Name: Salif Alassane Diao




Country: Senegal
Club: CS Sedan Ardennes (2000-2002), Liverpool F.C. (2002-2005)
Position: *DMF, CMF, CB
Side: RF/BS
Age: 23-26 years (10/02/1977)

Height: 186 cm
Weight: 77 kg


Attack: 69
Defence: 78
Balance: 86
Stamina: 82
Top Speed: 76
Acceleration: 74
Response: 79
Agility: 72
Dribble Accuracy: 79
Dribble Speed: 72
Short Pass Accuracy: 82
Short Pass Speed: 71
Long Pass Accuracy: 76
Long Pass Speed: 71
Shot Accuracy: 63
Shot Power: 80
Shot Technique: 61
Free Kick Accuracy: 62
Curling: 62
Header: 77
Jump: 82
Technique: 81
Aggression: 73
Mentality: 73
Goalkeeper Skills: 50
Team Work: 79

Injury Tolerance: B
Condition: 5
Weak Foot Accuracy: 5
Weak Foot Frequency: 5
Consistency: 5
Growth type: Standard

CARDS:
S08 - Slide Tackle

SPECIAL ABILITIES: Sliding

Attack/Defence Awareness Card: Balanced


INFO:
Diao is a former defensive or central midfielder who could also play as centre-back. His career started in 1996 at Épinal on loan from Monaco where he then played from 1997 to 2000. He established himself at Sedan Ardennes between 2000 and 2002, making 57 appearances. After a very good performance at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, he was signed by Liverpool but played regularly only in his first season. He played a total 61 games for Liverpool between 2002 and January 2005, scoring 3 goals. Following loans to Birmingham City and Portsmouth, he eventually had his longest spell at Stoke City from 2006 to 2012 when he retired. He capped for Senegal 43 times, scoring 4 goals.
Diao was a physically strong player who possessed remarkable passing and technical qualities. He could control the ball and dribble fairly well but was relatively slow on and off the ball, though he could show decent sprints occasionally. His short passes were overall more accurate than his long ones and Diao usually relied on accuracy rather than speed. In fact, his passes were pretty slow most of the times, and whenever he attemped to give the ball a bit more speed, the pass was often inaccurate, too long or easy to intercept. While Diao's main job was to build up the attack from the back, he could also recover possession with solid tackles in front of his own defence. For this reason, he was deployed as centre-back on occasion. He was also good with the head thanks to his height and notable jumping ability. Whilst Diao scored some goals in his career, most of which with headers, he was definitely not a good finisher. He wasn't the type of player who could trouble a goalkeeper with a shot, and his shooting technique was pretty bad.