The Data Behind Fàbregas' Como: Serie A's Surprise Side

The city of Como may provide the most idyllic of backdrops for a playing career as decorated as Cesc Fàbregas’, but it is fast becoming the club where his coaching credentials are being treated as prodigiously as his teenage talents when he made his Arsenal debut two decades ago.

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From La Masia to Como via Arsenal, Chelsea and Monaco, Fàbregas is leading the club’s charge towards Champions League qualification – which would be a first for Como in their 119-year history – and doing so as one of only three coaches in the league under the age of 40.

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Como’s success this season under Fàbregas is contrary to league norms as the holders of the best defensive record in Serie A and an attacking record which trails only leaders Inter in terms of goals scored. Reverence is rightly given to the elder statesman of the league in Luciano Spalletti and Gianpiero Gasperini, two head coaches in their late sixties who are trying to oust Como from fourth spot with Juventus and Roma.

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This is after all Como, a club that until two years ago hadn’t played in Serie A since 1988-89. But with five wins from five matches as they entered the international break, momentum appears to lie with Como in their second season with Fàbregas in charge.

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As a midfielder himself, it is telling that Fàbregas has his team adept at keeping control of possession. Como have led Serie A in minutes spent in possession this season with 1,024 and in touches per-90 as a team at 1,418.77 – a large margin ahead of the average 1,101.28.

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Effective in Como’s control are attacking midfielder Nico Paz and midfielders Lucas Da Cunha and Máximo Perrone in the team’s 4-2-3-1 system. It isn’t always a guarantee that leading possession metrics means you control the middle third, but Como do indeed top this Gradient Sports metric.

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Here we analyse how the trio’s performance for Como has caught the attention of those inside Italy and from further afield.

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Nico Paz

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Gradient’s data model has Nico Paz leading all attacking midfielders in performance grade when collecting all facets together to produce a combined Overall Grade of 87.7. Underpinned by a strong On-Ball Attacking Grade of 85.5 and a Shooting Grade of 81.9.

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10 goals and six assists have been a talismanic contribution from the Argentine. The first data point that immediately jumps out when examining his data profile is Paz’s elite 92.8 Tackle Resistance Grade – one of only six players across Europe’s top five leagues who have attained a grade over 90.0 on a minimum 100 events. Tackle Resistance measures an attacker's ability to evade oncoming tackles and pressures that are initiated by the defender. It differs from Carrying and Dribbling, which measure actions initiated by the attacker.

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Como’s control of possession does equate to them registering the fewest number of pressures in Serie A. But when they are out of possession, Paz is often the trigger man leading the team with 1,086 total pressures – over 200 more than his next teammate, forward Anastasios Douvikas (797).

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Paz’s technical and physical ability has established him as one of Europe’s top emerging No.10s ready to add to his seven caps for Argentina thus far.

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Lucas Da Cunha

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A product of the academy at Rennes and signed from Nice for €500,000 ahead of the season that would see Como promoted in 2024, Da Cunha has served as captain under Fàbregas and been a picture of consistency. The Frenchman holds the sixth-best Overall Grade among Serie A midfielders at 76.5, behind Milan’s Luka Modrić (91.2), Juve’s Manuel Locatelli (87.9) and Inter’s Hakan Çalhanoğlu (82.2).

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Da Cunha is in good company there and his Set-Piece Crossing Grade is reflective of his technical ability. An 84.4 grade lies fifth among all set-piece crossers in Serie A and his Open Play Cross Grade of 87.0 also indicates an ability to find a teammate with accurate delivery. Together with midfield partner Máximo Perrone and a back four that amassed 14 clean sheets, Como’s defensive record has been exceptional.

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The Lanieri are tied-second in non-penalty xG with Napoli at 0.83 per-90, behind leaders Inter with 0.78. Production which ties in with Da Cunha’s respectable defensive grades in 1v1 Defending (70.6), Clearance (77.2) and Positioning (70.0).

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Máximo Perrone

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Perrone has been Fàbregas’ preferred option to start in midfield over Maxence Caqueret and the two share a surprisingly similar grading and production profile.

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The two are more daring in their line-breaking intent as passers compared to Da Cunha, whose 5.09 completed attempts per-90 is below Perrone’s 7.83 and Caqueret’s 7.41.

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How does this stack up in Gradient Sports’ Passing Grade model? Well, Caqueret just about holds a minimal edge over Perrone’s production at 80.6 to 80.4 in grade. These are both ahead of Da Cunha’s 75.6. It all makes for interesting viewing with Perrone being a player formerly identified by Manchester City and Caqueret the former poster boy of Olympique Lyonnais.

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