Thijs Dallinga’s scouting report
Full Name: Thijs Dallinga.
Date of Birth: 3rd August, 2000.
Age: 23 y/o.
Citizenship: Netherlands.
Height: 190cm / 6'2.
Position: CF or ST.
Weight: 170lb / 77kg.
Club: Toulouse.
This is the first part of all my reports, the ‘framework’ you could say, that I believe all clubs should be following for three main reasons that I will lise below. Firstly, in order to reduce injuries. Secondly, to find suitable on-pitch responsibilities via optimized profiling and thirdly to categories the individual roles that players will have to refer to into two subsets; 1) ‘sustainable’ and 2) ‘unsustainable.’
I always give a brief explanation, so let’s just get started from the individualised lens of Thijs Dallinga and his biomechanical POR or point-of-reference. I will work my way down this time, literally and figuratively, he has a good upper-body strength which he can use for actions such as physical-separation where he would use his arm to gain separation between him and a recovering defender before he can utilise his very good acceleration capacity coupled with burst to give himself a second for the shot. His shoulder-length is poor, which can improve though for now it is not that good. I think that stuff is somewhat centred around genetics and about their ‘weight-class’ + it is a fairly important factor to optimize for your weak-foot capacity; As we know to use your weak-foot you must ‘play your shoulders into the pass’ so this just makes sense to work on, right? Also, to strengthen this, I saw a stat of his offensive penalty target-areas; all to the right. He is primarily right-footed and we can learn two things from this. Firstly, he struggles or rarely reverses his shot/pass, and, secondly, it is about his weak-foot usage or capacity. He has a strong grip or strength via his calf muscles, which is important as their are two main balancing techniques after the kick that will support the player — which I will touch on later — so this is really useful and it is based upon facts. He has a good increase of front-leg muscle, this picture is deceptive for that, which admittedly isn’t helpful. Though he has a decent ability to switch play via arriving or dropping into the hole, like Harry Kane. You can unlock that IF YOU WANT. He decelerates his sprints/strides well + to a good and consistent level, too. On this point, it hasn’t been uncommon for him to split a pressing [vertical] jump/movement into ‘micro-parts’ or sections; For example; He has a ELITE and great CONSISTENCY with his lateral strides, which has been a ‘habit’ of his game, rather than a just a idea, because of repetition or frequency. Also, his ‘micro-curved movements’ are a very nice part of his pressing profile. I would say with this in mind, coupled with his agility or mobility under-pressure to get the ball ‘out-from-under-his-feet’ that he has a great level of movement dexterity and athleticism.
[There have been no significant injuries recorded that could impact Dallinga’s potential].
We have fluidly moved from his biomechanics over to his pressing-profile, transitioned between sections like water. If that is what you have thought, I will not take you to the next section just yet. Why? Well, you must understand about the FIRST GAME I saw of Thijs Dallinga. It was actually during a casual analysis of a UEL game of Liverpool vs Toulouse. And, truthly, this game was the ‘halo-effect’ for the context of this scouting report. Though, specifically, this game was a instant POSISTIVE IMPRESSION for Dallinga’s pressing/out-of-possession-profile with one trait standing out in-particular. That trait? I will share footage below.
It is his organisational qualities. Though, to specify this moment, it is how he can ‘lead the press’ from their first-line of pressure (which has mostly been a 4–3–3 with only him or a 4–4–2 with a zone-5 pick-pocketer sitting just behind him on a vertical radius, searching for the challenges). The important variable for you to take out of this; Is he is organising the pressure from behind, he is not organising the compactness within his same stripe. The former is so much harder to do, why? Because your visual perception in a horizontal stripe (to organise compactness) is only required to scan side-to-side. While the former is scanning your shoulder. Not only does this show an elite level of defensive spatial awareness, there is also one huge physiological or mental factor that we can use this information that we have so far, to indirectly observe (which is essentially like pattern recognition, investigation-board type processes). So, what is it? It is something that Pep Lijnders’ said well. If you have read his book, you may already know what I am referring to. Involving Thiago Alcántara and Anguissa. How well can you DEFINE the primary phases? I am not just talking about the individual dribbles, or the focused defending that could make or break a situation. No, it goes much deeper than that. Define is the act of explaining, right? So, with that in mind, let’s take are attention back up to the first-video that I am showing you in this report; As the occupant in zone-6 was recieving and passing, he pointed behind him towards the opposition’s right-sided pivot before he started his own sprint, which ended up being a ‘micro-curved’ movement with good precision to decelerate and remain in control while shrinking the ball-near-side. He felt his sprint may leave dangerous presence outside of his cover-shadow, that his guard would be broke, so he encouraged or demanded one of his eights to jump onto the man.
