Scouting the Northern Irish Premiership: Midfielders (Data Analysis)

The Northern Irish Premiership is one of my favourite leagues to follow. I tend to be drawn towards lesser known leagues and with this piece, I wanted to delve into some of the data behind the midfield performances in Northern Ireland this season.

Using data from Wyscout I will aim to look into who the stand out performers are across a variety of metrics and identify what this tells us about the different playing styles of the teams.

So, let’s get into it…

Goal Contributions/Expected Goal Contributions

Firstly lets take a look at how our sample perform in front of goal, while scoring goals is not the primary job of a midfielder, it can prove to be very beneficial for a team if they have midfielders who can find the back of the net over the course of a season.

So, in terms of goals per 90, we can see that Larne’s Joe Thomson performs highly, averaging 0.38 goals per 90 from an xG of 0.17 per 90. Two other Larne midfielders perform above average in terms of these metrics, we can see that Dylan Sloan averages 0.12 goals per 90 from an xG of 0.24 per 90 whilst Leroy Millar averages 0.28 goals per 90 from an xG of 0.29 per 90.

Chris Shields of Linfield also stands out here, averaging 0.27 goals per 90 from an xG of 0.26 per 90. Furthermore, Kealan Dillon of Dungannon Swifts averages 0.14 goals per 90 from an xG of 0.11 per 90.

Cliftonville’s Chris Curran, Crusaders’ Phil Lowry and Coleraine’s Josh Carson all perform above average too. (Worth noting that the latter has recently sealed a move to Ballymena United).

This data viz shows us how the our players perform in terms of their shots on target per 90. The three Larne midfielders mentioned previously all standout as above average here. Sloan averages 1.79 shots per 90, the most out of our sample, with 31% of them hitting the target.

Dillon of Dungannon Swifts also ranks highly here, averaging 1.57 shots per 90, with 51.79% finding the target. Meanwhile, Carson averages 1.7 shots per 90 and hits the target with 41.03%.

Chris Shields is the most accurate with his shooting, 65.22% of his shots are on target but he averages 0.89 shots per 90. So, fewer shots but more accuracy.

Cammy Palmer of Glentoran is the standout performer in terms of assists. He averages 0.4 assists per 90 from an xA of 0.3 per 90 indicating he has the role of creator in the Glentoran side.

Ball Progression

Now, moving on to look at how our sample performs in terms of ball progression. As we can see Linfield’s Chris Shields stands out prominently in this regard. The 33-year-old Irishman performs above average in both metrics, with 11.05 progressive passes per 90 and 1.5 progressive runs per 90. This implies that Shields frequently engages in progressive turns, which are critical for breaking through defensive lines and creating opportunities in the attacking third.

34-year-old Mark Randall of Larne also ranks highly with an average of 10.48 progressive passes per 90 and 1.18 progressive runs per 90. The fact that Randall and Shields are two of the most progressive midfielders in the league is not overly surprising give than Larne and Linfield are two of the best teams in Northern Ireland therefore they see more of the ball than their opponents. For added context, Larne averaged 57.52% possession during the 2023/24 campaign while Linfield averaged 55.08%.

Remaining with Larne for a second, we can also see that Dylan Sloan averages the most progressive runs from our sample with 1.91 per 90. This indicates that he is a player who is comfortable with the ball at his feet and is willing to carry the team forward himself, something which his very beneficial in transition moments.

Furthermore, Ronan Doherty of Cliftonville and Kealan Dillon of Dungannon Swifts also rank above average in these metrics. Doherty averages 10.05 progressive passes per 90 and 1.37 progressive runs per 90. Meanwhile Dillon averages 10.5 and 1.15 respectively.

Dribbling

Here, we can see how well our sample performs regarding their dribbling abilities. Sloan of Larne is again a standout player, as he has been on various occasions in this data analysis.

We are seeing some different names in this data viz though, Fraser Taylor who spent the season on loan at Ballymena United from St. Mirren performs above average in these metrics, averaging 3.45 dribbles per 90 and being successful in over half of them.

Moreover, Linfield’s veteran midfielder, Jamie Mulgrew averages 2.76 dibbles per 90 with 63% of them being classed as successful.

Key Passing

Moving on to look at pass accuracy Gaël Bigirimana of Dungannon Swifts averages 48.84 passes per 90 with an 81.32% accuracy rating. Plus, we see Randall of Larne performing above average with 52.86 passes per 90 and an accuracy rating of 77.65%. His teammates Gallagher, Thomson and Orozco all rank highly in terms of passes per 90 demonstrating Larne’s commitment to a possession-based style of football.

Additionally, Fuad Sule of Glentoran catches the eye here with 44.05 passes per 90 and an 82.22% accuracy rating.

Furthermore, we can see how well Randall performs in regard to key passes and passes to the final third per 90. The Larne man averages 13.88 passes into the attacking third and 0.66 passes leading to shots per 90.

Doherty averages 0.49 key passes per 90 and 10.63 passes into the final third whilst Dillon averages 0.45 and 12.21 respectively.

These three are certainly the standouts in these metrics suggesting they have the capabilities to progress the play via their passing and create shooting opportunities for teammates.

Defensive Actions

It’s no surprise to see some different names appear when looking at possession-adjusted defensive actions. For example, as Larne typically dominate the ball, we would expect their players to make fewer defensive actions. Although we can see Randall and Gallagher are above average in interceptions per 90 which shows they look to be proactive and intercept the ball rather than being forced into sliding tackles.

Robbie Norton of Loughgall averages the highest number of interceptions per 90 with 9.97. Glenovan’s Robert Garret averages the highest number of sliding tackles with 1.4 per 90.

Plus, we can see that Shields performs above average in both metrics averaging 7.66 interceptions and 1.25 sliding tackles per 90.

Aerial Duels

Finally, we can see here that Clucas of Glentoran and Gordon of Carrick Rangers average the most aerial duels per 90 with 8.01 and 7.7. The former wins 51.19% while the latter wins 54.84%.

Additionally, Shields of Linfield has the highest win percentage with 64.76 from 4.04 aerial duels per 90. So, he enters into fewer duels but certainly wins a high number of them.

Sule and Palmer are two players previously mentioned in this piece and we can see from the data viz that they both perform above average here.

Conclusion

To wrap up, we have analysed the data behind the performances of midfielders in the Northern Irish Premiership in the 2023/24 season. Eventual winners Larne have many stand out players which is no real surprise in addition to Linfield’s players standing out a fair bit as well.

There were a few other names who are certainly worth keeping an eye on though. Ronan Doherty of Cliftonville and Kealan Dillon of Dungannon Swifts were a couple of names who appeared to perform above average in a number of metrics too. Additionally, Cammy Palmer’s creativity is also noticeable given his progressive passing and assists per 90.

So that brings this piece to a close, there may be another one looking at forwards or defenders at some point over the summer.