If you have not read NWSL Defensive Play, the only thing you need to remember is the following: I love defense. I love it. I think it is absolutely beautiful to watch this dynamic within the backline and even the exchange between the defenders and midfielders. From a photography standpoint, those who follow me know this is my favorite thing to capture so I figure, it must also have some beautiful stories to tell through the data, right? So let’s explore!

What type of midfielder are you?

In NWSL Defensive Play, I defined two different actions — conservative and aggressive, or ball defending and player defending. Originally, this data was presented such that you could see every single player in the league and it honestly looked like utter nonsense unless you had a specific player you wanted to see. Thus, instead, we focused on player position by team. For now, forget the teams for the second and just look at the three clusters — forwards in orange, midfielders in red, and defenders in blue.