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Player reportPremier League 2026
IPS

Issa Diop

Ipswich
Stopper centre-back CB
14.6 defensive actions/90 · 4.3 progressive/90 — defends first
Capability Analysis
Aerial & Box Defending16%vs 50 centre-backs
"Can he win the individual defensive battle in his own box?"
Aerial duels won /900.00%
Aerial win rate: 0.0%
Clearances /904.2832%
Ball-Winning39%vs 50 centre-backs
"How actively does he win the ball back?"
Interceptions /901.1972%
Ball recoveries /903.0844%
Tackles /900.7612%
Duels won /901.4128%
Breaking Pressure
only 29 pressured-passing actions across 1 high-press match -- not enough sample (needs 5+ matches and 12+ actions)
Progression36%vs 50 centre-backs
"Can he move the team forward with a pass, not just recycle it sideways?"
Progressive passes /902.5428%
Line-breaking passes /900.3210%
Threat added by passing /900.79xT26%
Pass accuracy89.33%80%
Ball-Carrying49%vs 50 centre-backs
"Does he advance the ball himself when the pass isn't on?"
Progressive carries /905.0346%
Carry distance /90127.48m52%
centre-backball-playing centre-backbuild-upline-breaking
776
minutes
8 apps
414
passes
92% completed
92%
pass completion
414 passes
37
progressive passes
4.3/90
25
line-breaking passes
2.9/90
126
defensive actions
14.6/90
24
tackles + interceptions
50% tackle win
36
clearances
4.2/90
Overview

The player

Who he is and how he compares with his peers.

01

What Patterns Define Him?

His repeatable signature. A step only appears if its reliability score (sample size × match coverage) reaches at least Medium confidence — pattern mining, not anecdotes.

RECEIVE
in the first line of build-up — mostly in the defensive third (51% of his 414 passes)
92% completion · 414× in 8/8 matches
↓
BREAK A LINE
vertical pass past the opponent midfield
4.3 prog/90 · 25× in 7/8 matches
↓
SWITCH PLAY
diagonal to the far side
cross-field balls · 6× in 4/8 matches
↓
PROGRESS
entries into the final third
2.0/90 · 17× in 6/8 matches
Signature: Receive → Break A Line → Switch Play → Progress — the only steps proven repeatable this season (4 of 5 in the full pattern). Not enough evidence yet for the rest of the chain below.
Not a pattern: carry out — 4× (low confidence, shown as a number only, no tactical conclusion drawn) — omitted from the signature rather than presented as one.
17

Where is he influential — vs where is he merely present?

Red fill = raw touch territory. Gold rings = zones where his influence (xT added, progression, line-breaks, key passes) outweighs how often he's actually there — one combined map instead of two separate maps to compare by eye. Red with no ring: present but not dangerous. A ring on faint red: rare touches, outsized impact.

own goal left, attacking →
52
passes / match
14.6
def actions / 90
30–73
pass range (matches)
36
clearances
Pass range = his fewest and most passes in any single match this season (30 at the low end, 73 at the high) — a measure of match-to-match involvement, not pass distance.
In possession

In possession

What he does with the ball: build-up, progression, creation, carrying and finishing.

08

How dangerous are his carries?

Real ball-carries

100 tracked carries (11.6/90, 21 progressive, 838m total) — the ball moving with his touches, a different signal from dribbles below (beating an opponent 1v1). even a player who rarely dribbles past a man can still carry the ball forward constantly in build-up; this is that.

14%19%15%6%1%3%15%22%4%1%
progressivelateral/short% of his 100 carries originating in each zone · own goal left, attacking →
Every carry, exact path — median 6m, longest 30m
By zone — where the carry started → where it ended
9Outside → Inside
70Inside → Inside
12Outside → Outside
9Inside → Outside
First (33)Second (31)Third (20)Fourth (16)grouped by carry pattern (start + end position), largest group first
startendown goal left, attacking →

Beaten in the tackle

How often an attacker gets past him in a 1v1 defensive duel — the closest signal the data has to "dribbled past" (no attacker-beat-defender field exists directly, so this counts tackles he attempted and lost).

