Premier League player of the year during his first season, Ruben Dias took the league by storm arriving in 2020/21 and leading Manchester City to a title. A key part of the teams Premier League three-peat and the treble in 22/23. This season though, he has left a lot to be desired with his performances. Split opinions in the fanbase and has many wondering if he a guarantee starter anymore.

Let’s dive into his performances this season compared to the other years and how his role has shifted. 👇

Follow us on X | Subscribe to our Newsletter

Before we get started, it has to be made clear how his role has changed in the team and the impact injuries have had. John Stones has started only six Premier League games. No more box midfield from the end of 22/23. Additions of Kovacic and Nunes impacting the build up. Walker playing the most minutes in the team.

The need for him to contribute on the ball has only gone up with those changes. Second for most line breaking passes per ninety this season for Manchester City. Only behind Rodri despite Akanji taking up the role of dropping into midfield at points.

Comparing Different Seasons

Heat Maps

22/23

23/24

Thoughts

• 22/23 saw him play a lot as the central CB with Akanji and Ake either side, Stones stepping into midfield during the treble run in. Less defending 1v1 out wide. Leaning into his strength in being aggressive in duels kept in the center of the pitch.

• 23/24 has had a lot of different tweaks namely Walker pushing much further up which means Dias is doing more 1v1 defending out wide. Not his best skill. Stones being out adds to this.

• 23/24 as we saw with the line breaking passes graphic, he is asked to do more in the opposition half. Many more touches, carries of the ball and passes as we pin the opposition back. Sharing some of the load left by Stones absence.

Radar

Stacking the two seasons alongside each other, you immediately can spot a shift. In his role, he faults and strengths this season. Here is a Radar via DataMB.

Thoughts

• Duels % - Down from last season, that jump is significant when you are talking about the level City is at and the margins to win games. Has played out on the pitch several times this season, lack of aggressive actions in the duels leading to goals conceded.

• Aerial Duels - More where the problem lies than ground duels, balls over the top, from goal kicks and set pieces. Whatever one you pick, Dias has had moments this season struggling to deal with them.

• Carrying - As we mentioned in the heat maps above, much bigger demand on his carrying ability to take the ball up the pitch and into the opposition half.

Squawka

Another way is to stack his per 90 minutes stats alongside each other, using Squawka. Here is how that looks.

Thoughts

• Passes in Opp Half - As we mentioned with the heat maps and with the lack of John Stones in the team, Dias is operating higher up the pitch. Involved in moving the ball around the half when we have the opposition pinned back. 22/23 was more weighted to his own half.

• Aerial Duels - This is his problem when it comes to duels, not engaging in as many as last season yet still losing out on more.

• Ground Duels - Very minor difference to last season.

• Clearances/Interceptions/Blocks Up - All of these stats are up this season, something that can look good on the eye but can also be a result of losing your duels, possession and making mistakes in your half. Misleading.

• Goals Conceded Inside the Box - Up a significant amount from last season, which when you consider Dias is doing more clearances and blocks you’d think that number would be lower. Shows how those can be misleading without looking into other figures.

FBREF Stats

Tackles (per 90) - Dias is not only having to tackle a lot more this season but the location has shifted. Normally even between first two thirds, has now seen a big increase to the middle. Makes a lot of sense when you see how his position has changed in the heat map, increase in carries and need to be involving in possession.

Touches (per 90) - Even more interesting is the spike in touches for the attacking third. City are pinning back teams deeper this season and Dias has become a bigger part of that on the ball.

Carries (per 90) - As has been mentioned many times, Dias has a much bigger demand place on him for carrying the ball. Carries into the final third up a huge amount (2.38), something Stones would have done last season. Same said for the progressive carries (1.59). It is not just the number of carries or the distance covered, its how deep Dias is finding himself in the opposition half on the ball.

We have highlighted some key points in the data through different tools but how does Dias stack up against our other central defenders?

Comparing to Other City Defenders

DataMB Radar

Squawka

Thoughts

• Aerial Duels - Akanji is doing less duels per ninety but still much more successful than him. Ake involved in more duels, has a success rate far ahead of Dias. Been a big problem for him this season.

• Can see still the value Dias is providing through his progressive passing and carries.

• When it comes to ground duels, Ake is a big standout and that’s expected with how well he defends out wide 1v1.

Conclusion

Looking at all the different sets of data from this season and previous ones it is clear there are two distinct factors in his performances this season. First he has been poor in winning duels, namely aerial ones. Second being the change in position and injuries to players that has put new demands on him with the ball.

There is no way to get around him having poor performances this season, you cannot dress them up as much as you can ignore the impact this set up without Stones has had. Dias being aggressive as a central center back to win duels and organize the back line is very different to one that needs to provide more to the team further up the pitch on the ball. His mistakes in duels have led to goals, to moments that everyone will talk about and have impacted results.

Time has been needed not only for Dias to get comfortable in this role but also for John Stones to return as a regular in the side. These past few games have seen an improvement in his performance and Stones is now back from his injury.

For now we should wait to see the rest of the season play out, his form has certainly been heading in the right direction and kept himself away from the silly mistakes we saw early on. Only a consistent run of performances in February and March will change opinions of those most critical.

That’s all for today in this newsletter, tomorrow will be our preview for the Everton game along with some other bits of news and insights.

Hopefully I didn’t say something that made you react like this. 👇

Let us know what you thought about Ruben Dias this season, where has he been at fault and what do we need to see from him the rest of the season.