FM21: OGC Nice - Les Aiglons

[MattyLewis11]

It’s time for the return of Magnus Steinkelsson in FM21, the Swede who has previously managed Borussia Dortmund (FM19) and Salernitana (FM20) has decided to take the reigns of the French Riviera based side OGC Nice.

 

Les Aiglons

The eagles, the eagle is the most striking symbol of the city of Nice, which has been present on the cities coat of arms since the 1400s. The presence of the eagle, an imperial emblem, stems from the House of Savoy, a royal dynasty which expanded its territories, acquiring Nice to gain access to the Mediterranean sea.

 

Why OGC Nice?

OGC Nice nearly have it all: the history, being one of the founding members of the first division of French football. The side based on the Côte d'Azur remain one of France’s most decorated clubs, but their four league titles came in a rash in a glorious decade of the 1950s.

During this period the club challenged Stade de Reims for domestic dominance, completing France’s first back-to-back league title wins in 1951 and ’52. For good measure, they also became the first club to do the League-Coupe de France double in a ground-breaking 1951–52 season.

The last of the four league titles in 1959 marked the end of an era.

The fans, Nice has a population of around one million people which offers the club growth potential in relation to its fanbase and financial markets.

 

The Stadium, OGC Nice play their football in the state of the art Allianz Riviera, which opened in 2013. The stadium has a capacity of 35,624 and was selected to be one of stadiums used for the 2016 UEFA European Championships hosted in France.

The owner, in 2019 Britains richest man Jim Ratcliffe expanded his sporting portfolio with his purchase of OGC Nice via his multinational chemical and oil company Ineos.

The businessman viewed the acquisition of Nice as a great opportunity given the clubs great location, a busy airport, a lovely stadium, as well as a brand new training centre and a passionate fanbase.

While Ineos is currently bankrolling the club, the vision is to ensure the club is self-sustaining in the near future.

However in the 2018–19 financial year, PSG brought in total revenues of €640 million and secured overall profits of €27.6 million, while at Nice revenue stood at €54 million, and net profit of €6.7.

If Nice are to join the elite they will need to do better commercially, be clever in terms of developing players and then trading them. Through developing players who end up at some of the biggest European clubs, that will improve the clubs stature.

Il Sistema

Inspired by the summers reading surrounding the great Ernõ Egri Erbstein, I will look to implement Il Sistema into my save with Nice. Il Sistema, a tactic implemented by Erbstein’s Torino draws similarities with the brand of Dutch total football of the 1970s.

Taking inspiration from Herbert Chapman’s Arsenal, Erbstein began to implement a W-M system in which his Torino side played an intense attacking game, fusing the central European short passing game with Italian Guile and the solidarity of the English W-M shape, this became to be known as il Sistema.

Erbstein was obsessed with technique, intelligence and movement in his players. He looked to make his wing-halves the hub of the team, asking them to create and destroy in equal measure — closing down their opponents to win the ball and then look to launch swift counter-attacks.

Il Sistema often lead to leaving opponents overran, overpowered and overwhelmed, implementing this system will be one of the biggest challenges to date and one which I have no doubts will either make or break me!

 

Aims of the save

I have set myself the goal to achieve the following aims over a ten year period, allowing sufficient time to develop a brand of football which will lead to Nice returning to the pinnacle

1. Become a regular competitor in European competitions
2. Become the French Riviera’s leading club (Marseille, Monaco & Toulon)
3. Bring Champions League Football to Nice.
4. Win back to back league titles.
5. Win a league and cup double.
6. Successfully implement il Sistema.
7. Use the scouting system to find the best U23 players from undervalued markets.
8. Utilise existing links with Racing Club Abidjan to create a smooth pathway for some of west Africa’s brightest young talents to make the switch to Europe.

Thanks for reading and I hope you get to follow Magnus as we look to share our FM21 experiences together.

[MattyLewis11]

In this post I will be documenting how I conduct my initial squad analysis in Football Manager in order to obtain an overview of the players at my disposal.

This is an essential process which allows us as the manager to gain insight into the squads and player characteristics, this in turn will help you to make effective decisions in relation to tactic selection and your preferred football philosophy.

This process will help me to understand how far off the initial playing squad are from being able to implement the sistema tactic covered in my last blog.

