THREAD:

The Most Active Pressing Players in Europe During the 19/20 Season

This thread will list, according to league, the players who are most active when pressing the opponent. The following leagues will be looked at:

England: Premier League
France: Ligue 1
Germany: Bundesliga
Italy: Serie A
Spain: La Liga

The data has been adjusted for possession. This is important to do because pressing only occurs when a player is off the ball. So, players who play for teams that keep the ball often will press less which leads to deceptive data. So, adjustment for possession is paramount.

Lastly, the data sample includes any players who have played at least 9 90s in that league. I chose 9 as it is the closest number to a ⅓ of league games played across Europe so it seemed the fairest to use. Also, data is normalised to per 90 value.

Let's begin.

: Premier League

35.46 – Lingard
33.16 – Solanke
32.85 – Fred
32.08 – Trybull
31.60 – Kanté
30.64 – Oxlade-Chamberlain
30.14 – Ceballos
30.12 – Ings
30.01 – Jesus
29.76 – Buendia
29.10 – Pérez
28.93 – Henderson
28.91 – Lo Celso
28.76 – Ayew
28.74 – Mount
28.70 – Firmino

: Ligue 1

33.97 – Gueye
33.54 – Rongier
32.43 – Sanson
31.57 – Verratti
30.69 – Adli
30.30 – Araújo
29.54 – Otávio
29.39 – Maïga
28.07 – Yazici
28.02 – Koné
28.00 – Tousart
27.99 – Sarabia
27.96 – Lage
27.93 – Golovin
27.74 – Thomasson
27.67 – André
27.52 – Lusamba

: Bundesliga

38.97 – Laimer
33.18 – Poulsen
32.47 – Müller
31.70 – Reus
30.80 – Hofmann
29.92 – Perisic
29.39 – Rode
29.39 – Baumgartlinger
29.33 – Hazard
29.32 – Caligiuri
29.25 – Boëtius
28.71 – Aránguiz
28.26 – Bittencourt
28.13 – Baumgartner
27.94 – Raman

: Serie A

36.40 – Allan
32.74 – Mertens
29.58 – Bentancur
29.43 – Berardi
29.03 – Paquetá
28.92 – Castillejo
28.50 – Ayé
28.13 – Piatek
26.56 – Rabiot
26.41 – Rog
26.28 – Lukic
26.23 – Spalek
25.94 – Hernani
25.91 – Bennacer
25.62 – Poli
25.13 – Matuidi
25.13 – Freuler

: La Liga

40.67 – Vidal
27.99 – Herrera
27.57 – Torres
26.25 – Córdoba
26.00 – Trigueros
25.17 – F. Vázquez
24.94 – Azeez
24.94 – Eteki
24.75 – Cucurella
24.69 – Kroos
24.48 – V. Sánchez
24.46 – Busquets
24.19 – Fernández
23.87 – Jordán
23.60 – Gonalons
23.60 – Guevara

Top Four Most Active Pressers in Europe (19/20:

40.67 – Arturo Vidal (Barcelona)
38.97 – Konrad Laimer (RB Leipzig)
36.40 – Allan (Napoli)
35.46 – Jesse Lingard (Manchester United)

Summary:

The results, once adjusted for possession, leave little surprise with regard to the top players. There are some interesting inclusions such as Verratti at 4th in Ligue 1 as well as some conclusions to be drawn from La Liga data.

Summary II:

In La Liga, teams often play with the ball less with more time being wasted due to fouls, setting up defensive positioning, corners, keepers, substitutions and more. When combined more time is wasted which is why their results are, on average, slightly lower.

Summary III:

Arturo Vidal does not face this issue as Barcelona games usually result in the ball being in play for 57 total minutes which gives him around 22 minutes to press. He is the most active in Europe simply due to his quality.

Summary IV:

Both Jesse Lingard and Fred rank highly in the Premier League which should come as no surprise. They are tenacious and energetic off the ball which leads to multiple regains in midfield for us.

Conclusion:

Overall, this was a nice project. Adjusting for possession was the key in gathering accurate data for presentation. Without it, many players for the top teams would have been penalised unfairly.

I hope you enjoyed it.

Thread End.