Who is: Fabio Vieira

Background

Fabio Vieira, 22, joined Arsenal from FC Porto this summer after helping his team to win the Primeira Liga, providing the most assists per 90 minutes and third most goals and assists per 90 in the Portuguese top-flight. It cost Arsenal £34m to bring the Portuguese midfield maestro to London, displaying the importance the player had to Porto and how highly valued he is at Arsenal.

Upon moving to the club, Emile Smith Rowe compared the new signing's playing style to that of his compatriot, Bernardo Silva. He plays a very similar role to Martin Ødegaard in that they are both advanced playmakers, but Vieira is also a very capable right winger and has a very accurate cross in his locker.

With Arsenal undergoing a squad rebuild in recent years, Fabio Vieira looks like he could be vital element in the squad for years to come and the rest of this analysis will show why, as well as highlighting some key differences between himself and Martin Ødegaard.

Analysis

In order to understand Smith Rowe's comments regarding Vieira, it's important to see how similar the two players really are. Below is a comparison between the two players looking at key stats for their role. It is also important to compare him to the Arsenal player he will be competing for a place. against- Martin Ødegaard

It is worth mentioning that when comparing from league to league, due to the higher quality of the Premier League. Soccer Power Index (SPI) is a coefficient used to determine the quality of a league or club- taking a look at the average SPI for The Premier League (71.57) and Primeira Liga (52.42) this can be used to approximate how a player in one league will perform in a new league. In this case, it is appropriate to multiply a players stats by the ratio of quality between leagues. Therefore to "baseline" Vieira's stats last season, you would multiply his stats by ~0.73 (52.42÷71.57= 0.73).

Comparison with Bernardo Silva and Martin Ødegaard (stats per 90 minutes):

Bernardo Silva

By analysing these stats, it can be inferred that Vieira is naturally a more attacking player. He takes more than double the amount of shots per game, however he may not be the best finisher. Taking the SPI into account, the. 0.5 goals per game for Vieira would translate to 0.3 per game in The Premier League- the same score as Bernardo Silva. However, with a much lower shooting accuracy, he is a less efficient scorer than Silva and will need to work on this aspect of his game to keep up his rate of 0.5 goals per game. Their passing styles are different too- whilst Silva is a fantastic player for keeping the game ticking (more backwards and sideways passes per 90) and providing a consistent attacking outlet to build through, Vieira is a riskier passer, providing a lot of assists and more forward passes but with a lower overall passing accuracy, implying that he is more of a playmaker than an attacking midfielder that Silva is. This is evident from many of the stats but most prevalently, the chances created, long pass accuracy and crossing accuracy (both players are capable right wingers, providing crosses.

Martin Ødegaard

It is a very similar story with Martin Ødegaard too- despite Vieira having a greater assist record, the two players create similar amounts of chances per 90 and and have a more similar passing style than Vieira and his compatriot. Both players display similar passing ratios (forward passes : backward passes : sideways passes) of 1.35 : 1 : 2.4 for Vieira and 1.16 : 1 : 2.3 for Martin Ødegaard, whereas Bernardo Silva's ratio is 1 : 1.5 : 2.7 showing that the two Arsenal players are both more inclined to play more forward passes than backward passes when compared to Silva. Additionally, both Arsenal players exceed Silva when it comes to crossing accuracy and long pass accuracy. By focussing on these stats, it suggests that Ødegaard and Vieira are very similar players in terms of their creative play. In terms of shooting, it is a very similar story to the comparison with Bernardo Silva, and shows that Vieira must work on his shooting accuracy. It should be noted however that this difference in shooting accuracy could be down to the position of shots taken.

Due to a lack of data from the Portuguese league, it's not possible to compare these players in terms of their xA per 90 or xG per 90 which would give us a greater understanding of their shooting positions and quality of passes leading to assists.

Statistics like this only paint half the picture; In order to understand the player better, it is important to see how he plays in a match and how he accomplishes the stats he does. Through this, we can gain a greater understanding of the mental side of his game.

Match Performances

By analysing Vieira against Liverpool in the Champions league last season, it will provide a greater understanding of the quality and style of play when playing against top English teams.

September 21: FC Porto 1 - 5 Liverpool

This passage of play led to Porto's only goal of the game and was created brilliantly by Vieira. He shows how he understands space and can read the game as well as displaying his accurate crossing.

Snapshot 1:

Vieira finds himself on the ball and surrounded by Liverpool players with no clear options available to him.

Snapshot 2:

Due to the run occurring on the right side of the box, he knows space is opening up around there for him to drive into. He manoeuvres past 1 defender and starts making the movement into space.

Snapshot 3:

Vieira gets into a position where he is now has more options and space to work with. There are runs in the box he is able to pick out and plays a cross in.

Snapshot 4:

The cross from Vieira is accurate and is able to find his teammates head who puts it past Alisson.

September 21: FC Porto 1 - 5 Liverpool

This passage of play demonstrates Vieira's awareness of space and fluidity when in a quick transition.

Snapshot 1:

In this image, Vieira is the player highest up on the pitch and is being marked by Van Dijk. The defender on the ball is about to make a pass higher up the pitch. Liverpool's back line is in shape and will be difficult to break down like this.

Snapshot 2:

Vieira receives the ball without pushing up, thereby drawing Van Dijk out of position and leaving a gap in the back line. Knowing the Liverpool defence can recover from this quickly, Vieira lays the ball off with his first touch and turns around Van Dijk to exploit the space he has created.

Snapshot 3:

The player Vieira lay the ball off for has driven forwards with Van Dijk tracking him. Vieira has continued to advance meaning there is a gap in the defence. Vieira can potentially meet a through ball by the ball carrier but unfortunately, it does not come to fruition.

Final Thoughts

Fabio Vieira is an undoubtably good player, you don't finish with the assist record he had last season if you're not. The difficulty he might find is the transition to the Premier League. The Portuguese League is less intense and the quality of defending is not as good, whether or not he can adapt to this will be discovered over the coming months or years. What is clear is that at the best of his current abilities, he is a very similar player to Ødegaard and will provide a good backup for him, whilst also being able to learn from him and develop a style of his own, offering slightly different attributes to Ødegaard.