Simon Sohm, FC Zurich's shining star

Switzerland. Home of cheese, chocolate, watches, and knives. And also, apparently, sturdy, hard-as-nails midfielders.

This tiny European nation has produced some extremely talented footballers, particularly in the middle of the park, such as the likes of Granit Xhaka, Valon Behrami, Gokhan Inler, Blerim Dzemaili, Denis Zakaria and Remo Freuler. The production line is seemingly endless, with several youngsters also cropping up in Swiss football before going on to achieve larger things in Europe's top leagues.

One of those currently making waves in Switzerland is FC Zurich youngster Simon Sohm. Despite having turned 19 just last month, he has already racked up over 2000 minutes of playing time for his hometown club this season, after playing a bit-part role last campaign.

Simon Sohm made his debut in October 2018, 3 months after signing his first professional contract with the club. He is also a regular for the national side, and represented Switzerland at the U16, U17 and U18 levels.

In this article, we will take a look at Sohm's pros, cons, and playing style, to see what makes him such an exciting prospect.

Simon Sohm Scout Report

The above image, courtesy of Smarterscout, shows the location of Sohm's general play, as well as actions performed in possession in different areas of the pitch. From this, we see that his influence on the game is limited to the central areas of the pitch.

He mostly sits just in front of the defensive line, occasionally venturing into the opposition half, usually in games where Zurich dominate possession of the ball. This is borne out by the eye test, where we see that he mainly plays as the defensive half of a double pivot in a 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 system.

Another takeaway from this figure is the colour and size of the squares on the pitch. The colours represent the action performed by the player, while the size represents the volume of the action (larger= more actions performed).

Most of the larger squares here are coloured blue, green or yellow, which (though it may not be visible from this image) signify short passes and long passes.

In addition, there are very few pink or red squares (which represent dribbles). Using video analysis, however, will enable us to get a better picture of his main strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths

Shown above is footage of a match between FC Zurich and St. Gallen (dressed in dark blue and green respectively). Highlighted in orange, on the ball is Sohm.

In this scenario, he has recovered a loose ball after a deflection and is under pressure from 2 players (indicated by the black arrows). Also, there is a 3rd opposition player, highlighted in white, who is making an effort to close down the Zurich player closer to the touchline.

In this kind of scenario, it would be easy for Sohm to panic, as he would have seen the 3rd player in his peripheral vision and could have assumed he was arriving to close him down.

Using his pitch awareness and technical ability, he can slip away

Instead, shifting the ball to his right, he evades the two players pressing him and plays the ball into space for his right-back, all in one motion. This enables Zurich to burst forward on the counter-attack, while their St. Gallen still have 6 players in the attacking third.

This sequence of events is just a small sample of what some of Sohm's primary strengths are- his control of the ball in tight areas, and his confidence and calmness in difficult situations.

Indeed, whenever Sohm receives the ball, his first thought is to pass it, and pass it forward, rather than progress it himself by dribbling up the pitch. If at all he does carry the ball, it is simply to relieve pressure on himself or to provide a more attacking player with time to position himself better to receive a pass.

So, for opposition players, pressing him may be a dangerous option as he could very well slip away. Perhaps they could stand off him, in case his passing is a weakness they can force him into doing and hence exploit? It is a solid ploy, but also a non-idea, as will be illustrated using the following pictures.

This one play underlines Sohm's excellent eye for a pass

Here, Sohm has just received a pass from his left-back and is ready to progress the move. Crucially, in this instance, he has surveyed the situation ahead of him before collecting the ball, giving him that extra split-second to execute it.

Here, he plays the ball along the line indicated by the black arrow, taking 6 Basel players (highlighted in black) out of the game completely. In this particular case, however, he overhits it and the ball simply rolls through to the keeper. When he does get it right though, the result can be devastating.

With space and time, he is extremely dangerous

In this situation, a home game against Luzern, the visitors have been reduced to 10 men, and as a result, barely put any pressure on the ball at all. This gives Sohm far more time to weigh up his options and get the pass right.

Given how deep and compact the opposition is, even the slightest chink in their armour can be exploited, which Sohm does here to maximum effect. With one pass, he is able to bypass the entire opposition team and find his teammate, leading to the following scenario.

Sohm's ball allows the striker to kill the game

Now, striker Marco Schonbachler has, effectively, the freedom of the Stadion Letzigrund to finish, which he does with aplomb, making it 2-0. This strike effectively kills the game with 30 minutes to play, all thanks to Sohm's defence-splitting pass.

Weaknesses

With regards to Sohm's limitations as a player, he does have a few rough edges (quite literally). At times, he does tend to complicate matters when on the ball, which leads to him losing the ball in dangerous areas.

This trait of his, combined with his (over)enthusiasm to win it back results in him frequently committing fouls and picking up bookings. Indeed, this season, he has committed 32 fouls resulting in 7 bookings, which is roughly 4.6 fouls per booking. For context, midfielders in Europe's top 5 leagues average around 6.5 fouls per booking.

He also tends to dive into tackles, which means he often gives away silly fouls, even in relatively risk-free situations. This is illustrated below.

With Thun on the counter, Sohm runs back to support his defenders

In this game, FC Thun (in red) are on the counter against Zurich, following a corner. Currently, they have three defenders preparing to get into shape, Sohm in the centre (highlighted in orange) and 4 other players rushing back to provide defensive support.

In this scenario, Sohm's job, as he is closest to the ball carrier, is to get goal-side of his man, and defend the white highlighted space. He will need to force him backwards to take the momentum out of the attack and allow his teammates to get back in time.

He makes the wrong choice here, choosing to foul his man

He does the first bit of this well- he gets goal-side and forces the opposition attacker to turn and face his own goal. However, instead of simply defending the space, he worries about the pass that is on to the player highlighted in blue. So, he sticks out an arm and pulls his man down.

The issue here is that two of Sohm's teammates are converging (the red arrows) to snuff that out. Even if the pass is completed, Zurich still has the advantage in numbers, with 6 defenders against 3 attackers. By committing the foul, Sohm ends up needlessly gifting a free-kick, and possession back to Thun.

Summary

In a nutshell, Simon Sohm is in essence, a facilitator. His main duty is to screen the back-line and provide protection from counter-attacks, as well as acting as a playmaker from deeper midfield positions. At 6'2", he can also be a real threat in set-pieces, and could also put on more muscle in the coming years to make him a more sturdy defensive presence.

While it may be too soon for Sohm to make the move to a top European club, he is certainly good enough to move to a slightly bigger club. He should be able continue his development alongside top quality coaches, enabling him to develop his strengths and work out the kinks in his game as well.

Dutch clubs like Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord come to mind, as well as the likes of Anderlecht, RB Salzburg and Club Brugge. Even Leeds United might be an option, should Kalvin Phillips depart this summer.

Sohm might stay in Zurich for the foreseeable future, or he might opt for a move away. Whichever option he chooses, it is assured that he has a great future ahead of him, and is sure to be a national team stalwart for years to come.

Note: All match screenshots taken from Wyscout.

Edited by Sai Krishna