Defending from the frontNow that we’ve covered the attacking portion of Takumi Minamino’s game, we can now focus on his other capabilities namely his defensive skills. Surprisingly, one of the more effective parts of the Japanese strikers game is his defensive capabilities. Minamino is a busy forward who works incredibly hard off the ball and tends to put himself all over the pitch.Even though the majority of his time is spent in the final third of the pitch, we can see he does spend time down both wings in his defensive third. This shows his willingness to track back and help his full-backs create a 2v1 or sometimes 3v1 opportunity. He has the ability to defend from the front or from the back.Well, this scatter map shows Minamino’s challenge areas from two different matches. Against RB Leipzig, the forward made eight challenges and six of them were in his own half with a 50% success rate. The other scatter map is from the league match against Rheindorf Altach who are weaker opposition. Being inferior only means that Salzburg will hold onto more possession. We can see here that he’s challenging and winning more duels in the oppositions final third by pressing, tackling and intercepting higher up the field.