Data hunting I-League III- Scouting central midfielders from I-League 20/21
In the third piece of the series that will focus on scouting players from various outfield positions in I- League, we will be looking at central midfielders. The earlier two pieces focused on fullbacks and center-backs and links to them are attached here.
Without getting too much into the specifics of a midfielder’s role in a team, let’s get started. Remember, do not frame your opinion on a player solely using data.
As usual, I used Wyscout data and filtered out midfielders who played less than 400 minutes. The list of players who will be scouted using data are as follows:
The following criteria are used to evaluate the players:
- Defensive duels, defensive actions
- Passing and ball progression
- Chance creation and the end product
Defensive Duels and defensive actions
A duel attempted to disrupt an opposition attack is a defensive duel. Indian Arrows trio Lalchhanhima Sailo, Vibin Mohanan, and Ricky Shabong stand out here along with TRAU’s Chongtham Singh and Aizawl’s Liberian defender Alfred Jaryan. The three 18-year-olds from Indian Arrows, L Sailo, V Mohanan, and R Shabong attempted 10.62, 10.18, and 9.01 defensive duels per 90 while also making 9.04,12.48 and 12.83 successful defensive actions respectively.
Another youngster Chongtham Singh(22) attempted 9.55 defensive duels and completed 9.88 defensive actions per 90.
Tackles, interceptions, and defensive duels
Firstly, tackles and interceptions are adjusted for possession meaning possession values are taken into account. Ricky Shabong leads the league with 8.82 interceptions per 90 while Akbar Khan(22) of Neroca makes the most sliding tackles with 2.12 per 90. Twenty-nine-year-old Chennaiyin midfielder Charles Lourduswamy, SUDEVA’s Lalliansanga Renthlei (21), and Yumkhaibam Singh(19) of Neroca show up well along with Vibin Mohanan. When it comes to aerial duels, Shilton Silva, the 28-year-old from Mohammedan, attempts the most in the league with 5.59 per 90.
Basic Passing profile
Chennai City’s Charles Lourdusamy attempted the most passes and forward passes per 90 with 54.28 and 21.11 per 90 respectively. Neroca’s young midfielder Yumkhaibam Singh, Gokulam’s Sharif Mukhammad, and Ralte Malsawmtluanga also show up well in these metrics. Let us get onto more detailed metrics
Pass types:
Most of Charles Lourduswamy’s passes tend to be short or medium with 47.42 short or medium passes per 90. Danish born Bangladeshi midfielder Jamal Bhuyan, of Mohammedan, attempted the most long passes in the league with 8.31 long passes per 90. Wyscout defines a long pass as a ground pass longer than 45 meters or a high pass longer than 25 meters. Bikramjit Singh of Round glass Punjab and Chongtham Singh of TRAU attempt the most long passes after Bhuyan with 7.71 and 7.38 per 90 respectively. One interesting player that caught my eye here is Farhan Ganie. The 29-year-old Real Kashmir midfielder attempts around 11 passes per 90 but nearly 7 of them are long passes.
Pass Length profile
As we saw about Farhan Ganie’s long passes earlier, it is no surprise that his passes are longer than other midfielders in the dataset. His passes have an average length of around 25m. Alfred Jaryan’s long passes travel the longest distance(46.7m) among midfielders in the league. But most of the players fall well within the median range. However, Kingslee Fernandes of Churchill Brothers and Gokulam Kerala’s Emil Benny fall on the other side to that of Ganie and Jaryan. Their passes are the shortest in length.
Passes to the final third and penalty area
C Lourdusamy, R Malsawmtluanga, and Naorem Singh (22) of Sudeva stand out in this scatterplot. Lourdusamy attempted the most passes to the final third with 12.62 per 90. Following him is R Malsawmtluanga with 12.22 per 90. When it comes to passes to the penalty area, Naorem Mahesh Singh comes out at the top followed by Malsawmtluanga. Pratesh Shirodkar of Real Kashmir and Kingslee Fernandes show up well here, as do Chongtham Singh, Tekem Singh, and Jamal Bhuyan.
Wyscout defines deep completions as A non-cross Pass that is targeted to the zone within 20 meters of the opponent’s goal. Kingslee Fernandes and Naorem Mahesh Singh stand out here. It is intriguing to see Kinglsee Fernandes’ passing metrics. Most of his passes are short and he stands out here again in deep completions.
Key passes, through balls, and smart passes
Wyscout defines a key pass as a pass that immediately creates a clear goal-scoring opportunity for a teammate. Naorem Mahesh Singh comes out on top with 0.88 key passes per90 followed by Laishram Singh of TRAU. Kingslee Fernandes does well in key passes too. When it comes to through balls per 90, Chongtham does well again, followed by Naorem Tondonba Singh of Sudeva.
According to the Wyscout glossary, a smart pass is defined as a creative and penetrative pass that attempts to break the opposition’s defensive lines to gain a significant advantage in attack. Sudeva’s Naorem Mahesh Singh leads the league in smart passes with 1.96 per 90 followed by Jamal Bhuyan. Charles Lourduswamy and Konsam Singh of TRAU perform well in these metrics.
Progression
Charles Lourdusamy makes the most progressive passes with 11.44 per 90 followed by Jamal Bhuyan who makes 10.22 per 90. Emil Benny and Kingslee Fernandes complete the most progressive carries in the league with 3.15 and 2.93 progressive runs per 90. Apart from the aforementioned four players, Telem Singh, Ralte Malsawmtluanga, Yumkhaibam Singh, and Churchill Brothers’ Bazie Armand perform well in both the metrics.
Dribbles and accelerations
Once again, Kingslee Fernandes, Emil Benny, and Naorem Mahesh Singh do well. Kingslee Fernandes leads the league in both the metrics with 6.39 dribbles and 2.33 accelerations per 90 respectively. Neroca’s Nathaniel Garcia excels in dribbles per 90 with 6.05 dribbles attempted per 90.
Shot creation and xA
In shot creation metrics, Naorem Mahesh Singh is miles ahead of all other midfielders. A clear outlier in both xA per 90 and shot assists per 90 with 0.27 and 2.94 per 90 respectively. Naorem Singh looks like an impressive creative player going by these metrics. Ralte Malsawmtluanga, Nathaniel Garcia, and Jamal Bhuyan do well in both metrics.
xG and Shooting
Sukhar Mukhamad has the highest xG per 90 among midfielders in the league with 0.23 per 90 followed by Emil Benny, Naorem Mahesh Singh, and Ralte Malsawmtluanga. Naorem Mahesh Singh also has the highest number of touches in the box per 90 with 2.4. Nathaniel Garcia takes the most shots with around 3.4 per 90 but his xG per 90 is around 0.1 which may imply that he takes a lot of shots from poor locations. The aforementioned are the ones who do well in these metrics.
Conclusion:
If I have to choose 5 Indian midfielders from I- League based on the 20/21 season solely going on stats, I will choose Charles Lourdusamy, Naorem Mahesh Singh, Kingslee Fernandes, Ralte Malsawmtluanga, Chongtham Singh, and Yumkhaibum Singh( I know I mentioned 6, it was hard to leave out one). There are players like Mayakannan of Gokulam Kerala, Telem Singh, and the Indian Arrows trio Lalchhanhima Sailo, Vibin Mohanan, and Ricky Shabong who fare well generally. The next step for these players is I-League and the next step in this scouting is video scouting. The next article of this series will be on attacking midfielders and wide players ,and it should be out soon.
