Credits to SportVision Photo for the pictures.
Preface
The depth of this scouting report is limited to a specific level and extent, so that as many people as possible, regardless the role in football (player, coach, supporter etc.) one have, one could follow and comprehend the content.
Besides solid industry knowledge and network of contacts, following games have been attended to watch this specific player in real-life:
- AIK U19 – Brommapojkarna U19, 01/06/22
- Brommapojkarna U19 – Sirius U19, 05/06/22
- Brommapojkarna U21 – Sundsvall U21, 17/08/22
- AIK – Täby, 26/01/23
- Täby – Sollentuna, 18/03/23
Video scouting have been done for these games:
- Täby – Piteå, 02/04/23
- Täby – Hammarby TFF, 08/04/23
- Täby – Sylvia, 15/04/23
- Karlstad – Täby, 22/04/23
- United Nordic – Täby, 06/05/23
Visuals and algorithms are designed and programmed from scratch by the writer of this report, Simon Gebrenegus. The raw data is supplied from Playmaker AI.
Introduction
Introducing Zinedin Smajlovic, a young center back making his first season in first-team football with Täby in the Swedish third-tier. After an impressive stint in the U19 national first-tier with Brommapojkarna last year, he moved to Täby for first team football in the third tier, and without difficulties have made the transition to first team football, becoming a vital part of the team from the first game of pre-season. The unusual quick adaptation to top-level competition has been remarkably smooth. Despite coming from one of Scandinavia’s top academies, he spent only one season in Brommapojkarna, and before that have played in smaller teams in north of Stockholm. Kind of a “late bloomer” and, understandable, a player that probably was in the shadow of Brommapojkarna’s shining golden boys. But, after taking the step to Täby, he has shown he is one of the big talents to keep an eye on, possessing unique traits both in possession and in physicality.
Born: 2003
Club: Täby FK
Position: Center back
Height: 192 cm
Weight: 90 kg
Best foot: Two-footed
Role in team & short team analysis
Täby’s tactical approach is a possession based football, where they always want to play out from the back. The goalkeeper, David Mikhail, and the center backs (mostly Zinedin which will be shown below) are playmakers in the first phase. Their approach revolves around directly from the first phase, find overloads in wide and half spaces. This tactic aligns with emphasis on wide spaces, where they play a 4-3-3, but the two number 8s (or wide center midfielders) often occupy these spaces.
Zinedin Smajlovic plays an integral role in his team’s build-up play and possession-based approach. The passing network below reveals that the team heavily relies on him as a key outlet during build-up. The bigger the dots are on the player, the more the player has the ball in possession, and the thicker the lines are, the more passes between the players. The plot also shows the average position (with the ball) the players have had this season.
Zinedin’s involvement in the team’s passing sequences is notably high, emphasizing his significance in orchestrating their attacking movements. Note the wide positions of center midfielders Butros and Grönborg, who are as wide as the wingers, which illustrates their approach on occupying an overloading wide spaces. Smajlovic is the main man in possession, where he is the player in possession the most (biggest dot on his name), and thick lines connecting with different players despite their positioning. This already indicates his broad and flexible passing style, which will be clarified by videos and pass maps below.
Technical & in-possession attributes
Like mentioned above, Smajlovic is the main man in possession. His two-footedness and ability to find longer passes with the help of his special striking on the ball, is the reason why Täby can totally ignore finding central spaces and directly find the wider spaces. Below video shows one of his traits, which is finding the left winger directly which triggers Täby’s attack.
Switching the play with crosses, both using his right and left foot, is another trait Smajlovic possess and enables Täby get away from oppossition’s high pressure. Some examples on this in the video below. Note the use of both feet when crossing.
Passing to more central positions is not Täby’s game plan, but when it opens up, Smajlovic has showed he can find these passes too, like in the video below.
All of Smajlovic’s accurate passes after the first five games are visualized below, where the bigger/stronger golden lines are the progressive passes (vertically longer than 25 meters), and the weaker lines are the rest of the passes.
We see that the majority of his progressive passes are the ones that ends up at the left side in the offensive half which was shown in the first video. But also he is showing a consistency of also being able to ping the ball to the right side of the final third with his crossing, also shown in video above. This kind of pass map is unique for a center back, where you can compare with the ones posted daily on twitter, click here to get there or click at the example below.