8
tackle duels
4
won
4
beaten · 50%
brighter band = more tackle duels · own goal left, attacking →
INSIDE 88%
OUTSIDE 12%
Tackle-duel location — 7 inside · 1 outside
Right Wing
1 · 12%
Right Half-Space
3 · 38%
Central
4 · 50%
Left Half-Space
0 · 0%
Left Wing
0 · 0%
Vision AI beaten in 4 of 8 tackle duels (50% loss rate) — a real defensive leak worth flagging.
Every tackle duel, exact location
wonlost — dribbled pastown goal left, attacking →

He attempted only 2 dribbles of his own all season — dribbling is not part of this role; his ball-carrying is covered above, his defending against the dribble below.

02

How does he build & move the ball?

How does he escape the first line?

11%
vertical passes
34×
2%
switches
6×
29%
carries
89×
58%
short circulation
178×
Answer: he escapes the press primarily through carrying — stepping out with the ball.

How he moves the ball — his 4 busiest progression routes, not where every pass starts and ends separately. Arrow width = how often, colour = xT gained, dashed = switch of play. The full breakdown is in the lane matrix below.

own goal left, attacking →
Lane transition matrix — when he receives in a lane, where does it go?
TO →RWRHSCLHSLWRW6248%3029%1821%132%1RHS18534%6223%4338%714%81%1C11210%1126%2942%4721%232%2LHS1712%224%429%535%6LW333%133%133%1FROM
Rows normalised: each row sums to 100% of that lane's completed passes. Grey number = passes from that lane.

Primary route: the right wing in the middle third → the right half-space in the middle third — 3 progressive passes (14% of his progression) at 0.009 xT each. He moves it inside.

His progression is inward: 52% of progressive passes move the ball toward the middle versus 19% going wider — he cuts in rather than holding width.

Only 3% of his passes switch play, so his threat is same-side — contain the flank he occupies and the route closes.

Quality behind the volume: 3 line-breaking passes and 17 final-third entries, 4.2 total xT added.

Origin and destination are measured on the same event row — no receiver inference. Receiver identity is not recoverable from this data source.
All passes — origin zone share
Filter: from to
10%20%14%13%1%0%5%13%15%5%0%0%1%2%1%
completedincomplete414 passes · any zone → any zone · own goal left, attacking →
414
passes
92%
completed
35
lost
Vision AIIn line with his 92% season completion rate.
04

How does he progress play?

How much he drives the ball forward. Progressive = completed pass advancing ≥15 toward goal.

37
progressive · 4.3/90
17
final-third entries · 2.0/90
0
box entries · 0.00/90
13
progression index /90
Progression index: one composite number — progressive passes + progressive carries + 2% of total distance progressed + 8× positive xT added, all per 90. Weights VOLUME and THREAT together rather than counting progressive actions alone.
12

How does he create chances?

2 key passes (0.23/90), 0 of them assists — where his chance creation specifically comes from, 18 zones (6×3), showing his share of key passes originating there.

Chance creation — key pass origin zone share
Filter:
50%50%
chance creation (2)assist (0)% of the selected group's key passes originating in each zone
09

Where does he become vulnerable?

35 times he gave the ball away. For a defender the danger is where — a loss in his own third can turn into a chance against; higher up it costs little.

1
attacking third (cheap)
16
middle third
18
own third (dangerous)
Vision AI 3% of losses are in the attacking third — a notable share happen deeper, which invites transitions.
Mistake danger (proxy): 2.30 danger-index/90 · 0.566 avg/turnover. Weights each loss by threat conceded at that location. True xT-conceded needs the opponent possession model; positional proxy.
05

What is his passing profile?

414
passes attempted
49%
mostly forward
49%
mostly short
Direction
Forward
201 · 49%
Sideways
137 · 33%
Backward
76 · 18%
Length (completed)
Short (<15m)
186 · 49%
Medium
177 · 47%
Long (>30m)
16 · 4%
10

Preferred Progression Routes — xT-weighted

His progressive passes as zone→zone routes, weighted by expected threat (xT) added — arrow width and the number are the total xT generated on each route, not just how often he plays it. This is where he actually moves the needle.

0.320.180.160.150.150.15
own goal left, attacking →
Highest-value routes (xT)
0.32
Central Mid third → Left Half-Space Att third
2 passes
0.18
Right Wing Def third → Right Wing Mid third
3 passes
0.16
Central Def third → Central Mid third
3 passes
0.15
Right Half-Space Mid third → Right Wing Mid third
4 passes
0.15
Right Wing Mid third → Right Wing Att third
1 passes
0.15
Right Wing Def third → Left Half-Space Mid third
1 passes
06

Where Does He Receive?

