European Leagues
European Leagues

In this section we present the European leagues we cover. Therefore, we have decided to rate and evaluate the Top 7 leagues in Europe: Premier League (England), La Liga (Spain), Serie A (Italy), Bundesliga (Germany), Ligue 1 (France), Primeira Liga (Portugal) and Eredivisie (Netherlands).

European Leagues

In this section we present the European leagues we cover. Therefore, we have decided to rate and evaluate the Top 7 leagues in Europe: Premier League (England), La Liga (Spain), Serie A (Italy), Bundesliga (Germany), Ligue 1 (France), Primeira Liga (Portugal) and Eredivisie (Netherlands).

European Leagues Primeira Liga - Liga Portugal

BEST PLAYERS IN PRIMEIRA LIGA – PORTUGAL (APR 2024)

In our analysis, we evaluate all the players who played in Primeira Liga until the 1st of April (2023/2024 Season). In other words, we evaluate and filter the best performers with a minimum of 1300 minutes played in the league. Assessing all the positions, coupled with the evaluation of a lot of factors and indicators in their games, we can generate the ratings for the players performances. As a matter of fact, in this type of analysis, the type of formation played doesnt influence or limit the ratings system.

GOALKEEPERS (GKs):

  1. Anatolii Trubin (Benfica)
  2. Bruno Varela (Vitória Guimarães)
  3. Diogo Costa (Porto)
  4. Jhonatan (Rio Ave)
  5. Luíz Júnior (Famalicão)

With incredible performances, Trubin is the best performing Goalkeeper until April. Playing for the current champions, Trubin is the upgrade that Benfica needed in goal so that this position presents great quality and stability like Porto’s GK: Diogo Costa. At the present time, Diogo Costa is in third place on the average rating list behind Vitória’s GK Bruno Varela, a Goalkeeper who recently returned from injury.

CENTRE-BACKS (CBs):

  1. António Silva (Benfica)
  2. Gonçalo Inácio (Sporting CP)
  3. Pepe (Porto)
  4. Nicolás Otamendi (Benfica)
  5. Ousmane Diomande (Sporting CP)

In terms of the Centre-Backs, the top part is stacked with quality players: as a matter of fact, António Silva leads the average rating of Centre-Backs in the Primeira Liga until April in the 2023-2024 Season. Equally, we can see that he is being followed by Sporting’s Gonçalo Inácio, by his teammate Nicolás Otamendi and Porto’s Pepe.

FULL-BACKS (FBs) and WING-BACKS (WBs):

  1. Fredrik Aursnes (Benfica)
  2. Wendell (Porto)
  3. Costinha (Rio Ave)
  4. Pedro Malheiro (Boavista)
  5. João Mário (Porto)

As shown above, in a top section with great young talent, Fredrik Aursnes archived the highest average ratings among the Full-Back and Wing-Back position until April. Being, without doubt, two of the most exciting players in the Portuguese League, Costinha and Rodrigo Gomes are two of the best young talents in this league. To conclude, after his surprise inclusion in the Brazil squad, we can see that Wendell is second in this list.

MIDFIELDERS (Ms) and WINGERS (Ws):

  1. Ángel Di María (Benfica)
  2. Rafa Silva (Benfica)
  3. Pedro Gonçalves (Sporting CP)
  4. Orkun Kökçü (Benfica)
  5. João Neves (Benfica)

As a result of his great impact in Benfica´s style of play, Rafa Silva has one of the highest average ratings in the league only behind his teammate Ángel Di María. Sporting’s Pedro Gonçalves is also having a great season with an incredible avreage rating.

CENTRE-FOWARDS (CFs):

  1. Viktor Gyökeres (Sporting CP)
  2. Simon Banza (Braga)
  3. Evanilson (Porto)
  4. André Silva (Vitória Guimarães)
  5. André Luis (Moreirense)

Considered by many to be the best player in the league, Viktor Gyökeres has the highest average rating among all players in Primeira Liga until April 2024. As a result of his performances, Viktor is significantly ahead of his competition.

TEAM OF THE SEASON – PRIMEIRA LIGA 23/24:

MORE PRIMEIRA LIGA CONTENT:

TOP PERFORMER PER TEAM: PRIMEIRA LIGA 23/24 #1

PRIMEIRA LIGA 2023/24 ANALYSIS: GOALS

BEST PLAYERS IN PRIMEIRA LIGA – PORTUGAL (MAR 2024)

Data from FBref.

Eredivisie European Leagues

EREDIVISIE 2023/24 ANALYSIS: GOALS

In our analysis, we evaluate all the players who played in the Eredivisie until March (20-03-2024) focusing, primarily, on the goals in the Eredivisie.

Goals are an essential factor in football. Therefore, it is important to assess the players who “fulfil” this role on the pitch. For this, we need to evaluate all the positions as well as the goal-related indicators. Therefore, our analysis focuses on three key points:

  1. Goals vs Expected Goals;
  2. Biggest xG Under-performers & Over-performers;
  3. Goals per 90min vs Expected Goals per 90min;

1 – Goals vs Expected Goals

Conducting an initial analysis, we noticed that there are some players who stand out. In the top right-hand corner, we can see some players with a high number of Goals and xG (Expected Goals):

As highlighted in the graph above, the league’s top scorers is AZ Alkmaar’s Vangelis Pavlidis. Furthermore, we emphasise that Pavlidis is a bit ahead of his competition: PSV’s Luuk de Jong and Feyenoord’s Santiago Gimenez, all players having a clearly better goal scoring record than their expected goals. In addition to these athletes, we can see that a lot of the players are in the “Over-performing xG” section, even players from smaller teams such as NEC’s Mattsson and Fortuna Sittard’s Sierhuis. In the opposite section, we find a player that is underperforming their xG: Ajax’s Brian Brobbey.

2 – Biggest xG Under-performers & Over-performers

In this second section, we introduce the four players who under-performed and over-performerd xG the most:

Of the players featured in this graph, we need to highlight Magnus Mattsson. Mattsson was transferred from NEC to Kobenhavn in January and one of the main reasons for the quality season he was having was his incredible ability to finish in front of goal. On the negative side, Sparta Rotterdam’s striker (Tobias Lauritsen) are struggling to score their chances in the Eredivisie.

3 – Goals per 90min vs Expected Goals per 90min

Lastly, we look at the performance of these same players in terms of Goals and Expected Goals per 90 minutes. This type of view will allows us to better understand and compare players numbers since the number of games isn’t weighed so heavily. However, in order to obtain unbiased results, we placed a minimum limit on the number of games played (5 full games = 450 minutes).

Being one of the most recent signings for Ajax, Chuba Akpom’s performance is highlighted in this chart by his incredible Minutes to Goals ratio. Akpom’s performance is the best performer per 90 among Eredivisie players with significant minutes.

MORE EREDIVISE CONTENT:

BEST PLAYERS IN EREDIVISIE – NETHERLANDS (MAR 2024)

TOP PERFORMERS PER TEAM: EREDIVISIE 23/24 #1

Data from FBref.