Mario Hermoso, his sprint, his jumping ability, and his duel(if succeed), proves that he is born to be an elite athlete with a gifted physique, and he does look hermoso(handsome in Spanish).
However, his decision-making is absolutely a catastrophe, especially in the own final third.
I don't understand him at all. Maybe that's why he could be the captain in Atleti vs Celta's game this season. Simply because both this team and Hermoso are "No entiendo"("I don't understand" in English).
The jaw-dropping little "C" beside his name has been proved not a bad idea afterwards. I do like his positive attitude as the captain in that game. Although he appeared at random positions and fouled sometimes, he still commanded and encouraged other teammates, all the time. That is the leadership that the current Atleti lack.
It is terrifying to see his number appear on the pitch, but why El Cholo still gives him chance even though there are other defenders to play? What can he provide to Atléti even if it comes with huge risks at the same time?
To-Air Missile & Recovery Machine
As a defender with "only" 184cm height, the aerial dual ability of Hermoso is very impressive. Only a few players can do more than 4.87 times aerial duels per 90 minutes in 2022, and his 81.58% success rate is outstanding.
There are three reasons why Hermoso looks like a ground-to-air missile, especially on the left side. First of all, his jump ability is really good, which helps him not just in defence but also scoring several brilliant headers.
Secondly, his range of movement and his sprint speed helps him to cover a wider area and solve more potential issue. He can prevent the threat from both the midfield and the side by moving vertically in advance, or moving horizontally to the left side to cover the area behind the wing-back (Carrasco/Lemar).
Last but not the least, although he is not tall based on the standard of a centre-back, he is stronger and taller enough than most of the opponent's wingers (<180cm normally). It is not difficult for him to block and win the opponent's long pass from another side of the pitch if he is in position, then transit the ball to Atleti's attacking build-up. What's more, when he acts as a central defender, he is strong enough to deal with most of the strikers from the air in La Liga, which is a league with fewer forwarders taller than 180cm and not as strong as him.
With his aerial ability and huge cover range, Hermoso becomes a natural recovery machine. He has one of the highest recoveries per 90 minutes among La Liga, which ensure the pressure from the left side to the opponent, and contribute to the attack at the same time.
He was regarded as a new Sergio Ramos before joining Atleti. That was not a joke and he looks like an excellent defender so far, however...
Ground Disaster in Final Third
Although Hermoso is astonishing in the air, his ground duel is not as good as it is. The ground duel success rate is only half of his aerial, which is the lowest among his teammates with a huge gap too.
| Player | Ground Defensive Duels per 90 minutes | Success % |
|---|---|---|
| Stefan Savic | 6.92 | 67.07 |
| Mario Hermoso | 6.53 | 42.86 |
| Felipe | 6.43 | 64.29 |
| Josema Gimenez | 5.39 | 69.09 |
| Table 1: Ground Defense Performance of First Team Centre Backs of Atletico de Madrid |
What's worse, if he is the last fence in his own final third, it won't be better than a shoji on a Japanese lattice frame. Hermoso losses one of the most duels per 90 in the final third this year in La Liga, and half of them are in the penalty zone.
I believe Wyscout's report has some issues with visualizing the lost duels leading to yellow/red cards (The penalty should be considered too and I might make my own later) because it is such a common situation for Hermoso, especially against the strong team.
In fact, in 10 formal games he played this season so far, he committed 3 yellow, 2 red(against Real Madrid and Elche) and led 1 penalty (against Porto). Although he didn't commit anything for Leverkusen in that dramatic game, he is responsible for the first losing goal and Simeone has to sub him off after his horrible performance in the first half.
| League | Games | Yellow Card | Red Card | Penalty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Copa Del Rey | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| La Liga | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Champions League | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Table 2: Cards and Penalty Committed by Hermoso in the 2022/23 Season. The stronger the league, the more severe consequence.
The poor discipline records come from his weakness on the ground. He is an energetic player, but his decision-making is terrifying. In my opinion, that is the only gap between him and a class defender.
Change The Position or The Mind?
There was a funny discussion about Hermoso after he scored against both Porto and Real Madrid this season: should Simeone play him as a striker?
The stats seem sufficient proof of the suggestion. Among all La Liga centre-defenders, Hermoso has the highest attacking contribution.
However, as far as I'm concerned, I don't think he can be a good striker. He can't dribble with the ball and the quality of his ground duel is unsatisfactory either, which means he can't either create the chance by himself with the ball under pressure, or hold the ball as a pivot to support attacking in the middle of the pitch that full of challenge.
His decision-making is getting worse since he joined Atleti. He was a more reasonable and manageable player when he was in Espanyol. It is such a shame that Atleti was famous for its solid defence but a talented player here is deteriorating. I hope the coaching team can improve him to react smarter, i.e. don't push too high, design a better position for him during the attacking set-pieces, and balance the defence responsibility between him and the midfielder(s). He is at the best age as a footballer and I still want to see if he can gain the development with the Rojiblanco, and this is the spirit of a football team.