đIt Hato Be You
I wandered around, and I finally found the somebody could make me be blue
Why do I do just as you say
Why must I just give you your way
Why do I sigh, why don't I try to forget
It must have been that something lovers call fate
Kept me saying I have to wait
I saw them all, just couldn't fall, 'til we met
Some others I've seen
Might never be meanâ
Might never be crossâ , or try to be boss
For nobody else gave me a thrillâ
With all your faultsâ , I love you still
It had to be you
Wonderful you
It had to be you
â : Mean no, snarky perhaps
â : What about defending the actual cross, Jorrel
â : Will he rack up any number, this is the thrill
â : Thereâs a few tbf
When Harry Met Sally... (1989) produced by Castle Rock Entertainment and Nelson Entertainment, directed by Rob Reiner, written by Nora Ephron, and distributed by Columbia Pictures. 7.7/10 on IMDb and 89% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Tell the tale of mutual attraction, navigating imperfections, and inevitability between Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan).
The iconic ending dialogue
âI love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich.â
âYou see? That is just like you, Harry. You say things like that, and you make it impossible for me to hate you.â
is carried by the song that gives life to this pun.
It Hato Be You.
Chelsea decided to sign Jorrel Hato for their left back position
After Jim Fraserâs signing Ishe Samuels-Smith (4 million from Everton) was shipped out to RC Strasbourg for 7.5 million.
Amid Enzo Marescaâs struggles to remember if the Manchester-born is called Samuels, Ishe or Smith evidenced by his lack of first team involvement througout the season ; it is any neutral outsiderâs legitimate prerogative to condlude that Ishe Samuels-Smithâs transfer value improved by training away from Enzo Maresca, so focused on the task that heâs too grand to say hello to anyone working at the club.
âAloofâ - ah, the privilege to knowing âtacticsâ
Samuels-Smithâs transfer worth improved far from âplay der play derâ coaching, but the same canât be said of another talented left winger Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, signed for 35 million and probably shipped out for half that fee after one year listening to Enzo Maresca - with whom he shares the same agent.
These facts donât fight with reality nor indulge in storytelling.
In a club marred with the mantra or posturing that the approach is collaborative (such as sharing squad numbers - Neto wears Raheem Sterlingâs 7 with the grace of an automated lawnmower) : UEFA Pro License Bernard Cueva spent hald the season in the stands, Willy Issa is credited for motivating the squad with rugby war stories (might be more impactful than Enzo Marescaâs tactical software). And Maresca says he doesnât care about players that donât train with him. Attention to detail and all that.
Filipe Coehlo, who captained Ishe Samuels-Smith for a full season, probably wasnât convincing enough to collaborate with Maresca to tell him to give a debut to his U21 captain. Maresca was keen to start a scholar, whilst U19 international Kiano Dyer (who wouldnât extend) is ignored ; reaching a degree of gaslighting that would make a crypto scammer blemish.
Tactics are important, we do tactics, they donât, let us show you the way.
Glaze in the distance, Iâm brainstorming whilst youâre talking.
Callum McFarlane, probably hired because of who he knows rather than any form of extensive track record of coaching teams (for a full season - he coached 4 teams in 6 months, the JoĂŁo FĂ©lix of tacticoachs) got promoted from picking up the cones for the U18s for merely two weeks, to U21 Head Coach.
That is after Filipe Coehlo (who underperformed Mark Robinson on all aspects) got promoted to join Liam Roseniorâs staff at Strasbourg after two weeks of pre-season, where he will meet Ishe Samuels-Smith again and likely take over once Liam Rosenior answers the first phone call to get out before the chicken come home to roost - and Mathis Amougood fails to fool even the most determined BlueCo crusader when it comes to filling Andrey Santosâ shoes.
When do they have time to do âtacticsâ might we ask.
Of course they implement the same playbook. Editorâs note : they donât.
Or if they do, itâs the closest thing to kick the ball over the top for Palmer or Emegha to chase - polar opposite to what they preach.
Not much to âcoachâ when Palmer scores 4 goals and completes 6 passes.
The U21s, we donât know, but Palace seemed to find a way to get 6 goals past them.
Ishe Samuels-Smith will send Valentin Barco in National 3 Grand Est.
I canât even waste energy on âISSâs got a buy-back clauseâ because at somepoint, deciding to be stupid is a choice, not a combination of circumstances.
Thereâs no professional left back at Chelsea, but thereâs Marc Cucurella ; whose performance vs Flamengo was another masterclass of how to not play the position for any aspiring defender without the privilege that is serial failures of executives betting their career on pursuing the sunk cost fallacy his 150k a week contract (more than Cole Palmer) represents.
Cucurellaâs defensive decision making is beyond atrocious - probably why Barcelona sold him twice and Espanyol said he was neither quick nor strong.
Letâs pretend Renato Veiga doesnât exist ;
not on here because I wrote he would be out of his depth âHow Far Is Heâ,
brainlessly lunging into red card tackles and being so meady in so many positions that his âevent mapâ fooled algoritms in thinking heâs the player he is not. Even throwing a tantrum about his real position, after hanging on somewhat like a shrimp in a fishing net against League Two Morecambe in the FA Cup.
In other words, mapping events on the pitch and let the computer tell you whoâs a left back and whoâs a DM. Heâs just out of position mate, no matter where he starts from or where heâs supposed to be.
