With eight assists so far in the 2024/25 season of Serie A, Nuno Tavares is ranked at the top of the Serie A assist-makers table, ahead of Napoli’s Romelu Lukaku, who has seven assists, and AC Milan’s Christian Pulisic with six assists.
Tavares has significantly impacted Lazio’s results this season.
His playmaking input has been decisive for the team’s league success so far, especially compared to last season.
Lazio currently holds the fifth spot and is battling for fourth to qualify for the UEFA Champions League next season.
In contrast, they finished seventh in the 2023/24 season and could only qualify for the Europa League.
This significant progress in Lazio’s results and objectives is very important for the team and for players like Tavares, whose role is vital in keeping the team’s results in continuous progress.
Who Is Nuno Tavares?
Nuno Tavares started his football career at Benfica in 2018.
During his first season with them, he played with the B team before getting promoted and playing with the senior team from 2019 to 2021.
His period at Benfica was not very remarkable.
With 41 competitive appearances, he did not contribute significantly to the team, as he was mostly used as a substitute.
Following this period, Tavares joined Arsenal and played in the Premier League for the 2021/22 season.
He was good enough upfront but had some recurrent defensive frailties and mistakes that led to his not being confirmed as a reliable starting player in Arsenal’s formation by the end of that season.
This led to loaning him out to Ligue 1’s Olympique Marseille for the 2022/23 season and then to Nottingham Forest for the 2023/24 season.
Both teams did not activate his purchase clause even though he improved significantly, especially during his period at Marseille.
Recently, he moved on loan to SS Lazio with the obligation to buy if certain conditions were met.
So far, we can say that Tavares is performing very well for Lazio.
All that is needed from him is consistency in his performances in order to earn the trust of everyone at Lazio and eventually be transferred permanently to the Biancocelesti.
In this tactical analysis and scout report, we will explore Nuno Tavares’ playmaking abilities and how important he has been to Lazio’s tactics so far.
The analysis will also shed light on Tavares’ most fitting positions and roles and how Lazio can benefit from his services in the best possible way in the period to come while limiting his weaknesses and helping him perform better.
Nuno Tavares Positions & Roles At Lazio
Tavares has been mainly used as a left-back in Lazio’s 4-2-3-1 formation under Marco Baronis tactics, and the Portuguese international can be described as an offensive left-back.
The statistics related to assist-making already show that Tavares is an offensive player who can provide key passes and be crucial in playmaking.
Still, we should also mention that he is not reliable enough in the defensive phase.
Being poor defensively explains why he is consistently subbed in the second half and rarely plays full games.
That’s why playing him as a left-back is not really the most fitting position for a player with his characteristics.
The most suitable positions for Tavares would be to play as a wing-back in a 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 formation or as a left winger, as these positions limit his crucial defensive duties, give him more freedom to advance, and be more dangerous in the offensive phase.
To consolidate this idea, it is important to know that Tavares is very agile, physically strong, and can be very pacey, which makes him very dangerous when penetrating towards the final third.
Thanks to playing in a more advanced position, being able to penetrate or cut inside more often would surely make Tavares much more impactful in the attacking phase, especially considering his already high dribbling, shooting, and dangerous passing numbers.
Moreover, his ability to often provide key crosses from the wing, provide numerous assists per season, and score goals from different situations with both feet makes him even more valuable.
The only aspects that need more work from Tavares are the defensive duels’ winning rates and the mental aspect, which requires some more efforts and changes from Tavares in order to keep performing well consistently and avoid attitude issues or loss of concentration, which might affect his performances and, therefore, career in the long run.
Nuno Tavares Radar Map
Nuno Tavares Playmaking & Assist-Making
With excellent progressive passes and dangerous pass rates, Tavares is becoming one of the best assist-makers in Italy.
If he succeeds in providing more assists in the remaining games, he could break his own record for this season.
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