http://www.eplindex.com/14552/premier-league-team-of-the-year-based-on-statistics-part-1-defence-opta-stats.html
Left Back
The results of the left back comparison are quite surprising as Maynor Figueroa, Patrice Evra and Gael Clichy all compare better than the PFA's choice Leighton Baines.
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Enrique has won the highest percentage of his tackles this season out of all the left backs that were attempted as he won 81.16% of his tackles. Enrique has won 1.75% more of his tackles than Riise and 4.24% more of his tackles than Evra who both scored highly in this statistic.
It has also only taken Enrique 16 minutes to win the ball back each time in the defensive third of the pitch, which is 3 minutes more often than Assou-Ekotto and 10 minutes more often than Figueroa.
Figueroa has been accurate with 41% of his crosses this season, which is 13% more accurate than Baines and 14% more accurate than both Assou-Ekotto and Riise. Figueroa and Evra also make a tackle every 31 minutes, which is 4 minutes better than Cole and 7 minutes better than Clichy.
Figueroa has made 93 interceptions this season though, which is 1 more than Assou-Ekotto, 18 more than Clichy and 28 more than Baines. Figueroa has also won the highest percentage of ground 50-50s this season as he has won 5% more than Riise and 6% more than Evra.
Riise has won the highest percentage of aerial 50-50s this season though as he has won an impressive 66% of them. This is 3% better than Figueroa and 10% better than Enrique who have both won an impressive amount of aerial 50-50s this season.
Ashley Cole has completed 85.49% of his passes this season, which is 1.89% better than Evra, 3.46% better than Clichy and an impressive 13.91% better than his England colleague Baines.
Baines has created a chance for Everton every 44 minutes this season though, which is 22 minutes more often than his nearest rival in this statistic Assou-Ekotto and 37 minutes more often than Evra.
Baines and Clichy have also not made any defensive errors this season, compared to Evra who makes a defensive error every 3239 minutes and Riise who makes one every 3141 minutes.
It also takes Clichy 226 minutes to lose possession of the ball, which is 63 minutes longer than Figueroa and 68 minutes longer than Riise. Clichy has also only conceded 0.68 goals per game that he has played this season, which is 0.18 fewer goals per game than Evra and 0.20 fewer goals per game than both Baines and Enrique.
Therefore, as Figueroa has scored 5 points more than Clichy and 8 points more than both Baines and Riise in this comparison he is our choice for the left back spot in the team of the year. Although, to improve next season he will need to focus more on winning his tackles as he has only won 68.87% of his tackles this season.
Left Back Choice: Maynor Figueroa
http://www.eplindex.com/14552/premier-league-team-of-the-year-based-on-statistics-part-1-defence-opta-stats.html/2 (http://www.eplindex.com/14552/premier-league-team-of-the-year-based-on-statistics-part-1-defence-opta-stats.html/2)
Centre Backs
The results of the centre back comparison show that Kompany and Coloccini who were picked for the PFA team of the year do not fare as well statistically and remember this is a statistical comparison for team of the year and not what we watch from the stands or on our televisions.
(http://www.eplindex.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/CB-Comparison-1.png)
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Lescott has won an impressive 90.70% of his tackles this season, which is 7.72% more than Vermaelen and 8.56% more than Luiz. However, Koscielny has made a tackle every 34 minutes, which is 5 minutes more often than Dunne and 7 minutes more often than Kompany.
Koscielny has also won possession of the ball back in the defensive third of the pitch every 18 minutes, which is 1 minute more often than Luiz and 4 minutes more often than Coloccini. Koscielny has also made the highest number of interceptions this season, as he has made 12 more than Hangeland and 14 more than Kaboul.
Ferdinand has rarely lost possession of the ball this season as he has only given the ball away every 513 minutes, which is 5 minutes less often than Heitinga and 14 minutes less often than Skrtel.
Skrtel has won 69% of his ground 50-50s this season, which is 2% more than Kompany, Ferdinand, Terry, Agger and Kaboul and 3% more than Hangeland. Skrtel has also won the highest percentage of aerial 50-50s, as he has won 3% more than Lescott and 7% more than Terry.
Terry did come out on top in pass completion percentage though, as he has completed 91.07% of his passes this season. This is 1.04% better than Evans and 1.08% better than Ferdinand.
Evans has conceded the fewest amount of goals per game when he has played this season as he has conceded 0.04 fewer goals per game than Kompany and 0.13 fewer goals than Lescott.
Therefore, as Koscielny and Skrtel come out on top in this comparison they are our choices to play at centre back.
Centre Back Choices: Laurent Koscielny and Martin Skrtel
Just shows statistics can be made to give you the answer you want. Ashley Cole has been the best left back for a few years now but the stats show him as one of the worst. Bet if he was for sale all the top 4 and others around Europe would be in for him. The same cannot be said for nearly all the other LB's tthat finish above him in this table