I understand the point, but Simeu was billed as a B team signing. I’m surprised he has not had a chance this pre-season, but Martin doesn’t seem to rate him as he’s given plenty of minutes to academy players across this pitch in pre-season. As far as the others, last season was such a mess with different managers and of course form that I think players like Larios and Edozie who were purchased with the future in mind have got chucked in the bad recruitment bracket. When realistically they were purchased to be initially on our bench.
Long message here, but this is from the Secret Scout on Twitter. Awe seems right up RM’s alley in terms of style of play. Scouting Report & Profiling: Zach Awe Ahmed Moallin | 16/11/2022 Player Profile: Zach Awe is a commanding ball playing centre back who is comfortable enough to play at either left centre back and right centre back as well as the ability to deputise in defensive midfield. I would also add that Awe’s traits allow the possibility to play in all the 3 centre back positions in a back 3. His development has been astronomical both in quality and time with his debut for the Arsenal U18 side at the age of 15 and the Arsenal U23 side at the age of 16. To highlight the potential possessed by Awe, he has participated in numerous first team training sessions as well as featuring on the bench in a Premier League game for Arsenal’s first team win against Wolves in February 2022. Positive Traits: Awe’s pausa on the ball is the most striking of traits. He’s never rushed and prefers to wait until a passing option manufactures itself via central midfielders stepping out of opponent shadows or arriving into close zones to support Awe. Fullbacks are also a key receiver as Awe has a tendency to split the opposing centre forward and ball side winger to find the fullback attacking space once he comes short to attract the pressure. He can also manufacture a passing option by himself through his ball manipulation to escape from immediate pressure through directional touches, feints, drag backs and vertical carrying — a trait he shows a lot of potential in. His ability to stay calm in a variety of situations, entailing both dangerous and advantageous moments, is a trait rarely seen in seasoned professionals let alone an academy player. These on ball tendencies and execution of complex technical aspects such as 3rd man, reception priorities (back foot and/or front foot, relative body orientation, ambidextrous nature etc etc), angle support for receiver, last line organisation and reorganisation in relation to the tactical model, etc etc, are crucial for a ball playing defender when looking to complete the build up with clean actions, allowing progression to be also be cleaner (no bobbles, misplaced passes, passes into danger/trapping teammate, etc etc) The manner in which Awe deals with aerial balls is of particular interest. In a recent Arsenal U21-Crystal Palace U21 game, almost every aerial ball was met with a chest control whilst fending off the duel from the opponent using his arms, a cushioned thigh control to take the sting out of a difficult ball or a cushioned foot control to bring the ball to the ground – even when there was immediate pressure or opponents within 5 yards. The efficiency when securing control over the ball is also impressive, often taking a maximum of 2 touches before the ball is grounded and ready for the next action without any bobbles, misplaces or invoking immediate pressure on loose touches. It’s clear that Awe doesn’t just clear his lines for that sake and would rather win duels to maintain possession and look to exploit the immediate gaps often left as players from both teams usually ball watch when a duel is being contested. In doing this, he’s able to take the chaos out of a game and reestablish control by starting build up sequences over again which is key for heavily possession based systems when coping against complex pressing and counter pressing structures. When you couple the physically imposing attributes of Awe with his technical traits, it’s clear there is a heightened degree of press resistance. Generally, players with such long limbs struggle with keeping the ball close to them under pressure, have lower centre of gravity and actions are delayed as there is a longer distance that legs have to move before connecting without losing balance.. However, this isn’t the case with Awe. He often plays short passes and combinations with minimal backlift and is always adjusting his orientation to receive on the optimal foot to evade pressure and possibly play with the second touch if not the first touch. This also ties into the efficiency of his play which was noted previously. Awe’s passing range is also impressive. At the moment, his grounded passes and finding teammates between tight passing lanes is his specialty as he usually keeps a good posture which prevents him from being unbalanced, allowing the actions committed, especially passes, to be cleanly executed without too much power (leaning forward) or too little power (leaning backwards). Although the accuracy and consistency of his long range and aerial passes can be improved, he cuts across the ball quite well to play fast lateral switches as well as getting underneath the ball well if distance and height is required. One of my favourite aspects of ball playing in Awe’s vast repertoire is his combination play. His vertical dribbling and bypassing of blocks before setting off perfectly weighted passes and looking to receive again really high into opposition territory is a mark of technical excellence and bravery which should be encouraged by his coaches. His