Man Utd’s first rookie this summer

Tactical versatility

Donny Van De Beek has played many roles this season, as you can see below. Although his primary position as a leading assist player in the 4-2-3-1 formation, the 23-year-old often plays a midfielder in the 4-3-3 or spearhead. doubles in the 4-2-3-1 diagram.

The Ajax midfielder generally operates on the right wing, although he often slides to the side to suit his style of play. Even when he plays as an uplifting midfielder in a 4-2-3-1, he often puts himself in a position where he thinks his teammates need him, a way Bruno Fernandes is still doing at Manchester. United.

When playing spearhead, the Dutch midfielder often plays on the bottom of the diamond shape during the up or down phase in the midfield area or 3-man defenders to help his teammates up. tall.

Although Van De Beek is not very slow in the rotation, he is not that fast. Which means it won’t be a target or a problem in settlements if you play lower than usual because you can face the opponent’s goal. Although there is only one game, here we will analyze in depth the game against Getafe, a game that played in a key position.

Of Ajax’s 467 attempts to pass the ball in this match, Van De Beek has only 29. Meanwhile, his teammate at the tip of the spear, Lisandro Martinez, made 47 passes, the third highest in Ajax’s squad. He also didn’t put the ball high, as evidenced by the fact that he only got 1 pass, just 2.35 meters on one pass, which is very low. Meanwhile, Martinez got 6.19 meters for a pass.

On the defensive side, he can only create pressure in one situation and create only one intervention.

What we can see in these few example scenarios is that the 23-year-old Dutchman does not control the game from deep in the box, but often picks up the ball as quickly as possible. It didn’t even deeply interfere with the ball control phase, even when playing low. This is probably why you should play in a shuttlecock or spearhead position in case the team suffers a lot of serious injuries. Otherwise, he could be put in his strong position: the assistant player moved up the table 4-2-3-1.

Smart game:

One of the things that makes Van De Beek stand out is his tactical thinking with and without the ball. He can always make the right decisions at the right time to help the home team lift the squad, in part because he can read the vertical position very well, thus helping him penetrate the gaps. then he collected the pass from the companions.

In the example below, instead of helping a teammate, Van De Beek decided to get rid of his teammates to help him gain space to get rid of the player who was accompanying him. Later, he found his teammates on the other side of the field, searching for Van De Beek. There is a feeling that the Dutchman always finds the right position even when he doesn’t have the ball thanks to his tactical vision.

His ability to move without the ball is probably his “treasure”, perhaps Van De Beek’s good reading ability is due to the fact that he is one of the best soccer players in Chau. Europa, or their ability to move without the ball, is effectively promoted in a consistent positioning system, a system in which players find space to place the ball in the correct position. Ajax also often looks for space in the inner court to stretch the opponent’s defense, something that Van De Beek is difficult to see in other teams.

It’s really not bad to say that Van De Beek’s ability to move off the ball is extremely impressive. He always knows where to escape by pressing, where to knead a pass or help his teammates to gain space. When Ajax hits a fast break, if they notice a void they will definitely send the ball there. In other words, he is always the one who gives the correct judgment in similar situations.

The following video is perhaps the clearest example of Van De Beek’s ability to play off the ball.

He always watches his position on the field to know where his teammates are. As you can see from this situation, he saw Dusan Tadic from behind, so he decided to let the ball pass and got behind the Spurs defense. This shows how good your tactical vision and observation skills are. Pochettino even shared his thoughts on him after the match with El País.

He really showed mobility throughout the game. He came out behind Tadic, entered the area, created and scored.

Van De Beek is also very good at getting into a tight space to receive the ball and then using his good grip to help his teammates penetrate dangerous positions as we can see in the example. down here.

Another possibility for him is that Van De Beek can play well with both feet, so he can return with his left or right foot every time he moves without the ball to get rid of an accompanying player.

Lack of creativity

Although Van De Beek does very well in his off-the-ball and on-the-ball movements, he is not a completely creative player. However, he still has teammates like Hakim Ziyech at Ajax, someone who can help him in defending the opponent with a cut.

