Patrick Dorgu - Danish Dynamite
What does he offer and what are the current drawbacks of his profile?
The Narrative - What is Dorgu Really
With all the surrounding chatter around Dorgu and Manchester United in general recently, I think it’s important to breakdown what Dorgu is and what he is not.
Having played as a RW at Lecce with his hand in quite a few goals, the narrative around him became something quite detached from reality, this is no Bale esque winger.
Patrick Dorgu is a LB, and a conventional one at that. While Dorgu possesses high level athleticism in the form of burst, core strength and aerial strength to win duels and cover ground, this has not yet developed into a quality offensive skillset despite his time at RW for Lecce.
In fact the comparison I made earlier that rings the most true for Dorgu is a more intense but less technically skilled version of post injury Luke Shaw at United. The flying FB potential is there, aswell as the creative ceiling and the ability to come inside but they all have to be drawn out of him with more time and coaching. Just like younger Luke Shaw who frustrated Mourinho at times with lacking intensity and final ball, Dorgu also has to work on his offensive toolkit with regards to picking the right passes in the final third and offering a more consistent crossing threat. For Dorgu the question is just about getting more repetitions, more offensive experience to build connections and find the right solutions transitioning from a defensive LB at a mediocre team to a more flying LWB on a dominant team.
This learning process will clearly take time, and there’s already been clear signs of improvement with how Dorgu reads the game and his own teammates movements to better match his passes up to what is required from him, and his ceiling is very high.
TLDR — Since I’m about to get into more detail, if you don’t have the time
LWB: Yes LCB: Maybe RWB: Meh only with right support
Landmark positives: Athleticism, duelling, spatial understanding
—> Last line vision, carrying, attacking space on last line
Weaknesses: Consistency of passing range, 1v1 decisiveness, defending details
—> Footwork can be slow defensively, ballstriking consistency
Dorgu’s Skillset - Pros, Cons and everything in between
DEFENDING - Dorgu is a very dogged defender, aggressive sometimes to a fault but very good at unsettling defenders with little nudges and outmuscling them for the ball both in the ground and in the air. Also although he came up abit short for the Elanga goal yesterday, his general slide tackling technique is also pretty good aswell as his sense for danger from the opposition. What he does offer, albeit with some defensive lapses (like the Elanga switchoff yesterday) is the capacity to be a very high level defensive asset, with Dorgu even playing at LCB in the past. All in all both his defensive instincts and execution are already quite good with the potential for him to truly be a brick wall of a LB in the future.
ATTACKING - Dorgu is VERY clever at reading and attacking space. For me, this is the most important trait for potential scalability as an attacking force for WB’s aside a player’s ball striking range. Even if his execution can be lacking in the final pickout or his teammates fail to find his runs, similarly to Dalot he is really good arriving from deeper and timing last line runs to be able to get free of opposition defenders.
This is hyper valuable as a WB along with his strong aerial prowess, especially in the longer run as United become more dominant and pin teams in their own half more. Combined with how good he is at crashing the back post we’ve seen at RW, Dorgu should be able to make more dangerous blindside runs into the box similar to what Ryan Sessegnon used to do at Fulham (throwball baller) to get more G/A, getting headers or shots off in a congested box. Right now his threat is minimal in this regard since we don’t often sustain enough possession to let him arrive in those moments, but should become a major weapon for the team.
Right now, Dorgu provides strong offensive value with powerful carrying up the pitch especially from the typical LB deeper zones into the LHS/LW then looking to release to teammates inside. While this hasn’t led to many goals yet for United largely because our FW’s aren’t good enough, this should be a big part in breaking down high presses and low blocks as we improve as a team. Dorgu also uses his body very well in general to come through challenges unscathed or buy fouls if he can’t bulldoze his way through, he’s alot more clever than some other power carriers out there.
In terms of final ball, Dorgu ideally wants to arrive late to whip low balls across the box like we saw with his recent assist to Eriksen for Denmark, aswell as more looping crosses from deep into the danger zone for the FWs. While we’ve seen evidence of both of these for United, sharpening up the consistency of his delivery aswell as being able to buy time 1v1 with stepovers could be key to being a player with a more successful final ball. Regardless, his current final ball is already a weapon in the cutback zones which will become more evident as the team actually uses him more.
Since I didn’t mention it earlier, the main reason I think Dorgu is NOT suited for RWB comes down to the way he shields on the right (just not very well). That combined with him having just average hip fluidity for a FB means that he’s not really shifty enough to get on the inside of defenders 1v1 unless they’re distracted/off balance already on the right. This same weakness of 1v1 dribbling is alot less important at LWB, because as mentioned a stepover —> cross combo on the left will have huge threat for us without him needing to actually get past his man on that side.
In general, Dorgu’s dribbling/shielding tendencies aswell as how often he likes to bounce passes and combine to come inside with his strong foot to buildup all make it much easier for him to flow at LWB as opposed to on the right which shows his flaws and rawness alot more in possession.
Patrick Dorgu - Ideal Usage
Dorgu ideally loves to come inside as a LWB, looking infield and narrowing in from the flank. He’s got the freight train gene ala Benjamin Mendy, powerful while combining that with clever attacking of both central space on the carry and on the last line running past defenders. He is most at home in the deeper zones, traditional LB areas to combine but also coming centrally into deeper midfielder to link and higher up carrying into the 10 spots. While Dorgu is athletic, he’s very much a FB dribbler, not someone super electric in 1v1s to be able to truly hold a flank on his own.
Dorgu is ideally a support runner, as mentioned earlier he should be the less aggressive of the 2 WB’s if United ever build in a pseudo 4-4-2/ 4-3-3, and as such Dorgu’s defensive skills, aswell as nous in buildup, running into MF and vision on the last line as a later arriver from deep should all serve the team very well.
That strong athleticism and deception is the baseline for his offensive value aswell, with strong if erratic passing, who is eager to combine and look inwards for support. Dorgu will certainly look to hit more first time or early balls into the box as he grows at LWB, picking out FWs from deeper/wider positions more consistently ala a Robertson will be a huge positive for United’s offensive balance. In addition, Dorgu uses his weak foot quite well to escape pressure, and has good footwork defensively aswell.
The easiest way to “unleash” Dorgu is simply to give him more reps and time as a LWB under Amorim, more time to form connections and thrive on the last line with consistent crossing aswell as getting more locked in with reading PL pace attackers when they’re trying to shift him defensively.
A great benchmark for current quality for Dorgu, is that he’s already a better player than Valentino Livramento was in his first year at Newcastle which is a pretty good bar for where he is as a player. A very highly rated prospect with all the desired technical/mental and physical attributes who just has to work on putting it all together.
I have full confidence that Dorgu’s ability to attack the back post and fizz balls into the box for last line and deeper teammates will yield very solid rewards in the years to come BUT that Dorgu will definitely still be the less attacking of the 2 WB’s so our RHS dynamics should also clearly focus on top athletic dribblers who love cutbacks/crosses that Dorgu can get on the end of more constantly.
To sum it up, Dorgu is a wonderful LB prospect with the potential to be a truly complete 2 way weapon in a few years, and a great signing for United.