Luis Alberto

Luis Alberto have somewhat surprisingly emerged as one of the best players in Italy this season. After a difficult first season at Lazio the former Liverpool midfielder has been splendid this term. Alberto only made four starts and five cameos last season while hes started 31 Serie A games this term. The Spaniard is one of only nine players in Europes top leagues to record double figures for goals and assists. Luis Albertos haul of eleven goals and fourteen assists in the league so far highlight his improvement. Lets look at the reasons behind the Lazios creators sudden rise.

Background

Luis Alberto came through the ranks of Sevillas cantera and made his debut as an 18-year-old in April 2011. In the summer of 2012 he was loaned to Barcelona B for a season. Alberto scored 11 goals in the league in Catalonia and impressed viewers. One of those was Brendan Rodgers. At the end of the season Rodgers brought the Spanish playmaker to Liverpool. Liverpools 2013/14 season will be remembered by their superb form in the second half of the season which looked like it would bring a first league title in 24 years. Then Steven Gerrard slipped, Demba Ba scored for Chelsea and Liverpool imploded at Crystal Palace shortly after. Rodgers deployed a very attacking team but the young Luis Alberto only managed nine substitute appearances in the league. He was then sent on loan to Malaga in 2014/15 though it only brought six starts and nine cameos. The following season, 2015/16, Alberto joined Deportivo La Coruna on loan. He made 25 starts in the league and impressed Lazio who bought the midfielder from Liverpool in the summer of 2016. The fee was only €4 million. After a tough first season in Rome, Alberto has established himself as one of Italys best players this season. Lazios playmaker has also received a first Spain call-up.

Luis Albertos position for Lazio

Lazios head coach Simone Inzaghi deploys a 3-5-1-1 formation where Luis Alberto usually plays as the number 10 behind prolific striker Ciro Immobile. The three midfielders behind Alberto help create a midfield diamond with the Spaniard at its top. This formation gives him good support from behind with the likes of Marco Parolo, Lucas Leiva and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic linking up well with Alberto in central areas. For a creative player this type of support is vital. It minimises his defensive responsibility and hes allowed to focus on creating rather than defending. Thats one of the reasons hes been shining so brightly. Previously Alberto has been unfortunate enough to end up with coaches deploying him in wide positions. Inzaghi has realised where the Spaniard is at his best though and as a number 10 Luis Alberto has become Lazios main creative outlet.

Interestingly, when chasing games late on Inzaghi has sometimes deployed Alberto has the deepest midfielder in the midfield diamond. This role, which the Italians call regista, gives the Spaniard the chance to control every build-up from deep. Its no surprise hes relished this responsibility when given the chance. Alberto also enjoys a lot of freedom in the way he plays as he often drifts from his starting position to find empty spaces to exploit. Its therefore not unusual to see him drop very deep or towards the wings to combine with the wing-back and the ball-near midfielder.

Lazios playmaker

In all competitions this season, Luis Alberto has made 19 assists. Thats a really high number considering he managed only two last season. With trust from his coach and a sky-high self-confidence, Alberto has become one of Italys best creators. His link-up play with Milinkovic-Savic, Immobile and Parolo has seen him create multiple chances for the trio throughout the season. Albertos ability to create chances for his teammates is reflected in the statistics. Only two players in Italy, Alejandro Gomez (2.8) and Lorenzo Insigne (2.7) create more chances on average than Luis Albertos 2.6 chances/game. By comparison, Juventus main creators Miralem Pjanic (2.0), Douglas Costa (1.8) and Paulo Dybala (1.6) create way less. No player has made more than Luis Albertos 14 Serie A assists. Lets look at how the Lazio playmaker show this creativity in games.

The image above goes a long way to explain the vision and understanding that lies behind everything the Spaniard does on the pitch. As hes about to receive a simple sideways pass in midfield, Alberto scans his surroundings and identifies the run of Jordan Lukaku down the left. Alberto also realises the open space behind Fiorentinas right-back. As the ball travels towards him he changes his body position and prepares to unleash a one-touch through-ball to put Lukaku in behind Fiorentinas defence. This action highlights everything you need to know about Luis Albertos vision. He always scans the pitch in this way and is aware of his surroundings at all times. It might sound easy, but its probably among the hardest thing for players to grasp.

In the below image, Alberto has again dropped out of his starting position. This time he sees the superb run of Ciro Immobile and plays a razor sharp through-ball to the Italian. Given how quickly this action happens, Salzburg have no time to drop off and minimise the space behind the defensive line. Immobile therefore has lots of time as well as space and scores. If you look at the image closely youll see that Albertos pass takes out NINE Salzburg players. NINE! In one pass. Teams are hereby warned not to give the Spaniard the chance to look up and pick a pass if theyre not organized to perfection.

Heres another example of a through-ball which beats almost an entire team. Bologna have nine men back here but are caught ball-watching as Luis Alberto finds a trademark reverse-pass through their li