Originally Published 3rd March 2021.
Following on directly from the reviews of Jake Cooper, Josh Dasilva and Adam Armstrong, returning to the proverbial ‘Championship Well’ felt suitable for further analytical profiling.
As teams have started to fully establish themselves within this abnormal COVID-19 blighted season, plenty of players have now had a longer set of fixtures to showcase their talents, perform against contrasting oppositional matchups and adapt to different tactical systems under new management. This article will review Mads Juel Andersen, a Championship-owned starlet who arguably has the skillset to compete at the next level; the exalted Premier League.
Mads Juel Andersen- Barnsley-Centre Back-23 Years Old
A product of Denmark, specifically the elite Scandinavian set up of Brondby, Mads Juel Andersen has become a staple amongst Barnsley’s defensive unit since his 2019 summer arrival from fellow Danish Superliga side Horsens. Whilst his time at Brondby never quite came into first-team fruition, successful loan spells at Koge in the Danish Championship and Horsens as well as a single permanent season at the latter ensued. Demonstrating an ability with all due respect beyond a mid table Danish Superliga side, Barnsley signed up the gargantuan Dane in the region of £900,000 according to Transfermarkt. Since his transfer, Andersen has featured in 71 out of the 78 possible league games for the ‘Tykes’ despite the ever-changing managerial situation at Barnsley ultimately highlighting his level of ability.
Currently under Valerien Ismael’s high intensity 3-4-3 set up following Gerhard Struber’s departure to New York Red Bulls, Andersen is the prominent left centre-back in an all European centre-back trio alongside Michal Helik and Michael Sollbauer. Standing at a towering height of 6’4″, Andersen has the physical stature to dominate a large proportion of Championship attackers. In addition to his sheer size, Andersen demonstrates functional body orientation and rather agile lateral movement which is present when having to cover ground in short bursts, although he struggles with this over larger distances.
Despite his height, Andersen’s overall aerial duel success rate of 62.1% within the 2020-2021 Championship season is hardly staggering but his height certainly aids defensive situations and improves his scope of scanning visibility. His average of 10.55 aerial duels per 90 is close to a league leading figure but this is likely caveated by his immense participation in the opposition’s box. Andersen is one of the main targets of Barnsley’s continual use of long throw-ins into the opposition box from Dominik Frieser and Herbie Kane, subsequently resulting in the opposition players ‘doubling up’ on Andersen, thus greatly reducing his aerial effectiveness in total aerial duels. Despite this, his heading ability was recently accentuated by a delightful nodded goal against Cardiff City showing his robust presence in the opposing box and aerial prowess.
Andersen typically exhibits suitable awareness of his surroundings via regular scanning and is reactive to opposition movement close to him. Rarely idle in Barnsley’s frenetic defensive structure, Andersen is fairly light on his feet and very capable of reading situations as they develop. Critically, Andersen can pivot and adjust his posture accordingly to a multitude of defensive requisites although he isn’t as fluid compared to the more mobile and smaller centre-halves.
A key part of Andersen’s game is his aggressive nature to step out of the defensive line and make frequent interceptions, a directive which is almost certainly demanded by Ismael in order to employ his high-risk/high-reward system. Playing next to two centre-backs provides Andersen with a greater license to seek potential mislaid passes and disrupt opposition passing chains. Andersen’s possession adjusted interception rate of 8.98 per 90 ranks him within the 85th percentile of Championship Centre-Backs to have played more than 500 minutes so far within the 2020-2021 season, revealing his destructive inclination and front footed defensive approach.
Evidence to support this claim is seen below where Andersen anticipates the play and presses the opposition very high up the pitch. This results in the Dane making an interception which his teammate then recovers, a dangerous turnover for Barnsley to utilise given the field position.
If Andersen were step up a league he would need to refine portions of his defensive positioning however as he is not blessed with the outstanding straight-line speed to catch up with the majority of attackers which is unsurprising for such a tall player. This has become increasingly noticeable within Barnsley’s use of a high defensive line when they are exposed on the counter-attack and fail to make an interception in transition.
An example of this is seen within the pictures below where a loose pass from Barnsley’s midfield leaves Andersen (within the centre circle in the white kit) critically out of position which results in a chance for Anthony Knockaert of Nottingham Forest to capitalise upon. Once Nottingham Forest retrieve possession, Andersen is too narrow in relation to his teammates and arguably 5 or so yards too high up the pitch. Alongside Andersen’s poor starting position, there is a lack of cover to the left of Andersen as Barnsley’s left-wing back is high upfield and as you can see is only just in frame.
This combination of poor positioning, is compounded by Andersen’s decision to step towards Filip Krovinovic (player who makes the second pass) rather than to immediately back-pedal alongside Lewis Grabban (#7). This leaves a large amount of space which is left vacant behind Andersen which Krovinovic takes advantage of with a chipped ball above Andersen. Knockaert (#28) runs onto this ball and progresses until he reaches Barnsley’s box where he makes a pass to Grabban who is in an offside position. Ultimately this proved to not be a costly error as Nottingham Forest squandered a great opportunity but Andersen’s positioning and lack of recovery speed led to a large amount of space being uninhabited which could be viewed as a major cause for concern.
