Scout Report: Gregore
- All Angles Football -
- Mar 2, 2021
- 5 min read
Last week, Inter Miami confirmed the signing of the latest addition to their squad - Gregore. Gregore is a 27 year old Brazilian central midfielder signed from Bahia in the Brazilian Serie A. Sporting Director Chris Henderson mentioned that he has had his eyes on bringing Gregore to the MLS for a while and that he will bring great energy and stability to the midfield. This energy and stability is definitely needed by Inter Miami in 2021, as seen by performances in 2020 that were not defensively solid and sometimes sloppy in the middle of the park. Using clips on YouTube, sofascore.com, smarterscout.com**, whoscored.com and fbref.com, an in-depth analysis of Gregore was conducted to examine the type of player he is and what Inter Miami fans can expect from one of their latest signings.
Overall, fans can expect Gregore to provide a strong and aggressive defensive presence in central midfield, likely along Blaise Matuidi.
As seen on the graphic above from smarterscout, Gregore had a defending quantity of 79 out of 99 last season in the Brazilian Serie A, although the quality was assessed as low at 29 out of 99. In prior seasons, Gregore had a defending quality rating of 50 and 58. This defending quality is likely affected by the number of fouls Gregore committed, as he committed the most fouls in the Brazilian Serie A in the last two seasons. On the positive side of this, he was only awarded one red card each season which could indicate some of these being smart tactical fouls rather than clumsy reckless tackles. This is further suggested by the following indicators:
his tactical attribute rating on SofaScore being 61 which is his second highest
A high disruption style rating on smarterscout of 78
Completing the most tackles in the 2019 Brazilian Serie A season and the 5th most in 2020
Positioning being one of his listed strengths on SofaScore
Furthermore, based on some YouTube clips, Gregore does appear to have decent tackling ability and he is particularly strong with slide tackles. WhoScored has also listed tackling as a strength and common trait of Gregore. These clips also display Gregore’s tactical awareness and ability to read the play which is likely a major factor in his ability to be such an effective disruptor of plays whether through tackles, interceptions or clever tactical fouls. Gregore is a very good interceptor of forward passes from opposing teams and he completed the 9th most interceptions (54) in the Brazilian Serie A in 2019 and completing 48 in 2020.
In addition to his strong defensive attributes, Gregore is also very strong in the air. As seen on his smarterscout profile, his second best attribute is his aerial ability (80) with his aerial duels in open play being 76 and aerial duels from set pieces/dead balls being 94 which suggest Gregore can be a major threat in the attacking third on corners and free kicks.
Gregore also has an attacking output of 66 which is a fairly good rating especially when considering he has a style rating of 94 when it comes to passing towards goal. SofaScore has Gregore rated at 58 in terms of creativity suggesting he is not the most creative player but will definitely contribute to attack. He is best at helping his team move the ball forward into the attacking third after disrupting opposition attacks. From these passes forward by Gregore, more creative players in more dangerous attacking areas will be able to get on the ball and make key passes and create big chances.
Although Gregore is able to help his team progress the ball forward he is not a great dribbler or finisher. This can be seen by his ball retention score of 22, his dribbling score of 55 and his shooting score of 14, all on his smarterscout profile. He has a 52 attacking score and a 58 creativity score on his SofaScore profile. Although he has not scored in the past two seasons of the Brazilian Serie A and is not a great finisher, Gregore has a tendency to shoot from distance, often lurking outside the 18 yard box. Gregore had 20% of shots on target in 2020 and 10.3% in 2019. His tendency to shoot from distance is also shown on his WhoScored profile, which displays shooting from distance as a trait.
SofaScore has Gregore’s weakness as discipline, this is likely due to the number of fouls he commits, which was discussed earlier. He has only gotten two red cards in the past two seasons combined. This again indicates that maybe it is not indiscipline and recklessness but more tactical awareness and clever fouls. This is also backed up by one of his WhoScored traits being - commits fouls often. However, committing fouls often may also be as a result of his weakness according to WhoScored, which is concentration. These lapses in focus may see Gregore sometimes make a bad tackle or unnecessary foul.
How will he fit in Inter Miami?
Inter Miami fans can definitely expect a positive impact with Gregore on the field and this is definitely shown by the On-Off statistics which shows that Bahia (Gregore’s former club) had a goal difference of +1.03 in 2019 and +0.44 in 2020 whenever he was on the field, indicating that he has a positive impact on the team.
How exactly Gregore will fit in the line up is yet to be seen depending on head coach Phil Neville’s tactics. Last season Inter Miami often lined up with either a 3-4-3 or a 4-2-3-1. However, with the England women’s national team Neville was known to prefer a 4-3-3 although sometimes opting for 4-2-3-1 and being flexible. He has spoken about his intent to play possession football and take the game to the opponent but also to remain defensively solid. Inter Miami has the players to play a 4-2-3-1 especially considering Pizzaro’s role as a No. 10. It will be interesting to see if Neville opts to continue this 4-2-3-1 based on the players or decides to use a 4-3-3. If Neville opts for a 4-3-3, fans can expect Gregore to sit as a No. 6 holding midfielder with two other central midfielders in front of him. Gregore would likely be responsible for disrupting plays, winning the ball and helping to progress it forward to the other two central midfielders or the front three. If Neville opts for a 4-2-3-1, it is likely that Gregore will likely partner Blaise Matuidi as the two central midfielders. Gregore will definitely be able to cover a lot of ground and contribute to defensive solidity not only based on his attributes but also based on his work rate. He should be able to make a number of contributions all over the field, especially defensively, considering his 79 defending quantity score on smarterscout. His energy and ability to cover a lot of ground would help to compensate for an aging Matuidi who would be 34 when the season starts.
Although Matuidi made high quality defensive contributions in 2020 (79 quality on smarterscout), the quantity of this was much lower (51), possibly suggesting less energy and ability to run and cover a lot of ground as he was able to in his younger days. This is why Gregore would be a perfect complement to Matuidi’s experience and ability in the middle of the park. With both Gregore and Matuidi in the middle of the park Inter Miami can expect a high quantity and quality of defending which can help provide stability to a defense that was in need of stability last season.
Regardless of tactics though, Inter Miami fans can expect an energetic and aggressive defensive midfielder who is able to read the game well, disrupt play through interceptions and tackles (and sometimes clever fouls), and help to progress the ball forward.
** All statistical ratings on smarterscout are adjusted to match a Major League Soccer standard
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