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.


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