Mikal

We come back at the start of December after 14 league games. I used this date as I collated the mid-season data as the Brazilian league specifically has ended and if I wait too long then the data resets and I'll lose the option of scouting from that league with good data. So let's take a look at our results. Let's get the bad out of the way with first and that is the DFB-Pokal. The expectation was to reach the semi-final and we went out 3 rounds worse off. A really poor showing from us, particularly after beating them 4-1 in the league not long before. I did rotate the squad quite heavily, so can take my share of the blame, but our finishing was poor. Now on to the good and the league run we've been on. Undefeated with some outstanding results. After not keeping a cleansheet for the opening 6 games, I was worried our defensive acquisitions weren't quite up to the standard required defensively or maybe we had too many signings that hadn't gelled, so decided I needed to change something and I dropped both CMs down to the DM line. This has shored us up as well as the defenders starting to gel (we have had our fair share of injuries) and we've not conceded in the league for 8 games, remarkable stuff. After the loss in the cup we picked up our biggest win of the season so far. We hit 3 past them toward the end of the first half over a 5 minute period, it was crazy scenes. I think the league form has saved me from some criticism by the board for our poor cup performance. As you'd expect, to be undefeated you'd be there or there about at the top of the table, and as things stand we are top by 1 point. I don't expect us to keep this momentum going the entire season, but we do only have the league to focus on with no Europe and getting knocked out of the cup early. There are crazier things. So let's take a look at our the squad are performing, numberswise. There's a lot of data to digest so feel free to have a read or ask any questions. Ultimately we have a clear back 4: Vagnoman - Kayode - Rasmussen - Gil Positive Outlooks: Gil is spectacular going forward and in defence Cerny has been putting in some excellent numbers when called upon Vagnoman carrying on from his strong displays of last season. High number of dribbles per game (2.68) as well as being fouled 23 times! 3rd highest in the squad Rasmussen has been a rock for us CB positions look solid in case of injuries Areas for Improvement: Kayode's headers won % is awfully low for a CB Action: he will go on specific 'Strength' training which focuses on Strength and Jumping Reach. Action: consider forcing opponents inside where we should be able to crowd them out and avoid the aerial battles Brekalo has not shown he is not best at defensive duties Action: consider not bringing him on to run down the clock Action: replace him (he has handed in a transfer request so we will have to replace him) These are just those that played in the CM or DM positions. As you can tell, we really just utilised two players; Bauman and Jakobsen. Positive Outlooks: Bauman is the man. I have chopped and changed his role already this season while I try to settle on something, and for the past 2 or so games he has been playing as the Roaming Playmaker and I have been extremely impressed. Jakobsen has come in and done the job I wanted of him. He doesn't out rank Bauman on a lot of metrics but where he does, or is comparable, is where I want him and the team need him to: Passing, tackling interceptions Juan Lopez is a surprise package. I didn't expect a great deal from him but in his limited games he has put in some impressive numbers. He looks very well-rounded Areas for Improvement: Sascha Thurk needs moving on - something he agrees with as has handed in a transfer request also. He clearly won't get the minutes and I'd rather we held the cash Action: sell There is not a lot of depth here and an injury to Bauman or Jakobsen could be dangerous Action: buy Positive Outlooks: Jager is goals. Currently the leagues top scorer but has unfortunately picked up a knock and will be out for a month Costa is an excellent playmaker. By far and away above average for playmaking abilities Areas for Improvement: Barco's time has run out. We tried to sell in the Summer but no suitors. I will try again in the Winter transfer window as I want him off the squad and off the wage bill Action: sell ASAP Zirkzee not as influential as I had hoped. 6 goals in 14 is not an awful return from someone predominantly in the AML position, and 9 goal involvements in 14 is probably acceptable. Action: probably nothing, but with Jager injured I'll play him at ST Boumal hasn't had the impact I was hoping for. Still a youngster (it says he's 24 on that screenshot but that's just me forgetting to amend, he's 19), and has played a lot of games but just doesn't seem to be scoring or creating. Action: I'll continue to give him games as I believe he will come good. He'll play mostly at AML where I'll try and get overloads on the opposite side to avoid him being crowded by opponents and to allow him some space to work in off the ball. Hasan has a lot of explosive qualities as a wide player, but really lacks any ability to create. Seems to get the ball, run and then run out of ideas. Decision making needs to improve. Action: his strength is dribbling so when he plays I wouldn't want to focus attacking play down the opposite flank, but instead to get additional bodies in support of his runs to give him simple passing or crossing options As we come up to the transfer window I'll begin to identify some targets we can take a look at over the course of the window. We do have transfer and wage budget left over but our finances make for grim reading at the moment. We're losing a fair chunk every month, so it may be a case of selling just to keep the finances in the black, but with a hopefully European finish in the league, and the added revenue from that, we can continue to plan to build the squad for our European ventures.

