It’s fantastic to be able to write something for this site without feeling despondent. Ask anyone who knows me, and they’ll tell you I’m always happy to go on and on about Plymouth Argyle. However, when things don’t feel like they’re falling apart, when we’ve finally been hit by a wave of good news, writing is certainly more pleasurable.
That wave of good news has arrived in the last week. Not only did the Greens pick up their first league points of the season with a 1-0 win over Blackpool, they also completed three important signings. Alex Mitchell was the first to come in, and we’ve already looked at what he may be able to offer this season. Eventually, we’ll turn our attentions to third signing Lorent Tolaj, formerly of Port Vale. For now though, it’s time to look at the man in the middle, Mathias Ross.
Ross, the first Dane to ever sign for Argyle, arrives with plenty of pedigree. The 24-year-old centre back was a Galatasaray player before signing for Argyle, and was supposedly wanted by clubs in the Championship and across Europe this summer. It feels like a coup for the Pilgrims, so let’s take a look at his numbers and see if he can live up to the hype.
The need for minutes
The first thing I’d point out, as indeed has been pointed out by Tom Cleverley since Ross’ confirmation, is that he needs minutes in his legs. He won’t be able to play a significant role for Argyle straight away, and that’s for a couple of reasons.
First of all, everyone at the club has been at pains to note that Ross hasn’t had a pre-season. And that’s a fair comment to make. Ross was released by Galatasaray at the end of his contract in June, and hasn’t had a club since. He’s clearly not up to match fitness, and has had very little time to familiarise himself with Cleverley’s style. It’s unrealistic to expect him to work miracles at the back for Argyle immediately.
I also think it’s worth noting that Ross’ lack of first team action isn’t necessarily a recent development. He first signed for Galatasaray in 2022 after impressing for boyhood club Aalborg BK, but didn’t actually make a senior appearance in Turkey. Instead, he’s spent the last couple of years on loan, first to NEC Nijmegen in the Netherlands, and latterly to Sparta Prague in the Czech Republic. His minutes haven’t been hugely consistent at either club.
Overall, Ross has played a total of 2,380 minutes across the last two seasons in all competitions (though due to the early rounds of Champions League qualifying not having full stats available, we can only analyse 1,927 of those). And 2,380 isn’t a massive figure, particularly over two years. Four Argyle players played more league minutes last season alone, with Bali Mumba getting all the way to 3,396.
It isn’t a concern as such; merely an observation. For a variety of reasons, not all of which are in his control, Ross has probably played as many minutes across two years as many players would manage in one. He’ll now have to adapt to a new league in a new country, the fifth he’ll have lived in since 2022, and it’d be unfair to expect him to light up League One straight away.
I like what I see from Ross. As I’ll soon hope to demonstrate, some of his stats should bring us great encouragement, and I think he’s a player with magnificent potential. To meet that potential, building up his fitness, playing more minutes and adapting to his new surroundings will be crucial.
The defensive basics
As we established in the Mitchell piece, the Charlton Athletic loanee is cut straight from the old school playbook. He excels at basic defending, but it’d be optimistic to expect him to do anything flashy throughout the season. Conversely, Ross gives the impression of a more modern-day defender, who should be comfortable with the ball at his feet. Regardless of style though, he’ll need to get the basics right to ensure he’s a success in an Argyle shirt.
Pleasingly, there are good early signs that he can do just that. For example, much like Mitchell, Ross seems perfectly capable of making clearances. In the time period we’re able to analyse, he made an average of 6.26 clearances per 90 minutes. It’s not quite as high as Mitchell (7.28), but it’s a decent figure when compared to Argyle’s defensive options. Lewis Gibson, for example, averaged 5.28 clearances per 90 during the first half of last season at Argyle.
Ross is also capable when it comes to other defensive aspects. For example, he actually blocked more shots per 90 minutes across the last two years than Mitchell did during his Charlton stint (0.75 vs 0.54). Ross also made an average of 0.93 interceptions per 90 across his two loan spells. It’s not massive, but still good enough to beat the figures of Kornel Szucs (0.86) and Maksym Talovierov (0.77) from last term.
In total, Ross averaged 9.11 defensive actions per 90. It doesn’t rank him particularly highly amongst Argyle’s centre back options, but there are still some ranking lower despite playing in a relegated side.
| Player | Defensive Actions per 90 |
| Nikola Katic | 15.72 |
| Julio Pleguezuelo | 13.63 |
| Victor Palsson | 13.16 |
| Brendan Galloway | 10.99 |
| Maksym Talovierov | 10.60 |
| Mathias Ross* | 9.11 |
| Lewis Gibson | 9.06 |
| Kornel Szucs | 7.87 |
The team quality caveat ought to be emphasised. Argyle’s relegation last season saw their defence under significant pressure throughout the campaign. Wayne Rooney’s Greens were generally overrun whenever they stepped onto the field. Meanwhile, Argyle had plenty of defending to do under Miron Muslic thanks to his stylistic choices, even if the abject thrashings were fewer and further between. I’d be shocked if their figures for defensive actions weren’t significant.
For Ross, things are different. For two years now, he’s been playing in teams in European top flight leagues, and both appear to be strong contenders in those leagues. Whilst Ross was at the respective clubs, both Nijmegen and Sparta Prague made their national cup final. Clearly, he’s used to featuring for teams playing on the front foot. The fact he still posted a decent number of defensive actions in sides totally contrasting to Argyle last season gives me confidence that he tends to get the defensive basics right.
