Great article written by Ram Srinivas and Matt Lawrence about ball-playing centre-backs in the Championship. The article is based on exact data.
Both Mike van der Hoorn and Joe Rodon are among the best ones and here is what the authors say about them:
'It should be unsurprising that Magic Mike van der Hoorn features on our shortlist of ball playing centre-backs, given his background includes having played European football for Ajax and international football in the Dutch youth sides. As discussed previously, van der Hoorn is an efficient passer but it’s his ability to create goal-scoring opportunities from deep that is his most impressive trait. Vital to Swansea’s possession-oriented system, van der Hoorn ranks below the median for average length of short/medium pass, indicating that he keeps things ticking safely at the back but his stellar metrics for final 3rd passes, through balls and forward pass accuracy establish his ability to pick teammates out in good positions at will. He is the perfect example of a player currently operating within a possession based side and is unlikely to take a great deal of time to adapt to a similar system if he were to be signed away from Swansea.'
'Joe Rodon’s break-out season in professional football has been very impressive so far and no doubt, he’s learned a lot playing alongside an experienced head and one of the EFL’s best ball-playing CBs in Mike van der Hoorn. Rodon is dominant defensively and is one of the league’s best progressive passers to the middle third whilst also quite difficult to shrug off the ball when carrying it. Given his inexperience, quite understandably his role in the Swansea XI — much like Cameron Carter-Vickers, when played — is to play lower-risk passes and not bother too much about playing the ball into the final third, as that responsibility is shouldered by van der Hoorn. Rodon is in the perfect environment to be learning to play possession football and his numbers at the end of next season should be very interesting.'
Read more here:
Profiling Ball-Playing Centre-backs in the Championship
Both Mike van der Hoorn and Joe Rodon are among the best ones and here is what the authors say about them:
'It should be unsurprising that Magic Mike van der Hoorn features on our shortlist of ball playing centre-backs, given his background includes having played European football for Ajax and international football in the Dutch youth sides. As discussed previously, van der Hoorn is an efficient passer but it’s his ability to create goal-scoring opportunities from deep that is his most impressive trait. Vital to Swansea’s possession-oriented system, van der Hoorn ranks below the median for average length of short/medium pass, indicating that he keeps things ticking safely at the back but his stellar metrics for final 3rd passes, through balls and forward pass accuracy establish his ability to pick teammates out in good positions at will. He is the perfect example of a player currently operating within a possession based side and is unlikely to take a great deal of time to adapt to a similar system if he were to be signed away from Swansea.'
'Joe Rodon’s break-out season in professional football has been very impressive so far and no doubt, he’s learned a lot playing alongside an experienced head and one of the EFL’s best ball-playing CBs in Mike van der Hoorn. Rodon is dominant defensively and is one of the league’s best progressive passers to the middle third whilst also quite difficult to shrug off the ball when carrying it. Given his inexperience, quite understandably his role in the Swansea XI — much like Cameron Carter-Vickers, when played — is to play lower-risk passes and not bother too much about playing the ball into the final third, as that responsibility is shouldered by van der Hoorn. Rodon is in the perfect environment to be learning to play possession football and his numbers at the end of next season should be very interesting.'
Read more here:
Profiling Ball-Playing Centre-backs in the Championship
