Think These Attackers Don’t Make an Impact? Think Again

The possibilities of analyzing the game through data grow day by day. This week, Driblab introduced a new development: Off-Ball Movements, designed to measure the real impact of everything happening around the ball. There is now an increasing variety of metrics, and many of them are easily accessible to the general public. Yet, some still focus solely on goals and assists and don’t go beyond these two statistics — a serious mistake.

Today, we’re looking at young attackers you might be overlooking because they haven’t yet exploded in the traditional goals + assists (G+A) stats. We’ll measure their real impact, leaving aside goal-scoring, and analyze their influence on their teams.

To do this, we established some criteria: we only considered attackers who are not strikers with fewer than 3 G+A so far this season. Additionally, they must have played over 400 minutes in one of the Top Five European leagues.

To assess their influence in a scatter plot, we crossed two metrics:

• The percentage of xT from Open Play In Team they are responsible for while on the pitch.
• The percentage of xG Build Up In Team they participate in (summing the xG value of every sequence the player is involved in, excluding the last two actions — pass and shot).

The first metric measures the player’s ability to move the ball into dangerous areas, while the second evaluates how much and how significantly a player is involved in the team’s buildup.

For example, Bilal El Khannous averages participation in 12.6% of Stuttgart’s xG and is responsible for 16.7% of his team’s xT per match. Compared to Bundesliga midfielders, these numbers place him above 70% of his peers. Yet, his G+A is only 3 so far this season.

Jan Virgili – 2006 – RCD Mallorca

‍Virgili is an exception due to his age — only 19 years old — yet few players make such a productive difference so early. He has one assist in 442 league minutes. The Barcelona youth product stands out for his differential acceleration and always keeping the ball close to his feet.

His dribbling makes him appear smaller than he is, bending his body to execute quick, sharp changes of direction. His key strength is a natural ability to generate danger.

Of the 53 attackers (excluding strikers) who have played over 400 minutes in LaLiga, Virgili ranks 8th for Key Passes from open play per match (1.22). In line with our aim to highlight players who haven’t yet exploded in goal-scoring but are important to their teams, Virgili fits perfectly.

He only generates 0.11 xG per game and 1.43 shots per match, well below LaLiga’s average. However, he participates in 5.29 shot-ending sequences, ranking 16th among the 53 attackers with over 400 minutes. Virgili has contributed to 15.7% of Mallorca's xG from Build Up. That means he's more likely to be involved in Mallorca's danger building that not.

Yankuba Minteh – 2004 – Brighton & Hove Albion

We should be asking the Gambian attacker to produce more, but he already has one goal and two assists this season. Last year, he had six and four, respectively, with the Seagulls, and in his only season in the Netherlands with Feyenoord, he generated 15 goals (10+5). He clearly has goals and assists in his locker, but this year he’s finding it harder.

That doesn’t mean he has lost relevance at Brighton. In fact, we are looking at the opposite.

Minteh now accounts for nearly 29% of Brighton's touches in the opponent’s box, up from around 26% last year. His share of open play passes into the box has increased 5 percentual points. Additionally, he participates in 18.5% of Brighton's Build-Up xG. Only Saka averages more xG Build Up per game in the Premier League than Minteh's 0.67.

On top of that, the truth is that physicality and stamina are Minteh's top tier qualities. He is the second fastest winger in the Premier League, with an average top speed of 36.6 km/h, completing 16.2 sprints per match. Minteh covers less total distance than most wingers in the league, but 4.67% of that distance is sprinting.

In terms of pure resistance: the Gambian covers nearly 180 meters more at sprint distance in the second halves of games if compared to the first halves.

Joel Roca – 2005 – Girona

‍Roca has been one of Girona’s few positives this season. After a strong loan at Mirandés, Michel has relied on the Spanish right-footed left winger.

Roca is a dribbly winger, benefiting both from successful take-ons and drawing fouls. He ranks 11th of 53 attackers in completed dribbles (3.07) and 6th in fouls won (2.40). Additionally, he is 6th in LaLiga for progressive carries per match (4), moving the ball 20% closer to the opponent’s box.

Like Minteh, Roca’s physical profile enhances his performance. Last season at Mirandes, Roca averaged more total distance, high speed runs and sprints than 67% of wingers in Segunda Divisón.

Combining these abilities with his dribbling and progressive carries, Roca becomes a very interesting profile for Girona, both as a substitute and as a starter. In matches where he plays over 60 minutes, he is responsible for 21.9% of touches in the opponent’s box and 27.8% of passes to that area. Additionally, 12.4% of Girona’s Build-Up xG goes through him.

Yassine Benhattab – 2003 – Nantes

‍Although his minutes are limited and his age near our threshold, Benhattab is worth mentioning. He moved from France’s third division to Ligue 1 and maintained very similar numbers. In 485 minutes played, he accounts for 50% of Nantes’ passes into the box, compared to 49.2% last year at Aubagne. His influence also appears in danger creation.

He produces only 0.18 Build-Up xG per match, but that represents 19.4% of Nantes’ total — low volume, but very high impact. Benhattab is a dribbler who, in this case, is less diagonal than others: he leads the team in crosses per match (1.3) and ranks 3rd in dribbles per match (3.34). A profile and progression to watch closely.

Wilson Odobert – 2004 – Tottenham Hotspur

‍After an almost blank season, Odobert has begun gaining continuity under Thomas Frank. The team usually performs better when he starts than when he comes off the bench. Yet, the Frenchman has only one assist in nearly 500 minutes. His influence might seem limited, but it is very significant in ball progression.

Odobert averages 4.16 progressive carries and 5.06 progressive passes, ranking 5th and 10th among Premier League wingers, respectively. He is responsible for 11.6% of Tottenham’s ball progressions in the final third, the 4th highest in the league. Most of these are dangerous, as seen in his progression map ending in the final third.

Odobert clearly influences Tottenham’s style of play. His next step is to add goals and assists, but he already participates in 0.72 sequences ending in a goal (more than 78% of wingers) and 5.06 sequences ending in a shot (more than 71% of wingers) for Tottenham, the fourth-lowest shooting team in the Premier League.

What makes Odobert so instrumental is not just what he does with the ball but also without it.

He is a two-way winger: he can make runs behind the defense or drop short to combine in tight spaces. Tottenham has a very high-potential player in Odobert.