As we approach the end of the 2023/24 term in many of the world’s top leagues, it’s inevitable that different publications of varying levels of officiality will publish their respective ‘Team of the Season’ for different leagues and under all kinds of altering parameters, providing different players with a chance to get their flowers at the end of a hard-fought campaign.
In recent days, a couple of Ligue 1 Team of the Season picks peaked my attention, with plenty of well-deserving players receiving the recognition they rightfully deserve, though certain teams tend to dominate.
As a result, the plan to produce a Ligue 1 Team of the Season 23/24 under the Total Football Analysis banner, which could be largely data-driven and representative of 11 different teams that have graced France’s top flight over the past nine or so months, was born.
So, as alluded to above, this piece relies heavily on Ligue 1 data analysis and statistics to select 11 all-stars from this past French top-flight campaign deserving of being named in a Team of the Season.
As some quick caveats, this piece is not attempting to name the unequivocal best player in each position chosen, nor is it aiming to pick out the best player of each team represented in the article.
Rather, it’s attempting to strike a balance somewhere between those two factors in the interest of creating a more representative Team of the Season with a slightly different take to some of the others you’re likely to see.
Let’s get into it, shall we?
Goalkeeper: Brice Samba, 30 years old, RC Lens
We’ve chosen to use a 4-3-3 shape for our Team of the Season — the same formation that league winners PSG primarily used throughout the campaign.
Between the sticks, we’ve gone for Lens stopper Brice Samba, who joined Les Sang et Or almost two years ago for a €5m fee after a promotion-winning campaign from England’s second tier with Nottingham Forest.
The France international has proven excellent value for money in that time, with the 2023/24 campaign seeing him finish second on the clean sheets table to Nice’s Marcin Bułka, second on the ‘prevented goals’ table to PSG’s Gianluigi Donnarumma and end up in the 86th percentile for the ‘save rate’ statistic among his peers from Europe’s top-five leagues.
The amount of prevented goals displayed on the above graph is absolutely nothing to be scoffed at and provides clear evidence as to why we believe Samba earned his place in our team.
Only four teams conceded more goals than Lens in France’s top flight this past season, and the 30-year-old ‘keeper played a pivotal role in his side’s strong defensive performances.
Taking all of this into account alongside some respectable percentile rankings in all possession statistics in figure 1, Samba is a solid choice to begin our Team of the Season and protect the net.
Right-back: Jonathan Clauss, 31 years old, Olympique de Marseille
Moving from right to left as we now progress up the pitch, our right-back selection also ticks French giants Marseille off the list as ex-Lens full-back Jonathan Clauss claims his place in our Team of the Season.
Though he does fall somewhat short in the defensive statistics — always a vital area to consider when analysing a player in any part of the back-four — Clauss makes up for some middle-of-the-road out-of-possession stats with an impeccable performance on the ball, particularly in terms of chance creation.
Clauss generated a higher number of expected assists (4.48) than any other right-back in France’s top flight this past term.
His crossing was a major aspect of his playmaking game, and we’ve highlighted his diverse crossing zones in figure 4; the Marseille man frequently varied up the areas from which his deliveries were made, crossing a lot from deep as well as from more advanced areas, though his actual assists tended to come off the end of balls played from higher and closer to the box this past term.
Falling in the 90th percentile for dangerous passes, 71st percentile for expected goal contributions and 73rd percentile for actual goal contributions among players in his position from Europe’s top-five leagues over the 2023/24 campaign, Clauss was yet again one of the biggest threats in Ligue 1 on the right flank this term, hence his inclusion in our Team of the Season.
Right centre-back: Jean-Clair Todibo, 24 years old, OGC Nice
At right centre-back, we’re staying in the south of France as we put our Nice representative into the squad — 24-year-old Jean-Clair Todibo.
The 24-year-old ex-Barcelona defender has stood out for his ball-playing ability from the right centre-back position throughout the season, with the calm and composed Nice man frequently clipping gentle passes forward towards attackers waiting with anticipation to receive on the half-turn and drive at the opposition defence.
Todibo has exhibited a large degree of bravery and reliability in this regard, which has made him a vital part of Francesco Farioli’s side this term.
