In this data analysis piece, we will be looking out for the best central midfielders currently playing in the 2021/22 Swiss Super League using statistics.
The best central midfielders are the most complete ones as modern managers are hugely dependent on their central midfielders for the team’s successful tactics.
In our analysis, we will be considering both the attacking as well as defensive attributes. Definitely passing is the most important trait for a midfielder so that won’t be missed for sure. We will be looking at players who have registered at least 900 minutes of football in the 2021 league season. Also, only proper central midfielders are taken into consideration i.e. no makeshift options included.
We will shortlist the best options according to the statistics and data analysis. In this piece, we look into the players who might make the jump to the 1st tier soon. Let’s dive deep into the analysis.
Profiling the players
The most important thing for any player or position in football is probably to identify their best-suited abilities. Different players playing in the same position will have different abilities both offensively and defensively. Likewise, a central midfielder will show both defensive as well as offensive capabilities. In order to account for the profile of the CMs that we are looking into we compare them with respect to how well they perform their attacking and defensive actions. We can see the plot in the image below that compares the CMs in the Superleague with this regard.
Lukas Görtler – The 27-year old central midfielder from FC St. Gallen. He has recorded 4.41 successful attacking actions per game and 11.18 successful defensive actions per game in the league. He also won 51% of his duels that he contested in the league.
Fabian Reider – The 20-year old midfielder from Young Boys. He has averaged 3.63 successful attacking actions and 11.33 successful defensive actions per 90 in the league in the current season. His duel win % is similar to Görtler at 51%.
Christian Gentner – The 36-year old veteran from FC Luzern. He recorded 2.1 successful attacking actions and 10.33 successful defensive actions per game. He also contested in duels with 57% of success in winning the duels.
Ousmane Diakité – The 21-year old central midfielder from RB Salzburg but was playing for St. Gallen on a loan spell. The Malian international has averaged 1.78 successful attacking actions per 90 and 13.1 successful defensive actions per 90 where he was a defensive powerhouse for his side. He also has won his duel with a 64% success rate. He suffered an injury after which he returned to his parent club for rehabilitation. He could be expected to go on another loan spell back to St. Gallen for the next season.
Sandi Lovrić – The 23-year old Slovenian international from Lugano. He has averaged 3.66 successful attacking actions and 9.2 successful defensive actions per game. He also contested in duels with 49% of success in winning the duels.
Defensive Abilities
The next thing we look at is how the players perform in the defensive aspect of the game. We compare the players with respect to their defensive duels and interceptions stats that they have recorded per game over the course of this season.
Ousmane Doumbia – The 29-year old midfielder from FC Zurich. He averaged 9.36 defensive duels per 90 and won 58.8% of his duels. He also averaged 6.46 PAdj interceptions per 90 in the league this season. He is among the key players for his side in their bid to a league title this season.
David Douline – The 28-year old midfielder from Servette. He has recorded 10.2 defensive duels per game and won 57.8% of his duels in the league this season. He also averages 6.65 PAdj interceptions per game in the league.
Jonathan Sabbatini – The 33-year old experienced midfielder from FC Lugano. He has recored 8.89 defensive duels per game with an accuracy of 54.77%. He has also made 6.94 PAdj interceptions per 90 in the league.
Ousmane Diakité – The Salzburg midfielder averaged 8.09 defensive duels per game while winning 64% of his duels. He also made 9.13 PAdj interceptions which was the highest a player averaged in the league per 90.
Fabian Reider – The 20-year old recorded 10.19 defensive duels per game and won 51% of his duels that he contested. He also averages 5.74 PAdj interceptions per 90 in the league.
Taulant Xhaka – The 30-year old midfielder from FC Basel. He has averaged 8.54 defensive duels per 90 with an accuracy of 52.67%. He also made 5.71 PAdj interceptions per 90 in the league this season.
Progressive passing
Midfielders these days are expected to be very expansive on the ball and also help the team to progress the ball over the different thirds of the pitch. CMs these days are also tasked with this and are expected to be very direct and technically sound on the ball like Toni Kroos, Thiago, etc.
Lukas Görtler – The 27-year old midfielder has recorded 9.32 progressive passes per 90 with a success rate of 79.5%. He also makes 2.2 progressive passes for every 10 passes that he attempts in the league.
Vincent Sierro – The 26-year old midfielder from Young Boys. He has recorded 9.23 progressive passes per 90 with an accuracy of 83.11%. He also attempts 1.8 progressive passes in the 10 passes he attempts.
Christian Gentner – The veteran has averaged 8.97 progressive passes per 90 with a success rate of 73.4%. He also attempts 1.8 progressive passes for every 10 passes that he attempts.
Pajtim Kasami – The 29-year old midfielder from FC Basel. He has recorded 7.85 progressive passes with an accuracy of 75%. So far he has attempted 1.9 progressive passes for every 10 passes that he attempts.
