In the Premier League this season, there has been no player more successful than Everton’s Richarlison in terms of taking headed shots at goal.
His total of 21 headed attempts is the most in the division and also ranks as the fifth-highest across all of Europe’s top five leagues this season.
The Brazilian has netted 10 league goals so far, with four coming from headed efforts - only Burnley’s Chris Wood has scored more.
This obviously means headed efforts have accounted for 40% of his total league goals scored this season which highlights how important aerial threat is to his overall game.
Everton aid this area of his talent by being frequent crosses of the ball - only Manchester City and Liverpool have attempted more crosses this season.
This has assisted the 22-year-old in terms of opportunities to head the ball, however, his high output in this regard is just as much down to his own astute penalty area movements and striker instincts.
Below is the location from which all of Richarlison’s headed shots have come from this season.
As we can see, the bulk come from locations in between the six-yard-box and penalty area, with a focus on central locations and areas parallel to the near posts. The reasons for this will be highlighted in the analysis below.
Having studied Richarlison's headed efforts from this season in greater detail, here are three of the main strategies the attacker uses across different match scenarios...
Scenario 1 - Attack from a corner
Like all three of these highlighted areas, slight adjustments are made depending on the opposition. From a corner kick, changes can be made if the opponent is set up in a zonal marking system or a man marking system, but on the whole, the strategy of attack from a corner is as follows.
Richarlison will position himself in between the two zonal defensive lines, but he doesn't signal any direction in terms of the run he will make.
As the set-piece taker begins his run, Richarlison will start to make a darting run from behind the defender's line of vision and towards the front post. Note the role of Mason Holgate in the move, he acts as the blocker so the defender marking that zone cannot challenge Richarlison in the air.
The block is successful and Richarlison meets the ball - but cannot direct his header goalwards on this occasion.
The above is a familiar tactic used by Everton to assist Richarlison and it appeared several times during the analysis. If Richarlison was being man-marked, he would use body faints to try and shake off his defender before making that same near-post run.
It’s a big reason why we see so many of his headed shots come from those near post areas.
Scenario 2 - Attacks from free-kicks
In free-kick situations, timing tends to be key to success. Richarlison will normally occupy an offside position prior to the delivery of a free-kick. Then, as the set-piece taker begins his run, he will quickly drop back onside before looking to attack the ball.
At first glance, this pattern may seem unnecessary, yet there are a couple of advantages to the system.
Firstly some defenders will be inclined to drop deeper to follow the attacker, therein breaking their own defensive line and potentially playing more of Everton’s attackers onside.
Additionally, as the set-piece taker begins his run, Richarlison will often drop deep, push the defender away to both create space for himself to get onside and also create a gap between the two. This then leaves him goalside and with an unopposed heading opportunity as the defending player tries to recover. We see the above in the below series of graphics.
Everton line up to take a free-kick vs Manchester City and Richarlison has positioned himself offside and goalside of his marker.
As the set-piece taker begins his run, Richarlison steps back onside and pushes his marker before making his run to attack the ball.
That push gives him the edge and he meets the header unopposed.
Scenario 3 - Attack from open play
During the analysis, it was clear Richarlison’s main strategy from open play was to make late runs from deep towards the centre of the penalty area.
The obvious suspicion is that Everton’s wing-backs practise this in training and are instructed to aim for this area with their crosses.
In the above, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison are in similar starting positions as the attack builds.
By the time Djibril Sidibé shapes up to cross the ball, Calvert-Lewin has driven into the box and is perhaps hoping for a cross aimed towards the near-post. Richarlison, however, has curved his run slightly, therein occupying a slightly deeper position.
This run from deep helps him beat his defender to the ball and generate plenty of power to fire his effort past the keeper.
A lot of the above attacking scenarios were formulated by Marco Silva and his team, meaning we may not see them replicated to the same extent under Carlo Ancelotti.
But they do still indicate that no matter what methods are brought in, Richarlison possess the ability to execute them and continue to be a serious threat in the air.
