Mythbusting: Jonathan David 🇨🇦

A player I've been watching on a regular basis since he moved to Lille in 2020 - five years ago now 😆

But, with his contact up, the time to move on has finally come. And, whoever signs him, is getting a player with some unique gifts... History + Profile 📖

This will be a longer section than usual, but I think David's career trajectory is really interesting, especially as his role has changed a lot. If you just want the pure analysis, skip to the next couple of tweets :)

2020-21: The First Season 👶

David struggled at first at Lille. I remember him saying that he underestimated the quality of the league. After scoring 18 goals in his final season at Gent, it took him three months to score one Ligue 1 goal for Lille.

He often looked off physically too, which wouldn't be the first time someone has looked that way when moving to France.

Still, the 2020-21 season is a famous one: Lille won the Ligue 1 title that year. And David played a crucial role in the second half of the season!

He was basically the run-in-behind guy for Burak Yilmaz. The pair played upfront together in a 4-4-2 under Christophe Galtier in a counter-attacking system. David's role in this then, was relatively one dimensional. Offer runs in behind, help finish off counter attacks.

The form picked up, and he finished the season with 13 goals. A lot of these were crucial in Lille winning the title too.

He scored the winner against PSG in March of that year, a goal which I remember being billed as the title-sealer.

But, he'd go on to make more valuable contributions, including scoring in a 3-2 comeback win against Lyon, a 3-0 derby win against Lens with three games to go, and in the final game of the season to clinch the title.

A strong first season, in the end.

2021-22: The 'bad' season 😐

Lille's title defence was absolutely horrible. Under Jocelyn Gourvennec, they finished 10th - nearly 40 points behind PSG. Tactically...yeah there wasn't much to praise here. It was a weak immitation of Galtier's 4-4-2 mostly.

Yet, David *still* managed to score 13 non-penalty goals. He was the club's top scorer, something he hadn't managed the previous year when Yilmaz hit 16 in Ligue 1 (what a player btw, that season for Yilmaz was incredible 🇹🇷👑).

Not much I think to add here on David's profile developing, but again it was impressive he managed to keep scoring goals despite such a poor season for the club. Although, one caveat is that he only scored in two games in the second half of the 21-22 season. Went on quite a barren streak there...

2022-2024: The Paulo Fonseca years 🇵🇹

Fonseca changed Lille's system to a 4-2-3-1, and put a much greater emphasis on maintaining possession of the ball.

While David had evolved past just being a run-in-behind ST, dropping in to link play quite often - this now became a large responsibility of his. Particularly last season, where he'd often drop into the L10 spaces during build-up to try and launch attacks, as Lille baited the press Roberto De Zerbi-style.

This saw David's touches in midfield greatly increase, as well as the number of progressive passes he was receiving. It was a pretty significant role change, attempting more passes as he linked play together more often.

Without the ball though, David's responsibilities changed even further.

Lille went from a counter-attacking team happy to sit off, to one looking to press high under Fonseca, to dominate territory.

Now, Fonseca's OOP coaching isn't great, as he tended to change system on a game-to-game basis and still not cover himself in glory.

For David though, this was another important period of education. He had to learn to lead the press, keep midfielders in his cover shadow...basically all the qualities needed of a modern pressing forward.

2024-25: Final season (?)

Bruno Genesio took over from Fonseca, and has given Lille a bit more tactical flexibility, at least in intent.

They're happier to sit back and counter, a bit like under Galtier, against tough opposition. But, they still tend to dominate play against weaker teams.

Personally, I think we've seen David operate in the most complete fashion since arriving at Lille. He's tasked with both linking play together, and providing danger with runs in behind defences.

Basically: David has had a lot of responsibilities since moving to France. He's evolved as a player, and I think in terms of profile, you can categorise him as an all-rounder.

He's comfortable:
▪️playing with his back to goal
▪️linking play together
▪️ operating on the last line
▪️ running the channels
▪️ running in behind

I don't think it's up for debate that he's been great in France. He's contributed to 72 G/A in the last three seasons in the league alone...hah!

The question is, how well will his qualities translate to another league?

Let's find out!

Mythbusting: Jamie Gittens 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

The 20-year-old Englishman is the talk of the town. There's a lot of hype, and plenty of criticism flying his way.

That...is about fair, imo.

