Analyzing Defender Value by Role (Part 6)

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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

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PART 6
SIDELINE SWEEPERS

Much like fullbacks, wing backs play on the sidelines of the pitch but in a wider formation with 3 center backs.  They still need to excel in isolation defense, but the presence of a third center back allows for a bit more defensive risk-taking as well as greater defensive versatility depending on team and match context.

Continuing the same format as parts 4 and 5 that analyzed center backs and fullbacks (respectively), the defensive plays per 90 for the wing backs in the major league (6 WBs) are plotted below.



It is immediately apparent in the plot that the wing back position is much less common because most major league teams deploy a defensive formation with only 2 center backs.  It’s also more difficult to identify the defensive tendencies of the “average” wing back, since there is a fair amount of variability in each stat category.  Since wing back formations have an additional center back defender, wing backs have a bit more freedom than fullbacks to vary their defensive tactics as needed.

Even though the results have higher variability, there are still some common behaviors.  For example, all wing backs play with a high degree of aggression.  Unlike fullbacks, there is no consistent pattern of how wing backs prefer to contest an attacker, but all are in the upper half of defenders in terms of physical challenges.  Both with Tokyo, Puma Superhoops led all defenders in S23 with 15.0 attempted presses and 4.5 successful presses per 90 while Momo Adamu led wing backs with 4.1 attempted tackles and 3.2 tackles won per 90.  Puma also led all players with 3.7 interceptions per 90 and all wing backs with 1.5 clearances per 90.  It’s important to note that the Tokyo defense conceded the most goals in S23, so seeing the Tokyo wing backs lead 6 of the stat categories might tell us more about how Tokyo opponents frequently won the possession battle and pressured the wing backs relentlessly.  Here is a good example of where possession-adjusted stats may tell a different story.  Superhoops and Adamu delivered a high volume of plays but on the fortune of greater opportunity and at the expense of team success.

Meanwhile, Alex Calderon of the league’s top defending Hollywood squad led the wing backs with 1.2 blocks and 0.5 shots blocked per 90.  These numbers were relatively low compared to the other defensive roles, but producing these results from the wide wing area speaks to Calderon’s anticipation skill.

Continue to Part 7: A Flexible Supporting Cast