we can talk about it, what's been done is gone
what's the use in doubting, when we've both been wrong
spending all my time with, you've gonna sigh
feel so lonely, you got to act tonight
keep on trying, don't you ever give up
above seasons, keep on tryin'
let's take it higher, feeling from the top
we don' t need pretending, whether it's for real
try to justify mean, try not to feel
Time to put together two-three years of observations as part of my framework to analyse forwards of all ability, because I believe it gives a better idea of the scope and diferences of level.
My target is : “Mason Burstow will have a 8 Premier League goals season”
I’m genuinely excited to sort of rounding a full circle of 1-2 decades of following the sport to get a clearer picture of a whole career sample size if that makes sense.
From casually watching it, to playing a bit, to coaching every level and age group. To talking about it on TV, but also working in recruitment. And generally watching a lot of it ; 200+ live games in the past two seasons in England for two years.
I’ve got lots of fragments akin to the ones you have to field in Starfield - that make up a full cycle of player careers
In other words ; I grew up with Henry being who he was, then remember a 23 year old Fernando Torres taking the league by storm (or Agüero). I also see the French U20 World Champions 2013 getting on the other side of the hill. I long what could have been with Daniel Sturridge.
I’ve been coaching a bit, holding the UEFA A license since 2018.
In my journey, I’ve signed / coached - from grassroots (i.e: no Academy background) - 8 forwards that make their way into football.
Some of them are featured here
Which means I believe I am in the stage in the valley between 2 and 3
I don’t know that I don’t know
I know what I don’t know
I don’t know what I know
I know
Take me to the Top
Mason Burstow’s journey is a story of resilience, from a moving personal background he was open enough to share :
Everyone gets seen, few draw consensus
From Welling United, Maidstone United to trialling to Chelsea a few times, this is intended to highlight the extreme scarcity of openings to a wider audience
Not in being noticed in the first place, which a failure to be is very unlikely at the era of social media. But very much managing to create a consensus around the table and decide to move on with signing a player from a club’s perspective
Chelsea turned him away at 14, so did Norwich City.
Burstow got a second trial with Chelsea in January 2020 when he was with Maidstone’s development squad - uncessful.
Trials in England are very regulated (compared to other countries - absolutely alien to the concept of tapping up and other shenanigans out in the open).
as outlined in the Youth Development Handbook :
In France, you have coaches calling players on opposing teams during competitions.
I wouldn’t do that, but would happily tell my players to tell their mate who wants to join to call me. Some snippets on how I welcomed he rival club's striker in 2020
Did he celebrate “I’m free” in front of the opposing bench? Scenes.
Rafael, background of the first picture ; cousin of Noa’s.
Unsettling players is one thing and has more to do with core values, (not everyone gets in, some will be left disappointed by broken promises whilst trying to digest the magic beans) but and is often associated with all sort of perks if we want to stay vague.
That also, is regulated
In England, after the player is recommended by a scout ; he is due to fill the PL Youth Development Form 2.
Obviously, you can’t trial for two clubs at once. You also can’t trial if you’re already under contract unless the club gives permission, which is a frequent enough occurence on U21s fixtures especially
PLYD Form 3 offers the possibility to end a trial period - which can be looked at when there’s “tapping up” involved.
“I’m not cut out for trialling with a Cat 3-2 academy, want to go back to Grassroots”
*proceeds to trial with a Cat 1 the week after or so*
Clubs and league have a set of protocols including but not only, where stakeholders sort of testify they acted in good faith. It is not an infrequent occurence to see clubs getting a 6 month (sometimes suspended) ban to sign anyone at academy level, which I reckon is a tempting enough incentive to abide by the rules.
Anyway. PLYD Form 2 allows the player to trial for a period of a 6 weeks, renewable for 6 more weeks twice, for a maximum of 18 weeks overall.
Mason Burstow trialled for 10 weeks with Charlton Athletic in October 2020 which means that the initial one was extended to a second 6 week period.
To which point the player is offered a Scholarship (if aged 16+) via the PLYD Form 1, which is obviously a bit longer than that and can be found here
Which triggers a “7 day cool off” period where the family can rescind the agreement.
Trial and error : Learning theory
When it comes to recruitment, Academy and First Team set ups are always having to navigate an intricate and nebular cloud of information gathering, stakeholders interests and a sense of reality regarding the food chain.
One foolproof way to scout players is to benchmark them against your own team.
That’s one part of the jigsaw - can’t only sign players via one prism (“played well against us'“) ; but in the long list of criteria, at least everyone knows what we’re talking about.
