After a few great seasons at Espanyol, Marc Roca was signed by Bayern Munich for €15 million, nonetheless, he wasn’t able to show his talent there after one year and a half. This led him to join Leeds United, though with Leeds getting relegated, he left one season later and joined Real Betis where he showed his full potential on loan last season and signed permanently this summer for just €4 million. In this article, we will be investigating Marc Roca and how he has performed so far this season.

Name: Marc Roca

Position: Defensive Midfielder

Country: Spain

Age: 27

Height: 184cm

Preferred Foot: Left

Marc Roca began his career at Espanyol where he played in the first team for more than 4 years before joining Bayern Munich for €15 million. In Germany, he stayed for just a year and a half before moving to Leeds United for €12 million where he stayed for just one year and last year, he was sent on loan to Real Betis which made his move a permanent one.

Forward Passing

The defensive midfielder is one of the most important players in the buildup phase to get the ball into more advanced areas. 

Here, we can see that Marc Roca is a player who is comfortable on the ball and who is able to progress the ball from deeper positions with similar numbers to Pablo Barrios of Atlético Madrid and Federico Valverde of Real Madrid. This aspect is very important for Betis as they are a possession-based team that counts on giving the ball to their offensive players so they can make a difference in matches. 

In the video footage, we can observe that Marc Roca is not a player who progresses the ball often contrary to what the data suggests. This is because, in possession, we can see him many times placing himself among the back three with one of the full-backs pushing up the field, therefore, any pass he makes is a forward pass. This shows his fundamental role in the team which is to be a deep-lying playmaker.

However, he is also given the freedom to be in more advanced positions when the winger has the ball in a 1vs1 situation. This is because he is comfortable with the ball and is able to operate decently in closed spaces.

Progressive Passing

This passing metric gives us more depth into the danger of each player’s passing rather than just passing the ball forward 5m. This is because this metric only includes more specific passes such as a pass 10m closer to the opposition goal if the pass comes from the opposition side of the pitch.

In this image, we can see Marc Roca’s exceptional ability to play dangerous passes being among the best in this aspect in his position with numbers similar once more to Valverde. This tells us about his ability on the ball, the best among Betis’ other midfielders in his position attempting more than 8 of these per 90 with more than an 80% precision. Even though he does not break lines with his passing, he is able to play dangerous balls, usually to the left winger or left back into space when the opportunity arises. 

Passing

How many passes a defensive midfielder has tells us how involved he is in the possession of his team and how important he is for the positional play of his team.

From this image, we can deduce that he is a player that is highly involved in the play of his team and is one of the most searched-for players on the pitch with numbers similar to those of players of Girona such as Oriol Romeu or Jhon Solís. This tells us that he is a player who is constantly asking for the ball and has the ability as seen before to play dangerous passes that reach the forwards of his team.

Defensive Duels

The defensive midfielder is essential for defending, especially for defending counterattacks as he is the first man that the opposition have to beat. 

In this image, we can identify that Marc Roca is not a player who participates in many defensive duels with less than the average. Nonetheless, he has a success rate that is above the average with similar numbers to those of Pape Gueye of Villarreal who is known for his defensive qualities. This is also influenced by the fact that Betis are a possession-based side, therefore, their players spend more time on the ball rather than off it, meaning that they will have fewer defensive duels.

Aerial Duels

Aerial duels are essential for defensive midfielders as they are often the ones to stop the aerial balls from the goalkeeper with the center backs. 

This image tells us that Marc Roca is a player who is rarely involved in aerial duels and this is an aspect of his game that he does not dominate. Nonetheless, this may also be because this is not an important aspect when under Manuel Pellegrini as the coach cares more about his ability on the ball rather than his ability to win aerial duels.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Marc Roca is a player with ability on the ball, however, he only shows this in more advanced positions such as the ball played in behind to the winger seen before. Having him be the one to be placed among the center-backs shows that he has quality on the ball, nonetheless, further forward is where he shows his true value as a player. This is also one of the reasons why he is highly involved in possession.

In addition, his defensive characteristics are decent being above average in defensive duels. Nonetheless, in the air he does face some issues, however, it is rare to see him participate in aerial duels. With the injury-prone William Carvalho and both Sergi Altimira and Johnny Cardoso being very young, Marc Roca is going to be the player that stands out in that double pivot and we will see a lot more of him this year.

By: Juan Fernandez Valencia / @ScoutLaLiga

Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Alexander Hassenstein / Getty Images