Aston Villa picked up another three points on the road, this time at Leicester City’s King Power Stadium, thanks to goals from Ollie Watkins and Bertrand TraorΓ©. This week, my focus of attention is on Douglas Luiz: ‘The Regista’β¦
Regista: The Regista is a player who directs and controls the gameβs flow. They are the master puppeteer who dictates the teamβs offence. They are the link between the defence and attackβ¦
The word perfectly encapsulates ‘Dougie’ Luiz’s role in this team: dictating play at his influential best. Before we get into Luiz’s performance, let’s go over the key events from Tuesday evening.
Ollie Watkins (24′) – the first player in the Premier League to have six goals in six successive away matches since AgΓΌero six years ago – opened the scoring with a well-taken goal following a wonderfully driven through ball by Emiliano Buendia; surprising his first assist of the season.
Harvey Barnes (35′) equalised for Leicester City before substitute Bertrand TraorΓ© blasted home a spectacular 87th-minute winner for Aston Villa, moving them into seventh place and extending their undefeated run to six games.
PASSING NETWORK, EXPECTED THREAT & PLAYER STATS
Aston Villa adapted their style in the weekend victory at Stamford Bridge. Unai Emery was looking for a more ball-dominant performance from Aston Villa against Leicester City, did he get it? 64% ball possession says yes! Let’s take a look at the passing networkβ¦
Bang in the heart of the network is Douglas Luiz, with strong passing links between defenders Mings, Konsa, and Moreno, as well as his midfield partners McGinn and Buendia.
Luiz attempted 89 passes in total with a completion percentage of 82%, second only to Tyrone Mings – our lead ball-playing defender. 7 of those completed passes were progressive – direct passes over 10 yards or into the penalty area; excluding passes from the defensive 40% part of the pitch – only Mings, Young, and Buendia made more with 9 each.
It’s no surprise that the areas in which Douglas Luiz operates make up the highest expected threat zones (xT) from our danger creation graphic. See image below:
Luiz was the most direct ball-carrying midfielder completing 67 carries which is the number of times a player controls the ball with his feet, he was also third for progressive carries towards the opponents goal, with 3 in total. Moreno with 7 and Bailey with 5 were Villa’s top performers.
Luiz took 99 touches of the ball – receiving a pass, then dribbling, then sending a pass counts as one touch – he made 15 in the defensive third, 56 in the midfield third, and 26 in the attacking third.
To summarise, Luiz’s maturity is evident in his play with each passing game. The injury to his teammate, Boubacar Kamara, has only highlighted Luiz’s importance on this side, accepting responsibility on the ball and being the progressive link from defence to attack, while also contributing with assists and goals. Keep up the excellent work, Dougie!
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UNDERSTANDING PASSING NETWORKS
AUTHOR | RYAN MCKEOWN
Authorβs UTV PODCAST archive Ryan Mckeown – UTV Podcast | An Aston Villa Blog
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HIT THE IMAGE – to be diverted.
