Who is Pol Valentin
The 26-year-old joins Sheffield Wednesday from Sporting Gijon for a “small fee”. As you can see from Pol Valentin’s heatmap below, he is very much a right back and an overlapping right back at that. You can, however, see from the left-hand side of the heatmap Pol Valentin’s versatility, as he played left-back 9% of the time last season.
Pol Valentin did play just 22 times for Gijon last season and was largely seen as a squad player. Although, Sheffield Wednesday fans can take solace in the reaction of Gijon fans who are sad to see Pol Valentin leave. With one fan claiming he was underused by the Head Coach.
What does the data say?
From the data, you can see why Gijon fans may think Pol Valentin was underused.
In the table below, which is set out in percentiles, I want to spend some moments explaining to the readers what this means. To create this table I download data for all Spanish division 2 right backs in raw form. That data is then rank-ordered and divided by the total number of right backs in the dataset. This then gives each data point its percentage ranking in rank order of the dataset. This is known as percentiles. What this means is, If a player has the highest number of assists in the league, that player would have the rank 1 (100%), meaning he was on the 100th percentile. If a player had the 50th most assists out of 100 right backs, he would be on the 50th percentile.
So what does the table say: firstly, Pol Valentin can run (we will go into this in detail later). Accelerations, which is traveling with the ball for a considerable distance quickly, is on the 97th percentile. With progressive runs, traveling forward with the ball, on the 95th percentile. Pol Valentin doesn’t just run, he can jinx past players as well, evidenced by his dribbling stats, which are also in the 97th percentile. It is also worth noting that Pol Valentin’s assists per 90 put him on the 100th percentile, which, as aforementioned, means he is at the top of this ranking. It needs to be caveated that this just equates to 2 assists, both were crosses; however, because Pol Valentin played just 22 games, of which some were sub appearances, the metric over 90 minutes has him on top. You can see why Gijon fans wanted him to play more.
The data isn’t all good. We have not signed Reece James (the Chelsea one). But, of course, if there were no negatives, we wouldn’t have been able to pick Pol Valentin up. Well, at least not for a “small fee”. The table above shows Pol Valentin to have low overall passing output and his technical ability is a little on the raw side. Despite being top of the assists table (per 90), you can see cross accuracy is low. This is observable in the clips of Pol Valentin, which we will come to later.
We can at least be reassured about what the data says about Pol Valentin defensively. Pol has good stats for both aerial duels and defensive duels. We will discuss this in more detail.
Deep deep dive - what does this all look like
The infographic below shows Pol Valentin and how he progresses the ball. On the right side, you can side more detail regarding accuracy, etc.
This is both good and concerning. Pol Valentin is very comfortable running with the ball and it is an asset for any team. However, 72% of running with the ball occurrences end in losses. This is why Pol Valentin, as per the second infographic, is high up on the losses index (the number of times he loses the ball). It is also concerning that Valentin only has a 50% pass accuracy over 0-20m, which accounts for the high loss index in his own defensive third.
This can be mitigated. Firstly, Pol Valentin is just 26 years old and this technical aspect can be refined. Conditioned training sessions that force 2-touch are a great way to refine these skills. Secondly, to utilise Pol Valentin’s strength, his running, he needs players who can burst with him and link up on the break. Fast players can be isolated if they don’t have runners with them.
It is worth looking at Pol Valentin’s passing to examine further as, at face value, it appears to be a weakness. The dials on the pitch indicate the pass accuracy by the distance & direction of the pass across the different parts of the pitch. It is observable that Pol Valentin typically loses the ball when playing short and forward in his own half. His pass accuracy is very accurate in the middle third in all directions, however, it is the end product in the final third where the pass accuracy is lost. This situational passing accuracy drop can sometimes be associated with the other players around the ball, as passes are only considered accurate if someone receives them. This is a good sign about Pol Valentin’s passing and shows that some of the variance in accuracy may not be his doing.
On the right-hand side of the below infographic, it shows Valentin’s comparisons to other league players. I want to draw attention to the metrics for XGchain and XGbuildup, as the other metrics are more understandable. XGChain is the involvement of the player in goals, with some metrics, like the goal itself or the assist, weighted higher. Whereas XGbuildup is the involvement of the player in the goal with no weighting on assists or goals. You can see that Pol Valentin is over the median line for XGbuild up, so does have a contribution to the build-up of play that leads to goals. The second infographic shows Pol Valentin’s XGChain in counterattacks. I mentioned when conducting a deep dive on Xisco Munoz that he tended to introduce a counterattacking threat to his teams; well, Pol Valentin certainly offers that threat, as 17% of his XGchains come in the form of counterattack. One of the highest ratios in the league.
Here It feels necessary to highlight some of Pol Valentin’s key attacking strengths. Dribbling and cross volume. I have already mentioned the rate at which Pol Valentin dribbles and the success of those dribbles, but the second image helps to visualize what that specifically looks like. The highlight is surely that in 1vs1 dribbling in the final third against left backs, Pol Valentin has a 58% success ratio. Which shows that when he gets forward, he is dangerous.
In the next two infographics, you see the best and worst of Pol Valentin. Pol Valentin is active around the ball defensively and has a high defensive duels success ratio. He tends to stay on his feet, a quality understated for a right back.
It is, however, a stark contrast between his defensive duels won vs defensive duels lost infographics. Whist Valentin has high success in wide areas, it appears he has less success defending inside the pitch. And whilst he is an excellent cross-stopper, defensive duels in infield areas frequently lost, which see Valentin rank too high on the dangerous losses index.
This can be mitigated by not leaving Pol Valentin overexposed on the right-hand side. Something Munoz must consider.
Pol Valentin Summary & How to get the best out of him.
I stated this morning on Twitter that, for reasons I am unsure of, Pol Valentin is the signing this season that most excites me. And, he might be the most exciting player in the current squad; I think it is the pace and dribbling!
I have tried to be balanced and give an honest appraisal of both the good and the bad, with appropriate caveats.
Pol Valentin is no doubt a good signing for Sheffield Wednesday and carries little risk: signed for a small fee, Pol Valentin, if he adjusts to English football will be an asset to the team. If not, and there is a chance Pol Valentin is just too dangerous and his weaknesses cannot be mitigated, then we have two right backs in Liam Palmer and Juan Delgado.
It is not hard to see why Pol Valentin was signed. Sheffield Wednesday needs pace and players who can run with the ball if we are to compete in the Championship this season.
The graph below shows Pol Valentin’s running stats vs the current SWFC players. Valentin stands alone in accelerations and only fellow new boy Delgado and Wilks are above him for progressive runs.
Upon seeing the graph above, I wondered if Sheffield Wednesday were just slow in comparison to the Championship. In League One last season, Sheffield Wednesday were 12th for running metrics, however, Dele-Bashiru, who led all running metrics in the league, left the club.
I, therefore, decided to look at all Championship right-backs vs Pol Valentin on running stats. You can see, below, that Pol Valentin stands alone on accelerations vs all Championship right backs. As the WTID Podcast tweeted following my displaying of this graph on Twitter last night. POL. VALENTIN. CARRIES. BALLS. FACT. You would have to agree.
Utilising Palmer in CM and ensuring Pol Valentin has cover in areas when he goes forward is an idea to mitigate the negative aspects. Perhaps playing an interchanging role with Delgado?
This is a challenge for Munoz. Valentin has bags of talent. But he is also a risk. Getting the most out of Pol Valentin going forward, and mitigating the risks is key.
END
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Tom