There’s never one single person making a decision, that is (meant to be a) collaborative between multidisciplinary stakeholders : Head of Emerging Talent, Scouts, Coaches, Academy Director, Doctor, Head of Coaching, Phase Lead and sometimes casual coaches and S&C coaches who can also weight in.
I visited a Category 2 Academy where the process is done via emails, and not meetings - where people would be tempted to queue behind someone else’s opinion for political reason (or unbothered to go against the grain).
How do you access footage and games ? This is regulated.
Who will pitch players and what are their vested interests ; independence of thought is naturally hard to come by.
There’s an overlap or conurbation between structures relying on informal or casual network to recruit, sometimes part time who also run grassroots clubs, or semi retired football lovers who watch games for leisure (or petrol money).
That’s for one end of the scale.
On the other end of the scale, full time scouts in clubs can be seen as the person of interest or way in for stakeholders keen to push a particular client in.
Corruption is a big word with people usually thinking of a bad technicolor movie where a suitcase of cash is being exchanged in a damp underground parking lot.
Sometimes, it doesn’t take more elaborated ways than an enveloppe of cash over a handrail or coaches or families.
France love to mock “the third world” and “banana republics” for their rampant corruption, without ever grasping the irony to actually question where the locals might have learned the good practices in the first place.
But there is a very smooth gradient between independance of thought and influence. Let's have a coffee, players will be here too as I'm in town for a few days. I was with your chairman on the phone the other day. What are you up to next season. I can put your name forward and whatnot. Over a coffee in a hotel lounge.
The new breed of Academy coaches with high profile agents, scouts in their mid 30s accessing fame (and the telephone ringing often) can be a tantalising experience
Upholding standards is therefore an equally fundamental challenge than succeeding at “Talent ID” , because realistically nobody’s “scouting” Mbappé or Bellingham, let alone setting up a template framework box ticking exercise to come to the conclusion that the bottom line makes him the fabled “five star player”.
Bubble and Burstow
The recruitment bubble
One piece of trivia that will remain history, is that Mason Burstow is the last signing of the Roman Abramovitch’s ownership of Chelsea FC near the end of the January 2022 Transfer Window from Charlton Athletic before being loaned back for the remainder of the season.
He actually featured - just like Trevoh Chalobah and Malang Sarr - in the PL2 relegation decider vs Tottenham Hotspur that Chelsea won in May 2022 once his loan at Charlton was over.
Spurs being saved by the change of format moving to a 24-team seed without relegation.
How many pros would “feel their hamstring a bit tight” to duck, just like João Félix when it comes to travelling to Kazakhstan on a quarter of a million a week.
Something to mindful of when clubs sent Academy products into bomb squads, undermining the very culture and standards set on the other side of the road.
Some player care about “their” club, that’s simply not always the case of people who pass by or use it to their own interests.
Victor Frade, Mourinho’s mentor said “the one who only talks about football knows nothing about football”.
The alternative whithin football would be “the one who only consumes top level football fails to grasp the gradient of ability and associated challenges to get there”
This is the reason why my Striker Framework encompass players from all over the world, of various degrees of ability and playing styles
There’s this part of recruitment I always find worth exploring, which is the “second wave” recruitment process for U21 football.
That involves players that clubs know, and finally decide to sign after trialling, coaching against, or after the latest batch of reviews from their scouts.
The “data points” (or the empirical equivalent) suggest that players went from a point where there weren’t deemed worth signing, to a point they are which suggest they’ve improved enough to be given a fresh look.
Navigating talent pools is challenging for clubs at different tiers of the food chain, and they generally take players (thanks to contractual protection and strict rules regarding “tapping up”) when they’re not sure, as opposed to monitor their progress and see another bigger structure process it faster.
Time is the one resource you can’t buy more in football, and top clubs are usually organised so that the information is filtered and accelerated : trust your eyes on the field, and execute the paperwork to reach out clubs and offer trial periods.
The other side of the tunnel, Block H and I at Kingsmeadows where scouts usually sit.
No influencers, but valuable networking.
Willie Issa sitting two rows away from Kiano Dyer in Block J- what could they talk about, mindset and legitimity to be there possibly. You can kick the ball out of bounds in Rugby, that’s convenient.
Processing information differs not so much in the conclusion being drawn (wow, good player is good) but the time it takes stakeholders to reach the right conclusion with a satisfying 60-70% of certainty.
50% being “there’s every other chance that player isn’t better than what we have” or simply a coin toss
100% is the hypothetical - not so much because it doesn’t happen, but because there’s a good chance your structure won’t land the player.