; but because of BlueCoâs pretence that he doesnât exist.
Not at the Club World Cup, probably back to train over there with the bomb squad.
Which brings us to Jorel Hato
It Hato be You
I donât watch Eredivisie.
Francesco Farioli (booed after one home game with Nice, and who blanked games every week) was another reason to give it a miss ; as Ajax bottled a layup league title.
I donât quite comprehend how clubs at the pinnacle of the sport, especially when it comes to coaching or player development curriculum (such as Ajaxâs) can indulge in the fantasy of hiring De Zerbiâs video analyst who canât even speak Dutch.
The outlook of his sessions compared to what would be done at the Academy on the other side of the fence must have been box office entertainment, just like when Sarriâs staff was seen smoking at the training ground doing the same session every day whilst the Academy was racking up FA Youth Cups and UEFA Youth League finals. Fortunate that everyone wants to part ways after a year (overdue).
This is a cultural mismatch.
Just like seeing Jorrel Hato as left back.
My snapshot opinion on Jorrel Hato is as follows :
Iâm not a fortune cookie wisdom ghost writer.
But my little experience in Football teaches me that whilst depth of analysis is worthwile when itâs layered with granular scales to understand the movement, the dynamic, the synergy, the coaching.
Itâs also powerfully anchored with one liners that punch, whilst also compelling the audience to brainstorm what it encompasses.
When youâre asked in a WhatsApp chat, or in front of an elevator to explain why you prefer X to Y or give 5 names on the spot ; you donât have the time to deliver a long speech
Pimp my ride
I donât indulge in fortune telling. Iâm just intrigued.
Ajax have one of the best player curriculum in world football, with huge emphasis on the Coerver method (1v1 and ball mastery) when it comes to player development.
I also see a player thatâs been fast tracked in the first team, and then sold when curves intersect ; number of games played vs interest drawn by people watching him.
Some would say expediate a sale.
Should Ajax be more annoyed a big club was tapping up their 19 year old captain (who evidenced he can play for them) than when Feyenoord and Leo Beenhakker (may he RIP) was incensed that Chelsea would poach a 15 year old⊠Nathan Aké ?
Who âknows ballâ ; which of the 19 year old Ajax captain, or 15 year old Feyenoord Academy player seems the most ready-made when it comes to scalability to senior football?
Also, Aké is a back to back U17 Champion with Netherlands, 2011 and 2012.
From the first links to the eventual transfer, the atmosphere seemed more like âbless you, they still want youâ.
Fortunately thought Ajax ; âit Hato Be Youâ
This is something I figured out in France when players who sign a first pro contract from age 16, capped at 3 years ; get fast tracked in the first team (one appearance in Ligue 1 triggers a pro contract, itâs 12 in Ligue 2) as soon as possible (so that clubs keep a season and a few month leverage in contract negociations).
Iâve got a name in mind, but no interest in belting out his name.
And thereâs a sweet spot, which Iâd say 5-15 games where you just see enough to drum interest, but not enough for serious onlookers (whoâd see him say 2-4 times live) to really grasp if thereâs a catch. Better 2 million now (with re-sale value) than wait a season and the player failing to impress the more he plays (for everyone to see).
Not a 80 million defender like Matijs De Ligt, or 60 million like Lisandro Martinez ; Ajax were happy to let their 19 year old club captain go before he even reaches half of that threshold.
Akerlov mentioned âThe Market for Lemonsâ in 1970s and identified that discrepancy in information are undermining potential for trade.
In other words, if you just have a quick look at the car in the garage or only go by adverts, the dodgy salesman can expediate a sale
He can sell you a dumpster on wheels once, not twice.
If you try it around the block (and gather information), you will know.
And when the words gets out, the car salesman will either not sell a car at all, or will afford to sell a dumpster on wheel every now and then.
In football, of course, you peep over the fence (or go two weeks company trip with expenses all paid in Jamaica to sign a college boy for 5 million before figuring out he needs surgery and hasnât played in a year) - but you canât trial a player before signing him for a fee, nor ask for a refund.
Thatâs where your âAnalystsâ and âTalent ID expertsâ input comes into play, when theyâre not merely planted by agents to push clients. Some of them sign the same player for three clubs and the whole world of football is in awe as how wholesome that is.
Chelsea are âa bit upsetâ just like when theyâre trying to find out who invited influencers to lift the trophy.
In the majority of front-facing business, people get removed (or voluntary step aside) from identified company decisions they might have a potential vested interest in - and when they donât, companies always eventally find out the hard way.
Just like Carlisle - who the back to back relegations had to force an audit to figure out that âresources were underutilised and processes were overly influenced by the personal preferences of individual decisions makersâ .
Bye, the Manchester City Match Analyst turned Sporting Director.
Dujuan âWhisperâ Richards was playing college soccer the day Graham Potter played Sterling as left back at Brighton to get booed by both sets of fans.
Access to opportunities from undervalued markets is great.
Every newsletter I write on here resonates around that challenge with actual examples of breaking barriers and platforming talent.
Absolve onself to give lessons on clubs that were ânot terribly well managedâ is an option to consider as well.
Two things can be true, especially when signing crocks (or players who play in crocs)
Looking at data or playing Bob the Squad Builder changes nothing from the fact that individual make decisions, not computers. Caveats and mouse-traps are all there.