 

Squad Analysis Objectives

A squad analysis offers more than just being able to identify the best XI, there is a significant added value in spending 60 minutes or so in actually taking in the information which is presented to you.

1. To gain insight into squad depth and positional roles
2. Discover the squads DNA
3. Identify initial areas for improvement/recruitment
4. Understand where the squad is bloated

Below I will look to walk you through my initial squad analysis of OGC Nice which will hopefully be of use when starting on your own FM21 saves as of the 24th of November.

Squad Comparison

My first stop is at the ‘General’ tab of the ‘Comparison’ which sits under ‘team report>analyst report’ which presents you with a nice top layer visual of the squad.

 

As you can see Magnus will be inheriting an extremely young squad, not exactly ideal in terms of being fit to win Ligue 1, giving the fact that The Athletic document that players are in their prime from 24–28 when creating their squad profiles. that most players prime.

What this does give me is the confidence that if I can keep the core of the squad together then in 3 years I should be looking to compete with PSG for the title, hopefully pushing them all the way.

Another potential flaw of a large percentage of the players being under the age of 23 is the fact that they are still developing. At this stage of their careers, their tactical understanding and the level of consistency is likely to be below par, which possibly will lead to varying results and levels of performance in the early stages of the save.

The above comparisons can be drilled down a level, allowing you to look at the units of the team in isolation, this can be helpful to gauge an understanding into which areas of the team may need refreshing first in terms of player recruitment.

Physical, Technical & Mental Attributes

The following three screens will help you to gain a deeper understanding to your new squad, a sort of what's under the bonnet. Key takeaways from these can help you to gain an understanding of what playing style and tactic to use, along with what is the DNA/Key Pillars of the squad.

 

Comparing the squad's physical attributes there are a few areas in which my players are performing above the average in Ligue 1.

1. Acceleration
2. Fitness
3. Pace

 

Next up we have the Technical elements, again there are a few stand out attributes;

1. Dribbling
2. First Touch
3. Technique
4. Passing
5. Tackling

 

Finally the mental genetics of the squad which has flair as a stand out attribute.

All of the above can be used to add context as to what tactic will work best for your team. If you have a specific system or tactics in mind for your save and the squad DNA diverts from it, then it most certainly won’t be as effective.

As I am looking to implement the sistema with Nice, I am now fully aware that in order to make the tactic work I will either need to develop players to improve in the following areas;

1. Work Rate
2. Decisions
3. Passing

I can then also look to build on the areas which are also performing above average as I look to close the gap with the highest averages within the league.

Analyst & Assistant Report

The analyst report provided also will highlight a few areas which we have identified in the above section. As you can see, Magnus has been told that his team possess a high level of pace and acceleration is one of the team’s main strengths.

 

The assistant report (below) can also be used as an extension to the squad comparison or be used on its own as the first step for deducting a squad analysis.

 

Tactic

Now we have a greater understanding of our new team we can assess as to which tactic will be best suited to the personnel. I have opted to play a fluid counter-attacking game with Nice.

Why? well, we know that my team are fast, fit and are above average at passing, with strong vision and flair. This tactic will hopefully draw upon those strengths and ensure that I draw maximum levels of performance from the playing squad.

 

The 4–3–3 DM Wide is also a similar shape to that of the sistema, which well help in terms of transitioning the tactic to the desired goal of playing the brand of football of the great Erno Egri Erbstein.

Position Overview

The final area which I would like to draw attention to is that of the position overview. This visual will help to gain an understanding of the squad and their ability/potential.

The position overview is a great tool to aid forward planning in terms of scouting and recruitment. I have set the minimum star rating in the below visual to three, this shows that I most certainly need to invest in the following areas;

1. GK
2. DC
3. ST

The squad is also bloated in central midfield and also the left side of the midfield, this could be areas in which I look to offload players, obviously after conducting an assessment on an individual level.

 

Next up a good idea would be to ask a specific member of your staffing team (one with the best levels of judging player potential and ability)to give you their opinion of the squad depth.

I often use this screen to understand who is my first and second choice player for each position along with identifying which youth prospects I should look to give exposure to the first team to aid their development.

Best XI

Now that I have made an educated decision as to what tactic I will be implementing in the start of my journey with Les Aiglons, I am now in a position to share with you my best eleven.

 

I hope you have enjoyed my walk through of how I analyse a squad on Football Manager and will find todays blog of use.