The zones where Issa Diop gets on the ball — his top three ball-collection areas highlighted (gold = primary). Reception is proxied by where his on-ball actions begin (no explicit receiver is recorded).

123
1 = primary, 2 = secondary, 3 = third · own goal left, attacking →
His collection zones
23%
Primary
Right Half-Space, Middle third
23%
Secondary
Right Half-Space, Defensive third
14%
Third
Central, Defensive third
These are the zones where he collected the ball most.
07

Where Does He Operate? — Every Zone

Every on-ball touch (pass, dribble, shot) binned into a 6×3 grid — raw counts of where Issa Diop actually gets on the ball. Hover any zone for its breakdown by action type, its share of all touches, and the exact coordinate range it covers.

Filter:
49421536320134482575232
own goal left, attacking → · brighter + higher number = more touches

Passes only — completed vs incomplete, by zone

Same zone grid, restricted to passes so completed/incomplete and match filters actually mean something — a shot or a dribble has no "completed" in the pass sense.

10%20%14%13%1%0%5%13%15%5%0%0%1%2%1%
own goal left, attacking →
11

Every Pass This Season — completed vs incomplete

Every pass this season, plotted individually — green = completed, grey (dashed) = incomplete, gold = key pass. Filter by outcome or isolate one match below.

2Key pass
37Progressive
25Long ball
6Switch
By zone — where the pass started → where it landed
34Outside → Inside
232Inside → Inside
31Outside → Outside
82Inside → Outside
By direction
201Forward
76Backward
137Sideways
own goal left, attacking →
03

Tactical patterns — how his football actually looks

Three clustered sequence diagrams from his own event data — his three busiest routes: the way he progresses, the pattern behind his chances, and where a turnover turns dangerous.

own goal left, attacking →
How does he progress the ball forward?
His most common route for progressing play: he switches it out from the central to the left hs, advancing it forward in the middle third — 2 passes worth 0.32 xT.
Where do his chances come from?
Of 2 key passes, his busiest route is a delivery where he plays inside from the right hs toward the central in the final third — 1 times. The receiver isn't identifiable in this data, only where the pass started and ended.
Where does he lose the ball most?
This is a RATE, not a raw count — the share of his touches in each zone that end in a turnover, so a zone he simply plays in more often doesn't automatically look riskier. His weakest zone is the right wing in the defensive third: 21% of his 42 touches there are lost (9 times).
21%9/42 lost4%4/93 lost3%2/59 lost21%3/14 lost—3 touches · too few15%5/34 lost5%5/97 lost9%5/58 lost—7 touches · too few—0 touches · too few—1 touch · too few—4 touches · too few—2 touches · too few—0 touches · too few—0 touches · too fewRWRHSCLHSLWDEFMIDATT
Out of possession

Out of possession

Where and how he defends and presses.

13

How & where does he defend?

126 defensive actions across the season (14.6/90). Where he wins the ball, and how — the core question for a defender. Aerial duels are not recorded for this competition, so aerial dominance is not measured here.

click a card to isolate that action type · own goal left, attacking →
8
tackles · 50% won
16
interceptions · 1.9/90
38
recoveries · 4.4/90
36
clearances · 4.2/90
3
blocks
27
avg action height
5
won high (att 3rd)
32
middle third
89
own third
Vision AI A deep-defending defender. He wins the ball mainly by stepping in — tackles, interceptions & recoveries outweigh clearances. 62 proactive ball-wins (7.2/90), tackle success 50%. He defends deep, protecting his box — a last-line stopper.
14

Can he play under pressure?

Split by how hard the opponent pressed (opponent PPDA — lower = more intense press). Can Issa Diop still play out when the opponent presses high? His build-up quality split by press intensity — the key question for a ball-playing defender. Tiers of ~2-4 matches — directional evidence, not proof.

press tier
completion
prog /90
line-breaks /90
xT /90
High press (PPDA 3.8, 2m)
83%
1.8
2.8
0.30
Mid press (PPDA 4.4, 2m)
96%
4.2
1.9
0.79
Low press (PPDA 5.4, 4m)
92%
5.6
3.5
0.99
Team

Team context

How much of the team runs through him, and what changes without him.

15

Impact on the Team

Insufficient sample: Issa Diop played nearly every Ipswich match in the loaded data, so there is no meaningful "without him" comparison yet. This section fills in as more matches (and the rest of the season) are scraped.