Andersen often tussles with the opposition in an attempt to wrestle back possession and is never content to simply jockey his man. He is a relentless presser for even modern centre-back standards, frequently hurrying his antagonists along the touchlines far away from concerning positions. This mentality is evidenced by 11.7 successful defensive actions per 90 showing his hyper-activity which is whole-heartedly approved by Ismael. It should be noted that a high volume of defensive actions is not necessarily a result of improved defensive skill but due to the system in which one operates. However, it is arguable Andersen excels in the defensive arts regardless of his team’s playing style. A 73.5% defensive duel success rate at Horsens in the 2018-2019 Danish Superliga season highlights this (a ranking of 9th out of all players who featured in over 500 minutes), a considerable feat given his adolescence during this period.
Interestingly, despite playing on the left-side of the defence, Andersen’s favoured foot is his right and has become very capable of spraying diagonal balls to Barnsley’s regular right-wing-back Callum Brittain to change the angle of attack. Used as the main distributor within the back three unit, Andersen is expected to break the lines of the oppositions’ defensive structure.
In possession, the young defender is encouraged to take risks which he seems to revel in. Andersen plays an average of 21.5 forward passes per 90 ranking him in the 91st percentile of all Championship centre-backs with over 500 minutes this campaign. This high frequency of enterprising pass attempts shows he is unsatisfied with simple lateral passes and prefers the more direct route. This is rather akin with the modern demands placed on central defenders as there is a greater desire to maximise progressive ball-playing behaviours from even the most ‘defensive’ positions. Adding credence to Andersen’s ball-playing ability is that his percentile ranking is extreme when considering Barnsley only average 45.0% of ball possession in their Championship encounters this season. This suggests Andersen takes more forward passes than the majority of his counterparts despite not having as many opportunities per game to be as forward-thinking. Although this is likely due to Ismael promoting quick vertical progression above all else once the Tykes’ are in possession, it does at least show Andersen is capable of progression.
However, one area Andersen recognisably needs to improve upon is the accuracy of the forward passes he attempts. This is demonstrated by a comparatively low completed forward pass figure of 61.2%, but that would be almost surely be counter-intuitive to the chaotic game plan Ismael dictates. Despite this, if played in another system Andersen has scope to improve his composure on the ball.
A clear indication of both Andersen’s ability and potential are his Smarterscout Premier League adjusted ratings. Smarterscout scores players from 0-99 using a multitude of statistics relating to either how often a particular action is performed (e.g. a tackle) or how effective they are (e.g. progressing the ball). These metrics critically can be adjusted across league divisions for comparative exercises.
As revealed above, Andersen’s Premier League Smarterscout adjusted ratings for multiple key defensive metrics are astonishingly high in 2020-2021. Located inside the top 95th percentile or above for ‘Disrupting opposition moves’, ‘Recovering a moving ball’ and ‘Aerial duels’ it is abundantly clear Andersen possesses a high defensive output via winning aerial battles, intercepting and recovering the ball as well as succeeding in tackles.
The Smarterscout scores also depict significant room for improvement in ‘link-up passing’. This metric analyses all passes except ‘passes that bring the ball 10 metres closer to the opponents’s goal’. Here it can be implied that Andersen is lacking in patient build-up play via lateral, short forward and backwards passing in comparison to Premier League standards. This is likely a consequence of Ismael’s direct ball progression demands so Andersen’s score has to be taken with a ‘pinch of salt’. However, even in the 2019-2020 season (before Ismael was in role), Andersen’s ‘link-up passing’ score was a lowly 23 revealing he struggles in basic passing situations compared to Premier League measures.
Andersen should set his sights at pushing for a place within Denmark’s European Championship squad despite not featuring for the seniors yet. Starting minutes will likely be out of reach but an option behind the likes of Andreas Christensen, Jannik Vestergaard and Simon Kjaer is certainly attainable if he continues his strong 2021 form. After completing an additional half season at Barnsley, it would be wise for a team of Leicester City’s calibre to explore Andersen. The amalgamation of Jonny Evans’ increasing age, Wes Morgan’s expiring contract as well as Christian Fuchs expiring contract (who can provide centre-back cover) will undoubtedly mean Brendan Rodgers will look to boost the centre of defence. In addition to this, Andersen’s ability to feature at both left and right centre-back as well as his efficiency in a back 3, which Rodgers occasionally adopts, are key indicators to how effective of a fit Anderson could be at the Foxes.
Former Barnsley centre-backs such as John Stones and Mason Holgate have over time transitioned well to the Premier League and there is little evidence to suggest Andersen will not follow suit. At 23 years old with over 130 senior appearances Andersen has firmly adapted to a myriad of tactical set-ups which along with his physical profile and propensity for defensive action success make him a highly capable defender. Because of this, it should not be seen as insurmountable for Andersen to join a club with perennial European ambitions despite there being room for improvement within sectors of his game.
Thank you for reading,
George
All Statistics courtesy of WyScout.com unless stated. All Statistics up to date as of 02.03.2021.
For Interactive Tableau Graphs please go to:
https://public.tableau.com/profile/george.cadman#!/vizhome/ChampionshipCentre-BackComparison2/Sheet1
Smarterscout:
https://smarterscout.com/about
Please go follow my twitter @GeorgeCadman1 for more football related content and updates on future articles!
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