Diamonds in the Rough: Charlie Kirk

I’m republishing some writing I did in articles about transfer options for West Ham as a series of individual player profiles, mostly for the purpose of readability.

Charlie Kirk is 22 year old right-footed winger who plays for Crewe Alexandra. Kirk has operated mostly from the left wing, although he does have license to roam, regularly floating out to the right:

Typically for Crewe, Kirk is one of a bunch of academy graduates who had helped propel the side to the top of League Two before the season ceased, with Kirk starting 35 of the 37 league games his team played.

The Numbers

(minimum 18 appearances)

Kirk wracked up 2.2 key passes per 90 (4th among wingers and 10s), passed the ball 37.1 times per 90 (2nd for total passes , having played practically double the minutes of everyone else in the top 10), and has provided 14 assists, comfortably more than anyone else in his position. Only 0.2 of those key passes came from crosses though, slightly unusually for a wide player. Kirk isn’t a set piece taker, so all of his chances have been created from open play.

He already plays for a side who are comfortable building out from the back — Crewe’s 56.3% average possession is the highest in League Two, as is their 76.5% pass completion — which should make a step up in standard an easier process for Kirk. In fact, Crewe dominate the ball to such an extent that there are only 5 teams in any of the top four divisions in England who average more possession than they do (Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Fulham, and Leeds). That level of control in games is a bit of a double-edged sword for their players. On the one hand, more possession grants players more touches of the ball and gives them more opportunities to make decisions in possession, which can only be beneficial for their individual development. On the other, few sides regularly experience this much of the ball, which raises doubts over how well-suited and effective players like Kirk would be if they moved to a team playing a different tactical style.

He’s also chipped in with 7 goals from his 2.6 shots per 90 (6th most among wingers/10s), including efforts like this jinking run and composed finish to steal a victory against Oldham:

Kirk only attempts ~1 dribble per 90 (23rd out of the 26 players in his position to meet the appearances cut off). He completes 0.6 of those, so has a slightly better than 50/50 chance of beating his man this season. Same story with contested aerial duels (25th of 26, 0.8 attempted and just 0.2 won). He’s not going to be towering over full-backs to win knock downs, but that’s not what you have him in the team for anyway. He’s down near the bottom of the pile for tackles, interceptions, and fouls conceded, a further reflection of Crewe’s possession % and Kirk’s playing style.

In Possession

(Kirk is blonde, generally wears red boots in these clips, and wears the number 10 shirt)

In these highlights from the game against MK Dons last season, you can see hallmarks of Kirk’s game: cutting in from the left with an upright running style, a low centre of gravity, and low shots taken early with little backlift:

You also get a sense of the freedom he has to roam and his ability to play more expansive passes, as he pops up on the right side of the pitch and sprays a long pass into the path of his centre forward in the box:

That big switch to a player on the break is clearly something he has in his locker, as he played a similar one after pouncing on a stray pass to get an assist against Macclesfield:

Although that might seem at odds with Crewe’s general approach to passing, it’s a pattern of play they use with regularity; building up from the back with short passes to draw the opposition forward followed by one of the central midfielders raking a long pass into space for Kirk to chase after. Kirk might not be beating defenders by dribbling with the ball at his feet, but his off-the-ball runs in behind allow him to provide a threat from out wide in a different sort of way. The cushioned touch on his chest while on the move is picture perfect here:

Kirk isn’t blessed with blistering pace and he’s therefore never going to burn past his opposite number, but he causes problems by consistently running directly at defenders when he does decide to dribble, forcing them into difficult decisions. That lack of outright speed means you sometimes get situations like this, where Kirk loses the ball after a heavy touch, wins it back, but then decides against entering a footrace with the opposition backline and instead checks back to pass the ball inside:

This tendency to slow things down and make considered passes is a testament to his composure, but it also raises doubts about how his game would translate to a side that wanted to play fast counter-attacking football.

Kirk has clear footballing intelligence though and appreciation for space. His first goal from that game against FGR comes because he’s clever enough to hold his position at the far post while everyone else is sucked towards the near post:

… while his second goal demonstrates quick thinking and how much faith he has in his touch and technique:

Relationship with Pickering

One of the primary features of Crewe’s game is their combination play down the left-hand side, where Kirk enjoys a particularly fruitful relationship with his left-back, Harry Pickering.

In these clips from the game against Salford, you get a flavour of how that partnership functions. First you have Kirk committing defenders on the outside down by the byline before finding Pickering on the inside, where he unleashes a shot right into the top corner.