Before the games start coming and going, we need to understand what we're trying to achieve to properly look at how our players are performing, I need to know what I’m expecting from them – individually and collectively. Otherwise I’ll just end up looking at the highest of each metric and assume that player has performed well, which may be the case, but they may also not be performing to our tactical style. Are number of key concepts I’m looking for with my tactic: Mentality Positive. I think this encompasses all of what we’re trying to achieve at the level we’re at. Out of Possession Press (smartly) from the front. I believe this is a key aspect of top teams, the ability to put pressure on the opposition defence and draw out a mistake or turn over possession. - Standard line of engagement: Given we will have an AMR, AML, AMC and STC I feel at the moment they are sufficiently positioned to engage the opposition defence without being too far forward which can pull them out of the game entirely - Higher defensive line: as we look to press the opposition defence into errors, you’d expect an amount of ball clearances. I want our defenders to be in a position to win these challenges and get us going on the turnover. - Slightly more urgent intensity: standard for the Positive mentality - Prevent Short Goalkeeper Distribution - Stay on Feet: in the hope of forcing an error through pressure (and also by other players pressing opposition players without the ball and the open space). I would rather we try and force a turnover instead of actively trying to challenge and win the tackle In Transition - Counter: I want us to attack with pace and numbers when the opportunity arises, particularly when we force the opposition into any errors - Keeper to distribute to defenders: I want us to build from the back in non-counter situations In Possession - Play Out of Defence - Focus Play Through the Middle: We have excellent passes of the ball through the middle and I want them to be dictating the play, whether we play between the lines, over the top or down the flanks - Standard Passing Mentality: I want to see the range of passing we are doing naturally. Too many long, hopeful balls I’ll drop this down - Slightly Higher Tempo: the default option. Again will adjust based on tempo of the game - Be More Expressive: I will start with this, as I do want to play with flair, but it’s option I’ll monitor if players aren’t capable of pulling off the things they want to do, or if it results in too many turnovers So what will we actually be looking at for each position: CB [major] Tackle success rate| Interceptions made/90| Header success rate| Fouls committed/90| Mistakes/90| Mistakes leading to goal| Pass success rate [minor] No. key tackles/90| No. key headers/90 Fullbacks [major] Tackle success rate| Interceptions made/90| Distance covered/90| Chances created/90| Pass success rate| Cross success rate| Fouls committed/90| Mistakes/90| Mistakes leading to goal [minor] Assists| Key passes/90| No. key tackles/90| Header success rate| Dribbles/90| Shots/90| Shots on target % Central Midfield [major] Tackle success rate| Interceptions made/90| Chances created/90| Pass success rate| Pass attempts/90| Fouls committed/90| Mistakes/90| Mistakes leading to goal [minor] Goals| Assists| Key passes/90| No. key tackles/90| Header success rate| Dribbles/90| Shots/90| Shots on target %| Distance covered AMR/AML [major] Goals| Assists| Dribbles/90| Shots/90| Shots on target %| Offsides/90| Chances created/90| Pass success rate| Fouls against/90| Fouls committed/90| Mistakes/90| Mistakes leading to goal [minor] Pass attempts/90| Key passes/90| No. key tackles/90| Header success rate| Distance covered| Tackle success rate| Interceptions made/90 AMC [major] Assists| Shots/90| Shots on target %| Offsides/90| Pass success rate| Pass attempts/90| Chances created/90| Key passes/90| Fouls against/90| Fouls committed/90| Mistakes/90| Mistakes leading to goal [minor] Goals| Dribbles/90| No. key tackles/90| Distance covered| Tackle success rate| Interceptions made/90 STC [major] Goals | Shots/90| Shots on target %| Offsides/90| Pass success rate| Fouls against/90| Fouls committed/90| Mistakes/90| Mistakes leading to goal [minor] Assists - Dribbles/90 | Pass attempts/90| Chances created/90| Key passes/90| No. key tackles/90| No. key headers/90| Header success rate| Distance covered | Tackle success rate| Interceptions made/90 I haven’t put any markers against these yet as I’m not entirely sure what I am hoping for and/or could be expecting. I’ll get a general feel for this at around the halfway stage when there’s a good sample size to use for rest of the league plus other Tier 1 leagues.

