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The real reason Liverpool signed Jeremie Frimpong
The Independent
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5 months ago
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🗞
News
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00:00
Hello everybody, welcome to the Adam Cleary Football Channel. You're right, I should have ironed this.
00:04
And Jeremy Frimpong is the man that Liverpool have chosen to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold.
00:11
And just to set my stall out early here, as far as like-for-like replacements go,
00:16
that is like losing your super modern all-purpose luxury Range Rover
00:20
and deciding to replace it on your weekly commute with a Jaguar.
00:25
But not a Jaguar as in like Jaguar the car, like a Jaguar as in like the enormous aggressive cat
00:33
with like a saddle on the back or something.
00:35
So it can be like-for-like, but only if you're incredibly brave and a bit fucking mad.
00:44
Right then, if you are coming in colder than Trent Alexander-Arnold's goodbye hugs, who is he?
00:50
Well, he's Dutch, he plays anywhere down the right-hand side of the pitch,
00:53
which was previously at Celtic, weirdly, and is 24 years old.
00:58
Great, yeah!
00:59
Great, yeah!
01:00
Going to do this all summer.
01:01
He's also been an absolutely vital tactical cog in Xavi Alonso's extremely high banter by a Leverkusen side
01:07
and plays as the right-wing back, who not only gives them the required width to keep these two,
01:12
including Florian Wirtz, who we'll definitely be doing a video on pretty soon,
01:17
keep them both central, but also makes direct runs from outside into the box.
01:21
Now, just to be blunt, this is his seasonal heat map for the season we've just had,
01:26
and is this the graph of your new right-back?
01:31
And no, obviously it's not.
01:33
This is the graph of a man who wants to do naught but hurt the opposition,
01:37
but has simply been told that the best way for him to do that is to start deeper,
01:40
so that he always gets like a running go at whichever poor sods had to donate his body to try and mark him.
01:47
And thus, and you are going to enjoy this, trust me, when you look at him statistically,
01:52
how you view him will change radically depending on whether or not you feel he's more of a defender or an attacker.
01:59
We're going to have some massive fun with FB Ref here,
02:01
because comparative to all the other full-backs in Europe,
02:04
there is nobody, just take this in, doing it like Frimpong.
02:07
Now, these numbers are for the last season when compared to all the defenders in the top five leagues in Europe, right?
02:13
And when you look at him, he scores in the very top percentages for goals, for assists, for shots,
02:17
for key passes, which is just any pass that leads directly to a shot.
02:23
Crosses, touches in the final third, touches in the penalty area.
02:26
No defender in all of Europe this season has more ball carries into the box.
02:32
And given the way a lot of tactical trends are going across football at the minute,
02:36
that's a simply enormous feather to have in your cap.
02:39
Like, one and a half times per game, every single game, he physically runs the ball into the box.
02:47
You would pay 30 million quid, I think, right now for that statistic alone.
02:52
But, and this is where it gets interesting, if you take these exact same numbers,
02:57
the exact same numbers, right?
02:58
And instead of comparing them to defenders per 90 minutes, you compare them to attackers.
03:05
The public address and fire alarm systems are about to be tested.
03:10
Stop.
03:15
And instead of comparing them against defenders, you compare them against attackers,
03:21
i.e. the players who are occupying the spaces he really wants to be in.
03:25
They are less good.
03:27
The attacking numbers he's posting aren't actually that impressive.
03:32
They're just impressive in the context that he's playing as a right wing back,
03:36
whereas most of the other people you classify here are doing it as a right forward.
03:40
Even the mind-bending, head-scratching, just pay the bloody money 1.5 carries into the box per 90
03:46
is, if you're right-sided forwards, kind of, kind of average.
03:51
Like, oh, one and a half times per game, you're dribbling into the box, yeah?
03:54
Well, good for you. That's your job.
03:57
But the really important thing here, in my opinion, is that these just, like, numbers.
04:02
If you ever sit and watch Jeremy Fringplong, it's almost impossible not to get slightly excited
04:08
by the way he plays football.
04:10
He takes risks.
04:11
He drives at defenders to push the opposition back.
04:14
He drives in behind them to offer, like, a really serious goal threat.
04:18
He arrives with excellent timing, extremely often, in this sort of, like, right-hand strip of the box,
04:24
where he can either finish off moves created by others or just shoot really effectively across the goalie.
