Data Analysis of Jules Koundé.

What does his player profile bring to Chelsea?

First, what type of CB profile is needed for Tuchel’s Philosophy?

Explained by @RyanGunness below…

Tuchel likes to build up with a 3–2 base in possession to launch attacks.

CBs need to be:

- Instinctual movement to create passing angles.

- Press Resistant.

- Good vertical passer.

-Must have the pace to recover and cover ground on the flanks when the Wingbacks push up high.

Jules Koundé is press resistant, ranking in the 90th percentile for passes under pressure. Good at progressing the ball vertically (84th percentile). He also possesses the recovery speed to cover flanks; he clocked a top speed of 20.33 mph. For reference, Rüdiger — 21.88mph.

Here is how he compares to the current options we have for RCB. Note, Azpi stats can be a little bit skewed here due to him having a 30/30/30 split in playing RWB, RB, RCB this season. Azpi’s stats here are filtered for when he played RCB only, they do not include RWB or RB.

Jules Koundé is good at playing the ball out from the back and progressing it up the pitch. He is improving on his long pass accuracy over the years and is increasing the number of Key Passes made per 90mins.

Koundé doesn’t retain possession for the sake of it. He ranked 4th in La Liga for Forward Passes (812) for outfield players. 39.6% of his total passes help advance the play for the Spanish side. By comparison for Chelsea, only Azpilicueta (39%) comes closest to matching him.

Looking at Ball Progression Map last season, he likes to run with the ball and take-on players with his dribbling ability. He ranks first in dribbles per90 for CB and has averaged a dribble success rate of 72.2% across the last 3 seasons at Sevilla. A driving force from the back.

Jules Koundé completed more take-ons than any other centre-back in the past three seasons across Europe’s top five leagues. The Frenchman also ranks in the top five for most touches in the opposition box (150), showing just how far forward he is allowed to push.

Looking at both Rudiger and Koundé’s ball progression maps, Jules Koundé would be the closest player to replicate what the German offered for us last season. With the help of Tuchel’s coaching he definitely take that part of his game to another level.

Jules Koundé ranks in the upper right quadrant for Expected Threat of CBs where both his passes and carries from the back when progressing the ball are good quality and dangerous for the opponent.

Jules Koundé is defensively sound and is improving every year. Few errors, wins tackles, doesn’t get dribbled past much. He is improving his ability to intercept showing he can read the game better and step out to win the ball. As a result, number of clearances is going down.

What stands out most about Koundé is his composure for a player his age using positional awareness to snuff out any danger. He averages just 1.3 tackles per90 in La Liga last season, returning an attempted tackle success rate of 80%.

Another strength is his ‘Concentration’. In 95 La Liga appearances, Koundé is yet to commit an error leading to an opposition goal, which speaks volumes of his ability to not be flustered when an opponent does look to force a mistake.

Only 2 CBs in La Liga have won more aerial duels than Koundé (273) since his debut in 2019/20 (Robin Le Normand — 318 and David Garcia — 460). Height is not necessarily an issue, he can jump. He also had more Aerial and Ground duels won per game than Rudi and Silva last season.

Jules Koundé ranks in the upper right quadrant amongst other CBs in Top 5 leagues. He is good at winning his aerial and ground duels as well as progressing the ball forward.

This is what we can expect with our new Back 3 in terms of progressing the ball. Koulibaly and Koundé play as the wider CBs that can drive forward and run with the ball while also having the pace to cover the flanks while Silva is the sweeper in the central area.

Some Final Thoughts…

I think Jules & Kouli both replace Ruidger’s attributes. Jules is similar to Rudi in progressing the ball while Kouli is the aggressive dominant defender.

Koundé is quite experienced for his age. Winning the Europa League at 21, the French International has helped Sevilla finished Top 4 for three seasons in a row for the first time since the 1950s.

Last Season they had the best defence in Spain only conceding 30 goals.

Thank you for reading.

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Let me know your thoughts on Koundé below the twitter thread!