Wilfried Zaha is currently enjoying his most productive season so far. Having burst onto
the scene as a 17 year-old for Crystal Palace, although he debuted the season before at 16,
Zaha quickly established himself as one of the Championship’s most exciting attacking players.
Quick, excellent at ball carrying, and with a knack for scoring and setting up goals,
Zaha’s talent and style of play caught the attention of Manchester United.
The move didn’t work out, with Zaha going on loan to Cardiff City, before returning to
Selhurst Park. Since then, he has been Palace’s most consistent threat, their best player,
and arguably one of the outstanding talents in the Premier League outside the top six clubs.
Zaha’s abilities have always been leant on by Palace as the primary means of generating
opportunities. A counter-attacking team under the pragmatic Roy Hodgson since September 2017,
Zaha’s ball carrying has not just been Palace’s major attacking outlet, but also a means of
alleviating pressure, winning fouls, and getting the ball away from an often vulnerable defence.
Zaha has often scored a reasonable proportion of Palace’s goals, although penalty taker Luka
Milivojevic top scored in 2017/18 and 2018/19. But since Hodgson took over – after Palace had
failed to score in the four games prior – this is Zaha’s most significant contribution so far.
While this is a small sample size, it’s worth noting that Zaha’s non-penalty
expected goals plus expected assists per 90 is 0.53, lower than the 0.67 he’s achieving
for actual non-penalty goals plus assists per 90 but only by a small margin. These
figures suggest that while the exact scoring rate might not be sustainable,
it’s probably not far off, especially in all round attacking contribution.
What’s also changed is Zaha’s dribbling. He’s dribbling less this season, significantly,
and less successfully as a percentage, but he’s actually slightly up on the
volume shot creating actions arising from dribbles. This means that one of the two
actions that precede a shot are a Zaha dribble, although these include shots he himself takes.
With Zaha’s goals and assists output up significantly, and his dribbling down,
something has changed. But what?
Last season, Palace mostly used a 4-3-3 or a 4-5-1, effectively the same formation
but with one having a greater defensive focus. Zaha was largely used coming in off the left wing,
cutting inside to generate shots or supply his teammates.
This season, Palace have changed to a 4-4-2. Zaha has predominantly spent
his time at left centre forward, playing alongside Jordan Ayew or Michy Batshuayi,
with Andros Townsend on the right and Jeffrey Schlupp or Eberechi Eze on the left.
This has several obvious effects. Zaha is able to take up positions closer to
the goal, and with the assistance of another striker to occupy defenders. It means that he
is automatically more likely to achieve a good shooting position, as he’s nearer the goal and
space is being created by Ayew or Batshuayi *in the same part of the pitch*, not ahead of Zaha.
Before, stationed largely out wide, Zaha was expected to drive towards goal before shooting
or passing. This gave teams the chance to get in front of him, push him wide,
and also to crowd out the single striker and give Zaha fewer passing options.
Now, with Townsend, Schlupp, and Eze supplying passes from wide areas, Zaha is able to be more
central to offer a scoring threat. It’s worth noting that Zaha regularly scored from central
areas before, or just wide of the goal, often after contributing to build-up. But he also
took more shots from worse areas, often because of a lack of alternatives – being
closed down and without teammates to pass to, Zaha had little option but to shoot.
What’s crucial is that he is now able to focus on being central - and
comparing his shot location maps from this season and last season,
it’s clear he’s getting off more shots proportionally from an area of greater threat.
And he has to do less beforehand. With Schlupp or Eze and left back Tyrick Mitchell, a proactive
full back, playing on the left, Zaha can still drop into the areas he inhabited as a left-winger,
but with more options to then pass and move. Palace can now create overloads in wide areas with
attacking players, rather than expecting a more defensively-minded midfielder to join in. Zaha
can participate in his favoured area, the slightly deep left position, but then get forwards having
handed the ball back to other players who can add drive and bring the ball closer to the box.
Zaha is still highly effective at dribbling, especially to buy himself more time and space
before shooting; he’s also still spending a lot of time on the pitch where he did as a left-winger.
But Palace, by switching to a 4-4-2, have created a system that lets Zaha play his natural game
while also being far more effectively supported. This in turn means he can get forwards without
the ball to take up scoring positions, not bring the ball forwards himself all the time.
Zaha is still Palace’s most significant attacking threat,
but Hodgson’s change means he’s even more dangerous.