All For One.....Defensive Lines in the Premier League.

While the attacking side of football was always going to be the focus of advanced analytics it is perhaps surprising that defensive metrics have received such little attention.

Aside from team wide expected goals allowed, more granular defensive metrics have barely progressed beyond mere counting of defensive actions such as tackles and challenges (player on player) and interceptions and clearances (player on ball).

There are exceptions, the universally excellent Colin Trainor here and there are excuses, particularly the scant availability of data relating to defensive actions.

Defence is also more overtly a team responsibility and whereas heroic last ditch tackles do occur and prevent a chance from turning into a shot, it is the overall structure and ability to create pressure on the team in possession that also exerts a great deal of influence.

So off the ball events are likely more important in defining an excellent defence than say decoy runs are to adding information to the attacking process, where shots, headers and key passes are more intuitively useful as an indication of repeatable process.

However, it can still be useful to add descriptive context to the defensive actions that are beginning to become available, such as interceptions, tackles and ball recoveries.

A simple division of how these defensive actions are shared out amongst the different playing positions and where on average on the field these actions are happening may add flesh towhat has previously been dry bones.

There are problems, especially the diversity of team formations, 17 different ones were employed in the 2016/17 Premier League 4231 proving most popular and 3142 the least and the definitive classification of positions also becomes less certain.

We can begin to look at both the share of defensive duties undertaken by a designated position both on average across the league and particularly within a team, along with the average area of the field where these actions occur.

These may then be a useful guide as to where either by choice or force as side defends its goal.

Firstly, here's a summary of the average distance from the centre of the goal where a defensive action occurred for designated positions during the 2016/17 Premier League season.

As you'd expect strikers and attacking players carry out their defensive duties the furthest away from their own goal. defensive midfielders creep closer to their own goal and defenders more so.

Now here's the share of defensive duties undertaken by the most commonly defined playing positions. Again there are no surprises, defensive positions are responsible for the lion's share of the recorded defensive events, but they do set baselines from which we can compare different teams to begin to tease out deviations from the norm.

Here's the average position from a side's own goal where the designated playing positions are taking part in a defensive action.

Usually strikers are involved in the defensive actions that take place highest up the field and central defenders are the group of playing positions who are mixing it nearest to their own goal.

The final column simply subtracts the first distance from the second to hopefully quantify the area within which most of a side's defensive actions are occurring within.

Burnley were the most compressed, defensively in 2016/17, requiring their designated strikers to help out in their own half, on average 42 yards from their own goal, while holding one of the deepest defensive lines in the league just 27 yards from goal, on average.

The majority of Burnley's defensive actions took place in a 15 yard perpendicular distance between these two lines of defensive action.

Leicester's defensive efforts, in contrast were the most spread out, with their strikers contribution spilling out into the opponents half of the pitch and their defence holding the deepest line of the 20 sides.

They perhaps needed a midfielder who could do the work of two.

Liverpool's high press is evident with the average position for defensive actions from their strikers taking place just inside their opponents half of the field and they also contribute the highest proportion of defensive actions in comparison to the attackers from other teams.

Part of this inflated striking defensive contribution will be down to the Reds utilising above average numbers of strikers, but it does seem that being part of such an attacking set up requires a spirited contribution towards the defensive cause as well.

All data is taken from the InfogolApp