Background

In Erik Sviatchenko, FC Midtjylland have a man who is leading a revolution in football from the back. With the club focusing on a ‘Moneyball’ approach to player recruitment, Sviatchenko has progressed from the academy to become captain of the club by the age of 24.

Despite a serious injury in both the 13/14 season as well as the 14/15 season he showed the kind of leadership, which moved his club to appoint him vice-captain prior to the 13/14 season, that was pivotal to them winning the Superligaen in 14/15. He is now one half of arguably the most formidable centre-back pairing in the Superligaen and ready to step up to a stronger league as he moves into his mid-twenties.

Strengths

At 6’1 he isn’t the tallest for a centre-back but when he’s against a bigger striker he’s intelligent enough to not challenge in the air and instead backs off waiting for the striker to bring the ball down or try and knock it on. This can only be a problem when he backs off someone when he’s defending in his own box.

When he’s against someone of similar height to him however, he is fantastic in the air and gets tremendous power behind his headed clearances.

He’s fantastic at finding space in the oppositions box and causing a problem for the defenders, normally taking up positions to knock the ball on as opposed to taking up scoring positions. His anticipation of where the ball is going to go as well as his movement combine to make him a real threat at set-pieces, even if this doesn’t necessarily translate to him scoring goals.

He has a natural ability for perfectly timing blocks and making last ditch tackles and this comes down to his good positioning as well.

There is an added aggression to his game that I really like, he likes to track the movements of opposition strikers that normally fits the role of a holding midfielder and is explosive into the tackle thanks to his powerful legs.

Weaknesses

What can cause problems is he does like to push forward as he is fairly good in possession of the ball but he doesn’t have the pace to get back quickly if his team loses the ball. Whether this would mean the manager having to restrict his movement or getting a more willing midfielder or wing back to cover for him is something that will need to be addressed.

He really backs off opponents running at him with pace to the extent that it opens up chances for a shot outside of the box. The second an opponent that is sharp turns and faces up to him he seems to lose some of his confidence in his ability to tackle well.

Something that would help elevate the level of his game is communicating with his teammates whilst the ball is in play. As a captain and leader in defence he needs to organise his defenders more, at the moment he only shouts instructions at them once the ball has gone out of play.

Final Thoughts

Due to his skill set I think he’d be more than comfortable playing in a holding midfield role as well however, not as a permanent position change, only as useful cover if his team are short on options. For the long term there are definitely crucial aspects of his game that need a bit of work but his determination, ability and leadership skills mark him out as someone ready to step up to the next level as he demonstrated with his performances in this season’s Europa League qualifiers against Southampton.