This is VERY valuable, if pressing is about the balance between defending the space via quick scans/switches of your visual perception in order to search for the man to then challenge in the optimal timing, then to have someone lead or define when that time to jump on your man has arrived is super helpful. If you agree with that, what if this player did not show any signs of having significant hitting impulses? Meaning, he does not jump and demand cover at random — It is very easy for Dallinga to adhere to specific triggers or cues without getting baited. So, did I say about Toulouse’s vertical stripe in their 4–4–2 pressing POR? With César Gelabert searching for the challenges behind against the/a zone-5 occupant? I will discuss a few things about this reference and Dallinga; The ‘deep ST’ role must be aggressive enough to pickpocket once the challenge has been found, while not being impulsive enough to hit into a 4th or separate stripe, a optimal weight-of-pass is also preferred too. He has 2/3 of these traits. His chasing attuited has looked fairly ‘poor’ and overall he doesn’t seem to use much [physical] energy in the press. Meaning, his tackle force isn’t placed into situations where we can be provided with viable evidence though with what we already have, we can get a big enough picture… The ‘furthest ST’ which is the role he mostly plays when there has been another occupant in his stripe; It suits him. It suits his pressing and ‘micro’-pressure, it suits his ability to guard without being baited/manipulated, it suits the conditions he needs to be running into goal-scoring situations. It is how he would’ve started his career — running through on goal, to score, it is how all number nines have been brought up to think. And, as Thijs Dallinga is OFTEN used as a aerial outlet from the left-sided [interior] half-space, well, it is clear to see that this is how he is profiled at Toulouse. Though, the worst-case and also the most likely scenario from these patterns or moments…? The second-balls will be recycled expertly well. To an elite consistency and capacity…
Before I speak on this, I should make very clear that before this video and game was recorded, I had seen MANY SIMILAR MOMENTS. You must understand that. It is not the epitome by any stretch, though, intuitively speaking, we can still learn a-lot from this. So, what are we seeing from the situation above? It is titled as ‘extra-edge’ though, in truth, this doesn’t actually symbolize the hunger or drive for many factors that I will list now. You see, you may remember about his poor chasing attitude? You can’t get out-played when you chase from behind, though do you remember? So, firstly; It is the fact that he is ‘inconsistent’ to commit when the opposition have a favourable advantage [40–60 or 30–70] and will decelerate his sprints. Secondly, it is the weak/sub-optimal running power. Thirdly, it is the lack of a powerful build + a dynamic profile, outside of his initial acceleration. Though, It is important that I explain exactly what got me to the point of titling it ‘extra-edge’ — The way he recycles the second-balls or re-bounds IS ELITE, like I said, one of his strongest qualities that I have identified within my scouting. He does so with a unique level of concentration and determination that only he would have. So, I thought this would point towards a high drive/hunger…? Correct. And, the truth is, it actually could be a great hallmark in most situations for a scout to look out for first while actually watching. Did I say; ‘while actually watching?’… Let me go deeper into that. Thijs Dallinga grew-up in two Dutch villages; 1) Siddeburen and, 2) Hellum. Which are next to each-other in ‘Groningen’ — Though, why exactly is this important…? It comes down to something that Pep Lijnders has said well, again; ‘It takes a village to raise a kid, and a street to develop a real player’. (‘a street’ being a figurative term for a environment that drives you to get-out, keeping you hungry and greedy). So, raised in a village, is an intuitive ‘guarder’ rather than having those hitting impulses that are so, so common in most player(s)…
This is titled as ‘precise or athletic pressing movements’ and, is the final video/section that will be included within his pressing and out-of-possession analyses from this report, we have covered; his physicality, without-the-ball, and certain physiological traits. So, let’s get started with this section as there are still unexplored subsets that we are yet to cover or discuss. We have already touched on his athleticism to curve his runs via ‘micro-sections’ and how he utilises that, coupled with high movement dexterity levels, to shrink the ball-near side. He can press in a overload-to-isolate pressing reference or a asymmetrical pressing system where it can be him with the capacity/freedom to lead which side to overload; He will do this via pointing behind for the second-stripe to laterally jump before he blocks of access towards the isolated-far-side + shrinks access to the -way-out- for the opposition. He is valuable in these phases. So, onto the actual video now; Within my scouting, I quickly noticed how his ‘lateral-strides’ where a consistent habit of his game, not just in the primary