Serie A Prospectus: Empoli

Empoli

Possession: 52%

Offensive Vital Signs

Deep Completions: Average (8th)

Pass Difficulty: Average

Completions Above Average: Average

Field Position: Average

Shot Generation: Average

Good Shot%: Average

Possession Length: Average

Zones They Progress Well From: 7

Zones They Progress Poorly From: none

Defensive Vital Signs

Deep Completions Allowed: Bad (14th)

Pass Difficulty Allowed: Average

Completions Above Average Allowed: Below Average (13th)

Field Position Allowed: Bad

Shot Generation Allowed: VeryBad (4th-highest rate allowed)

Good Shot% Allowed: Good (5th-lowest good shot%)

High Press:Average

Zones That Are Easy To Progress Through: 2, 3, 4, 5

Zones That Are Tough To Progress Through: None

Zone Reminder

50 Pass Types Were Determined By a Clustering Algorithm, These Are The Types They Play at +/- 1 Standard Deviation from Average

Key Passing Combos: Blue=Di Lorenzo-Acquah, Orange=Zajc-Di Lorenzo

Quick Summary

Empoli are quite an average side but do have some interesting quirks. Playing two playmaking, smooth-passing midfielders mean their games are played centrally more than most and the lack of defense from those two mean that the passes that are played there by both sides are often completed.

Player Profiles

Miha Zajc, 24, attacking midfielder

Empoli did great business signing Zajc away from the Slovenian league last January for 1.5 million and has now become crucial to most parts of their attacking game. Zajc is their leading shooter and one of their top 3 ball progressors and deep completion providers and his quick passing game is well above average. Zajc has .36 xG and .23 xA per 90, very healthy numbers. His 2.5 in-box shots are really what stand out, if you want production from a defensively floating midfielder, Zajc wouldn’t be a bad oneto scout. He moves all around the center of the park, leading to quite the diverse passing range:

Rade Krunic, 25, midfielder

Another fantastic piece of business from the Balkans, Empoli brought Krunic over on a free transfer in 2015 from Serbia and he’s given Empoli quite the threat in the middle of the field behind Zajc. Krunic isn’t ashooter, and also isn’t much of a defensive threat, but he joins Zajc in being a great ball progresser, passer and completer in deep areas. It’s sort of odd to find 2 quality attacking midfielders on such an average team, and Empoli have kind of paid for it with how they defend in the middle. One thing to watch is he’s had much more impact creating shots late in possessions (after 3 or more passes) while early on he doesn’t really do much. Maybe more of an order player instead of a chaos player? As in, not a player for RB Leipzig (thought try to tell a certain author of this blog that after a great first half of the year) but maybe one for Real Betis.

Standouts

Deep Completions

75th percentile: Giovanni Di Lorenzo

Great Ball Progressors

Miha Zajc, Zones 2-3

Jacob Rasmussen, Zones 5-6

Ismael Bennacer, Zones 4-6

Poor Ball Progressors

Leonardo Capezzi, Zones 4-6

Hamed Junior Traore, Zone 3

Defensively Active

93rd percentile: Ismael Bennacer

87th percentile: Luca Antonelli

Shooters

75th percentile: Miha Zajc

Ball-Carriers

82nd percentile: Domenico Maietta

79th percentile: Hamed Junior Traore

One-Touch Passers

88th percentile: Hamed Junior Traore

86th percentile: Miha Zajc

76th percentile: Francesco Caputo