Staring Down the Barrel of the Championship, Part Three: Starting the Rebuild — the Engine Room
The downside of doing this so early is that the Championship promotion race is far from settled. Come the summer, there will inevitably be some players who are disgruntled that they didn’t go up and that opens up the possibility of picking them off from possible promotion rivals. As such, I’m not going to talk about players like Josh Dasilva at Brentford, Alan Browne and Ben Pearson at Preston, or Joe Lolley at Nottingham Forest.
Instead, here’s some less obvious selections for the heart of the midfield.
(all numbers are per 90 and from WhoScored. I’ve filtered out any players who’ve made fewer than 10 appearances this season at the time of writing)
CM
The apple of my eye when it comes to young holding midfielders is Ethan Ampadu (19). I wrote about him a bit more here, but the TL;DR is: he’s Declan Rice, but with a better passing range. If Chelsea decide they want to sign Rice, then I’d 100% be asking for Ampadu back as part of the deal. If that’s not feasible or Rice moves elsewhere, I’d be looking to take Ampadu on loan.
I’m not sure how realistic that is, but he’s been caught in the shuffle a bit during Nagelsmann’s first season at RB Leipzig, as they continue their weird policy of signing British academy players and then not really using them. Ampadu’s been limited to two appearances off the bench in the Bundesliga, with his solitary start this season coming in a Champions League group game against Benfica. It’s therefore been a bit of a lost year for him and he could probably do with a reboot. If he doesn’t have any assurances on a pathway to the first team from Lampard then perhaps he’d be receptive to taking one step back to go forwards. Even if it’s on a temporary basis to get things back on track, his composure and ability to cover at CB would make him a fantastic capture for West Ham.
If it’s a more destructive presence higher up the pitch we’re after, we should look no further than Flynn Downes (21):
An absolute monster when it comes to closing down opponents, snapping into tackles, and driving his team forward through sheer force of will, Downes is a player whose performances belie his age. The first time I saw him play for Ipswich was in one of Manuel Pellegrini’s first games in charge for West Ham and Downes was the best player on the pitch. It was only a friendly, but we had a strong side out for that game and he ran the show. He’s gone from strength to strength since then as the best part of a poor team and whenever I watch him, I come away impressed with his tenacity.
Downes is someone who does the basics well. That sounds like a backhanded compliment, but it’s not. It demonstrates a self-restraint and willingness to act as part of a cohesive unit that is often absent in players far more experienced than the Ipswich Town man.
He reads the game well and positions himself to mop up second balls:
… and he’s capable of getting the ball under control in difficult circumstances so he can recycle possession to team-mates in space:
Downes keeps things simple with his passing and doesn’t try things with the ball beyond his means. He knows what type of player he is and he knows his own limitations — a skill in itself.
The one thing that might concern you about Downes is his speed. He buzzes around the pitch for 90 minutes with no problem, but sometimes when he’s chasing back towards his own goal, his lack of elite acceleration shows:
Although impossible to determine from the outside, he has a commanding presence on the pitch and seems like he radiates leadership, even though he’s only 21. He’s got a bit of a temper and definitely benefits from playing alongside a more disciplined partner, as it allows him to go hunting for the ball freely without having to worry too much about about disrupting the shape of the team. Downes has all of the attributes, both tangible and intangible, to be a top player.
He’s from Essex and his family supposedly support West Ham, so a move could be a good fit from a personal point of view. Given that the base fee Brentford just paid Oxford for Shandon Baptiste was ~£2.5mil, I imagine Downes could be signed for somewhere in the region of £5mil. He’d be a steal for that kind of money.
If it’s more of an all-rounder we’re after to fill out the midfield, a decent punt to take would be Ebou Adams (24) from Forest Green Rovers. The Greenwich-born midfielder has done things the hard way so far in his career: starting in non-league, doing loans at step 8 clubs in the pyramid, moving up to Norwich when they were in the Premier League and playing for their u-23s, dropping out of professional football again, before bouncing back with Forest Green in League Two this season.
Safe to say he has a point to prove and he’s spent all of this season proving that point week in, week out.
