Open Data XI, Week 1: The Keeper Built for a High Press Plays for Everton

Most recruitment rankings ask who’s best. This one asks who fits.

The Open Data XI scores players for one job: a direct, high-pressing 4-3-3. The data is the same free StatsBomb WSL 2023/24 set behind Part 1. The twist is in the weighting: every position is scored against what this system actually needs. One position a week, finishing with a financial model for a fictional club built to run it, wage bill and all.

Goalkeepers go first because a high line only works if the keeper can cover the space behind it and play out under pressure. So the score leans on sweeping (35%) and distribution under pressure (30%), with shot-stopping against xG faced (25%) and short-pass mix (10%) making up the rest.

The result: the keeper this system wants played for eighth-placed Everton.

Courtney Brosnan (Everton): 86.8
Khiara Keating (Manchester City): 73.2
Janina Leitzig (Leicester City): 63.6
Rebecca Leigh Spencer (Tottenham Hotspur): 60.5
Mackenzie Arnold (West Ham United): 58.6

Brosnan rates ahead of every keeper at Chelsea, Arsenal and City, across 1,933 minutes, so it isn’t a thin sample. The sanity check is second place. Keating became the youngest keeper to win the WSL Golden Glove and made the PFA Team of the Year, and the model reached her without being told any of that.

The radar comparing the top three is on X: Brosnan leads on sweeping range and short passing, Keating is the best shot-stopper, and Leitzig has the best distribution under pressure but rarely leaves her line.

Still a screen, not a verdict: no fees, no wages, no video.

Next week: center backs, and the most surprising name in the dataset.

Link to Part 1: Open XI