Some notes on talent hotbeds, in medium cities :
Some from Uni assignments, some from the Dujuan draft that Iâm not sure Iâll ever complete
because I donât have an end game an have the near certainty his game will not be worked on (like I think he should be) - by whom. Pochettino is gone.
The match report above provide a few snippets and notes on Dujuan Richards
Free agents trial, in view to be signed. Or sometimes in pre-Brexit England in the mid 2000s, to make up numbers in training.
Back to âThe Market for Lemonsâ ; football is a fascinating industry where the Dunning-KrĂŒger syndrome means people always do or sound like they know less than they talk - hence the buzzwords smokescreen. And thereâs no such thing as âundermining the potential for tradeâ even with incomplete information. Spend first, think later.
Do Ajax know something Chelsea donât ?
Nothing spooky. Just that heâs hardly the best player theyâve trained.
And on an unrelated note, World Champions, best project in World Football are completely entitled to yap, tap up, and brief for months theyâll sign Ajaxâs left footed defender in the first team. Football food chain, we know ball and all that.
And Ajax are very much entitled to budge, know their place, and whatnot.
Or clear the way so that their best prospect at CB / LB has a run of games, before being sold to Real Madrid or PSG.
Say hi to Jorthy Mokio
From this ;
The Renato Veiga newsletter covers enough aspects relative to falling for âfalse scouting positivesâ that I wonât mention again here.
The aim of this one is just to put forward the florilege of nothingness we get to witness with Jorrel Hato.
This writing complements Canvolution ; who aim at providing a new framework (Modal Jazz) to understand the rythm, scarcity of ephemerous expression of talent to shape the present ; and the ambient thinking around awarding opportunities.
in a sense ; Canvolution is the story of confounding noise for signal ; how granular glimpses can still be the foundations for success, when platformed
It Hato Be You aims at providing the perspective from the other side o the coin, when too much fails to elevate narrative into tangible output.
A study in saturation ; presence diluting impact, and visibility failing to create value.
Hato goes through games and defensive duels. And he doesnât rack up numbers.
Is it a positional / reading issue, or a skill issue.
And how much are you willing to pay, all the more a premium, for someone who seems to be at best a worse version of Levi Colwill, or completely unfit to defend as a left back in Premier League.
The kind of players Category 1 academies in England should and do churn out every season. Remains to be seen if Hato is more Bashir Humphreys, Marc Guéhi or Jonathan Panzo. Or none of them.
Thereâs a good chance it ends up either in
Colwill being sold to Liverpool to replace Konaté ; as Chelsea replace their Southamptin-born centre back by an erstatz
Jorrel Hato âhas to be upgradedâ in one year time.
a decision we will trust the same people who brought him in, to nail this time as the âitâs a four windowâ gimmick seems to have been swept under the carpet to wide appeaisal of an incredibly gullible online fanbase whose spokesperson jumped the queue and get free tickets for the first three games of the season.
No spoiler : with Colwill out for the season, and Chelsea scrambling to get on the market despite Anselmino and Hato costing 65 million should tell you everything you need to know.
England v Netherlands: EURO U21
Semi finals of the U21 Euros, thatâs a relevant fixture and match up.
England went on to win the tournament.
Hereâs some of the plays that caught my attention as in :
Is that an expected occurence for a top level defender?
Is that identified before allocating a quarter of the TV right revenue on a backup left back?
If yes, is it seen as easy to fix ; and therefore why hasnât it been fixed by the club that youâre really keen to sign a player for a premium for.
More questions than answers. Just like Renato Veiga.
And what the player will do will navigate between âsee, he can still do a job, holdâ and âwell, thatâs not great value for the money, sell himâ (to whom).
Hato, signed for 7 years and 40 million ; sees his book value decrease by 6 million every season. Itâd take 35 million next summer, 29 the year after to talk a club into making a move, and thereâs little chance Mikel Arteta is still over there by then.
High press, and GPS
Sure thereâs team effect there, trying to high press the opening 5 minutes.
better option than getting everyone involved and get the head underwater.
Itâs relevant that if the team pushes up from medium block (which is a default team shape position) to high press (which isnât a default position, only exists on trigger) therefore thereâs one CB tracking a marker in midfield
Do I want my CB chasing shadows in final third after two minutes?
Itâs not so much individual decision making here than team effect
Something to mindful of, football is a chain of events, not a list of isolated events.
Energy allocated in one play will be taken into account on the next play
Silly foul
Thatâs a difficult situation to read : what is the defender about to do here?
yeah right send one to test the backline
It Hato be You ? You Hato be facing the long ball at least
Once he finally is : compete for the second ball
No deceleration, a shoulder barge with arm on back. Silly foul.
The ball is bouncing, Anderson and Hato have eyes on the ball
On that change of direction : Hato lands his left removed from himself, and Iâm sorry, thereâs zero muscular strength to âexplodeâ
And why should it be? The left leg is too far removed behind his centre of gravity (vertical of belly button). Has to be slightly outside, but not too much.
The foot lands like Donald Duckâs palm, perpendicular to the direction of travel,
Meaning the left muscle chain activation calf, glutes (bum), hamstring and quads canât occur because theyâre not in line.
If you look at the firing of the right leg (to lift the knee), thereâs no way glutes and hip flexors can swing it forward due to the other leg pointing in the other direction
He goes nowhere.
