The 24-year-old was in Luciano Spalletti’s opening day squad but the new Italian coach failed to record his first win on Saturday (September 9) as the European champions lost their lead within the last 10 minutes. .
Although neither Italian team played particularly well, Zaniolo was heavily criticized for his performance, with some saying he failed to make an impact from the bench and even suggesting that he responsible for Italy’s loss to North Macedonia.
Cult of Calcio was particularly harsh in evaluating its players (September 9), giving Zaniolo a score of 4.5, the lowest of any Italian player, writing:
“A poor start from the Aston Villa player, who clearly wasted the ball. He was also the culprit in the equalizer.
It seems the local equalizer may have clouded the judgment of the Cult of Calcio writers as overall, the Aston Villa midfielder did not have a terrible game even if he ended up looking a bit ineffective in the final third like some of the Italians. player.
Zaniolo completed the most dribbles in the game, with two, and found himself stuck at the back winning the most dribbles in the match with eight, thanks to a combative performance in midfield (Fotmob). However, with the final ball he was wasteful, failing to make any crosses in his attempt and completing just one of nine accurate passes in the final third, leaving the player The 24 year old has a very low expected pass of 0.01.
Zaniolo is not particularly creative at the best of times, ranking in the bottom percentile of attacking midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues for number of passes, averaging an extremely low 20.78 per 90 minutes [Fbrief]. As a result, his assist record is not great at all, averaging 0.11 expected assists per game, a record 86% worse than with his colleagues in the same position.
Typically, the Italy international makes up for his lack of creativity with his goalscoring record, a record of 3.43 shots per game that ranks him 95th among all attacking midfielders in Europe. Europe, but in the draw with Macedonia North, he only had one shot. .
Although he was not brought on as a direct replacement for Coutinho, the 24-year-old is a very different player to the Brazilian, playing as a central striker rather than as a creative midfielder. Coutinho is in the 91st percentile for progressive passes per game, with Zaniolo in seventh place. One performance won’t change Zaniolo’s career, but Unai Emery must be a little worried to see his new attacking midfielder not involved in the national team’s preparations for much of the season. match.
Villa as a team often rely on a variety of players to create chances, whether through Ollie Watkins chasing long balls or Leon Bailey and Moussa Diaby dribbling into tight areas, but Zaniolo did not fits all about a player’s profile.
His second-half appearance for Italy in North Macedonia didn’t show enough quality to make Emery think twice about starting the Italian after the international break and it still looks like there’s still a lot going on. work must be done for him to replace Diaby or John McGinn.
In other Aston Villa news, Emi Martinez is not only one of the best goalkeepers in the world but also one of the best players after the Ballon d’Or nomination.