[MattyLewis11]

The full release is finally here, if you like to emerge yourself in your save, like myself, then you won’t have made it much further than playing a few competitive fixtures.

 

Here is what I have been doing behind the scenes prior to even kicking a pre-season ball.

Pre-season started as planned, Magnus guiding OGC Nice to victories over lowly ranked opposition, always nice to get a few easier fixtures in to help boost morale right?!

Club Brugge were up next followed by Barcelona, Brugge were the first team which we left the field of play with the taste of defeat. The side from Belgium created 21 shots from 50% of possession. It was a case of men vs boys! (0–2)

Next up was Barcelona, it didn’t start to bag, an excellent finish from Amine Gouiri inside the first two minutes got me dreaming, however moments later a rash challenge from Andy Pelmard reduced us to 10 men in the eight minute, from that moment we were out of the game. (1–3)

Like all great managers, we told the squad this was only pre-season and there was nothing to worry about!

 

On paper the results in the opening four games looked like Stienkelsson had made a good start with Les Aiglons, however our Swede was not happy, something just didn’t feel right.

The side had an average of 51% possession from the first four league games and were struggling to create any clear chances. As you can below, conducting an analysis of our key passes, most of these are coming from advanced positions.

 

 

Taking time to analyse the shot maps presented to us also lead me to drawing a few conclusions, the first one that my team weren’t trigger happy, 18 shots in total over the two games, 15 of which were from inside of the box. You are now picturing Arsenal under Wenger right? Thought so!

This could lead me to one of two conclusions, either my team are **** at converting opportunities or that these were not clear cut chances. The latter was the conclusion after breaking down the match highlight (comprehensive).

 

 

My immediate thought was to change my philosophy from counter attack to a greater emphasis on a high press, why?

This style is identified by the board as part of their vision for the club, so adopting it would please the powers that be and the players certainly have the right DNA both physically and technically.

However, my main line of thinking was that my defensive unit aren’t exactly the best in terms of jumping, strength, positioning, marking and concentration. Therefore inviting teams onto us when out of possession could be a risk.

Therefore by increasing the lines of engagement I would be putting the opposition under more pressure, hopefully allowing us to capitalize on mistakes.

I will also look to force opposition outside, to keep them away from zone 14, an area of the pitch in which penetration and chance creation are often linked to.

In possession, happy with the amount of the ball we were seeing, however not happy with the speed of play on transition or the chances created. In order to hopefully create better chances I decided that the tempo of play needed a boost, this will hopefully create more penetrative passing lanes as the opposition look to deal with the increased fizz of the play . We are still keen to work the ball into the box but have set the instruction for passes to be played into space, again looking to maximize the effectiveness of our DNA and also help get from A-B faster.

The new 433 DM wide

 

Testing

 

As you can see from the below heat maps, against FC Nantes using the old tactic I only have two players who’s average position is within the oppositions half, compared to the five against AS Saint-Etienne.

When looking at the heat maps of the starting 11 it is also clear that my team are not only seeing more of the ball in the oppositions half, they are seeing more of the ball in general in.

 

 

For the AS Saint-Etienne game I also had the ‘shoot on sight’ team instruction selected, accumulating 27 attempts across the course of the game. Something that I am sure Dan Gear will say is ‘fake news’.

However, these 27 attempts only generated an xG value of 1.59, most probably due to the fact that 11 of them came from close to the outside of the box or from a further distance.

Despite this seven shots were taken from areas which you would think would be good goal scoring opportunities, four of these were blocked and only one leading to a goal.

 

A striker is an area which I will be looking to strengthen in the transfer window, this will provide Kasper Dolberg with competition as at present he is my only option in leading the line.

 

As for chance creation, their is a improved balance to the team, this is shown in the game against Stade Brestois, with four chances created from each side of the pitch. This makes sense with the team instruction to add emphasis on the overlap.

Training

After watching the videos created by @foxintheboxfm link here > DON’T leave your assistant to do training in FM21the month of September was a defensive month.

Looking at the defensive efficiency of the team, taking the additional time to schedule your own training routine looks like it is paying dividends.

As you can see OGC Nice are in the bottom left quadrant which labels the team as quiet and impenetrable!

Taking a quick look at the attacking efficiency, the team are aggressive and wasteful, taking above average shots per game and converting below average for the league.

