Thread by @BarcaFront

With Saúl nearing Barcelona and Rodrigo De Paul confirmed for Atlético Madrid, it's a good time to analyse the former's old and the latter's new role at the reigning La Liga champions.

Here's how RDP might be deployed under Cholo and what Saul used to do.

👇👇

|THREAD|

Saúl was mostly used as LCM in Cholo's 3-5-2 and this is where De Paul is likely to be deployed too.

Below is an image showing the relationship between Saúl (8), Koke (6) and Llorente (8).

Saúl's role was box-to-box, dropping deep, drifting wide and running through half-space.

And this is also where his profile diverges from De Paul's. Saúl doesn't necessarily need the ball to his feet as he's very comfortable holding width and even making (decoy) runs forward.

He's an excellent progressor (passing) & has good movement to open channels for teammates.

Simeone's system doesn't allow for a free-roam role for him but he has the freedom of choice, as long as it complements the movements of others.

Carrasco drifting wide? Saúl runs through half-space. Carrasco cuts in? Saúl keeps the width.

Hermoso stepping up? Saúl drops deep.

That's why you'll see people calling him a Swiss-knife. He's well-rounded and adaptable, willing to do the dirty work and clean up.

De Paul is similar but different in some key regards. He's very ball-dominant and likes the play to flow through him.

Also, heavily right-footed.

He likes to receive in this pocket you can see down here and then, as opposed to Saúl, he runs with the ball before deploying a key pass.

Progression is his best trait by far and he achieves it via dribbling and passing.

Off the ball, however, he doesn't exploit space as much.

He'll make short decoy runs but will generally move towards the ball rather than away from it.

Similarly, while starting wide, he'll cut in rather than hold the width.

But on the ball, he can more than replicate Saúl's contribution and then some.

He can receive in tight spaces between the lines, resist the pressure & progress.

Equally, he'll drop outside of the defensive block and then ping accurate passes into the danger zones.

This makes him very dangerous and useful for Simeone.

But it remains to be seen how he handles the left side of the 3-5-2 as opposed to his natural right side.

Cholo wants the LCM to do work off the ball as well as complement the wingback's movement.

While capable of it, it may take some adjusting because he's right-footed.

This means that holding width and dribbling on the outside doesn't come naturally to him on the left so the interchange with Carrasco could be tricky, on and off the ball.

But there is one other option for Simeone to explore but I'll let you find that in the piece itself.

👇👇

If you've enjoyed this thread, please like, RT the first tweet and leave comments, feedback etc. 🙏

Equally, if you're new here, feel free to follow for more content like this. 🔥

@rodridepaul @atletienglish @Simeone

Here's the full piece:

totalfootballanalysis.com/player-analysi…

cc: @CholoColcho @intothecalderon @AtletiFrancia @FA82Oficial @AtleticoStats @AtleticoPlay @infoatleti @LaLigaLowdown @Atleti_France 🤞

Might interest some of you!