The rule of thumb on 5 signings, is that you’ll have one that won’t work out because there’s always something you can’t see coming. You can’t split 5 in two, therefore you either have 3 hits and 2 that don’t work out (which is a reasonable treshold), or 2 that work out and 3 who don’t (which means there are reasons to look into it).
We are accounting for : coaching and player development curriculum, care and atmosphere, foreseable growh related injury issues (such as Osgood-Schlatter) unforeseeable (contact) injuries, off the pitch issues, and sadly also medical (and sometimes life-threatening) conditions developping.
This isn't a fixed state ; trust in player development staff to develop players
Profiling strikers
With Mason Burstow, I file him in the category of players who do more than meets the eye.
He’s a tall striker, but even taller than he looks, he’s over 6ft2.
He’s mobile, deceptively rapid
This is the striker you usually cluster as “fine, he’s a tall-ish prototype of the gangly striker from lower leagues”
Meep Meep ; Burstow and Mothersile goal hanging on halfway
Carry with laces, leg bent :
Timing to release
Support foot planted towards the far corner
Oh surprise, the shot ends far corner
Hutchinson diagonal carry, Burstow cuts and change direction to give conflicting informations to the central defender
Omari : straight pass after diagonal carry.
Pass in the defender’s (achilles) heel
Burstow manipulates the GK without touching the ball : how ? The Harry Kane special
If he gets a touch here, goalkeeper is in a strong position to be able to block shots going either way.
Goalkeeper uses that moment where Burstow should get a touch (he doesn’t) to then squeeze in on the space.
Thing is, Burstow didn’t get the touch so the GK’s positioning isn’t relevant anymore
Stays on his feet, so Burstow goes low.
How to play goalkeeper :
Burstow scored against Manchester United U21s and Liverpool U21s in March 2023
Scoring against Liverpool after breaking away
Finding the clipped shot over the goalkeeper going to ground
Blind side and toe poke
But then you notice some centre forward craft.
His box movement is sound
He does score headers.
There’s finishing skill to place shots
Finishing skill : read the goalkeeper and put the ball where he’s not.
Can you process information, and have the range of technical skills to execute the idea
Coming from blind side again
and dink it :
See also the assist flicked “round the corner”
Ugly ass goal?
Nope : smashed on the floor to get the momentum and bounce that only the current day’s conditions will generate : depending if the pitch is dry or damp, grass short or high. Some more chaos.
Add to that
He’s got finesse to flick the ball
He can pick passes at the far side
He has an insolent early shot, that would make a commuter at Heathrow feel good about downing a pint at 7am. We are talking shooting from the dugout by the sideline after chasing channel punts.
Or scoring from the halfway line.
This is the thing that intrigues me. If you have the playing style of a poacher, you minimise touches to set up wingers to get crosses to connect with in the “corridor of uncetainty”.
If you’re a midfielder, fairs, you’ll have a pop from range every now and then.
The Valley of Uncertainty
I believe I am in the stage in the valley between 2 and 3
I don’t know that I don’t know
I know what I don’t know
I don’t know what I know
I know
I know that I don’t know the future, or certainty about how players do develop over time : that’s why in 2025-26 I’ll be watching a lot of Step 1-2-3 (below the EFL) to connect dots between players I’ve seen the past two seasons at U21 level and senior football.
200+ games live mean 5600 individual performances (22 outfielders + 6 subs)
I have a lot of elements in what I look at players, from the perspective of : if I was to coach a player, what would I want to work on, and does his vibe suggest he would be in a position to do so, and within what realistic timeframe.
But also, I don’t know these players.
I can weight in on who’d be able to do a job, possibly scaled up to a level above
I expanded on *a* perspective to evaluate players from the modal jazz filter, “don’t frame noise as signal” and discussing that “how” we see is more important than “what” we see, when it comes to creating access to opportunities.
And obviously, I have a track record of signing/coaching half decent forwards.
Mason Burstow will help me to (Stamford) bridge between these perceptions.
The difficulty of “talent ID” isn’t so much about pointing out good / bad players, but being able to differenciate different shades of grey in between.
He’s in the “better than most in his age group”, but “not the best”
Career developments will give a good indication to where he ends up being
Bustow impressed for Charlton with a few goals and his trademark very early shots, off the League One bench at the Valley.
On toes in the box :
Get behind
Get a silly headed connection
Goalkeeper with the positional sense of a hair on a bowl of soup.
For the trademark Mason Burstow (very) early shot
Apparently English say : A fly in the ointment
Finding his feet
For Chelsea U21s and their 2003 strikers ; whilst I like Malik Mothersille (run fast, score goals), not so much Jude Soonsup-Bell (who I found predictable, even with Spurs U21s) -
Mason Burstow ended up joining later than both but also taking more minutes in 2022-23.
