Finding the best full backs from the Austrian Bundesliga – data analysis
In our second data analysis piece on the Austrian Bundesliga, we will be looking out for the best full-backs currently playing in the league using data. Full-backs have come a long way in redefining their traits in the modern game. Gone are the days when they had a very limited task to do only defending. Modern managers are hugely dependent on their full-backs for the team’s successful tactics and their roles have also evolved where some of them play as a midfielder by inverting into the midfield during possession.
In our analysis, we will be considering both the attacking as well as defensive attributes. We will be looking at players who registered at least 900 minutes of football in the 2021 league season. Also, only proper full-backs are taken into consideration i.e. no makeshift options included.
We will shortlist the best options according to the statistics and data analysis. Let’s dive deep into the analysis.
Player profiling
The most important thing for any player or position in football is probably to identify their best-suited abilities. Different players playing in the same position will have different abilities both offensively and defensively. Likewise, full-backs will show both defensive as well as offensive capabilities. In order to account for the profile of the FBs that we are looking into we compare them with respect to how well they perform their attacking and defensive actions. We can see the plot in the image below that compares the FBs in Superliga with this regard.
Jonas Auer – The 21-year old full-back from Rapid Wien. He has recorded 2.97 successful attacking actions per game and 12.26 successful defensive actions per game. He also wins his duels at a very decent to good rate 0f 51.46%.
Leonardo Lukačević – The 23-year old full-back from Admira. He averaged 2.89 successful attacking actions per game and 11.5 successful defensive actions per game. He also won duels at a very good rate of 51.75%.
Adis Jasic – The 19-year old full-back from Wolfsberger AC. He recorded 2.7 successful attacking actions per game and 15.32 successful defensive actions per game. He also won duels at a very good rate of 54.87%. From his numbers, we can see that he is more defensive in nature when compared to other full-backs and also executes his actions well.
René Renner – The 28-year old full-back from LASK. He has recorded 3.54 successful attacking actions per game and 10.68 successful defensive actions per game. He also wins his duels at a very decent to good rate 0f 57%.
Rasmus Kristensen – The 24-year old full-back from Salzburg, the defending champions and the table-toppers in the current season. He has recorded 4.63 successful attacking actions per game and 8.02 successful defensive actions per game. He also wins his duels at a very decent to good rate 0f 57.8%. Playing for the best team in the league has helped him achieve more attacking actions than anyone in the league.
Defensive ability
The next thing we look at is how the players perform in the defensive aspect of the game. We compare the full-backs with respect to their defensive duels and interceptions stats that they have recorded per game over the course of this season. Despite the modern-day full-back required to be very good on the ball, their share in contributing to the defence can never be undermined and is equally very important for a full-back.
Adis Jasic – The 19-year old right-back averaged 11.86 PAdj interceptions per game and 6.76 defensive duels won per game in the league last season, The impressive aspect about his defensive ability is the rate in which he won his duels, 54.87%.
Jonas Auer – The Rapid Wien left-back recorded 11.55 PAdj interceptions per game and 4.84 defensive duels won per game in the league last season, His rate at which he won his duels was 51.46%.
Patrick Farkas – The 29-year old right-back from Hartberg. He averaged 10 PAdj interceptions per game in the league and he also won 6.12 defensive duels per game in the league. He also won his duels at the rate of 49.49% which is just below the median level.
Filip Stojković – The 29-year old right-back from Rapid Wien. He recorded 9.76 PAdj interceptions per game in the league and won 5.3 defensive duels on average as well. His duel win rate is very impressive and among the best with 60%.
Marvin Potzmann – The 28-year old full-back from LASK. He has recorded 9.65 PAdj interceptions per game in the league and won 5.67 defensive duels on average as well. His duel win rate is very good where he wins his duels at the rate of 55%.
Playmaking
FBs are also tasked with moving the ball to the final third and helping the team to ensure that they can go to the final phase of the play. Also, there are some teams that depend on their full-backs to play out from the back. The likes of Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Manchester City use their full-backs to great effect to seamlessly build play out from the back.
Rasmus Kristensen – The Salzburg full-back recorded 10.65 passes into the final third with an accuracy of almost 61.3%. He also averaged 1.28 smart passes per game in the league this season, which is league-high.
Andreas Ulmer – The 36-year old left-back from Salzburg who is also their captain. He recorded 0.69 smart passes per game last season and also averaged a league-high 11.79 passes into the final third with an accuracy of 56.8%.
Marvin Potzmann – The LASK full-back recorded 8.59 passes into the final third with an accuracy of 56.32%. He also made 0.79 smart passes for his side which is a decent number for a full-back.
Herbert Paul – The Austria Klagenfurt right-back recorded 8.16 passes into the final third with an accuracy of 63.7%. He also made 0.59 smart passes per game in the league.
Amadou Dante – The 21-year old left-back from Sturm Graz. The Sturm Graz full-back has recorded 8.35 passes into the final third with an accuracy of 54.37%. He also averaged 0.57 smart passes per game in the league.
