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Extended Clip - Is Napoli’s Kim Min-Jae The Best Centre-Back In The World?
1.1k Plays3 years ago
After yet another fantastic defensive performance, Carlo Garganese and Nima Tavallaey debate and analyze if Napoli defender Kim Min-Jae is the best centre back in the world.
This is an extended clip from this weeks free Monday episode of The Italian Football Podcast which is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google podcasts.
To listen to ALL complete episodes of The Italian Football Podcast, go to Patreon.com/TIFP and become a Patron for only $2.99 USD per month (excluding VAT).
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Transcript
Spalletti's Praise for Kim Min Jae
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast. Spelletti said at the end of the game, he was quoted as saying that for me, Kim Min Jae is truly the best centre back in the world.
Kim Min Jae's Injury Scare
00:00:15
Speaker
This comes off through a game in which he was absolutely monstrous. He actually went off injured. It was a little bit of worry about, you know, had he suffered a muscular injury, was it the same injury he did that he was suffering with in the World Cup of South Korea.
Kim Min Jae: The In-Form Defender
00:00:28
Speaker
In the end, it seems like he's okay, thankfully, because he's absolutely
00:00:33
Speaker
irreplaceable for Napoli and no doubt about it. But he was absolutely, he was a monster again in this game. So what do you think of that quote from Spoletta? Is he the best centre back in the world?
Kim's Consistency and Comparisons
00:00:45
Speaker
I think he's definitely the most informed central defender in the world. One of the most informed. I think we've seen quite a lot, I think,
00:00:54
Speaker
Ruben Diaz, Saliba, there's lots you can say. Saliba has been amazing this evening. I mean, he's been absolutely fantastic. But I think right now he's probably the most informed and he's been consistently the most important for his team. I think, especially in the Serie A, I think if you look at other players that have been consistent,
00:01:16
Speaker
He's also been very consistent with someone like Chris Malling. He's been very consistent, but he doesn't have the highs that Kim Min Jae does.
Strategic Advice: Playing in a Back Four
00:01:25
Speaker
There's limitations to Chris Malling's game, even though I think he's been fantastic. Kim Min Jae has an extra ceiling, an extra gear, and
00:01:33
Speaker
And, you know, I think one thing I want to really want to say is he should not play in a back three. This is a back four defender. He's not quick enough to play in a back three. And I think if you if he when he leaves, if he leaves, if he decides to leave because of the claws that we're going to talk about, I think he needs to take that into consideration. I think he would be ruining his career if he were to go to to
Defensive Skills and Aerial Prowess
00:01:56
Speaker
a back three. I honestly think he needs to play in a back four and this kind of a team.
00:02:02
Speaker
there, I think he's very, very dangerous. Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't say he's slow. I mean, you don't see him getting done for pace, but that's because he reads the game so well. I mean, apart from his pace, I think he has everything else. There's no other weaknesses in his game. He's absolutely the complete defender. And again, I repeat, he's not slow. He's just not
00:02:24
Speaker
He just doesn't have the lightning pace of some of these other defenders, like Sallybeth, for example, or Van Dijk when he was at his best, or some of the others. Thiago Silva, I think, is very quick as well. Thiago Silva, when he was young, was very, very quick. He doesn't have the pace, but he's everything else.
Kim Min Jae's Dominance in Serie A Metrics
00:02:47
Speaker
his reading of the game, his aggression in the aerial, he's unbelievable. Oh, he's a monster in the air. I think that's the most impressive part. The way he completely dominates in both phases aerially is just wow. It feels like he's never lost an aerial challenge.
00:03:09
Speaker
That's the feeling you get when you watch him. I was looking up his stats. This is insane. Let me read out his stats in Serie A this season. He's won the most defensive challenges in all of Serie A this season among all players. He's won the second most aerial challenges in Serie A after Zürich, who's a striker. He's the most aerial challenges for a defender in Serie A.
00:03:33
Speaker
the most interceptions in Serie A. So again, the way that he reads the game, but he does that, if you watch him, the way that he reads the game, both as a press-up, because obviously that's the type of football that Napoli played, they press and they press high and they try and win the ball back quickly. He's very, very good at reading the ball and getting there in front of his defender, but also
00:03:54
Speaker
saw this a lot in the Frankfurt first leg, the way that sometimes he takes a step back when the other teams are attacking and then he reads the game to sweep out the danger, almost like a sweep but also to come across into the channels and sweep and intercept the ball there as well. His reason the game is magnificent and he also has the most ball recoveries in Serie A as well among all players. I mean it's a basic virtually a clean sweep in every single
00:04:21
Speaker
every single key defensive metric. He basically sweeps up everywhere. So he is statistically, but also just watching him play. He is a monster. That's his nickname, isn't it? He is a monster.