Only missed one game and almost scored every week in 2023
He was voted PL2 Player of the Month in March with three goals.
I first saw him in the flesh at Kingsmeadows
Burstow moved to Sunderland on loan for the 2023-24 season
in “some phase” of their WyScout / Youth project when Tony Mowbray was expertly platforming these players close to Championship playoff places.
I went to see them at QPR ; a front three of Jobe Bellingham and Mason Burstow, but also Abdoullah Ba (the most entertaining player I’ve coached against at Academy level)
Then at Southampton who fielded one of the youngest lineps in Championship history, 21 years old average.
Basically a glorified BTEC College Program game.
Entertainining game nevertheless, one of the most chaotic I’ve watched in 2023-24
For me, the step was too high.
There’s this Tony Mowbray quote where he said Burstow scored 50 goals in his first training session, but overall he failed to genuinely impact games as a goalscorer, nevertheless doing bits in open play.
He got himself a permanent transfer to Hull City in the Championship, and has just been loaned to League One Bolton Wanderers
That’s not my angle, but Daniel Sturridge was excellent in the year 2011 in that six month loan at Bolton. I had High Hopes, kinda vindicated because down the line he scored 24 goals in 2014 (the season where I was on TV every week), won two Champions League and scored important goals for England.
Bolton know a good striker, an idiosyncratic one thanks to Sam Allardyce doing what would still be lauded as revolutionary - as if the 8th place in PL could land Anelka, Okocha to play around the best target man in the league in Kevin Davies.
Big Sam did it.
Different ownership, water passed to the bridge. Goodbye PL top 6 and FA Cup semi, UEFA Cup exploits and here’s the harsh reality of League One.
I watched Mason Burstow’s opening game at Stockport in an English pub in Paris.
Where… Malik Mothersille scored the opening goal
Plymouth and running mouth
Here’s a look at some of the plays against Plymouth Argyle where he scored the second goal of a 2-0 win.
Channel and box movement
Owen Gale just joined, after wandering in western europe before landing at Bolton. Explosive winger, a bit raw but energetic enough to show for the ball into feet and also make runs in behind, the one thing you can’t ever have too much of.
Left back in possession in a set up that is traditionally : winger comes short so the striker can attack the channel. This time, Gale makes a double movement, whilst Burstow was also attacking the channel. Chemistry that they will come to terms with.
Burstow adjusted his run to go as far away from the carrier
And narrowly missed out on the chance to connect wth the cross.
Academy football, instagram and optics are kinda taking away old school forwards who sometimes seem like fighting with the footall, nevertheless with a range of agile movements you couldn't always guess at first glance. Throwback forwards throw themselves on crosses
Headed flick
From empirical observation, I pinpoint a range of players height that I correlate with being good headers.
That would be the 6ft - 6ft2 window (183 to 189) where players naturally invite the ball being pumped in the air towards them, but that still compells them to jump properly. There will always be outliers at both ends : Butragueno, the helicopter or even Kun Aguero spring to mind. And 6ft4 forwards who can head such as Thierno Barry.
But generally speaking, below 6ft you will lose headers, and above 6ft2 you never kinda had to jump so there are forwards who are frankly terrible at unopposed and opposed headers
Burstow closes on 6ft2 (187 which probably hasn't been updated much) and is now able to crash into defenders and outjump them. No other place than Senior football or the EFL creates that demand, and players gradually come to terms with it.
Watkins or Calvert-Lewin got loans at Weston super Mare or Stalybridge Celtic
7am pint at Heathrow
There's a fine line between playing football with the energy of a drunk tourist on the beach at Benidorm and trying to catch the opponent by surprise.
Crosses always rely on the chicken and egg debate of ; do I put the delivery in if you're not there. I aleays lean towards the former, in other words there is skill in putting a good delivery. Being there is the bare minimum,
Also because the goalposts don't move ; got to be there.
Channel run early behind the fullback, curvilinear run to beat the offside trap
MB checking his shoulder expecting Cozier Duberry to arrive like a train
A trademark Burstow early shot/cross
ACD should probably close at the far post
Double box movement
There are a few scouting criteria when it comes to forecasting the scalability of output for shikers. That is where the value is . Anyone can read a glorified shot map letalone a spreadsheet. Complex system means previous events can't predict the outcome of the next ones.Thankfully, the trained eye and brain will give you elements that corellate with finishing.
