Mercifully investigating Ben White's experience and potential in the midfield
It seems we lost all our midfield depth.
How’d we lose it?
Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.
Gradually: through a lack of incomings spanning over several windows. Suddenly: through (predictable) injury woes and a final inability to get a signing across the line this summer. This was disappointing for several reasons, not least of which it made one humble redditor’s midfield analyses a complete waste of time. I blame no one but myself.
With that, this sub is frantically looking at any and all options. One that continues to be bandied about — and who doesn’t love a good bandy — is the possibility of Ben White, centreback-cum-rightback, trying his hand at our 6.
If it sounds ridiculous to shift a young £50m CB to a third successive position, this time to maybe the hardest on the pitch, perhaps you should trust your instinct on that one. But, proponents say, he’s done it before. Maybe he can do it again.
And don’t just take it from them! Take it from White’s former skipper, mad genius Marcelo Bielsa:
“I think if he plays 10 or 15 matches in this position he would have impact in the same way he does as a centre-back.”
OK, OK.
All considered, I thought I’d take a brief, inconclusive, fittingly unreliable, look at whether Ben White can indeed fill in at the 6. Mainly because I was curious to look back at some of his old games.
As always, I didn't proof-read or double-check any of this.
Ben White as a Midfielder? This again?
No buried ledes here. It may be most straightforward to state my preferences right up top:
I wished Arsenal would have signed a midfielder in the summer window, and I definitely wish we sign one come January. Danilo sounds good to me.
I hope Sambi is given every opportunity to grow and thrive, mistakes and all. Young players must be given the opportunity to learn; when they are thrust into difficult positions, especially so. A quick yank back to the bench benefits nobody.
But let’s not let any preconceived notions prevent ourselves from examining further. It’s always fun to be proven wrong.
First, it’s worth asking how different a modern ball-playing-CB and defensive midfielder really is. Back to Bielsa:
“For a ball-carrying centre-back it is a very good opportunity to play as a midfielder, and it is necessary,” said the head coach.
“For a ball-carrying midfielder it is necessary to play as a centre-back. These positions are close to each other and one player in either position can play in both during the play.”
Second, let’s look at the heatmaps. Below is a comparison of Partey’s 2021-2022 campaign and White’s heatmaps from last season (as a CB), and this season (as a kind-of-inverted-RB-who-does-overlaps-sometimes):
In addition, when you look at the average position maps (which should be taken with a grain of salt), White (as RB) and the 6 (either Sambi or Partey) are usually pretty level vertically on the pitch.
Third — and the thing I spent the most time on, so I hope you’ll read it — let’s look at some of the numbers.
Looking at the Numbers
With weird formations in play and some messy data, this was art and science. Overall, I found that:
In his career, White played about 1179 minutes of ball in positions that can be roughly categorized as midfield.
Much of that experience was with Leeds as a forever-pressing Bielsa DM as they looked to earn promotion in 19-20.
He continued that experience in the Premier League with Brighton, notching 10 total games in the midfield in 20-21. The big caveat here is that his role appeared in all kinds of formations. While he was largely a deep, bully-ish midfielder who fought to win possession, it was seldom in the true lonely lone 6 role that we'd ask of him.
OK, here's my spreadsheet 🤓:
Some notes:
The red row is a summary of all his career stats in the midfield
Below that are four comparisons: White (in midfield only), and the PL career stats of his three colleagues: Partey, Sambi, and Elneny.
Below that, a match log of every time I've got him pegged as a DM.
I ran a new calculation: an 🔥 IN-HOUSE DM BBQ SCORE 🔥. This includes the Rodrimiro calculation (in which a player's skills/stats across four areas [technical, tackling, defense, creativity] are correlated to the two platonic ideals of lone-6'ing), and PCE (Passion, Clarity, Energy), which measures and aggregates what Papa Arteta may value in an ideal 6, namely defense, dribbling in tight spaces, and long balls. I removed any transfer cost consideration, and narrowed White's stats to his time in the PL as a midfielder.
