Serie A Prospectus: Lazio
Lazio
Possession: 49%
Offensive Vital Signs
Deep Completions: Above Average (7th)
Pass Difficulty: Average
Completions Above Average: Very Good (3rd)
Field Position: Very Good (4th)
Shot Generation: Good (6th)
Good Shot%: Good (6th)
Possession Length: Average
Zones They Progress Well From: 4
Zones They Progress Poorly From: none
Defensive Vital Signs
Deep Completions Allowed: Good (5th)
Pass Difficulty Allowed: Extremely Easy (Easiest)
Completions Above Average Allowed: Very Good (4th)
Field Position Allowed: Very Good (4th)
Shot Generation Allowed: Very Good (4th)
Good Shot% Allowed: Very Good (3rd)
High Press: BelowAverage
Zones That Are Easy To Progress Through: none
Zones That Are ToughTo Progress Through: 2, 3, 4
Zone Reminder
https://saturdaysoncouch.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/snip20180919_32-1.png?w=984
50 Pass Types Were Determined By a Clustering Algorithm, These Are The Types They Play at +/- 1 Standard Deviation from Average
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Key Pass Combos: Orange=Immobile-Milinkovic-Savic, Blue=Lulic-Milinkovic-Savic
Quick Summary
Lazio play down the left. Like, a ton. No other team is as left-side dominant as Lazio are. This is mainly due to two things. First Stefan Radu, the left part of their back 3, advances a lot into this area. More importantly, the 2 left-sided midfielders in their midfield 5 in Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Senad Lulic play a lot of passes back and forth among themselves. Immobile of course drifts over because this is where the action is and voila, left-side, strong-side. Opponents even things out and play down Lazio’s right side a ton. Lazio’s right side of the midfield in Adam Marusic and Marco Parolo are a major weakness. The backline has been solid overall though, Lazio hold off opponents in dangerous areas about as well as anyone in the league. Similar to Inter in that they profile almost exactly like an edge-of-Champions League level team and even have an elite striker in Ciro Immobile to mirror Inter with as well. Immobile, unlike Icardi, also has spread passes around a bit this season. He’s about a 2 goals per 3 game striker, he has put the disappointment at Dortmund far behind him and is tearing up Italy.
Player Profiles
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, 23, midfielder
He’s quite an interesting case. He’s an attacking midfielder valued at 90 million on Transfermarkt who doesn’t really seem to do anything well. I honestly can’t quite put it all together. He doesn’t shoot a ton (~1.2 per 90 in the box), he provides a solid, not spectacular amount of key passes (~1.5 per 90), he’s moderately involved in passing, moderately involved in attacking moves, moderately involved in basically everything. So he’s a zone-mover right? Well, no, not at all, at least this year. Milinkovic-Savic has been among the worst in the league moving the ball forward into dangerous zones. Look at zone 2, everyone with 50+ passes
That’s not a quadrant you want to be in and he’s all the way at the bottom basically.
From Zone 3 it’s a similar,though not as extreme story:
In the midfield zones, he basically rates right in the middle of the pack. He doesn’t carry the ball, he doesn’t defend visibly through tackles or interceptions, he doesn’t play some sort of special quick passing game, and any of his passing numbers at best grade out around average. It’s really hard to find justification to buy him for30 million, much less 90 million in the stats. Maybe he’s a defensive wizard, that’s why all Lazio’s opponents try to pass down Lazio’s right, but that’s hard to figure up. I would not get involved in a bidding war for him at all.
Standouts
Deep Completions
94thpercentile: Joaquin Correa
90th percentile: Senad Lulic
Great Ball Progressors
Lucas Leiva, Zones 3-4
Francesco Acerbi, Zones 4-5
Stefan Radu, Zones 3-5
Poor Ball Progressors
Luis Alberto, Zones 2-3
Luiz Felipe, Zone 5
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Zones 2-3
Defensively Active
100th percentile: Lucas Leiva
90th percentile: Wallace
83rd percentile: Luiz Felipe
77th percentile: Senad Lulic
Shooters
84th percentile: Ciro Immobile
Ball-Carriers
95th percentile: Luiz Felipe
94th percentile: Senad Lulic
90th percentile: Stefan Radu
86th percentile: Luis Alberto
78th percentile: Joaquin Correa
One-Touch Passers
97thpercentile: Wallace
92nd percentile: Luiz Felipe