Therefore late, and barges into the player.
That play is 30-45ââ after the previous play that required to cross the pitch to sprint back in position. Thatâs however 2â in so he canât possibly be âtiredâ
This is roughly the time to recover between two high intensity actions at the top level.
This is either poor change of direction footwork, or lack of dynamism on short distances. And thatâs something hard to unsee.
You basically have three clusters of players :
the hurdle jumpers who are âstraight line runnersâ with legs close but not rubbing.
the âcrabsâ who move well laterally, usually with legs a tiny bit bent.
the all-rounders who move like thereâs no gravity (NâGolo KantĂ©) in all directions.
Hato seems like the second one, often asked to perform a role and actions where heâs asked to run up/down.
Just like his leg segments ; doesnât seem to be a lot of alignement there.
Stacked by shade
Something that has to be read with the right pair of eyes, possibly the brain switched on (itâs free of charge)
Footballâs biggest challenge isnât solving short goalkicks, is to continue breaking barriers to access usually gatekept by a select cast.
Former players turn head scouts, they have nephews and friends who become coaches. Vested interests, money stays in the game and we know the jazz.
Point being, thereâs different angles that explain lack of access to opportunities : inability to acknowledge therefore empower neurodivergent learners is one.
And something more insidious (football mirrors society, itâs eminently âpoliticalâ) that crossed the 20th century. From Racialism, to Eugenism, to Racism to Racist undertones about a given (usually non white) demographicâs propensity to be reliable or not at executing tasks.
Some are âindolentâ, some are gonna" âlet you downâ, some have âflairâ, some are âsnideâ and some are plain stupid.
Thatâs been coined as âracial stackingâ which is still a prevalent bias in Football scouting that eventually creates a distribution of opportunities that mis-match with populations and demographics
The other cognitive bias is to ask the layman where heâs likely to have last come across a person from India, Japan, Kenya, Venezuela in life or on a screen.
Not everyone is a âYouTube web tutorial hostâ âanime-loving IT personâ, âtrack field runnerâ or ânarcotraficantâ
Players donât pick up more bookings because their country is chaotic on other indicators.
Every demographic has a wide range of creatives, inteligent, not so intelligent, athletes or sedentaries burger-loving people.
That access is gatekept to some demographics to the point that the only experience of alterity sometimes mean youâll only ever encounter the top end of a talent pool in a given activity.
Thatâs the discourse about EDI and afro-american plane pilots.
âTheyâre only there to fill a quota, maybe theyâre bad at their jobâ vs âIf they managed to get promoted to that position, they must be absolutely unquestionably good from that traditional system of powerâs way of evaluating competence - or giving accessâ
Answer is never binary, often someone in the middle.
Like Jorrel Hato between centre half and fullback basically.
The takeaway is that : (but it also applies to French cooks, or Portuguese coaches - not everyone is good because Philippe Etchebest or José Mourinho is)
Not everyone that people stack in a box for how they look, necessarily has the qualities associated with everyone else.
For lightskin people, Iâm often intrigued by the degree of vitriol theyâre subjected to.
On the other ends of the scale, Edouard Mendy was only ever a one season wonder, whilst JoĂŁo FĂ©lix expects his 6th fresh start in 6 seasons (two year contract, re-sale clause, heâs gone in a year generating another fat commission).
For audiences brainwashed into watching Love Island or daydreaming / jealousing the Project Mbappé / Bellingham (one parent is an athlete, another is the businessperson) which is the societal meta seen in society / sport in the past 40 years.
They would expect any player that look like them to be either really good, and are quite keen to bash them if they arenât. Without forgetting two ends of the scale are also firing conscious / unconscious shots at the âhalfâ of them they donât recognize. The skin color version of âBritish when you win, Scottish when you loseâ.
These things are difficult to talk about in words : England has categories and (anonymous) statistics. France doesnât, and revert to accepting a wide range of words that shouldnât be used to describe demographics.
Refusing to acknowledge a challenge - access to opportunities and fair evaluation of abilities is the thing Iâm talking about here - doesnât make the problem disappear.
It shifts it from the conscious discourse, to the semi conscious underworld of cognitive bias (and lack of accountability on decisions)
My interrogation with Jorrel Hato is how much the mainstream perception of him is based on how he looks like and what people usually associate ; rather than what he actually does.
âChest it outâ would one say.
Patrick Van Aanholt was excellent to run in straight lines and would score goals.
Juan Castillo, whoâs time at Chelsea was disrupted by injuries would do bits of PVA
Ian Maatsen is excellent at changing direction (unlike the article to move from draft to publication, when Pochettino brought Maatsen for Cucurella to lock Mitoma). Can receive anywhere on the pitch, underlap overlap and score goals
Nathan Ake was always a CB / LB tweener but excellent in the air, and could stand his ground without silly fouls ; was a good ground defender too because was extremely strong (to not go to ground and stay on his feet) or powerful over 5 yards. A wrecking ball.
From:
Jorrel Hato is his own player.
He also does not remind me of anything these players did in terms of range of movement. Like, this is really not impressive :
This gives me the impression of a player who canât explosively change direction on small spaces ; which is (or will require) a brutal realisation he canât play fullback in a fast paced league.
Not in a league where Antony fooled the world that he was a decent dribbler.
Which puts more emphasis on ; if you are to play CB, can you even play CB.
