Chris Führich: Stuttgart's wing wizard

Deniz Undav and Serhou Guirassy have been the headliners of VFB Stuttgart this season, and with good reason as they both are in double figures for goals. However, their left-winger this season, Chris Führich (26), has also really impressed as a crafty wide man that's contributed 7 goals and 6 assists in all competitions (as of writing).

Führich profiles as a wide playmaker who shows good link-up play with quick 1-2's, 1 touch passes and a nice weight of pass for through balls. Despite starting on the left, he's not really a touchline hugging winger as he likes to come into the left half-space channel and he will even come deep towards the halfway line with his back to goal. His teammates will often look to play the ball into him near the box for 1v1's where he'll often look to play the ball square into the box for one of the forwards. 

He has a good eye for space off the ball as he's got on the end of through balls and cut-backs to put away big chances. This eye for space and his vision also helps with Stuttgart's sweeping build-up play as he'll often receive deep and look to either carry the ball into the space on the wing, the centre or play the ball off quickly inside or to his left flank partner, Maximilian Mittelstadt, who has also been fairly lively this season.

The German international is quite quick, not blisteringly quick, but he's averaging 3 successful take ons per match. Although he doesn't often go down the line near the box, he does have a good left footed cross and is something I think he ought to try more often. He also possess a nice change of pace allowing him to decelerate and accelerate to beat his man going left or right, which is also complemented by his quick footwork.

He does roam around every so often as he will find himself in very advanced central areas where he looks to slip the ball through to a teammate. He'll also sometimes swap over to the right wing where he also likes to run inside and being on his favoured right foot also offers him more natural passing angles.

In terms of criticisms, he is susceptible to running into crowded areas where defences are able to wall him off and he ends up losing the ball. It's also a bit of an odd case with him because, despite the fact he generally is a pass first player, he does sometimes miss an optimal pass to a teammate in space. As a winger in the modern game you'd also hope for him to track back a bit more when the opposition has the ball in Stuttgart's half, although he is a decent presser and will make tackles higher up the pitch. One other problem is that he does get into very good goalscoring positions but his finishing has let him down in big moments which has probably cost him an extra 3 or so goals.

Führich is a nice option on the left beside Undav and/or Guirassy, although I think he'd really flourish in a nominal number 10 role due to his pass first tendancies in slightly deeper areas and his ball carrying. Obviously his final ball would need to become a bit more consistent, but overall he's a very entertaining player who has been a real spark for Stuttgart.

Xaver Schlager profile

Xaver Schlager isn't a huge name but most Bundesliga viewers would be aware of who he is as he is a starter for a decent RB Leipzig team. He's one of the 18 players who have moved from RB Salzburg to sister club RB Leipzig, despite a short stint with Wolfsburg inbetween.

Tactically the Austrian occupies the left side of a defensive midfield duo, often in a 4222, although he's often given license to drift a bit further forward as Leipzig's midfield works on an axis where one player will drop in if one pushes slightly higher up in build-up. This often means that he'll pick up positions in left-back, central centre-back and left wing positions when he's looking to provide an option for teammates or start play from deep positions.

Leipzig play very energetic, direct football that isn't overly concerned with possession for the sake of possession. Schlager is fairly safe in possession and will often turn back when he's on the ball if he doesn't spot a teammate in his view. His short passing is also decent with the odd line-breaking pass in his arsenal, although his composure isn't the best when put under pressure which allows opponents to crowd him out. 

His ball carrying is fairly decent and he can also recieve the ball fairly nicely on the half turn when he's in space. Finally, his long passing game is quite good when he has space and time to pick out a teammate by switching the ball over to the wings.

He's decent defensively covering laterally in his own half and has fairly good positional sense. His stocky build helps him muscle opponents off the ball in 50/50's, although he's not much of a factor in the air as he's only 5'8. 

Leipzig is a good level for him now, and while he's not a massive standout he'd possibly be able to have a bigger influence at a slightly lower table team. At 26 most of his development is complete, although I think he'd suit being a box to box 8 in a different team where he could look to develop his attacking output. He only really looks to shoot from outside the box at the moment so there would scope for him to look to crash into the box unnoticed for easy finishes.

Alex Scott: Bournemouth's star in the making

Even though he might not be household name just yet, Alex Scott is already showing his class in this new look Bournemouth team. Andoni Iraola is managing his minutes as he didn't make a first team appearance until the end of October where he was a starter in Bournemouth's 2-1 loss against Wolves at home. This was due to a knee injury sustained in pre-season a week before he made the switch to the south coast. Capable of playing anywhere in central midfield, Scott joined the Cherries from Bristol City for £20m in the summer and he's also made 9 appearances for England's u20 team. 

What really stands out when watching Scott is the ease with which he controls the ball. His quick footwork, small turning circle when receiving, as well as use of step-overs and drag-backs (without overdoing it) let him glide past opponents. These attributes make him an excellent ball carrier and a great option to progress the ball from his own half into the middle and final 3rds.

His off-ball movement to show for the ball and create space also stands out as he's already developing a decent amount of gravity, and is alert enough to play the ball off quickly to a teammate. He's also willing to move into the flanks to receive from his full-backs or wingers to either play the ball back inside or cross the ball on either foot. 

Scott is set to be a key part of Bournemouth's season as he's seemingly Iraola's first choice to start at number 10 behind Dominic Solanke and he also acts as a second striker when Bournemouth press in a 442 out of possession. 

I think his future does lie as a number 10 behind the striker due to how good his movement is combined with his vision and final ball (even though it can still be improved). When watching him you'll often hear him compared to Jack Grealish - more specifically Grealish's time at Aston Villa - and it's not hard to see why as they both carry themselves with an intangible swagger when they're on the ball. I can see that he'll score a good chunk of his future goals crashing into opposition boxes to get on the end of cut-backs. He's also aware enough to assist his teammates from those sorts of areas from either flank as Bournemouth are capable of playing very quick football that catches opposition defences off-guard.

He'll no doubt be called up to Lee Carsley's England u21 squad soon enough and I wouldn't be surprised if he makes the senior squad in the not too distant future.