The rankings, then, are unsurprising as of today: Partey in first with a little bit of a margin, then Sambi/White close to each other, then Elneny (who gets dinged for his lack of creativity and progression).
Interceptions are defined differently in this spreadsheet than others, fyi.
One thing worth noting: it seems like a misconception that Sambi doesn't "present himself to the ball." He gets a lot of touches, passes safely, and progresses them successfully.
I highlighted three matches in green that I watched and will share impressions on below.
Looking at Some Tape
Crystal Palace - Brighton 1:1 (October 2020)
Playing as one of two CDM's in a 3-4-2-1, White was a hilarious menace in this game. I can't overstate that enough. He hit 4 of 5 longballs, dribbled out of pressure, and most importantly: initiated 15 defensive duels, winning the ball back 12 times. Wyscout credited him with 8 interceptions and 4 clearances. As soon as anyone got the ball in midfield, he'd sprint at them and try to dispossess.He'd bait passes and then cut the lane. Like so:
Here's a more fun (and more advanced) example:
Playing at Palace in a game of evenly-matched sides (they finished alongside each other in the standings), White's play led to a dominant performance by Brighton: they controlled possession, dictated the game, and ultimately had 20 shots to Palace's 1. So naturally, it was a 1-1 draw.
Spurs - Brighton 2:1 (November 2020)
In November, White played a full 101 minute shift as a roaming DM in a midfield-heavy lineup against hated Spurs. His heatmap looked something like this:
He played pretty well defensively but ultimately wasn't as all-present as he could have been: WhoScored gave him a solid 6.8 (caveat caveat caveat), but he wasn't as ball-dominant as he was against Palace, had no successful dribbles that I saw, and didn't hit on his long balls.
Manchester City - Brighton 1:0 (January 2021)
Finally, Ben White availed himself well against City in a 2021 matchup: playing as a more traditional anchor DM in a 4-3-1-2 (as far as I can tell). His long passes were good but he wasn't able to challenge as much as he would have liked.
That said, may I introduce you to one small clip that is going to kinda want to make you want to try this out?
Cutting lanes, challenging, immediately progressing the ball. That's the gig.
My overall impressions from watching him as a DM are as such: he's got the agility to challenge in tight spaces, be press-resistant, and blast long-balls over the top. He doesn't get flustered at all and doesn't get dribbled around in the midfield.
That said, to date, he's usually had help in the defensive midfield, and it leads to less "presence" that we'd expect: he's attempting 22 fewer passes a game than Sambi in the midfield, and has a lower peak as a dribbler. This may just be a matter of scheme and opportunity -- but one shouldn't underestimate the difficulty of transitioning from a crowded defensive midfield (with 3 CB's behind you) to a lone-6.
All in all: turns out, this White as DM stuff isn't as fringe as it may seem. After all, it wasn't just endorsed by Bielsa -- it was endorsed by Graham Potter, too.
Man, White has had a good draw of managers.
🔥🍗🥩 Final Thoughts 🔥🍗🥩
In bullet form:
Ben White is good at most things
As far as I can tell, he hasn't really played a true lone 6 before
In any case, even if he's often hanging out there now, he hasn't played in any true midfield spot in a little while
But he'd probably still be pretty good at it. His tape indeed shows somebody who looks comfortable and is adept at disrupting play, safely passing, and hitting long-balls in the midfield
None of this factors in the opportunity cost of taking away depth from other positions, or denying growth opportunities to others, which are significant considerations -- maybe the most significant
Sambi's stats also don't include some unrealized potential at 22. His passing has come through immediately to the PL, but he has some potentially elite skills in his bag (dribbling and power-longballs) that are continuing to reveal themselves as he grows in comfort.
I have a less confidence about Sambi stepping into tackles (rather than just positionally defending) but he must be given the chance to prove what he can do. This job takes time.
Because this job takes time, I'm partial to investing in long-term solutions.
Totally game for White to be DM depth and cover.
But overall: leaning towards Sambi and future signings, please.
Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
Happy grilling everybody.