04:30
He's a really, really distinctive player, and when you watch him, like,
04:33
you always seem to know what it is he's going to do, and the defenders do as well,
04:38
but it still happens regardless, because he's really good at doing it.
04:41
And I'd say these numbers have such an unfavourable comparison to actual attackers,
04:46
not because of any lack of ability, because of the issues inherent with being a right wing-back
04:52
rather than being a right forward. Like, even with all the running in the world,
04:54
he physically can't be in two positions at once, so his contributions become more about the quality
05:00
rather than the quantity, I think.
05:02
But Leverkusen, when they want to be, can be a very direct team, so it's perfectly plausible
05:06
that sometimes attacks just get from back to front before he's physically able to join in,
05:11
because he's starting deeper. If he's playing as a right-hand forward, that wouldn't happen as often,
05:16
so you've kind of got to keep that in mind.
05:18
And don't get me wrong, you can make the exact same argument the other way if you want to,
05:21
but I would say that these numbers are probably more reflective of his contribution than these numbers.
05:27
You just have to keep your pants on a little bit because of context.
05:31
And also, it's the law, apparently.
05:33
But now, right, so the flip side of this comparison of numbers
05:37
is that you would expect the defensive attributes to be the exact opposite way around, wouldn't you?
05:43
That's what I thought they'd be.
05:44
But yeah, so compared to defenders, obviously, those are absolutely...
05:50
I think they're what my numbers might be if for some reason you put me in the Bundesliga for a season.
05:57
I think I would probably defend about as well as this.
06:00
What's important to understand here, again, is the way that Leverkusen are set up,
06:05
because they're not one of these teams that starts with a back four and moves into a back three,
06:09
effectively making one of these two proper defenders, just not when they've got the ball.
06:13
They start with a back three.
06:15
They are already set up in a way that allows both Grimaldo and Frimpong to focus forwards up the pitch.
06:22
It's not really their responsibility to defend.
06:25
They've been relieved of that.
06:26
But then, when you go and compare those exact same numbers to attackers,
06:30
which is where you think they'd start to look really good,
06:32
and they're just really, really average as well.
06:37
Just nothing statistically jumps out at you here to say he's a particularly solid defender.
06:42
And again, when watching him, you wouldn't say that's an unfair assessment.
06:48
Because of his pace, he's really strong 1v1.
06:50
His technique for winning the ball back is actually surprisingly excellent.
06:53
He uses his speed and his reading of the game to intercept well.
06:57
But the enthusiasm, which obviously comes as a product of his athleticism,
07:01
because if you can run really fast, you might as well,
07:03
does lead to him on occasion, how am I going to put this,
07:07
getting absolutely done.
07:10
It's probably the main thing Slott's going to have to work on with him,
07:13
because he can get drawn wildly out of position,
07:15
then beaten, and thus leave his team in a bit of a hole.
07:19
And Premier League teams, oh, if they think you'll do that,
07:22
they'll target that.
07:24
They'll target that hard.
07:26
But if you're just looking at Puglia's numbers,
07:27
the low tackle volume, the lack of interceptions, blocks,
07:30
and what have you.
07:31
Again, not unlike his attacking contributions,
07:34
you kind of have to see them as high quality more than high quantities.
07:38
There's not going to be many situations in a game
07:40
where he's forced to do this stuff,
07:41
so he can score quite low.
07:43
But when he does do it,
07:45
by and large, does it well.
07:47
But I would say,
07:47
and this is really important, right,
07:49
whatever statistic you want to look at for Frimpong,
07:51
whether it's good or bad,
07:52
and you want to use it to praise him or criticise him,
07:54
I would say all of those feel like a really true reflection,
07:58
less of him and more of how buy and play.
08:02
When they do have to defend deep and they drop into a 4-4-2,
08:05
the defence shuffles along,
08:07
Grimaldo goes to left back,
08:09
and Frimpong stays on the right wing.
08:11
So it's not even necessarily his job to be a defender
08:15
when they go super defensive.
08:17
So, and yeah, admittedly, it took me a while to get to this point.
08:19
If you're going to compare him to another right back,
08:22
like, let's say, Trent Alexander-Arnold,
08:25
which you can do here,
08:26
I'll put the numbers up beside each other,
08:28
you can draw whatever conclusions
08:30
from looking at this screen you like.
