Heysen drives the battleship with his feet: it is Real Madrid s stealth engine and Alonso s secret weapon

This summer, Real Madrid began to seriously reshape their defense line and spent 120 million euros to introduce Arnold, Alvaro Carreras and Heisen. Surprisingly, at the beginning of the season, the brightest new star was Heysen. The 20-year-old centre-back is using his vision, pass and ball control to shape Real Madrid's offensive system. In just three months, he has become a key link in Real Madrid's defense line - especially highlighted by his contribution when holding the ball. Let's analyze why this Spanish teenager has become so indispensable in Xavi Alonso's team.

Shining while holding the ball - already shaping Real Madrid's way of playing

Heisen quickly became the core figure of Real Madrid in the early stages of the offensive organization. His wide pass range, calmness under pressure and a natural sense of the rhythm of the game make him the main starting point for the team's backcourt organization.

Most of Real Madrid's offenses are now initiated by him. His ability to read the game and send out fast and smart passes not only helps the ball develop along the wing, but also penetrates the middle channel. What makes it harder for him to be pressed is his ability to balance his feet - Heysen is also skilled in his left and right feet.

He has been partnering with Militon with central defender since the beginning of the season. The comparison is obvious: Militon is also very skilled and can launch an offense with long passes, but Xavi Alonso chose to make the 20-year-old Heisen the main hub for Real Madrid to organize the offense.

Without the ball, Militon and Heisen operate differently: Heisen is given greater freedom of movement, while Militon adapts to him - fills up his position and undertakes the most difficult defensive tasks, such as one-on-one confrontation in the open area or the battle of the strongest opponents in physical fitness. What really impressed with Heysen is his pushing every aspect of the offense.

Take the La Liga match against Osasuna as an example. Heysen was Real Madrid's most important goal point at that time - most of the offenses were initiated by him. He completed 19 passes into the offensive third zone; no other player, even the forward, could reach double digits. It was just a game, but it perfectly reflected his influence.

On average, Heysen attempted 7.7 long passes and had an astonishing success rate of up to 85%. Against Osasuna, he completed 16 of his 17 long pass attempts - such statistics seemed to belong only to Tony Cross.

Heisen's ability to hold the ball was rooted in his childhood.

His father urged him to practice long passes. "I was nine years old at the time and he let me practice a long transfer of large-scale passes on a standard-sized court. I couldn't even play 15 meters at the time. He was very persistent, and now I'm grateful - it helped me a lot. Not that I hate those training sessions, but he was really extremely persistent. "

Now, Heysen not only pushes the ball through the pass, but also moves forward by dribbling. According to DataMB, he ranks first in the top five European leagues under 23 guards. This trait was already highlighted at Bournemouth, when Elaura often relied on his dribbling breakthrough rather than passing the ball to advance the offense.

Real Madrid gets a real ball-rights propulsion machine on Heysen. Whether it is through passes through the defense line or strong dribbling, combined with his balanced ball control ability on both feet, he has become the hidden core of Real Madrid's organization. Heysen has a huge range of movement while holding the ball, covering almost the entire court. He not only helped Real Madrid push the ball forward, but also cracked dense defense through sharp ribs. His La Liga touch points distribution chart this season illustrates everything - it is almost impossible to define his true position on the court.

"optimistic" Heisen

Heisen's defense has reached a considerable level, but has obvious flaws - a famous saying by Carlo Ancelotti perfectly summarizes this: "Defensive players are divided into optimistic and pessimistic. The former believes that the opponent is only dangerous at certain moments, while the latter sees danger everywhere and reacts immediately. "

At present, Heisen is a largely "optimistic" defender. Sometimes, he becomes inattentive because he thinks there is no real threat. In his recent match against Real Sociedad, he responded slightly slower to Oyasawar's movement, lost his position and eventually made a foul.

The red card he received was later revoked, but the mistake was due to poor defensive judgment. He was also sent off in injury time for pulling Gilassi to send a penalty kick when he was against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the club World Cup. As Alonso said after the game: "That kind of red card can and must be avoided. "

Similar tendencies also appeared in the Champions League match against Marseille, when Alonso adopted a man-to-man oppression tactic. The tactical effect is significant most of the time - but when the French team successfully breaks through, there is one thing in common: Heysen's passiveness. An example of the first half was that Chuameni forced O'Reilly to the back of the Marseille to oppress Condobia. Heyson was supposed to press forward, ready to get close to O'Reilly when he received the ball. However, he hesitated in the no-man's land, allowing O'Reilly to turn around and instigate a dangerous attack.

Sometimes, Heisen's inattention can also appear when holding the ball, as former Real Madrid player Alvaro Benito recently pointed out:

"Heisen's passes are excellent, but in a match against a Turkish team, you can see that in some cases he is a little too casual, lacks the power of passing, and has the risk of losing the ball. He has the skills and talent, but has not yet maintained a high focus on every single handling of the ball. This will improve with experience. "

The same problem is evident in Bournemouth, and Zabarney often needs to fill him up - a role now in Real Madrid by Militon.

At this stage of his career, Heysen obviously benefited from having faster and stronger defensive partners around him to make up for his shortcomings.

Nevertheless, Heysen has excellent defense in the penalty area and has strong air control (benefits from his 1.96-meter height). What he has to continue to improve is his game reading ability when he is out of the ball and maintaining concentration in various situations.

Herisen quickly integrated into the Real Madrid locker room - Carvajal and Rudiger were key mentors

Herisen's adaptation process was almost seamless. He immediately entered the starting lineup and quickly established a strong relationship with his teammates. Language skills help, but his mentality is also important:

"I often remind myself that we are all just ordinary people. These guys are world-class players, but in the locker room, they are just good friends to have fun conversations. "

According to Heysen, the two voices he listens most are Carvajal and Rudiger, who are experienced veterans who keep giving him advice to help him adjust within the team.

His communication with Xavi Alonso was also established immediately: "We talked about it before the transfer. He explained my role at Real Madrid - it was a very positive conversation. I have no doubts about joining Ben, but it means a lot to you for the coach to be so open and honest. "

Despite his youth, Heysen has adapted to the life of top clubs and has had a clear impact on how Real Madrid plays. He still has room to grow, but early in the season, he looks to be one of the driving forces behind Alonso's new team.