Player Profile: Is Szoboszlai Worthy of His Ownership in FPL?

This piece is inspired by u/DarthBane6996 on Reddit who DARED to question my friend Joe’s assessment of Szoboszlai following Joe’s DefCon Mids piece.

Seriously though, the question about whether he was a good for defcons or just generally a good pick got us thinking so we are diving deep into the second highest owned FPL mid here. So, thanks Darth!

We will look at his attacking output, his DefCon ability and the general vibe to assess whether we think he is worthy of his ownership in FPL.

Szoboszlai’s Attacking Ability

Over the course of Szobo’s 7819 FPL minutes he has amassed 15 goals and 21 assists. 3420 mins is a full season of 38 games so if we extrapolate that performance we would expect to see him return 6.6 goals and 9.2 assists in a full FPL season. If we use his expected stats, it’s a little lower on the assist side but that’s probably just because FPL assists don’t generate xA.

Overall though, he scores 33+27.6=60.6 points from his attacking output. Add that to 76 appearance points for a full season and you end up with 136 points.

That’s just kind of fine but would still put him joint 20th for FPL midfielders last year – next to Scott and Dango.

His set piece ability is already factored in above but there is a chance he is on penalties this year with Salah gone. For what it’s worth, I think Isak will take them but I am willing to admit Szobo has some pen share.

Is Szoboszlai a DefCon Pick?

No. He only got 20 DefCons last season which puts him joint 17th for DefCon points among midfielders.

He is miles off Anderson (52 DefCon Points), Garner (40) and Ampadu (38). However, he isn’t too far of Rice (28), Caicedo (26) or Palhinha (24). And, he is better than Zubimendi (12), Bruno Fernandes (10) and Bruno G (10).

But Didn’t He Get All His DefCons When He Played Right-Back?

No. Though that did help pump up his numbers.

According to FBRef, he played eight games at right-back for Liverpool last season. In four of those games he got defensive contribution points. So, he returned DefCons 50% of the time at right-back. When he didn’t return defcon points at right back he always got 8 or 9 clearances, blocks interception and recoveries (CBIRT).

He played 28 games in midfield and in six of those games he got defensive contribution points. Those 12 DefCon points are still more than Bruno G. got in his 29 appearances. So, he returned DefCons 21% of the time. He also got 10 or 11 CBIRT 4 other times as a midfielder.

If we extrapolate his 28 games as a midfielder out to 35 games he hits DefCon 7 times for 14 points. That’s still 4 more DefCon points than Bruno Fernandes achieved last year in 35 appearances.

Szobo’s Value is Routes to Points

This is one of the FPL community’s fun new phrases but it’s right.

Szobo is nailed, has some open play threat, is on set pieces, might be on some pens and can get DefCons regardless of where he plays.

I don’t think he can significantly outperform his price tag but in a nice run of fixtures (which Liverpool have) he is a good enough guy to own.

And, when you look at the guys he is competing with at his price tag he is just much more nailed than Foden and has much better attacking numbers (AND DEFCONS) than Bruno G.