Football Player Analysis
Football Player Analysis

Football Player Analysis

European Leagues Premier League

PREMIER LEAGUE 22-23: MAN. UNITED

The squad led by Ten Hag finished the season in third place, a position that grants direct access to the Champions League Group Phase. With a great season, Man. United has a lot of players with top of the class performances in their respective positions. To understand their individual impact to the team, we present the average ratings of the players in a Back 4, the type of defense used for the whole season. In addition, this players must meet the necessary minutes requirement to be considered (minimum 450 minutes played in the season in a type of predefined defense: Back 4 or Back 5).

Man. United’s eleven with the most minutes played this season (Premier League).

Star Player:

  • Bruno Fernandes (M&W) – 8.14

With the highest average rating in this squad, Man United’s M&W – Bruno Fernandes – was one of the main reasons for the results archived this season. Man United’s dynamics require Bruno’s play to function properly because of his enormous consistency in the final third in addition to the relevent presence in intermediate (building) process. The last two season further emphasise the importance of Bruno Fernandes for this squad.

Other Key Players:

  • M. Rashford (CF) – 7.94
  • L. Martínez (CB) – 7.36
  • Casemiro (M) – 7.26
  • L. Shaw (CB) – 7.96

With several players having above average seasons, we need emphasise the average rating obtained by L. Shaw at Centre-Back (CB), a position that L. Shaw played for the first time this season.

Additional information regarding the team (Premier League).

With more positive results at home than away (15 Home Wins & 8 Away Wins), it is possible to consider Man. United a much stronger team at home. Besides that, the positive goal difference highlights the limited ability to score goals (1,52 goals per game) with a good defensive setup (1,13 goals per game).

Man. United’s eleven and subs with the most minutes played in the Europa League (Minimum 410 minutes played in this competition).

With another presence in the knockout stage of the Europa League, Man. United managed to play good football in Europe. C. Ronaldo had incredible performances during this competition allowing them to pass the group stage. In addition to that, B. Fernandes and L. Martínez were pivotal to this Man. United squad, being really important for the positive results achieved.

Position most in need of strengthening:

  • M

With ratings below the 6 mark, Man. United’s Midfielders (Ms) alternatives were the biggest weak spots during this season. To win the Premier League title, Man. United needs to strengthen their squad depht since, in the 2023-2024 season, they will take part of the Champions League Group Stage (at least).

Meaning of the used abbreviations:

  • G – Games
  • W – Wins
  • D – Draws
  • L – Loses
  • P – Points
  • GS – Goals Scored
  • GA – Goals Against
  • GD – Goal Diference
  • HW – Home Wins
  • AW – Away Wins

Data from FBref.

European Leagues Serie A

SERIE A 22-23: TEAM ANALYSIS

With the conclusion of this season, it is possible to make an evaluation of the teams’ global performance. To do so, the graph below allows us to start this analysis about the Serie A in the 2022-2023 Season:

Serie A 22-23 – Team analysis.

Defensive Process (DP): The defensive process evaluates the whole defensive work of the team. In this phase, the defensive indicators are focal for this analysis.

Above-average Teams in the Defensive Process (DP):

  1. Lazio;
  2. Napoli;
  3. Juventus;
  4. Roma;
  5. Lecce;
  6. Milan;
  7. Atalanta;
  8. Inter;
  9. Udinese (ranking in order);

Intermediate Process (IP): The intermediate process evaluates the existing gap from the whole defensive process and the offensive process in the last third, taking into account, mainly, the ball progression needed to reach this area of the field.

Above-average Teams in the Intermediate Process (IP):

  1. Napoli;
  2. Milan;
  3. Fiorentina;
  4. Atalanta;
  5. Sassuolo;
  6. Inter;
  7. Juventus;
  8. Monza;
  9. Lazio;
  10. Udinese;
  11. Torino (ranking in order);

Final Third (FT): In the Final Third, our study focuses on the creation of opportunities to shoot at goal. As the Final Third is a vital sector of play, the creation of chances is one of the most important points to ensure a good offensive output in the season.

Above-average Teams in the Final Third (FT):

  1. Napoli;
  2. Inter;
  3. Fiorentina;
  4. Milan;
  5. Atalanta;
  6. Juventus;
  7. Udinese;
  8. Sassuolo;
  9. Bologna;
  10. Roma (ranking in order);

Expected Goals (xG): xG is a metric that measures the probability of a shot resulting in a goal, rating how good of a goal-scoring opportunity a shot was. In this analysis, it is important to understand the volume and quality of chances that a team got during the season.

Above-average Teams in Expected Goals (xG):

  1. Inter;
  2. Napoli;
  3. Milan;
  4. Roma;
  5. Atalanta;
  6. Juventus;
  7. Fiorentina;
  8. Sassuolo;
  9. Lazio (ranking in order);

Expected Assists (xA): Expected assists measures the likelihood that a pass will be an assist. Being able to credit the passes beyond the final pass, allows us to understand the quality of passes and chances provided by the players and the team during the season.

Above-average Teams in Expected Assists (xA):

  1. Inter;
  2. Napoli;
  3. Milan;
  4. Atalanta;
  5. Roma;
  6. Juventus;
  7. Fiorentina;
  8. Udinese
  9. Sassuolo (ranking in order);
Serie A TeamsFinal PositionPerformance Rankings(+/- Position)
Napoli110
Lazio28+6
Inter32-1
Milan42-2
Atalanta54-1
Roma67+1
Juventus75-2
Fiorentina86-2
Bologna911+2
Torino1012+2
Monza1113+2
Udinese128-4
Sassuolo1310-3
Empoli14140
Salernitana1519+4
Lecce16160
Spezia1715-2
Hellas Verona18180
Cremonese1917-2
Sampdoria20200

Data from FBref.