“SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT PROFILE” - THE ATHLETIC DATA WRITER ON WHAT FEDERICO CHIESA BRINGS TO LIVERPOOL

hello everybody and welcome to the bedman TV and your latest episode of expert Insight my name is Dan club I'm delighted to say I'm joined by the brilliant now forgive me forgive me everybody forgive me anat gief raguan from the athletic was that okay yeah that's very good thanks I was G to ask you off air how to pronounce it and I completely forgot and then I started the intro and I panicking in my head I was really panicking but okay I put that down everyone listening most people watching will know my Cricket background I put that down to watching years and years of cricket and getting used to these different pronunciations let's put it that way um first and foremost massively appreciate you joining me how you doing you're okay uh I'm very good very happy to be here and thank you so much for having me oh no my pleasure my pleasure I'm looking forward to it um I initially contacted you because you did a brilliant piece on fedo kazer for the athletic of course centering around the data and the numbers that make him the player that he is by and large so let's delve into that in a bit more detail if we can um I want to start off with because it's been one of the prevailing aspects really of Liverpool speaking about him has been that versatility that he offers I think a lot of us are expecting him to be the right-wing back of the Salah but it he's a lot more than that isn't he when you look at his profile when you look at what he's done in his career speak to us about what you found and also where you think he is best utilized um yeah I I think you make a few really valid points in that uh kesa I think the biggest plus with him is that he brings a degree of Versatility which obviously Liverpool have a bit with their current forwards which apart from Salah who you might put down as uh a proper right winger I think typically Gat post played uh in the down the middle or on the left jot has done the same and before these guys came in we saw klopp using money in a similar way where he started on the left and played as a false nine or a center forward so I think Liverpool have always valued that versatility and that's what kasasa brings and this is something I think me and my colleague Andy Jones touched on in the article about kasasa which is that he can play across the front line which gives Liverpool more options not that they need many because they already have five really good forwards in that team um but yeah I think his ideal position from what what we've seen uh since obviously his ACL injury is that he does play best on the right and that's where he's played most often across his career so which is a bit of a surprise because he's a right winger and we've just seen kind of this shift across football of kind of inverted Wingers where they're coming in onto their stronger foot so it would make sense that KSA plays a lot more on the left maybe but I think his preferred position has been the right and that's where he's kind of made a name for himself and um yeah based on his qualities it's obviously very difficult to judge him from last season because the way Allegre used him was way different um where he played more as either a second Striker with Lovich or instead of him um and he rarely played out on the flanks and this was something we saw the season before as he was like kind of East back in after his injury as well where he was played in a variety of different roles he even ended up as a right wing back at sometimes which is strange to see and kind of it was again something uh Juventus fans didn't seem very happy about and uh so yeah I think his perect pos position or the position where he's strongest at is surely on the right and that's where I think as kind of a Sal Salah backup or an alternative Bas on given Liverpool will be in Europe The increased games in the Champions League both cups I think that depth really helps and I think that's where he will get most of his minutes this season no absolutely I agree with you wholeheartedly on that I think he will almost be pigeon hold as that position and that role in this Liverpool Squad because of the makeup of it as you alluded to there but it's fascinating how he has had so many varied roles already in his short I say short career 26 but in his career until this point he has done three separate very separate roles very well like so he does have that impressive versatility just on that there a little bit more detailed if he is going to be the underst stud to Salah like we all expect how different is he to Salah obviously you mentioned the footedness thing which is a thing but he will play that right wi role in a completely different manner yeah yeah for sure I think uh this is one of the things again that we'd uh we really investigated a bit when we were doing the article uh which was that km brings away different profile so he's not going to be a player who's going to manage the goal or assist returns of Salah whose numbers are mindboggling really uh for a Winger to get that many goals and assists and again he started the season in a similar way and I don't think anybody will be surprised if he gets 20 goals again because that's just how good he is uh with kesa I think what we're looking at is a Winger who who's got Pace to burn I think that is one of his key qualities in that he's not he's not skilled in the sense where he's going to Nutmeg a couple of players and get past them now he's more raw Pace where he can knock the ball on the side of the defender before the defender reacts he's gone and he's got the ball and which is the thing so because he's comfortable on both feet he can be a player who cuts inside off the right which we've seen Salah do every week but I think his on the right side playing on his preferred right foot he provides a way different profile and that's something slot has had with his Wingers at both fire and Alma before that where he's encouraged his Wingers to kind of make create these 1 V one situations using the fullback and then kind of take them on beat them and then play these kind of low cut backs low crosses into the box that the attackers can then the center forwards can then attack so it provides that profile so it's a bit of variability and you don't know you can get either side from KSA really where he can cut inside and send a rocket of a shot into the net or