Body shape on crosses
England breakaway from the follow up and isolate Omari Hutchinson wide
Fullback engages, CB1 is set to align with the near post, side on which means one foot in front one foot behind and looking at the ball.
Hato is not doing it, this is bad defending fundamentals.
This is either lack of âknow howâ or lack of care
As CBs need to do like his team mate : block on a parallel of the 6yd box to be ready to move when the cross is hit to clear it forwards.
Ask yourself if Hato can run in the other direction in a minimum of touches, let alone clear the ball properly. He canât.
Omari Hutchinson fires a cutback cross, Hato is turning his back to the cross
Ball ends up on Harvey Elliott
And Hato tries to block the shot in the same place as the goalkeeper.
Thereâs a video I want to find, Newcastle United players Nick Pope and Dan Burn in the training dome ; talking about how they organise to defend near and far post.
This asks questions about Jorrel Hatoâs defensive instincts.
Heâs the captain, yet seems to not have the fundamentals to position himself on a cross, and also doesnât appear to work in resonance with his team mates : either live, or beforehands.
Pure defensive âtalentâ over the years, feel the right place to be to get on the goal line on the non-GK side. John Terry, Ashley Cole.
Can you work on defending crosses? Yes.
Can you identify defensive talent to block shots? Yes.
Must you spend a premium when none of the above is a visible guarantee?
Did It Hato Be You?
Back to Akerlovâs Lemons : âwhen these informal unwritten guarantees are indefinite, business will sufferâ.
Apparently not the one involving Chelsea and Ajax, with the latter filling their bank account with 40 millions for a player they never bothered was tapped-up for weeks in the football agora.
Probably because they know something Chelsea donât.
Box defending on crosses and the training drills to coach it was the subject of the entire Chico Lamba play-by-play breakdown. Probably the most workable skill on the pitch of football. Charlie Chaplin stuff.
Where are you gone
This is a whole.
Lots of questions on positioning on open play back to goal forwardâs receptions or crosses, which is the entry level skill for CBs.
Give the ball
And run beyond the ball.
Something seen with Ten Hagâs Ajax or generally teams keen to refuse to acknowledge that their dominance isnât so much âtacticalâ but due to the obscene talent differential on the pitch.
Is Eredivisie a high profile Academy league system? Reserves play second tier. Sorted
The pass is square (doesnât progress, but the pressing opponent can)
Maatsen witn an unusual heavy touch gets pressed, and Hato is out of position
A flike on Maatsenâs attempt to nutmeg, and Anderson is through
Thereâs team effects : Rotate the CBs, which delves more from tactical libertinism than any blueprint conductive to success.
But even if thatâs team instruction : why would Hato grasp it, and not, like, being side on when defending crosses?
You end up, during the scouting process, questioning whether players fail despite or because of the system and therefore how their room for improvement range.
Jorrel Hato vs Ajax ; Iâd side on with Ajax.
Grassroots diamond in the rough ; in a lower division club rinsing first team players with three digit expenses with parents / supporters coaching youth teams?
Well, Iâd look at the raw skillset in a view to refine it.
Itâs insulting to Ajax to claim Chelsea will âimproveâ their 21 year old prospect
Itâs insulting to peopleâs intelligence to claim a 40 million signing needs to refine (or learn if weâre honest) the basics.
It is not a case of âcan everyone learnâ but âwhy does your status give you a credit to fail for longer than others before doing things properlyâ
And the credit here is mostly related to the transfer fee. âMake it workâ.
Chelseaâs Dutch players have all been remarkable contributors to the clubâs endeavours, from Nathan Ake to Ruud Gullit, but also Winston Bogarde, Arjen Robben and Khalid Boulahrouz.
Forever blowing bubbles
Hato about to send a channel ball because heâs under pressure
Iâm surprised thereâs no right arm in the playersâ chest
As a result, Hatoâs shoulders arenât over the ball when he its it
And fires one of these corkscrew mid-length passes resulting from rubbing the ball when hitting it with the front part of the foot, instead of going through with the laces (for a long pass, or hard on deck)
Corkscrews because the ball spins, therefore slows down and is generally kinda unworkable. Maatsen, cornered, turns it over.
Something I often tell young CBs ; once you play out, get back between ball-goal.
Like an elastic band getting you back in position
Coming together
Ball flukes to Jorrel Hato who makes giant steps under no pressure
Lands akwardly
And fires a bobbly pass with exactly 5 rebounds in 20 yards because he tops it.
The football equivalent of amortizing 40 million over 7 years.
Without follow through with the left foot toes
Thatâs a leg breaker
I donât need a full compilation of passes in front under zero pressure.
One single pass makes me think : yup, surprising to see a bobbling pass for someone who spent 2h per day practising it.
This is a skill that doesnât go missing, when academy released players go back to grassroots, or professional players in their 60s delivering a coaching session.
Realistically, I should never see an Ajax Academy player play a pass with twelve bobbles under no pressure.
In line with the near post
A reverse sitiuation to the one above
Maatsen faces a 2v1 with overlap.
Unlike the shit footballer Marc Cucurella (he might be a nice guy for all I care, I donât have a parasocial relationship with people who earn 6 digit a week to keep their circle happy, heâs a shit footballer who canât defend)
Ian Maatsen tracks the runner (overlap) as he should
Hato is on toes, and should aim at aligning with the near post to defend the cross.
