How Gary Medel bossed Swansea

The 106th South Wales derby was settled by a single goal from Steven Caulker, but Cardiff City’s victory could not have happened without their fiery Chilean midfielder, Gary Medel.

Medel, who signed from Spanish side Sevilla in the summer, has impressed for his new club so far this season, winning 19 out of 24 tackles and completing 92% of his passes in all 10 Premier League games. However, his performance in yesterday’s win over Swansea City was his best this term.

The Chilean is a combative midfielder who can play the ball very well, keeping Cardiff ticking over.

Against Swansea, Medel completed 95% of his passes (82/86) and spent 41% of his time protecting the back four. His Heat Map is demonstrates just how much of his own half he covered, protecting the defence throughout.

Gary Medel Heat Map v Swansea

Medel, who’s known for his tough tackling and no-nonsense defending, won 100% of his duels yesterday. He won both of his tackles, won his only headed duel, claimed one interception, suffered two fouls and – surprisingly, didn’t commit any either.

Gary Medel Duels Won v Swansea

He effectively controlled the pace of the game and ran the midfield from his own half, as shown by his completed passes below. Notice the single long-range pass that hit its target, too. A truly sublime midfield performance from the diminutive South American.

Gary Medel Completed Passes v Swansea

Medel did not have a shot or create any chances, but he’s not expected to. He ran the game and built Cardiff up from the back, containing Swansea attacks which helped limit the Swans to just three shots on target.

If you look at Cardiff’s overall Heat Map, you can see that they spent most of their time in their own half, exactly where Medel was playing for the duration of the match, thus proving how effective and important he was to Cardiff’s performance. They spent 18% of their time in Medel’s area of the pitch - more than anywhere else.

Cardiff are 12th in the league, one place above Swansea after their win, and if Medel keeps up these types of performances they should continue to progress further. Malky Mackay’s target before the season started was to survive relegation and he may well achieve that if he can keep his combative midfield general on form.