Furthermore, Todibo ended up in the 91st percentile for defensive duel success this term when compared with players in his position from Europe’s top-five leagues while also committing a decent number of defensive duels, demonstrating that he’s not just in this squad for his on-the-ball abilities, but also for what he can offer in terms of ground duel success.
Still, it’s his on-the-ball quality we’d like to zone in on as we turn our attention to figure 6, showcasing from where the centre-back typically makes his progressive passes and where they generally end up.
Todibo doesn’t switch play a tonne, with his Nice partner Dante taking on more of that responsibility, but he’s been very good at consistently finding attackers in dangerous positions and setting his side up to go on and create something, which has proven invaluable in Farioli’s system and earns him his place in our lineup.
Left centre-back: Arthur Theate, 23 years old, Stade Rennais
We’ve had to go to Brittany to find Todibo a partner as we move on to our inclusion of Rennes’ Arthur Theate in the left centre-back position.
Theate’s overall offensive contribution may even top that of Todibo.
The Rennes man ranks fairly high for all of the attacking attributes analysed above, including dribbles, with Theate enjoying the thrill of carrying the ball out from the back and probing forward with it at times.
Although not quite matching Todibo in the ground duel department, Theate brings aerial solidity to our backline.
This past season, the Belgian defender placed in the 76th percentile for aerial duel success compared with left centre-backs from Europe’s top-five leagues.
Like Todibo and as you might’ve guessed based on the percentile ranks above, we’re going to feature Theate’s progressive passes too, with the Rennes man falling in the 93rd percentile for that particular metric in relation to volume.
With some switches of play visible above, the vast majority of Theate’s progressive passes are played out to the left wing, into a winger who can pick it up and take it forward by running at the opposition’s defence.
Also like his central defensive partner in our Team of the Season, Theate exudes confidence and composure, never looking rushed and always trying to ensure the weight of his pass makes it easy for the recipient to control and keep progressing the attack.
A well-rounded and fairly two-footed defender, Theate’s 2023/24 was certainly impressive enough to get a place in this team and keep him in the mind as a major one to watch as he verges on his prime years.
Left-back: Christopher Operi, 27 years old, Le Havre AC
It was a fairly difficult choice between Le Havre’s Christopher Operi and Toulouse’s Gabriel Suazo for the left-back position, but Le Club Doyen’s man is the one who ultimately makes the cut for us.
Operi stood out across the board this past season, making plenty of positive contributions in attack, such as generating 4.43 xA — the most of any left-back in Ligue 1 this term — and playing a fairly large number of progressive passes from the full-back position, while he also contributed significantly without the ball, achieving decent percentile ranks in defensive positioning (a combination of interceptions and tackles), defensive duels and defensive duel success.
Furthermore, the 26-year-old was a standout in aerial duel success, which was one area in which he came out head and shoulders above Suazo of Toulouse or any other left-back we were considering for this piece.
The combination of offensive and defensive attributes and the exceptional aerial security he’d offer at the back post put Operi over the line and into our team.
Quite a solid defensive full-back, we can see the main areas in which Operi tended to engage and pull off successful defensive actions or, indeed, fouls above.
While we can see some fouls around the penalty area and even one just inside the 18-yard box, Operi was quite reliable in terms of fouls conceded, committing just 0.67 fouls per 90 this term while generally proving safe and trustworthy at the back.
Defensive midfielder: Pierre Lees-Melou, 30 years old, Stade Brestois 29
Moving out of the backline and up into the middle of the park, the first of our central trio will be Pierre Lees-Melou, who was a commanding and comforting presence at the base of midfield for UEFA Champions League qualifiers Brest this season.
The 30-year-old midfielder from Les Pirates is another all-rounder who contributes just as much in possession as he does without the ball.
A decent amount of expected goal contributions and dribbles combine with fairly high-volume passing but really high-quality passing, especially in terms of ball progression as we can see from his 89th percentile rank in progressive passes per 90 to form the profile of a highly desirable midfielder on the ball.
