Top 5 Ligue 1 Centre Backs for Defensive Stats Combined

The penultimate instalment of a feature analyzing the best centre-backs from last season with regards to purely defensive statistics looks at the French Ligue 1's most dominant defenders.

Interestingly, none of the 5 clubs who qualified for European competitions are represented in the league's top 5 defensive ratings. The highest placed side with a player in the list are 6th placed Rennes while mid-table Auxerre have two defenders on the leader board. Nancy and relegated Lens also have players in the leading pack, highlighting the intense pressure that sides lower down in the league succumb to over the season.

Alassane Toure
Top of the list in terms of Ligue 1 centre-backs is 22-year-old Frenchman Toure of Lens who were relegated from the division. The young defender’s stats show that he should have been used more often than the 10 starts he made. Toure led the way with his tackling having made 40 in his limited time in the line-up, averaging 4 tackles per game, far in excess of the remaining contenders. He also fared well in terms of interceptions made 3.4 and was decent in his blocking (0.7), as well as not making any errors leading to shots or goals from opponents.

Despite his impressive aforementioned stats, the youngster showed some weaknesses in terms of his heading having only won 50% of his 24 duels. He also made the fewest number of clearances despite playing in the weakest team of the 5 with 5.8, as well as giving away a pretty expensive 1.7 fouls per match.

Stephane Grichting
Experienced Switzerland international Stephane Grichting played 10 of his 24 league starts for Auxerre last season at centre-back, filling in at left-back for much of the campaign. The 32-year-old made more interceptions at centre-half than his competitors with 3.6 per game, as well as making a decent 2.5 tackles per game and losing the least aerial duels a match (0.6). He also came second in the list in terms of blocks per game having made an average of 0.9.

Departments in which he faltered slightly included his clearances per game with 6 as well as his aerial duels won, having only won 10 headers at centre-back in as many appearances. He also made more fouls per game in this position than any of the other top 5, conceding 1.8 a match.

Jordan Loties
Nancy defender Jordan Loties made 16 of his 24 starts at centre-back, as well as filling in at right-back on occasion. During his time in the middle he made a decent number of tackles per game, averaging 2.69 in second, as well as contributing 7 clearances per game. His fouls per game of 1.44 was the second most economical.

Room for improvement is evident in the 26-year-old's aerial success having lost more headed duels (25) than he won (22), leading to an average duels lost per game rate of 1.56, propping up the rest. He was also one of just 2 players in the top 5 to make an error that led to a shot from his opponents.

Kader Mangane
28-year-old Senegalese centre-back Kader Mangane attracted interest from across Europe last term with some eye-catching performances for Rennes. He made the most tackles of the 5 with 63 and contributed a handy 8.66 clearances, ranking him as second on the leader board in this regard. His dominance in an aerial sense was noticeable having won an average of 1.93 headers per match and losing just 0.97 a game.

Areas to address in the Senegal international's game may include his blocking with his figure of 0.69 ranking lowest of the 5, as well as interceptions (2.39) and tackles (2.17) per game. This could be put down to the fact that he played in the highest-ranking team of the 5 players and thus came under less pressure. His concentration could be questioned having made 2 errors leading to opponent shots, the worst record in the list.

Adama Coulibaly
Auxerre's second player on the list, Adama Coulibaly, played every single game at centre-half for the Ligue 1 side. The ever-present Malian had impressive figures across the board defensively, ranking 1st in terms of blocks per game (1), clearances per game (10.61) and the least fouls per game (1.08). The 30-year-old made a fantastic contribution in terms of aerial duels won with 93, meaning his average of 2.45 per game also came out on top.

Coulibaly's only major downfall's lay in his interceptions per game (2.39) and tackles per game (1.47), with both ranking bottom of the top 5. However, his all-round stats are made more impressive due to the fact that he played every single game last term.