The goalposts donât move.
Duh.
Therefore move according to the thing that doesnât move.
For me thatâs what Iâd note as âlapse of concentrationâ âball watchingâ from Hato
Which is about moving twards the ball when youâre not in position to challenge it.
Not âshuffling as a team shape ball sideâ. But whithin it, stretching dstances
When the cross is fired, Hato isnât defending the near post area. Heâs actually starting a spin that would sometimes end up in shinpad flicking the ball at the near post.
Seen it happen.
Some will say âhey thatâs good defendingâ he cut off the pass.
Is that logged as an interception, or clearance, or block?
Anwyay, thatâs a corner, from a cross he should have
cleared first time in the channel
calmly pass back to Ian Maatsen : top level CBs know the winger who just crossed wonât be arsed with defending, and that the ball side fullback is usually open to receive and progress on the side of the ball. Sometimes knowing both winger / fullback from the opposition are out of position
Sorry. Ball watching, poor positioning and puts his team in trouble conceding an useless corner.
He knows he cocked up, doesnât make eye contact with the GK
Line breakers
Of course thereâs a few decent line breakers in there
Planted foot and leg stay strong point in the direction
And the left leg is actually accelerating to punch the ball in the middle
With both set of toes following up for direction
All good and fine. But a CB compilation shouldnât start with 2 minutes of these.
Give me :
Ground defending in settled defence
Space defending in counter attack and decision making
Interceptions / channel covering
Box defending on crosses
Heading
Dribbling out / playing out
This is the things Iâm looking at in order for a CB.
Shadow of the Day
Lot of what I see Hato doing is losely tracking runners between the lines.
And he doesnât have RĂŒdigerâs exceptional set of attributes to change direction
2017 isnât 1997 isnât 1977.
RĂŒdiger was signed for 30-40 million after a season Roma lost 1-7 to Bayern (and I remember still liking a few bits). Thereâs always good value for the money, and heâs the last player who lifted a domestic Cup for Chelsea - in 2018.
Positioning is good, side on, between ball-goal
England with some freedom and fluidity in attack (Lee Carsleyâs reputation is sky-high for a reason)
A to C so that B runs across as a third man
Hato does well there picking the correct runner
Which makes him better than Marc Cucurella
On this one, Elliott slides one in the pocket
I find Hatoâs reaction kinda late here
And when he pushes on his left leg to change direction : the calf seems weak, the chest isnât aligned with the leg, the left foot isnât aligned with the direction of the move.
This is bad mobility from a S&C standpoint, all the more from a player hardly coming from grassroots.
heâs falling forward, heâs not powerfully pushing that would have helped him to move maybe half a yard closer
Heâs still squeezing in as the England player is ready to release
And comes up short to block the pass
Iâm not impressed by Hatoâs reaction time, or actual power to explode from chaotic changes of direction (that defending in small / medium spaces require).
These are the kind of plays that make you go âhmm⊠heâs always close, but no cigarâ
I donât think he eats up ground at a good enough level to play fullback (oh god) or CB to track runners like he still does.
So when I say Jorrel Hato isnât ass, but you wish he was
Thereâs a movement shortcoming from a foot placement standpoint, or a musclular shortcoming in muscle composition that makes him moderately powerful (speed x strength) on short distance.
Weâd ideally like to see the movement mechanics to improve to see the full power heâs got to move, but right now thatâs not the case.
Tracking runners
The whole Jorrel Hato experience is that you see him a lot, for little worthwhile thatâs actually getting done when you pay close attention.
And to be blunt, this is the opposite of what you want in a CB : does a lot, by doing ânothingâ.
Nothing in brackets, such as covering space, squeezing in, providing cover, organising his DM to screen the space in front.
Hato drawn in another high press sequence
And thereâs three changes of direction to end up feet in cement as McAtee (10) simply knocks past in his heels (always attack the defenderâs back of the foot, they canât change direction).
Good defenders have a GPS to always stay in the imaginary line between the ball and the goal.
Hato went around it, so he has to readjust course whilst he has to simultaneously : decelerate, and also close down in front.
20 minutes in, and thatâs the third instance of left centre back Jorrel Hato running after a train that he missed
Livramento does the âSaka dribbleâ to go between opponents whilst Hatoâs high intensity sprint brings him back somewhat into position.
is Hato side on? Nope. In line with the near post? Nope. Checked his shoulder? Nope
Ideally,
The management of tracking runners is
Pick the farthest runner (the most advanced - closest to goal)
If you didnât see the runner, someone can tell you
If you didnât see the runner and you didnât get the info, therefore the covering team mate who saw him (the other CB) has to track the run and you do a âdefensive overlapâ by filling in his spot.
Diagonal run across
Hatoâs initial positioning is âball watchingâ, heâs too close to the ball-goal line to the point he will have to turn around (which he does) and leaves way too much space inside him for a runner (blue, which McAtee takes)
Green positioning doesnât invite the room to run across, and possibly allows to stay goalside when managing the runner (outside him- not shown).
Heâs in limbo, that is the kind of area that has to be monitored by CMs tracking runners in the channels. Not CBs if it means they leave the pass open for the extra runner.
