Andre Silva is now a 24-year-old centre-forward who has just finished his first season of a two-year loan spell with Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga. The Portuguese has experienced a jumbled career so far, going from a teenage wonderkid at FC Porto, to a ‘flop’ at Italian giants’ AC Milan, to a promising but inconsistent striker at Spanish side Sevilla. This season, he was brought in to replace the man who went the opposite way in the swap-deal which saw him brought to Frankfurt, Ante Rebić, who had just come off a successful World Cup campaign with Croatia and a great season at the German club.
Silva, who first caught the eye of scouts around the globe when he scored 15 goals in one game as an 11-year-old for Salgueiros, has seen significant success in his first season at Die Adler through both his goalscoring and creative exploits, as well as being a useful tool in the high press which Adi Hütter employs.
Silva’s main strength is his positioning, while he is not the quickest or strongest player, he negates these difficulties by his ability to find space in the box, between the centre-backs. We will dissect this further through an analysis of his performances this term.
Despite profiling as a centre-forward, in Hütter’s 3-5-2, the Austrian coach’s tactics encourage both of his centre-forwards to drift wide to create space centrally, while also adding to their unpredictability in the final third. Silva displays an understanding of how attacking rotations work via a multitude of quick short passes which draws pressure from the opposition to open up pockets of space for his teammates. His decision-making in this regard this season has been strong, knowing when to drift wide and ask for the ball down the wings, and when to wait for the right opportunity inside the opposition’s penalty area to get on the end of a goalscoring opportunity. This scout report will display how he has adjusted Hütter’s demanding attacking philosophy this season.
From a defensive aspect, Silva is an excellent asset for the team due to his fantastic energy and tactical understanding when to press. As the first line of pressure, we see Silva initiate the press regularly, as he moves out to engage the opposition and he continues this press when the ball is played backwards. He has a good understanding of angles when pressing and keeps opposition players in his cover shadow as he moves to engage the ball carrier. In this tactical analysis, we will also cover how important his pressing activity is to a Frankfurt side who ranks fourth in the league for successful pressures.
Style of Play
When detailing André Silva’s style of play, we will focus on three key sides of his game. These combine to offer an insight into the kind of player that Silva is and what he could grow to become under Hütter in the future. At 24 years old, it is unlikely we will see his tactical profile transform too much, so we can use these strengths to identify how he helps his side to win games.
Now, what are Silva’s key strengths and what is his playing style? He has an unflappable composure and poacher’s nose inside the opposition’s box, which is why he was compared with Sevilla club legend Frédéric Kanouté at the start of his time in Seville. His speed of thought is what makes him such an effective centre-forward, punctuated by the uncanny knack for being in the right place at the right time. He links well with his teammates, which was especially prevalent at the beginning of his time at Sevilla, which permitted Frankfurt board member Fredi Bobic to state in an interview Andre is perfectly suited to our coachs philosophy” before the Portuguese forward joined the club. This was likely due to his strong interplay, which is so important to Frankfurt’s quick passing play. Finally, he has the athletic ability and the willingness to work hard and press when his team are out of possession. This is perfect for a Hütter side who apply a high line of pressure to force the opposition into errors.
Positioning & finishing in the final-third
Frankfurt are a team whose modus operandi in the final-third is to cross the ball into the box, as seen by the high average positions of both of their wing-backs this season. In fact, they had the second-most crosses into the penalty area (not including set-pieces) in the Bundesliga this term, with 118 completed. Their wing-backs are crucial to ball progression down the wide channels, and also in the final third, to stretch the opposition defence and create space for their forwards inside the penalty area.
In the above analysis, we see Almamy Touré, Erik Durm, and Djibril Sow attempting a wing rotation down the right flank, creating space in behind for a cutback from the byline.
The ball