phase that we are speaking about now either. This lead me to thinking of the possibility that we could keep his stripe horizontal, though leave him responsible for guarding the defensive half-space — and, in truth, there is no need for this. You see, this is a alternative that many coaches such as [Liam] Rosenior have deployed in order to keep hitters reacting upon their impulses without the risk of being baited into a separate stripe. Think of the version of Fabio Carvalho that is on the left. I have said about his poor chasing attitude from a generalised lens already, he doesn’t seem to use up much physical energy without-possession. Most importantly, however; His chasing-attitude from behind is sub-optimal while he is a world-class forward from the fights for the second-balls. There is a difference. (His tackle force is good with momentum when he is in those situations) + ‘world-class,’ in this context, would mean the ability to consistently and reliably perform those strengths to break-the-game against any opponent at any level. This is the strongest part of Dallinga’s game, as I’ve said already.
On that previous note, Fabio Carvalho is actually the PERFECT example of how a player’s pressing can differentiate depending on if they are E-F or S-F in that moment. On the left, he scans more and controls his strides at a higher efficiency. However, on the right, he is more chaotic and intuitive.
You are wondering what ‘E-F or ‘S-F’ means, right…? I wrote a 10 minute long concept piece that is pinned to my private publication, coupled with how goal-keepers are effected by the same theory. You can consider this.
We have covered Thijs Dallinga’s pressing or out-of-possession profile, and, with this, certain/specific insights into his mental-profile have been covered too. His physical-profile should be understood to a good level, as that is what I started this report with and body-traits have also been covered within other sections too. There is one more MAIN profile that is non-negotiable that I will be sharing next, as-well as insights into subsets like; His tactical profile (familiarity and unfamiliarity), in-possession-profile and technical-profile with the third being part of the three that must be included while scouting. So, what is the system we can see above this…? Firstly, it is super important that we understand that this POR has only been active while Toulouse have played with their 4–4–2 or 4–2–4 within the settled defensive or pressing phase (this was the majority of matches within my scouting) and that there are/were variations in how this point-of-reference actually looks to operate. For example, Schmidt has dangerous and penetrative arrivals into the hole though isn’t always the ‘Deep-ST’ and it isn’t always sprints into the closest assist-zone as Dallinga often starts [on the right] to sprint diagonally — not vertically — to make room for Dønnum or their inside-forward. We now understand the dynamics of this system or reference, so I should now tell you exactly how I’ll use this to ‘light-up’ two of the [dark] profiles that I listed above and what exactly my thought process was.
You see, I understood that Dallinga could drop into the hole to move the ball rather than utilising his optimal acceleration coupled with comparative overall pace in-behind. This is possible. Though, why? Why didn’t I see this actually happening in practise…? It was at this point that I decided to list all of the traits that this system would show via the situations it would put Dallinga in, which I will now share in-detail.
This moment actually starts when Dallinga receives wide, though you can see Sierro’s pass to start the counter-attack — When I was first considering the situations within this system, as-well as the traits to look out for, [Heung-Min] Son was someone who came to my mind. Why? Firstly it was about separation mainly, secondly the first-contact(s) with the ball, and thirdly his technical behaviours under pressure or with reduced angles to work with. I won’t lie to you, the only ‘con’ of what I like to call pattern recognition would be centred around how much those traits primarily occupy your brain. It was maybe two games I watched like this, before the answers I needed found me; Of-course you can re-watch games, you can also see the remainder of the insights or notes that I accumulated within this part of the scouting. It’s not a sacrifice. It’s like a trade-off. So, Thijs Dallinga is a possession-minus forward/a pressing specialist. With familiarity in mind. He is world-class from the press, and the goal-kicks too. Though, as for the three traits… SEPERATION; I actually noticed very early within my scouting that Dallinga rarely gets the ball ‘stuck under his feet,’ or, in other words, he travels with the ball in a fluid way — which is also relevant for the second trait. First-contact(s) on-ball. The third trait? ‘TECHNICAL BEHAVIOURS UNDER PRESSURE.’ He is confident, I would say I had identified more-than-enough traits to point towards that. In-particular, you can see that with how he utilises his arm to separate himself from the defender (in the video above). Pressure arriving within his visual perception does not phase him. He is not ‘fearful’ upon sight of contact.
