Ismaël Bennacer vs Napoli ~ A Thread 🧵
Ismaël Bennacer is an Algerian midfield player who plays for AC Milan. He’s currently one of my favourite deep-lying midfielders to watch in Europe, still only 24 years of age. Let’s dive into some analysis regarding his profile and performance against Napoli (18/09/22) ⬇️
Build-Up
Bennacer generally plays a vital role in Milan’s build-up structure and this was proven again on Sunday evening. Throughout the game, Milan alternated between a back 2 and 3 during build-up.
Here, it’s a 2 with split CBs.
Bennacer generally plays a vital role in Milan’s build-up structure and this was proven again on Sunday evening. Throughout the game, Milan alternated between a back 2 and 3 during build-up.
Here, it’s a 2 with split CBs.
Milan also showed the adaptability that’s required, in order to create a numerical superiority and outnumber the Napoli press. Bennacer often dropped into the traditional right wide centre-back position- this created a 4 vs 2 with Maignan an important part of Milan’s build-up.
With Napoli often pressing with a front 2, Milan were able to outnumber the press on many occasions early on in the game, and Bennacer was a key cog in this.
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He also drops in between the CBs here, who split laterally and again Milan play through Napoli’s press quite easily. In the early periods of the game, Milan cut through the opposition really well, but lacked that intricacy in the final 3rd.
Having watched Bennacer many times, his biggest strengths lie in possession. He’s a left-footed player, but as this game showed, he is comfortable when dropping into areas on the right hand side of the pitch. This heat map (SofaScore) shows his prevalence during build-up.
Press Resistance
During build-up, if a team constantly has the ethos of playing through the defensive 3rd, being brave in possession and looking to play through opposition pressure, then it’s important that the players involved in build-up are tidy with the ball under pressure.
During build-up, if a team constantly has the ethos of playing through the defensive 3rd, being brave in possession and looking to play through opposition pressure, then it’s important that the players involved in build-up are tidy with the ball under pressure.
Here, Ismaël deals with the pressure really well and keeps the ball close to his body, turns and gets away from the opponent. Often we find footballers who can be very press resistant, but often do not pick the right pass or forward pass…
However, in this game, the Algerian played FIVE key passes, which is quite an outstanding number. On average, midfield players complete 0.98 key passes per 90. Bennacer’s figure is 1.67, De Bruyne 3.49. To make 5 in one game, especially against strong opposition, is impressive.
Set piece delivery
Bennacer is a very productive corner taker, with the likes of Tomori, Kalulu/Kjær, De Ketelaere and Giroud often on the pitch, Milan are a danger from set pieces. Here Bennacer whips in a nice delivery, Milan get a chance.
Bennacer is a very productive corner taker, with the likes of Tomori, Kalulu/Kjær, De Ketelaere and Giroud often on the pitch, Milan are a danger from set pieces. Here Bennacer whips in a nice delivery, Milan get a chance.
Tenacity
Off the ball, Bennacer is really aggressive. Throughout the game, Milan often conducted a really high press, and Bennacer was a big part of that.
Off the ball, Bennacer is really aggressive. Throughout the game, Milan often conducted a really high press, and Bennacer was a big part of that.
He made three tackles throughout the game and generally ranks highly amongst midfielders for tackles won (90th percentile). On the other hand, often he can overcommit, and many times throughout the match I saw him far up the pitch during Napoli counters.
Overall, I was really impressed with Bennacer’s performance- I’ve talked about his profile in the past and I think Manchester United certainly need a deep lying midfield player of a similar profile to Ismaël- hopefully by the start of next season this profile will be signed.
One of Bennacer’s weaknesses is winning duels, against bigger profiles he can often struggle, however, as with Lisandro Martinez, the aggression makes up for a lack of height, at times, through getting really tight to an opponent + putting them off.
A summary of Bennacer’s performance (via SofaScore):
90.5% pass accuracy
5 key passes
75% cross accuracy (3/4)
75% long pass accuracy (6/8)
1 interception
3 tackles
Thank you for reading. Please LIKE, RETWEET AND FOLLOW @ThreadmanChaza for more ANALYSIS like this.
90.5% pass accuracy
5 key passes
75% cross accuracy (3/4)
75% long pass accuracy (6/8)
1 interception
3 tackles
Thank you for reading. Please LIKE, RETWEET AND FOLLOW @ThreadmanChaza for more ANALYSIS like this.
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