019/20 season. Given his outstanding data in comparison to other Belgian league defenders, the question is, why is he not a regular starter for Antwerp? This data analysis will shed more light on this conundrum by delving into Seck’s statistics for the 2019/20 season in specific comparison to his Antwerp teammates, along with an analysis of Antwerp’s team performance.

Centre-back options at Antwerp

With the league data outlining Seck’s ability in comparison to all centre-backs in the league, including ex-Premier League players Vincent Kompany (Manchester City) and Wesley Hoedt (played also in La Liga and Serie A), it is difficult to pinpoint why he is not a regular starter for Antwerp, or additionally, why he hasn’t earned a move to a higher-ranked team. Now, of course, we must take the data with the considerations of team context, given the fact that data is produced via completed actions, therefore, a player for a lower-ranked team may have more opportunities to produce frequencies within defensive metrics and higher-ranked teams may produce more opportunity to build passing metrics. However, success rates are effective in diminishing such team variance, just as per 90 stats are for normalising minutes played. But, the data suggests Seck is a defender with impressive stats in a defensive and offensive sense. In addition to this, this maturity and supposed peak ability at 27 years old, added to his strong physical presence at 6ft 4in, everything seems to be in favour of Seck, so why isn’t he starting every match for Antwerp or earned himself a move to a higher-ranked team? By analysing Antwerp closely, we will be better placed to answer or at least learn more about this question by determining if he is actually under-utilised in comparison to other available centre-backs, the use of the players in multiple competitions rather than just the league and the data comparisons of the players and team performance at Antwerp.

Firstly, let’s take a look at the appearance and minute stats of central defenders at Antwerp. This will give us an indication of the options at Antwerp and how they are utilised in comparison to Seck. Firstly, we will just analyse league minutes.

If we take a look at all competitions this time, with the addition of the Belgium Cup and the UEFA Europa League in 2019/20, we can see that Seck is utilised more than his counterparts in the cup competitions, but only slightly, cutting the gap to the minute leader by 141 minutes. This suggests that the utilisation of players remains similar depending on the competition. It is good to rule this out, as Seck might have featured much more in the supposedly more difficult Europa League competition, as well as the Belgian Cup depending on the draw of the opposition. If this was the case, the playing time might have been similar overall, therefore discrediting the theory that Seck isn’t a regular, or at least in an overall sense, we already knew he was utilised less than his teammates in the league. One key point is that research shows that there are no public records of the Senegalese, Seck, having any injuries throughout the 2019/20 season which have caused him to earn fewer minutes than his teammates.

Due to the data, we can see that Arslanagić and Hoedt are the favoured centre backs overall, with Seck seemingly competing with these players along with Dylan Batubinsika for a starting spot.

Another point to consider is the footedness of the players. Antwerp predominantly play with a 4-2-3-1 formation. The most balanced and comfortable set up for defending and showing players away from goal when engaging and trying to win the ball, or when pulled out wide, is to have a left-footed central defender on the left side of the two centre backs, and a right-footed centre back on the right side. Additionally, this is beneficial for playing out, given the easier nature of playing out to full-backs in wide areas to stretch the pitch and move the ball out of dangerous areas easily. In the same way, central midfielders who pull wider of their markers can be found, which is an easier progressive pass to play when the footedness of the player matches the side of the pitch they are playing on. With this in mind, we can see in the table below that Hoedt is the only left-footed central defender for Antwerp. We know from the data analysis on the league that Hoedt is impressive in reputation, data and his footedness which makes him the prime choice for the LCB spot. From there, it seems that there is a three-way competition between Seck, Batubinsika and Arslanagić, who are all right-footed, for the RCB spot.

Seck vs Arslanagić 

Ok, so now we know which specific comparison to make. Seck vs Arslanagić for the RCB position. Of course, it is perfectly acceptable for squad rotation to be the reason for the shared minutes. It is not commonplace to rotate central defenders as much as other playing positions, but with the Antwerp manager seemingly having four central defenders whom he trusts, albeit some more so than others, rotating to keep players fresh and performances high during three competitions is, of course, effective squad management. In addition, it will be difficult and a touch foolish to suggest any definitive conclusions from any comparisons made. But, we do know that Seck features less than Arslanagić, and the data analysis piece by Toni Bilandzic suggests Seck to be a standout player, an analysis piece which also featured Arslanagić. But, the comparison may give us more information to base our judgements on.

To enhance the amount of