Analyzing Defender Value by Role (Part 4)

[rrf_1]

———

Ekon Ayo is a fullback defender in the SSL academy S25 class.  New to the league, Ekon wants to grow into a defensive specialist for his club, but he doesn’t yet have a good sense for how he should prioritize his development to get there.  Over this series of articles, he learns the defensive behaviors that he should replicate to maximize value at his position.

Part 1 outlines the defensive stats
Part 2 analyzes the defender roles on the pitch
Part 3 considers broader team success
Part 4 dives deeper into center backs
Part 5 identifies role model fullbacks for Ekon
Part 6 focuses on wing backs
Part 7 appreciates defensive midfielders
Part 8 looks at differences in the minor league

———

PART 4
THE DEFENSIVE ANCHORS

Of the four defender roles, the leaders of the defensive unit are the center backs.  As discussed in the previous articles of this series, center backs may not create the same volume of defensive plays as other defenders, but their role as the last line of defense before the goalkeeper is critical to a team’s ability to prevent goals.

The familiar radar plot below takes a deeper dive into the contributions of center backs in the major league (27 CBs).  Each trace represents a center back’s average plays per 90 normalized to the max values across all major league defenders.



There is a lot of consistency in the aggression of center backs: all had a relatively low number of attempted presses and tackles, and most follow the same trend of having higher tackles (mostly in key moments) than presses.  Erik Beermann of Schwarzwälder led all center backs with 6.7 attempted presses and 2.9 attempted tackles per 90.  The need for Beermann to play more aggressively out of the center back position may come from Schwarzwälder lacking a strong supporting defensive midfield, but regardless of that, his activity is still well below the most aggressive outfield defenders.

Accordingly, successful presses and tackles won were also low across the board.  Hollywood’s Nathan Cormier edged out Beermann with a more efficient 2.5 successful presses per 90, but Beermann remained on top with winning 2.2 tackles per 90.  When center backs do press or tackle, albeit rarely, they have a high success rate.

Most center backs dispossess opponents not by contesting attackers but rather by intercepting passes using good anticipation and positioning.  Freja Ekholm-Gunnarsson of Tokyo led the group with 3.5 interceptions per 90, which is in part an outcome of Tokyo frequently conceding opponent activity in the goal area — and a league-high 65 goals in S23.  Although he didn’t lead in any individual stat, Caspian Skovgaard for Hollywood led all center backs in combined dispossession actions.

As the primary defenders of the goal, center backs are typically most active in the disruption stats.  Catalunya’s Aart de Trella led the position with 1.5 blocks and 1.2 shots blocked per 90 in S23.  Nyron Nosworthy of Liffeyside cleared a league-high 3.6 balls per 90.  However, there was massive variability in blocks and clearances across the position, and some center backs logged very few, particularly those on the best defensive units.  Reliably alleviating pressure when attackers threaten the goal is a very important individual responsibility of center backs, but preventing the opponent from even entering areas where clearances and blocks are necessary is the best form of defensive play.  This is a great example of how filling the defensive box score as a center back doesn’t always indicate superior defending.

Continue to Part 5: Covering the Flanks