Napoli have had an excellent start to the season so far. They are unbeaten in all competitions sitting top of the Serie A table as well as their Champions League group. We have seen some excellent individual performances that have helped Napoli to be in a position of dominance in most of their games so far. One player who has stood so far with his performances is midfielder Stanislav Lobotka.

The defensive midfielder signed from Celta Vigo in the summer of 2019 is currently in his fourth season for Napoli. The midfielder had an injury ridden 2020/21 season, but he seems to have started this season well and has already played for more minutes in the league this season than last season.

The following visualisation shows where Stanislav Lobotka ranks for some of the key metrics when compared with other Serie A midfielders from the season so far.

27-year-old Lobotka’s biggest strength seems to be his passing ability. The midfielder ranks 96th percentile for Received passes per 90 minutes. This shows that he participates in his team’s building up of an attack. He ranks 87th percentile for Passes to the final third and 60th percentile for Progressive passes per 90 minutes. This allows him to regularly create chances for his teammates, putting him 64th percentile for Key Passes per 90 minutes.

Defensively, he is not as aggressive as one would expect a defensive midfielder to be, ranking only 40th percentile for PAdj. Sliding tackles. His awareness is an aspect of his game that might have to improve as he ranks a lowly 49th percentile for PAdj. Interceptions per 90 minutes. He is not hesitant to make those late runs to the box as he ranks 69th percentile for Progressive runs per 90 minutes. He ranks 79th percentile for Goals per 90 minutes and assists per 90 minutes.However, he doesn’t rank very high for the Expected Goals (xG) & Expected Assists (xA) per 90 minutes.

Stanislav Lobotka has grown to be a very important player for Napoli gradually over the last couple of years or so but injuries have not helped him to establish a consistent run of performances. Lobotka will be looking to become a regular in that Napoli side and help them push for trophies this season. He has started the season so well and will want to continue his performances in the coming months.