Joshua Zirkzee is a name familiar to most for being the unfortunate Bayern Munich youth academy graduate to come through into the first team in the same era as Robert Lewandowski.
Zirkzee, a 20-year-old Dutch centre-forward, has, for that very reason, left the Bundesliga and joined Anderlecht on loan in the Belgian First Division A.
The young striker has had a mixed initial period with the Belgian side, starting some games, coming on as a late substitute in others, and even being hauled off at half-time in one.
He has so far played in seven games for Anderlecht, with three goalless appearances in the UEFA Conference League qualifiers; however, he has already scored three times and provided one assist in his four league appearances.
This scout report and tactical analysis will provide an in-depth analysis of Zirkzee’s performances thus far, examining some of his key tactics as a centre-forward.
Joshua Zirkzee Positioning and link-up play
Zirkzee varies his positioning, but generally, when his team has possession, he will look to stretch the pitch and play on the last man.
He has a big frame, standing at 1.93m, and as such can be used as a target to play into, with attackers making runs in behind either side of him.
He is physically strong, but at 20 years of age, he is still filling out and remains relatively lanky.
Despite his height, he doesn’t excel aerially in build-up play and has won just 33.3% of his aerial duels thus far this season for Anderlecht.
However, he is highly competent at making late runs towards the ball to receive possession, drawing a centre-back with him, and creating space in the backline as a result.
His first touch is consistently good, and he demonstrates a solid understanding of how to utilise his frame to protect the ball when in possession.
Zirkzee will often look to start in an offside trap initially.
He likes to make late runs into an onside position, where he can use the lack of marking to gain some initial space and get on the ball.
Zirkzee can dribble effectively, completing 41.2% of his 3.97 dribbles per 90 minutes this season.
He is surprisingly sharp on the turn for a man of his size and has a decent change of pace to allow him to accelerate away from his marker.