 

 

With this in view the month of October will be focusing training on the attacking side of the game as we look to improve our attacking efficiency.

 

I have taken a snapshot of our training schedule over a two week period above for you to get a flavour of what life on the training ground looks like.

I hope you have found my latest blog insightful, for those of you that are on the Football Manager Slack you can follow my save a little closer over on my channel #steinkelsson-ogcnice

Until the next time,

Au revoir!

[MattyLewis11]

The save has been progressing nicely and I have come to a point in which I feel that I am content with the squad which I now have at my disposal. For those of you that have been following my save closely from the beginning you will be aware that the ultimate challenge for Steinkelsson will be to implement the tactic of the Sistema.

Obviously this feat can not be achieved overnight and the journey is bound to have many ups and downs. The main tactic which I have been using for this save can be found in my blog tactical analysis, the 433 has provided OGC Nice with a solid base and after a few tweaks and enough time for the players to understand the system it has paid dividends, with my team outperforming the initial expectations as we look to make qualification to the UEFA Champions League.

This weeks blog will provide us all with an update on the season so far, yes we have only played half a season! I am slow and certainly the birth of Teddy Bjorn has certainly impacted the amount of hours I have been able to spend on FM21. I will also Drill down into another variation of my favoured tactic and also discuss my DNA, the specific attributes which I will be looking for when recruiting any additional players.

 

Midpoint Review

 

With 13 games remaining OGC Nice are sitting in second place on Ligue 1, the 10 point cushion which they have over rivals Marseille in fifth position will hopefully be enough to secure the side a return to Europe’s elite competition for the first time since 2017 when Les Aiglons reached the qualifying round before being knocked out by Napoli.

The side have the second best goal difference in Ligue 1, and are joint second in relation to clean sheets with 10 at present. The potential issues in relation to the squad depth has been addressed with Magnus bolstering his ranks with four signings in the January window.

William Saliba joins from Arsenal after just making the one competitive fixture for the Gunners (much like real life), whilst Nicolo Rovella joins on a similar deal from Genoa after making four appearances in Serie A.

Saliba will provide a replacement for 37 year old Dante who’s contract expires in the summer, despite the Brazilian offering significant leadership to the young squad, his wage demand of £43k will not be met.

Rovella on the other hand will also fill the boots of Jeff Reine-Adelaide, the Frenchman is currently on loan from Lyon who may potentially want their man back when his deal expires.

 

Melvin Bard signed from Lyon for £4.4m and will compete for a place in the starting eleven with Hassane Kamara, whilst Arezo will play second string to Kasper Dolberg, allowing our Danish gem to secure some well earned rest after carrying the burden of scoring for the club.

 

 

The Web of Wyrd

 

The Web of wyrd depicts the connection of the fates. It is a representation of the past, the present and the future. for the Vikings, the Web of wyrd was a reminder that their deeds not only affect the present but the future as well. The interconnections in the symbol depict the unending connections that life and destiny have in the lives of mortals.

Magnus, inspired from the Web of wyrd looked to have an alternative tactic to his 433, one which on the surface looked as if Nice were set up in the same system, however significant changes in roles and responsibilities provided Nice with a new threat which could be utilised in games against superior opposition.

 

The use of double IWB, MEZ and IW, the Web of wyrd tactic has the potential to be an absolute beast.

The movement of the IWB’s as they push higher into the half-space should result in them offering more of an attacking contribution through passing via central lanes. Whilst the MEZ’s can drift into pockets of space whilst in possession allowing presenting the oppositions defensive units with a problem, either stick to their defensive block/structure and risk being overloaded in their defensive third or close down the MEZ and leave a possible passing lane open for the IW or PF.

The change of the DLP to a HB will provide the additional layer of defensive reinforcement if we lose the ball, minimising the risk of being done on the counter.

 

 

An, example of the effectiveness of the IWB can be seen in our game in the UEL in which Atal receives the ball in an advanced position before sliding the pass between the FB and CB for our IF Rony Lopes to slot home the all important goal which ensured Nice progress to the second knockout round of the competition.

 

 

 

DNA

Now that I am content with the players at my disposal and the depth which I have within the club, I will need to be more specific in relation to the players which I will look to recruit in the future.

