Football statistics: the most influential midfielders in their team possession

Category: Player Analysis

Which midfielders are involved in the most possessions that result in a shot or goal? Here are the top ten.

Published:07/04/2022

Measuring the play of a midfielder is not easy. There are many different midfielders and they are all involved in many different game situations. Our radar, for example, tries to aggregate a large number of them, including dribbles, something that has become increasingly important in football statistics in the face of a more open and pressing game, with more elaborate and less direct play initiations. However, we always try to measure the importance of players in the game, as we have done with ‘xG Build up‘ and ‘xG Chain‘. Another way to measure how influential a midfielder is is to measure the possessions that end in goals and the possessions that end in shots that he is part of.

In this way, the most likely to excel in these metrics are attacking midfielders but we will also find midfielders with a high enough personality and quality of play to absorb plays, take advantage and find the best options to get the ball to where it is most likely to create chances on goal.

After filtering through players who have logged more than 700 minutes this season, this statistic is very interesting looking at the players we find in it, with two midfielders from the big five very focused on creating chances, such as Konrad Laimer or Hakan Calhanoglu, who has almost nine possessions that end in a shot per 90 minutes. Undoubtedly, more impressive may be players like Jorginho, playing further back, with a more organisational role, but demonstrating the extraordinary influence he has on the game of the reigning European champions, with 1.09 possessions ending in a goal per 90 minutes.

Undoubtedly, teams with more possession and an attacking vocation will allow their midfielders to participate more often and add to these statistics, but by having the whole possible list of players with more than 700 minutes, we will find more valuable cases, such as the aforementioned Jorginho or Paredes, or players from less protagonist teams, as is the case of Robert Andrich, capable of participating in 1.16 possessions that end in goal per 90 minutes.

We are Driblab, a consultancy specialized in the statistical analysis of players and teams; our work is focused on advising and minimizing risk in professional football decision-making in areas related to talent detection and footballer evaluations. Our database has more than 180,000 players from more than 180 competitions, covering information from all over the world. Here you can learn more about how we work and what we offer.

Autor: Alejandro Arroyo
For Player Analysis we also recommend you:

New faces: 5 international debuts from the September break

After a full summer of international tournaments, the national teams have wanted to freshen up their squads a bit. In doing so, a few players have been handed their first caps. Here we write about the five more interesting ones.

Manuel Neuer, the goalkeeper of all times

Manuel Neuer, a goalkeeper of all times

Parametric Search: finding box crashing, goalscoring midfielders

Goal-scoring midfielders have become a prized commodity in today’s market. Here is a list of young players ranging from goal-focused midfielders to all-rounders, but all of them have the ability to sneak into the box and find shooting situations.

Accurate and progressive: the kings of passing

The three best midfielders in Europe are vastly superior to the rest. There is no data that eludes them.

Who are the Best Pressing Players in the Most Intense League?

Who presses more effectively in the Bundesliga 23/24?

How good is the forward I’m looking for at pressing and defending?

We explain how we can model our data and visualizations to understand how much and with what success the center forward we are looking for defends and works off the ball.

Joao Neves: the data makes clear his incredible impact

What does the data say about one of the most surprising midfielders of the moment? Perhaps a lot more than you expect.

‘xG Build up 5 passes’: adjusting (further) the value of players in each possession

We discover the best midfielders in possessions that generate ‘expected goals’ by measuring only the five passes prior to the last pass.

Endrick 2024: understanding his near future with data

We analyse Endrick’s rapid evolution: new areas of the field, new roles and new plays. Endrick 2024 is starting to come into view.

Expected threat open play ‘in team’: the truly irreplaceable players

We highlight the top 20 players who are most indispensable to their teams in generating danger.

Driblab

Información corporativa

Somos una empresa con sede en Madrid fundada en 2017 por Salvador Carmona y Cristian Coré Ramiro. Desde nuestros inicios nuestro trabajo se ha centrado en el análisis estadístico de datos para ayudar a los clubes en la planificación deportiva. Somos una consultora big data que ofrece servicios personalizados para cada cliente y defiende un modelo de gestión mixto y una comunicación constante para acompañar el día a día de las instituciones. Nuestro punto fuerte es la más amplia cobertura disponible en número de torneos profesionales y juveniles. Para más detalles, póngase en contacto con nosotros.

Colaboramos con:

           

Hemos aparecido en: