PHYSIOLOGICAL FEATURES
Height: 1.86 Metres
Position:Left Midfield, Attacking Midfield
Foot: Right Footer
RB Salzburg is a Cornucopia of talents ever since it was reborn and re-christened. Many of the modern greats like Mané, Naby Keita, and future greats like Haaland and Minamino have been part of this wonderful club. Their latest product is Hungarian-born Dominik Szoboszlai. Known for their 1954 World cup team and legends like Ferenc Puskas, Dominik Szoboszlai comes from a country who had a rich history of top talents and sporting infrastructure but now face a crisis. With Szoboszlai, it is expected to change as his name rings in the top echelons of football’s hierarchy
Szoboszlai had a breakout season with Salzburg in the 2018/19 season where he helped them to win the Austrian Bundesliga. This season under their new American coach Marsch Szoboszlai has only started 7 league games of a possible 21. But however there is no doubt he is brimming with potential
POSITIONING AND MOVEMENTS
At Salzburg, coach Marsch uses a 3-4-1-2, 4-4-2 or a 3-1-4-2 formation depending on the opposition. In case of a back 3, Szoboszlai is slotted in behind the 2 strikers. When they play with a 4 at the back Szoboszlai plays as a left wide midfielder or a winger.
Being quick and technically competent, Szoboszlai attacks the half spaces of the left wing. Whenever he plays as a wide player he is tasked to cut in and play through the centre of the pitch and support the striker. Whenever the opposite team employs a low block or parks the bus and suffocates Salzburg for space, Szoboszlai drops outside his team’s attacking shape and revives passes hence creating space to recieve passes as shown below
What makes him special is his intelligent off the ball movement. He has a very uncanny ability to time his runs perfectly and therefore preserve energy as well as stay in the game.
In this particular goal Dominik scored in the UEFA group stage, at a particular Szoboszlai is smart enough to not sprint at top speed and waste his energy. However he makes sure that he is fast enough to match the player with the ball in the wide position. As Minamino is positioned to recieve a cross from the wide player it distracts the Genk defenders and draws them away. Taking advantage of this Szoboszlai sprints at top speed into the box and meets the cross with a volley to score a goal. This is a very special ability the boy posessess.
VISION AND UNDERSTANDING
Vision and understanding are 2 core featured of any naturally gifted midfielders’ game and Szoboszlai is overflowing with these qualities.
He has the ability to pick a pass that is very difficult to anticipate for opponents (even for his teammates as well sometimes). He can easily open up passing lanes and tracks the runs of his players even from a distance. This is a very useful skill to have during a counter attack.
In this particular game shown in the image below, Szoboszlai has the option of passing to his left towards Andreas Ulmer, but he spots the run of Rasmussen on the opposite flank and makes a cross field diagonal cross to reach him
Since Salzburg use the counter press or Gegenpress as it is called in Germany, their main modus operandi is to create overloads in attack and/or defence with fast physical players. In such a system it is the utmost need for a creative intelligent passer to be present so as to catch defenders who are out of position as well as advance a passing wave. In Salzburg this role is fulfilled by Dominik.
A very intriguing quality of Dominik is that he always prefers to pass instead of taking Long shot at goal
ON THE BALL ABILITY
Being 186 centimetres tall, Dominik has an unnatural frame for a attacking midfielder. This helps him to hold off defenders and shield the ball
His dribbling ability is also quite good. With a few tricks and special moves he beats defenders at will which allows him to create space and move forward. He also loves taking on defenders and always looks to best his man when he is on one-on-one with defender.
He plays an average of 46.84 passes of which around 6.02 are to the final third of the field. Great stats for someone who makes a lot of risky passes to unlock defences
WEAKNESS
Due to his lack of experience and maturity, Szoboszlai is always looking for more playing style and with this he becomes more sloppy and gives away possession to the opponents. He is also guilty of not releasing the ball at appropriate time which results in him being covered by 2-3 opposition players and then gives away a good chance or posession.
SZOBOSZLAI AT MILAN
Recent rumours have linked Szoboszlai to Milan. It has even made the player speak about Milan as a destination and how it interests him. The player is valued at €25M by Salzburg although competition to sign the player is high.
Having worked in a setup similar to the one professed by Rangnick (who incidetnally is the Director of RB Salzburg) he is familiar to the workings of the Gegenpress. And being a young player who is pacy, phsycial he fits in Rangnick’s philosophy. If Milan sign him then it would be a very good signing for sure. Dominik Szoboszlai, if he plays his cards right, can join the Hungarian hall of fame along with the greats theirs country has produced.
STATS
YOUTUBE LINK: https://youtu.be/KZyAOOzTDdI
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