08:32
But I will tell you right now,
08:34
there's no point in doing that
08:36
because as a right back,
08:38
he never, ever, ever actually plays as a right back.
08:42
It's a twist.
08:43
I do not think Frimpong's actually being bought
08:46
to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold.
08:49
I honestly think Liverpool see Conor Bradley
08:52
as the long-term replacement down that side
08:55
because he's absolutely amazing as a player,
08:58
but he is young, yes, there's still a lack of minutes,
09:01
and he does have some injury concern
09:04
that he doesn't yet seem to be over.
09:06
But putting both of those to one side,
09:07
I think they still rate him high enough
09:09
that you don't go out and get a marquee player,
09:11
even at this incredibly good price,
09:14
to actually deny him a path to the first team.
09:17
So why have they bought him then, Adam?
09:19
Are you saying it's some sort of a clerical error?
09:21
Well, no, I don't think he's going to walk straight
09:24
into the first 11,
09:26
but then you don't have a season with just a first 11.
09:30
Do you need a rich, diverse set of skills,
09:32
different kind of players who can help you evolve
09:34
across a campaign in different competitions
09:37
or even just in a match?
09:39
And Frimpong, let's look at him again,
09:41
you can play here, play here, and play here,
09:43
is perfect for doing that.
09:45
Conor Bradley's unlikely to play the full season
09:47
because of aforementioned injuries.
09:49
Well, then great, he's going to get a run
09:51
at right back and probably be really exciting
09:53
to watch while he's doing it.
09:54
Mo Salah, even if he can keep up
09:56
the superhuman levels of fitness
09:58
he's been displaying this season,
10:00
is going to go to AFCON
10:01
for possibly up to a month.
10:03
And oh, well, okay, now you've got someone
10:05
who can make those same direct runs
10:07
in the box from that side.
10:08
He's not going to be Salah,
10:10
but he's going to be close.
10:11
The guy gives you incredible offensive options
10:13
the entire way down this flank of the pitch.
10:16
And for 30 million quid,
10:18
that's a no-brainer to pick up
10:20
if you're losing a starter in this position.
10:23
And even for the games where you're not going to start him,
10:25
he's a more attacking option here
10:27
than Conor Bradley,
10:28
so that's a good change you can make.
10:29
And he's a more defensive option here
10:31
than Mo Salah.
10:32
So whisper it,
10:33
he could just change that in a game as well.
10:36
And I'm going absolutely off the rails now,
10:37
but let's say maybe, just for a laugh,
10:40
you want to play three at the back
10:43
so you can have two nice narrow tens
10:45
to keep, oh, I don't know,
10:46
one of the best players in the world in this channel,
10:48
in this channel for as much as possible
10:50
while still having someone go on the overlap.
10:52
Well, now you've got a right wing back in your squad
10:54
who let you do that perfectly,
10:56
provided you go and buy someone on the left,
10:59
which they may or may not be doing.
11:02
It would even allow you to move another very good,
11:05
but getting on in years
11:07
and has just signed a new contract player
11:09
into an area where he could concentrate his effectiveness
11:13
and not have to do as much running around.
11:16
Hmm, make you think.
11:19
But anyway, yes, I don't know why I was doing that voice.
11:21
I think Liverpool are buying Frimpong
11:22
because he adds absolutely loads to this squad
11:25
without necessarily adding something revolutionary
11:28
to their starting 11.
11:30
I think you will start loads of games,
11:31
but I don't think that's necessarily
11:33
why you go and buy him.
11:34
But Liverpool fans, how are you doing?
11:36
What a nice season that was.
11:37
Excited for the summer?
11:38
Let us know in the comments below.
11:39
And of course, please don't forget to like the video
11:41
and send it to all your pals
11:42
and subscribe to us here at ACFC
11:45
because 100,000 subs has a smell to it, you know.
11:49
I've been there before.
11:50
It has got a smell and it's around now.
11:53
You get me across all the social medias
11:55
at Adam Cleary, C-L-E-R-Y.
11:57
I forget what side that's appearing on,
11:58
but it'll be there somewhere.
11:59
It looks really cool.
12:00
So yeah, this is a good buy.
12:03
A good buy, which is slightly different
12:06
to what the previous owner of this position did.
12:11
That was a bad buy.
12:14
A sad buy.
12:16
Goodbye.
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