No problem. Are you aware of what stat is actually being pulled through here (if it is actually any stat)? That way I can choose to use or disregard the information. Thanks

The transfer window has now officially shut. We picked up injuries to three key players before the window closed in Vagnoman (LB), Costa (AMR) and Geideck (AMC); couldn’t have asked for a worse start to the season. I did look for short term replacements, but I couldn’t find any players I’d justify the fee for. We have good depth and versatility at fullback, so I was hopeful we could last the 4 weeks Vagnoman would be out for. Both Costa and Geideck I’ve replaced with players in the squad – a good opportunity to see who is capable at playing at this level. Costa is out for a further 2 weeks and Geideck another 4. We did make one additional signing on deadline day, a player picked up by our scouts. Not a standout performer by any means, particularly at the level he has been playing at, but for the price, age and potential I was happy with this signing. We also received 40% of the profit as we originally sold him to Bayern – just over £2m, a nice added bonus. A quick look below at how the season has started for us. Comfortable Cup win. We’ve drawn FC Augsburg in the next round. 7 points from 9 is an excellent start to our first season here. We came from behind in both the first two games, and we were behind twice against Bayer Leverkusen before a late equaliser. Good resilience to the squad in that respect. It’s a very, very new defence with two new first team players (Kayode and Gil) and a stand in at LB, so a few defensive frailties can be expected at this stage of the season. Hopefully we can tighten this up and start to see some clean sheets. We’ll come back after around 10 games and take a look at how the squad are performing against some key metrics; any stand out players, under performers and any trends (which could be tactics related).

Hi, not sure if this is a bug but I can't really get my head around it. When I look at a keepers history some of them have a ridiculous amount of "Fouls Made". This is a screenshot of my keeper over the last 4 seasons (I have just joined the club so this is from AI managed). About 170 fouls made in the league: Below is Donnarumma of AC Milan. The last 3 seasons and also the 19/20 season: Again an absurd amount of fouls made for a keeper. Another example, the Athletic Bilbao keeper (regen) has made 399 fouls over the past 5 seasons. There are plenty of keepers I look at that have 0-4 per season which is exactly what you'd expect, such as the keeper(s) I have managed. But a lot have these huge numbers of fouls made and I'm none the wiser why this is. All from active and playable leagues. I have uploaded a save under "KeeperStatsIssue.fm".

