System Scaling: Marc Cucurella

It is Tuesday, August 31, 2021. The Excel nerds of Twitter have just seen that Brighton have signed Marc Cucurella from Getafe. They make their hundredth trip of the day to the Football Reference website. All they have to do is type in the letter “f” now and it comes up — they are quite proud of that.

They are greeted by the familiar green and red bars of the Spaniard’s “scouting report.” There is something interesting about this one — all of the green is at the bottom and all of the red is at the top. “This guy looks very good defensively and very poor on the ball. I don’t think he’ll fit into a possession-based side like Brighton,” the nerds think as they close the tab, content that they are now an expert on another player.

Obviously this caricature does not really reflect most analysts, but I wanted to start this series for a few related reasons:

• I feel like we all sometimes need a reminder of how a player’s performance can fluctuate due to their surroundings.
• It is incredibly valuable to be able to predict these fluctuations, even just partially.
• Some fans who are new to data or people who are data whizzes without much regard for the tactical side tend to miss these things.

For instance, I saw some people back in August who did not consider, or considered but did not know how to account for, the system in which Cucurella had put up his numbers. Maybe they had heard tales of the evil mastermind that is José Bordalás; however, they paid no mind to the effects his dark magic had on his players.

A little over halfway through the season, we now know that Cucurella is capable of being a key piece in Graham Potter’s Brighton side. The 23-year-old has also proven that he can put up incredibly different statistical output compared to what he did in La Liga.

That is where this piece comes in. Working retrospectively, I will be trying to find better indicators than base statistics that showed Cucurella’s potential to translate to this Potter system.

To repeat: I am doing this with the massive help of retrospection. I have scouted Cucurella before and been high on him, but I am not attempting to shame anyone who thought the Spaniard would be a complete flop. Rather, I hope this investigation can assist myself and others when evaluating players in the future.

System and Role at Getafe

The main reason I chose Cucurella to start this series is because his pre-transfer and post-transfer sides are on like total opposite ends of the style spectrum. As I will get to eventually, comparing the way in which Bordalás and Potter set up their teams is like comparing Cucurella’s hair with Allan Nyom’s.

To start, we can use team-level data to get a sense of the the system Cucurella was a part of at Getafe.

In possession, the Spaniard’s former side were incredibly direct. Their keeper sent the ball long, they went straight forward as much as possible, they kept a very low portion of their already-low possession in their defensive third, and had a high very high rate of their touches in the attacking third.

Here you can start to grasp their performance without the ball:

Getafe’s narrow, high-intensity 4–4–2 is reflected. You can get a sense of how high they kept their line looking at their high rate of goalkeeper sweeping actions.

Watching them in action, Getafe more than lived up to their reputation as agents of chaos and frustration. They played direct “passes” through the air almost immediately after winning the ball in the defensive half, and this in turn allowed them to counterpress high up the pitch.

When the opposition had more of a set buildup, Bordalás’ side stayed compact vertically and horizontally, restricted space between the lines, and waited until the opponent arrived just before midfield to engage with very high aggressiveness.

Here is a little example, where you can also see this thing Getafe liked to do where they allowed a ball into the opposition pivot before collapsing on them:

The other thing to remember with Cucurella is that he was most often utilized as the left midfielder in this 4–4–2. Out of possession, this meant that the Spaniard was often flying out to close down the opposition right back after they received the ball.

When the ball was on the far side, Cucurella could at times become the deepest midfielder and occupy an almost central position.

In possession, Cucurella tended to stay extremely wide even when one of Getafe’s right-sided players was on the ball. This made his positioning more full back-like than a lot of wingers today, but it also meant that he rarely had vertical passing options when he received the ball — something I will get into more later.

Transferable and Scalable Attributes

Now for the important part — within that system and that role, what could we have seen on the pitch or in the data that could have highlighted Cucurella as a prime candidate for a move to a side like Brighton?

Let us start by looking at some of the 23-year-old’s numbers relative to his teammates. Out of all Getafe players with ten or more 90’s played in the 2020/21 La Liga season, Cucurella ranked:

• 1st in pressure regains per 90
• 2nd in shot-creating actions per 90
• 2nd in progressive distance carried and progressive carries per 90
• 3rd in pass completion rate (only behind two deep central players who averaged just over half the number of passes made under pressure)

So, in a team where everyone was constantly defending and pursuing the ball, Cucurella was doing it the most. He was one of the most effective ball carriers in a side that rarely carried the ball. He also retained possession with his passes at quite a high rate for someone in his role, while still being involved in shot creation with those passes.

Pressing engine (to a certain extent), ball carrying, and the ability to pick out teammates in tight situations are all qualities that you would want your full back to have as a modern possession-dominant side.

When you turn on the footage, Cucurella showed he had the facilities for these things.

To start, the guy is an elite athlete. He possesses truly explosive physical qualities that give him a major advantage over many opponents. If we think of a player of having a certain number of elite athleticism “points” that are distributed to different aspects of the game, then the system plays a major role in how those points are distributed.

At Getafe, Cucurella’s athleticism and understanding of how to utilize it was mainly used for close-out defense. The Spaniard’s initial close-out speed was immense, his low center of gravity made him very hard to shake, and his recovery pace was top tier. Oh, and he could last all day long.

The Spaniard even showed a pretty strong understanding of approach angles and using his cover shadow to block off passes to dangerous opponents between the lines (like Sergio Canales in this example).

Meanwhile, fewer of his elite athleticism points were distributed towards ball carrying. But, the thing is, he still showed great promise when given the chance, which happened most often directly after a change in possession.