Zinedin Smajlovic possesses skill set that goes beyond his passing and crossing abilities. One of his additional weapons is his proficiency in making progressive runs with the ball, which provides several benefits to his team. Smajlovic’s progressive runs with the ball offer a dynamic attacking option from the backline. While his passing and crossing skills are already recognized, his ability to carry the ball forward adds another layer of danger to his team’s attack, and creates numerous advantages for his team. The progressive runs is another weapon to bypass the first pressure, breaking the lines and providing his team with a direct route towards the opposition’s territory. Below are some examples of this.
As you can see, when Smajlovic embarks on a progressive run with the ball, he not only aims to create openings for his teammates but also becomes a goal-scoring threat himself. With his exceptional dribbling skills and composure on the ball, he can navigate through the opposition’s defense, bypassing multiple players with ease. Also he can finish the play himself with his sublime finishing, both from distance and in the penalty area. He has in fact scored 3 goals in the first 7 games of the season, all goals coming from open play, and after progressive runs. The spider plot below compares his offensive metrics to the rest of the center backs in the league.
The spider illustrates his elite on-the-ball attributes, where he is among the best in the league in several offensive metrics.
Physical attributes
Zinedin Smajlovic possesses a big physical presence which is hard to miss on the field. Standing tall at 192 cm, his stature provides an advantage when contesting aerial duels. Weighing in at 90 kg, he is robustly built with strong bone structure. Despite his considerable size, he still possesses remarkable agility and quickness. His ability to change direction swiftly and accelerate with good body control, summarizes a unique physical profile. While possessing a good vertical jump, the combination of his height, power, and leaping ability makes him a presence in aerial situations, both defensively and offensively. Overall, Zinedin Smajlovic’s physical attributes, including his height, weight, body control, quickness, and vertical jump, provide him with a well-rounded physical presence on the field. His combination of size and athleticism makes him a force to be reckoned with in defense, while also offering a threat in attacking set-pieces.
Defensive profile
Looking into Smajlovic’s defensive profile, he already has an advantage considering his physical profile. Combining that with his relentless commitment to winning back possession, good timing and technique in his precise tackling, and the ability to know where the ball is going to land by using his good positioning, he possess two elite traits in his defensive profile as a centerback. Moreover, with the help of his vertical jump, has the potential to dominate in aerial duels. Some examples of this with him handling target forwards below.
Examples of his relentless tackling and ground duels are presented in the twitter thread below (just click on it and scroll down), against AIK from the Swedish top-flight, where he was put in difficult situations and being outnumbered, but handling it in a good way.
Weaknesses/room for improvement
However, Smajlovic’s eagerness to tackle can also work against him at times. His desire to engage in every defensive situation may lead him to commit too early or overcommit, sometimes forgetting about foot-work in defensive 1v1 situations, making it easier for skilled forwards to exploit the space he leaves behind, or provoke him to make fouls. Smarter opponents may deliberately draw him out of position, leaving gaps in the defensive line that can be exploited by clever runs or quick passes. Below are few examples.
To optimize his defensive performance even more, he has room for improvement in patience and decision-making. By improving this, he could find a perfect balance between his eagerness to tackle and maintaining a solid defensive structure. Recognizing situations where it is a better choice to hold his position and rely on his teammates, or just cut off space instead of always running into physical battles with forwards, will take his game to the next level and make him a more well-rounded and effective center back. Below a spider plot of his defensive on-the-ball metrics are shown, compared to the rest of the center backs in the league.
Despite the difficulties of basing the level on a player’s defensive qualities, especially for center backs, by using this kind of event data, we see indications of a player that likes executing defensive actions, but not winning as big proportion of them as other center backs. One of the reasons of this is very likely due to the part where his weakness/room for improvement is stated above. A further analysis of how many duels the other center back commits, and identifying if Smajlovic’s lower success rate is due to the bigger amount of actions he gets into would clarify and contextualise this even more.
Conclusion
Zinedin Smajlovic is without a doubt a center back with high potential of making it to the top level, with some unique on-the-ball qualities together with a favorable physical profile. Considering it’s his first year in first-team football at this level, coming from youth football, and that he has not grown up in academy football, there are signs that he is far from a finished product and that his development will exponentially grow the coming years.