Ben Brereton-Díaz: A Passenger in a System That Can’t Carry Him

A look at why his attacking, creative and defensive output fails to match Derby’s system

Ben Brereton-Diaz is a waste of wages and a loan space. Out of the 13 matches he’s started for Derby he’s been subbed off in 11, the highest of any player in the squad, and the reasons for this are clear.

As fans know, John Eustace's Derby County side like to play defensively-solid football that relies heavily on quick counters and exploiting teams in

transitions of play and making the most of set-pieces, a style of football that has seen Carlton Morris score 10 goals in 16 matches and slowly become a fan favourite.

On the other side of this quick attacking football lies a player that just can't seem to fit, Ben Brereton-Diaz. As a right winger in Eustace's system you are expected to press players, get back and help with defending but also create quick attacks in counter situations. All three of which Brereton-Diaz seems to struggle with.

He has started 13 matches and only contributed with one goal, a screamer at Wrexham. In these 13 games he has come away with what seems to be a positive 19 shots. That is until you look at the statistics a little deeper and discover only 6 of them were on target and he has only achieved an xG of 1.37. This is a far cry from fellow winger Patrick Agyemang's xG rating of 2.30. and a grim comparison to Andreas Weimann's xG of 1.36 who has nearly the same xG in far fewer minutes.

Brereton-Diaz's creative contributions have also been next to non-existent with 0 assists from his 13 matches. Which when compared to his teammate Agyemang, who has 3 from 11 starts leaves a bit more to be desired from him. Diaz has only successfully completed 4 crosses with a cross accuracy of 28.6% which is key for Derby who like to play crosses into the box and take advantage of their physical players in the box. He has even created fewer chances (10) than Agyemang (13).

Stats aside, just watching Brereton-Diaz play for Derby you can see he seems a little lost, he is slow to react, doesn't move the ball quick enough and more often than not plays backwards when Derby are looking to play forwards.

It is as if he is playing without any confidence.

Defensively, his contributions are no better. Winning 32 duels with a duel win percentage of only 34.8% and an aerial duel win percentage of 34.5% , Brereton-Diaz leaves the midfield and the right wing back to do most of the work. This is a stark comparison when you look at the left hand side of Agyemang who has won 59 duels and has an aerial duel win percentage of 51.6%, which clearly shows that he does his bit when its time to defend as a block.

His defensive stats are most summed up by the number of times he has been dribbled past, 9, compared to Agyemang's 2. This isn't just shown by the stats, fans have seen in the games that Brereton-Diaz lacks defensive intensity, he jogs instead of pressing, he watches the ball go past him and doesn't show any desire to win it, he is a ghost when it comes to defending. It feels like when Derby are defending, they are doing so with a man down.

Brereton-Diaz feels like a luxury that Eustace's system simply cannot afford. For a team like Derby every penny spent on wages and every loan space occupied mean the world and I just cant see a way to justify his place in the squad. There are plenty of players out there who could arrive in January and make all the difference to Derby's season in place of Brereton-Diaz, the question is, does Eustace see something in Brereton-Diaz that the fans don't?

At this level, effort and output matter, and Derby deserve both.