[Archived] Babak's Babble : Which Central Defensive Partnership Works Best For Blackburn Rovers?

[Bobby G]

As the season fizzles out for the club, at least when it comes to the Championship, its a good time to continue deeper analysis of some of the key elements that have contributed to the disappointing league position. Enough talk has taken place about the manager's tactics. However, it may be interesting to analyze the various central defensive partnerships that Gary Bowyer has elected to start with during the campaign.

All in all 6 different pairings have started games for the club. One could argue that this has not helped the defensive find stability. On the other hand, none of the partnerships have really convinced. The most common partnership has been that of maligned captain Grant Hanley and former Everton prospect Shane Duffy. They started 16 matches together. They were the 3rd partnership of the season, at the time they began playing side-by-side, and gave the club its first clean sheet. In fact, they are the only partnership with more than one clean sheet (4), keeping opponents scoreless in 25% of games. Their record reads 5 wins, 6 draws and 5 defeats, giving the club a 31.25% winning ratio, conceding 19 goals during the games in question (1.19 goals conceded per game).

Shane Duffy has since been dropped, and subsequently ruled out for the rest of the season through injury. His place was taken by Matt Killgallon, who had started the season as first choice. He's rekindled his partnership with Hanley. They have yet to find a clean sheet during the 11 matches that they've played together and their record reads as 3 wins, 4 draws and 4 defeats, giving the side a 27.25% winning ratio, whilst conceding 15 goals (1.36 goals conceded per game).

Hanley has forged another partnership, albeit briefly, with Alex Baptiste. During their 4 matches, Rovers have won twice and lost twice, conceding 9 goals. Duffy, on the other hand, has played along with Killgallon and Baptiste, on one occasion each and won with the latter, keeping a clean sheet in the process, and drew with the former, conceding one goal. The only other pairing included Baptiste and Killgallon, during the club's most recent game against pace-setters Bournemouth. The game ended goalless.

Looking back, its clear that the leakiest partnerships have one thing in common and that is the presence of Hanley. Duffy has started during 5 of the club's 6 clean sheets. Despite playing 18 matches, he has the best winning ratio between any of the club's center backs, winning 6 matches and drawing 7 of them (33.3% winning ratio) as opposed to the 32.25% that Hanley has over 31 matches. Whilst the data is not conclusive on its own, it goes a long way in painting an accurate picture of how the club's defence has fared over the season and provides food for thought for the future.