Anto Grgić – The 25-year old midfielder from Sion. He averages 7.55 progressive passes per 90 with an accuracy of 75.8%. He has also attempted 1.76 progressive passes for every 10 passes.
Ball carrying abilities
The ability to carry the ball has always been very crucial to every player and has been seen as an important trait for a very long time. So CMs having a very good ability to carry the ball are very valuable and play a similar impact to those who play progressive passes.
Bledian Krasniqi – The 20-year old Swiss midfielder from FC Zurich. He has recorded 3 dribbles per 90 with a success rate of 64%. He has also averaged 2.75 progressive runs per 90 in the league this season.
Fabian Reider – The 20-year old recorded 3.56 dribbles per 90 with a success rate of 60.78%. He has also averaged 1.75 progressive runs per 90 in the league this season.
Blerim Džemaili – The 35-year old midfielder from FC Zurich. He has recorded 3.84 dribbles per 90 with a success rate of 59.62%. He has also averaged 1.7 progressive runs per 90 in the league this season.
Sandi Lovrić – The 23-year old from FC Lugano. He has recorded 3.84 dribbles per game with an accuracy of 57.78%. He has also made 1.58 progressive runs per 90 in the league this season.
Lukas Görtler – The FC St. Gallen midfielder has recorded 4 dribbles per game with an accuracy of 57.3%. He has also made 1.18 progressive runs per 90 in the league this season.
Playmaking
CMs are also tasked with moving the ball to the final third and helping the team to ensure that they can go to the final phase of the play.
Lukas Görtler – The FC St. Gallen midfielder has recorded 9 passes into the final third and 2.36 smart passes per 90 with an accuracy of 44% in the league this season.
Anto Grgić – The Sion midfielder has recorded 7.5 final third passes and 1.18 smart passes per game albeit with an accuracy of just 16.7%.
Sandi Lovrić – The 23-year old Lugano midfielder has recorded 7.8 passes into the final third. He has also recorded 1.11 smart passes per game with an accuracy of 54%.
Fabian Reider – The 20-year old recorded 6.49 passes into the final third. He has also recorded 1 smart pass per game with an accuracy of 26.7%.
Blerim Džemaili – The veteran midfielder averages 6.2 passes into the final third. He has also recorded 1.4 smart passes per game with an accuracy of 58%.
Chance creation
The final phase of play and potentially the most crucial aspect from an attacking sense is the creation of chances for their team’s forwards. This is where a lot of CMs, especially the attacking ones are judged based on their ability to consistently create chances.
Lukas Görtler – The FC St. Gallen midfielder averages 0.73 key passes per 90 with an xA of 0.18 per 90 in the league this season. He also makes 1.14 shot-assist for his teammates on average per 90 in the league.
Blerim Džemaili – The veteran midfielder averages 0.44 key passes per 90. He has also recorded 0.17 xA per 90 and 0.96 shot-assists per 90 in the league.
Théo Valls – The 26-year old midfielder from Servette. He averages 0.42 key passes per 90. He has also recorded 0.17 xA per 90 and 1.53 shot-assists per 90 in the league.
Fabian Reider – The 20-year old recorded 0.35 key passes per 90. He has also recorded 0.22 xA per 90 and 1.68 shot-assists per 90 in the league.
Players to watch out for
Fabian Reider
The Young Boys youngster has had a stellar season where we can see he has featured in almost all the sections in this analysis. He excels in many metrics like making progressive passes, progressive runs and contributing to a very good xA per game for his team. He also seems to be good in terms of making key passes, dribbles and smart passes. He is technically a very good player and uses really well to help his side. His reading of the game is decent too but can certainly improve in that regard where he can make more interceptions per game.
Ousmane Diakité
The Salzburg midfielder was unlucky to have his season ended abruptly due to injury. Though his loan spell was cut short he still proved his worth for his club during that time and was really good, especially in the defensive areas of the game. He has a very high intense and aggressive playstyle which we see from Red Bull teams and teams like Bayern Munich and other Bundesliga teams. He recorded good stats when it comes to defensive actions, interceptions, etc. He can certainly be a more all-round player if he starts to work on his attacking abilities especially the ones required for a box-box midfielder like PSG‘s Wijnaldum.
Sandi Lovrić
The 23-year old Lugano midfielder also has been having a stellar season for his team in their push for a European spot. He has been very good in the attacking department where he has excelled when it comes to dribbling, key passes, progressive actions and making smart passes that help his team to break lines.
Conclusion
In this piece, in the form of data analysis, we saw some of the best performing CMs from the 2021/22 Swiss Super League and are currently geared to impress even more in the next season. We also saw some important talents to watch out for in the league who could very well impress and soon be scouted by top clubs in Europe.
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