Logan Costa (’01) CB — Le Mans FC
Logan Costa is a nineteen year old centre-back enjoying his first season in the Championnat National, on loan from Ligue 1 team Stade Reims. Costa is a long way from being a player who can step up to a higher level, however he is certainly one to watch over the next few years.
Whilst he needs to make some serious improvements defensively, his size, physical strength, turning speed and distribution means he possesses an excellent core set of attributes that give him a very high ceiling.
Overview
Here’s my overview of Costa’s strengths and weaknesses, which I will investigate further using data and video analysis.
What Does The Data Tell Us?
Costa’s defensive numbers aren’t spectacular at National level. However, his defensive duels wins % and aerial duels win % are above average which are the key stats to look at.
Where he does stand out in the data is in the quality of his distribution. The data above shows that he attempts and succeeds with a high volume of forward and progressive passes which has been really important within Le Mans’ overall style of play.
So, let’s investigate the video to understand where Costa is excelling and where he needs to improve.
Context — Le Mans’ Style of Play
Context in scouting is paramount, as understanding the conditions that a player plays within is key to understanding and interpreting his performance outputs. Le Mans always set up with a back four. In possession, their full-backs push very high and the centre-backs have a lot of responsibility in initiating progressions through the thirds. This means that in defensive transitions, Costa has a lot of lateral space to cover and can be quite isolated.
Out of possession, Le Mans will often press the opposition back-line high up, facilitated by the full-backs who will push up onto a dropping winger. Once again, this isolates the centre-backs and leaves them with a lot of space to cover both laterally and vertically.
Issues With Over-Committing — Technical
Costa’s biggest issue defensively is his tendency to overcommit when stepping up to press an attacker, particularly when the attacker has their back to goal.
Too often he will step up and attempt to win the ball by coming around the side of the receiver, opening up an angle for them to turn, when a better option would be to maintain a slight distance from the attacker to delay the attack and force the play backwards.
The clips below illustrate his issues in this regard:
In the last example, Costa also shows poor anticipation by allowing the channel ball to run through to the runner in behind, showing why his ‘PAdj Interception’ numbers are below average at National 1 level.
This particular issue with over-committing can be a common trait with young defenders playing at a level higher than before, where they could previously dive in and win the ball due to the weaker physical/technical characteristics of opponents.
Costa needs to place greater priority on controlling the attacker to delay the attack as opposed to diving in to try and win the ball at the first opportunity.
Individually, this forces the attacker into a decision and allows Costa to force the attacker one way, and collectively for Le Mans this gives greater time for them to get players behind the ball. He does show greater control in certain moments, however this is not consistent enough right now and is contributing to his average defensive duel win %.
Defending the Box — Technical
Costa’s ability to quickly react to a cross and re-adjust his feet is the other area of his defensive game that needs work if he is to go on to play at a higher level. Whilst his headed clearances are generally very consistent, Costa is prone to making errors when clearing low crosses.
As the example below shows, rather than attacking the ball and clearing with his right foot, he doesn’t react to the cross by halting his retreat and planting his left foot, giving him the balance to clear.
To the contrary, he continues to retreat after the cross is delivered and is forced into attempting to clear with his left foot and loses all control of the clearance, allowing it spill through. His continued movement towards the by-line after the clearance attempt further shows this lack of balance.
Body shape and covering — Technical/Physical/Tactical
This area of Costa’s game is definitely better than than the previous two that have been covered.
As mentioned, Costa’s ability to physically dominate an opponent is very good, whilst his turning speed and covering is good in a system at Le Mans where he is often very exposed and has to cover large amounts of ground.
Whilst Costa generally covers and retreats well using his physical power, as a young defender his understanding of body orientation requires some fine tuning. As the video below shows, Costa initially does well to cover the inside channel and therefore prevent a dangerous ball that splits the centre-backs.
However, he then turns the opposite way that momentarily opens this inside channel before correcting himself and covering the inside channel, forcing a pass outside that delays the attack by forcing it further away from the goal.
This is representative of his generally good understanding of body positioning in these situations since he quickly corrected himself by facing inwards to prevent a pass or dribble attempt through the centre. But in this particular scenario, he’d be better off checking over his shoulder for the wide runner, rather than turning his whole body outwards and opening the channel between the retreating centre-backs.
In Possession — Technical/Tactical
What gives Costa such high potential in my opinion is his distribution. Costa demonstrates a wide range of passing capabilities. He is frequently able to penetrate a front two to find a pivot and his diagonal switches of play are executed with very good power to give the receiving player time on his first touch. Costas ability break the midfield line with forward passes is also very good, as shown below.
Conclusion
Aspects of Costa’s defensive play need work, as articulated above. Unless he demonstrates a drastic improvement in these areas in the final week of the season, another season on loan in the Championnat National would be very beneficial for him.
A combination of his good but not spectacular performances his first season playing in the National, young age, clear physical capabilities and fantastic ball playing ability are why I think he has a very high ceiling and is one to watch over the next few years.
The issues with his defensive technique, decision making and balance in the box are areas that aren’t fundamental and are part of the learning process that occurs when moving up a level at such a young age. If he can improve in these areas, then I think we could see him playing in Ligue 1 in the next few years.
