Stats prove Ake is the cool head Man City's defence needs


With news breaking of Manchester City's agreement with relegated Premier League club Bournemouth over the signing of centre-back Nathan Ake, we discuss what the Dutchman will offer Pep Guardiola and how he stacks up against the Spaniard's current crop of centre-backs.

With a fee of £41m agreed for the former Chelsea academy graduate, City have certainly acted fast to address an area of the squad that has been crying out for improvements. The club has spent a huge amount of money on their defence over the years, with mixed results to say the least, and finding a replacement for Vincent Kompany has now become a priority following the Belgian's departure last year.

They're hoping for a Laporte-style success story, rather than a Mangala-esque failure, and opting for Premier League experience is certainly a good place to start. While some may argue that Ake has been a part of one of the worst defences in the league, even beyond this season, there's reason to believe that the Dutch international was fighting a losing battle.

Only three teams committed more errors leading to an opposition shot following Ake's arrival at Bournemouth on a permanent deal in 2017. However, of the 61 indiviudal errors committed in total in that time, the centre-back was responsible for just one, despite making more league appearances than any teammate in that time (105). That's an impressive level of concentration in any team, but particularly one where defensive mistakes have been commonplace.

In the same time, and under considerably less pressure than the Cherries have faced, Nicolas Otamendi has committed six in 76 games, John Stones three in 58 and even Aymeric Laporte three in 59. While the experienced Fernandinho has been the most steady (2 in 93), he played in midfield for almost half of his appearances in that time, so identifying a player with Ake's level of concentration and composure has been vital.

 

Stats prove Ake is the cool head Man City's defence needs

 

Said composure is evident in the Dutchman's work on the ball too, with a pass accuracy of 87.6 per cent again a significant outperformance of any teammate. Indeed, such a figure is enough to rank second of all centre-backs outside of the top five in the Premier League to Norwich's Ben Godfrey, who is also highly sought after despite playing in a porous defence.

Another area where Ake shows a cool head that has often been lacking in City's defensive is the frequency, or infrequency with which he commits fouls. No outfielder to have made 20 appearances or more last season committed fewer per 90 minutes than Ake (0.3). Again, when you compare that to City's centre-backs it's a significant improvement, even on Laporte (0.7) and certainly on the likes of Fernandinho (1) and Otamendi (1.1).

He doesn't rush into defensive actions like the Argentine and as such is dribbled past less often, boasting an impressive 77.5 per cent tackle success rate from an admittedly modest 1.1 tackles per 90 minutes.

 

 

If there is one department in which Ake comes up short (excuse the pun) it is his aerial prowess, or lack thereof. In fact, the City-man in waiting is among a very select group of centre-backs to have lost more aerial duels than he won last season. None of the options at Guardiola's disposal are overly dominant in the air but all three boast a success rate in excess of 60 per cent compared to their future teammate's meagre 49.6 per cent.

 

Meanwhile, the fact that Ake's WhoScored.com rating of 6.75 is so modest - and inferior to those at City - can be seen as a direct consequence of playing in a team that shipped 65 goals last season compared to 35.

The other consideration that one might weigh up in a very light con column is the fact that Ake, like Laporte, is left-footed. For a side that are renowned for playing out from the back, that will undoubtedly effect the balance and the speed with which they can do so.

However, it's no surprise that fact has proven insufficient to deter City's interest. In Ake they will be signing a player that has shown a cool head when all those around him have lost theirs, and that is what should make the Dutchman a shrewd addition.

Stats prove Ake is the cool head Man City's defence needs