2025-01-16, 05:37 PM - Word count:
As it is said in many sports, defense wins championships, and that is no different in the SSL. Every season, new defenders make their debuts in the Academy, hoping to show off their unique skillsets in order to gain the eye of the 8 club organizations. With an entire season of development, players have had time to earn more TPE and develop their builds, so let's take a look at how the defenders in the S19 Draft Class have built their players!
Included in this Deep Dive are players who have CB, LB, RB, LWB, RWB, and CDM as their primary positions. If you are a player that has a secondary position of defender and were not included, I do apologize.
First, let's look at the total TPE these players have so we can have understanding of what each user has had to work with in terms of upgrading their attributes. Enjoy my amateur charts.
![[Image: 3cs0MJb.png]](https://i.imgur.com/3cs0MJb.png)
No, I do not know why they look blurry.
As we can see, there are a few players with a large amount of banked TPE, meaning that these players' builds will punch a bit below their weight. Cameron Millwall is leading the way in terms of banked TPE with 63, followed up by Howie Dewitt with 52, Kika Bahl with 40, Diglett Primaru with 36, David Luiz Jr. with 20, and a few more below 20. While this of course made them achieve below their potential, waiting to spend your TPE until after the draft is a good idea if you are unsure which direction to take your player and are waiting to see what your future team would need most from your player. Leading the total TPE charts is Aart de Trella with 514, Coin Flip with 504, Slab Head with 498, Howie Dewitt with 490, and Cameron Millwall with 487.
Arguably the most attribute important category for Defenders is the Physical category, so let's see how each player sizes up there first.
![[Image: S91JDwX.png]](https://i.imgur.com/S91JDwX.png)
The first thing that pops off the page is Coin Flip's monstrous 15.33 average physical rating, excluding stamina and natural fitness. With an astonishing 18 pace and 16 acceleration, jumping reach, and strength. Flip is easily the best defender in this metric, easily surpassing the average of 10.71. Hugh Jeplay had the complete opposite idea, with an average physical rating of 6. Their only attribute above 5 in this category is Strength at 11.
Next up is the Mental category, an underestimated categrory
![[Image: Khb7umN.png]](https://i.imgur.com/Khb7umN.png)
This category seems to be a bit more balanced, albeit lower on average than physicals. The top player in this regard is Lorenzo Rigoberti, with an average of 10.07, beating the average of 8.57. Unsurprisingly, we see Coin Flip being the worst in the mental aspects of the game, after spending so much TPE in the physical category, landing at 6.36
Last up is the Technical category, usually better for offensive players.
![[Image: 4no0OLb.png]](https://i.imgur.com/4no0OLb.png)
Leading the way in average technical is Valentin Morgenstern with 8.21, beating the average of 6.94. Morgenstern has focused a bit more on the passing side of the game as he attempts to be a premier ball playing defender. The lowest defender in this rating is Howie Dewitt, who is here because of his consistent high-end performance in the other two categories.
As we can see, most defenders have prioritized physicals, followed by mentals, then technical, which makes sense as a priority list for defensive players. You need to be able to at least be on par physically to defend effectively, and having the advantage in physicality over an attacker can be a huge advantage. I think that as the seasons go on, we will see the most development in the mentals categories. There are many underrated yet extremely important attributes in that category when it comes to making an elite defender, it isn't all about speed and strength.
Overall, we have seen a pretty unique array of builds, and it will be interesting to see where these players go in the upcoming draft on Sunday.
Included in this Deep Dive are players who have CB, LB, RB, LWB, RWB, and CDM as their primary positions. If you are a player that has a secondary position of defender and were not included, I do apologize.
First, let's look at the total TPE these players have so we can have understanding of what each user has had to work with in terms of upgrading their attributes. Enjoy my amateur charts.
No, I do not know why they look blurry.
As we can see, there are a few players with a large amount of banked TPE, meaning that these players' builds will punch a bit below their weight. Cameron Millwall is leading the way in terms of banked TPE with 63, followed up by Howie Dewitt with 52, Kika Bahl with 40, Diglett Primaru with 36, David Luiz Jr. with 20, and a few more below 20. While this of course made them achieve below their potential, waiting to spend your TPE until after the draft is a good idea if you are unsure which direction to take your player and are waiting to see what your future team would need most from your player. Leading the total TPE charts is Aart de Trella with 514, Coin Flip with 504, Slab Head with 498, Howie Dewitt with 490, and Cameron Millwall with 487.
Arguably the most attribute important category for Defenders is the Physical category, so let's see how each player sizes up there first.
The first thing that pops off the page is Coin Flip's monstrous 15.33 average physical rating, excluding stamina and natural fitness. With an astonishing 18 pace and 16 acceleration, jumping reach, and strength. Flip is easily the best defender in this metric, easily surpassing the average of 10.71. Hugh Jeplay had the complete opposite idea, with an average physical rating of 6. Their only attribute above 5 in this category is Strength at 11.
Next up is the Mental category, an underestimated categrory
This category seems to be a bit more balanced, albeit lower on average than physicals. The top player in this regard is Lorenzo Rigoberti, with an average of 10.07, beating the average of 8.57. Unsurprisingly, we see Coin Flip being the worst in the mental aspects of the game, after spending so much TPE in the physical category, landing at 6.36
Last up is the Technical category, usually better for offensive players.
Leading the way in average technical is Valentin Morgenstern with 8.21, beating the average of 6.94. Morgenstern has focused a bit more on the passing side of the game as he attempts to be a premier ball playing defender. The lowest defender in this rating is Howie Dewitt, who is here because of his consistent high-end performance in the other two categories.
As we can see, most defenders have prioritized physicals, followed by mentals, then technical, which makes sense as a priority list for defensive players. You need to be able to at least be on par physically to defend effectively, and having the advantage in physicality over an attacker can be a huge advantage. I think that as the seasons go on, we will see the most development in the mentals categories. There are many underrated yet extremely important attributes in that category when it comes to making an elite defender, it isn't all about speed and strength.
Overall, we have seen a pretty unique array of builds, and it will be interesting to see where these players go in the upcoming draft on Sunday.
