Piotr Zieliński 2019/20 – scout report

This scout report is a tactical analysis of Piotr Zieliński 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.

Piotr Zieliński has been at Napoli for four full seasons now, arriving from Serie A club Udinese in 2016. In the four years with Napoli, he has managed to cement his place as one of the key cogs in their midfield. In his first three seasons at the club, he was a vital part of the team which finished second runner-up (2016-17), and runner-up (2017-18, and 2018-19). 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 midfield has been a strong contributor to the teams fortunes in recent years, and one of their main men is Zieliński. 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

Zieliński plays as a midfielder in the Napoli side. Zieliński prefers the left-sided midfielder role as a part of the midfield three or two, and has played near all of his minutes in that position  as a left central midfielder. Occasionally, he has also played on the right side to execute specific in-game tactics. Take for instance the starting line-ups from the games Udinese vs Napoli and Napoli vs Roma, demonstrating his preference to play on the left in a midfield three/two.

Zieliński has a tendency to cut-inside centrally while carrying the ball forward. This works better for him since he has a preference to use his right foot, which enables him to open up the shooting & passing angles. His tendency to cut inside can also be seen in the below heat-map.

Defensive Duties

As mentioned earlier in the scout report, this tactical analysis aims to understand Zielińskis role in the defensive & attacking halves of the pitch. The analysis first looks at Zielińskis defensive ability, to understand which we look at two key factors: defensive duels per 90 and interceptions per 90. Defensive duels per 90 indicate the number of times, per 90, when Zieliński was involved in a duel with an opposition player in possession of the ball. While this may not be able to indicate whos better than whom, it does indicate the intent of the players to get involved in defensive duels. We also look at the interceptions he makes per 90. Interceptions are useful in determining how good a player is at reading the game and anticipating the next move. Cutting off a passing lane by good positional awareness and intercepting a pass, helps break up play and even start a counter-attack. For both of the attributes, the analysis compares Zielińskis numbers to his fellow midfielders at Napoli.

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