Was having a read up on Zakaria and found it interesting that his stats from the Bundesliga in the first half of last season look a lot better than his stats from Serie A in the second half, you would almost think he’s a different player.
Here’s a few of his percentile ranks in certain per90 stats in the Bundesliga last season, with the Serie A equivalent in brackets:
90.1% Pass Completion - 97th percentile (77.5% / 24th)
92.8% Pass Completion Short - 96th percentile (83.6% / 20th)
92.3% Pass Completion Medium - 97th percentile (81.7% / 23rd)
81.1% Pass Completion Long - 97th percentile (76.5% / 84th)
Passes Intercepted by Opposition - 97th percentile (95th)
Progressive Carrying Distance - 95th percentile (14th)
Passes Blocked by Opposition - 91st percentile (15th)
Progressive Passing Distance - 89th percentile (12th)
Interceptions - 88th percentile (79th)
Times Dribbled Past - 85th percentile (64th)
Successful Pressure % - 75th percentile (6th)
Successful Dribble % - 93rd percentile (8th)
Given these occurred in the same season it has to be down to style of play surely? Either that or he just had no confidence under Allegri.
Decent chance Allegri’s bus parking football just doesn’t suit him, for some reason Allegri has been a bit of a talent killer since rejoining Juve, it’s odd. Hopefully he’ll be much more suited to the type of football that we aim to play, although of course we need to start getting up to speed on that front as we’ve been rubbish so far.
Have a feeling there’s a decent chance of him being more Kovacic than Saul in terms of how well the loan goes.
Zakaria
posted on 5/9/22
Have you seen this article?
https://cfccentral.substack.com/p/denis-zakaria-scouting-report-analyzing/comments
Pegs him down as a destroyer perfectly suited for the DM role and letting other CMs express themselves further forward. Was often played out of position at Juve which almost certainly contributed to his poor form and confidence.
Though funnily enough, despite being 6'3 he's absolutely terrible in the air . Seems to either mistime his jumps or pull back from aerials. Will be interesting to see how he manages in the PL.
In any case, he could be the answer to allowing us to play 4-3-3 with attack-minded 8s (e.g. Mount and Gallagher). Fingers crossed he can stay fit.
posted on 5/9/22
With those passing stats as well, he looks like he should be comfortable playing both big and smaller teams.
Ngl, quite excited about this signing. Been waiting for us to bring in a proper DM for a while
posted on 5/9/22
Just don't be another Bakayoko is my fear
posted on 5/9/22
Rube sux
Period
posted on 5/9/22
His hips don’t lie.
posted on 5/9/22
didi it does suggest Juve were simply a mismatch for him. He was incredibly highly rated all the way up until he joined them.
And as 4zA says, they suck in general
posted on 5/9/22
So glad we've got a DM, badly needed. Let's hope he's a success at Chelsea
posted on 6/9/22
Have a feeling there’s a decent chance of him being more Kovacic than Saul in terms of how well the loan goes.
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I agree. He fits the profile of the type of midfielders who generally do well for us - dynamism & energy (Kovacic) as opposed to elegance (Saul).
Makes me appreciate players like Jorginho & Fabregas more tbh, cos they broke the mould
posted on 6/9/22
That's quite interesting. We had a top DM in Lucas Torreira who Unai Emery completely ruined by moving him further and further up field. Imagine his stats would look similar before and after a change in position
posted on 6/9/22
I always thought Torreira looked good whenever I saw him, would've taken him at Chelsea.