XG-G isnt one of them . Double box movement , now we are talking football
Get tagged
Shong block ( shoulders not carried forward ) to cut right
get the arms over the opponent's
arm over chest
to be in a position to get ahead of the defender when the cross is about to be hit
Curvilinear run
for some reason we seem to only consider “running in behind” as the Looney Tunes 50 yard chase of long punts over the top. There's a whole range of movements that serve the purpose of maximising the opportunities to receive when the space is moderately congested on here - or much more compact such as Randal Kolo Muani vs Grece (on the most part, he also got his Looney Tunes chance to get the defender sent off).
On Gale's first touch
Burstow opens in the gap
One of the fundamentals for 9 play is to move like on a clock: always stand on the opposite hour accounting for the movement of the carrier.
In other words : go against the flow, ball goes left back inside so the forward keen to receive has to move so that he can see the passer and the goal.
Nothing atom splitting: We are looking at fundamental moves that serve a purpose to know if the worst strike we have ever seen can actually kick ball.
That’s it. Cozier-Duberry goes left shoulder : Burstow goes right shoulder to stay open.
80% of springs in football are curvilinear. Why would you train running backwards in a half moon trajectory?
CB has a decision to make after being baited and ending up off balance
Backboarding on defenders - bursting the bubble
Some see aerials as the rare binary event in the pitch. You win it or don't, is that right.
There's a discussion about the prupose and technique of competing then winning headers in the Duran long read
But football is a chain of events, in a complex system.
The previous play influences the next plays, but you cannot guess the next play based on the previous.
As always, holistic / empirical / contextualised understanding is required
If you flick the ball for no-one, that’s a turnover
If you consider backboarding on the defender to create a rebound for a player chasing the second ball, then you’re through.
It comes to what happens before, can you actually get through the defender without elbowing him, barging or clamping him
There’s a fine line between ducking which is really dangerous
And just staying put whilst kinda making sure the defender isn’t going overboard like here
Second ball picked up, striker through
Fake cross/shot whilst decelerating
The difference at top level isn’t speed (they all are), it’s deceleration (they can’t all do it cleanly)
Burstow can also carry / take on, to a decent level for a poacher. Another thing that stands out : sure, you’ll get Randal Kolo Muani, Ekitike or Jackson.
But pure poachers rarely have that
There’s some deception to shift and get away from the defender
That would probably benefit for a more unexpected drop of shoulder, and shorter then longer touch to create room to shoot (rather than keep the ball in control)
TTTttttttouch
One of the challenges I often point out with strikers coming through is
Multitasking
Can you push a defender whilst keeping the ball in control.
Most of the time it’s one or the other, a legacy of isolated technical practice “put your arm as if the defender is there”. So what now there’s a real defender, how’s your chicken wings.
Or your forwards who play like future nightclub bouncers until they finally find who to talk to at senior level, who can forget the ball.
You develop strikers and finishing skill via variants of 2v2 practice where there’s problems to solves under real pressure.
Chelsea loanee Teddy Sharman-Lowe with “footed play”
Can you ping a long ball that goes low enough to arrive fast and allow the striker to prepare at the drop point
Side on to minimise the surface of contact the defender can push.
Backboarding into the defender to create the space where the ball drops.
Just gotta be stronger from the defenders’s perspective
The stance to control is by the book :
Left leg is the support leg that holds position against contact.
Posterior chain (glutes + hamstring) hold on to resist “collapsing” (he fell oveeeeeer). And the foot / calf do micro adjustements to keep the feet in place.
The knee is a bit bent, so that the force is absorbed by the muscles and not the joints to prevent the unfortunate (and nasty) case of hyperextension. The leg can also adjust, which is harder if the knee is locked.
Knee bent lowers the body a bit, and gets the centre of mass closer to ground
Right leg is the sort of “landing net” to trap the ball with an idea in mind : do you want to control it, cushion it, flick it or trap it with the sole, trap it with the sole and move.
Burstow goes with the “cushion” option that requires more finesse than an elephant in a china shop.
This is more reliant on the Anterior Chain (Quad +Hip Flexors) to flex the knee and lift the foot (called “foot dorsiflexion”) whilst the Posterior Chain (mentioned above) stabilises whilst the leg is decelerating.
The calf complex has a role to control the ankle stiffness to cushion the ball (not being too rigid or soft, this is expertise)
The key difference at top level isn't so much speed, it's deceleration in the motion to run or connect with the ball, in this case cushion the ball.
One silly way (but if it works it's not stupid) is to learn to catch an egg.
