With Leeds recording another clean sheet and another Herculean defensive performance from Sol Bamba (against Wigan), it’s perhaps worth comparing him with Jason Pearce – after all, they were both on the pitch on Saturday. So who is better?

Pearce was a signing I greeted with optimism in a dark period for the club, where Neil Warnock ingested Portsmouth and spat out a Leeds side. Where dross like David Norris and Luke Varney were indicative of this bleak amalgamated side, Jason Pearce was a nugget of gold in a bucket of mud. A young man, a captain and their player of the season. J-Dog struggled for consistency throughout his time at Leeds and while no one could ever question his commitment, his ability seemed to let him down.

Sure, he might have been yet another solid defender that Leeds had ruined (name as many as you like, Michalik, O’Dea, Zaliukas, Lees) but his signing for Wigan certainly hasn’t boosted their survival hopes much. With Leeds having signed Sol Bamba it led me to the inevitable (if not rather moot) question, who is better?

Sol Bamba at Leeds

A positively heroic debut against Huddersfield earned him MOTM recognition and a place in the Championship’s team of the week. What followed was a series of strong performances – bar a Zaliukas-esque wobble against Brighton – big Sol has shown himself to be a rock. Let’s look at the data.

As always I’m digging data from WhoScored and averaging it on a per-match average basis.

3.4 tackles per game

4.6 interceptions per game

9.6 clearances per game

1.1 shots blocked per game

4.6 aerial duals attempted per game (3.7 won)

7.92 WhoScored performance rating

Jason Pearce at Leeds

Compare those to Jason Pearce’s per-match averages for his time at Leeds in the 2014/15 season:

0.9 tackles per game

1.6 interceptions per game

8 clearances per game

0.3 shots blocked per game

4.9 aerial duals attempted per game (3.3 won)

6.89 WhoScored performance rating

Sol Bamba vs. Jason Pearce

It doesn’t take a wizard to see the disparity here, but I’ll do it for you. Compared to Jason Pearce, Sol Bamba has the following statistical benefits:

+2.5 tackles per game

+ 3 interceptions per game

+1.6 clearances per game

+0.8 shots blocked per game

-0.3 aerial duals attempted (but +0.4 more won overall)

+1.03 WhoScored performance rating

Sol Bamba vs. The Championship

Interestingly, Sol compares quite favourably to the other centre-backs in the league – using the same per-game metrics Sol is:

1st for tackles per game

1st for interceptions per game

11th for clearances per game

14th for shots blocked

29th for aerial duals won

1st for WhoScored performance rating

Not too shabby, ay?

But because this is IHL, we’re going to love Leeds, hate Leeds and continue to blame Tom Lees. On and on.