For those of you that have been following this series of data analysis pieces that I have been writing you will already be familiar with the style of these pieces. I will use data to identify interesting players that will fit specific roles on the pitch. In doing so I am looking to replicate the kind of recruitment process that we are likely to see at clubs who recruit using data and with a coherent plan. The last piece in this series concentrated on recruitment analysis from Scandinavia. This time I will focus on three separate but similar markets with the top flights in Croatia, Czech Republic and Poland. The filters used are the same for each role. I am looking for players who are at the most 23-years-old and they have to have played at least 600 minutes so far this season.
This time in this tactical analysis I am looking to recruit for three specific profiles. A fullback who can progress the ball forward, a central midfielder who carries a goal threat and a wide attacker who is creative and creates goalscoring opportunities for teammates.
Progressive fullbacks
The success of Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp has led to the fullback position being viewed differently across Europe. Under Klopp, the central midfielders are generally functional while the main threat in terms of ball progression comes from the fullbacks. Both Trent Alexander-Arnold, on the right, and Andy Robertson, on the left, are extreme examples of players who carry an attacking threat from the fullback position but this is something that many clubs are looking to replicate going forward.
To begin with, we are assessing these fullbacks using progressive passes and progressive runs to plot their positions on our scatter graph. From there I have identified three players that I would be interested in having a more in-depth look at. The first player that pops in the graph is Michal Karbownik of Legia Warsaw who has 11.07 progressive passes per 90 minutes and makes 3.36 progressive runs per 90 minutes. The next, this time in the bottom right quadrant, is Adrian Klimczak of LKS Lodz in Poland. He has 7.82 progressive passes and 2.98 progressive runs per 90 minutes. The third player that I selected may appear slightly strange given his position in the top-left quadrant but when we discuss him in more detail later all should become clear. Petr Bockaj is a 23-year-old who currently plays for Osijek in Croatia. He currently has 12.44 progressive passes and 1.22 progressive runs per 90.
Michal Karbownik, 18-years-old, Legia Warsaw
