The news
The take: I initially wanted to post it as introduction, but just as I learned in football (or other fields working as a team) ; gotta set the table first before starting the meal.
Not everyone has the same framework, it’s worthwile challenging it, but it’s also important to set the scene first to bring people along. Don’t discuss intricacies without delivering a general assessment first.
Sam Amo Ameyaw joined Southampton from Tottenham in 2022, alongside his best friend Jayden Meghoma (left back)
Also reached the FA Youth Cup semi final 2023 which is the first time I saw him. Southampton suffered an early defeat despite being in the game for the opening half an hour
SAA was one of the attacking sparks, with diagonal carries from the right wing
Finding myself in Southampton SO14 in 2023-24, I watched most of Southampton U21’s home games played at AFC Totton, and therefore have a decent sample size of a dozen of games overall
This article is an updated adaptation to that match report from September 2023
Southampton Reading from 2023 (24)
Southampton Valencia from 2023 (24)
Southampton Celtic from 2023 (24)
Chelsea Southampton (Janary 2025)
PL2: Southampton U21s - Reading U21s (6-0)
Premier League 2 is now an unique 26-team seed, with no relegation. It remains to be seen how much context it will bring as the last step before first team matters, and whether the amount of games without much at stake will allow more expression and open football; or simply some more unrealistic scorelines merely providing an extended garbage time to fa…
My content is my content, it could be split into 10 weeks of (Denver) Nuggets on a weekly basis, but I haven’t traded the idea against posting as much as I want to on one go. That one piece could’ve been an individual article on Kamari Doyle, Jayden Meghoma, Sam Amo-Ameyaw, Tyler Dibling… all featuring for Southampton at senior level.
The good photos are Chris Moorhous’ from Southampton
Video highlights:
The game
Saints: Mohamed, Davis, Armitage, Awe, Meghoma (Lett 76), Bragg, Amo-Ameyaw, Doyle (c), Ehibhatiomhan (Robinson 76), Dibling (Edwards 76), Merry (Vokins 66).
Subs not used: McNamara.
Goals: Ehibhatiomhan 38, Doyle 45+1, 65, Amo-Ameyaw 50, Dibling 55, 74.
Reading: Norcott, Abrefa, Paul, Stickland (c), Dorsett, Holmes, Harris (Guinness-Walker 51), Hammond-Chambers-Borgnis (Purcell 67), Okine-Peters, Wareham (Spencer 75), Wellens (Clark 67).
Subs not used: Rhone.
Yellow Cards: Dorsett (90+2)
SOUTHAMPTON
A couple of notes on the stand-out players
Sam AMO-AMEYAW
SAA is obviously Southampton’s standout prospect, after joining from Tottenham. He was already the best performer in the FA Youth Cup semi final lost to a margin to eventual winners West Ham United last spring.
Whilst most players his age would want to get the ball as soon as possible, get drawn to it and sometimes run into dead ends, Amo-Ameyaw’s separation movement (before receiving) is quite accomplished.
The preparatory steps and curved runs help him attack defenders at an angle, with a variety of take-ons, cutting inside, switching play and playing runners.
The way Amo-Ameyaw turned pace on his first goal was worth the matchday ticket, sending the two Reading defenders go get a hot-dog in the adjascent AFC Totton’s club house
his first touch being generally good and positive, there’s room to make it sharper with shoulders quicker over the ball to gather pace before the defender sets
On a second instance, the same stuttering (as he looks to favour a first touch with the outside left - it’s fine).
Second and third touches are close but the one before last stays in the boot and doesn’t allow enough room to swing the leg and go through
far from ever suggesting he’d need to “get rid of it”; when the window of opportunity disappears, dribbling at square angles (by the 18 yard box line) can expose to more turnovers than open up good angles or positions to shoot.
Nothing’s wrong on this play, which is quite impressive in isolation. But being easy to referee is also part of the top player’s skillset come to the big stage. One of the best examples at top level is Willian who’ll shrug off challenges, and when the line is crossed; will stop and look at the ref and shrug (and get his way)
Ultimately, that play (where’s the right arm, see where Willian’s left is) involving a shirt pull, chopping before the striker and avoiding being clipped and a backheel (successful) with CBs open like the first team’s. Is a lot of energy (that might be required at the other end come the end of the game)
But in order to contextualise these last two points, these are the things that Noni Madueke, 4 years older need to bring to Premier League matchwinning standard.
