Rúben Neves

Anatomy of the deep-lying playmaker

With great enthusiasm, Portuguese fans have celebrated the strong start to Premier League competition by Nuno Espirito Santos’ Wolverhampton Wanderers, a side brimming with Portuguese exports. From up-and-coming starlets like Diogo Jota to seasoned veterans like Moutinho and Rui Patricio, the unfolding saga of Wolves' emergence onto the big stage must surely be of interest to Fernando Santos and the progression of the Seleção as they look ahead to Euro 2020.

One man in particular has increasingly captivated spectators with exquisite but often understated mastery over his sector of the pitch. A maestro-in-the-making who some feel will become the fulcrum of the Portuguese national team for the next decade.

Following Wolves’ daring and ambitious performance at Old Trafford, Seleção expert Nathan Motz details the quintessential elements of holding midfield, a role he feels is personified by 21 year old Rúben Neves.

As the ball rippled the back of the net, Rúben Neves threw his head back in disgust as Fred wheeled away in celebration. The young Portuguese midfielder, and everyone else in the stadium, had been caught watching as Paul Pogba’s audacious outside-of-the-boot touch set up the Brazilian to score the opening goal, which came very much against the run of play.

Though I will emphasize what I consider to be a masterful performance by Neves against Manchester United, I believe it is equally important to describe a player holistically without filtering their weaknesses or mistakes. But in a riveting contest between two elite midfielders that specialize in contrasting aspects of the game, it must be said Rúben Neves held his own.

The best footballers do not merely compete in an athletic contest. They are perfecting a craft. Every touch, every movement is purposeful. Their tactical genius flows out of them, sometimes evident to the observer only when allowed time to consider the entire progression of play as individual moments of skill are buried within the larger movement.

Rúben Neves is a master craftsman. Some may heartily agree and reference his ability to strike from range, or note his lethal precision from set pieces. While I certainly will not argue these points, I will submit that Neves is rapidly becoming one of the best deep-lying playmakers in the game for reasons far less evident.

For me it is not even about his skill in launching 60 meter crosses from his own half to the wing with frightening accuracy. It took him six minutes against Manchester United to demonstrate this element of his toolkit. Dropping in amongst the back four to receive the ball, Neves took that indispensable look downfield before immediately registering Helder Costa’s well-advanced position on the right wing. His aim was perfect, and led to Wolves’ first goalscoring opportunity of the afternoon as Costa duly beat Luke Shaw and found Jimenez with a cut-back, allowing the Mexican striker to test De Gea.

What then makes Neves an emerging virtuoso in the holding midfield role? It is his dutiful execution of the core essentials of the midfield craft tailored to his own unique skillset. It is every time he takes a glance over his shoulder before he receives a pass as he often had to do at Old Trafford with Pogba bearing down on him. It is his awareness on the edge of his own penalty area as runners move all around him when ordinary players spend their time ball-watching.

It is his understanding that deception is one of the game’s most fundamental attributes. The way he showed that by feigning an attempt to control an airborne pass with his chest only to flick the ball with his head over Paul Pogba.

As Neves moves about the pitch, his head constantly turns all around him. He is searching for the most impactful position before ever calling for the ball. When he finds it, he often does not need to alert his teammates as they are already hoping someone would be precisely there at just that moment. That it is so often Neves in these positions reveals a tactical intelligence that may not fill highlight reels, but places him in another echelon relative to his peers.

That is because these positions are not in and around the penalty area. Just look at his heat map against United (below). In fact, last season he scored more goals (7) from outside the penalty area than he took touches inside of it. Neves understands the irrelevance of getting forward if you can control the play from deep. Consequently, he is rarely out of position to assist his back-four on defense.

Or, to pick the pocket of some of the best midfielders in the game, like he did to Paul Pogba when the Frenchman tried to outmaneuver him with a fancy trick. Neves is technically sound, but he simply does not rely on dazzling feats of wizardry to solve problems. Instead, Neves dispossessed Pogba, got the ball forward with a simple pass, and let his team do the rest as Moutinho consummated the move with a rasping effort into the top left corner.

But Neves is not just a safe-and-sure type of player. He takes calculated risks to move play forward too, such as in the 69th minute when he wove a slide-rule pass between three players to open up the left wing for Jonny. He sacrifices a fraction of overall passing accuracy to dispatch over seven long balls per match according to WhoScored.com. But his well-timed decisions regarding when to launch a raking cross-field pass illustrate his understanding of the art and science of football. For example, in stoppage time when Wolves were being pressed back in their defensive third, Neves collected the ball with just enough time to look up and find Adama Traore streaking down the right wing. His booming cross was well-controlled by the young Spaniard, who eventually brought a kick save from De Gea at his near post. Neves makes his side dangerous even when they are under pressure.

Against Manchester United, Neves embodied flashbacks of his idol, Andrea Pirlo, whose subtle and effortless control of matches was sometimes punctuated with moments of outrageous skill. But that was not what made Pirlo a legend. Pirlo is a legend because he mastered every nuance of his craft and consistently performed the rudimentary, overlooked tasks better than anyone else.

Rúben Neves may be similarly heralded one day. If he is, it will not be because he scores from long range, although he can. It will not be because he dribbled past three players with step-overs and gaudy tricks, although he is capable of that too. It will be because he is disciplined to perform the core fundamentals of his position with steadfast commitment. That he does this with intelligent and artistic invention as opposed to mechanical or robotic habit is testimony to his transcending of the limitations of ordinary footballers. 

by Nathan Motz