René Renner – The LASK left-back averaged 8.34 passes into the final third per game with an accuracy of almost 55.4%. He also made 0.56 smart passes on average every game showing his contribution to his side’s progressive play.
Ball progression
Full-backs these days are expected to be very expansive on the ball and also help the team to progress the ball over the different thirds of the pitch. They are expected to be very direct and technically sound on the ball and be comfortable in providing value to the team with their carrying and passing.
René Renner – The LASK left-back averaged 11.15 progressive passes in the league along with 2.2 progressive runs per game last season. He also averaged 3 progressive passes for every 10 passes he made in the league.
Andreas Ulmer – The veteran left-back averaged 14 progressive passes per game and 1.77 progressive runs per game in the league this season. He also averages 2.3 progressive passes for every 10 passes he makes.
Jonas Auer – The Rapid Wien left-back recorded 10.68 progressive passes per game and 2 progressive runs per game in the league this season. He also averages 2.3 progressive passes for every 10 passes he makes.
Rasmus Kristensen – The Salzburg full-back recorded 14 progressive passes per game and 1.46 progressive runs per game in the league this season. He also averages 2.7 progressive passes for every 10 passes he makes.
Adis Jasic – The 19-year old right-back averages a league-high 14.31 progressive passes per game and 1.3 progressive runs per game in the league this season. He also averages almost 3 progressive passes for every 10 passes he makes.
Chance creation
The final phase of play and potentially the most crucial aspect from an attacking sense is the creation of chances for their team’s forwards. This is where a lot of FBs, especially the attacking ones are judged based on their ability to consistently create chances. Full-backs are also expected to provide a width and be among the focal point of creation for their respective teams. Instead of comparing them with respect to their actual assist number that gets inflated due to great finishes we see their expected values and also their ability to make passes into the penalty area.
Rasmus Kristensen – The Salzburg full-back has recorded 0.73 key passes per game, the highest in the league among full-backs, with his assists being worth an xA of 0.16 per game. He has also averaged 1.07 shot-assists per game in the league this season.
Andreas Ulmer – The veteran left-back has averaged 0.6 key passes per game with his assists being worth an xA of 0.17 per game, which is the highest among the full-backs in the league this season. He has also averaged 1.34 shot-assists per game in the league this season.
Jonas Auer – The Rapid Wien left-back, this season has recorded 0.7 key passes per game with his assists being worth an xA of 0.15 per game. He has also averaged 1.29 shot-assists per game in the league this season.
Leonardo Lukačević – The 23-year old full-back from Admira has recorded 0.55 key passes per game with his assists being worth an xA of 0.15 per game. He has also averaged a league-high 1.4 shot-assists per game in the league this season.
Adis Jasic – The 19-year old right-back averages 0.55 key passes per game with his assists being worth an xA of 0.13 per game. He has also averaged 1.01 shot-assists per game in the league this season.
Players to watch out for
Based on the data and the statistics we have shortlisted a few options to look out for in the forthcoming season where we expect these full-backs to make bigger strides.
Rasmus Kristensen
The 24-year old Salzburg full-back has been one of their vital performers for them this season and has been constantly improving since his move from Ajax. He was also scouted by Roma and was wanted by them over the last summer. From the figure above, we can see he seems to be excelling in almost all the metrics, especially the ones that are in possession. He seems to be having slightly low numbers for defensive duels won and successful defensive actions which are mostly due to him playing for high possession team where he has fewer chances of performing such actions.
Leonardo Lukačević
The 23-year old full-back from Admira has also been one of the best performers in his position in the league. He has consistent;y performed well in almost all the metrics that we have taken into consideration and seems to be above the mean in most of them. He seems to be having very good ability to create chances in the final third and if he can develop his ability in possession, especially with buildup and playmaking to make it all-around he would be one of the most sought-after full-backs from Austria.
Jonas Auer
The 21-year old Rapid Wien left-back has been among the best performers in the league this season and could be key to their qualification to the Conference League next season. He seems to be very good in most metrics except smart passes which he can definitely improve as well and be a more well-rounded left-back next season. He is very good at carrying the ball and making a run with or without it which we can see from the progressive runs metric.
Adis Jasic
The 19-year old full-back from Wolfsberger AC. The teenager is among the best full-backs in the league whilst still being in the U-20 category where he has been a key cog in his side’s play. He is also among the vital performer for his side in their bid to qualify for Europe next season. He is a high volume defender and we can see he averages a lot of defensive actions for his side. He is also pretty good in terms of other offensive stats where we saw him appear in most of the sections like chance creation, ball progression, etc. The only place where he slightly falls short is his playmaking skills which he can definitely develop over the course of his career as he has a lot of time for that.
Conclusion
The Austrian Bundesliga possesses some fine full-backs with most of them being young and with high potential. In this article, we have covered both the attacking as well as the defensive traits to discuss and list a few of the best performing players. A lot of players have been handpicked and have seen themselves playing in multiple top-tier clubs across the Scandinavian regions. We could see that the players we saw and discussed could also follow the same path and be successful at the top level.
