Florian Grillitsch 2021/22: Why Hoffenheim’s versatile midfielder is garnering so much interest – scout report

Florian Grillitsch is a 26-year-old Austrian midfielder currently playing for Hoffenheim in the German Bundesliga. Grillitsch has been quietly receiving plaudits for his consistently excellent performances in the Hoffenheim midfield for some years now, however, he is beginning to spring into the spotlight given his contract is up at the end of the season.

Grillitsch has been a key part of a Hoffenheim side that has flown somewhat under the radar this season, and currently sit in the Champions League places in fourth position at the time of writing. 

This tactical analysis and scout report will look to provide an analysis of some of Grillitsch’s key traits, whilst looking at how he fits in with Hoffenheim’s tactics.

Positioning and defending

Grillitsch’s main position is as a defensive midfielder. He has seen the most minutes in this position this season, having registered 780 minutes there for Hoffenheim so far. However, he has also been used as a centre-back with some frequency too, having played 561 minutes there too. His ability to read the game as well as he does, on top of his robust approach to defending and ball-playing quality, makes Grillitsch a player who can play at the back, particularly in a back three where he has more freedom to step forward., However, of course, these are the qualities so highly coveted in elite-level defensive midfielders. 

We can see from looking at his heat map from this season that Grillitsch takes a deep central position and does plenty of his work from this area, and will venture just beyond the halfway line too but doesn’t have a high volume of work close or inside the opposition penalty area.

The following image provides some context to Grillitsch’s defensive output this Eason against the rest of the league’s defensive midfielders. We can see he ranks comfortably above average for both volume of defensive duels and defensive duel win percentage, whilst the size of his plot point indicates his 6.57 padj, interceptions is a quality volume as well.