As you can find out below, Gittens has a lot of room for improvement 😬but a ton of potential 🔥 History + Profile 📖

Gittens is basically in his second season of being a senior pro. Before that, he was at Reading and then Manchester City's academy, and he has made appearances for Dortmund's U19 side.

Since the midpoint of the 2023-24 season, Gittens has gradually integrated himself into Dortmund's first-team squad. He made 14 Bundesliga starts last season, and has made 20 in 2024-25.

The returns in terms of goals and assists have been more significant this season though; 11 G/A in the league ranks him as one of Dortmund's most impactful players 👍

However...

The bulk of those G/A came in the first half of the season. He hit five goals across seven games from November -> January 14th, but has managed just one since then, in ALL comps.

He's also been benched recently, starting just three Bundesliga games since February 1st.

So, he's going through ups and downs, it's fair to say.

Something else that has changed this season is Gittens' position. While he has, on occasion, played on the right, he has spent muchhh more time on the left compared to last season.

And, after watching his minutes on the right, I've only become more convinced that Gitten's home is as a LW. He is much more comfortable on that side, and I don't think it's worth even criticising his output on the right as a result.

Further notes in terms of profile include:
▪️Gittens spends a lot of time waiting on the touchline to receive the ball
▪️He's comfortable taking it to the byline, as he's pretty good on passing/crossing/shooting with his left foot
▪️But generally he wants to cut inside on his favoured right
▪️He could also possibly play as an inside forward, as he looks comfortable in central areas

One thing that should be highlighted is the environment Gittens has played in.

Yes, Dortmund had a good run at the end of last season under Edin Terzic, but tactically speaking, Gittens has played in some pretty poor sides.

Particularly this season under Nuri Sahin, where at various points he was becoming the saviour of this poor Dortmund side. I publicly called Sahin's Dortmund the worst (relatively speaking) side I've watched all season.

This experience has definitely had some negative consequences that we'll touch on later, mainly in terms of Gittens' tactical maturity in my opinion.

Still, let's get into the positives! As there are still plenty of them!

Mythbusting: Liam Delap 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

The most time I've spent watching one player for these. If you're hoping for me to say that Liam Delap is ready to *start* consistently for a UCL team, you might be disappointed.

However, my assessment of Delap is still one of my most positive ones! History + Profile 📖

Delap has actually wracked up quite a bit of senior experience. He has over 4k minutes of Championship football across spells with Stoke, Preston and Hull City.

I watched a little bit of Delap at Hull, where he was on loan last season, but the bulk of this analysis has been done on Delap's time at Ipswich.

There's obviously not much history to cover here, but there is a lot of points that need to be raised before we get into the actual analysis.

That's because I'm happy for many of Delap's flaws - the location he takes shots from, his decision-making, to name two - to be excused by the environment he is currently in 👍

They are still things that would need to change, assuming he went to a side like Man Utd. However, it's really difficult to criticise him, considering the environment he plays in.

What we can say is that Delap has been used as Ipswich's ST 28 times this season, mainly as a lone #9. His main priorities have been:
▪️Receive the ball back to goal, latch on to clearances
▪️Lay the ball off to teammates to start attacks
▪️Run the channels, try and carry the ball towards goal
▪️Score (please).

That last point isn't just a cry for help from Kieran McKenna but also the Ipswich fans, who have seen their side score barely over once a game this season.

This is a really weak team (albeit under a good coach) attempting to compete at the highest level.

Before we get into Delap's strengths & weaknesses, we need to give him some more excuses.

Delap, a 22-year-old, has been asked to deal physically with some of the world's most imposing defenders in his first season of Premier League football.

He's also been asked to, at times, be a one-man attack.

There's often little support, and barely been an occasion where he's had a clear goalscoring chance.

Put simply: I'm not going to be harsh on him. Mythbusting threads are meant to be boring, they are meant to go against the hype, but they shouldn't be needlessly critical.

Still, I might still be unfair in parts of my analysis. It's worth saying that I was pretty negative on Delap in early viewings. So feel free to point anything too harsh out.

Mythbusting: Castello Lukeba 🇫🇷

For most people, Lukeba is one of the best centre-backs on the market. He's left footed, 22 years old, and very highly rated.

I took a deep dive to see if there were any red flags going under the radar...

(Spoiler alert: there wasn't really) History + Profile 📖

I remember watching Lukeba come through at Lyon, playing in a back four during one of the most tumultuous periods for the club in their recent history. He made 24 and 33 starts in seasons 2021-22 and 2022-23, mainly playing under Peter Bosz and Laurent Blanc.

