With the Bundesliga set to return this weekend, fans will keep an eye on Borussia Mönchengladbach, who have been one of the best teams in the league this season under new coach Marco Rose.
One of the key aspects of Gladbach’s improvement this season has been their midfield. Occupying a place in the midfield is one of the hottest prospects in the world, a 23-year old Swiss defensive midfielder, Denis Zakaria.
Zakaria is known for ever imposing presence in the midfield, with the ability to break down opposition attacks and retain possession for his side. Alongside his midfield partner Christoph Kramer, the duo help dictate most of the activity within their side.
Looking at his radar chart, it gives us a rough idea of his overall contribution on the pitch. The lack of goal contribution shouldn’t be a surprise.
Down below is a bar graph that compares Zakaria to other Bundesliga midfielders. It mainly focuses on the defensive aspects of the game.
Now, here’s another chart that shows how Zakaria compares to some U-24 defensive midfielders in the top 5 leagues in Europe. It measures Touches per Progressive Pass (TPPP) per 90.
Note that only the touches in the middle third have been considered.
Zakaria ranks 5th in the above graph. This is evident of his ball progression ability. However, it must be noted that these numbers are a byproduct of each player’s team style and Gladbach’s fairly direct style helps inflate Zakaria’s numbers a little. How he’d fair in a less direct style of play remains to be seen.
From the above data, it seems reasonably to conclude that he’s a good ball winner and ball progressor. But exactly how much does this theory hold up when we analyse him on film? Let’s take a look.
Build up play:
Gladbach’s on-ball philosophy is apparent in their build ups. They rely heavily on building out from the back and the passing skills of all their defenders as well as their keeper allows to adopt such an approach. There are usually three types of setups that they use in the first phase.
Here’s the first one:
The centre-backs split and after receiving a pass, they try to directly attack the space behind the opponent’s first line of defence. This opens up space for their own midfielders to attack and Zakaria’s ability to carry the ball helps them exploit the created space. He averages 38.6 carries per 90 and a total of 151.1 yards per 90 in progressive distance.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/418774296
The second one:
Kramer, the second midfielder, occupies the right hand side while Zakaria roams in the middle constantly offering himself as a passing option. His ball circulation isn’t the best, but it’s good enough for Gladbach to keep their flow of attack moving. He averages 32.6 touches per 90 in the middle third.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/418773467
The third one:
Gladbach sometimes deploy their left back, Bensebaini, higher up the pitch due to his attacking qualities, while Kramer slides into the backline. Meanwhile, Zakaria shifts to the left, occupying the vacated left-back area. The idea is to create quick passing sequences further up the pitch. This is a vital aspect of their attacking play.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/418774147
His ability to wriggle out of tight spaces with the ball is surprisingly great. He attempts 2.92 dribbles per 90, out of which 2.18 are successful. A dribble success rate of 74.6% is simply outstanding for a player of his height and frame.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/418774714
Pressing:
Gladbach’s pressing philosophies are interesting. They bait their opponent’s into playing out from the back and allow them to pass the ball to their fullbacks. This pass is the trigger for most of their presses and Zakaria’s great closing down ability leaves the opponent out of options.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/418775046
When the opponent’s are attacking from their left hand side, and Gladbach’s right-back is involved in the pressing, Zakaria is seen to be used as an auxiliary centre-back, maintaining a back line of four.
Zakaria’s 1v1 defence is a huge bonus for Gladbach. His long legs help him tackle through seemingly impossible angles, which leave you wondering how he was able to come away with the ball without fouling. He wins 2.5 tackles per 90, the highest in his team. This is why he’s allowed to be slightly more aggressive that his teammates.
Passing:
Zakaria is an excellent passer. He fits like a glove into Gladbach’s direct system. He has shown very good capabilities as a long passer and is very eager to get the attackers involved. He’s able to pick out simple outlet passes in transition too, which helps Gladbach relieve some pressure when they’re facing a possession-heavy side.