Then, after a long kick out from the GK, the ball makes its way to Pickering, who slides a beautifully weighted pass with his weaker foot into Kirk who had found space down the flank. Kirk delays, draws three defenders to him and then chops inside and finds the underlapping run from his LB.

Kirk and Pickering also combine in more conventional ways, with Pickering bursting forward with late runs outside of Kirk’s general narrow positioning:

Later in the same match, a similar situation arises but Kirk opts to use Pickering’s run as a decoy in order to cut inside and shoot at goal:

These two have such a solid of each other’s games that they can interchange how they’re attacking fluidly and their ability to occupy different channels at the same time makes Crewe a potent force going forward.

General Wing Play

Kirk’s also capable of offering a threat by retaining his width, although he usually opts to check back on his right foot (in this case he achieves this by stopping and allowing the defender’s momentum to carry him away from Kirk, rather than Kirk actively manipulating the ball) even when he’s operating from a wider starting position like a more conventional winger:

Something that sets Kirk apart is the gravity he possesses. Because he is so evidently talented with the ball at his feet, he draws opponents towards him and forces defences to overcommit to stop him. In turn, that creates space for his team-mates to exploit. You can see that here against Stevenage, where Kirk picks up a loose ball in an inside left position and carries it forward.

As he approaches the edge of the box, four Stevenage defenders collapse around him, allowing Kirk to slip the pass out to central midfielder James Jones, who has made an overlapping run. Jones stands the ball up the back post for the opening goal.

Stevenage apparently failed to learn their lesson as they were undone by a similar move in the 2nd half as well. In the first of these back-to-back clips, Kirk finds himself in a moment of transition where his lack of outright pace shows but he still manages to keep his opposing full-back honest by taking the ball down the line and firing in a tame shot with his left foot.

Then we have a typical stop-overlap- pass move, this time with Ryan Wintle as the overlapper. After laying the ball off, Kirk carries on his run into the box and squeezes in a shot at the near post that results in a goal thanks to some shoddy goalkeeping.

Another of Kirk’s great strengths is that he’s unrushed and unafraid of playing the game at his own pace. There are plenty of examples of situations like this, where he’ll drop deep to pick up possession, put his foot on the ball, survey his options, and then get his team moving again. Here he slips a nice pass through the lines and make himself available for the return before stinging the goalkeeper’s palms with a shot from range.

Even when he’s not directly creating chances or scoring goals, Kirk is the ideal player to act as a fulcrum if you put more mobile players around him.

Kirk is also happy to make those supporting runs into the box himself and get on the end of shots. Against Salford, he starts in a tucked-in central position and busts a gut to get on the end of a low cross:

Equally adept at playing the leading man and a supporting role in the final third, Kirk offers a variety and versatility to Crewe’s attacking movement that makes him a vital cog.

Out of Possession

Kirk does drop back to support his full-back, but mostly helps by using his positioning to deter passes, rather than actively pressing or making tackles. Like most young players though, he occasionally gets attracted to the ball and switches off, which makes tracking his man more difficult:

As his numbers show, he’s not a particularly proactive or effective defender, so he needs to be surrounded by players who can pick up the slack for him in that regard.

Summary

From what I’ve seen, he’s a bit like a budget version of Christian Eriksen when he played out on the left in early iterations of Pochettino’s Tottenham; someone who wants the ball at his feet so he can cut inside and unlock defences with his passing. He lacks the tenacity of Eriksen out of possession but there are similarities in style, if not in quality.

The major concern for potential buyers is that the likes of Sammie Szmodics, Mo Eisa, Reece Brown, and Jayden Stockley have all shown in recent seasons that the jump from League 2 to the Championship is quite a steep one to make in one go.

The other concern is whether the whole of this Crewe team is greater than the sum of its parts. There are some unquestionably talented footballers among this bunch, but how much of their quality as a side derives from their familiarity with each other? Charlie Kirk, Harry Pickering, Ryan Wintle, Tom Lowery, and Callum Ainley were all born within a year of each other and will have played countless games together throughout the various youth levels in Crewe’s academy. If you separate these individuals from one another, how effective will they be without those well-established relationships on the pitch?

After the decision yesterday, Crewe have been promoted to League One. Sadly for Crewe, the financial pressures of the Covid-19 situation mean that this squad will inevitably be picked apart by those clubs who still have money to spend when football resumes, so we (probably) sadly won’t get to see how far this collection of academy players can progress together. Anyone who takes a punt on Charlie Kirk will be getting an intriguing and talented player though.