he can take your man on and keep sending a barrage of crosses and that's something which we've seen kind of Salas gamees kind of evolved from that I think there used to be a point I think in this first 3 four years where Salah the dribbler used to really Drive fear into the hearts of Defenders you wouldn't want to be in a 1 V1 with Salah which is still quite true because he still got Pace but uh even the numbers kind of indicate and this is something we touched upon that uh Salah is now he his passings evolved a lot more and he is trying to get himself more into goal scoring positions so he's kind of become the star man goal scoring wise for Liverpool especially now with man is also gone and the new signings are still now the have been really prolific though they all contribute J Nunes gapo but I think Starman still undoubtedly Salah so his game both in the final season and the club final couple of seasons and how he started on the slot does seem to be that his passing's gotten more emphasis now than him dribbling or taking players own consistently and the numbers kind of reflect that as well like his um stons have gone down and at the same time his passings really improved so that is something he's been working on and with k kind of a profile that is kind of similar to the old Sal he's not maybe may not be as Pacey as good especially after the ACL injury but you're getting a player who's going to go into those one-on ones he's going to be confident of beating his marker and he's going to send more balls in and just kind of I think send defense is kind of on the back foot because he can if you if he let gets past the defender he can cause a lot of damage both from out wide and out in the middle so I think that different profile and get a little more unpredictability I think it's the key thing here office uh Liverpool that will be different from Salah no absolutely and it's nice to have that alternative as well you it's always like a throw back to the old Salah as you referenced there Salah has definitely evolved and changed his game you know he's not the player he once was but he's still hurting teams just as much just in a different way really and we'll pick up on that then in that case because they're know in sort of preparation for this I asked you to sort of have a look at the players that Arn slaugh has had in in the past obviously M was one of them we know quite well out adiss L Sinister it feels to me like from what you just said there then that K being that almost throwback to Old Salah is more accustomed and more like what arna's been dealing with in the past is that a fair assessment uh I think so yeah I think that is a fair assessment in that uh so even if you look at each of those three Wingers you've just mentioned which is uh Sinister rissy and mte I think from Sinister is a bit of a unique case because his best season the slot which is in and the best season of his career in 2122 where he scored 20 plus goals had nearly 15 assists uh in all competitions it's been a bit of an outlier within sinister's career in that he's really struggled to match those numbers again obviously he's at Bournemouth now and we'll see how he gets on uh but with Sinister I think slot had a profile which was maybe similar to what you'd see with the current day Salah where I think Sinister wasn't really required to be too involved in buildup he was obviously still very good at taking player Z but it was more he wasn't as involved in buildup but he was still really good Crosser still a good dribbler obviously but he was getting more into goal scoring positions and uh so it is maybe a bit of a different profile to what KSA might offer and it's kind of similar with idrissi as well but rrii obviously was I think does boast better shooting numbers than kesa so kesa is can be a bit erratic when he's uh taking his shots and even last season I think he got one on three shots on target roughly so he can be a bit of a volume shoter but he doesn't get enough of them on Target and that is something it he did well but his gold returns just didn't really reflect it he didn't get into double digits uh in the league and though he did play quite well and again fit more into that slot molder where he could take a defender on beat him from the outside and then deliver balls forther Center forward to attack uh in terms of just purely impact minutes and uh the kind of return we might get from KSA I think the most valid comparison is probably M and that because M obviously played uh around 35 36 games for final last year but he started only 22 of those and He was largely coming off the bench making an impact against tired defenses and uh you know playing in a slightly more Lower State Games if that if that makes sense so I think that kind of is where KSA will find himself because just because of salah's unable and just how good he is uh and M like we saw I think one of the things with uh M was that he was also slightly struggled with the shooting he wasn't the most prolific passer because he was willing to be more daring with the kind of passes he played and uh he was quite dependent on his dribbling to kind of fashion opportunities which is which is I think what Liverpool will get from Kaza as well uh and that you'll get a high volume dribbler who take his man on great chances and that's what m was doing a lot but again he did it in Fairly limited minutes which is what KSL be likely be dealing with the season so I think m is probably the best comparison and M's numbers I think were still Fair decent 22 starts I think he got eight goals and six assists which I think if you can get out of kesa this season it would be it may play a big difference in uh in comparison to how last season ended once it seemed a bit like the fatigue got to Liverpool and then just the expectations of being in Four competitions competing in all of them kind of seemed to get to them and I think having K as an alternator to Salah in that way might really help and as an alternative to any of the other forwards as well so that might be the kind of return uh that Liverpool likely get the season yeah I mean you take that in a hardbeat especially when you've got five other lads who are who are likely to be certainly chipping in but as you mentioned earlier on in most Sal cases a bit more than chipping in most probably is high class so a have a forward of that caliber is like what would probably be your sixth option in terms of Peck and Order yeah