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Player reportPremier League 2026

James Garner

Everton
Ball-winning 6 (destroyer) DM
14.8 defensive actions/90
Capability Analysis
Breaking Pressure
only 24 pressured-passing actions across 2 high-press matches -- not enough sample (needs 5+ matches and 12+ actions)
Progression73%vs 23 defensive mids
"Can he move the team forward with a pass, not just recycle it sideways?"
Progressive passes /905.6587%
Line-breaking passes /902.1891%
Threat added by passing /901.32xT74%
Pass accuracy81.54%39%
Ball-Winning49%vs 23 defensive mids
"How actively does he win the ball back?"
Interceptions /901.3270%
Ball recoveries /904.7735%
Tackles /902.987%
Duels won /900.614%
defensive midball-winning 6press resistancescreening
643
minutes
8 apps
398
passes
86% completed
86%
pass completion
398 passes
23
progressive passes
3.2/90
106
defensive actions
14.8/90
22
tackles + interceptions
56% tackle win
43
recoveries
6.0/90
39
line-breaking passes
5.5/90
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
drop between the centre-backs — mostly in the middle third (61% of his 398 passes)
86% completion · 398× in 8/8 matches
↓
PROGRESS CENTRAL
break a line through the middle
3.2 prog/90 · 39× in 7/8 matches
↓
SCREEN / WIN BALL
protect the back four
9.1 ball-wins/90 · 65× in 8/8 matches
↓
RECYCLE / PROGRESS
keep it ticking, feed the final third
3.5 f3-entries/90 · 25× in 6/8 matches
Signature: Receive → Progress Central → Screen / Win Ball → Recycle / 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: escape pressure — 3× (low confidence, shown as a number only, no tactical conclusion drawn) — omitted from the signature rather than presented as one.
18

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 →
50
passes / match
14.8
def actions / 90
9–92
pass range (matches)
10
clearances
Pass range = his fewest and most passes in any single match this season (9 at the low end, 92 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.

10

How dangerous are his carries?

Real ball-carries

84 tracked carries (11.8/90, 14 progressive, 802m 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.

1%5%4%2%2%11%8%6%7%23%18%11%2%
progressivelateral/short% of his 84 carries originating in each zone · own goal left, attacking →
Every carry, exact path — median 8m, longest 38m
By zone — where the carry started → where it ended
9Outside → Inside
43Inside → Inside
23Outside → Outside
9Inside → Outside
First (37)Second (26)Third (16)Fourth (5)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).

18
tackle duels
10
won
8
beaten · 44%
brighter band = more tackle duels · own goal left, attacking →
INSIDE 83%
OUTSIDE 17%
Tackle-duel location — 15 inside · 3 outside
Right Wing
2 · 11%
Right Half-Space
2 · 11%
Central
6 · 33%
Left Half-Space
7 · 39%
Left Wing
1 · 6%
Vision AI beaten in 8 of 18 tackle duels (44% loss rate) — a real defensive leak worth flagging.
Every tackle duel, exact location
wonlost — dribbled pastown goal left, attacking →

He attempted only 3 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.

03

How does he build & move the ball?

How does he escape the first line?

7%
vertical passes
11×
6%
switches
9×
31%
carries
49×
57%
short circulation
91×
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 →RWRHSCLHSLWRW3057%1727%817%5RHS4933%1633%1627%138%4C896%529%2634%3024%218%7LHS872%23%323%2029%2543%37LW891%112%1122%2064%57FROM
Rows normalised: each row sums to 100% of that lane's completed passes. Grey number = passes from that lane.

Primary route: the left wing in the middle third → the left wing in the final third — 3 progressive passes (8% of his progression) at 0.083 xT each. He keeps it in the same lane.

His progression is inward: 56% of progressive passes move the ball toward the middle versus 3% going wider — he cuts in rather than holding width.

9% of his passes are cross-field switches — he changes the point of attack often.

Quality behind the volume: 14 line-breaking passes and 25 final-third entries, 2.2 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
0%3%7%6%5%0%7%13%8%4%1%4%12%16%10%6%
completedincomplete398 passes · any zone → any zone · own goal left, attacking →
398
passes
86%
completed
54
lost
Vision AIIn line with his 86% season completion rate.
04

How does he progress play?