I briefly touched on DNA historically but didn’t feel as if I gave it the attention that it deserved.

What is DNA?

A club philosophy is often a case about setting some principles and statements which look to create a club identity. It involves a set of values for the club and its players to be committed by and looks to create a foundation for combining the individual strengths for the benefit of the group.

The club DNA becomes a foundation for creating a group mentality where all parties work together to reach a higher goal than they would do as one.

OGC Nice DNA

Takin the above statement into consideration and also the values/attruibutes which featured heavily in Erno Erbstein’s team, I have selected the following three core/key mental pillars for the club.

Intelligence (Anticipation, Decisions, Flair, Teamwork & Vision)

Focus (Composure, Concentration)

Movement (Anticipation, Decisions & Teamwork)

Behind these key attributes will sit a secondary value, for attacking players (off the ball) whilst defensive (positioning).

Of course I will still be looking at other attributes to ensure the individual fits the role. There is no point signing a player who is excellent mentally if they can not pass, tackle or lack stamina. However these attributes do not form the clubs DNA they are more of an added value.

 

As always I hope you have enjoyed my latest post, I would be grateful if you could join me over on the FM slack where I have my own channel #steinkelsson-ogcnice.

Also if you would like for me to add my tactics to steam so that you can download them please feel free to give me a nudge.

Signing out for the week.

Magnus

[MattyLewis11]

FM21: NISSA — 2020/21 Season Analysis

 

After playing FM21 for 114 hours, I am finally in the position to be able to present to you my analysis of the first year at the helm of OGC Nice.

As some of you may know this is the first time I have ever delved into French football and it is fair to say that I am thoroughly enjoying this save, yes it is likely that we will never be in a position to loosen PSG’s grip on the domestic front, however there is no harm in trying.

 

Overview

Presented with the initial objectives from the board to secure a top half finish, it was clear to see after the initial settling in period that I had all the tools necessary to not only achieve this objective.

 

I would agree that the run of fixtures during the start to the campaign could have been more demanding, however it was clear to see that at the half way point OGC Nice certainly could be present a challenge for the two other Champions League spaces.

 

Despite bringing in a few faces in January, which certainly added significant depth to the squad, it is fair to say that February was the sticking point for the save.

A defeat to AS Saint-Etienne was followed up by the club securing only the single point from the 15 available.

 

With six games left in Ligue 1 there was still all to play for with only a point separating 2nd place and 4th. With the finish line and the holy grail within touching distance, back to back games against the top three teams in the league did not go to plan as my side failed to win any of these key fixtures.

 

Fortunately, Les Aiglons still has a Europa League Final to play against Feyenoord. The final itself was a close encounter in which I provided updates over Twitter (Thanks to @martyfm4 for sharing the experience with me). The spectacle went deep into extra time before we managed to score from a long throw routine (The corner set up that became a throw in routine) which I borrowed from @MerryGuido.

OGC Nice had secured their return to the Champions League!

 

Expected Goals (xG) Analysis

After reading through my very brief summary of the season above, I am certain some of you are thinking along the same lines as myself.

Either the playing squad at NISSA lack the ‘big game’ mentality, necessary to come away from these big games with all three points or that we had lady luck sitting on our shoulder (Kasper Dolberg).

Taking this into consideration I opted to carry out an analysis into our expected goals, both for and against over time.

 

As you can clearly see from the above data visualisation, there were only a few games across the span of the Ligue 1 season where our opponents accumulated a bigger xG than we did.

This is a good indicator as to the quality of chances we are creating in relation to our opposition. The fact that this is also the trend across the duration of the season also leads me to believe that the brand of football which Magnus has brought to the club is an attractive one.

Squad Profile

As many of you will now know, the squad profile is another attractive visualisation which can be used as a tool to analyse your squad.

I have decided to create a squad profile for OGC Nice, this will help me to make some key decisions in relation to personnel in preparation for the 2021/22 season.

 

As you can see from the above visualisation the core of this team fall into the ‘Youth’ category, with eight players from within this segment securing above average playing time.

These individuals are key to the club and will be offered long-term deals over the summer, which hopefully see them progress into their prime (24–29) with Les Aiglons.

The players in the bottom half of this section excluding Melvin Bard (Should have been blue) and the blue dots (New Signings) will need to be assessed as they aren’t securing enough game time in order to develop. Could loan deals be arranged or will their time at the club be over?