The calf complex “ee, big calves hehe” - David Moyes embracing the industry of viral social media content snippets
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That’s a dissociated demand on each leg : stay strong with the left one as support, and cushion with the right. Too stiff, and the second touch will be a 50/50 or tackle
When it comes to multitasking
The follow up is interesting as MB is shrugging off the defender whilst keeping his centre of gravity (vertical of shoulders / belly button) projecting between his feet
Multitasking. The kind of thing you look at as : fair, he can play senior football.
Pass was a bit bobbly
But I noted the willingness to get around the defender and penalty spot to attack a potential cross.
Workrate
No need for a long talk. Burstow works hard off the ball, probably conscious and still conscious of the chance he got to join the wagon as a late peaker
Some players fake the “heads down I’ll go faster”, I don’t think he is
Finding the right balance between shoving and tipping off balance
Rattle the backline
Another instance of gamemanship that shows the player belongs.
Then again, nothing groudbreaking. Just sort of milestones or benchmarks to hit
Making sure the defender can’t use his arm, so you push his arm
Double box movement
Good to note how strikers play hide and seek, you can obviously see me, not anymore.
And creating / re-creating that 3 yard space to accelerate to the ball, even if that’s twice the same run (in the same place)
Receptions between the lines
Some poachers fight with the football and hate directionless possession drills, let alone the ball aimed at their direction outside the box.
Reception back foot
Manipulating the ball
Receiving a bit of a hospital pass
And now having the gamemanship to get a clean first touch in the space and get his knee clipped to draw a foul (or advantage).
The Harry Kane special
Back to front
Burstow scored the second goal, from a Teddy Sharman-Lowe long pass that lands expertly on a team mate
Pass round the corner for Cozier-Duberry
Burstow getting on his bike
That’s the exact location where the striker is at the edge of the defenders’ field of vision, forcing him to contorsion himself as MB goes around the penalty spot
And attacks the near post when the cross is hit
Dominating the ball
Aiming for the triangle between arm / leg
Leap (of faith)
Two team mates probably disrupt each other’s leap
Still a decent leap.
Replaced after 73’.
Handing out opportunities
After Mourinho’s time, Chelsea went in different directions.
Mourinho won the PL 2015 with the third wagebill, whilst some of the current Chelsea executives were “Performance Manager” or “Head of Emerging Talent” as Manchester City which was winning jackshit at PL or YL level. They got canned as a result.
Complaining about Salah, Mata and De Bruyne is a bit ridiculous. The talent ID from the Emenalo office was definitely spot on, but the club was victim of their own success.
Salah’s cameos were Mudryk level of bad, and anyone who pretends otherwise is lying. He required development time at Fiorentina then Roma under Rudi Garcia (who platformed Hazard at the start of his career, but many more).
De Bruyne walked for 90’ in a Cup game after starting 2 in 3 - something Standards FC conveniently ignores.
Mata had 800 minutes by December behind Hazard / Oscar / Willian who delivered a CL semi final and the Premier League - his sale allowed to register Matic whilst staying whithin the FFP rules (Manchester City could only register 21 players out of 25 in Champions League).
Trip down memory lane feels necessary when considering the present situation where fans (or some of them) seem to believe there’s more than 11 spots and two dozen of games until players throw a fit to leave in January.
If Palmer starts every game, that Neto plays the budget Willian/Chilwell role as auxiliary wingback and the last spot is for Estevao/Gittens/Garnacho/George/Pedro
One of them (or a few of them) will be the Thanksgiving donkey.
Tammy Abraham and Dom Solanke, who scored 40 goals each for that 2015 season ; were only marginally involved. In the CL for Solanke, and a bit by Hiddink when he took over as a caretaker
I was intrigued by the idea of Conte (to not say not sold, for the cultural mismatch it was). I covered his team 3 times on live television. Got the best out of Diego Costa for a season. The Mourinho / Conte feud finds it’s origin in the fact both wanted Lukaku and one was more convincing than the other (Lukaku won Serie A titles for Inter Milan and Napoli with Conte since - a blip in Tuchel who couldn’t even come close with one of the highest wagebill in PL history).
I didn’t like Morata (misfit), I didn’t like Batshuayi’s general vibe. The idea of Ruuuuuben as a striker (in the paint?) wasn’t one I really had in mind.
Giroud was superb and probably should’ve played a bit more, but football won’t forget how brilliant he was, especially once memory biais only curates his best bits
Sarri’s season was a waste of everyone’s time, to complete the “washed former glory” bingo with Higuain.
I absolutely loved 2019-20 when Frank Lampard platformed Tammy Abraham to score 15 goals, a player I was gladly following on loan like the rest of the Loan Army.
It was a fluke blind luck to score 15 NPG (thing only Diego Costa achieved on his debut season). So if none of Delap or Pedro get any close, I will fucking be there.