Bosz did not coach a good defence, but Lukeba always stood out for being pretty strong physically and adept on the ball. When Leipzig paid €30m for him in the summer of 2023, the move made a lot of sense.

Now since then, Lukeba has been a pretty important player for Leipzig. He's even captained them at times, and has usually been a first-choice CB for Marco Rose.

What's been interesting to follow over the last two seasons is his role in both a back four - mainly last season - and a back three - the popular formation this season.

It has meant Lukeba has been used as:
- standard centre-back anchoring the middle of the pitch
- and one providing support in wide areas, almost like a left-back playing in a back three.

He has missed some games this season with a hamstring injury, but that's been his first major injury throughout his career. He's still made 16 appearances in the Bundesliga, on top of 32 last season.

Put simply: Lukeba has played a lot of football for a 22-year-old defender, across two clubs (the former being quite a hostile environment), and adapted to different roles throughout this.

This is a great foundation, and it's helped him become a really nice defender...

Mythbusting: Alex Baena 🇪🇸

I spent some time watching one of La Liga's most exciting players! If you're searching for a TLDR:

At first, I was pretty disappointed. But, then I found my way back onboard the hype train.... History + Profile 📖

Baena is a 23-year-old 'left winger' who plays for Villarreal. Except, he's not really a left-winger. It's really crucial to get an understanding here.

See, despite playing there in a 4-4-2 system, on paper, Baena is more of a central midfielder. In fact, in the 2022-23 season, the Spaniard was used as a LCM in a 4-3-3.

Since Marcelino took charge in November 2023 though, Baena has been used in quite a weird way.

He does often receive the ball on the left touchline. Particularly in deeper build-up, and when Villarreal have pinned the opposition back in the final third.

In the phases between those though, such as when Villarreal have built into midfield, Baena tends to drift far inside. To maintain width, Cardona, Villarreal's LB, will push forward into that space.

But, as Villarreal move further forward though, Baena will swing back out to the left.

He plays a pretty crucial role here, in the way his side create chances. With Thierno Barry upfront (6ft6 ST), Baena specialises in crosses from the corner of the box, looped to the back post for a runner.

Still, this positional shifting obviously makes Baena's statistical output pretty hard to gauge - some would say pretty useless.

What matters though, of course, is his output in goals and assists. And, over the last two seasons in La Liga, he's contributed to 8 goals and a huge 21 assists.

Now, big flashing sign here:

❗️Baena takes set-pieces. He's good at them, but does weaken the value of the output a tad ❗️

But that's getting away from the point; how do we analyse Baena? As a winger? A midfielder?

I'm going to conduct my points from the perspective that Baena *can* play in midfield.

I'm comfortable saying this at the outset, and justifying it below.

Mythbusting: Hugo Ekitike 🇫🇷

There's been a TON of hype around Ekitike - for good reason. He's one of my favourite players to watch.

That said, there is a danger of the hype getting out of control. Here are his strengths, weaknesses, and my verdict on the best team for him. Quick one-time note:

My previous mythbusting threads have been just one, long ol' post where I discuss all of the above. People clearly like having everything in one place. But, I am going to split these into 4 tweets now, just to make it more digestible!

Malick Fofana: Live Scout Report 👁‍🗨

In this thread, I'm going to show you the strengths, weaknesses, watch a game and give my eventual outlook for the 19-year-old Belgian winger at Lyon 🇧🇪 A new style of content all! Here's what I'm going to aim to do.

- I've already watched Fofana, so I'm going to give you a brief overview of my thoughts
- Then, watch his performance vs St Etienne live, a game I'm yet to watch, highlighting interesting findings as I go

🧵 Nottingham Forest vs West Ham | Live tactical thread...

It's finally time to investigate Julen Lopetegui's side. I am going to be answering one question: Are there any signs of progress, or is a change of manager needed?

Let's see 🍿 Before we begin, it's worth saying that I have only watched West Ham, properly, a handful of times this year.

The game freshest in my memory was their win against Ipswich, which I covered in a thread looking mainly at McKenna's side.

🧵Chelsea vs Nottingham Forest | live tactical thread...

Yes, it's finally time! Enzo Maresca's Chelsea are up next for me. It's time to give analysis live, in a thread you can read along or bookmark for later. Will end up pinning it too 👍 So, before we begin:

🔹I, have watched Chelsea this season sparingly. I've not really done any analysis on them. The last time I did, was ahead of the season when I predicted how Enzo Maresca's tenure would go.

