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With the club’s recent link to Alaba, we’ve decided to do a thread analyzing the Austrian Defender’s strengths, weaknesses, and what he can bring to the side.
-With the club’s recent link to Alaba, we’ve decided to do a thread analyzing the Austrian Defender’s strengths, weaknesses, and what he can bring to the side.
-VERSATILITY-Ever since joining the prestigious club in 2010, Alaba has played a variety of positions, such as LW, RW, CM. He is most known for his ability as a left back, however in recent years, Hansi Flick has played him primarily as a center back.
VERSATILITY (cont.)
-With the rumours of players such as Emerson, Alonso, Rudiger, Tomori, and Christensen leaving the club, we are going to need depth in both the CB areas + left back areas
-With the rumours of players such as Emerson, Alonso, Rudiger, Tomori, and Christensen leaving the club, we are going to need depth in both the CB areas + left back areas
Due to the large sum of money spent on Ben Chilwell and his recent form, there is no reason to believe that Lampard would want Alaba as a starting left back. Because of this assumption, we have decided to do this on thread on David Olatukunbo Alaba as a Center Back.
Strengths- Due to his experience at LB, David Alaba is very good at one v one defending. In the 19/20 Bundesliga season, he was dribbled past at an average of 0.3 times per game.
To put this into perspective, Leicester City’s Caglar Soyuncu was dribbled past 0.6 times per game
-Ball Playing ability- David Alaba is very comfortable on the ball. In the 19/20 Bundesliga season, Alaba averaged 62% accurate long balls per game.
Comparing this to two established ball playing centre backs in the 19/20 Premier League season, Alderweireld averaged 39% accurate long balls per game, and VVD averaged 55%.
Presence- Alaba had a great record with the German Giants last season in the Bundesliga. Alaba started in 27 games, and was an integral piece of the side, helping to keep 13 clean sheets, an area that Lampard is constantly working to improve on
Experience- With Thiago Silva getting older, we are going to need more experience in that back line. David Alaba is very experienced in big competitions. He is a serial winner. Alaba has won 9 Bundesliga’s, 6 DFB Pokal’s, and 2 Champions leagues
Unfortunately, Alaba is not perfect. And does have some weaknesses to his game that the Premier League could expose. Firstly, Alaba is listed at 5’11. Although that is not tiny, it is by no means the ideal height of a centre back
-Alaba’s lack of height shows in his aerial statistics. In the 19/20 Bundesliga season, Alaba won only 42% of his aerial duels. In a league that is physical and intense like the premier league, Alaba could have trouble going up against the likes of Chris wood and Andy Carrol.
Alaba does have a history of injuries. Which is important to be wary of. Fortunately, the worst of his injuries took place in 2014 and 2015, so hopefully his fitness continues to stay sharp. Nonetheless, there have been plenty of nagging injuries since then.
-Lastly, Alaba is reported to be demanding wages higher than anyone else on the team. It will be a big decision from Lampard and the board to determine how highly they value him.
The big question that remains is, where does he fit in the team? It has been pretty clear this year that Lampard prefers to play 4 in the back. As we only have right footed centre backs at the club, Alaba would most likely be placed on the left side of the centre back pairing.
-As mentioned earlier, Thiago Silva is truly growing in age, and despite consistently displaying class performances this season, we have needed to rest him plenty, and next season will only get worse.
Furthermore, Thiago Silva and David Alaba are not complementary, as neither are tall, nor particularly physical. However, both are fantastic CBs who read the game very well.
With Kurt Zouma’s fantastic form this season, it makes most sense for the future of the club to pair Kurt + Alaba. Kurt’s Aerial presence has been one of the best in Europe this season, and can easily make up for Alaba’s lack of aerial presence.
Furthermore, Kurt Zouma isn’t necessarily known for being a ball playing centre back, and Alaba’s composure, and technical ability could very well make up for that
Because of this, we think the back four next season would be Chilwell, Alaba, Zouma, and Reece James from Left to right, with thiago silva to help add insight, experience, and overall class
We want to know your thoughts on Alaba coming to the Bridge! This thread to quite a while, so many likes + retweets would be heavily appreciated. We love you guys and thank you for the support. 