FGR have the 2nd highest possession and pass completion rates in League Two (55.1% and 75.9, respectively) and with that in mind, Adams puts up some decent defensive numbers: 1.3 interceptions (13th) and 3.3 attempted tackles, 2.7 of which are completed (15th and 17th highest).
Adams is a vital part of Rovers’ ability to retain possession. He’s fouled 4.8 times per 90, more than any other player in League Two, showcasing just how difficult he is to dispossess — opponents can’t get the ball off him by fair means, so they resort to fouling him.
He’s a solid and composed passer, with 40 passes per game (20th) and averages 1 key pass per 90 (28th), an effective dribbler with 1.1 attempted (17th) and 0.8 completed dribbles (14th), and Adams even offers a bit of a goal threat himself, shooting 1.5 times per 90, with 0.8 of those coming from inside the box (both ranked 17th).
His direct goal contribution is especially strong for a CM, with 3 goals and 4 assists(3rd) to his name.
None of these metrics are individually that impressive, but the combination of them is; there are very few players who do so much, so well as Ebou Adams does. The one area he has truly excelled in though has been in the air: 5.3 aerial challenges attempted(joint 8th) and 3.3 won (4th) is massive in a highly physical league. He moves around the pitch well, is strong enough to battle, and is technically sound enough to play in a team that is more possession-oriented than many sides higher up the English football pyramid.
Adams often drifts out wide to support attacks and the opening goal from this game against Leyton Orient illustrates his combination play around the edge of the box, as well as his predatory instincts:
Around the 2:50 minute mark of the same video, you see Adams pounce on a sloppy throw out from Dean Brill to regain possession. From there he surges forward, plays a slightly overhit pass through to his striker and then carries on his run so he can get on the end of the blocked shot to sweep home a finish with his left foot.
In the highlight that follows, you see him get on the end of a cross and demolish the goalkeeper as he wins the header. There’s still a little bit of work to be done defensively; at the 5 minute mark, you see him track back and win an initial tackle but he’s then a little sloppy reclaiming the loose ball and gives away a foul that Orient ultimately score from.
The highlights of FGR’s win over Salford gives you a flavour of why Ebou Adams is too good for this standard of football:
The first clip shows how he drives his team up the pitch as he just eats up space in front of him with the ball at his feet. The second has an opposition midfielder bouncing off him as he attempts a tackle and then demonstrates his close control after he exchanges passes with his centre forward.
At ~3:20 he presses the ball to pin the Salford player against the touchline and wins a throw. He then plays a smart first touch one-two with the thrower and another with a supporting player before unleashing a shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box. Rovers’ 4th goal comes from an incisive vertical pass from Adams that gets his side on the move quickly.
Despite his side leading 4–0, at ~7:40 you see the midfielder steam across the pitch and crunch into a tackle to win possession in the final third that nearly results in a hat-trick for Stevens.
You can get a stronger idea of his defensive capabilities against better opposition. For the opening goal against Swindon, Adams is diligent in his marking and gets back into a good area, but he’s too focused on his man and doesn’t anticipate the cross, which he possibly could’ve cut out:
What’s clear is that he’s not naturally a defensively minded footballer — when his team are out of possession, he’s sometimes guilty of ball-watching and that leaves him flat-footed, making it more difficult to react to changes around him. He’s a much more effective player when he’s asked to be proactive and can do his defending in the opposition’s half to create turnovers in dangerous areas.
The second half of that Swindon game shows what a threat he can be going going forward, as virtually every clip has Adams making an off-the-ball run into the box from midfield to support his team’s attacks. As FGR usually play in a 3–5–2 shape, these runs into the channels mean that Adams often functions as an auxiliary striker for his side.
He’s capable of contributing in possession deeper in the pitch too by acting as the pivot. In the reverse fixture against Salford, he hoovers up an interception, lays the ball off to a defender, offers for the return pass, passes it off first time to Perry Kitching and then cycles in to fill the vacated space at CB as Kitching carries the ball up the pitch to the right wing, leading to a goal:
Adams is still relatively inexperienced, with just over 100 appearances at any level to his name, despite being 24. There’s certainly a player in there. I don’t think he’ll ever be a world beater, but for the right price (contract expires 2021) he could be a fantastic gamble and someone who could have a part to play in the Championship and maybe even higher.