So here we are, a couple of weeks away from the end of the transfer window (just as the league games begin). The data has been collated, analysed and used to make transfer decisions. Let’s run through the final, confirmed transfers and how the squad will shape up for the upcoming season. Centre Back A rather different transfer window than previously expected. Firstly, referring back to our transfer targets on a previous update, we’ll look at whether the players identified joined. Romeo Thiry – X He opted for a move to AC Milan. Gutting, but understandable. Rene Ritter – X I had planned to confirm this transfer, however Basel went through a takeover which meant all transfer dealings were cancelled. When they came out of the transfer embargo, they wanted at least 3 x as much as previously agreed. I walked away. He then almost joined Torino but got injured and failed medical. Alejo Maziero & Ryuji Araki – with the two failed transfers above, we were left with these two options. I kept looking at the transfer and they just did not sit well with me ultimately. Maziero was expensive and big wages and Araki’s Star Player request was a little too entitled for my liking. So before I brought either of these two in, I went back to the data and had a look at other potential options. I scouted two more options: Kenneth Kayode A Porto player, but spent last season in Bundesliga. He also fared well in our original data metric search. Jan Rasmussen Another player with a years’ worth of Bundesliga experience. Came in well rounded on our initial search. I then wanted to compare the four players and pick two to sign. At a glance, Kayode looks great. Less games played, but as good or better than Maziero in all metrics, falling short by only 0.1 in both average rating and tackle success rate. At a quarter of the cost, yeah, I’ll take the chance. By this time I’ve totally convinced myself I don’t want Maziero. He’s out. That leaves Rasmussen and Araki for my 2nd CB signing. Similar in all metrics. My transfer decision then came down to a simple breakdown. Who has the better experience? Rasmussen. Who would be happy with a lower amount of game time? Rasmussen. Could we sign either player at a later date for the same fee? Rasmussen unsure, Araki yes as he has a release clause. So that was that – Rasmussen signs and we keep an eye on Araki over the course of this year to see how he performs in the Bundesliga and we can always go back in another time and match the release clause again. I also brought in Maxym Ivanskyi, another player we identified, on loan as further cover at CB. Right Back Moving on to our RB position, we narrowed these transfers down to three; Gil, Albornoz and Cerny. Albornoz opted to join Atletico Madrid which left Gil and Cerny as options as it stood. Gil I wanted. He offered everything I was looking for at a price I was willing to pay and contract demands I was willing to meet. Cerny, at £7.5m, was more than I was looking to spend on a backup/rotation option, however, after re-looking at the data, I couldn’t really find any better alternatives for the same value. At 24 he still offered time to grow as well as re-sale potential if it comes to that. In the end I went with him. Midfield. A defensive, more composed midfielder is what we were after. My number one target was Mattias Jakobsen. I just really liked what he had to offer. Bundesliga player, International regular, hit all the metrics. I snapped him up for a total of £20m as soon as I saw he was available. No messing around with this one. I also brought in Adauto, the young Brazilian midfielder, on loan as a backup option. These were our transfers for the key identified positions. We also made signings outside these positions. Thierry Boumal – a 19 yr old Wonderkid from Bayern Munich. I didn’t pick him up through the data, as I didn’t actually have any on him. The scouts spotted him and were giving him rave reviews, already first team quality level of reviews, as well as being totally affordable. We picked him up for a low price of £7m. Very happy with this purchase and I think we’ll have a future star on our hands here (or at least until a club pays the £70m release clause). Total spend: £61m To compensate for our spending we needed and wanted to offload some players. The following left the club: Silas Wamangituka - £20m – Schalke 04 A player I wanted off the books. Nothing suggested he was good enough or would force his way into the team. Weston McKennie - £16.5m – Eintracht Frankfurt Planned to keep for depth in midfield, but handed in a transfer request and he’s gone to one of our rivals. Nico Elvedi - £10.5m – Beijing Guoan One of the old guard along with Denis Vavro, but at 33 yrs old, high wages and not featuring in my first team plans, I thought it was right time to cash in. Also the fact he had one year left on his deal and didn’t want to sign a new contract made it an easy decision. Total income: £47m We still have £28m in the bank and £300k p/w available for wages. A good spot if we need to dip back into the market. over the next couple of weeks. A final look now at how the squad looks for this upcoming season. I’m pretty happy with the depth. An injury or two to some key players could prove troublesome though. But for now, we'll start the season and see how things go.

