Silas Katompa Mvumpa analysis (formally Silas Wamangituka)
(Originally posted 28.03.21)
Silas Wamangituka is a footballer who plays for Stuttgart in the Bundesliga as a right sided wing back primarily. So far this season (2020/2021) he has been one of Stuttgart’s most important players, being named Bundesliga rookie player of the month for November. So far, he has also registered 11 goals and 4 assists in 25 appearances, being the second highest contributor in the Stuttgart team.
Play Style
Wamangituka is clearly an attacking minded wing back, this can be shown in his goal contributions but also in his positioning on the pitch. Some examples that demonstrate this is the primary attack method from when Stuttgart played Frankfurt. This showed that Stuttgart relied on Wamangituka down the right flank in their attacking play.
His average position when he played against Schalke (number 14) further shows his attacking mindset as his average positioning was well into the opponent’s half.
Or furthermore, his heat map when playing against Hoffenheim which shows a hot pocket where he spent most of the game inside the opponent’s box.
Dribbling Abilities
Wamangituka is a tall and strong player on the pitch standing at 6 foot 2 inches tall. Silas uses his height and strength as an advantage incredibly well. He is very effective at positioning his body between his opponents and the ball (shielding), making it harder to be dispossessed as he can hold most players off the ball. Having said that, he is (per 90mins) dispossessed 1.7 times, which is higher than the similar players in the league who use dribbling in their arsenal such as Gnabry (1), Sane (1.3), Sancho (1.4) and Bebou (1.5). This however could be because of the positions. As the rest of these players are primarily out-and-out wingers who are more often part of the final part of the attack. However, comparing these players once again with Wamangituka on successful dribbles shows that Silas is in fact ranked better with 58% successful dribbles. He sits in around the middle of the selected players with the highest being 63% and 52% being the lowest. A further point that should be raised is that Bebou, who has the highest success rate, has less attempted dribbles (52) than Wamangituka has successful dribbles (56), so the comparisons are not perfect.
His dribbling is also heavily influenced by how fast he is and as a result, is very direct when attacking. And it makes sense as Wamangituka has clocked in the fastest speed in the Bundesliga so far this season at 35.42km/h. He mainly utilises his pace to exploit large areas of space on the pitch in behind the defence. However, he also has exceptional agility, is very effective at using quick touches and body feints to beat his opponents. These three qualities make it very difficult to defend Wamangituka as he is direct and runs at players with the ball instantly, often giving the defenders little to no time to get set. He changes direction fast, which forces his opponent to lose balance when reacting, and then he changes direction again at incredible pace. This leaves the defenders completely out of the game as it leaves very little chance to catch up. It can also force fouls a lot of the time, shown by the fact he gets fouled 1.6 times per 90mins.
In game plays
An example of how he uses his pace, agility, feints, and quick touches: This resulted in a great solo goal.
Direct running
Tunnel vision
However, there is one issue with Wamangituka’s dribbling and that is he sometimes gets tunnel vison. This means he loses track of where his teammates are and tries to dribble through the entire opposition instead of playing a pass. This leads to Silas losing possession almost every time which is easily preventable. As a result, it allows his team to be countered but also wastes good attacking chances.
Attacking Positioning And Tactical Awareness
Wamangituka has a strong knowledge of football going forward, he times his runs well, but more importantly he creates the correct runs. One run that Wamangituka repeatedly makes is a run from out wide along the edge of the box and then into the centre. He is very good at making this run as his pace benefits him immensely, allowing him to strip off his marker and find empty space for a free shot on goal. From watching Silas it is also clear to see, when he’s inside the attacking box, he also lingers at the back of the box waiting to make late runs into the back post to receive crosses.
In his game against Hoffenheim he made the following heat map. Which clearly shows he positioned himself perfectly for the dash to the centre of the box or into the back post. These two examples give a clear picture of his mind and knowledge when attacking his opponents.
Final Product
Wamangituka has been a very important player going forward for Stuttgart shown by his 15 goal contributions in 25 Bundesliga games. However, this could be surprising by looking at his xG and xA (expected goals and assists). His xG is 7.3, being far less than his 11 goals so far in the season which shows he is actually more clinical going forward than he’s expected from the chances he gets. His npxG (non-penalty expected goals) is even lower at 5.1, showing his open play ability to converting chances is very good as he has scored twice the amount of goals expected from his chances. He however has less assists (4) than his xA (5.1), this however could be explained by his teammates not converting the chances they are expected to, which impacts Wamangituka’s statistics. Talking about his ability to create chances for his teammates, it’s important to also notice how many shot creating chances (a pass, dribble or foul that leads to the teammate/himself making a shot) he has made. To which he has 60 creating chances, showing clearly just how capable he is of creating chances.
Improvements
Although Wamangituka is a good asset going forward, he can disappointing defensively. This is because he often lets players get goal side to him, lets players run through without tracking putting his teammate Mavropanos under pressure to deal with two players; he also allows his opponents lots of space in the box, which makes them more threatening to score goals.
Here is an example of Wamangituka not tracking his opponent.
Wamangituka getting caught on the wrong side of his opponent when defending.
An example of Silas when he allowed his opponent space in the box.
Passing
Wamangituka also has a weakness in his passing ability, shown by his completion rate though out the season being 70%. As a player used heavily in the attack for Stuttgart, having a 70% pass completion rate is a liability. It often leads to Wamangituka not being able to progress the attack effectively and even losing possession in dangerous areas of the pitch because of ineffective passes. Silas likes to play fast paced passing sequences with his teammates where the final pass unleashes him down the right wing behind the defense. To do this, Wamangituka uses first touch passes to keep the speed high, but unfortunately this leads to misplaced passes.
Heading
Wamangituka also seems to have a weakness in heading despite his large stature. This can be observed from watching games as he never gets into the box for winning headers when his team has won a corner. This is not likely to be because he is effective at defending counters as his pace offers a lot, but his tackling is not effective enough as he only made 50 in the season. Outside of winning headers at corners he only wins 0.6 headers a game. This likely explains why he doesn’t enter the box at corners.
Heavy Touch
The final limitation to Wamangituka’s game is his first touch. He often takes very heavy touches which loses possession for his team and prevents his team’s continuation in attacking scenarios. Another issue is the fact that he enjoys fast paced attacks which heavily requires a clean touch. As a result, when he is trying to create fast attacking dynamics, he can often slow the attack down as a result of his first touch.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Wamangituka has been a very important player for Stuttgart this season providing some vital goal contributions and causing their opponents constant pressure throughout the 90 minutes. His major attributions that benefit his game are his pace and how direct he is when in possession. Not many players in football decide to drive at an opponent, instead, more commonly opting to attack spaces. Silas does attack the player themselves however, and it’s been very effective for him so far. Wamangituka needs to develop his passing and first touch further, I believe this is more important compared to his defending as in my opinion he would be better suited as an out-and-out winger. I think also playing in a side that uses full backs would benefit his playing because it would allow for Wamangituka to be more attacking, which is untimely what he does best.
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