The turn of Covid bubble footbal, Havertz and Werner who couldn’t kick a football was jarring. Tuchel’s treatment of Abraham was probably some of the most disgraceful things I’ve seen when it comes to managing a squad.
Throwing a shoe at Beckham is one thing, naming two goalkeepers on a bench to lose finals and refuse to use Abraham or Lukaku to beg for a better striker was puting anyone with a bit of sense off. Not even named on the bench at Wembley and Porto.
I always liked Pochettino (as a player) then as a coach for Southampton and Spurs (both sides I analysed on television). He’s the one I wanted to take over Conte (so did Roman Abramovitch)
I thought the job to platform almost half the england squad at Southampton and Spurs was quite impressive
The man who platformed
Southampton: Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert, Jay Rodriguez, Nathaniel Clyne, Calum Chambers
Tottenham: Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Danny Rose, Kieran Trippier, Ryan Mason, Andros Townsend (briefly under Poch)
Which represents 22% of England debuts between 2013 and 2019
Would have had Cobham’s FA Youth Cup and UEFA Youth League champions to create a legacy that would match Ajax or Barcelona’s with London talent.
Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham, Reece James, Fikayo Tomori, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Billy Gilmour, Tino Anjorin, Ian Maatsen, Lewis Bate, Armando Broja…
In 2023, after the abject failure of Potter’s tenure, a hire without charisma, ideas nor S&C coach who was dragging Chelsea towards the possibility of getting relegated (bad spells don’t have an end unless you win games - which he hasn’t for Brighton, Chelsea and West Ham).
When Pochettino was the third choice behind Enrique (“nobody is picking the team but me”) and the chaotic Nagelsmann (“you’re more chaotic than I am”) and somehow ended up being appointed ; I sort of didn’t see it coming.
I thought the timing was off compared to what it should’ve been, but then it was also rich people’s blind luck to find someone creating value out of their degenerate agent led spending (it’s all out there, 75+65 million paid to agents are PL records, whether it was necessary isn’t the question. That it’s a real money flow is what anyone will look and know).
Consumed by hubris and thinking a player they didn’t sign for Parma or Southampton, turned good with divine intervention and amid the sunk cost fallacy of their flops Mudryk, Enzo, Cucurella… Poch was asked to pack his lemons.
There’s no need to follow that account. But this is the data driven approach chosen.
He still had time to give debuts to Alex Matos, Jimi Tauriainen, Michael Golding, Alfie Gilchrist, Josh Acheampong.
Relevance to Mason Burstow ?
Just like the best in the world (Ferguson, Van Gaal) ; Pochettino always had care for his institution and adopted the policy of “next in line”
With the winger Jackson pitched by Ali Barat regarded as the sole striker in the squad - and Lukaku’s recent comments that Pochettino wasn’t against the idea of having him around.
Debuts are scarce ; since 2000 these are the Academy forwards who had a debut at Chelsea. Burstow was signed after making a senior debut for Charlton, and was 20 at the time. Not entirely fit to feature here in the grand scheme of things.
Carlton Cole in 2002 : 31 games, 4 goals. Scored on his first start vs Middlesbrough
Dominic Solanke in 2014 : one appearance vs Maribor
Tammy Abraham in 2016 : 21 goals in 58 games
Armando Broja in 2020 : 2 goals in 26 games
Jude Soonsup-Bell in 2021 : Quarter final vs Brentford
Mason Burstow in 2023 : 3 games
Shumaira Mheuka in 2024 : 5 games 1 goal, and counting
As I was pitching Hugo Ekitike (in PSG’s bomb squad) as a foolproof loan + option in the summer 2022. Or ask for a striker with box presence (before everyone’d talk about box movement and presence on that corner of twitter - or giraffes)
Mason Burstow went on pre-season tour, it’s #BurstowSZN
And scored vs Borussia Dortmund to equalize with a looping header
Culmination of a car crash pre season (trying to milk as many millions as possible from games played on pitch that got Nkunku injured for the season)
The debacle of the Olise offer + Hall loan at Palace, with Chelsea pulling out ; and brokering a Hall sale two weeks after a new contract to overpay Caicedo’s transfer by 60 good million to reach the whopping 120 million fee.
Caicedo’s cameo was a political message ; see what I have to win games right now with, and in what conditions did they join?
Burstow was the third forward in the pecking order (or first, if you know Jackson is a second striker and Nkunku a 8/10) whilst Lukaku was in the bomb squad.
