Joan Jordán
After struggling to find the right squad balance in the Di Francesco and Machín days, Sevilla looks to have acquired the answer in Fernando and Joan Jordán. Jordán usually plays in the right side of CM in a 541/4141 or the right side in a 4231 double pivot. His unique playing style puts him as the balancing act Sevilla have been longing for.
Build-up connector
In the attacking build-up, Jordán does everything; almost, at least. He is able to be a central hub at the build-up, support side overloads, sprinting into open spaces upfront, manipulate space for freeing his teammates, or being an additional option at the box. This highlighted his tactical intelligence and flexibility.
This also leads into a broad zone of influence, where Jordán’s presence is felt all over the pitch (take a look at the heat map).
Versatile passer
Like a Swiss Army knife, Jordán has multiple arsenal of passing. He could switch plays, deliver a slicing pass through the midfield, or just play a simple 5 yard pass in the right moment. Here, Jordán put a perfect pass that slices through the defense into Ocampos.
In fact, he is one of the best passers in Liga this season, where he maintained high level of accuracy while also progressing the ball forward.
He prefers and able to spray medium (5 to 25 yards) and long passes (>25 yards) at the pitch. He ranks above average on completed/attempted medium and long passes among La Liga midfielders. Oh, and he passes into the final third well, too. (80th percentile in La Liga among MF).
Transitional problems
Jordán’s weaknesses lies on his ineffectiveness to press quicker, mobile players; or in general, his lateral quickness. His tall and slender build makes him struggle to match agile match-ups, both on-ball and off-ball. Below is the occasion when Felíx got the mickey out of him.
Jordán isn’t good at covering spaces, either. That doesn’t mean he’s a bad presser, he’s just slow at changing directions. Therefore, opponents would love to lurk in behind him. Putting a scanner behind him (like Fernando) could be an idea to try.
The Griezmann of centre midfield
Antoine Griezmann’s problem in Barcelona could be pointed on him preferring to facilitate the attack by roaming into open spaces or creating it, rather than progressing the ball by attacking the open space with dribbling. Jordán also appear to have this style. He rarely attack the space by dribbling, and rather be the build-up facilitator or filling the space left by another player. This leads to him often got subbed by a more forward and dribble-minded players; usually Vazquez, to increase the attacking tempo of the team (Jordán also played 66 minutes per match).
However, his dribbling stats are higher than Vazquez. Therefore, an argument can be made that he receives many passes (second /90 among Sevilla’s MF), dribble it to a reasonable step (he doesn’t have the line-breaking dribbling ability Banega has), and pass it in a better position. Vazquez introduction is usually intended to push the attack more forward (first in attacking pen area touches/90, among Sevilla’s MF).
