Ranking each Premier League team's most important player during build-up play in 2019-20 using data analytics: Part 4

#19 West Ham – Manuel Lanzini – xGBuildup Per 90: 0.314

Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United - Premier League

Life’s good for Slaven Bilić right now. His side is sitting atop the English Championship table and they just knocked his old side – West Ham out of the FA Cup, that too at West Ham’s stomping ground. Other than revisiting the place he called home a few years back, Bilić also happened to meet a few players who shone under his tutelage during his time at West Ham. One of them was Manuel Lanzini.

Lanzini’s loan deal was converted into a permanent deal in 2016 while Bilić was the manager and it was under him that Lanzini probably played his best football. Although he hasn’t scaled the same peaks off late, Lanzini is still a name to conjure with. The diminutive playmaker has been posting some credible numbers this season, even though he hasn’t played a lot.

He’s completing the 24th highest dribbles per game in the PL. Additionally, he’s recording the 5th highest dribbling success rate % in the list of Top 50 successful dribblers (Successful dribbles/Total dribbles – 76%) in the PL. Lanzini is also completing the 17th most through balls by a midfielder in the PL (more than 900 minutes)

Moreover, Lanzini has completed the 15th highest number of passes into the final third per 90 (900+ minutes) in the PL. On top of that, he is also completing the 13th most crosses into the penalty area (by a midfielder) per 90 in the PL and the 9th highest (2.5 per 90) number of key passes by any player in the PL (900+ mins). Ending with the most impressive stat of them all, he has the highest % of short passes completed by any outfield player in the PL (74.2%) this season.

---

#20 Wolverhampton Wanderers – Romain Saiss – xGBuildup Per 90: 0.373

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Liverpool FC - Premier League

Romain Saiss has learned his trade the hard way. He started his professional career in the 5th tier of French football and slowly rose through the ranks. He eventually got signed by Wolves when they were competing to come up to the prestigious PL. He played a pivotal role in their successful bid to attain Championship glory and was on the pitch for the 6th most number of minutes for Wolves during that season.

But life’s trajectory isn’t always linear. Wolves signed Leander Dendoncker and João Moutinho to help them compete in the PL and subsequently, Romain lost his starting position and played sporadically last season.

Romain presumably kept working hard. Courtesy an injury and some bad form by his team-mate, he got a chance to play and has had his resurgence as a centre back under Nuno Espírito Santo.

Romain is adept on the ground as well as in the air. His towering presence has meant that he wins a lot of the aerial duels he participates in. Moreover, he is remarkably accurate with his tackles and rarely gets dribbled past. He has the highest tackle success rate for any Wolves’ player with more than 350 minutes in the PL. (79%).

The Moroccan international knows how to work a football, as is evident from the number of accurate long balls he feeds to his team-mates. Romain averages 3.8 accurate long balls a game and only 3 other Wolves player can boast of a higher number. No wonder Romain is their most important player during the build-up of their play.

This is the end of Part 4 of this 4 part series. Although not exactly talking about build-up, Rodri, in his interview with The Guardian had this to say about players like Xabi Alonso, Sergio Busquets, Xavi that echoes the sentiment of their importance to their respective sides.

The fact these type of players are often overlooked by their attacking counterparts is commonplace, but what's commendable is that they still carry on selflessly and it's high time we give credit where credit is due.

"You can choose between doing what’s best for the team or what showcases what you can do. Forwards get the spotlight, which is understandable because the hardest thing is scoring goals, but there’s work behind that which has to be done."

Stat source(s): www.understat.com, https://fbref.com/en/, www.whoscored.com

ICYMI: Links to Part 1 Part 2 and Part 3