Statistics show that Van De Beek only participates in 5.6% of passes for the home team. When put on the comparison table, even Andreas Pereira, Jesse Lingard and Bruno Fernandes still have more influence than Van De Beek at home. Even Lingard, the lowest of the three, reached 7%.

In terms of creativity, Van De Beek isn’t very good either. Statistics show that he can only perform 2.27 situations that can kick the ball (situations that can open opportunities for a forward to kick the ball, be it a slot, a ball, or a foul). 90 minutes on average and 0.38 goal situations (situations that can produce a goal either a hole, a ball or a foul) they averaged 90 minutes in the Champions League in the last two seasons. If Van De Beek were to play for Man United, that would place him 10th on the entire team in terms of possible kicks and 6th in possible goals.

Also, these situations often come from the ball inside the box rather than the open kicks from the deeper area. He also usually works near the penalty area to receive the ball, but as he goes deeper, Van De Beek rarely punches, but instead opens passes. It can be said that he does not usually take risks with the ball.

An advantage of Van De Beek’s good off-the-ball movement is that he can get the ball into the box to play in the box. Although he is not too risky on the ball, you can still see his strengths as Van De Beek regularly hits his goal after passing the ball. This can be clearly seen in the fact that he ranks third out of 29 assists that have increased cross-over accuracy to the final third by 88% in the Champions League this season. He also ranks ninth out of 29 players with a passing rate of 60% accuracy in the penalty area.

We can see that Van De Beek often drops the ball to be more decisive than the situation that unfolds in the last third of the field. We also see that he doesn’t really play creatively and is rarely risky. In this way, it can be concluded that you have realized your strengths and weaknesses, which is why you do not want to participate too much in the game. You have to remember that Van De Beek is only 23 years old and he still has time to prove it.

Furthermore, his expected goal of 0.54 without a penalty and the average expectation of 90 minutes in Europe at the beginning of Van De Beek’s career also shows that he can do a lot for the team, although there are still many weaknesses.

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How will Van De Beek adapt to Man United’s style of play?

There’s been a lot of debate about this in Man United fan groups – is he a backup to wait for Sancho next season, or will he be a permanent signing after having Sancho this season? The best option would be to have both. And this is the reason.

First, Van De Beek’s best position is the assistant player at 4-2-3-1 or the flying midfielder at 4-3-3. Although Bruno Fernandes has taken over this position from Van De Beek, he can still play thanks to his talent. Perhaps, they will rotate it with Mason Greenwood depending on the requirements of each party. Bruno Fernandes and Van De Beek have enough strategic thinking to work together, although that means Fernandes may have to play on the right wing compared to the normal position, in the meantime Van De Beek will dominate the midfield position.

Since football returned, we have often seen Rashford pull the wing to execute but cross the wing. However, we rarely see Man United players breaking into the area. With Van De Beek on the team, this will certainly change.

He usually maintains his position in the area to receive the ball, although he can open the door to his teammates from outside the area, as can be seen in the 4.4 touches in the area that average 90 minutes in the area. 2 recent Champions League seasons. This will be even more useful as United only have Martial and Rashford has more touches in the penalty area on average 90 more minutes.

Also, Man United often finds it difficult to keep up the pressure if they don’t hit the opponent’s defense if they run into deep defenses. Therefore, in the situation below, Martial and Bruno must meet to open the ball. In other words, although Man United received the ball, it proved dangerous in advanced situations.

With Van De Beek, Man United can break into the opponent’s defense as in this situation, thus creating a different direction of attack.

Conclude:

If Man United can get Sancho, Van De Beek will be able to create a lot. First, he will be the man who creates goals when Man United needs him, and the best substitute when Fernandes needs a break. Ultimately, he will spearhead Man United’s attack in future Cup matches if necessary.

Translated from article: “Scout Report: Van De Beek” by JKFootball author posted on Medium.com.