Ogbonna’s gamemanship vs Burstow’s separation movement : former making sure he can’t be backed into, and Burstow not preparing himself to receive
See how Ogbonna’s thigh is pushing Burstow off balance and far away from his support leg
Ideally : in other words, it’s about protecting the reception point by already having the opposite stiff arm on the defender
coming long for short to receive
backboarding into him (the Lukaku / Anichebe reception)
Pochettino gave Mason Burstow his first start in the League Cup round vs Wimbledon ten days later on Transfer Deadline day (30th of August 2023)
Simple way Pochettino gets goals and output from fullbacks / wingers.
Start on the same lane
Time your separation movement in a curvilinear run
To appear in the pocket and play a simple give-and-go
The location was too early to pump an early cross vs an EFL team
Burstow (37) still kinda reachable.
Pass back and Madueke’s separtion movement in the blind spot of the Wimbledon winger
Ugochukwu - who’s positional sense meant that Genesio trusted him at 17 vs PSG
Small hop (left) so that the upper body doesn’t change orientation.
Ugochukwu wants to bait the defender to press his back (because he’s facing the touchline)
So he can play a first time reverse pass to Noni in the pocket
Ugochukwu bumps into the opponent, he knows the EFL player will make a block, and clears the way.
Also see how Gallagher recognises the trigger : pass forward means having a 3rd man alive (himself) so gets on his bike
Outside of the boot flick from Noni Madueke to Humphreys.
Burnley can take Man City Football group rejects on loan (CJ Egan-Riley), but the one they’ll release is the MCFG player, and the one they’ll sign permanently is Bashir Humphreys. Makes you think.
Humphreys with a timely shoulder drop to receive back foot
Gallagher overlaps Humphreys who releases a straight pass for a diagonal run.
Burstow with a quick glance at Moreira already pinning the LB
Burstow is about to get in the defenders’ blind side so that he can attack the space, presumably identified as being the one for a cutback (because the Wimbledon midfielder is lagging behind)
Footballers see space between 2-3 opponents as gaps they can or can’t receive into.
None of them think of “half space” diagrams.
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Sharp change of direction
Gallagher’s cross is a bit behind, and Moreira discovers the reality of EFL footy (almost 30 turnovers in the first half) being WWE-held at the far post.
Few minutes later, Burstow attacking the near post
See he’s in line with the near post
One step back to get momentum, and attack it (whilst still in line)
Wins the header, which is deflected by the defender and draws a corner.
It takes bravery to defend / attack crosses in the EFL, there’s more chances to get injured / concussed not competing than doing so.
Attacking the channel :
From a short corner between the Gouda eater on wheels Ian Maatsen and Conor Gallagher
Burstow lurks in the channel
Preparing to roll the defender ; bait him to press his back
Jackson is a fantastic second striker. Carries, vision, repetition of high intensity sprints.
Reason no club gave it a go as a main centre forward, is that his box movement was tragic and gradually improved with Poch.
Should be on toes around the penalty spot ready to attack the goalmouth
Trademark Mason Burstow early cross / shot
Under Nico Jackson’s watchful eye
You can think you’re gaming PSR sheets, but nobody filled that cell here :
Attacking the channel on the ball
Maatsen picks out Burstow between CB / FB
Up to the reception, that’s good. However he should’ve kept the defender waiting with a short close touch before the “banana drag” done “off beat” (when the defender is flat footed)
Pro defenders are all a bit springy and can bounce / recover and change gear
Got swarmed, and couldn’t get the right leg convincingly enough to draw a penalty
Which - August 2023 - tells you : good idea, needs senior development minutes to sandbox these plays.
Fastbreak : Maatsen on the ball, Jackson curvilinear run to get away from the carrier. Elite wing / support striker play.
Maatsen as playmaker over Mudryk, tells you everything you (also) didn’t read on the label (sorry) before splashing 100 million on a guy who never completed 10 senior games - and won’t until he’s 26 because he’s currently banned.
So does Burstow who realises he has to force the two CBs to make a decision
So goes blind side to attack the space between the two CBs
If you look at more stuff, you understand more stuff.
I wrote this on Deivid Washington. At a time where the lippy online Chelsea fans
wanted him to start over Jackson
Cussed Pochettino for failing to do so
Didn’t even know who Mason Burstow was
One of my gripes (explained with footage) was how he wasn’t always making sure attacking breaks would work, by creating the decoy or preparation run to receive the next pass.
In other words : if you only want the ball but your initial positioning is too narrow, you’re clogging the playable channels not only for you but anyone else
That’s the conurbation betwen coaching, profiling and management.
Wide strikers who score need Firmino with an acute sense of where to run.
Wide strikers with an average CF who is obvious to mark is gonna kill attacks.
Data Room