Out of possession, then, Lees-Melou fell in the 67th percentile for aerial duels won %, 83rd percentile for defensive positioning, 95th percentile for defensive duels per 90 and 59th percentile for defensive duels won %.
Indeed, his abilities both on the ball and off it proved vital for Brest and their impressive achievements this term, making him something of a no-brainer for this team.
We can see the wide range Lees-Melou covered as a defensive presence all over the pitch in some respects as we turn our attention to figure 12 above.
A highly active defensive midfielder, Lees-Melou provides a great deal of cover and safety behind the more attacking midfielders and forwards while also offering cover for advancing full-backs if his side gets caught out in transition.
He performed this role to a very high level in 2023/24, earning him a place in this Team of the Season.
Right central midfielder: Youssouf Fofana, 25 years old, AS Monaco
Next, we move to the central midfielder playing just ahead and to the right of Lees-Melou in our squad, 25-year-old Youssouf Fofana of AS Monaco.
Fofana was a formidable box-to-box presence for Monaco throughout the past season, making a decent number of goal contributions, dribbles, dangerous passes, and shots.
He also finished up in the 76th percentile for defensive duel success and 60th percentile for defensive duels per 90, indicating his reliability off the ball.
In terms of positioning, Figure 14 demonstrates how Fofana generally tended to occupy the right half-space inside the opposition’s part of the pitch, though he also popped up on the left frequently enough. He came more central but still spent a lot of time when positioned inside his own team’s half of the pitch.
In addition, late runs into the box were commonplace in Fofana’s game throughout the 2023/24 campaign, with the France international generating plenty of goalscoring opportunities as a result of his surging runs into the area and intelligent positioning, which saw him avail of decent chances and add to his team’s overall goal threat quite heavily.
With 3.49 expected assists, four actual assists 0.88 smart passes per 90 and 0.64 key passes per 90 to his name for the past season along with the goal threat and defensive solidity on offer through his inclusion in the side, Fofana enjoyed what was arguably a career-best season in 2023/24 and deserves recognition for that via a place in our Team of the Season.
Left central midfielder: Téji Savanier, 32 years old, Montpellier HSC
Completing our midfield trio is a man who’s lit up Ligue 1 for Montpellier and, before that, Nîmes Olympique for many years now consistently, Téji Savanier.
With a decent level of all-around defensive contribution, especially in the defensive positioning area, Savanier mainly makes our team due to his outstanding chance creation abilities, with a 72nd percentile rank in dangerous passes per 90, 73rd percentile rank in goal contributions per 90 and 82nd percentile rank in expected goal contributions per 90 the key statistics jumping out at us when we turn our attention to his pizza chart for the 2023/24 campaign in figure 15.
The shot assist map above displays from where this creative midfielder typically made his creative passes, with plenty coming from both the right and left half-space positions as well as from corner kicks.
Indeed, Savanier is a set-piece specialist, which is a fantastic skill to have in any team — something that adds significantly to his value at Montpellier and helped the side make some marginal gains on their competitors from dead balls this past term.
Similarly, Savanier is a reliable penalty taker.
The 32-year-old midfielder converted seven out of seven penalties in Ligue 1 this season, in addition to his two non-penalty goals for the campaign.
Set-piece mastery, penalty kick precision, defence-splitting creative passing from open play, and a decent defensive contribution throughout the past league season are enough to get Savanier a place in our squad.
This completes the central third and moves us into the three attackers to complete our lineup!
Right-winger: Junya Ito, 31 years old, Stade de Reims
Our first attacker is Junya Ito of Reims, who also makes the squad primarily due to his impeccable playmaking.
The Japan international lands in the 95th percentile for dangerous passes per 90, 66th percentile for expected goal contributions per 90 and 51st percentile for goal contributions per 90 for the past season when compared with other right-wingers from Europe’s top-five leagues.
He generated 9.8 expected assists — a league high for all positions — and contributed six actual assists for Reims this term, highlighting his chance creation threat from the right flank.
The viz above shows Ito’s heatmap, dribble locations and cross locations from the 2023/24 Ligue 1 campaign.
While some crosses originated from deep, including one that led to an assist, the 31-year-old winger primarily produced his creative passes from more advanced positions closer to penalty box.
