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Player reportPremier League 2025/26

João Gomes

Aston Villa
Ball-winning 6 (destroyer) DM
15.6 defensive actions/90
defensive midball-winning 6press resistancescreening
2994
minutes
35 apps
1500
passes
85% completed
85%
pass completion
1500 passes
92
progressive passes
2.8/90
518
defensive actions
15.6/90
143
tackles + interceptions
64% tackle win
194
recoveries
5.8/90
87
line-breaking passes
2.6/90
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 (63% of his 1500 passes)
85% completion · 1500× in 35/35 matches
↓
ESCAPE PRESSURE
turn out of a tight central area
57% won · 75× in 32/35 matches
↓
PROGRESS CENTRAL
break a line through the middle
2.8 prog/90 · 87× in 33/35 matches
↓
SCREEN / WIN BALL
protect the back four
10.1 ball-wins/90 · 337× in 35/35 matches
↓
RECYCLE / PROGRESS
keep it ticking, feed the final third
3.6 f3-entries/90 · 121× in 31/35 matches
Signature: drop to receive → escape the press on the turn → progress centrally or recycle → screen the counter. Block the central lane and press his first touch to force him backwards.
19

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 →
43
passes / match
15.6
def actions / 90
4–71
pass range (matches)
48
clearances
Pass range = his fewest and most passes in any single match this season (4 at the low end, 71 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.

11

How dangerous are his carries?

Real ball-carries

363 tracked carries (10.9/90, 76 progressive, 3953m 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.

0%3%4%10%3%1%6%13%10%4%1%6%17%16%6%1%
progressivelateral/short% of his 363 carries originating in each zone · own goal left, attacking →
Every carry, exact path — median 9m, longest 42m
By zone — where the carry started → where it ended
51Outside → Inside
218Inside → Inside
64Outside → Outside
30Inside → Outside
First (119)Second (117)Third (66)Fourth (61)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).

107
tackle duels
68
won
39
beaten · 36%
brighter band = more tackle duels · own goal left, attacking →
INSIDE 58%
OUTSIDE 42%
Tackle-duel location — 62 inside · 45 outside
Right Wing
23 · 21%
Right Half-Space
18 · 17%
Central
19 · 18%
Left Half-Space
25 · 23%
Left Wing
22 · 21%
Vision AI beaten in 39 of 107 tackle duels (36% loss rate) — a solid 1v1 defensive record.
Every tackle duel, exact location
wonlost — dribbled pastown goal left, attacking →

Dribbles (1v1s)

Can he escape pressure on the ball? His carries/dribbles in tight central areas, by channel. Season rate: 2.25 dribbles attempted /90.

brighter band = more dribbles · own goal left, attacking →
INSIDE 59%
OUTSIDE 41%
Dribble location — 44 inside · 31 outside
Right Wing
13 · 17%
Right Half-Space
8 · 11%
Central
13 · 17%
Left Half-Space
23 · 31%
Left Wing
18 · 24%
Vision AI 59% of his carries are central — he receives and turns in congested midfield zones rather than out wide.
02

How does he build & move the ball?

How does he escape the first line?

7%
vertical passes
40×
3%
switches
18×
31%
carries
182×
60%
short circulation
355×
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 →RWRHSCLHSLWRW12668%8626%336%7RHS24045%10932%7618%443%81%3C28910%2824%6842%12016%469%27LHS3751%56%2121%8035%13037%139LW2390%14%1026%6170%167FROM
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 half-space in the middle third — 10 progressive passes (14% of his progression) at 0.012 xT each. He moves it inside.

His progression is inward: 51% of progressive passes move the ball toward the middle versus 8% going wider — he cuts in rather than holding width.

Only 6% of his passes switch play, so his threat is same-side — contain the flank he occupies and the route closes.

Quality behind the volume: 26 line-breaking passes and 121 final-third entries, 2.5 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%4%7%9%7%1%1%5%11%10%4%0%1%6%12%15%7%1%
completedincomplete1500 passes · any zone → any zone · own goal left, attacking →
1500
passes
85%
completed
231
lost
Vision AIIn line with his 85% season completion rate.
03

How does he progress play?

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

92
progressive · 2.8/90
121
final-third entries · 3.6/90
25
box entries · 0.75/90
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?

