Cluster 7- Offensively Challenged Defensive Mids

Nov 10, 2021

Offensively Challenged Defensive Mids: What makes them different?

Cluster 7 is comprised mainly of midfielders that aren’t as adept or involved with the ball at their feet. They rank poorly in almost all passing, creation, and carrying metrics highlighted by the 5th lowest progressive passes, 4th lowest progressive carries, and 5th lowest passes completed per 90. These midfielders do most of their work on the defensive end as evidenced by their high number of press attempts and successful pressures, most amongst clusters. Their tackling numbers, however, are about the same as other midfielders and it’s fair to question whether their defensive metrics and activity are just the result of team style.

Disclaimer

All the statistics used (and their description) can be found on fbref. Keep in mind that specific players’ key stats and age may have changed slightly since the writing (not publishing) of this article. If you are subscribed to the newsletter and the email isn’t reaching your inbox, you may want to add my substack email (davidsajdak@substack.com) as a contact to prevent it from going to spam or promotions.

Strengths (cluster rank):

press attempts per 90 (1)
successful pressures (1)

Weaknesses (cluster rank):

progressive passes per 90 (14)
passes into final 3rd per 90 (12)
shot-creating actions per 90 (13)
progressive carries per 90 (15)
npG per 90 (16)
passes completed per 90 (14)
touches per 90 (15)

Like what you're seeing? Don’t want to miss a post? To keep seeing content like this, consider following me on twitter and signing up for the free newsletter. With each post being sent directly to your inbox, you’ll never miss an article!

Follow me on twitter