Hot Take of the Week: Is Pep Biel really a midfielder or a forward?
By Brian Maurer (@BAMaurerMedia)
Pep Biel is on the fast track to being Charlotte FC's best signing in the club's short history. The Spaniard leads the team in goals this season (12) and is the club's all-time leader in assists (21).
Dean Smith has utilized Biel in multiple spots, primarily as an attacking midfielder, second striker, or right winger. He has also opted to use Biel in different ways within these positions. Sometimes dropping him deeper, but most often preferring to keep him positioned up high to be involved in attacking opportunities.
In fact, his average position puts him in the top three for furthest advanced on the field in each of the last five games, and in multiple games he ends up being positioned higher on average than the center forward. This type of positioning holds pretty consistently throughout the season, where he tends to end up playing as high or higher than the wingers, and often higher on average than the striker.
When looking at average position, many of Charlotte's formations tend to shift from a 4-3-3 on paper to more of a 4-2-4.
When looking at passing distribution, which can be used to see which players in the midfield are dictating play, Biel has more successful passes per 90 (25.3) than Djibril Diani (21.1), Luca de la Torre (20.2), or Brandt Bronico (13.8). Ashley Westwood is Charlotte's tempo setter in the midfield, with 49.9 successful passes per 90.
Biel's successful passes per 90 is significantly higher than the wingers and strikers, but since Allan Saint-Maximin has entered the Starting XI, their passes are pretty balanced. Highlighting that he and Saint-Maximin are both expected to do a similar amount of distribution on average.
When comparing Biel's passing numbers to other attacking midfielders in MLS, he tends to slot in with the second striker types like Martin Ojeda (24.8) or Hany Mukhtar (27.2), rather than the tempo-setting playmaker like Carles Gil (53.9) or Niko Tsakiris (36.9).
Given Biel is on the fast track to breaking every Charlotte attacking record, we thought we would pose the question: Is Biel a midfielder or a forward? As our hot take of the week:
Argument for Biel as a forward:
While on paper Charlotte FC lines up as a 4-3-3, it's more accurate to say it's a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-4-1-1 most often, where Biel is grouped with the forward lines or even sets up as a second striker.
Dean Smith's preference is to keep Biel high up the field to get on the end of attacking opportunities around the box; he drops in more out of necessity than preference.
When Smith sets up a flat three midfield, he tends to use more defensive midfielders and pushes Biel up higher into the front three.
Argument for Biel as a midfielder:
Charlotte FC lines up in a 4-3-3, and Pep Biel is a part of that midfield three.
You can just say he's an attacking midfielder and call it a day.
He will drop in and connect with the midfield, linking the lines to the forwards; he's not a part of the forward line.
