[THREAD] Ipswich recently announced the signing of James Norwood, League 2's top scorer last season. With Ipswich being a relatively local side to me, and having watched a lot of League 2 this past season, I thought I'd have a look at what Norwood might bring to #ITFC.
Images from these clips:
Using @StatsBomb and a few sources for data, this is a per90 comparing Norwood with the league's 9 other top scorers - Tyler Walker, Nicky Maynard, Kieran Agard, Chuks Aneke, Jayden Stockley*, Padraig Amond, John Akinde, Jay O'Shea and Hallam Hope.
* Stockley moved in January.
* Stockley moved in January.
So the numbers on the outside of the circle represent the best data set each of the ten recorded, the corresponding number closest to the centre the worst. We can see, for example, Norwood's shot accuracy of 63% was the highest out of the ten; Stockley's was the worst at 46%.
All in all, things look quite good - especially as the comparison isn't against the entire league, but against the nine other top scorers. To pick out two concerns, assists - 0.02 per 90 is bad - and shot volume; just under 2.8 per game isn't bad at all but not high level.
Incidentally, the player with the highest shot volume is, surprisingly, MK Dons midfielder Chuks Aneke, who had more shots per 90 than the top scoring 9 strikers in the league. Not bad for the youngest player on here, either.
On the subject of age, at 28 Norwood is one of the youngest of the 10 and, with Stockley already in the Championship, the best value for money as Aneke would doubtless have commanded a fee. Good business so far from Ipswich, so the data says. Onto the eye test:
One of the first things that struck me having rewatched the whole Play-Off Final, a short YouTube clip showing each of his goals this year and a longer one detailing his career across 2013-2017, is his proficiency in the half-spaces. As ever, I'll try and keep...
this easy to understand, but this requires some understanding of football theory. Essentially - the FA are big on this so-called "Zone 14", meant to maximise attacking output through possession in the most dangerous areas of the field - just in front of the opposite penalty area.
But in terms of dividing up a pitch, this is a much more useful set-up, since every coach goes through the same programme and everyone's taught about zone 14. This leads to defences being tightly organised around said zone - neglecting the wider spaces either side of it.
(this isn't a new idea I've come up with - I first saw it on @spielvercom a while back)
Anyway - Norwood is *immense* at finishing from these areas. These are just four of his goals from these positions but his highlights reels are full of them. A clean striker of the ball, his preferred finish is low across the goalkeeper and it pays dividends more often than not.
(excuse the quality of the images) The main reason I like Norwood is he's smart. He's so good at creating half a yard in the penalty area, mainly through blindside runs, to give himself the opportunity to score. Look - two yards from the goal line and he's not under any pressure
You'd think such a prolific goalscorer would be a focus for opposition defenders. His movement makes these stills look almost embarrassing for the defending side, especially considering he lacks the pace of someone like Tyler Walker. So much time to pick his spot.
This is all testament to his movement off the ball. It's more obvious with his headed goals - he's a shade under 6ft but most of his headers are scored uncontested; he reads the flight better than his marker, positions himself properly and uses the pace on the ball to score.
Experience and intelligence combine to give him some pretty sharp reactions too - this was a situation where the ball rebounded back to him in enough space to easily get the shot off, and score. He's ideally suited for the lower leagues in this regard.
As a conclusion, what do I make of his move to Ipswich? He's exactly the kind of player they need. They'll get a striker entering the prime of his career, who knows what the lower professional leagues are all about, as well as a proven goalscorer, on a free.
Will he dictate games and win them on his own? Nope. Will he dramatically change the way they play? Also, no. But give him enough chances, and support him by vacating the areas he likes to attack and he'll score plenty next year.
