Loan watch: Bendegúz Bolla

Grasshoppers Zurich kicked off their season away to Basel with multiple Wolves players in their squad - I took a look at their newest loanee, Bendegúz Bolla.

Name: Bendegúz Bolla

Nationality: Hungarian

Position: Right back

Date of birth: 22 November 1999 (age 21 years)

Senior appearances: 104

Previous club: Fehérvár

Fullbacks were given the freedom to join attacks which allowed Bolla to shine along the whole team. Bolla was so impressive during the spring of 2020, he snapped up the young player of the season award at the end of the season (Hungarian Football with Áron)

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Like many Wolves signings in the Fosun era, the capture of Bendegúz Bolla came out of nowhere. Signed for just under £2m, he was loaned immediately out to Grasshopper Club Zürich where he joins Oskar Buur, Toti Gomes, Léo Bonatini and Leonardo Campana from the Wolves loan contingent (Christián Herc and Georg Margreitter are also ex-Wolves players at the club).

Though it wasn’t a signing we expected, Bolla does come with a burgeoning reputation. He had a strong season in the Hungarian First Division for Fehérvár whilst also becoming a key player for his national team’s U21 side. In the summer he was in the Hungarian squad for the European Championships. While he didn’t make an appearance during the tournament, he did feature in the warm up games for the competition.

He made his competitive debut for Grasshopper in their opening league game of the season, a 2-0 home defeat to FC Basel. The game itself was a fairly evenly matched one, with the own goal from Campana proving vital as until then neither team had created much. Bolla played 71 minutes at right wing-back before being substituted as his team changed to a back four in an attempt to chase the game (at which point Basel began to create more on the break).

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Grasshopper’s played a 3-4-3 in the time Bolla was on the pitch. With their wide forwards playing very narrow, almost as number tens, Bolla was the player Grasshopper needed to provide width on the right hand side.

For the team’s average positions, Bolla was slightly infield, certainly more so than his team’s left wing-back Ermir Lenjani who held his position slightly wider.

Average positions for Grasshopper

The team’s shape in general was pretty narrow and compact, but in future you would image they will want Bolla to play higher and wider, to allow the attacking midfield players to receive the ball in more space.

From watching him in this game (worth re-iterating it was his first game for them!), he certainly seems to be the type that likes to combine inside with team mates.

Bolla uses the ball well when he has it

He finds players in pockets of space well and his weight of pass is also very good. The way he looks to move inside reminded me a little of the way Matt Doherty was used at Wolves in the same system. That said, Bolla is definitely a better mover and technically cleaner.

Grasshopper had 54% possession and out-shot Basel in the game but failed to create a clear cut chance in the game . Bolla himself only had one touch in the opposition penalty area, a shot from wide in the penalty area.

Bolla drags his shot wide

He joined the attack well in this instance, breaking into a dangerous space and managing to squeeze his way into the box with the ball. The shot was from a difficult angle, but he dragged it across the goal. This is hopefully a sign of what is to come with more time on the pitch as he builds his fitness into the season.

Bolla’s cross found Herc in a great position

He also showed his quality with the above cross. He managed to open his body up and whip the ball into the box. Unfortunately, Herc couldn’t quite find the target as the Basel defender managed to intercept his header back across, which looked like finding Campana in the six yard area.

From an attacking point of view, he seemed like a player more suited to being part of a back four, arriving onto the ball from slightly deeper and having more players in front of him to combine with. As an overlapping full back in Bruno Lage’s 442/4231, he might have some joy arriving onto the ball and delivering passes into attacking midfielders whereas playing as a wing-back asks more of him in a 1v1 sense, to hold the width of the player and then take players on.

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Defensively, Bolla wasn’t overly tested. He won 6 of his 8 defensive duels (second highest rate within his team and only because Margreitter only had 2 all game), and he made 4 ‘recoveries’, three of which came in the opposition half. However, he was able to demonstrate some good moments of defending.

Bolla defending well in different scenarios

There was one situation in particular where he was able to delay a counter-attack and then take the ball. From a Grasshopper’s corner, Basel break and find themselves 2v2 against Bolla and Margreitter.

Bolla is in a 2v2 at the back

He does well to not challenge for the ball too early. If he commits, the player could pass or dribble past him and then he really leaves Margreitter in the lurch. Instead he keeps enough distance to delay the attacker, forcing them to continue to run with the ball which slows him down.

Bolla cuts off the pass to the right

Something else Bolla does well is angle his body so that the attacker is forced to the left, rather than having the option of the right where a third attacker is arriving.

Bolla takes the ball cleanly

He waits until he takes a poor touch at which point he can challenge for the ball with enough of his team mates recovered by this point.

Bolla defends a counter attack effectively

An area he might be disappointed in though was the first Basel goal. He was unable to retain the ball under pressure and then gave away a needless foul for the free kick which Basel took the lead from.

Bolla gives away the ball and then fouls

With the Basel attacker going away from goal, he just needs to stay with the man until he releases the ball. The foul is needless and showed a bit of indiscipline.

Though the goal conceded from the set piece is not his fault, and the overall defensive set up was odd, Bolla’s body shape doesn’t allow him to defend the cross in.

Basel take the lead

Bolla is the first defender the cross goes past. From the side angle of the above clip, he is already facing his own goal as the ball is about to be kicked. He doesn’t get himself between the ball and the goal and if he even managed to make contact, in facing his own goal he would probably have had the same result Leo Campana has in diverting the ball into his own goal.

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Overall, this is only a small snapshot of what to expect from Bolla. This was his first appearance for Grasshopper, and only second since the European Championships from what I can tell. As he builds his fitness and relationships with his team mates at a new club, it will be interesting to revisit how he is getting on.

However, you can understand why he has an exciting reputation. He is technically strong, looks to have a good reading of the game and combines well with his team mates. He seems more like a typical full back than a wing-back to me, but we will see how he gets on if Grasshopper pursue with their 3-4-3.

You can read a little more about Bolla in an article by a Hungarian football writer, Hungarian Football with Aron.