With two defeats in two, Peru look set to crash out from the CONMEBOL SUB20 2025
One striker caught my eye however, not in the sense that he’s the future 9 Europe will fight for, but for trying to make the most of a difficult role as a lone striker for an underdog. Víctor Guzmán played two games so far, mostly on an island.
Former international ‘Chorri’ Palacios tore his country’s 9 to shreds ; it’s always interesting to see who draws the ire of former internationals
Lukaku, Giroud.
Talismanic strikers need a thick skin when they cristalise the National Team’s frustration when tournaments end up being labelled a trainwreck.
Fair or not, football is always a worthwile opportunity to rage about something.
My library of striker frameworks is now fairly comprehensive:
Jhon Duran: maverick pivot 9
Marc Guiu: “agent recommendation” and false flag / false posiive in scouting
George Ilenikhena: Sturridge / Vardy type of runner in behind
Datro Fofana: the all-rounder
Deivid Washington: tall wide forward
Spilling the beans (and accelerating climate warming)
Víctor Guzmán is big. You can hire a million a piece set piece coaches, they’ll tell you the same thing. Find me tall MFs.
Skip the middle man: McKinsey squad building advice, and build a team to compete
Not every striker built like a fridge is meant to be good, but no garden gnome will bounce the CB out of the way on a channel clearance to relieve pressure.
And the game doesn’t change.
So work around the combination of internal / external opportunities: who fits the bill, and what player development “process” can you implement over time.
Víctor Guzmán is also left footed, and I’ve seen him make runs in behind.
Hold up play in the channels, win headers, box movement and these few occasions where he tried to roll the defenders Lukaku style. He tried a trivela (outside the boot) from outside the box vs Venezuela which made me want to look futher.
There’s a bit of raw young Lukaku vibe (who recently scored 200 goals in the top Leagues; 300 goals in 600 career games, one of my favourite strikers since the Drogba Henry etc… retired).
And some refined Jhon Durán shitehousery, kicking shinpads to start a scuffle every now and then when the game gets a bit too stagnant to his liking.
Outstanding Duran face gimmick, after flooring two defenders trying to get the ball off him before half time.
The challenge with these strikers is to find the right balance between expecting them to play like 27 year old seasoned strikers, and still find areas to improve and pinpoint feedback
The idea behind this one is, that 1. I’m bored, and 2. provide a play by play breakdown of a promising striker showing flashes of doing things well ; without the whole article becoming a “you must sign him”.
A piece of feedback that can be brainstormed in a variety of ways : expanding one's scope of playing levels observed is a fool proof way to benchmark more efficiently.
Watch more bad football (or cinema) to appreciate the good. If you really think that premier league footballer is the worst player you've ever seen, it says more about you than them.
Challenge your own bias : that player looking like this should be expected to do this and that. Expand your sample ; and adjust your framework accordingly.
Also because the game is on YouTube, so anyone is free to re-watch the plays, which is the challenge when producing this kind of content , and the opportunity grasped here.
My articles are a big sandbox, I’m writing for myself, happy to share.
Elaborating on my thought process helps me to re-organise it.
This tournament is my first set of observations. I would say “data points” to conjecture, but stats have to be the shittiest way to evaluate young players.
Can you actually move in all directions / dimensions : cutting without losing momentum and balance
How is your deceleration, which is the discerning criteria at top level
Can you multitask: e.g. simultaneously shield the ball and flick
Can you have varied range of movement : into feet, channel, space / box movement
Is your football-specific motion fast (shift and shoot, lash out a volley) and suggesting repeatability (because similar from one play to the other - 3 instances give an informed overlook of what is a fluke and what evidences a stage of actual know - how )
Do you look at your laces when fluffing a chance, or stare at the team mate when you should’ve squared it.
Right now, let’s see if Víctor Guzmán cements a starting spot at club level
He plays at Alianza Lima in Peru.
And yes he can jump alright, the sweet spot for good headers is 1.82 - 1.88
He’s over that, and connects with headers, more than players that usually never jump.
He’s not Jhon Duran yet, but he’s not an alpaca either.
Mentality is the fuel that keeps attackers alive:
A trip down memory lane.
2018 French Youth Cup semi final, score 1-1, three minutes to go before penalty shootout. 2v0 led by… Bryan Mbeumo.
Takes the shot.
Misses the shot.
Looks up to his team mate
Scores a walking one step penalty in the shootout.
Now earns 5 digits a week in Premier League for Brentford. Clutch. There’s a journey leading to that.
Packing a brace in the final and that’s a FFF Youth Cup delivered for ESTAC Troyes, the first since the 1960s.
The striker on the (non) receiving end of that 2v2 was signed in 2020 (two years later), not exactly sure where he plays now.
Alongside a certain #34 who beat Bayern 3-0 in the Champions League this week.
Underlying point(s):
Do stuff > not do stuff. You miss 100% shots you don’t take
Doing stuff draws criticism, which is formative
People’s perspective of “success” and “failure” before players play senior football, and their absolute certainties are more often than not worth jackshit.
Give players confidence and feedback, and see who makes it.
Bryan Mbeumo, Yehvan Diouf (yellow), Bilal Brahimi (SM Caen) and Lenny Pintor did.
The 4 standouts that day of March 2018, when it mattered.
