Kalidou Koulibaly 2019/20 – scout report

This scout report is a tactical analysis of Kalidou Koulibaly for the season 2019/20. It is an analysis of his style of play, and his role in the tactics deployed by Napoli. It further aims to arrive at his importance in the Napoli line-up.

Kalidou Koulibaly has been at Napoli for six full seasons now, arriving from Genk ahead of the 2014-15 season. In the six years with Napoli, he has managed to cement his place as one of the most sought after centre-backs in world football. There hasnt been a transfer window in the past few seasons, without him being linked to the biggest clubs in Europe. The recent windows have been no different, with Premier League clubs such as Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea, all being linked as possible destinations. This season, however, hadnt been Napolis best, for more reasons than one. The on-going dispute with the board could have possibly pulled down performance levels of the players as they finished seventh in the league. Their worst finish in the past eleven seasons! They did, however, manage to win the Coppa Italia and save themselves some blushes.

Napolis defence has been a strong contributor to the teams fortunes in recent years, and one of their main men has been Koulibaly. The analysis aims to understand his contribution to the teams play, both defensively and in attack, and thereby evaluate his importance to the side. The tactical analysis is based on all of the Serie A games he’s played in season 2019/20.

Role in the line-up

Kalidou Koulibaly plays as a central defender in the Napoli side. Koulibaly prefers the left-sided central defender role as a part of a back four, and has played over 90% all of his minutes in that position  as a left central defender. The below starting line-ups from the games Udinese vs Napoli and Napoli vs Roma, demonstrating his preference to play on the left in a back four.

Koulibaly starts as the left central defender but has a strong right foot, which broadens his angle to visualise and make passes. The below heat-map indicates Koulibalys presence on the pitch.

Defensive Duties

As mentioned earlier in the scout report, this tactical analysis aims to understand the role Koulibaly plays in the defensive & attacking halves of the pitch for Napoli. The analysis first looks at Koulibalys defensive ability, to understand which we look at two key attributes: effectiveness in duels and positional awareness. The effectiveness in duels considers two kinds of duels: defensive duels and aerial duels. A defensive duel, is when Koulibaly was involved in a duel with an opponent player who was in possession of the ball at the time of the duel. An aerial duel is the same as a defensive duel, except when the players are aerial. The analysis of the duels takes two paths: first, the number of aerial and defensive duels that the player has been involved in indicating the defensive intent; and second, the number of aerial and defensive duels the player wins, indicating effectiveness in duels.

There are 63 central defenders wh