Here’a chart that shows exactly how direct Zakaria is in his passing:
There are a few things he could still be better at. One thing would be refining his ball circulation. This will be an important skill-set to develop, were he to move to a ball dominant team in the future.
Another component would be his vision. He does have a decent eye for a pass, but he sometimes misses to notice passing opportunities, especially in transition sequences. He has all the things needed to become one of the best on-ball defensive midfielders.
Body mechanics are his biggest enemy. He has big body frame and stiff hips, which force him to be heavy footed. This results in wasting crucial seconds just trying to turn his body, when compared to other mobile midfielders, who are more efficient with their time on the ball.
He very rarely uses his left foot. In order to create more angles and make use of space and time in a better way, it’s important for him to become ambipedal.
Defence:
In order to analyse Zakaria’s defensive abilities in a better way, they’ve been divided into three categories.
- Open-play situations:
Zakaria constantly screens his surroundings, which allows him to close down passing lanes and break down his opponent’s flows of attack. His awareness and vision enable to stay close to his man in case they do receive the pass.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/418774631
It is observed that sometimes, though rarely, Zakaria struggles to make a decision. Here you can see that he gets caught about whether to close down on the ball or to close down a passing option next to him or keep tracking the movement of his own man. He hesitates for a moment, which allows his opponent to get a shot off. Although it doesn’t hurt them, you’d want him to be more decisive about his own movement in the future.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/418774410
2. Transition situations:
Defensively speaking, Zakaria’s best attribute is his ability to defend in transitions. He is extremely quick, which allows him to chase attackers on the run, and as mentioned above, he can make a tackle if necessary. He doesn’t commit too early and allows the counter attack to develop a little.
His ability to read the attack allows him to be precise and make a high-reward decision. He has incredibly high motor skills and he’s able to cover long distances in a match without having much trouble. He has a great engine and his work ethic is commendable.
Below, you can see him defend in a semi-transition. As soon as the ball is played out wide, Zakaria quickly reads the next sequence and tracks the movement of the other wide player. With his pace, he quickly arrives in a position to block the shot.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/418774506
With him being such a good transition defender, it allows Marco Rose to deploy an expansive system and take more risks higher up the pitch.
This is also the reason why Zakaria is rarely involved in attacking set pieces. He’s often left on the half way line in order to stop a counter from developing.
3. Crossing situations:
This is arguably Zakaria’s weakest area, in terms of his defensive capabilities. He’s observed to lose his man and allow them to make dangerous runs into the box, a little more frequently than you’d hope.
Here, he’s caught ball-watching and this allows his man to dart into the box. Notice the amount of space between him and his man at the start and at the end. Even then, he struggles to close down the ball quickly enough and allows a shot to be taken from a dangerous area.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/418774941
This is a slight cause for concern. Though players of his kind naturally develop through age and experience, making it a focal point of his development at this stage of his career is key.
He’s not terrible in the air, but he doesn’t have very good leaping ability. He attempts 2.18 aerial duels per 90 and wins 1.25 of them. A winning percentage of 57.4% is definitely not bad, but the smaller sample size helps him.
Despite being fairly tall at 6'2", he doesn’t contest a lot in the air. Competing in those 50–50 duels is important for teams, because they result in extra possessions. These duels have incredible value in big games, which is why an increased engagement in such situations is paramount to Zakaria’s growth.
He’s usually outside the 6-yard box in corners. What’s interesting is that he is frequently stationed on the far-post side of the set pieces, where attacking teams normally place their best players in the air.
Summary:
Currently, Denis Zakaria is one of the most important players in a team that’s challenging for a title. He’s quickly becoming one of the most complete midfielders in the world and he’s still very young. With what has been observed and what is to be expected, I predict him to become a very important part of a title winning team, possibly earning himself one or more Team of the Season honours.
Thank you for reading. If you liked it, follow me on Twitter and tell me who I should write about next.