weight of touches when carrying the ball as well as his altering of steps and touches to react to incoming pressure makes his driving as risk free as can be given that carrying into central areas will always attract opponents to immediately press and try to exploit the gap in central defense. Awe’s vertical and central carrying induces a sense of alarm amongst the opponents block which turns into gravity towards Awe, breaking out of their structure. When combined with his clear appreciation for the 3rd man, it creates the end result which is vertical combinations before finding wide players. Often when a player commits such a daring action, they feel that it must be completed because of the gap left behind and so aren’t mentally present to ensure that the technical requirements for the vertical dribble are deployed. They’re so aware of the potential risk of a turnover that the prerequisites for retention in that situation are of secondary priority. This is far from the case with Awe. One of the technical prerequisites for those willing to carry out this high risk, high reward tendency to carry and commit before continuing on is the angle support for whoever is in possession at the moment. Where many players would play the pass and go back to their position in the structure, Awe creates a new passing lane with his movement to further solidify and retain possession which allows his team to get through the thirds much cleaner with the carrier constantly being provided a passing option, preventing the need to carry out individual actions and risking turnovers. Despite some mistakes, the positive attitude in his ball playing and intention is crucial in his development. His tendency and affinity with combination play and execution of such actions can develop into a real techno-tactical weapon. Similar examples in professional football include Alessandro Bastoni’s wide centre back role with Inter Milan, Anel Ahmedhodzic carrying role with Sheffield United and John Stones arrival into final thirds, evidenced by the recent Dortmund-Manchester City game in the Champions League group phase [22/23]. Negative Traits: There are sayings such as: ‘Too much of a good thing is a bad thing’ and ‘everything in moderation’; Awe’s composure applies in this instance. Whilst composure is an admired trait, there is a growing affinity with a lack of engagement in defensive actions among young centre backs. It's almost an aesthetic to avoid physical confrontation —A trait Virgil Van Dijk has been oddly praised for. There are some positives here as there is greater control of space in behind and limits the danger of committing and being isolated between opposing passing combinations and it also allows the defender to deny, delay and distract the carrier. However, this also opens up room for the carrier to deceive the defender and create opportunities in attacking moments. For a defender with Awe’s physical capabilities which consist of a tall, slender and flexible upper body allowing him to adapt to awkward situations, recovery speed with good acceleration and long strides, balance whilst dueling with opponents and aerial prowess, imposing those capabilities must not be avoided as it is sometimes necessary. The earlier he becomes acclimatised to such engagement, the better his transition to first team football will be. I find that because of Awe’s long limbs, he’s sometimes exposed when a player changes directions multiple times in quick succession whilst Awe is still readjusting his orientation and sorting his feet to regain situationally optimal jockeying angles to the previous change of direction. When this is coupled with his standoffish nature and affinity with delaying, which he’s also quite good at, the attacker is given a few yards to punish Awe in this manner. If Awe is found in 1v1 situations in wide areas during transitions to defend following a loss of possession, it’s imaginable that whilst he covers space between passing options before closing down on the carrier, a better dribbler will exploit Awe by going directly at him and beating him with close control and multiple changes of direction to unbalance Awe. I also detect a sense of not being challenged by his current level of opponents/league/football. If there is a lack of a challenge, a player’s development will regress and it becomes much more difficult to consistently apply the relative principles to be the best player one can be. This can also be a worrisome mentality trait as it's not ideal for a player to start becoming accustomed to their environment and stoop down in terms of level of play rather than rising above and depicting the fact that they are playing at a step below what their quality demands. His defensive headers, defensive dueling and defensive actions are quite passive. At times he seems to let balls go over his head when control isn’t viable and tries to recover by recycling rather than winning the header immediately. One would say this is good to retain possession. However, the problem with that is Awe opens up room for opponents to press him as he’s now facing his own goal and unaware of situations. For example, whilst an attacker presses Awe, opponent wingers using loose, bouncing balls and his body shape facing his own goal as a trigger to cut off recycle passes to fullbacks and strikers can cut off the goalkeeper option. Awe is also prone to turning his back to play when trying to manipulate his incoming presser which is odd as he has the security in possession to execute drag backs, dummies, feints et al whilst facing the opponent. In these actions where Awe finds himself turning his back to the end he is attacking