🧵Crystal Palace vs Leicester | live tactical thread...

It's that time again! I'm going to be using this game to investigate and discuss tactical thoughts on Oliver Glasner's Crystal Palace.

Either follow along, or bookmark for later (will pin this) 👍🏻 Yes btw the tactics board is here too, I just wanted to avoid looking too nerdy in the headline tweet as last time I got called a ginger specky virgin by 2000 people

Rightio, time to watch Newcastle vs Spurs ⚪️

I'm going to be doing live analysis as I watch the game, from a Spurs perspective. I'll do batches of tweets at a time, but I'll also pin this thread on my profile so you can keep coming back to it.

Let's begin: As a reminder, these are the lineups:

Feel free to fire questions as I go btw

My (long) thoughts on Youssouf Fofana, after his various links to Manchester United 🔴

- Solid out of possession (despite an annoying weakness)
- Excellent passing range
- Potential problems in large spaces...

Read more 🧵 Let's start with the tactical side of his game.

Fofana played in a double pivot at Monaco, usually on the right hand side (altho capable of playing on the left).

Monaco averaged 53% of the ball, and had a PPDA of 8.7 (very low, i.e, Monaco were a high-pressing team).

Played a mix of back four and back three.

My long awaited thoughts on Enzo Maresca...

I think eveyrone has an idea in the CFC fanbase of what to expect. So, I'm not going to repeat anything others have mentioned. Instead, give my opinion on the move...

If you want the TLDR: It's a net positive move for Chelsea imo👍 As I said, we all have an idea of what to expect.

Maresca's Leicester set up in a 3-2-4-1 style system, with a box midfield. Inverted RB, who sometimes pushed forward to make it a 3-1-5-1.

▪️ Scored 89 goals (2nd in league)
▪️ Created 84.9 XG (most in league)

Good, right?

I think a lot of people who appreciate Poch's Spurs have been reluctant to lay much blame at his door for Chelsea. In some senses, they're right.

He isn't a rubbish coach who doesn't offer anything.

For me though, what Poch offered was never going to work at Chelsea 😅 The reason I was so critical of the move when there were first murmurs of it, let alone the official announcement, was I watched nearly every PSG game under Poch.

It was a complex, messy period for the club. But one thing was apparent to me...

The Arthur stuff is still just interest, but are Arsenal better placed putting their eggs in the basket of Bruno Guimaraes 🤔🇧🇷 Whoever gets Bruno is getting a helluva player. This season he has been a bit rash, and awkward in transition - I think that's more down to Lyons playstyle under ultra-aggressive pressing manager Peter Bosz.

Just a quick reminder that, despite having a goal difference 27 goals better off than the next best... Ajax are currently losing a three way title race in 🇳🇱

👀👀👀👀 That's not meant as a knock on Ajax btw, but more about how surprisingly competitive the Eredivisie is this year!

🇨🇴 Luis Sinisterra has helped Feyenoord this season with 10 G/A

🇳🇱 Cody Gakpo also has 15 G/A for PSV

THREAD 🦊

🔟goals conceded from set pieces since matchday two... no wonder Brendan Rodgers called them Leicester's "Achilles heel".

Well, here's the factos. Leicester are truly AWFUL from dead ball situations, and though the blame is shared, one man could be responsible... BTW as well as data from FBREF and Sofascore in this thread, stick around for eye test too 👁️

That said, I haven't watched every Leicester game, so take that into account.

THREAD

Donning the jerseys of Barcelona and Juventus should be a sign of skill, class and honour💫

Arthur Melo though is 25 years old and a conundrum 🇧🇷. Over £90 million has been transferred on him, he's just a waste of money...or is he?

Guys, I know how to fix Arthur Melo... Arthur is a Brazilian midfielder who came through at Gremio, before moving to Barcelona for around 40 million euros in 2018.

This came after Arthur made 50 appearances for Gremio, scoring 2⃣ goals and assisting 3⃣.

🚨 THREAD

With Spurs scoring just 9 goals in 9 games, plenty of fans completely disassociated with the side and #Nunoout trending every matchday....here's a data led look into the decline of Spurs this season...and beyond📊 DISCLAIMER:

All stats are from FBREF - I have watched Spurs this season a few times, but the numbers are just there for conversation - not completely for conclusions