The players within the ‘Peak’ section speak for themselves, these will all be staying with the club unless an offer comes in from one of Europe elite, as this will help to boost the clubs stature, which is owner Jim Ratcliffe’s ambition.

Players who sit within the ‘Experienced’ segment on the far right should look to be offloaded, however Dante is one of only three leaders within the club hierarchy and his willingness to accept a decreased contract will mean that he stays on with the club as he can still contribute off the field.

 

Player of the season

 

 

Fans player of the season was Rony Lopes, the winger on loan from Seville has an option to buy for £18m, with the Portuguese players market value now sitting at £35.5m it would be ludicrous not to activate this option to buy clause.

The OGC Nice young player of the season was free scoring Kasper Dolberg, the 33 goals scored by the Danish striker was enough to break the goal scoring record at the club for the most goals scored in a season. The youngster is still a long way off breaking the all time scoring record, currently held by Joaquin Valle who represented Nice from 1937–48, scoring 186 goals.

A scout report on Kasper Dolberg will be created later, as I look to document my key performers across the duration of this save.

 

Goal of the season

 

Rony Lopes (90+2) vs CSKA Moscow — Europa League First Knockout Round Second Leg

 

This goal from Lopes was the one goal this season which made me jump out of my seat in the office and run around the house like a child on Christmas Day, it is fair to say that this goal from Rony was the game changing moment in our quest to securing the Europa League trophy, yet another reason to offer the man a contract at the club.

 

 

 

U19s

 

The U19’s squad won the National title, which again is credit to the level of young talent which is available within the club. I am going to look to add all French leagues to the save with the hope that the fixtures for the reserve squad will help to provide me with a place to nurture this talent and integrate them within the first team squad.

 

Eyes on next season

 

The success in Europe and finishing fourth paired with the frozen transfer window bug levelling out has handed me a significant financial backing for the campaign ahead.

I have already touched on the topic of activating the option to buy for Seville’s Rony Lopes and will look to create a bespoke recruitment blog next which will show how data can be used to maximise input from your scouting team.

Edited December 18, 2020 by MattyLewis11

[MattyLewis11]

Considering the popularity of my piece ‘how to create a squad profile’, I thought it would be a good decision to highlight how data and Tableau can be utilised to provide additional information to aid recruitment.

 

The Data driven approach to player recruitment is certainly an area of the game which has seen a significant growth over the last decade, something which I discovered when reading Football Hackers by Cristoph Biermann.

The book touches on how Matthew Benham, a former professional gambler and now owner of FC Midtjylland uses data from his company Smartodds to analyse players across Europe, through assessing their outputs in relation to key metrics to pinpoint prospects who may have been undervalued because their underlying statistics suggested they were better than they appeared.

The outcome Midtjylland, a Danish club that spiralled downwards in the Danish leagues climbed the ladder to secure three Danish Championships.

 

Harvesting the data

As per my guide (link above) the data is collected in the same manner, however as previously covered it is important to ensure that the view on Football Manager has all the relevant data you want to study.

 

@FMStag has created a brilliant resource, I suggest clicking the link, subscribing and downloading his custom view (above) to save time manually sorting customising your screen.

Why per 90? Simple, by looking at metrics alone you can often be misled by the output figures e.g. if player A has scored 12 goals and player B six, you would automatically presume player A is the better finisher.

Now if you take minutes played into the equation, player a has played 1000 minutes whilst player B has played 400 their per 90 metrics look like this.

Player A 1.08 goals per 90 and player B 1.35 goals per 90, making player B the more attractive option. As you can see using the p90 metric r90. It gives us context when evaluating players who play wildly different minutes over the course of a season.

 

The search for a creative CM for OGC Nice

The below image shows my best eleven from across the season in relation to their average ratings. I have included their per 90 metrics to provide context in relation to their outputs/contributions for the club over the season.

 

 

The above data for my midfield unit for the 2020/21 season has Rony Lopes (IF) as my most creative player, contributing with 3.91 key passes per 90.

My best central players are all performing under 2 key passes per game, this is not ideal. In order to transition to playing the Sistema, I will need to secure a player who can operate centrally and create, so think either an Advanced Playmaker or Mezzala.