puts him, and his team, in situations where the opponents have squeezed up the pitch to box them in and could prove detrimental when trying to build up under pressure. Tactical Potential: Awe is such an interesting player as he strikes me as a profile which would suit differing styles of play and roles within similar or different game models. It’s clear he’s naturally a right centre back so projected roles such as right centre back and central centre back make some degree of sense. However his performances at left centre back for Arsenal U21 open up a tactical can of worms. One role that would sound Aweis that of a left centre back with license to make use of his vertical carrying in a wide back 3. This would be great as his strength in ball striking with weaker foot, consistent and controlled weight of touches when carrying, protection in transition from 2 other central defenders, and creativity in finding solutions to deal with the situation at hand be it via an individual action or a collective action. He deals with channel attacks very well through his composure to bring the ball down and restarting of play, recovery speed, and positioning to limit pass options before converging on the carrier. He’ll also have protection if isolated in 1v1 situations which are a weak point but only in relation to his better qualities. In progression to final 3rd, Awe can act as the first line of rest defense to consolidate possession and control in the opposing half, attacking the box as a late arrival to meet far side half space crosses, playing incisive line breaks to teammates occupying left half space and into the centre forward as he disguises his array of passes well. These include zipped ground passes? Clipped passes directly into the players feet without bobbles to facilitate easier control, reverse passes with body shape manipulation as well as others. Another role that would be intriguing is an overlapping/inverting LB in a back 4. Awe’s running power, combination ability, long strides which could coveri ground quickly to meet passes in behind, clean connection and ball striking in final action which could be crosses and the wonderfully surprising security of his weaker foot which is crucial to this. The inverting aspect is also viable as the angles provided to a right footed LB are heavily in favour of coming inside with the ball, which is often discouraged. However, if the tactical model allows heavy central occupation, Awe inverting to be a temporary deep lying playmaker along side the natural deep lying playmaker could be advantageous given Awe’s understanding of 1 touch play, tempo variance to speed and slow game down, angle support for receivers, counter pressing potential in case of turnover, controlled nature and insistence of passing/retaining team possession to deal with immediate pressure. This overlapping/inverted role would be applied as and when the situation allows and so given Awe would be taught the technical and tactical principles that allow such a transformation, I believe this is just another example of the tactical flexibility and potential possessed by Awe as well as the tactical ambiguity his team own with Awe deployable in a number of roles within various structures. Summary: Zach Awe’s capabilities are en vogue and are a highly sought after repertoire and so it is not a surprise to see a club like Arsenal, who are known to appreciate minute technical details, hold him in such high regard. At the moment, I would say that Zach is playing below his level and is due a prolonged stint with the first team and receive the elite technical and tactical guidance of Arteta and his staff or to have a loan at a Championship level team. There should also be the exploration of loaning Awe to a team who deploy a setup which is counterproductive with Awe’s skillset to further develop and expand his defensive repertoire. It is plausible that a stint with a team that defends in low and mid blocks would increase his positional awareness, timing of engagement, communication and leadership of defensive units, dueling (headers, powerful centre forwards, dynamic threats beyond last lines). For points of reference, I’d suggest Awe analyses the techno-tactical nuances possessed by players such as John Stones, Anel Ahmedhodzic and Alessandro Bastoni.
We were after Colwill last summer who was obviously young and had just one season in the Championship, obviously Brighton beat us to him. I have no problem with us going for players like this. So long as we do also bring in some more battle hardened experience too. So far one we've brought in one young player and one experienced. Difficult to know who stays out of our CBs but Stepens, Bedders and this young lad + one more seems pretty decent to me.
It's a fine line. We tried to bring in 'experience' (or at least players of a certain age who were seen as being able to provide more of an instant impact) in January and it was utterly disastrous. The right player is the right player, regardless of age. I like that a lot of these are a) wanted by others and b) have leadership profiles which we need. I also like that we have a style of play in mind and that signings fit with it.
JWP is never injured, maybe he is due a little knock that'll keep him out for a few weeks, maybe until 1st September perhaps.
Hopefully Martin gets this over the line. If it was a prem side I dont think Martin's influence would be enough, but we are in a similar position to Leeds and would probably offer similar wages.
Blimey, he sounds like Superman. Plus this reads like someone’s degree thesis. I bet most of Saints players get a three line paragraph at most.
