Patrick Berg - The Hub of the Bodø/Glimt Machine
When Patrick Berg made his Bodø/Glimt debut as a 17 year old in 2014 the club were playing in their first season back in the Norwegian top flight since a 2009 relegation campaign. At the time of writing this, the Bodø based side sit 18 points clear at the summit of the Eliteserien and have just been narrowly defeated by European giants AC Milan in a Europa League tie.
On a personal level, Berg has grew from an interesting young midfielder with clear technical quality and has now flourished into the best deep lying midfield player in the division and one of the key members of arguably one of the greatest Norwegian club sides in history. He was rewarded with his first senior Norway call up last month and he looks set to go from strength to strength in this wonderful Glimt team. So, here’s a report on what I believe makes him so good and also what I think he could improve on.
First of all it’s important to outline his role in this side, Berg sits as the deepest midfielder in Glimt’s adventurous 433 system. His centre midfield partners push ahead to form triangles in possession with the winger and fullback on their respective sides, leaving Berg to be the player who dictates the tempo and finds his teammates in pockets of space so they can then turn and create wide overloads.
One of the first things you notice when watching the 22 year old is his long range passing, both aerially and along the floor. This is a key skill for the role in which he plays because it means you can’t just mark the two midfielders in front of him in order to limit his ball progression because he’s capable of hitting perfectly weighted passes to the full backs and wingers.
In the Glimt squad he ranks second for long passes attempted and ranks first of every midfielder in the entire division for long pass accuracy with 66%. This is even more impressive due to the fact the opposition team aggressively try to press him a lot of the time due to him being the key man when it comes to ball progression. So a lot of these long passes come under direct pressure and often even physical contact from opposition players.
Of all players in the league to attempt at least 115 passes into the final third he ranks 2nd in terms of accuracy with 82% of his final third passes finding a teammate. It is absolutely imperative to his sides system that he doesn’t give the ball away cheaply due to the very offensive structure they deploy when in possession, Berg is a master at risk calculation when it comes to passes and that’s why his accuracy numbers are so good. Tasked as being the possession controller in such a dominant side is difficult enough but the midfielder sees every potential risk even before he receives the ball and knows where he’s playing it next before the opposition even know where he is.
Something that also mustn’t go unmentioned is that compared to the majority of technical midfield players he is insanely two footed. This is such an underrated quality both to his game and the overall build up play from Bodø, his ability to receive the ball and also to pass the ball with both feet over long and short distances mean that he can’t really be pushed onto a ‘weaker’ foot and this creates some really interesting situations that directly benefit the Glimt attackers.
Despite his many technical qualities, the Norway international is extremely intelligent when it comes to detecting danger from the opposition. His in game intelligence is a big reason as to why Bodø have the best xG conceded record in the league(18.39.)
Due to sitting as the deepest midfielder in a highly intense attacking team he can often find himself isolated when defending transitions, so it’s vitally important he makes the right decision on when to close down and when to cover passing lanes. This is something he does with great maturity, averaging 4.91 interceptions p90 in a team that dominate possession. His defensive positioning when defending crosses is also extremely smart, usually occupying the penalty spot and monitoring any potential cut backs to relieve pressure and regain possession so Zinckernagel and co can do what they do best.
This intelligence translates well to his 1v1 defending game too, when the full backs get caught upfield he is often forced to showcase this side of his game as he shuttles across to cover and face up the attacking forward. Despite not possessing great natural speed he makes up for it with the timing of his challenges, always committing at the right moment to nick the ball and bring it forward again for another wave of Bodø pressure. His 7.77 defensive duels won p90 reflects this very well, again this is in a side that rarely has to do much defending so the fact Berg is putting up these numbers is almost frightening.
An important part of the game for this Bodø side is winning possession high up the pitch in order to create quality chances, their PPDA(Passes Per Defensive Action) of 9.66 is the third lowest in the league and although the two advanced midfielders carry a large amount of that load it is still a necessary string needed in Berg’s bow. Especially when Bodø sit in their 4–2–1–3 pressing shape when the opposition have the ball in the defensive third. That’s why the fact that over half of his 7.97 recoveries p90 occur in the opposition half is so incredibly relevant given how Glimt play, his incredible energy(started every single game this season) enables him to cover the pitch both horizontally and vertically and then his intelligence makes sure he wins the ball at the end of each run.
