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Merih Demiral, underrated or overrated?
I'm going to explore the promising Juve CB's career to provide reasoning and judgement for whether I believe he is underrated, or overrated.
A thread-
*Data analytics and presentation inspired by @Gasipo_Opinions
#ForzaJuve
#Demiral
I'm going to explore the promising Juve CB's career to provide reasoning and judgement for whether I believe he is underrated, or overrated.
A thread-
*Data analytics and presentation inspired by @Gasipo_Opinions
#ForzaJuve
#Demiral
Let's compare Demiral to top CB's in terms of defensive, positioning (as much as possible) and passing abilities
- Upacemano
- Laporte
- Ramos
- Boateng
*The stats are from 19/20 and 20/21 for Demiral and Upacemano, and 18/19, 19/20 and 20/21 for the rest
- Upacemano
- Laporte
- Ramos
- Boateng
*The stats are from 19/20 and 20/21 for Demiral and Upacemano, and 18/19, 19/20 and 20/21 for the rest
Starting off with pure Defensive abilities:
PAdj Tackles won p90 | Tackle % | 1v1 tackle %
Demiral: 2.7 | 77% | 53.8%
Upacemano: 3.2 | 74% | 57.6%
Laporte: 2.09 | 61% | 49.3%
Ramos: 2.58 | 70% | 53.4%
Boateng: 1.74 | 57% | 36.7%
PAdj Tackles won p90 | Tackle % | 1v1 tackle %
Demiral: 2.7 | 77% | 53.8%
Upacemano: 3.2 | 74% | 57.6%
Laporte: 2.09 | 61% | 49.3%
Ramos: 2.58 | 70% | 53.4%
Boateng: 1.74 | 57% | 36.7%
You could see Demiral out-performs most of the other top CB's, only coming second to Upamecano, another rising star.
Definitely a player worth the praise, but there's more to a CB than just tackling....
Definitely a player worth the praise, but there's more to a CB than just tackling....
Aerials won% | PAdj clearances p90 | Errors leading to shot
Demiral: 81.8% | 6.35 | 0
Upamecano: 69.1% | 4.96 | 2
Laporte: 67.6% | 5.18 | 2
Ramos: 64.5% | 4.90 | 7
Boateng: 76.5% | 5.69 | 0
Demiral: 81.8% | 6.35 | 0
Upamecano: 69.1% | 4.96 | 2
Laporte: 67.6% | 5.18 | 2
Ramos: 64.5% | 4.90 | 7
Boateng: 76.5% | 5.69 | 0
Wonderful! Demiral outperforms every single person on that list, and by a considerable margin.
Now the Positioning stats.
Positioning is one of those things that stats cannot idenitfy too much. However, the amount of interceptions p90 can tell you how well they read the game.
Now the Positioning stats.
Positioning is one of those things that stats cannot idenitfy too much. However, the amount of interceptions p90 can tell you how well they read the game.
PAdj Clearances p90
Demiral: 0.88
Upamecano: 1.36
Laporte: 1.46
Ramos: 1.44
Boateng: 1.15
Clearly Demiral doesn't read the game as well as he should, being the only one on this list with less than 1 PAdj Clearance p90, reducing his credentials as a CB.
Demiral: 0.88
Upamecano: 1.36
Laporte: 1.46
Ramos: 1.44
Boateng: 1.15
Clearly Demiral doesn't read the game as well as he should, being the only one on this list with less than 1 PAdj Clearance p90, reducing his credentials as a CB.
Now the passing and offensive stats.
A CB must be a good passer these days and needs to play out from the back in most setups, especially in Demiral's case where he plays under Andrea Pirlo's posession based football.
A CB must be a good passer these days and needs to play out from the back in most setups, especially in Demiral's case where he plays under Andrea Pirlo's posession based football.
Passes to 3rd p100 touches | Passing% | Long passing% | Yards progressed p100 touches
Demiral: 1.87 | 93.4% | 82.6% | 567
Upamecano: 7.33 | 89.2% | 81.4% | 855
Laporte: 9.27 | 92.1% | 80% | 899
Ramos: 7.36 | 91.7% | 85.2% | 844
Boateng: 8.69 | 88.3% | 75.9% | 783
Demiral: 1.87 | 93.4% | 82.6% | 567
Upamecano: 7.33 | 89.2% | 81.4% | 855
Laporte: 9.27 | 92.1% | 80% | 899
Ramos: 7.36 | 91.7% | 85.2% | 844
Boateng: 8.69 | 88.3% | 75.9% | 783
Demiral is clearly not a good ball playing CB.
Although, it must considered that he plays with De Ligt and Bonucci, It's not his role to play long balls.
However, with the rest of the CB's being able to both pass short and long, he is cearly not the most complete CB on the list
Although, it must considered that he plays with De Ligt and Bonucci, It's not his role to play long balls.
However, with the rest of the CB's being able to both pass short and long, he is cearly not the most complete CB on the list
In conclusion, Demiral is one of the best tackling CB's in the world, outperforming the likes of Sergio Ramos and Aymeric Laporte is that category, however he is not the most complete CB in the world due to his inability to play long ball.
Decision: Merih Demiral is underrated
Decision: Merih Demiral is underrated
