Pape Matar Super Sarr, England's future full-backs and God-like distribution from a Greek
Monday Night SCOUTED is here… on a Tuesday
I’m late! But not without good reason: the Stathead database had not updated by publication time yesterday, robbing me of my all-important context. I hope you agree that it was worth the wait.
In lieu of your regularly scheduled MNS, I dropped my watchlist for the week for free, which you can find here if you missed it:
MNS arrives exactly when it means to. And this week it comes bearing fireworks:
England’s future-proof full-backs, from Cobham to Tyneside
Pape Matar Sarr is seriously good at the football, did you know?
Some SCOUTED Stat leaders, including the Greek God of ball-playing centre-backs
Let’s light the fuse.
All stats are correct as of 05 November 2024 12:00 GMT unless stated.
Future-proof full-backs
Eddie Howe may not have got the England job but he has made it much easier for Thomas Tuchel.
Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall have played in every single Premier League game for Newcastle so far this season, each starting seven out of 10 matches. Against Arsenal, they delivered a full-back clinic.
I posted about their tackling stats after the game. After a recount, they have got even better.
Livramento and Hall attempted four tackles each at St. James’ Park and were successful with every single one. No Arsenal player dribbled past either player and they conceded just one foul between them.
But Hall made up for that. He made a game-high nine clearances, including one goal-line clearance. He also blocked two shots, as many as the rest of the Newcastle side combined, and won four out of five aerial duels. Both players made seven ball recoveries each.
While Hall showcased a veteran’s defensive awareness, Livramento completely shut down Gabriel Martinelli in his one-vs-one and added threat going forward. No player on the pitch made more key passes (2) and no Newcastle player completed more progressive passes (4) or passes into the penalty area (2). These numbers are not astronomical, but reflect his ability to affect the game in the defensive third and the attacking third.
The instant reaction to this duo’s performance was to either profess them as England’s full-back pairing to 2030 and beyond - Livramento is about to celebrate his 22nd birthday and Lewis Hall is 20 years old - or to remind everyone they were Cobham graduates. To address the latter, I will point you towards the next two post screenshots.
Chelsea have consistently developed and will continue to produce Premier League-ready talent. Unfortunately, they will end up discarding them for favourable financial reporting and gluttonous talent acquisition. In this scenario, Newcastle have benefitted massively.
The headline query I wanted to answer when building this section was:
is Livramento x Hall the youngest full-back duo in Europe?
To find the answer, I searched Europe’s Big Five Leagues for all defenders born in 2001 or later with 5+ starts this season. The following 10 teams returned a full-back for each flank:
Strasbourg: Dilane Bakwa (2001, RWB) x Diego Moreira (2004, LWB)
Real Sociedad: Jon Aramburu (2002, RB) x Javi López (2002, LB)
Newcastle United: Tino Livramento (2002, RB) x Lewis Hall (2004, LB)
Manchester City: Rico Lewis (2004, RB) x Joško Gvardiol (2002, LB)
Juventus: Nicolò Savona (2003, RB) x Juan David Cabal (2001, LB)
Gladbach: Joe Scally (2002, RB) x Luca Netz (2003, LB)
Girona: Arnau Martínez (2003, RB) or Alejandro Francés (2002, RB) x Miguel Gutiérrez (2001, LB)
Espanyol: Omar El Hilali (2003, RB) x Carlos Romero (2001, LB)
Bournemouth: Julián Araujo (2001, RB) x Milos Kerkez (2003, LB)
Auxerre: Ki-Jana Hoever (2002, RB), Clément Akpa (2001, LB)
On one hand, this list was satisfying as it introduced a couple of players you will be hearing about in SCOUTED Stats later. On the other, for whatever reason, I did not expect it to return as many results. And it does not really answer my question. Yet.
I calculated the average age of all 10 full-back pairings and everything came up Toon.
In Valentin Livramento and Lewis Hall, Newcastle United have the youngest first-choice full-back pairing in Europe’s Big Five Leagues.
With an average age of 21.07 years old, Newcastle’s duo is younger than Strasbourg’s wing-back pairing (21.22). Unbelievably, given their stature and experience in the game, City’s power couple of Lewis x Gvardiol is the third-youngest (21.37).
If Héctor Fort (2006, RB) had made three more starts, his full-back partnership with Alejandro Balde (2003, LB) would yield an average age of 19.65 years old. But he hasn’t.
Although just a snapshot, the win against Arsenal highlighted the contrasting and complementary profiles of this burgeoning full-back duo. Livramento is an overlapping, duelling, dribbling driving force. Hall is a cerebral, composed-yet-combative centre-midfielder in full-back’s clothing. Both are technically gifted and high-level athletes.
The breadth of skills covered by these two alone provides Howe with an incredible level of tactical flexibility. Against Arsenal, they proved they can sit in, shut down wingers and defend a lead. Just wait until we see them in full flow going the other way.