See where dey play, how well dey play , if dey play coined Jose Mourinho who turned 62. Goddammit.
Back to our Alpacas
2: Creating space on transition
Reads that the space is vacated by the fullback, attacks the space
Would benefit from not complaining, and make another run in behind diagonally
3: Hold up play
Sets position early which is good
However loses his balance leaning on the def
Good strength but still flat and exposed to be kneed
Drag + shift in the box, that’s good problem solving. Giroud-esque
7: Strength to flick
Good jump, sometimes a challenge for tall strikers who never had to
8: Read the game earlier to set up a flick
Would benefit to get on toes earlier
To have shoulders over the ball and right foot pointed towards a potential team mate to not shank a flick that ends up hittng (predictably) the two legs
10: follow up on flick
Another good instance minute 10:
Gets clipped, probably has to draw the foul rather than try to stay on his feet and not draw anything
11: Armchair striker
Not only defenders take the whole weight of the striker backing off, but the arms are set creating two triangles that lock the defenders’s arm.
This is a Football League special
Height, not just about heading. Can flick, and help his team to gain territory
12; going opposite side to the penalty spot
Key aspect of the 9 range of movment; always go opposite to the tide
Guzman should’ve gone opposite side to the penalty spot now the guy (in front of the ref) gets the ball in control
When VG wants to do it, the defender prevents him to move
Valuable time lost to look to follow up on a shot
18: Lukaku roll
Definitely worth flagging up: strikers who play back to goal rarely roll defenders (because they’re strong, not always powerful or quick)
VG locks on the defender as showed above
Very intelligently spins
To receive half turn
Lets the ball roll, should probably have looked at getting a touch to control the path of the ball which ends up rolling towards the goalkeeper
Bit of shitehousing - that’s what it is
Gets told off by the ref
22: quality of the first touch sets the second
First touch is too soft, ball ends up in front of his right
Tries a weighted inside / maybe trivela (but ball is too far on his right foot)
Overhit, goalkick
24: Headed flick
Many young players struggle with it
Trigger your leap at the apex: highest point of the trajectory
To get a clean contact when it’s going down
And flick it whilst in the air
27: roll the defender on the wing
Another good instance of the two arms creating a triangle (with the elbows) to crush the defender and prevent him to use his arms (to push)
Once he backs off and makes contact (def is slightly off balance)
Spins:
Has cleared the landing point
However has to be way stronger with his arm there, and more of a shitehouse
There’s a few blind spots on the pitch, this one is (left channel)
Find a good angle and you can pull a shirt (down) without either refs noticing
Ends up fouling the defender. Whatever, buy youself 45’’ to recover. Good job
28: prepare the box movement against the tide
Ball obviously moves right to left, VG does opposite
Attacking the defender from the edge of his blind side (sees a moving color shape)
Dart for the ball when the cross is hit
Unlucky to not connect: why
This below is the exact moement where steps have to be much shorter to react better
Surface choice might be better: shinpad is relevant when goal is slightly on the side and closer to goal, better use the inside or laces at this distance
29: going across earlier
Cross is hit, should look at getting across earlier
30: run diagonally to the near post
Wrestlemania with the CB
Going across the penalty spot opposite side helps to run diagonally towards the near post which is better to go blind side, and surprise everyone when flicking it
36: Pinning the CB and volleyed cross
Pinning the CB using both arms as “triangles” to lock on the CB
Control with the thigh
Good agility to flick it behind him. Thinking about the rarer overlap between strength / agility, usually not found with strikers
38: Running the channel
Good reading; cb out of position, attack the channel
Makes up ground fast to get on the ball first
Moves it well, elementary move but senior coaches value it.
Shit turnover on the turn whilst the team struggled to work the ball up there gets everyone on the nerves
39: Box movement
Ball moves to the left
Good job going the other side of the defender
Forcing the defender to make a decision: wrestle with the striker and leaving the space (opposed of: protecing the space letting the striker take momentum - none is better, just situationally more fit)
Service is disappointing, clipped in the air is too close to get a clean header
Not into xG gospel too much, but cutback will create a better chance (easier to defend), aerial is harder to connect with but creates chaos and rebounds. Choice to make
40: receiving a long ball and chest it
Should probabluy look at darting in the box rather than stay in nowhere land to pin the backline, invite the second ball and stretch distances to create more gaps ahead of the box
There’s a VG shaped gap to exploit when the ball across is played
45: reading the space
JG sees the fullback hesitant to step out (he shouldn’t), immediately attacks the space
46: Pulling defenders away
A situation whre it would be worth dragging the CB away in order to isolate the fullback (and force the CB into a decision - leave VG or the fullback isolated)
49: ready to hit the channel
Situation where VG needs to do better to help his team: that ball has a likelyhood to be turned over, and the opportunity to counter will exist
51 Attacking crosses
Going around the penalty spot
Sprint for the ball when the cross is hit
Well defended by the CB who pushed him just wide of the near post.
VG is a left footed, could’be tried with the right having cleared the space with his arm: defender is shoving him and VG isn’t resisting
53: Going around the penalty spot
Play was called offside, that’s still good CF play
57: run across
First touch not great, stays in his feet, as opposed to diagonally
fails to create the run-in to connect a cross
