Football Player Analysis
Football Player Analysis

Football Player Analysis

European Leagues Ligue 1

BEST PLAYERS IN LIGUE 1 – FRANCE (MAR 2024)

In our analysis, we evaluate all the players who played in the Ligue 1 until March (2023/2024 Season). In other words, we evaluate and filter the best performers with a minimum of 1100 minutes played in the league. Assessing all the positions, we evaluate a lot of factors and indicators in their games that allow us to generate the ratings for their 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. Marco Bizot (Brest)
  2. Brice Samba (Lens)
  3. Marcin Bułka (Nice)

With good performances, Marco Bizot is the best performing Goalkeeper in the Ligue 1 until March. Playing for the biggest surprise in this year’s edition, Marco Bizot is one of the main reasons for Brest being the second best defense in the league.

CENTRE-BACKS (CBs):

  1. Jean-Clair Todibo (Nice)
  2. Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain)
  3. Dante (Nice)

In terms of the Centre-Backs, the Top 3 is led by one of the biggest talents in the world right now. As a matter of fact, Jean-Clair Todibo leads the average rating of Centre-Backs in the Ligue 1 until March in the 2023-2024 Season. Equally, we can see that he is being followed closely by two quality Brazilian players: Marquinhos and Dante.

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

  1. Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain)
  2. Melvin Bard (Nice)
  3. Kenny Lala (Brest)

As shown above, in a Top 3 lead by an incredible margin, Hakimi archived the highest average ratings among the Full-Back and Wing-Back position until March. Being, without doubt, one of the most exciting players in the French League, Hakimi is having yet another great season.

MIDFIELDERS (Ms) and WINGERS (Ws):

  1. Pierre Lees-Melou (Brest)
  2. Téji Savanier (Montpellier)
  3. Maxence Caqueret (Lyon)

Despite not being among the best teams in the league, Lees-Melou and Téji Savanier are shining in this year’s edition of Ligue 1. Additionally, Maxence Caqueret’s recent performances have allowed him to enter the Top 3 list.

CENTRE-FOWARDS (CFs):

  1. Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain)
  2. Wissam Ben Yedder (Monaco)
  3. Jonathan David (Lille)

In this situation where the Top 3 is led by Kylian Mbappé, we can see that the other strikers are far from the level shown by PSG’s Centre-Foward. Kylian Mbappé leads the average rating among strikers in Ligue 1 until March.

MORE LIGUE 1 CONTENT:

BEST PLAYERS IN LIGUE 1 – FRANCE (FEB 2024)

BEST PLAYERS IN LIGUE 1 – FRANCE (JAN 2024)

MOST PROMISING PLAYERS – LIGUE 1 (18/10/2023)

Data from FBref.

European Leagues Primeira Liga - Liga Portugal

PRIMEIRA LIGA 2023/24 ANALYSIS: GOALS

In our analysis, we evaluate all the players who played in Primeira Liga/Liga Betclic until March (01-03-2024) focusing, primarily, on the goals in Primeira Liga.

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 are Braga’s Simon Banza and Sporting’s Viktor Gyökeres. Furthermore, we emphasise that both these players have 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 Arouca’s Rafa Mújica, Vizela’s Samuel Essende and Chaves’s Héctor Hernández. In the opposite section, we find 5 players that are underperforming their xG: Benfica’s Rafa Silva, Boavista’s Róbert Bozeník, Sporting’s Pedro Gonçalves, Rio Ave’s Emmanuel Boateng and Braga’s Álvaro Djaló.

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 Tiago Morais. Tiago was transferred from Boavista to Lille 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, FC Porto’s wingers (Pepê and Galeno) are struggling to score goals in Primeira Liga.

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 players with the most goals in Primeira Liga, Simon Banza’s performance is reinforced (and highlighted in this chart) by his incredible Minutes to Goals ratio. Simon Banza’s performance is, by far, the best among Primeira Liga players with significant minutes played.

MORE PRIMEIRA LIGA CONTENT:

BEST PLAYERS IN PRIMEIRA LIGA – PORTUGAL (MAR 2024)

GAME CHANGERS – PRIMEIRA LIGA 23/24 #2

Data from FBref.