Florian Neuhaus – Borussia Monchengladbach’s master of body shifts
Florian Neuhaus grew up a few miles outside of Munich as both Bayern Munich and 1860 Munich offered him a contract to join their academy. Neuhaus eventually decided to join 1860, scoring a goal from the halfway-line against Borussia Dortmund with the first team after he rose through the ranks as a midfield prodigy. Borussia Monchengladbach then decided to sign him and immediately loaned him out to Fortuna Dusseldorf as he fuelled their promotion efforts before becoming a key starter when he re-joined Monchengladbach. He impressed as a box-to-box midfielder in a 4-3-3 system last season as he has played as an attacking midfielder and deep-lying midfielder this season under Marco Rose.
Neuhaus is a tight space player who is a master at manipulating his body to evade markers in tight spaces in all areas of the pitch. He also always puts himself in the middle of the ball and the opponent to shield possession and work passes into the higher areas of the pitch. Neuhaus constantly drops into the six space to allow the team to evade pressure through subtle body shifts and work through passes in between the lines to instigate attacking moves. The German has consistently been compared to Kaka in the international media because of the body shifts, dribbling ability, creativity as well as the nonchalance and fringe of black hair hanging over his forehead.
Neuhaus’ body shift.
Neuhaus’ first touch and body control have seen comparisons to Thomas Muller as a manipulator of space and as a technically skilled midfield operator that always looks to play the ball forward. His uses his first touch to guide himself into pockets of space that allow him more time to work one-twos with a teammate to drive into space and create goalscoring opportunities. He can also elegantly let the ball roll across his body to set himself up for a reverse pass in between the lines as there is a gracefulness and tidiness to his game. Few players are able to be as effective as he is in as many areas across the pitch because he is incredibly savvy with time and the ball.
His dribbling ability is facilitated by his body control as the shift of his hips allows him to side foot and skip past opponents and in tight spaces. He can also work feints to force defenders to shift their weight to the wrong foot, so he can just dribble through them like he would through stationary cones. This allows Neuhaus to work his way out of 1v1 situations while also weaving his way past gluts of defenders as he is a midfielder that can generate his own shooting opportunities. If he receives the ball in the ten space, he can manoeuvre his way into the box and earn a few yards of space and have a shot on goal.
Rose also utilises the 23-year-old in the higher areas of the pitch as an attacking midfielder as the body feints he uses for press resistance in the deeper areas of the pitch are translatable to the final third. He could use his innate swivels and sense of timing allow him to play beautiful through balls to teammates as he has managed to create two goals in the Bundesliga this season after accruing 8 assists last season. Neuhaus has a level of calm and artistry in the final third makes him a capable option to receive passes, hold onto the ball by shielding it while working combinations to drive into the box. He is also able to angle through balls in such a way that they swerve past markers and onto the feet of recipients in stride to create goalscoring opportunities.
Neuhaus flick and run in the final third.
His ability to find spaces in the opposition defensive chain and receive the ball to work it into the wide channels for runners as Neuhaus is such a manipulator of space, he consistently holds his runs and movements, just waiting patiently before moving towards the ball to receive possession and quickly distribute it into Monchengladbach’s talented set of attackers. Away to Schalke, Neuhaus received the ball in the ten space as Omar Mascarell and Alessandro Schopf were closing in on him for the midfielder to intelligently shimmy like he would drive the ball to his left to create a yard of space in between the two defenders. The 23-year-old German maestro then rolled the ball from his right foot to his left foot to poke the ball in between the Schalke players and have his shot blocked.
Neuhaus not only creates chances in the final third but can generate shooting opportunities for himself when he receives the ball in the ten space. Away to Fortuna Dusseldorf, he showed his penchant for analysing space in the final third as he took on a layoff from Lars Stindl to glide past one defender before skipping past another as he made his way into the box before cutting past a sliding defender on his right foot to carve out space in the opposition box to have a shot on goal. The German seems to be able to slow the game down in his mind, orchestrating the game at his pace and toying with his opponents as he can control the ball with his left foot before cutting back to his stronger right foot to beat players.
He does not just add guile and invention to Monchengladbach’ play but also a sense of steel being able to cut out counter attacks with lunging sliding tackles. At times this season, Rose has trusted him with defending the six space as he manages to win possession. He is also an astute presser of the ball as he can latch onto a misplaced pass or mis-controlled ball to regain possession and renew attacking waves. He also does well when he regains possession by being in the area of a teammate regaining possession as he can turn and facilitate a switch to the attacking phase.
“I see my strengths in the central field. I like to have the game in front of me and then I pick up the pace. I like to run quickly into the top and into free spaces. Through these runs I get myself into final positions,” said Neuhaus to the DFB football website.
“Flo is simply an outstanding player. Flo deserves to be at Euro 2020. If I were national coach, I would call him 100 times,” said Marcus Thuram to Sky Germany after Neuhaus’ brilliant display against Fortuna Dusseldorf.
Neuhaus admired Toni Kroos and Mesut Ozil as he prefers to be a different type of attacking midfielder, one who can have a clear view of the field from the deeper areas before making runs into the final third to receive the ball. The 23-year-old is waiting on his first German National Team callup after helping the U21s to European Championships last summer. He has the potential to be a pillar of Die Mannschaft like his idols while continuing to develop as a midfielder under Marco Rose.