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

23
progressive · 3.2/90
25
final-third entries · 3.5/90
7
box entries · 0.98/90
17
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?

7 key passes (0.98/90), 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:
17%17%17%17%17%17%
chance creation (6)assist (0)% of the selected group's key passes originating in each zone
05

Where does he become vulnerable?

57 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.

23
attacking third (cheap)
25
middle third
9
own third (dangerous)
Vision AI 40% of losses are in the attacking third — a notable share happen deeper, which invites transitions.
Mistake danger (proxy): 2.44 danger-index/90 · 0.306 avg/turnover. Weights each loss by threat conceded at that location. True xT-conceded needs the opponent possession model; positional proxy.
06

What is his passing profile?

398
passes attempted
40%
mostly sideways
56%
mostly short
Direction
Forward
138 · 35%
Sideways
159 · 40%
Backward
101 · 25%
Length (completed)
Short (<15m)
191 · 56%
Medium
135 · 39%
Long (>30m)
18 · 5%
07

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.

0.500.340.330.280.230.14
own goal left, attacking →
Highest-value routes (xT)
0.50
Left Wing Mid third → Left Wing Att third
3 passes
0.34
Right Wing Mid third → Central Att third
1 passes · 1 to a shot
0.33
Left Wing Mid third → Central Att third
1 passes · 1 to a shot
0.28
Right Wing Att third → Right Half-Space Att third
1 passes
0.23
Left Half-Space Att third → Left Half-Space Att third
1 passes
0.14
Right Wing Def third → Right Wing Att third
1 passes
08

Where Does He Receive?

The zones where James Garner 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
16%
Primary
Left Half-Space, Middle third
16%
Secondary
Central, Middle third
15%
Third
Left Wing, Middle third
These are the zones where he collected the ball most.
09

Where Does He Operate? — Every Zone

Every on-ball touch (pass, dribble, shot) binned into a 6×3 grid — raw counts of where James Garner 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:
51647633922127513220110282519
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.

0%3%7%6%5%0%7%13%8%4%1%4%12%16%10%6%
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.

7Key pass
9Cross
2Cutback
23Progressive
39Long ball
13Switch
By zone — where the pass started → where it landed
45Outside → Inside
158Inside → Inside
74Outside → Outside
67Inside → Outside
By direction
138Forward
101Backward
159Sideways
own goal left, attacking →
02

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 plays straight through the left wing, advancing it forward in the middle third — 3 passes worth 0.50 xT.
Where do his chances come from?
Of 7 key passes, his busiest route is a delivery where he plays inside from the left wing toward the central in the final third — 2 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 final third: 38% of his 8 touches there are lost (3 times).
—5 touches · too few—7 touches · too few8%2/24 lost25%4/16 lost12%1/8 lost9%2/23 lost14%5/37 lost8%5/61 lost9%6/64 lost8%5/59 lost38%3/8 lost8%1/12 lost8%1/12 lost11%2/19 lost35%15/43 lostRWRHSCLHSLWDEFMIDATT
13

Crosses & Cutbacks

9 crosses (1.26/90, 4 completed) and 2 cutbacks (0.28/90, 1 completed) — two separate wide-delivery patterns into the box, each its own map with a completed/failed filter. Neither is a tagged event, so both are inferred from pass geometry — the intended end point of a failed attempt is still real data (an interception doesn’t erase where the ball was aimed): a cross is a pass aimed into the box starting from a wide channel; a cutback starts almost on the byline but is squared back rather than driven forward, aimed centrally around the box. The completed-cross count was checked against this platform’s own real match-level cross totals and lands within about 1 cross of the true count.

Crosses — close-up on the final third
Cutbacks — close-up on the final third
completedfailed (dashed)close-up on the box — attacking ↑ toward goal
Out of possession

Out of possession

Where and how he defends and presses.

14

How & where does he defend?

