Liverpool have finally found a decent solution to one of their biggest problems from last season. The signing of Nathaniel Clyne from Southampton should take care of their right back problems, especially with Glen Johnson leaving the club on a free. Clyne was one of the best players for Southampton last season and made the switch to the Merseyside club recently. The 24-year-old should slot straight into the Liverpool team as their first choice right back but is he really the messiah that Liverpool fans expect him to be? We compare last season’s stats with two of the best right backs in the Premier League, Branislav Ivanovic of Chelsea and Pablo Zabaleta of Manchester City.
One of the best but not the best
Clyne’s impressive performances last season also saw him break into the England team and he took the chances with both arms as he put up a solid display for the team. Comparing him with Ivanovic and Zabaleta using Squawka.com, the biggest thing that pops is the fact that Clyne has a better defence score than the others.
The Southampton player had a defence scored of 9.91 last season while Ivanovic and Zabaleta had 7.03 and 4.85 respective. Zabaleta didn’t have the best season for City but Ivanovic was at his best for the Champions and Clyne beating him in this respect just shows how good the English defender was last time around.
Clyne has a ton of pace, compared to the other players and this shows with his ability and willingness to take on players. He has the highest successful take-on percentage with 60% compared to just 50% for Zabaleta, Ivanovic comes extremely close to matching Clyne with a solid 59% successful take-on percentage.
Clyne might be lightweight when it comes to physicality but that does not stop him from being an able tackler. The young defender averages 2.11 tackles per game which is greater than Ivanovic’s 1.97 tackles per game but Clyne comes behind Zabaleta who averaged 2.66 tackles per game last season.
Clyne also is pretty good when it comes to interceptions; he comes behind Zabaleta in this category with the Manchester City player making 1.93 interceptions per game while Clyne makes 1.80 interceptions per game. Ivanovic only makes 1 interception per game.
Clyne’s lack of aerial ability does stick out when compared to these two players. Zabaleta wins close to 68% of all his aerial duels while Ivanovic comes second with a 59% success rate, Clyne limps home with just 31% aerial duel success. That is obviously something that Clyne and Liverpool would have to work on.
Nevertheless, it seems that Liverpool have done a smart piece of business by signing Clyne. He is young, pacey and still has a lot of time to grow and get better. Hopefully, next season he will continue the form he showed for Southampton.