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How will Hakim Ziyech fit in at Chelsea? Although he can't join Chelsea until the 2020/21 season, here I take a look at how he might fit in, his role and how it may affect his #footballindex PB score.
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This season Ziyech has played 35 games with 8 goals and 21 assists. The goalscoring return is down on last season which yielded 21 in 49 games, but he managed 24 assists and had 21 in less games this term before the season was cut short.
Interestingly he played most of the 2018/19 season from the right-wing but has had his time split between the wide-right position and the CAM role.
His split by position this season looks like this:
RW: 20 games / 6 goals / 8 assists
CAM: 13 games / 2 goals / 12 assists
His split by position this season looks like this:
RW: 20 games / 6 goals / 8 assists
CAM: 13 games / 2 goals / 12 assists
At Chelsea though, you would expect that he occupies the RW position regardless of whether they play 4-3-3, or as is more expected, 4-2-3-1. With Willian's contract running down, Pedro's game time limited this season and CHO potentially playing for Mean Machine, it seems clear.
Even if Lampard goes back to 3-4-3 or 3-4-2-1 there is a slot for Ziyech in the attacking midfield/right-wing positions and at 27 you aren't signing someone to slowly blood him into the team.
His heatmap, (crudely) overlayed on to this image of him against Chelsea, shows what areas of the pitch you can expect to see him in. Drifting between adding width from the right and tucking inside on to his wicked left foot.
This should tandem nicely with Azpilicueta or Reece James down the right-hand side. Both right-footed full-backs will be given space and time by Ziyech's desire to cut in on his left. It will be interesting to keep an eye on how often they cross or act as a decoy for Ziyech
So how does he play?
Anyone who watched any of Ajax during last seasons CL run will have a rough idea. He's an exciting watch, full of tricks, nutmegs and audacious attempts. Something that stands out about Ziyech is the number of shots and crosses he has per game.
Anyone who watched any of Ajax during last seasons CL run will have a rough idea. He's an exciting watch, full of tricks, nutmegs and audacious attempts. Something that stands out about Ziyech is the number of shots and crosses he has per game.
He averages 4.18 shots per game and 4.52 shots per game. If you compare that across a random selection of Top 6 Premier League wingers that's more than Salah, Mahrez, Sterling, Salah and Pepe.
Shots and crosses sounds great for #footballindex - plenty of those will lead to decent scores. But is there some context in how he is allowed to play at Ajax as the star of the show and how he will be asked to play as part of the Chelsea set up?
If you take a look at his shot maps over the past two seasons, you can see there is a lot of speculative efforts from outside the box. Exciting to watch, but if they aren't successful, it leads to a turn over of possession. 18/19 on the left, 19/20 on the right
With more teams playing out from the back, your team naturally has less time in possession and recycling the ball to try and create another opportunity has become frequent in the top PL sides like Liverpool and City, as opposed to taking speculative efforts.
Ziyech has the worst shots on target % of the aforementioned players - hitting the target with 33% of his efforts, with Mahrez at the other end of the scale with 48%. If he can afford to be as wasteful with Chelsea, we will have to see.
What he does boast though is ambition. His efforts from way outside the box will get people excited and if 1 or 2 fly in early it could do wonders for his MB appeal and generally being talked about by traders & fans alike.
When he cuts in on to his left you can see his head is up, looking to whip in a dangerous ball. His xA per 90 is the best in the above group at 0.55, with Sterling 2nd with 0.3. When you watch his assists, the angle, whip and pace with which he delivers the ball is top-notch.
His crosses often lead to the right-winger coming in at the back post to score. So it's also worth keeping an eye on who plays as the RW for Chelsea and if he's getting into positions to score.
= assist position
= goal scored position
= assist position= goal scored position
Chelsea's PB is mostly centred around ball possession, with 4 of the top 5 average PB players involved in a high amount of the build-up play, only Willian makes the top 5 from the attacking 4 players. Ziyech averages 136 this season (although a small sample) Stats: @IndexGain
Ziyech could take over some of that from Willian if he plays instead of him while completing more actions (shots and crosses) and potentially more goals and assists too. But that is, as discussed before, dependant on whether Lampard lets him have a free reign as he does at Ajax
Summary
Chelsea have been lacking a focal attacking point since the departure of Eden Hazard, and Ziyech can provide that. They've also lacked a significant PB threat since Hazard who dominated plenty of the ball.
Chelsea have been lacking a focal attacking point since the departure of Eden Hazard, and Ziyech can provide that. They've also lacked a significant PB threat since Hazard who dominated plenty of the ball.
Ziyech certainly has the wow factor that some non-PB focused traders look for, while he may be able to provide the data points for those who do. His impact on Pulisic (or other RW) and the relationship with the RB will be intriguing to see how that develops for PB too.
Sorry, @CodeFindex - thread went funny so I deleted and re-posted! Appreciate the like and RT though! 