106 defensive actions across the season (14.8/90). 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 →
18
tackles · 56% won
4
interceptions · 0.6/90
43
recoveries · 6.0/90
10
clearances · 1.4/90
6
blocks
37
avg action height
13
won high (att 3rd)
39
middle third
54
own third
Vision AI A mid-block defender. He wins the ball mainly by stepping in — tackles, interceptions & recoveries outweigh clearances. 65 proactive ball-wins (9.1/90), tackle success 56%. He defends mostly around the middle third.
15

Can he play under pressure?

Split by how hard the opponent pressed (opponent PPDA — lower = more intense press). Can James Garner 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 3.2, 2m)
80%
3.4
4.5
0.54
Mid press (PPDA 4.2, 2m)
85%
2.8
5.7
0.84
Low press (PPDA 6.1, 4m)
88%
3.4
5.6
1.21
Team

Team context

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

16

Impact on the Team

Insufficient sample: James Garner played nearly every Everton 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.

17

His Share of the Team

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

category
share
him / team
expected assists (xA)
17%
7.5 / 43.9
interceptions
16%
63 / 386
box entries
16%
95 / 593
Recruitment

Style and verdict

Style profile, closest comparables, and the summary.

19

Playing-Style Profile

Not raw event counts — football style scores: weighted models scored 0–100 against the 258 defensive mids 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-winning 664%Deep-lying playmaker50%Tempo controller41%
Why Ball-winning 6 64%: a weighted blend of ball-winning 70 (weight 40%) + defensive aggression 48 (weight 30%) + progression 85 (weight 15%) + retention 38 (weight 15%). The score reflects how distinctively his profile SHAPE matches this archetype vs his peers.
Elite
line-breaking, through-balls, territory (wide vs central)
Strong
progression, final-third threat, crossing, ball-winning
Average
creativity, box threat, carrying, transition, receiving zones, defensive aggression, passing directness
Weak
press resistance, build-up, retention, dribbling
Unknown
aerial ability, marking, off-ball running — not in event data
Line-breaking
96
Through-balls ~proxy
95
Territory (wide vs central)
88
Progression
85
Final-third threat
84
Crossing
76
Ball-winning
70
Creativity
69
Box threat
65
Carrying
55
Transition ~proxy
51
Receiving zones
50
Defensive aggression
48
Passing directness
44
Press resistance ~proxy
40
Build-up
39
Retention
38
Dribbling
37
20

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: 186 cm / 78 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.

Vitaly Janelt Brentford · 184 cm / 79 kg
87%
Driven by: through-balls (19%), line-breaking (18%), crossing (17%). Different mechanism — Janelt more via build-up.
Niels Nkounkou Nice · Ligue 1 · 184 cm / 75 kg
87%
Driven by: through-balls (15%), line-breaking (14%), territory (wide vs central) (13%). Different mechanism — Garner more via retention, build-up; Nkounkou more via dribbling.
Carlos Dotor Malaga · La Liga · 180 cm / 68 kg
83%
Driven by: through-balls (17%), line-breaking (15%), territory (wide vs central) (13%). Different mechanism — Garner more via passing directness; Dotor more via carrying, dribbling.
Santi Comesaña Villarreal · La Liga · 188 cm / 75 kg
81%
Driven by: line-breaking (17%), crossing (16%), through-balls (14%). Different mechanism — Garner more via ball-winning; Comesaña more via receiving zones, box threat.
Przemyslaw Frankowski Rennes · Ligue 1 · 175 cm / 70 kg
81%
Driven by: line-breaking (17%), through-balls (15%), progression (14%). Different mechanism — Garner more via ball-winning, passing directness; Frankowski more via receiving zones.
Matthieu Udol Lens · Ligue 1 · 178 cm / 79 kg
81%
Driven by: through-balls (14%), line-breaking (13%), territory (wide vs central) (12%). Different mechanism — Garner more via ball-winning; Udol more via box threat.
21

Summary

James Garner is a ball-winning 6: 86% completion, 39 line-breaks and 3.2 progressive passes /90, resisting pressure with 0% dribble success. A central controller. [Off-ball screening position and scanning need tracking data.]

Based on 8 matches (643 minutes) — an early read, treat with caution until more minutes are logged. He profiles as a ball-winning 6 — best used in a system built around that identity. His biggest room for growth is retention — even a modest improvement there would meaningfully lift his overall ball-winning 6 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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