If you think about an elite athlete like Cucurella in a side who keeps a lot of the ball, that distribution will definitely be different. They should be given more opportunities to do things like drive forward, while not performing the same volume of defending. You know you can still rely on them to be a suffocating presence when called upon, though.

Another I thing I personally saw with Cucurella at Getafe was crossing delivery/technique that was quite good when he did attempt them. This obviously, can translate into more crosses in a system that provides more crossing opportunities, but it also provides insight into the player’s passing ability in general.

As I mentioned before, Cucurella tended to not have much in terms of vertical passing options as Getafe’s left midfielder. But, I do think there was reason to believe that if started in a deeper role, the 23-year-old could provide some distribution value with lofted passes up the line out of pressure.

System and Role at Brighton

Then there is the system Cucurella moved into. Brighton this season have taken their match control to the next level.

As expected, they dominate possession, they are very methodical with their distribution, and actually do keep the ball quite a bit in deeper areas.

Out of possession, the Seagulls do show a bit statistical similarity to a Bordalás side.

Brighton have some intense pressing numbers and an actively sweeping keeper like Cucurella’s Getafe team. The major difference is, of course, that Brighton spend much less of their time doing this pressing. Also, more of Brighton’s very-high defending comes from actual “set” pressing to inhibit opposition buildups compared to Getafe’s long-ball-into-counterpressing style.

Obviously, a lot has been said about Graham Potter recently, and I can point you to a couple good videos on him. First is this one from Tifo Football:

Then there is this one from Jamie Scott:

One of the big things that stands out when watching Brighton is variety. This can come in their base shape — from 4–4–2 diamond to 3–5–2 — but also more so in their buildup structure. I saw them in a 2–1, a 2–2, a 3–2, and a 2–3, in addition to sometimes bringing Robert Sánchez up between the centre backs or adjusting the height of the full backs.

All of this serves to allow Brighton to achieve superiority in their buildup and comfortably play out from the back. Here is an example of just a little deep passing sequence that I do not think would have ever happened at Getafe, especially against an opponent like Liverpool:

This buildup style, plus the fact that Cucurella is a full back/wing back in the system instead of a left midfielder, means the 23-year-old gets on the ball much more in areas closer to his own goal.

For reference, look at how much deeper the Spaniard’s distribution of open play pass receptions has been:

Of course, this positioning shift means that Cucurella is far more often in positions to progress the ball forward. So, it is not just the fact that Brighton keep a lot of possession that comes into play here.

Now, the interesting part is going back to Cucurella’s numbers. These are the major statistical categories that have seen the biggest jumps from his 2020/21 La Liga campaign to his 2021/22 Premier League campaign:

• Defensive third touches per 90: 216% increase
• Progressive passing distance per 90: 129% increase
• Crosses into the penalty area per 90: 100% increase
• Middle third touches per 90: 78% increase
• Progressive passes per 90: 74% increase
• Progressive carrying distance per 90: 65% increase

Also, I do not think it is really possible for a player to double their pass completion rate, but Cucurella’s has gone from 70.7% to 82.2%. These are some quite remarkable increases, and they reflect a lot of what I discussed earlier.

The Spaniard’s cross numbers are up, but his aforementioned technique has probably found more use in his progressive passing out from the back. I watched Cucurella play several super-useful lofted balls down the flank or the occasional switch.

Funny how a player starting deeper and having forward options allows them to show off these skills.

The 23-year-old has also shown his much more combinative side. He can play one-twos out of pressure, then, in the attacking third, look for more connective passes into zone 14 as opposed to sending everything straight into the box.

The carrying is obviously still there, too, and he gets more space to drive into during established possession.

On the flip side, these are Cucurella’s metrics that have seen the biggest declines since his move:

• Progressive passes received per 90: 53% decrease
• Attacking third pressures per 90: 48% decrease
• Middle third pressures per 90: 42% decrease

The Spaniard’s athleticism is used less for that stepping out/close-out defense, but it is still an ability he possesses. His one-vs-one defending has become a big asset for Brighton, but in deeper areas against opposition wingers. Just look at how quickly the guy moves his feet:

In Brighton’s 2–2 draw at Anfield, Cucurella did about as good a job as anyone this year in terms of making life difficult for Mohamed Salah. The Liverpool winger was held to joint Premier League lows on the season of 2 shots and 0.1 non-penalty expected goals.

(If any of you go looking at the stats for that game, just know that Salah’s big expected assist tally came from a transition through ball to Firmino from a very central position. Cucurella could do nothing about it.)

The purpose of this piece was not to paint Cucurella as a perfect player without flaws or judge him in the context of the world’s best full backs. It was merely to describe how his attributes were able to translate and his output was able to transform in a new system. He definitely still has room for development.

Key Takeaways

For me, this Cucurella transfer has been an especially fun example of the impact of a player’s system and surroundings. When analyzing his transition thus far, we can reach some findings that sound obvious on paper, but are still important to fully grasp when judging other players down the line.

Some of the main things I think we can learn from this move are:

• Athleticism it always valuable. It gives more value to the team in certain actions depending on the system.
• Every team needs players who can make opposition ball carriers uncomfortable.
• A player who shows promise progressing the ball in limited opportunities can experience major increases in output if shifted to a role that provides more openings.
• Sometimes just because we can not see a player performing a certain action, it does not mean they are incapable of doing it. We may have to look at other areas of the player’s game that utilize similar skills or technique to then make an educated guess.

Thanks for reading!