The return to the starting XI of defender William Troost-Ekong has seen him emerge as one of Watford’s most successful progressive passers of the ball.

The Nigerian skipper has started three of the Hornets’ last five games, and in that time has boosted his average for the season to 10 progressive passes per outing, with 88% of them being successful.

That puts him ahead of even Imran Louza, who has averaged 8.9 progressive passes per match with an 82% success rate.

Watford Observer: @louorns@louorns (Image: @louorns)

With head coach Slaven Bilic wanting to be on the front foot and asking his players to try and make each touch of the ball a forward-thinking one, a defender like Troost-Ekong who can play nine out of 10 progressive passes successfully is clearly an asset.

Obviously both Troost-Ekong and Louza have played fewer games than many of their teammates this season, but their arrival in the team has coincided with the team being able to dominate the ball more.

A progressive pass in this context is classed as a pass where the distance between the starting point and the next touch is:

  • At least 30 metres closer to the opponent’s goal if the starting and finishing points are within a team’s own half
  • At least 15 metres closer to the opponent’s goal if the starting and finishing points are in different halves
  • At least 10 metres closer to the opponent’s goal if the starting and finishing points are in the opponent’s half

The chart (kindly provided by @louorns) shows that another player who returned to action in the win over Norwich on Saturday, Craig Cathcart, is also a key provider of progressive passes, with 9.9 per game on average and with a 73% success rate.

The top-right quadrant of the chart is where you’ll find players who generally sit deeper and are best/most comfortable at playing those sort of passes.

In the top-left area are players who you might consider to be some of the most skilful – they still play progressive passes but don’t get so many opportunities to do so as they tend to play further up the pitch.

So Joao Pedro, with an 84% success rate, is making the most of the 5.5 progressive passing opportunities he has per game. The same could be said of Yaser Apsrilla, who only averages four progressive passes per game but is 75.8% successful.

It’s worth pointing out that the players in the bottom right corner of the chart are those who attempt to progress the ball but may not be as comfortable as others in doing so as it’s not naturally a part of their skill set.

Meanwhile someone like Keinan Davis is in the bottom left corner of the graph because in his position he will rarely play what is defined as a progressive pass.

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