Strength in battle
When looking at Ross’ numbers, one thing I was particularly struck by was his ability in duels. His success rates appear to be very encouraging, and I believe this could prove to be a major strength in his game.
For centre backs, aerial duels are always a good place to start. From the sample we have available, Ross competed in 118 aerial duels, winning 72. That gives him a success rate of 61%. I’ll present the same table as I did in the Mitchell piece, but I suppose the main headline is that Ross’ success rate was even better than the 58% posted by the typically agricultural Mitchell.
| Player | Aerial Duels Contested | Aerial Duels Won | Success Rate |
| Nikola Katic | 120 | 78 | 65% |
| Lewis Gibson | 57 | 37 | 65% |
| Victor Palsson | 105 | 65 | 62% |
| Mathias Ross* | 118 | 72 | 62% |
| Maksym Talovierov | 59 | 32 | 54% |
| Julio Pleguezuelo | 100 | 51 | 51% |
| Kornel Szucs | 125 | 63 | 50% |
| Brendan Galloway | 46 | 22 | 48% |
Interestingly, Ross’ aerial duel success was notably better in the Eredivisie than it was in the Czech top flight. During his Nijmegen spell, he won 45 of the 64 aerial battles he contested, culminating in a success rate of 70%. At Sparta Prague, he contested 54 aerial duels and won 27, giving him a success rate of exactly 50%. A sign that he’s become worse in the air? Maybe. Or, if you’re more optimistic, a sign that he can post even better numbers when given a sustained role in the side.
Ross also posted a decent figure for ground duels, winning them at a success rate of 56%. That isn’t astronomically high, but I often find there is more good fortune involved in winning ground duels than battles in the air. The fact that Ross won more than half the ground duels he contested must be seen as a decent sign.
If I am to mark out one area for improvement here, it’d be his tackling, which is included in a player’s ground duel calculation. Across the last two years, Ross has made just 25 tackles, a surprisingly low figure. He’s still been dribbled past on 12 occasions though, so cannot use the excuse that he’s simply a “covering” style of defender who will only put in a challenge when absolutely necessary.
It’s never an exact science, but those numbers give Ross an implied tackle success of 68%. As far as I can tell, that’s lower than any Argyle centre back managed last season, as well as the 71% posted by Mitchell at Charlton. It must bring slight concern; if Ross lines up in a central defensive partnership alongside Mitchell, which he surely will at some stage, pacy, direct forwards could prove to be Argyle’s kryptonite this season.
I hope it’s something Ross can fix, because in theory his ability in duels could prove to be a major strength. Considering the teams he’s faced recently – some of Ross’ duels came against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League – he’s absolutely the sort of player who can build on his already decent numbers and be a battling beast in League One. Those battles will be easier against worse opponents, and I’d like to think Ross will improve as he gets minutes under his belt.
If he does, I’m sure he’ll soon be seen as a successful addition.
A fit for the system
One aspect of Ross’ game I particularly like, and possibly why I’m even more excited about his arrival than Mitchell’s, is his ability in possession. On paper at least, Ross seems to be exactly the sort of defender Cleverley himself would have targeted in this window. He’s shown an impressive ability to play out from the back, and could prove vital in making the possession-based 4-2-3-1 work to its maximum potential.
Across the last two seasons, Ross has managed a pass success rate of 84%. I won’t fully compare that to Argyle’s team of last season, with Muslic’s style of play totally tanking the pass success and making such comparisons useless. However, suffice to say Ross’ figure ranks highly, and is very much in keeping with a player comfortable with working the ball out from deep positions.
A direct comparison, however, could prove to be particularly useful when looking specifically at long passing. Despite being asked to play in a different way, Ross still attempted and completed a decent number of long passes across his two loan spells. Given Argyle’s volume of long balls in the second half of last year, Ross’ success rate of 46% should excite us all
| Player | Long Passes Attempted | Long Passes Completed | Success Rate |
| Mathias Ross* | 145 | 67 | 46% |
| Maksym Talovierov | 74 | 33 | 45% |
| Kornel Szucs | 110 | 43 | 39% |
| Lewis Gibson | 127 | 48 | 38% |
| Nikola Katic | 61 | 22 | 36% |
| Victor Palsson | 110 | 35 | 32% |
| Julio Pleguezuelo | 150 | 46 | 31% |
| Brendan Galloway | 44 | 12 | 27% |
Long balls in the traditional sense will not be as frequent under Cleverley as they were under Muslic. However, this style will still require long passes to be played into the channels for the wingers to latch on to, and a centre back with that ability could prove to be a vital cog in the machine. To my eye, Ross seems better placed than anyone else on Argyle’s books to take up that role.
I hope I’ve successfully conveyed that this is one of many positive aspects of Ross’ game. He excels in plenty of metrics, in those he doesn’t there are understandable caveats, and he’s of an age profile where he can improve rapidly in a league that’s probably a level slightly below what he’s used to. For a free transfer, Argyle could hardly have done much better.
Nothing is guaranteed, and of course building up minutes and fitness could prove to be a decisive factor. Do that though, and there’s every reason to believe the Greens have made an excellent signing.