That switch was spot on and well executed
and on the follow up of that move, reviewing the game on tape might bring up the reading of that cross “in the mixer”, where Reading’s defenders are quite high; therefore it’d have made more sense to crash the back post and put pressure on Nesta GUINNESS-WALKER (who couldn’t use The Force if his shinpad decided to pull a Jedi trick on him and bounce the ball into the net).
These Premier League International Cup were interesting for how it made players face a different type of opposition; Lyon was very outspoken and chaotic, Valencia very hard in duels, so was Celtic. That Valencia captain played a game within a game to get Sam Amo Ameyaw out of his.
The things spreadsheets won’t tell you, but will be seen by scouts.
Attackers are more inspired when they build relationship with the closest match official, which doesn’t mean they can’t snap back (and at many levels, refs do and that’s the part of the game that’s not heard).
Chemistry with Tyler DIBLING
Dibbling is a good player, who was involved in making the dynamic around Amo-Ameyaw work: not only being a good outlet to retain with short passes and give and go,
… but also by drawing defenders away then creating space to cut inside.
Likes a carry, and eager to attack space and make runs off the ball
The link up between Dibling and Amo Ameyaw proved to be effective to sustain possession in final third around the box.
Good timing to release after one of his trademark carries, the tip is to aim for the angle of the 6yd box to feed a runner.
This is the kind of situations already looked at before:
His angle off the dribble takes him away from goal
Which makes it harder to keep the correct balance (shoulders over feet, toes pointing) to hit the top corner
There’s two ways to look at SAA’s games: on one hand, Spurs let him go to Southampton. On the other hand, he’s a highly rated prospect.
Both are true, and he stands in the middle in my opinion.
From a ball mastery standpoint, the frequence (contacts per second) and sharpness of execution makes him a valuable attacker. I think his separation movement is fairly mature (as organic, not overly coached - he knows how to roam blind side, change gear and receive on the turn), a dynamic that I felt was a bit disrupted by the large degree of freedom he had in games (given or taken).
He had about 3 U21 coaches since the start if 2022-23, with Southampton reinventing the wheel from “phase coaches” to go back to naming coaches on teams. Which is all good and fine, is it needle moving. And always worth aligning with the temporality of the U16-U19 senior transition: where players sometimes start a season with the U18s, train with the B team and get a cameo. All of this requires continuity
I though Southampton was less structured with Adam Ashgar than with Lee Skyrme (who coached the game vs Reading - purple), despite initially using the same 433.
Output will always be the criteria to set apart attackers, but some components like the willingness to get into the game are just as essential to evaluate young attackers. Frequency of actions, the play after the bad/good one.
Which is promising (doing stuff), and more interesting than ghosting through games (think Malcom Ebiowei - Crystal Palace)
SAA likes to get involved in the game, dropping even in the centre circle.
Right now, I reckon there’s two areas to keep improving:
End product to hit the target, aim for the corners even if he gets shots off from both feet
Reactions on the pitch are always better than going through the motions, but in the grand scheme of things, one of the stages of recruitment / player analysis is to cluster players that fit a bill. Is SAA sometimes drawning energy into his individual battle with his direct opponent (or closest match official) off the play?
Thisn’t a red flag, some of the best attackers are also acting different on a pitch. Sport doesn’t change character, it reveals it.
I would however say that SAA’s catalyst carries from the centre circle (he gets the ball and changes gear like few people can do) can suggest he’d be more at ease accelerating the play from a deeper central position.
What is true for the majority of attackers; Messi of course but also Ben Arfa, Odegaard, Madueke, Sancho, Romain Esse, Hudson-Odoi, Tyrique George to cherrypick a few.
The difference will always be output to make up for what the other side of the ball doesn’t give.
SAA plays with intensity, his plays are quite demanding, and it makes sense to see him more “goal hanging” on halfay than cosplaying as an auxiliary fullback to keep energy between two plays.
Sam Amo Ameyaw scored his first senior goal in the League Cup with a well taken finish from the edge of the box
Ligue 1 might be a good step to get out of the bottleneck he’s at: standing out at U21 level, without racking up insane numbers. Not ready to make the step in Senior football in England (where realistically attackers need workrate or 0.3 0.5 goal contribution (that’s not data, that’s getting involved in a goal every other or third game which is a realistic rule of thumb. Or work hard like Jordan Ayew)
Ligue 1 offers lots of counters and decisions to make, with space on transition.
If he was to get 8 starts by the end of the season, and possibly 30 games next season with at least half of starts that’d be a bigger sandbox to see where he’s at.
Was elected MVP of the small spring tournament in Marbella.
Sharing the pitch with Tyrique George, Reiss Russell-Denny, Ishe Samuels Smith, Josh Acheampong and the others.
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