The Second Breakout: Kingsley Coman
The second entry in our series analyzing how star players have been able to raise their game another level this season
The numbers: Kingsley Coman is averaging 1.18 goals + assists per 90 minutes in the Bundesliga this season, the sixth-highest mark in the league and the 13th-highest in the top five European leagues combined. Coman has never previously surpassed 10 direct goal contributions in a league campaign, but the 24-year-old is on pace to smash that personal record with nine direct goal involvements through 11 matches thus far and his seven assists are already the most he’s ever registered in a single league season. Coman was also Bayern’s most effective attacker in a tricky Champions League group as he provided three goals and two assists in four group stage matches for the reigning European champions.
What’s behind it: Coman is taking up more dangerous central positions for Bayern this season and has increased his efficiency with the ball, both as a passer and dribbler.
Looking at his heatmap for the 2019–2020 season, we can see that Coman spent a lot of time on both flanks and operated as a touchline-hugging winger, with much of his involvement coming in very wide areas just inside the opposition half. Coman also got into some good areas, with a lot of touches along the left and right bylines, but he rarely got on the ball in central attacking areas.
This season, Coman is playing much more often on the left and getting a lot of touches in the left half-space. A clear advantage to playing on the left side for Bayern is that Coman now shares a flank with left-back Alphonso Davies, who stretches the defense with his overlapping runs and therefore creates more room in the half-space for Coman to operate in. By drifting inside from the left, Coman is also getting the ball onto his favored right foot and in positions that give him better passing angles to attackers in the box.
Another change in Coman’s role is that he is being tasked with less responsibility to progress the ball. Coman is carrying the ball forward an average of 154.5 yards per 90 minutes last season, down from 185.4 yards per 90 minutes last campaign.
These trends are reminiscent of what we discussed in analyzing Son Heung-Min’s increased output this season, as the in-form Spurs star is similarly taking up more central positions after being freed from some of his previous ball-progressing duties. Whereas Son has been converted into an inside-left forward, however, Coman has become more of a left-sided number ten.
Coman is averaging more key passes per 90 minutes than last season (2.6, up from 2.0) while attempting fewer crosses (3.8, down from 4.5) and the chances that he is creating are of higher quality, with his expected assists per key pass increasing from 0.16 last season to 0.19 this campaign.
The Frenchman is also attempting fewer of his passes while under pressure from an opponent (16.4%, down from 23.5%), which, combined with his positional and pass type data, indicates that Coman is increasingly getting into situations where he can pick a pass instead of trying to create a yard of space for a cross or beat his man to the byline.
This brings us to another stylistic shift for Coman, which is that he is attempting far fewer direct take-ons. Coman remains one of the fastest players in the Bundesliga, but he has become much more selective when presented with the chance to blow by his marker. Coman’s 4.2 attempted dribbles per 90 minutes represent the lowest mark he has recorded in his Bayern career and a sharp decline from the 6.0 he averaged last season, but his success rate on attempted dribbles (75.0%) is higher than ever before.
While Coman isn’t running at opponents as often, we will see on video that the threat of his pace alone is enough to unsettle defenses. Coman’s hat-trick of assists against Leipzig in December provides three good examples of how he uses his positioning in the half-space and his threat as a dribbler to create chances for teammates.
For the first assist, Coman gets the ball in the left half-space, just outside the box, and it appears there’s nothing really on.
But as Coman turns and starts to dribble into a more dangerous area, four Leipzig players are sucked toward him. This allows Coman to lay it off for Jamal Musiala, who now has the space and time to place a shot into the bottom corner.
For Coman’s second assist, Robert Lewandowski has dropped deep and Coman pushes up to receive the ball in the space that Lewandowski would normally occupy.
One turn and touch later and Coman again has the Leipzig defense focused on stopping him from running with the ball. Thomas Muller sees this and makes an angled run in behind, which Coman finds with a clever reverse pass that puts Muller through on goal. (You can see Marcel Sabitzer above the semi-circle, who, seemingly expecting Coman to continue cutting inside, is left making a lunging tackle at a ghost.)
For Bayern’s equalizer, Coman stretches the Leipzig defense by getting into a position high in the right half-space.
As the defense shifts over to prevent left-back Angeliño from being isolated one-on-one, Coman sees that Bayern now have equal numbers at the far post.
Coman’s ball into that space is perfect for Muller to run onto, and the German makes no mistake with a free header.
In addition to delivering high-quality final balls like that, Coman has increased his sharpness as a passer across the board this season. His 82.1% pass completion rate so far is a personal best, and he is achieving his highest-ever completion percentages on short, medium, and long passes alike.
Coman is excelling in his growing role as a chance creator in Bayern’s attack this season, demonstrating an expanded skill set and improved understanding with his teammates. The club has previously invested big money on loans in order to have traditional “number tens” in the squad, first bringing in James Rodriguez and then Philippe Coutinho on temporary spells, but Coman is proving to be a highly effective in-house solution to the club’s playmaking needs after developing and adapting his game.
