Nick Powell - The future of England's midfield

Nick Powell

Seeing that Paul Scholes has joined the Manchester United coaching staff, it must not be a very tough task to mould him into a deep-lying playmaker. His ability to dribble past players and high level of close control results in him earning many fouls in the final third. For a team like Manchester United, who have so many set-piece specialists, such a player is invaluable.

The only notable weakness in his game is his aerial ability. His prowess in the air is not at the best, even considering the fact that he is 6’ feet.

If one considers previous generation of English midfielders like Lampard, Gerrard, Scholes they all had one major weakness. Their game was deficient of defensive ability. Scholes, for all his flair, is infamous for his perfectly mistimed tackles. Lampard, at his prime had a non-existant defensive work-rate. Gerrard was more than willing to track back but then he lost out on his attacking instincts in the match once he started tracking back.

Now, that is a problem that could be considered solved with Powell. One of his main strengths is his defensive work-rate and high percentage of successful tackles. This season, in the 11 games he’s played he averages 1.6 tackles every game. He manages 1 interception every 130 minutes. He is yet to earn a booking since the start of the season. He is rarely ever dribbled past by an opposition player.

Getting such defensive commitment from a trequartista, there are few men in Europe who can do this much.

If you take a look at his attacking statistics, they are quite impressive too. In 11 appearances this season, he has already bagged three man of the match awards. On his Europa League debut, he scored a brace for Wigan which included an amazing goal where in he dribbled past two players before wrong-footing the goalkeeper.

He has already scored five goals this season in about 900 minutes of playing time. He averages three shots every game with finding the target every third time. He makes an average of 1.2 key passes per game and makes 2 successful dribbles every 100 minutes. He is fouled an average of three times every game and every one of five fouls are within 25 yards of the goal. He is rarely ever dispossessed of the ball with an average of twice every 120 minutes.

Moving on to the passing part of his game, his statistics make up for more than we need to tell. Although he’s made only one assist, it is the link-up play where his strength lies. He makes an average of 20 passes a game when he starts as the trequartista. Though, If he were to transform into a deep-lying central midfielder, he would need to better this rate. Something, I believe can be done under the watchful eyes and tutelage on Paul Scholes.

However, his pass success rate is at a respectable 72%. Many of Europe’s top attacking midfielders have an average of 75%. Seeing which, we can deduce it is only a matter of time before he increases his passing success rate.

The above picture shows his heat map against Maribor in the Europa League. As we can see, he does most of his work between the midfield and frontline. And he also manages to drop back to help his team defensively.

From all the above stats and data, we can infer that Manchester United have a potential World-beater in their ranks. It was a wise decision to send him on loan to Wigan Athletic where he is really excelling and showing his true worth under Owen Coyle.

While some may argue that this kid is over-hyped because of the fact that he is at Old Trafford, I strongly disagree with you. Keep your ears open and someday you will hear of a certain Nick Powell destroying defenses for good and making fools out of opposition.

Don’t be surprised if England flourishes owing to a fair lad from Manchester United known by the name of Nick Powell.