We have criticised Newcastle for not holding on to Yankuba Minteh and Elliot Anderson, so it is only fair to stand and applaud them for not only spotting the opportunity to recruit two of Cobham’s finest talents, but to also put faith in them to deliver on their potential. The Magpies have been rewarded for doing so this season.
In the future, maybe England will be, too.
If you are, what you say you are…
During Tottenham 4-1 Aston Villa, Pape Matar Sarr ranked first for touches, passes completed, passes into the final third completed, progressive passes completed, carries, carrying distance, progressive carrying distance, ball recoveries and Goal-Creating Actions.
Although he was good in the first half, I think his second half display was among the best 45 minutes I have seen from a midfielder this season. I do not watch every single game, but I watch a lot.
My initial theory was that this was Sarr like we have never seen Sarr before - that is why I wanted Stathead to update, so that I could confirm some theories. Straight away, I thought it must have been his personal best tally for touches and passes. Before I tell you if my instinct was right, I want to explain why I was so confident.
In the first half, he enjoyed a buffet of space. His ground-eating is a hallmark of his game. The amount of pressure he applies, across all thirds of the pitch, is staggering. That is why Ange Postecoglou loves him.
“I rate him so highly. His capacity again to work for the team but also the quality he has in breaking open oppositions with his running with the ball.”
“I knew he’d be important today because they’ve got such a hard-working midfield with Onana, Tielemans, McGinn in there, Rogers. They don’t really play with wide players, they work awfully hard in that midfield area and you’ve got to match that. You’re never going to break them open unless you do that. He just put in another enormous effort.”
In the second half, in possession, Sarr played with an authority, confidence and purpose I had not seen before. Perhaps that is why it stood out to me. Each pass was packed with purpose and delivered with intent. It forced Spurs forward and created chaos. For Dominic Solanke’s go-ahead goal, his pass into Brennan Johnson was miscontrolled but fell to Kulusevski who provided the assist with a lovely reverse pass. Sarr was rewarded for his intent to find teammates in a dangerous area, even if the exact outcome was not quite as intended.
I mean Sarr was literally rewarded. He was credited with a Goal-Creating Action on FBref. Here is a reminder of the definition:
The two offensive actions directly leading to a shot, such as passes, take-ons and drawing fouls. Note: A single player can receive credit for multiple actions and the shot-taker can also receive credit.
You could argue that Johnson’s loose touch was the event before Kulusevski’s pass but I am very much on board with the decision to assign Sarr credit.
For Solanke’s second goal, he pounced on a loose pass, drove towards goal and laid a pass to Richarlison to cross first time. This GCA was clear-cut.
Now for the reveal.
It turns out my confidence was misplaced. But only slightly. Sarr’s 76 touches was his third-highest tally in a Premier League game. In September 2023, he registered 80 in a 2-1 home win against Liverpool. A month later, he recorded 90 in a 1-2 away win against Crystal Palace. So it was no surprise to then learn that his 60 passes completed was also third-best behind 65 and 68 in the same two matches.
Sarr has completed more Progressive Passes in three different Premier League matches, also matching his eight against Aston Villa in four other games. As for passes into the final third, his 10 against Aston Villa equalled his previous personal best against Wolves in February this year.
As for carries, his total number was 17 short of his best - he recorded 68 in that aforementioned game against Crystal Palace. However, he set new PBs for Carrying Distance (349 yards) and Progressive Carrying Distance (173 yards); the buffet was all-you-can-eat.
To address his final two match-leading metrics, he set a new Premier League PB with 13 ball recoveries and it was just the second time he has generated two Goal-Creating Actions in a single Premier League game. I did not list his four shots attempted earlier as it was not a game-high figure, but it was one away from his best of five, set against Manchester United in the 2-0 win last August.
Sarr did all of this against a team that has a perfect record in the UEFA Champions League. It was the type of everything display that we associate with Federico Valverde or Declan Rice at their best.
After I wrote that sentence, I decided to see if I could put a number on what that performance would look like.
It turns out only two midfielders have made 10+ Ball Recoveries and covered 150+ yards in both Progressive Passing Distance and Progressive Carry Distance in a single Premier League game this season: Rice against Leicester City and Sarr against Aston Villa.
Spurs fans, have no fear, Pape Matar is a Super Sarr.
SCOUTED Stats
Milos Kerkez became the first defender to provide multiple assists in a game this season with a brace against reigning champions Manchester City, no less.
I was very close to weaving the Hungarian into the full-back section above. But I will wait to discuss the nailed on move to Liverpool on its own.