16 key passes (0.48/90), 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:
6%19%6%6%19%6%6%25%6%
chance creation (16)assist (0)% of the selected group's key passes originating in each zone
14

Can he finish?

19 shots · 1.14 xG · 1 goals (-0.14 vs xG). Mostly right-footed. Circle size = xG.

shots  19
on target  13
goals  1
xG  1.14
xG on target  1.59
xG / shot  0.060
Where he shoots from — click an area of the box
06

Where does he become vulnerable?

263 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.

74
attacking third (cheap)
140
middle third
49
own third (dangerous)
Vision AI 28% of losses are in the attacking third — a notable share happen deeper, which invites transitions.
Mistake danger (proxy): 2.63 danger-index/90 · 0.332 avg/turnover. Weights each loss by threat conceded at that location. True xT-conceded needs the opponent possession model; positional proxy.
07

What is his passing profile?

1500
passes attempted
38%
mostly sideways
62%
mostly short
Direction
Forward
522 · 35%
Sideways
572 · 38%
Backward
406 · 27%
Length (completed)
Short (<15m)
785 · 62%
Medium
432 · 34%
Long (>30m)
52 · 4%
05

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.

0.790.680.640.620.500.45
own goal left, attacking →
Highest-value routes (xT)
0.79
Left Half-Space Mid third → Left Wing Att third
9 passes
0.68
Right Wing Att third → Right Half-Space Att third
2 passes
0.64
Left Wing Mid third → Left Wing Att third
5 passes · 1 to a shot
0.62
Right Half-Space Mid third → Right Wing Att third
5 passes
0.50
Central Mid third → Right Wing Att third
4 passes
0.45
Right Half-Space Def third → Right Wing Att third
2 passes
09

Where Does He Receive?

The zones where João Gomes 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
19%
Primary
Left Half-Space, Middle third
14%
Secondary
Central, Middle third
11%
Third
Left Wing, Middle third
These are the zones where he collected the ball most.
10

Where Does He Operate? — Every Zone

Every on-ball touch (pass, dribble, shot) binned into a 6×3 grid — raw counts of where João Gomes 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:
1399189236120171175163156751166110414110215
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%4%7%9%7%1%1%5%11%10%4%0%1%6%12%15%7%1%
own goal left, attacking →
08

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.

16Key pass
21Cross
3Cutback
92Progressive
87Long ball
36Switch
By zone — where the pass started → where it landed
112Outside → Inside
593Inside → Inside
253Outside → Outside
311Inside → Outside
By direction
522Forward
406Backward
572Sideways
own goal left, attacking →
04

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 left hs to the left wing, advancing it forward in the middle third — 9 passes worth 0.79 xT.
Where do his chances come from?
Of 16 key passes, his busiest route is a delivery where he plays inside from the right hs toward the central in the final third — 3 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: 39% of his 28 touches there are lost (11 times).
39%11/28 lost13%6/46 lost18%11/62 lost7%4/59 lost24%13/55 lost23%22/94 lost15%25/168 lost9%21/222 lost12%34/292 lost12%20/168 lost29%15/52 lost21%15/72 lost21%10/47 lost19%15/77 lost16%9/58 lostRWRHSCLHSLWDEFMIDATT
13

Crosses & Cutbacks

21 crosses (0.63/90, 7 completed) and 3 cutbacks (0.09/90, 2 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.

15

How & where does he defend?

518 defensive actions across the season (15.6/90). 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 →
107
tackles · 64% won
36
interceptions · 1.1/90
194
recoveries · 5.8/90
48
clearances · 1.4/90
31
blocks
38
avg action height
47
won high (att 3rd)
208
middle third
263
own third
Vision AI A mid-block defender. He wins the ball mainly by stepping in — tackles, interceptions & recoveries outweigh clearances. 337 proactive ball-wins (10.1/90), tackle success 64%. He defends mostly around the middle third.
16

Can he play under pressure?

