An update to an old thread on Defensive Errors. Long time followers will be familiar with this. For new followers, these are the howlers, the brain-farts, the inexplicable mistakes, not positioning/tactical errors

Think of a defender passing the ball straight to an opponent on the edge of the box. Or getting caught on the ball in his defensive 3rd, or a missed clearance. Or a Keeper dropping a cross straight at the feet of an opponent, or flapping and missing a high ball into the box

Acronyms
ELS = Error Led to Shot
ELG = Error Led to Goal
PC = Penalty Conceded
TE = Total Errors

Football is a low-scoring sport. A few, high value events often decide the match result. Defensive Errors are one such event.
This data goes back to the start of 2011/12 so 9 full seasons. There are about 400 erors per season, just over 1 per match. 36.3% result in goals.

The first thing to note is that not all errors are equal. The closer to your own goal, the more costly they are.

Goalkeepers make the most (every 7.8 games) and they are the most costly with 63% leading to goals
Centre Backs average an error every 10.8 games with 34% leading to goals
In laymans terms, an error by a centre back is the equivalent value of half a penalty.

Goalkeepers are the primary focus for defensive errors with some making errors every 5 games. For GK's with over 4500 minutes for the same club, the top 20 are in the table below. This includes 6 current keepers (highlighted)

In terms of the least error prone GK (9000+ minutes):
Cech (Chelsea) every 1417 mins
De Gea (Man Utd) 1368*
Ryan (Brighton) 1325
Schmeichel (Leics) 1246
*De Gea to end of 2017/18 every 1640 mins. Since start of 2018/19 every 927 mins

Centre Backs are the secondary focus with the most error prone making a howler every 6-7 games. For CB's with over 4500 minutes at the same club, the top 20 are in the table below. This includes 4 current players

Errors are a function of team style+individual quality, the extent to which one is the driving factor should be looked at on a case-by-case basis. e.g. if we look at GK's across all clubs then the list changes slightly. Begovic and Stekelenburg were equally error prone at both

When you consider volume of minutes played and total errors then the standouts are Asmir Begovic and Jordan Pickford with an error every 5.5 games over their career

The 2 teams that feature most prominently in defensive errors since 2011/12 are Arsenal and Liverpool. Here's a chart showing how often both teams defences make an error between them. The Rodgers era was truly catastrophic for LFC, the low point being every 1.6 games in 14/15

But as the LFC personnel have improved, the last 3 seasons have only seen an error every 4 games. On the other hand Arsenal have remained pretty consistent throughout the decade /End