Thin sample this season. Ibrahim Sulemana has played 1 match (36 min) so far, so sections that need a bigger sample to say anything reliable are not shown here — they are missing on purpose, not broken. See all seasons combined →
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 (58% of his 26 passes)
96% completion · 26× in 1/1 matches
↓
PROGRESS CENTRAL
break a line through the middle
2.5 prog/90 · 1× in 1/1 matches
↓
SCREEN / WIN BALL
protect the back four
7.5 ball-wins/90 · 3× in 1/1 matches
↓
RECYCLE / PROGRESS
keep it ticking, feed the final third
2.5 f3-entries/90 · 1× in 1/1 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 — 0× (insufficient confidence, hidden — not enough evidence yet) — omitted from the signature rather than presented as one.
Team
Team context
How much of the team runs through him, and what changes without him.
Sassuolo's output per match with Ibrahim Sulemana (1 matches) versus without him (7 matches). Insufficient evidence — the without-sample is only 7 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 (1)
WITHOUT (7)
Δ
goals against /match
2.00
2.00
+0.00
points /match
1.00
1.00
+0.00
goals for /match
2.00
1.43
+0.57
xG for /match
1.25
1.06
+0.19
03
His Share of the Team
Of everything Sassuolo produced this season, the categories where the biggest share ran through Ibrahim Sulemana specifically — his share of the team total, not a per-90 rate.
category
share
him / team
successful take-ons
4%
11 / 250
ball recoveries
4%
69 / 1626
expected goals (xG)
4%
1.6 / 43.1
Recruitment
Style and verdict
Style profile, closest comparables, and the summary.
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.
Tempo controller68%Deep-lying playmaker58%Ball-winning 638%
Why Tempo controller 68%: a weighted blend of retention 78 (weight 35%) + build-up 61 (weight 30%) + press resistance 71 (weight 20%) + progression 24 (weight 15%). The score reflects how distinctively his profile SHAPE matches this archetype vs his peers.
aerial ability, marking, off-ball running — not in event data
Retention
78
Dribbling
77
Press resistance ~proxy
71
Box threat
69
Territory (wide vs central)
62
Build-up
61
Carrying
57
Transition ~proxy
56
Through-balls ~proxy
47
Ball-winning
41
Defensive aggression
38
Passing directness
34
Crossing
30
Progression
24
Final-third threat
20
Creativity
19
Receiving zones
17
Line-breaking
9
05
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: 180 cm / 72 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 Serie A, Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue 1 and Premier League, 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.
Boubacar Traoré Metz · Ligue 1 25/26 · 183 cm / 67 kg
76%
Driven by: creativity (14%), line-breaking (13%), final-third threat (12%). Different mechanism — Sulemana more via territory (wide vs central), through-balls; Traoré more via defensive aggression, ball-winning.
Junior Mwanga Le Havre · Ligue 1 · 184 cm / 80 kg
72%
Driven by: line-breaking (12%), creativity (12%), receiving zones (11%). Different mechanism — Sulemana more via box threat, territory (wide vs central); Mwanga more via passing directness, carrying.
Haris Belkebla Angers · Ligue 1 · 177 cm / 68 kg
70%
Driven by: creativity (16%), final-third threat (12%), crossing (12%). Different mechanism — Sulemana more via box threat, through-balls.
Maxi Oyedele Strasbourg · Ligue 1 25/26 · 180 cm / 70 kg
70%
Driven by: creativity (16%), line-breaking (13%), retention (12%). Different mechanism — Sulemana more via box threat, through-balls; Oyedele more via build-up.
Batista Mendy Sevilla · La Liga 25/26 · 191 cm / 82 kg
68%
Driven by: creativity (18%), line-breaking (17%), progression (14%). Different mechanism — Sulemana more via carrying, through-balls.
Facundo Bernal Real Betis · La Liga · 189 cm / 80 kg
68%
Driven by: creativity (22%), line-breaking (16%), final-third threat (14%). Different mechanism — Sulemana more via territory (wide vs central), carrying.
06
Summary
Ibrahim Sulemana is a tempo controller / deep-lying playmaker: 96% completion, 1 line-breaks and 2.5 progressive passes /90, resisting pressure with 0% dribble success. A central controller. [Off-ball screening position and scanning need tracking data.]
Based on 1 matches (36 minutes) — an early read, treat with caution until more minutes are logged. He profiles as a tempo controller / deep-lying playmaker — 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 tempo controller 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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