16

His Share of the Team

Of everything Ipswich produced this season, the categories where the biggest share ran through Issa Diop specifically — his share of the team total, not a per-90 rate.

category
share
him / team
clearances
17%
79 / 472
interceptions
11%
22 / 192
threat added by passing (xT)
8%
14.6 / 177.3
Recruitment

Style and verdict

Style profile, closest comparables, and the summary.

18

Playing-Style Profile

Not raw event counts — football style scores: weighted models scored 0–100 against the 513 centre-backs in the pool (min 450 min). This is what separates players who post similar numbers but play differently. Proxy dimensions are inferred from on-ball data; true off-ball running / under-pressure context is not measured.

Ball-playing centre-back74%Stopper centre-back35%
Why Ball-playing centre-back 74%: a weighted blend of retention 86 (weight 30%) + build-up 77 (weight 30%) + press resistance 78 (weight 15%) + progression 29 (weight 25%). The score reflects how distinctively his profile SHAPE matches this archetype vs his peers.
Elite
retention
Strong
press resistance, build-up
Average
dribbling, carrying, passing directness, transition, territory (wide vs central)
Weak
ball-winning, progression, defensive aggression, receiving zones, final-third threat, creativity, box threat, line-breaking, crossing, through-balls
Unknown
aerial ability, marking, off-ball running — not in event data
Retention
86
Press resistance ~proxy
78
Build-up
77
Dribbling
67
Carrying
55
Passing directness
52
Transition ~proxy
51
Territory (wide vs central)
45
Ball-winning
39
Progression
29
Defensive aggression
23
Receiving zones
20
Final-third threat
15
Creativity
15
Box threat
10
Line-breaking
9
Crossing
6
Through-balls ~proxy
6
19

Similar Players — in style space

Closest comparables measured on the style scores above, within the same position family — so it separates how players are alike, not just how much they touch the ball. Each line explains the shared strength and the divergent mechanism. A light physical-profile term (height / weight; this player: 194 cm / 88 kg) is included at a quarter of one style axis's weight — enough to break ties between stylistic twins, not to override style. Scope: pooled across the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue 1 and Serie A, percentiled within each player's own league before comparing — a match from another league is marked with its league name.

Style, not quality: a high match here means two players tend to produce the ball in similar ways — it is not a ranking, a scouting recommendation, or a claim that they are equally good.

Jay Idzes Sassuolo · Serie A · 184 cm / 82 kg
90%
Driven by: box threat (12%), crossing (11%), defensive aggression (10%). Different mechanism — Diop more via territory (wide vs central), carrying.
Micky van de Ven Tottenham · 193 cm / 81 kg
88%
Driven by: creativity (16%), line-breaking (10%), through-balls (9%). Different mechanism — Diop more via passing directness; Ven more via box threat, crossing.
Max Rosenfelder Freiburg · Bundesliga · 187 cm / 85 kg
87%
Driven by: creativity (17%), box threat (13%), final-third threat (11%). Different mechanism — Diop more via retention; Rosenfelder more via crossing.
Jenson Seelt Wolfsburg · Bundesliga 25/26 · 195 cm / 84 kg
86%
Driven by: creativity (17%), crossing (16%), box threat (11%). Different mechanism — Diop more via retention, press resistance; Seelt more via defensive aggression.
Natan Real Betis · La Liga · 188 cm / 92 kg
85%
Driven by: creativity (15%), crossing (14%), line-breaking (11%). Different mechanism — Diop more via press resistance, dribbling; Natan more via box threat, defensive aggression.
Einar Galilea Malaga · La Liga · 185 cm / 73 kg
84%
Driven by: creativity (13%), press resistance (12%), box threat (11%). Different mechanism — Diop more via passing directness, territory (wide vs central); Galilea more via crossing, dribbling.
20

Summary

Issa Diop is a ball-playing centre-back: 92% pass completion, 25 line-breaking passes and 4.3 progressive passes /90. A build-and-progress centre-back whose value is in beating the first line with the pass, not in raw defensive volume. [Aerial duels, marking, line-height and 1v1 recovery need aerial-event + tracking data, absent here.]

Based on 8 matches (776 minutes) — an early read, treat with caution until more minutes are logged. He profiles as a ball-playing centre-back — best used in a system built around that identity. His biggest room for growth is progression — even a modest improvement there would meaningfully lift his overall ball-playing centre-back profile.
✨ This report is interactive

Click any stat card to filter its map, hover a dot for the exact match, and use the dropdowns to slice passes zone-to-zone. Nothing here is static.

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