The athletic side of the game is maybe where some of his weaknesses come to the fore. Most notably, at the height of just 5’9 he’s not an aerial presence and despite possessing an impressive leap he still loses out on 72% of his aerial duels. This is something that could potentially be targeted by opposition goal kicks and long balls, as it would be easy to have a strong header of the ball placed on him and then have players running beyond for flick ins. This would mean one of the Glimt centre back would either have to let the striker win the initial header and sit deep, or compete for the header themselves and leave space in behind them.
Another thing he lacks in the athleticism department is elite level quickness over 15+ yards. His acceleration isn’t lacking and this is a big reason as to why he’s such an effective presser but his top speed is definitely not at a high level. Due to being surrounded by really good athletes in the Glimt team this is something that’s rarely exploited but in a team where he’s isolated more often it’s certainly feasible he could struggle to contain midfield runners.
His agility however is a huge bright spot, his turning circle means he can turn and play passes a second quicker than most midfield players which is something Jens-Petter Hauge and Victor Boniface have profited off this season. This skill also enables him to get out of trouble when pressed in the Glimt defensive third, his low centre of gravity meaning he can deceive the presser before turning and moving into the vacated space.
Despite his small stature there is no visible lack of strength. His tenacious play style means that even he is muscled off the ball he wins it straight back regularly but this isn’t something that happens often anyway because as mentioned he showcases good upper body strength under contact from opposing players, and due to his positional awareness and intelligence he’s rarely in a position where he needs to engage in on the ball physical duels.
Despite being an effective progressive passer, the midfielder is nowhere near as useful when it comes to progressing through runs. This is shown by his progressive run numbers sitting at a minuscule 0.6 p90. While that number is very low, it’s also a positive in that Berg recognises this is not a skill of his and so he limits his attempts to try it to the point where he basically fully avoids even considering a progressive run forward. On the negative side however it does mean that in a team with less movement in front of him he could be somewhat one dimensional, if he has no forward passing options he never gonna try and create opportunists through running with the ball and that could be exploited by a solid defensive set up.
In tight spaces he showcases really quick feet and manipulates the ball very tidily, although he doesn’t get caught needing to do this very often at all it’s still something that can occasionally be useful to break through a high press or escape danger when cornered by the opposition.
Despite being a solid two footed passer it’s clear that he favours his right foot when dribbling, this is a huge detriment as it results in lots of outside foot touches and awkward body shape when faced by an opposing player. This is something that would be difficult to work on as it’s clearly ingrained in him but if he could be successfully trained to do this it could see him become a much more dimensional midfield player with the ball at his feet.
This season his goal scoring has seen a sharp increase. His tally of 5 goals is more than he had scored in his entire career combined prior to this campaign. While this record is impressive for a player playing in a withdrawn role, it is certainly worth noting that it’s probably unlikely to carry over to future seasons in the long term due to his career xG and shooting trends.
3 of his 5 goals so far this season have came from a corner routine implemented by Glimt. A near post delivery is flicked to the back post where Berg is rushing in for a tap in into an open net, while this shows that he is capable of timing attacking runs it’s also something that’s largely down to Eliteserien teams being hugely suspect when defending corners and thus would be very hard to replicate if he does make a move to a stronger league.
Despite not possessing great shooting technique he does attempt shots from the 20–30 yard range relatively regularly. His shots p90 total of 1.3 is above average for deep lying midfielders and it’s clearly a a side of the game that he enjoys. When striking the ball from range he very rarely opts for power, a lot of his attempts are hit with the side of his foot and despite making a good connection on the ball his shots lack enough power and are too central to the goal 9/10.
In a tougher league he would have less time and space to shoot and also less license to get into shooting positions due to the rising popularity of counter attacking football at the top level. While he’s capable of the occasional long range goal it’s certainly not something he should be judged on and it’s also something he should learn to limit in order to not waste promising possession sequences.
Overall, Patrick Berg is a high volume ball winner who retains possession at an elite level while also progressing the ball into dangerous areas. His shortcomings are mostly athletic and can definitely be worked around in a 3 man midfield as Glimt have shown this season.
Despite making his debut in 2014 he is still just 22 and has so many areas to improve on despite already performing at such a high level for the past 12 months. Due to his vast experience he has also captained the side on multiple occasions, bringing leadership to a young side galloping towards the league title.
With Jens-Petter Hauge already sealing a move to AC Milan and several other of this phenomenal young Bodø team linked to European giants, it seems increasingly likely that we could see Patrick Berg showcasing his many elite qualities at the top level in the coming months. The composed midfielder would be a great addition to many a side competing in regular European competition, and if he keeps growing at his current rate it’d be shocking if he doesn’t reach the very very top.