Konstantinos Koulierakis completed 19 long passes against Augsburg, the most by any U23 player in a single game this season - including goalkeepers! He also came close to breaking Lucas Beraldo’s record for Progressive Passing Distance and is only the second player to cover 500+ yards in Carry Distance. Wolfsburg’s 2003-born Greek centre-back racked up 794 yards through his passing in the 1-1 draw, 59 short of the Brazilian’s benchmark. He also logged 527 yards-worth of carrying, 97 short of Jérémy Doku’s MD1 total of 624 against Chelsea. Konstantinos Koulierakis, you have my attention.
In case you were wondering, Pape Matar Sarr’s 13 ball recoveries against Aston Villa gives him a share of the joint-record alongside Tim Iroegbunam, Matteo Ruggeri and Guela Doué.
As a token of gratitude for your patience, here is a quick rundown on some of the total stat leaders. Remember, this is based on players born in 2001 or later in Europe’s Big Five Leagues.
With an assist against Espanyol, Lamine Yamal is now level with Bukayo Saka for assists (7) and level with Cole Palmer for goals + assists (12). Yamal also ranks first for shots (39), passes into the penalty area (30), Progressive Passes received (145), Carrying Distance (3,217 yards), take-ons attempted (91), take-ons completed (34), and Shot-Creating Actions (61).
Breaking down SCAs into the five sub-types:
Florian Wirtz ranks first for SCAs from live-ball passes (47)
Álex Baena ranks first for SCAs from dead-ball passes (15)
Jamie Gittens ranks for SCAs from Take-ons (12)
Lamine Yanal ranks first for SCAs from Shots (6)
Patrick Dorgu, Chrisantus Uche and Yassine Kechta rank joint-first for SCAs from Fouls Drawn (7)
Takefusa Kuba, Andrey Santos and João Neves rank joint-first for SCAs from Defensive Actions (3)
Álex Baena is the leader for key passes (35) and successful through balls (9), as well as the joint-leader for crosses alongside Raúl Moro (58).
Nicolas Jackson is now the Expected Goals and Non-Penalty Expected Goals leader with 6.1. Bradley Barcola is the only other player with at least 6 and the Frenchman leads the way for NPxG + xAG with 9.7. Barcola also ranks first for carries into the penalty area (39) and touches in penalty area (77).
Angelo Stiller and Joško Gvardiol are tied for successful passes into the final third with 71 each.
Espanyol’s 2003-born Moroccan right-back Omar El Hilali ranks first for tackles (37) but is third for tackles + interceptions behind Moisés Caicedo (52) and Carmona (61). The Sevilla right-back leads the way for ball recoveries (64).
ICYMI
MNS is free and will continue to be - so it’s now home to our weekly roundup of newsletters from across the SCOUTED network. Here’s what we’ve been working on this week…
Last week’s edition of Monday Night SCOUTED featured a call-to-arms: DO NOT SLEEP ON SAVINHO. Jake went deep on the City Group’s latest hot commodity, and why his statistical output is so impressive. Plus, a vision of football’s future that largely features balls pinging in from cultured left boots.
SCOUTED50 x The Shortlist: Eliesse Ben Seghir
Tom spoke to The Athletic’s Alex Barker about his number one pick for SCOUTED50: Eliesse Ben Segir. Alex breaks down the Moroccan prodigy’s enormous influence on an exciting Monaco team, his unique style, and where he goes next.
SCOUT NOTES: Sverre Halseth Nypan is the real deal
SCOUT NOTES is Llew’s weekly collection of stories from around the world of youth football. This week, Llew went deep on an Arsenal and Manchester United target from Norway. Plus: two more under-the-radar strikers making waves abroad, plus yet another J.LEAGUE prospect to stick on your watchlist.
Jake’s SCOUTED Squad was a big hit first time around, so he returned to the concept: this time building a first XI (and bench) from the league’s he denotes ‘Europe’s Next Three’ - namely Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands. If you’re looking for exciting names to keep an eye on this season, start here.
Ever not watched any football because you’re so paralysed by choosing between one million European games every week? Join the club, pal. Luckily Jake’s excellent watchlist is here to help: he’s scoured all the fixtures for the most interesting young players to keep an eye on. An indispensable companion to UEFA’s deluge of games.
To get all of the above and loooads more, subscribe to SCOUTED Notebook.
My final note is that I will not be writing MNS next week. Not because I don’t want to, but because I am spending the entire day walking to Essex to raise money for Movember. If you want to read more about why, you can visit my page. I think it is a valid reason to miss one week.
[There is a minuscule chance Tom will attempt something MNS-adjacent next week, using everything he’s learned from editing Jake’s magnificent work. Just typing these words have made Tom a bit sweaty, so don’t hold your breath - ed]
That is absolutely everything. Thank you for your patience yesterday. Thank you for reading today. And thank you for your understanding next week. Take care,
Jake.
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As an Arsenal supporter, this report on Newcastle's dynamic young fullback duo was painful reading.
If man city could snap up a Tino livramento-like player this January or next summer if we are being realistic, they would instantly have a brilliant Kyle Walker replacement.