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@dg_douglasluiz's performances since the Premier League restart have been nothing short of incredible as Villa's 'wonderkid' midfielder has been able to take his game to the next level, but how exactly has the Brazilian made such improvements? #AVFC
graphic by @1874dan
graphic by @1874dan
Douglas Luiz showed flashes of his world class potential in the early parts of the season, with some great moments against the likes of Norwich, Brighton, and Bournemouth, but the 22-year-old struggled to consistently show himself as a star player in the Villa side.
Prior to Project Restart the the Brazilian ranked 20th out of 20 amongst Premier League defensive midfielders with at least 1000 minutes in defensive duel success with just 49%, failing to implement any dominance in his defensive game as Luiz often failed to protect the defence.
Douglas' role, despite being a 'defensive midfielder', however, is not one oriented around defence. Recycling possession has been a key part of the Brazilian's game, keeping the ball for the side with lateral passes when it might otherwise be lost in a far more modern role.
In a role that demands high success rates, Luiz spent the majority of the season slacking in his lateral pass success with 91%, although high, placing him 17th amongst his competitors. In short, although Luiz clearly has lots of potential his performances just haven't been there.
Even before Project Restart, however, it wasn't all bad for Luiz. The Brazilian is only bettered by midfielders at "big 6" clubs in dribbles per 90 (1.54), and progressive runs per 90 (1.6) as well as placing 1st for dribble success at 69% over the course of the season.
Since the return of football Douglas has managed to transform many of his shortcomings into strengths as his raw talent has begun to develop into sheer class. Still with lots of work to do, Luiz his now performing as arguably the best player in our side. Here's what's changed.
Defensively, Douglas has completely turned it around. From the last dominant defensive midfielder in the league, Luiz was ranked 2nd for defensive duels in June, with only Nemanja Matic bettering his 71% success rate (up from 49%).
Now with 8.93 successful defensive actions (including 5.04 interceptions) Luiz has gone from the worst in his position defensively to better than the average and even bettering Marvelous Nakamba - whose defensive side is his appeal - on the defensive side as well as on the ball.
It's not just his defensive game that has been behind Douglas' remarkable upturn in performance, as his ability to reduce possession loss and recycle the ball has become far stronger too. Luiz has moved up to 2nd in lateral passing success with a colossal 98% since the restart.
In improving his success rates both on and off the ball - likely down to improved decision making following self-analysis and talks with Dean Smith during the break as well as hard work off the pitch - Luiz has become a far more efficient footballer and a more reliable one too.
While this may be a good run of form for Douglas Luiz, the improvements made to his game are sure to stick. For the rest of this year and hopefully into next, Douglas Luiz is our defensive midfielder and under no circumstances should he be overlooked as a key member of the side.
So what next for Douglas Luiz? Having passed his most recent English exam his communication with the team can only improve, while his creative side can continue to develop. The Brazilian will not stop improving for years to come, the sky is the limit for our starboy. #AVFC
So, #AVFC fans. Is @dg_douglasluiz your Aston Villa Player of the Month? For me the answer is certainly yes. Reply with who you'd pick and more importantly why!
Which player would you like to see an analysis thread on next?
Which player would you like to see an analysis thread on next?
Check out some of the flashes of brilliance shown by Luiz throughout the first 28 games of the season as the midfielder hinted at what was to come in this compilation from @thevillascout: https://twitter.com/thevillascout/status/1252624970242457602
