N. Devlin

How well supported: 65%. Clustering the same 23 seasons without our labels puts 65% of them in the group our archetype names would predict. That is a weak match — read the four scores, not the headline label. No position separates cleanly into discrete types (silhouette 0.17); these are continua, and the scores describe position along them.

A percentile, not a success rate: 67th means he did more of it than two thirds of the 26 Aberdeen centre-back seasons on record. Context, not a league benchmark. Style, not rating: goals, assists and conversion feed none of these scores. Evidence behind it: high confidence (97) on 2,189 minutes, 26 of 29 matches with event data.

Shape is the side's starting formation for each match, so a game where Aberdeen changed at half time counts wholly to what they started in — mid-match spells are only recorded for the current season. 6 further shapes fall below 270 minutes (4-2-3-1, 3-4-1-2, 4-3-1-2, 5-4-1, 3-5-2, 4-1-2-1-2) and are left out rather than ranked on noise. Goals per 90 across 3 shapes is a small sample either way — treat it as a pointer, not a finding.

1. Jack MacKenzie2022/2378
   closest on Aerial contests, Clearances, Pass completion
2. Ross McCrorie2022/2377
   closest on Aerial win rate, Tackles + interceptions, Into the final third
3. Anthony Stewart2022/2370
   closest on Progressive passes, Into the final third, Duel win rate

Nearest style profile among 26 Aberdeen centre-back seasons, across the model’s on-ball dimensions. Not a ranking: this asks who he plays like, not who was better.

Against other clubs

Percentile against 90 players from 10 other Scottish clubs, in their matches against Aberdeen. Shares of his own actions rather than per-90: opponent minutes are derived from the lineup, good enough to require 450 of them but not precise enough to divide by.

Celtic and Rangers are left out of the pool. With them in, they held 8 of the top 10 for passing and none of the top 10 for aerials — they distorted every feature one way or the other. Without them the remaining ten clubs behave alike enough that a player's club explains under a sixth of the variance in any of these, so all of them are readable as the player rather than the team.

Based on 26 Aberdeen matches and 1,140 touches this season, against opponents with at least 450 minutes against us across five years. Every feature shown agrees with itself when a player's matches are split in half and measured twice; aerial win rate and take-on success do not on this sample, so they are left out. These are still matches against one specific side — enough to place a player, not to quote as league form.

Who else plays like this

Players from 10 other Scottish clubs who reach Devlin's level on all four of the things that most characterise him.

Nobody in the pool clears all four at this level. That is a finding in itself — loosen the match, or read it as a profile the other clubs in here do not have.

0 of 90 pool players match. The pool is opponents with at least 450 minutes against Aberdeen across five years — roughly four matches a season each, and only against us. This is a prompt to go and watch someone, not a scouting verdict, and it cannot see anyone who has not played us.