Ligue 1’s Top 5 Attacking Full-Backs for 2010/11

Our final article in the series focusing on attacking full-backs sees us take a look at Ligue 1. Benoît Trémoulinas of Bordeaux heads our list while Rod Fanni, Marseille’s mid-season purchase from Rennes, is the only player amongst the top six teams to find his way in our selection. Perhaps surprisingly, relegated Lens supply two of our featured players. Here’s the rundown:

Benoît Trémoulinas - Combined Total Key Passes & Successful Dribbles 2.0 per game

Bordedaux’s 4-2-3-1 relied upon their full-backs getting forward to add creativity to attacks. Left-back Trémoulinas and Matthieu Chalmé, on the other flank, managed 1.1 key passes per game, almost on a par with the club’s attacking midfielders, bar Jaroslav Plasil on 2.5. Trémoulinas led the way for key passes for our featured full-backs and at Bordeaux, his 0.9 successful dribbles was second for the club.

Trémoulinas averaged 0.5 shots per game, the second most impressive of our full-backs, though failed to find the net from a total of 16 shots. Although his 36.3 passes per game was bettered by 6 other first-team players at Bordeaux, his crossing from the right flank was a constant threat- 0.9 successful crosses was the third best tally for his side, and ranks him second here. Trémoulinas picked up 3 assists over the course of the season- only Plasil made more for Bordeaux, an indication of just how key his contribution was.

At the back, Trémoulinas doesn’t impress as much. His defensive stats are the poorest of our five here, and also fare badly against his fellow Bordeaux defenders. 1.4 tackles is less than half of Rudy Mater here and with 1.4 interceptions, he’s the only one of our five that doesn’t exceed 2 interceptions per game. Due to his attacking performances, however, Trémoulinas is the top-rated of our full-backs in WhoScored.com’s ratings, averaging 6.73 per game.

Henri Bedimo - Combined Total Key Passes & Successful Dribbles 1.9 per game

The left-back made more successful dribbles (1.3) than any Lens first-team player last season. Bedimo is one of two Lens players in our rundown- despite the club’s relegation last term, the favoured 4-2-3-1 system allowed their full-backs the platform to impress.

He tops our list here for successful dribbles, though with 0.6 key passes his final ball is perhaps not the best. This is shown by his 68% pass accuracy- joint-bottom of our five. In spite of this, he still managed 4 assists, the second-highest total of any Lens player.
He made fewer passes than any of the five, with just 27.2 per game.

Defensively, he made 1.8 tackles per game, half that of team mate Serge Aurier at the back, but Bedimo’s 2.6 interceptions are the best of our five and not far off team mate Rafael Varane, the new Real Madrid man. While Lens centre-half Alaeddine Yahia made as many as 9.1 clearances, Bedimo’s 3.5 is very respectable, coming second here behind Rudy Mater. He also showed a capability in the air, winning 66% of aerial duels on his way to a WhoScored.com rating of 6.66 per game.

Yohan Demont - Combined Total Key Passes & Successful Dribbles 1.7 per game

Demont’s adaptability saw him play in seven different positions last season. He played right-back 14 times and left-back on 4 occasions, though with prodigious Serge Aurier cementing the right-back position as his own, Demont was fielded further forward in his other 19 appearances. He was second here for key passes with 1 per game, though his 0.7 successful dribbles is lowly for someone who played many games as a winger. As mentioned above, teammate Bedimo made 1.3 from left-back, almost double.

Demont likes to shoot more than any of our featured five- he had 0.7 shots per game but failed to find the net from a total of 23 goal attempts. He also made more passes per game here, with 39.7. This was second most of any Lens player but with no goals and no assists, he clearly lacks an end product to his game.

His defensive stats are better than only Trémoulinas here- while his 1.8 are equal to Bedimo, 2 interceptions and a mere 1.5 clearances see Demont failing to impress at the back. He was also bottom of the pile for aerial duels, winning 38%, and although he picked up 1 Man of the Match award, Demont’s 6.55 in WhoScored.com’s match ratings is the lowest average score of the five full-backs.

Rod Fanni - Combined Total Key Passes & Successful Dribbles 1.7 per game

Signed in December from Rennes following an injury to Marseille club captain César Azpilicueta, the right-back’s performances were key to helping his new side to a second place finish. Fanni made 1.1 successful dribbles per game, the third highest of any Marseille player and almost double that of left-back Taye Taiwo, with 0.6. Only Bedimo in our top five here bettered this tally.

Fanni has the best pass accuracy here, with 74%. With 0.6 key passes, however, he is bottom here for creativity from a total of 34.8 passes per game, which saw nine Marseille players make more passes on average. His successful crossing from the flank was also superior to Taiwo for his club side, with 0.8 to 0.6 respectively indicative of his suitability to Marseille’s 4-3-3 formation. Given that Fanni made a combined total of just 0.5 key passes and successful dribbles for former club Rennes, it’s clear just how much more his attacking capabilities have been unleashed following his transfer.

At the back, though, Fanni may have a difficult job of holding onto his first-team slot once Azpilicueta is back from injury- Fanni made 1.7 tackles per game but Azpilicueta set the standard with 3.9, showing his leadership qualities and keen eye for a challenge. He was joint-top for interceptions at Marseille, though, with 2.6 per game, a tally that also sees his equal first with Bedimo from our five full-backs and he also leads the way here for aerial success, winning 77% of his challenges. With a WhoScored.com rating of 6.71 per game, he had the second highest match average of our five Ligue 1 full-backs.

Rudy Mater - Combined Total Key Passes & Successful Dribbles 1.5 per game

Right-back Mater was amongst the top five for both key passes (0.9) and successful dribbles (0.6) for his club side Valenciennes. In comparison to the left-back Gaëtan Bong, who made 0.3 and 0.5 respectively, his value going forward is clear to see.

The right-back made 29 appearances last season for the twelfth-placed side and managed a fantastic 1.3 successful crosses per game from out wide- easily the best of our featured players and second to left winger Gael Danic for Valenciennes. Mater and Bong made 37.2 and 36.9 passes per game respectively, indicating that Valenciennes stretch their play across both flanks in equal measure but he was more effective in terms of end product, picking up 4 assists to Bong’s 2. 

Mater also impressed at the back for his side- 3.2 tackles per game were joint-top with Bong and leads the way by some distance amongst our top five- the closest to his tally is 1.8 here. With 1.8 interceptions and 3.8 clearances in addition, his defensive work is the most impressive here and Mater also rates highly for aerial success, winning 60% of his duels. He picked up 2 Man of the Match awards and picked up a WhoScored.com rating of 6.70 over the course of last season.