Scouting and Transfers: Right Back We identified this position as one of the most important to address as we had no recognised right backs in the team. After our initial search for players we had 5 possible candidates we wanted to scout. A few of them weren't viable options, Mendez, while had a scout recommendation of 91, was too expensive. Lille wanted £49.5m and were not budging. Poncet I looked at but has been snapped up by Torino. Henry Marx was too expensive also, and the same can be said for Cihan. So, these are, for now, the players I will look at working toward signing. Pedro Gil The 5th and final player in our 'Green' zone and one that is affordable and one that we are able to sign if he chooses to join. Franco Albornoz Not a player initially showing up on our radar, because according to my data he didn't exist - but that's largely down to issues with the data collection and the problems I had with current team players at the time. Good player and affordable but interest from others. Ladislav Cerny Not a player on our radar because of his lack of appearances last season, but picked up by the scout who comes with good recommendations - and I went and had a look at his stats, albeit a limited number to go on, and they are sufficient. Transfer listed by Real Madrid for £7.5m, he is an option I'll consider In order of preference, assuming no other, better targets come available: 1. Pedro Gil; a player we spotted via our metric search, affordable and good recommendations 2. Franco Albornoz; highly rated, good price, can play in multiple positions. 3. Ladislav Cerny; not enough games last season to take the data in it's entirety. A consistent international is a positive.

Scouting and Transfers: Centre Back After a number of days have passed, and the scout reports have filtered on,I have almost but all narrowed down our CB search to the following (all of which I have started negotiations or have all agreed in principle): Roméo Thiry A player I bought at Lyon, but never really got around to using. But I do know what he is capable of and what his potential could be, and so do our scouts. I am truly surprised they are willing to let him go for a total of £10m! Alejo Maziero One of the local talents that our searching brought up. The 25 yr old Argentine is available for a combined £24m from rivals Wolfsburg. A high pricetag and high wages. If he didn't meet our local talents critera, and also weakening a rival at the same time, I would probably walk away from this deal. But for now, he remains a consideration. Ryúji Araki Our 2nd local talent option. Newly promoted from 2. Bundesliga, but he put in some good numbers, enough to catch my attention anyway. Some nice positives from the scout report and the only concerning con is his lack of consistency, but at 20 yrs old this has time to improve. The fee is good at a release clause of £8.75m and his contract demands are fine - however - he demanded to be a 'Star Player', which is what I've currently offered, but I doubt he will be if I sign him and maybe I have to deal with the windfall of that down the line. René Ritter Another from our Tier 2 search. Initially I wasn't going to pursue this option given the other options I had available, but he is coming in at a very good price and wage demands. Scouts rate him and give him a lot of room for growth. I am also looking into the cost of Nikolas Ilia, another Tier 2 performer (although back at Tier 1 side after his loan). He was in the Swiss league, same as Ritter, and they share similar stats. I also have loan offers on-going for: - Maxym Ivanskyi - Emmanuel Pizzo (spent season just gone on loan with us) If I pick up two or three permanent transfers from the list above I don't think I'll go ahead with the loan options. All things considered, I think my preferred signing order will be: 1. Roméo Thiry; ability and price are too good to turn down 2. René Ritter; simply for price and potential, plus added depth, I think this could be a great signing 3. Ryúji Araki; a young player with room to grow and a very fair price, plus a local talent. Only downside is the Star Player issue, which I might just brush under the carpet and ignore 4. Alejo Maziero; while I'm all for strengthening ourselves and weakening our rivals, I think the overall cost of this transfer is just a bit too steep for us at the moment. Our current transfer budget (after a couple of sales) sits at £46m of which £15m would be used on signing him (about 33% of out budget).

Post 6 updated with CM target identifying. All round one of target identifying now done. All posts now will follow below as separate posts. Appreciate I haven't even gone into transfer budget yet! That will come in next post when we narrow down targets.

Post 5 updated with right back scouting.

Third post updated with Centre Back player search.

Thanks mate - a work in progress for sure. Hopefully I'll be able to go 1 day forward soon, ha!

