In Aquilani’s Pisa the Portuguese played practically every role.
Over the course of this season we have learned about Alberto Aquilani as coach of the “big boys”. In reality, we had already heard about his qualities as a coach since he sat on the bench of the Fiorentina Primavera team. The former Roma player has in fact contributed to bringing 3 Primavera Italian Cups and 2 Super Cups to the Viola youth team. Also for this reason, at the end of 2023 he won the award as Best Coach of the Championship Spring. It was quite natural, therefore, that the spotlight would shine on him in his new role as coach of Pisa, an adventure that began not exactly under the best auspices due to the Kolarov affair.
The Roman coach brought with him a wealth of tactical knowledge that intends that his players metabolize. The verb pretend – used in a deliberately exaggerated manner – has its own logical order in Alberto Aquilani’s idea: the impression is that he is a rather dogmatic coach, which aims to offer its players a series of predefined solutions. A bit like the same criticism that is leveled at technicians who choose to embrace the approach of position game. However, we know well that when the orchestra works as it should, the symphony that emerges tends towards the celestial.
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It is undeniable that Aquilani – probably also given his heritage as a good midfielder – clearly follows the principles position them sublimated over the last decade by Pep Guardiola. His philosophy is built on a proactive game, well based on ball possession as a means of dominating the opponent. If the ball is the medium, the creation is the consequent occupation of the space is the goal. And so Aquilani’s team, which is often drawn with a 4-2-3-1, in the possession phase is set up with a 3-4-3, drawing a sort of midfield box and therefore clogging up all the vertical corridors of the pitch .
Pisa’s disposition in the possession phase
The data, even if accompanied by an uninspiring final ranking, speak clearly about the soul of this Pisa. In fact, it is the team that has one of the best percentages of field tilt and “generic” ball possession. Furthermore, the good technical sensitivity of the players has led Aquilani’s team to be one of the best teams for completed dribbles (300). He is the best dribbler on the team by distance Thomas Esteves, who, despite everything, attempts far fewer dribbles than the previous year (3.22 per 90′ in the 23/24 season compared to almost 4 per 90′ in the 22/23 season). But for one figure that decreases, there is another that grows dramatically: that of attempted steps. The young Portuguese, in fact, attempts 48.28 passes per 90′ compared to 40.5 per 90′ minutes last season, with a surge in the percentage of successful passes too (87.3% in the current season compared to 73.5% in the 22/23 season).
From fullback to inverted full-back
To explain this sudden change – and also to contextualize the data – it is necessary to take a step back to understand what kind of player Tomás Esteves was and what kind of player he has become. A transformation that was certainly within his grasp, but which occurred in such a rapid time that it was reminiscent of Arturo Brachetti in one of his theatrical shows. Even databases struggle to catalog it into a reference cluster: Soccerment – from which all the data of the article are taken – classifies it as wide controller, almost not acknowledging his move which occurred during the current season.
The Portuguese, born in 2002, already boasts good experience under his belt. A product of Porto’s youth team, after his youth career (with which he won the Youth League in 2018-19) he was first joined by the B team and then loaned to Reading. Athletic skills have always been on Esteves’ side, who almost always played the role of full-back with the habit of extending himself with the ball at his feet in the opponent’s half of the pitch. It is no coincidence that, even in the current season, he is one of the best players in terms of threats created on the ball cluster reference (0.80 xT from carries, 92nd percentile). From the contributions found online about his previous experiences, we seem to see – perhaps a comparison due to his hair – a horse with a loose rein wandering in the middle of the field.
But what is most surprising, despite his young age, is his ductility as a veteran. In fact, he can be used both as a right-back and as a left-back: his position on the pitch certainly does not affect his performance. Precisely this characteristic of him made him fundamental in Aquilani’s tactical board to perfect his idea of football.
The comparison between heatmaps (the first from last year, the second from the current one) gives us an idea of what a multifaceted player Tomás Esteves is
It was said before how Aquilani follows the philosophy of positional play. Right in the footsteps of Pep Guardiola, the Roman coach has entrusted to Tomás Esteves the role of inverted full-back, a sort of investiture that almost corresponds to the nomination of a medieval knight: the importance that this specific pawn has in the middle of the field for those who choose to embrace this approach is undeniable. Briefly: in the construction phase, the centralization of a full-back allows the team to add an extra body in the middle of the pitch and therefore create superiority in the dribbling phase. In addition to this, it allows the other midfielders to stand up in such a way as to take on almost exclusively offensive tasks and therefore freeing them from defensive tasks. Wanting to summarize all this in a formula, it is the full-back-who-plays-in-the-middle-of-the-field.
Esteves – in photo 1 – is aligned with the other defenders in the non-possession phase. Once he regains possession – photo 2 – he occupies the center of the pitch
Although it is not an innovation from a tactical point of view, this use on the pitch shows us the technical sensitivity of the young Portuguese. The role of inverted full-backas is known, cannot be covered by just anyone: not only is the ability to handle the ball under pressure and moreover in key areas of the pitch necessary, but the player who takes on this role must have the knowledge of his position on the field and that of his companions. It is no coincidence that this role has historically been filled by players with strong tactical readings, Philipp Lahm to name one above all.
And inverted full-back the midfielder
Although Aquilani had already worked extensively on the position and functions of Tomás Esteves on the pitch, during the current season the Portuguese had to suffer a new transformation in the field. Now he no longer starts from the full-back position to move into the middle of the field, but start to play already inside the field. No longer a commuter, but a stable interpreter of the median.
In this 3+2 construction, Esteves no longer acts as an inverted full-back, but as a full-fledged midfielder
You could already notice this – yet another – transformation just by looking at it deployment Basic proposed by the various pre-match apps or television broadcasters. The Portuguese was no longer indicated as a member of the defense, but as one of the two double pivot of the 4-2-3-1. In reality, it was not just a nominal change as it also had repercussions on the rest of the team. His move, as well as for tactical reasons, is also due to the need to play alongside Marius Marin in a position where Miguel Veloso can no longer guarantee a constant performance for the entire 90 minutes. To make up for this deficiency, then, Aquilani chose to give a central position to Esteves, taking advantage of both his good vision of the game and his ability to play under opposing pressure.
An example of how Esteves manages to extricate himself well from opponent pressure
With Esteves’ move to the midfield, the hole left by the Portuguese on the wing of competence is filled quite easily by one of the full-backs present in the Pisa squad. In this case, however, the function of the full-back will not be to occupy the central portion of the pitch – already heavily manned – but to move up to give as much breadth as possible to the Tuscans’ offensive maneuver. In this regard, if necessary to bring up the full-backs, the Portuguese drops between the central defenders to encourage construction from below.
Esteves drops between Caracciolo and Canestrelli, while Calabresi (#33) positions himself on the midfielder line
The tactically undisciplined Esteves, after a season with Aquilani, seems to be just a distant memory. Now, without losing his ball and chain jerks, he seems to have become a player of order. Pisa ended the season in 13th place (-5 points from eighth place) and the season overall cannot be said to be satisfactory. However, some interesting tactical ideas were glimpsed.
There already seem to be requests from Serie A for the Portuguese and it is not excluded that, after a season in which he highlighted a vast repertoire, is one of the most sought after desires on the market. Also because, let’s say it clearly, such a flexible player could be useful to many places.
2024-05-22 14:14:45
#Tomás #Esteves #Pisa #defender #plays