Thatâs not good initial positioning by Hato (whoâs not in line with the near post)
who isnât told thereâs a runner, hasnât checked thereâs a runner
and leaves the forward able to finish like Torres vs De Gea
This is the Mac&Cheese of English Football League attacking play (not the one above, this is just a side point)
Winger comes short to pull a fullback out of position
Ball clipped in the channel for the striker (with the CB drawn outside the box)
fullback has to become a makeshift CB whilst âdefensive overlappingâ
striker passes back to his fullback who shells a first time cross at the near post
which as you grasped, is now defended by the undersize left back
For nobody else gave me a thrill
The start of the second half was ⊠difficult ⊠would say English people.
As mentioned in every defender profile and frameworks on here ; youâll learn more in situations of defensive inbalance (more than 3 players bypassed, sometimes half) than any other game moment
The first time flick is smart
And triggers Hatoâs decision to close down the carrier
The decision making has to be based on : if you can
sprint
decelerate before the first touch
close down and show towards team mates
Then itâs a good decision.
The reading of the game (I can cross the road, no I canât, RIP) is a silly game of distance perception
As Hato is still far to where he should be if it was relevant to close down
He keeps accelerating
And goes through the challenge
Giving England a 3 or 4v3 (with players both far sides)
The alternative matchwinning alternative (Mourinhoâs teams) would be to back off, narrow the back 4 to force the opponent to carry and make a decision.
Donât give out the solution.
When you reach 20 yards (the dark line in the grass at the edge of the box) then you can come out and try to block a shot / pass.
Itâs the pyramid.
Deciding to lunge into midfield is not conductive to keep clean sheets, or keep defenders away from the refereeâs book.
Delay, wait for midfielders to get back behind the ball and youâll have time to defend the cross maybe
The chain reation means that the other centre half has to lunge on the England striker back to goal.
Note Milambo (flat on the previous sequence and split by a pass) and Hato are in the same spot.
One of them seems injured, Jorrel Hatoâs ego is hurt
When youâre looking at âdefensive instinctsâ
Well Milambo (who I like a lot, since he played vs France U17s - looking forward to see him at Brentford) wins it back and does what he does : carry out of pressure until being taken out
Hato overseeing proceedings.
Invert your fullbacks, finish head over heels.
Would you trade Tears for Fears for a mere 40 million?
Someone has gaslighted the industry about âinverted fullbacksâ
that are
Not new : Premiership sides were all doing it in the 90s
Not useful against a packed defence
Just as José Mourinho said this week : depending who you isolate 1v1 out wide
Ball is turned over
And this is an interesting situation of defensive crisis
Hato reacts well and accordingly, backtracking when carrier isnât closed down
That spin is actually good, and harder than it looks
The defending is okay : 1v1 show wide where you can block the shot
The footwork is okay because a bit lose (feet apart)
Resulting in doing the splits when changing direction
Still succesfully jockeys on his right to block a shot with the right leg.
With all your faultsâ , I love you still
This is the worse piece of defending in the day. Not Dorris.
If they are seemingly keen to extend 180k a week 27 year old Marc Cucurella without taking into account heâs an atrocious defender, no wonder they didnât flag anything up when looking at Hato.
The situation mentioned above : winger comes short, to ask a question from the fullback.
Poku on Hollandâs LW is caught between three due to the good positioning of Englandâs triangle;
Defence is staggered even if Milambo, the ball side CM is way out of position (should be âboxingâ next to the centre circle on Livramento,
Ball is flicked first time
Hato will stick to his marker, right
Of course he will not : here he is lunging on the carrier Livramento, clever enough to flick the ball first time.
Thatâs Cucurella or Renato Veigaâs defensive decision making right there.
Brainlessly lunging on the ball carrier and leaving team mates clean up his shit and pick up runners.
Bad luck, heâs the âremaining team mateâ that could clear up the shit.
aaaaand here we go again
A solid attempt to block the cross (not)
as Livramento is open on the cutback
Elliott : E.T. calls home?
Lacking inspiration for the subtitle
Second ball scramble, England 2 on top of Netherlandâs 3s
Anderson intelligently slides it
Hato jumps the gun again
When weâre talking about âdefensive instinctâ,
these are the situations where good defenders must
Stay in positon
Take out the opponent - which you can afford once per game.
Thereâs no in between
well, other than that, it Hato be you (again) chasing shadows
Instead of letting Maatsen fill in at CB, and maybe get useful again in the same play
Hato lunges again; misses the ball, and any care in the world for leaving Maatsen 1v2 or 1v3
Maybe thatâs why Hato was trying to block a shot instead of the goalkeeper earlier in the game
One last for the ride
A bad cross in the mixer.
Amid the weekly realisation that Marc Cucurella is an atrocious defender who costs one goal per game, heâs actually a worse attacker than defender.
5 assists in 81 games is beyond woeful for someone lauded for his âfeel for the gameâ ; a baroque way to describe his uncanny ability to mimick a blood clot in the attacking phase, to Cole Palmerâs biggest displeasure.
Where the fuck was Cucurella when Palmer scored two goals chasing two punts over the top? Nowhere to be seen, let alone clogging the space between Palmer and the goal. Thanks for wasting everyoneâs time.
The Light At The End of The Tunnel
This is what Jorrel Hatoâs radar looks like.
The light you see in the tunnel before being hit by a truck.