PLAYER SEARCH: CENTRAL MIDFIELD The final position I wanted to focus on was the defensive midfielder position, one that would be playing alongside Bauman in a midfield two. What I realised through the other points of research was I was getting skewed data by overperforming players in poor leagues. This gave an unfair representation of where we should focus our scouting. What I decided to do was split the leagues each player is playing in into different tiers; 1, 2 and 3. These were organised based on current league reputation. What I did with the Tiers was to use the same metrics to measure the players, but increase the efficiency required per Tier (for eg if I set shots on target % to 60% for Tier 1, I would increase this to say 65-70% for Tier 2 and then a further increase for Tier 3). I also decreased the age range per Tier, so Tier 3 I’ll be focusing on under 21s primarily. Tier 1 Note: size of bubble indicates no. Interceptions/90 ranging 1.1 to 4.62 | Purple = local players | Orange = own team players I opted for Passing and Tackle Success Rate as my axis again as I felt this represented all players equally (as percentages often will do). From the Tier 1 parameters we returned 52 players. Within our ‘Green’ zone we hit about 15 players. These I will add to our scout assignments and as usual all of the Bundesliga players who have met these requirements, of which there are 4 (albeit Thiago was our player on loan). I’ve added both McKennie and Zakaria to give a representation of how they’d far against other Tier 1 players. Zakaria actually scraps through with this 75% tackle success rate. McKennie only meets the Interceptions/90 criteria. So my previous opinion of thinking McKennie could do a job here for a season has fallen off and I’m more likely to be starting Zakaria assuming; 1) he doesn’t get sold, 2) we fail to buy a suitable player. Tier 2 Note: size of bubble indicates no. Interceptions/90 ranging 1.5 to 4.68 A bit more of a mixed bag here. There are just 2 players who hit the ‘Green’ zone; Adauto and van der Kraan (also on our CB radar). I’ll be scouting these two, plus some of the anomalies; Inacio, Markisic (both also identified as part of the CB search, which is normal given our similar requirements) and Warmerdam. No suitable candidates from Tier 3. This brings us to the end of round one of scouting: identifying targets. We have sent scout reports for 36 players in total for 3 positions. Next will be a return once we start to get our scout reports back. We’ll understand what our staff opinion is, if players want to join, if clubs willing to sell, the transfer fees and wage demands.

PLAYER SEARCH: FULLBACK (RIGHT) We now know that a right sided fullback is paramount this window, preferably two. I’m open to loan options to see us through, but I would like permanent players if the right player is available. Given our stature and our ambitions of finishing in the top 5 or 6, we need a player who is at, or potential to be, that level. With Vagnoman being such an offensively proficient fullback, I will be looking at more defensive minded fullbacks first, but will look into attacking fullbacks if this doesn’t result in anything concrete or a special player pops up we can't not take interest in. The Key Metrics below are for a support type player. One who will focus their defensive duties first but capable in the transition and middle third support. Any contribution in the final third is a bonus. Key Metrics: Apps; min. 10 Age; max 27 Wage; less than £90,000 Preferred Foot; Right or Either Minutes/90; min 70 minutes Average Rating; min 6.7 Tackles success rate; min 65% Interceptions/90; min 1 Pass accuracy; min. 70% Distance Covered/90; min 7km I then removed over 23s from minor leagues. This produced the following players. Note: bubble size indicates no. interceptions/90 ranging from 1 to 5 The orange bubble is Vagnoman for comparison of our best attacking fullback (while being very solid in his defensive duties as this shows). Purple are local players. I opted to use pass success rate and tackle success rate as the axis as I felt this represented the best of a support player. Proficient in defence and capable with the ball at feet. I could have used Interceptions/90 over tackle success rate, but I don't envisage the shift in positions would have been too drastic. There are 5 players who fall into the ‘Green’ zone. All of which I will be sending a scout to. Cihan Bektas was one of my players at Lyon so I know how good he is and how good he can be. I don’t think we’ll be able to prize him away from Lyon. I will also scout the local players who have turned up in these metrics as, like I mentioned in the previous post, they're not inherently bad players as they did make it through the min. requirement stage. This is all the research I'll be doing on a right back for now as there weren't a great deal of options returned. I'll wait until I hear back from the scouts to see if any of the options are viable. Next lot of research will be addressing the CM position.