The Reims wide man also ended the season with 58.54% dribble success, a decent number when compared with other Ligue 1 right-wingers this term.
At the same time, he offered a decent level of defensive output too, which proved crucial for his team’s pressing in advanced areas.
Ito did a great job of consistently carrying the ball with bravery, beating his opposite man and invading dangerous positions for chance creation on the right wing, from where he produced a solid number of assists.
This level of threat from the right-wing makes Ito undroppable for Les Rouges et Blancs and guarantees him a spot in our Ligue 1 Team of the Season, too.
Centre-forward: Jonathan David, 24 years old, Lille OSC
Lille and Canada’s Jonathan David occupies the centre of our front three, with the 24-year-old attacker ending up with the joint-second most goals of any player in France’s top-flight this term (19).
In addition to being a high-volume shot taker, David stood out through his ability to frequently generate space for himself in inviting positions, making himself an attractive passing option for those positioned deeper and seeking an opportunity to progress Lille further upfield.
David’s off-the-ball movement, positioning and spatial awareness allowed him to regularly become a good option for those looking to move Les Dogues into the final third.
At the same time, the forward’s ability to free himself up and impressive technical quality to consistently control the balls driven towards him with relative ease and turn those final third entries into goalscoring opportunities were also crucial when it came to Les Dogues’ overall goal threat.
Of course, this centre-forward primarily makes our team due to his goalscoring, an area of his game this term which was enhanced by his intelligent positioning and shot selection.
David was able to generate a lot of chances from between the width of the six-yard box — a testament to his excellent positioning and movement inside the danger zone.
The Canada international ended the season with a non-penalty xG of 17.06 and 17 non-penalty goals; he averaged 0.23 xG per shot, a highly respectable number in that particular statistic.
So, with regards to off-the-ball movement in the final third and finishing quality this past term, few can match up with Jonathan David, earning him a place in the centre of attack in our Team of the Season.
Left-winger: Kylian Mbappé, 25 years old, Paris Saint-Germain
Not to leave you in suspense, the final member of our Ligue 1 Team of the Season is the incomparable Kylian Mbappé of Paris Saint-Germain, who may have just completed his final-ever Ligue 1 campaign.
The PSG attacker was the league’s top goalscorer, having netted 27 times this term, while he also produced six assists — equal to Junya Ito in that area.
If you’re unfamiliar with Mbappé’s game, how did you find this article?
And secondly, he doesn’t tend to offer much in defensive phases as the above pizza chart indicates.
However, the trade-off for that is his awe-inspiring performances in chance creation and goalscoring, where he’s reaching incredibly high percentile ranks in every statistic, the lowest of which is 86th percentile for expected goal contributions per 90 — not too shabby.
This level of offensive contribution can’t be understated and illustrates clearly why we feel he has to be the member of league-winning PSG to make our Team of the Season.
We’ve chosen to highlight the PSG attacker’s penetrating carries map for the past league season next.
Mbappé has completed a grand total of 125 penetrating carries this term.
Indeed, the 2018 FIFA World Cup winner’s ball-carrying ability is one of his greatest attributes.
He offers a significant threat when running at a defender 1v1 — or even down 1v2 — in addition to being a solid option to have when it comes to providing a threat in behind the opposition’s backline.
Mbappé’s overall attacking game is of the highest standard in world football right now, making him a must-have for this Team of the Season — where do you anticipate he’ll be playing his football next year and will he have the same impact as he’s had in Ligue 1?
Conclusion
To conclude this Ligue 1 Team Of The Season 23/24 data analysis and player-focused scout report, we hope the reasons for our selections are well explained and justified in this text.
If not, do feel free to tell us who we should’ve put instead! It is a game of opinions, after all.
We certainly believe the 11 players making up this squad all produced stellar campaigns in 2023/24 and deserve recognition, but of course, there are others we had to consider, like the aforementioned Gabriel Suazo of Toulouse, for instance.
Can these players produce a campaign to live up to their 2023/24 exploits in 2024/25?
And do you foresee any others joining Mbappé in approaching the exit door this summer?
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