As a fullback, thereâs nothing - in a league where we routinely see a team getting two digit over their opponent, and some of the finest fullbacks gracing European pitches. Tyrell Malacia, GrĂ©gory Van der Wiel etcâŠ
Defensively there seems to be a volume and success of tackles, but thatâs not how you evaluate defenders.
The Jaap Stam / Manchester United tale in the early 2000s of âheâs making less and less tackles, we must let him goâ is a famous reminder that spreadsheet count plays and pixels, but only the brain can process what a defender does.
Neil Warnock is one of my favourite English football characters who I increasingly liked as Iâd go on to understand more about the game. He gave that interview to Donald McRae where he mentions the struggle to preserve the value of empirical analysis of players - from people whose guts tell them whoâs gonna cost the game.
The only position where you can smell whoâll fuck you over is the one where youâre responsible and held accountable for the whole thing. This isnât to say every analyst has to be UEFA Pro License. But I always advocate for having coached a bit as lead coach even if itâs a varsity, 5 a side, University team or your nephewâs. The stakes are not the same, but the challenges are the same.
Everybody wants to win (and rule the world) - itâs about managing stakeholders when you donât.
A sales pitch, but that taste of win (and seeds of losing) has to be felt to be known.
If anything - get your biais / interests take over, and you wonât make the choices for very much longer.
If we want to push it with Jorrel Hato : how often does he have to sprint at full pace, and how often is it also because heâs 70 yards out of position like half a dozen times in an European Championship semi final
How relevant is âtop speedâ in that process? Jorrel Hato is clocked at 34,21hm/h
It Hato Be You : What Now
For me the playbook is clear, find a second rate talent that looks the part, can pretend to play CB and LB whilst every big wage is forced out.
Another record breaking debutant, with lots of individual accolades ; itâs as if theyâre actually looking for external justifications to sign players, as opposed to go all in for the good players - such as Jorthy Mokio if need was felt. Who Barcelona wanted, and probably Madrid / PSG soon.
Some would say plausible denial. See ; other stakeholders acknowledged âthemâ
Mikel Artetaâs weird fascination for tweeners LB / LCB in his side or main quest to replicate his mentor Alex McLeishâs 2011 Birmingham City - will only be relevant when Artetarsenal match the Bluesâ legacy of winning the League Cup (2011)
Yes, Arsenal was linked with Hato. But as (another) squad filler, and they had a price, just like with Mudryk and Caicedo.
Someone else will play the Liam Ridgewell role as weâre talking allocation of resources,
Hence the âdata drivenâ and âyoungest team in Europeâ smokescreens : theyâre just implementing the strategy. Granted you find a metric to make a player look good - which you will - find the metric that is, not make the player good by training in the bomb squad (or telling him to âplay der play derâ)
Spending 75+65 million agent fees in two seasons is merely a consequence (but is also another Premier League record).
Trying to make football sense (or let alone sustainable management) is a lost endeavour. Chilwell is on 200k a week, Ishe Samuels-Smith captains the U21s.
Signing a backup for 40 million and thinking of extending Cucurellaâs contract whoâs a casting mistake sounds like partying like thereâs no tomorrow.
Or using players contract like kleenex.
Iâm just curious to see how Hato scales up.
We see him a lot in games, rarely for the good reasons : lots of close-up on the TV screen, lot of fastbreaks (halfway line ground camera) angles whereâs heâs out of position or going through the motions, or sprinting back.
If the things heâs not so good at are so easy to fix, why wasnât it done in one of the places that develops the most rounded ball masters in the world?
The change of direction in small spaces is a big question mark, you donât become more dynamic let alone powerful. This is a question of muscle composition (and fast twitch fibers %) rather than muscle mass.
Kepa is wham, he still canât jump.
Hato isnât hectic and rash like youâd expect a young defender, heâs surpringly scruffy technically and goes through duels for reasons only he grasps.
Radiates some kind of stance navitaging between âI canât look like a foolâ (lots of people look at him) and pretending he ignores when he actually made a mess out of an easy situation.
And heâs deemed worthy of the armband, which some of the miscommunications with his backline seem a poor attempt at decredibilising the idea that heâs merely wearing it to inflate the inevitable transfer fee.
Saying thereâs poor defensive decision making - when to delay, when to step - is an understatament, and heâll probably have loads to talk about (and relate) with MoisĂ©s Caicedo, rated by every fanbase (bar the other 19 and experts) - and also targeted by teams who have players nominated for individual awards.
My bet is that heâll get roasted by wingers for his first outings at LB, will stop playing there, and will end up as a poor understudy of Badiashile and Colwill until one of them (or both) get shipped out (players who joined before the current BlueCo executives are the ones who still hold the resale value).
Apparently heâs good in the air, which is the equivalent of expecting a carpenter to use a nail and a hammer.
He wasnât involved in the air vs England U21s, I have little interest in digging up deeper in that aspect of his game - not me having to justify another player to be upgraded whithin one year.
Update: Colwill did his ACL ; a combination of knowing Alysson Marins wants to bring Murillo for months, signing Hato to essentially be the AliExpress version of Levi Colwill (the one that side of Chelsea Twitter thinks Colwill is), some scheduling / squad rotation nonsense.
They want a new CB ; possibly because they already know none of Hato, Veiga, Anselmino and Gretelmino will hack it at this level. Theyâre proably aleady on the market to find another tradable asset.
For now, it Hato Be You, it very much is and weâre looking forward to it.
This content being free is unreal