Eric Smith Scouting Report 2024/25: The Vintage Beckenbauer Role Making A Comeback At St. Pauli

From the 1960s to the 1980s, the role of the sweeper (or libero) was very popular in football.

One of the most interesting features of the role was that it allowed the defender, usually behind the rest of the back line, to drive vertically into the midfield area with or without the ball.

In recent years, the evolution of football tactics has seen a return to this pattern, with many coaches preferring to play their centre-back forward when in possession of the ball.

The centre-back will play higher than the others, usually on the same line as the midfielder (or sometimes even higher).

Names such as John Stones, Manuel Akanji, and Ricardo Calafiori have emerged from this trend by playing this role.

In Germany, one name is hardly ever mentioned, even though he’s been playing quite well in that role since 2022.

His name is Eric Smith, and he plays for St. Pauli.

It is interesting to analyse Eric Smith’s tactical role.

Thus, this tactical analysis and his scout report will explore his ability to play a hybrid role as a defender in the Bundesliga and his value to the St. Pauli system.

Eric Smith: A Centre-Back Who Plays As A ‘Number 6’ In-Possession
Since Fabian Hürzeler (now, of course, at Brighton & Hove Albion) replaced Timo Schultz at the end of 2022, St. Pauli have played a back-three formation—specifically 3-4-3.

In this system, Smith plays as a central centre-back.

Under Schultz, he played in various positions, from defensive midfielder to centre-back.

While other back-three coaches, such as Manuel Gasperini and Chris Wilder, often use their wide centre-backs to play upfield, leaving the centre-back in place, Hürzeler did the opposite when in charge of St. Pauli.

He prefers his wide centre-backs to stay back or even play tight when the ball is in play and let his central centre-back move forward.

Therefore, in the first phase of the build-up, he only uses two players as the first distributor (these are his two centre-backs, often played by Karol Mets on the left and Hauke Wahl on the right).

Meanwhile, Smith moves to the midfielder area, in the same line as Jackson Irvine (one of the central midfielders), as St. Pauli under Hürzeler often played in a 2-2 (box) shape for the first phase of their build-up.