Hardcore Defenders
An assessment of the squad’s defensive performances so far this season.
Overall defensive performance is measured using Defensive Action Success Rate (DASR%). Comparing possession won and lost through defensive actions gives us Possession Win %.
A fuller explanation is provided in the Glossary.
As you can see the defensive performance tends to group the squad into one of three populations.
Hardcore Defenders
In the top right with high DASR% and high possession winning capabilities are those whose jobs are to defend first, second and third.
Benkovic has made a great start to his Celtic career and is averaging 82% DASR which is nudging towards the fabled Van Dijk territory.
Ajer continues to show progress albeit his season continues to be hampered by injury.
Boyata has also posted strong performances and he and Simunovic win possession with an incredible 97% of their defensive actions.
Those four provide Celtic with great options at centre back were it not for the fact:
Boyata will likely be gone in January
Benkovic is on loan and could get recalled in January
Simunovic is the most injury prone squad player
Ajer is only very young and learning the position, and injured
For now, the form players are Boyata and Benkovic. But who knows what this chart will look like on 1st February 2019!
You can also see from this how strong Lustig is defensively and despite his obvious slowing down of reactions he will still take some replacing. When defending a lead, Lustig tucking in one is always a good option.
This chart illustrates well how Brown brings defensive strength to the team and is the only midfielder who gets into the Hardcore Defenders group.
These metrics also show quite clearly why Hendry is by a distance 5th choice centre back (or 6th behind Lustig).
All Rounders
This group is a mixture of the full backs and non-attacking central midfielders.
It shows that Kouassi is some way from performing the same role as Brown, as indeed is Mulumbu.
Neither Ntcham nor McGregor are particularly suited to a role requiring the defensive solidity Brown provides. Which may be ok in many SPFL games.
Hayes is perhaps the interesting one albeit on very small data. He seems to have a defensive fortitude to go along with his creativity. But Hayes is the most unused (outfield) sub of the season – he has appeared on the bench 12 times without getting mud on his Hoops.
Fancy Dans
The attacking talent are all here. Probably no surprises in this group, and defending is not their forte,
What this does show however is that Forrest remains the most defensively skilled of the attacking players (bar potentially Hayes).
Overall then we have some very capable defenders but so many unanswered questions over the future of some of the personnel to resolve.