Given Copetti’s jump in form from 2021 to 2022, there will be some wondering how/why this occurred and whether his 2022 goalscoring output will be sustainable going forward.
There are 2 main reasons for this uptick in goalscoring. First, was his positional change.
Under Racing’s previous Head Coach, Juan Antonio Pizzi, Copetti was playing a fairly even share of time in the striker role and on the right wing, which naturally limited the amount of goalscoring opportunities he had. Once Fernando Gago took charge for his first full season in 2022, each game Copetti played was as a number 9, with the exception of one late substitute appearance.
The second comes from the style of play that Gago implemented for the 2022 season. His 4-3-3 system allowed Copetti to be the focal point of a possession based team that looked to create transition-like situations with patient build up and attack mostly in wide areas, something Copetti benefitted from immensely.
Individual Skillset
In many ways, Copetti is a very traditional number 9. Though he may not have raw attributes that stand out in a major way, he is an incredibly clever player who is able to create chances for himself and score goals due in large part to the intelligence he plays with.
Something important to note here is the quality of movement from Copetti and the patience to not immediately attack the space at the front post as soon as the ball is in a crossing area. Instead, he times his run perfectly for a first time finish.
The quality of his movement is a huge reason as to why Gago’s approach of attacking from wide areas has been successful.
Notice a similar run from Copetti here to make sure that he receives the ball at the front post whilst on the move, making it easier to turn and shoot than it would be had he received the ball stationary whilst not facing goal.
His quality as a box presence via his movement also makes him a considerable threat in the air. His ability to create space by manipulating the centre halves playing against him gives his teammates great areas to cross the ball into, giving himself a great chance to attack them whilst going towards goal with momentum.
Again, the beauty in the movement here comes from the patience. It is clear well before the cross comes in that that is the action that will take place. Rather than crashing the box earlier before the cross has been made, Copetti stays a good distance behind and in-between the two central defenders. This serves two main purposes: 1) he is attacking the ball with forward momentum (as stated earlier) and 2) it makes him much more difficult to mark as he maintains that distance behind and equidistant between the defense.
Though great at manipulating defenders, Copetti isn’t beholden to this method of attacking. What makes him such a threat as a #9 is that he is able to make the alternative run based on the shaping of the defense/the space that is being offered to him.
Again, Copetti is smartly occupying the equidistant space between the centre halves, the difference in movement this time though comes from him attacking the space left between the goalkeeper and defenders before the cross is delivered. Once the ball is received out wide and Copetti realises the defenders are happy to stay level with him-rather than a few yards off him like in the earlier clip-he gives a quick look to see if the goalkeeper’s positioning is compensating for the space in behind (in this case would mean the goalkeeper being further to his left and at least a couple yards further from his line.) Once Copetti realizes the goalkeeper is not positioned further off his line, he makes his run, triggering the ball to be played into that area by the wide player. This instinct to create chances with his own movement in behind is no fluke.
In this instance, the attack is more vertical, but the run itself still takes advantage of an aggressive defensive line and opens up the passing lane where it otherwise wouldn’t be available. With this ability to understand how the defensive line is defending shape-wise, Copetti is able to help his teammates create opportunities for him and at times, be his own best playmaker.
Impact on Charlotte
The first major difference to point out is obviously the change in formation. Racing stuck rigidly to their 4-3-3 shape, whilst Charlotte under Lattanzio experimented with plenty of setups, without many of them even resembling a 4-3-3 setup too closely. Charlotte did play a 4-3-3 more commonly under Miguel Angel Ramirez, although this was with a different role being asked of the centre forward.
With the ball out wide with the full back in a 4-3-3 set up, you can see that instead of looking to get into the box himself, Charlotte centre forward Karol Swiderski is instead looking for the ball on the edge of the box so that he can facilitate the late runs from the wingers/midfielders crashing the box.
This would be the same in build up play. Whether it was playing to the individual’s strength or a function of the system, Swiderski would always be dropping deep as the wingers and/or a midfield player (most notably Ben Bender) would run in attack ahead of him.
In contrast, the lone striker in Christian Lattanzio’s 4-2-3-1/4-1-4-1 systems would actually perform a much more similar role to Copetti’s with Gago’s Racing, despite the change in formation.
Rather than looking to come deep and receive the ball, Daniel Rios makes that run in behind the defense, playing in much more of a ‘poachers’ role as the lone striker.
Charlotte also became much more threatening from open play crosses, which paid off multiple times throughout the 2022 season. These couple of examples are particularly similar to some of the opportunities created for Copetti for Racing.
Though this goal is scored by right winger McKinze Gaines, you can see how the space he is occupying in the box once the ball is played to him is very similar to the spaces Copetti likes to be in (i.e., in between the space of the two defenders).
Here, again, we see Swiderski occupy this same space for a headed goal from an open play cross.
Given Daniel Rios’ recent exit from the club, it’s easy to see how Copetti will come in and be a like for like switch, offering Lattanzio exactly what he’s looking for out of his lone striker. With Swiderski now likely in the 10 role in this system going forward, Charlotte will have invested serious money into their middle 2 attacking pair.
If Copetti brings his 2022 form over to Charlotte with him and Swiderski continues where he left off as a playmaker from last season, they should see a strong amount of goals in return on their investment.