Open Data XI: The Best Player of the 2023/24 WSL Got Relegated

According to the data, the best player in the 2023/24 WSL season played for the team that finished bottom.

Her name is Naomi Layzell, a Bristol City center back whose raw numbers never stood out. Here’s how a model built entirely from free data found her.

The Open Data XI uses StatsBomb’s open event data for the WSL 2023/24 season: 132 matches, 495,189 events, 137 qualifying players. Each player is scored on five metrics (progressive passing, progressive carrying, defensive actions, xG and xA) and ranked against others in the same position.

First, the raw numbers were misleading. The league’s top progressive passer turned out to be a goalkeeper, launching long kicks that count as “progressive” on paper, so the goalkeepers came out. Possession was the bigger trap: players at teams that rarely have the ball look worse than they are. Adjust for that, and Layzell climbs from outside the top 15 passers into the top 5, and to first overall.

As a sanity check, the model independently puts Golden Boot winner Khadija Shaw top of the forwards on xG.

It’s a screen, not a verdict: no fees, no wages, no video.

Full report, with the workings and the top 10: Open Data XI

Next up: re-weighting the model for a high-press 4-3-3, starting with goalkeepers.