Split by how hard the opponent pressed (opponent PPDA — lower = more intense press). Can João Gomes 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 ~11-13 matches — directional evidence, not proof.

press tier
completion
prog /90
line-breaks /90
xT /90
High press (PPDA 4.1, 11m)
85%
2.5
1.8
0.68
Mid press (PPDA 5.2, 11m)
82%
2.7
2.7
0.79
Low press (PPDA 6.6, 13m)
87%
3.0
3.2
0.80
Team

Team context

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

17

Impact on the Team

Aston Villa's output per match with João Gomes (35 matches) versus without him (3 matches). Insufficient evidence — the without-sample is only 3 matches; treat every Δ below as noise until more games exist. What his own defending should move — goals conceded and results — leads; attacking output (largely out of a defender's hands) is shown after, for context. A proper on-off model needs many more minutes.

WITH (35)
WITHOUT (3)
Δ
goals against /match
1.74
2.33
-0.59
points /match
0.51
0.67
-0.15
goals for /match
0.66
1.33
-0.68
xG for /match
0.92
0.09
+0.83
18

His Share of the Team

Of everything Aston Villa produced this season, the categories where the biggest share ran through João Gomes specifically — his share of the team total, not a per-90 rate.

category
share
him / team
tackles
15%
120 / 801
successful take-ons
15%
46 / 308
ball recoveries
12%
206 / 1714
Recruitment

Style and verdict

Style profile, closest comparables, and the summary.

20

Playing-Style Profile

Not raw event counts — football style scores: weighted models scored 0–100 against the 260 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 668%Tempo controller62%Deep-lying playmaker55%
Why Ball-winning 6 68%: a weighted blend of ball-winning 71 (weight 40%) + defensive aggression 63 (weight 30%) + retention 68 (weight 15%) + progression 34 (weight 15%). The score reflects how distinctively his profile SHAPE matches this archetype vs his peers.
Elite
dribbling
Strong
press resistance, carrying, ball-winning
Average
retention, territory (wide vs central), defensive aggression, crossing, transition, through-balls, build-up, final-third threat, creativity
Weak
progression, receiving zones, line-breaking, box threat, passing directness
Unknown
aerial ability, marking, off-ball running — not in event data
Dribbling
92
Press resistance ~proxy
78
Carrying
78
Ball-winning
71
Retention
68
Territory (wide vs central)
68
Defensive aggression
63
Crossing
58
Transition ~proxy
57
Through-balls ~proxy
47
Build-up
47
Final-third threat
46
Creativity
42
Progression
34
Receiving zones
33
Line-breaking
26
Box threat
25
Passing directness
21
21

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: 176 cm / 73 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.

Alex Amorim Genoa · Serie A · 177 cm / 68 kg
76%
Driven by: dribbling (23%), press resistance (17%), passing directness (16%). Different mechanism — Gomes more via territory (wide vs central), passing directness; Amorim more via progression, creativity.
Dani Lorenzo Malaga · La Liga · 176 cm / 68 kg
72%
Driven by: dribbling (20%), press resistance (20%), carrying (12%). Different mechanism — Gomes more via through-balls, territory (wide vs central); Lorenzo more via receiving zones, creativity.
Hugo Magnetti Brest · Ligue 1 · 180 cm / 75 kg
72%
Driven by: ball-winning (16%), dribbling (15%), press resistance (15%). Different mechanism — Gomes more via carrying, dribbling; Magnetti more via passing directness.
Rodrigo Bentancur Tottenham · 187 cm / 72 kg
71%
Driven by: dribbling (16%), press resistance (16%), ball-winning (13%). Different mechanism — Gomes more via through-balls, territory (wide vs central); Bentancur more via build-up.
Manuel Ugarte Man Utd 25/26 · 182 cm / 77 kg
65%
Driven by: dribbling (23%), press resistance (20%), ball-winning (18%). Different mechanism — Gomes more via carrying, transition; Ugarte more via box threat, creativity.
Ebenezer Akinsanmiro Monza · Serie A · 184 cm / 70 kg
65%
Driven by: dribbling (25%), press resistance (20%), ball-winning (15%). Different mechanism — Gomes more via territory (wide vs central); Akinsanmiro more via creativity, receiving zones.
22

Summary

João Gomes is a ball-winning 6 / tempo controller: 85% completion, 87 line-breaks and 2.8 progressive passes /90, resisting pressure with 57% dribble success. A central controller. [Off-ball screening position and scanning need tracking data.]

Based on 35 matches (2994 minutes) this season — a reliable read. He profiles as a ball-winning 6 / tempo controller — 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-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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