As Branislav Ivanovic blazes a trail near the top of the defender rankings, it seems timely to put the position under further analysis by assessing the attacking potential of the Serb’s rivals. In this latest article for our members, we analyse the early-season data in an attempt to examine the cast of defenders offering the potential of returns at both ends of the pitch.
With Leighton Baines an ever present in such analysis, and new top flight arrivals Aaron Cresswell and Kieran Trippier receiving plenty of hype in pre-season, the attacking full-back shows great promise as a potential differential target.
This is compounded by this season’s changes to the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) bonus point system (BPS) calculation that has reduced the penalty handed out to players who raid forward to take on opponents. While it’s too early to confirm the impact of this change, it’s worth noting that four of the top five BPS scorers in defence are full-backs – right now, the dominant centre-back is not having it all his own way.
The starting point for our analysis was a custom stats table which captured a series of key indicators identified as important factors when assessing the attacking potential of a defender. We’ve chosen to sort our table by “Touches in the Final Third” in order to capture those defenders who have joined the attack most often. We’ve also included data that captures their effectiveness in terms of crossing and chances created, whilst also assessing Clearances, Blocks and Interceptions (CBI) as a means of further examining the bonus point potential of the listed candidates.
Our custom table has been made public and can be accessed here. The table will go on collecting data each week, offering a constant updated snapshot of our analysis. For now, however, let’s examine the data after the opening two Gameweeks.
9 years, 9 months ago1st July 2009: Van Gaal got off to a poor start as Bayern coach, winning only one of his first four matches in charge, and by November the club was on the brink of a first-round Champions League exit following two losses to Bordeaux. LvG kept insisting he is a 'prozesstrainer' meaning that his team needs time to play the way he imagines. Sound familiar?
Van Gaal installed many youth players, including Thomas Müller and Holger Badstuber, and also converted the winger Bastian Schweinsteiger into a defensive midfielder. However, Bayern Munich's form improved with two Champions League victories including an impressive 4–1 victory over Juventus in Turin.
March 2010: Bayern had moved to the semi-finals of the DFB-Pokal and were top of the Bundesliga ahead of Leverkusen.
8th May 2010: FC Bayern were crowned Bundesliga champions following a 3–1 win at Hertha BSC.
15 May 2010, Bayern won the DFB-Pokal with a 4–0 defeat of SV Werder Bremen, thus securing the domestic double.
In the Champions League, Bayern reached the final.
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This is quite typical of his career. He demands a level of thinking on the pitch that players are not used to, and it takes time to adapt. But his success rate speaks for itself.
Titles aside, he developed young talent into world beaters. He gave debuts to youths Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Kroos, Müller, and Badstuber. All are now World Cup Champions. Other honourable debut mentions: Motta, Alaba, Kluivert, Seedorf & Edgar Davids.
I just find it incredible seeing negative comments about him, and his tactics, when his history contains bad starts at clubs, but glorious finishes.