His ‘associative-play’ or, in other words; his link-up play with teammates who are in close-proximity to him. How well does he connect with his teammates? Well, in this [video] example that is above, we can actually see how the opposition’s recovering defender is controlling the usage of his strongest or right-foot so ‘toe-pokes’ the ball twice with his weaker-foot firstly after collecting from the wall-pass and secondly with the intent of playing a in-behind runner. As he is cutting inside, from the right, this actually brings me on nicely to a ‘small’ point which I will explain now. I have already told you about his lateral-strides, and how they are such a repetitive and qualitative part-of-his-game. So, I am going to make the case on how he should be [standard] S-F on his ‘weaker’ side; He’ll be your number-nine, under no cases will that be different, so I am thinking of the situations where he is dropping or arriving into deeper zones. He could drop into the hole/interior half-space to switch or recycle as a +1 ‘laterally’ to still optimize his acceleration-phase, diagonal sprints with his stronger-foot from the acceleration-phase (which is actually why I have seen him move from right-to-left sided assist-zone the most), and etc/there are more situations that this would benefit.
Thijs Dallinga. He is dropping and receiving, under light/little pressure within the exterior half-space, as the title to this video says. The intent of this section? To add an extra ‘layer’ to a side of his game which you have probably never been told about before. You see, you have heard about his elite or intelligent movements in-behind the opposition’s backline — how he utilises precision over his strides to control the direction or trajectory of his sprints, I have also already mentioned this. It is hard for defenders to read him in these moments. Though, as we can see here, when he drops with time and space; He firstly has a ELITE understanding between recycling when facing back-to-goal and turning to create. His balance is very good in this sense, decision-making. Though, secondly, the latter of the two here has not been uncommon within my time scouting Dallinga. He has often turned, in a fluid way, to carry (in a fluid manner) with his head-up to look for teammates making in-behind runs. He does not play with less time than he actually has, we have discussed his unfazed actions/mentality upon sight of pressure. Likewise, nor does he try to play with more time than he truthly has.
- He has a good understanding of how to generate power on his shots while shooting across goal, as that has often been the finish he has attempted/scored from the most. Though, how? Because, firstly, we understand that his shoulder-length or two-footed capacity is not ‘yet’ at a high enough level (despite him not being far off), secondly, with his weight-class in mind, his gluteus-maximus does not appear to significantly increase in width to act as the ‘power-vault’ or generator in the shots. Like I have spoken about before, partically with Jordan Teze. And, thirdly, although his upper-body strength is good, surely there is no link between the strength that high up (that mostly links towards long-throwing capacity) and your the power that you actually strike the ball with… You see, I was analysing Okonkwo’s goal-kicks, knowing of his somewhat ‘lanky’ frame; and one thing stood out to me — It was his toe-taps in the run-up. Two or three before contact with the ball. Which, ironically, is the exact same volume as Dallinga’s, as he runs-up to the ball in the right-sided assist-zone to shoot across goal…
- His heading is not a super-strength. He does not create chances via intent/direction or first [aerial] contact via his robustness in that sense. Though, this seems unique that many don’t have to a high level, right…? Shout-out to Connor Jennings!
Thanks for reading.
You don’t have to read this far. Do you remember when I told you I’d speak more on the two types of balances for stabilisation or coordination after the kick? ‘more on that later.’ Strong calf muscles/grip, biomechanically speaking, are part of the technical subset or profile… I listed both of these ways to stabilise your kick in this exact guide that is listed above, I know Lijnders’ or Klopp both place a high emphasis on this technique. That isn’t it. Though, if you want to consider this investment; You can firstly scroll through the ‘Field Visions’ newsletter/articles to see if the information there would help you. If it doesn’t? Cool, I wish you luck.
[£25 a/month].
