With the conclusion of the season, it is possible to conduct a player analysis that measures which players had the most positive impact on their team as well as the players with the best individual performances during the season. The ratings model that we made allows us to find that out. The players with the highest average ratings during the season are the players that fulfil the premises presented previously. For this analysis, the selected players are required to have a minimum of 1500 minutes over the season, not taking into account the type of defence used nor the position played.
Player of the Season: La Liga 22-23
Through the average ratings obtained, we understand that Benzema, Real Madrid’s Centre-Foward, was the player with the highest average rating obtained in La Liga followed by A. Griezmann and three Barça players: R. Lewandowski (Centre-Foward: CF), F. de Jong (Midfielder: M) and Pedri (Midfielder and Winger: M&W). These players represented teams that finished in the top 3 of the La Liga 22-23.
Benzema was the key player of the Real Madrid squad that finished 2nd in La Liga. In a season in which this player was involved in a lot of minutes, his passing contribution along with the ability to score and create goal opportunities was vital to the effectiveness of Real Madrid’s attack.
In order to understand, more precisely, Benzema’s impact, we made a graphical analysis of all the top performing CFs in this La Liga season. This graphical analysis allows us to better appreciate Benzema’s performance. (List of players available here: https://thestatsway.com/top-performing-cfs-la-liga-22-23/).
Top CFs Analysis: La Liga 22-23 (per 90 stats)
Observing the graph, we can notice that goals wise, Benzema was, by far, the player with the most goals and expected goals per 90. Taking into account that we only consider the data in which these players played in the CF position, we can see that Benzema was also the best player in La Liga in terms of progressive passing per 90. Additionally, K. Benzema also showed extremely good numbers in terms of expected assists per 90 and progressive carries per 90.
Taking all this into account, we can consider Benzema the player of the season.
Meaning of the used abbreviations:
- DRIB – Interceptions per 90
- PRG P – Progressive Passes per 90
- PRG C – Progressive Carries per 90
- A – Assists per 90
- xA – Expected Assists per 90
- G – Goals per 90
- xG – Expected Goals per 90
Data from FBref.