Time to look for one or two Centre Backs. As previously mentioned, we won’t be getting rid of any purely because we only have two experienced players in the squad but we will need to bring one or two in. Again, we can look at some Key Metrics. This time I’m not going to measure specifically our two aging CBs against the top sides purely because I know we need to invest here, and if they show up in these metrics I know they’re still capable Key Metrics: Apps; min. 10 - gives more weight to the data Age; max 28 - while CBs don't peak until late 20s into 30s, I generally want a player we can stick by for a few years Wage; less than £90,000 Minutes/90; min 65 minutes – we are looking for first team quality, so they should be putting in close to first team minutes on average Average Rating; min 6.7 – a fair indication of overall competency Tackles success rate; min 80% Interceptions/90; min 2.50 Header success rate; min 80% These metrics brought a large list of defenders, so I decided to start filtering in the secondary metrics. Secondary Metrics: Tackles/90; min 3 Pass accuracy; min. 75% Pass attempts/90; min 20 – a defender comfortable in possession can be crucial After applying some further metrics and tweaking some of parameters to narrow the field a bit, I got down to around 100 players that I’d like to take a further look at. My first review was to scout local, so Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga players that matched the key metrics I set up, of which there was 23. Using Tackle Win % and Interceptions per 90 as our axis, with the size of the bubble representing Header Win % (three of the key central defensive metrics in my opinion), we can see how not only Elvedi and Vavro match up against comparable players, but also what their clear strengths and weaknesses are. Elvedi has a very high Interceptions rate, top 30 player vs. under 30’s and under £100k across the major European leagues and good tackling rate (81%) and header win rate (81%). Vavro is a polar opposite. 86% tackle win rate (close to top 30), huge 92% header win rate (joint 9th), but a substandard Interceptions per 90. A nice combination of CBs to have, really. But let’s look at the rest of the players on this chart. First thing to note is none of these players are intrinsically bad. They’ve all met the minimum requirements across a number of different metrics (for e.g. there are plenty of players who excel in just one aspect but are not all-round proficient in what we’re looking for). From the above graph there are two players who fall in the ‘Green’ zone – meaning they excel in both winning tackles and intercepting the ball. Ryûji Araki A 20 year old German at Hamburger SV valued at £1.2m. Worth noting, these stats are based on his performances in 2. Bundesliga as he helped HSV to promotion back to the Bundesliga. Still, I think he is definitely an interesting player, and one I’ll be sending my scout team to check out. I think he could be great value and one to keep an eye on. Alejo Maziero A 25 year old Argentinian who has just completed his debut season at Wolfsburg, valued at £20.5m. A premium option for sure and one I’m not sure if our budget will stretch to, but he fits our criteria nicely and I will be sending the scouts to report back. For now, until I get reports back from our scouts, these two will be who I focus on for our CB positions by way of local talent. It’s also worth taking a look at foreign based players to see if there are any players worth taking a look at. Using the same metrics and some slight tweaks to bring the overall numbers down, we have the below (our CBs in orange). Compared to the German comparison, our CBs get largely dwarfed by numbers. Denis does hold his own when it comes to headers won, mind. At first glance there are a few anomalies here which can take our attention away from where we’d otherwise find good players. These anomalies are: Inacio – 20 yrs old, Brazilian at Flamengo, valued £12.75m. 94% tackle success and 92% headers won Nei – 26 yrs old, Brazlian at Ponte Preta, valued £2.4m. 92% tackle success and 91% headers won Markisic – 20 yrs old, Serbian at FK Partizan, valued £1m. 91% tackle success and 83% headers won As we can see, they’re plying their trade in the best leagues, however this doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of a transition to one of Europe’s top leagues. I will be giving these a scout as their stats look superb. Particularly interested in Inacio and Markisic given their age. Removing these from the graph, we can focus our attention on some of the well-rounded CBs. This shows around 10 players in the ‘Green’ zone. All of which I’ll send my scouts to. To summarise our CB search, I’ve sent scouts to the following players: Araki - German Maziero - Argentinian Inacio - Brazilian Nei - Brazilian Markisic - Serbian Adauto – Brazilian Mathisen - Danish Thiry – Belgian Pina – Mexican Van der Kraan – Dutch Ivanskyi – Polish Vinhas – Portuguese I wasn’t too keen on the amount of players we were looking at not from a major league, which can often skew the data in that player’s favour, so I removed these players and added a couple more to the scout list: Van Den Bergh – Belgian Ilia – Cypriot Also, the more I look at these graphs the happier I am with Denis being one of our two CBs for next season. I think he still has plenty to offer.