I need a player who can create chances for OGC Nice, someone who can work his magic in tight spaces with the ability to complete passes in a compact defensive structure where you would assume no passing lanes were open, a magician.

Unfortunately we have another problem, Pierre Lees-Melou has the highest xG per 90 of the midfield trio, this figure sits at 0.19. His actual goals per 90 figure is 0.08 meaning our biggest goal scoring threat centrally is underperforming by 0.11. This over the course of a season (38 games) means that he should be scoring just under 1 in 5 games but has performed at 1 every 10, so we also need someone who can provide a goal scoring threat.

Therefore I will use data to aid provide additional information in order to effectively target my next signing for the club. I have opted to select players from Ligue 1 who operate centrally to find my target, all must have played over 1,000 minutes.

 

xG vs Shots per 90

 

I have grouped my players on each data viz across this post and highlighted them red in order to show how they are performing against similar players.

Alexander Golovin (25) from AS Monaco is the volume shooter of Ligue 1, whilst Dimitri Payet (34) Marseille has the highest xG value which means credits his ability to get into positions with a high chance of scoring.

The three players which caught my eye using this cut of data were, Benjamin Bourigeaud (27) of Stade Rennais, Ryad Boudebouz (31) of AS Saint-Etienne and Ludovic Blas (23) of FC Nantes.

All three players are taking more shots than average whilst producing an xG which is significantly higher than the average, none of which play for so called big clubs which would mean they should have a lower value.

 

Passes Completed per 90 vs Key Passes per 90

The next viz compares passes completed with key passes, at OGC Nice we play a short passing game therefore would need to recruit someone who is comfortable receiving and completing many passes per 90. The objective to find someone who can create shooting opportunities centrally mean that the key passes metric is also valuable.

 

Abdoulaye Toure (27) of FC Nantes is completing the most passes per 90 in Ligue 1 whilst Alexandr Golovin again shows his value to AS Monaco by completing the most key passes per 90.

Yacine Adli (20) from Bordeaux, Mickael Cuisance (21) of Marseille and Bruno Guimaraes (23) from Lyon are all players which show they are performing above average on both metrics and could be considered an option.

Ludovic Blas, is borderline in relation to key passes but easily performing above average in relation to passes completed.

 

Passes Completed per 90 vs Interceptions per 90

Finally we look into interceptions per 90 as there is still the need for our target to good anticipation, decisions etc in order to read the play and win the ball back, hopefully in advanced positions in order to put us on the front foot as we operate with a higher defensive line.

 

Benjamin Andre (30) playing his trade with Lille, Youssef Bennasser (24) from AS Monaco and Ludovic Blas would make the shortlist in terms of this metric. It is also nice to see Khephren Thuram close to this group as I can get a mental comparison as to what these players are offering their teams.

 

The Shortlist

 

 

 

Now that you have conducted the relevant data analysis it is time to send you best scout in terms of judging potential ability and current ability off to scout the individuals.

The man for the job my end is Abel Almada, the Argentinian has 18 for both attributes and is my main scout for giving the final verdict for players highlighted from my scouting pool.

 

Youssef Bennasser at the point of conducting my analysis had ran out his contract with AS Monaco and will be joining Lyon as of next season, this gives a flavour of the calibre of player we have identified.

 

Yacine Adli scout summary returned with a score of 81 making him a quality acquisition for the club, his DNA profile just fell short of the requirements which is >12 for Anticipation (11), Composure (14), Concentration (11), Decisions (14), Flair (15), Teamwork (12) and Vision (17).

 

One key point to highlight is that his club do not want to sell the player, this could lead to us having to offer a significant fee in order to secure the players services.

Ludovic Blas report come back from Almada with a score of 82, again a quality signing for the club and the estimated cost of £11m-£15.25m also would hopefully mean a significant return for not exactly a mega investment.

 

When considering Blas’ mental attributes to see if he would fit with the DNA which I am looking to implement at Nice, he scored;

Anticipation (14), Composure (14), Concentration (14), Decisions (14), Flair (14), Teamwork (13) and Vision (15)

The 23 year old hit all of our desired criteria making him our final choice and our number one priority target.

 

 

 

Did we forget to say he is French as well!

I truly hope you enjoyed this post, as you can tell I clearly enjoy data and the added value it can bring to your saves. I have also added links to the images, these can be accessed by clicking on each title.

Until the next time!