Rúben Dias Scout Report At Manchester City 2020/21: Transforming The Citizens Defence – Player Analysis

Pep Guardiola has made a revolution at Manchester City with his distinguished tactics and drive for success.

After winning the Premier League back-to-back in 2017/18 and 2018/19 and dominating in the internal cups, The Citizens started struggling last season and gave away their leadership to Liverpool.

Although Manchester City finished as runners up it was noticeable that they were struggling in certain areas and starting to lose their consistency.

This made them unable to defend their title but also pushed them away from one of their main goals – the Champions League title.

One of the reasons for their inconsistency was the absence of their captain Vincent Kompany who left the club after 11 years as part of their defensive set-up.

But they didn’t miss him only defensively.

As a ball-playing centre-back, Kompany was a key figure in their build-up actions and in executing Guardiola’s possession-based style of play.

They failed to find a replacement in the 2019/20 season and the whole team performance was affected by it.

The Sky Blues invested in bringing in a defensive midfielder in the face of Rodri but his arrival wasn’t enough to improve the connection between the lines and fill in the gap in the backline.

They were lacking a leading figure that will support both their defensive and attacking actions.

After missing on both the Premier League and the Champions League, Manchester City immediately made a move for a ball-playing centre-back that fits their profile.

Little did they know that their new signing, Rúben Dias, was about to transform the team completely.

“It wasn’t expected, honestly. We knew his quality, but you never know what is going to happen.” underlined Pep Guardiola quoted by The Independent.

“If a defender plays for himself it’s a problem but he is thinking always about his central defensive partner, his holding midfielder, even the wingers. He’s so generous, he’s a complete professional.”

With these words, the Spaniard described the 24-year-old who fits their strategy like a glove and turned into one of their key players that led them to the 2020/21 league title and also to reach the long-awaited Champions League final.

This Rúben Dias scouting report in the form of tactical analysis examines the Portuguese centre-backs main traits and how he improved the Citizens’s performances by fitting to Manchester City tactics perfectly.

Rúben Dias Strengths & Weaknesses

Rúben Dias Heat Map

Dias is equally important for both the defensive actions and the build-up play.

While he shows great composure and anticipation skills in defence, the former SL Benfica centre-back also shows confidence on the ball and strong work under pressure.

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