Popular Post SinéadB Posted March 16 Popular Post Report Share Posted March 16 https://theathletic.com/4302224/2023/03/16/alex-scott-bristol-city-wolves-leeds-tottenham/ Bristol City’s Alex Scott – Everything Everywhere All At Once By Nancy Frostick and Thom Harris 4h ago 6 If Bristol City midfielder Alex Scott ever writes his autobiography, he needs to look no further than last weekend’s Best Picture winner at the Oscars for a title. Because ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ is what the Guernsey-born England youth international has been doing for Nigel Pearson’s Championship side this season, to the extent it is little surprise that Ashton Gate’s leading man is being linked with a string of Premier League clubs. ADVERTISEMENT Cautious estimates suggest the 19-year-old will cost £25million, and Pearson is adamant it will take more than that to prise Scott away. He drew praise from his idol Jack Grealish after they went head to head in an FA Cup loss to Manchester City in February, and Wolverhampton Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur and Leeds United are rumoured to be among those chasing his signature. What makes Scott so good, apart from the fact he has already made 85 senior appearances at such a young age, is his ability to progress play, get around the pitch and recover the ball. It is just about everything a manager could want from a central midfielder, with Scott having completed the second-most passes of any City player (989 in total, at a rate of 30.5 per 90 minutes), had the second-most touches (1684, 52 per 90), the most tackles (75, 2.3 per 90) and the most key passes (36, 1.1 per 90) while winning the most fouls (78, 2.4 per 90) in the first 36 games of the season. But another part of what makes the former Southampton and Bournemouth academy kid an exciting prospect is his versatility, having featured as a right wing-back under Pearson last season before coming inside to feature as a No 10 or in a deeper role to great effect (as shown by his share of minutes per position below). In any of those central roles, Scott’s desire to be on the ball and progress play is crucial to City’s attacks. When he plays as a central or defensive midfielder that role often involves him hitting defence-splitting passes and when he is operating as a No 10, often in front of Joe Williams and Matty James, he drifts into pockets of space in more advanced positions. The still below from Saturday’s 2-0 home win over Blackpool shows Scott playing in a midfield two with 34-year-old Andy King, a 50-cap Wales international and Premier League title winner with Leicester City seven years ago. ADVERTISEMENT Scott’s movement out to the right provided an essential outlet for full-back George Tanner, as the youngster slipped a ball first time into the channel for Mark Sykes to run onto and trigger an attack. In the same game, Scott’s movement to the byline with the ball after carrying it from the edge of the box created another chance as City recycled possession back to Jay Dasilva. Scott’s key strength is keeping possession ticking over with short passes, and his combination play in the final third is crucial to how they attack. As play progressed he received the ball back from King (No 10) and delivered a cross into the penalty area with his left foot, which resulted in City winning a corner. The freedom Scott, voted the Championship’s Young Player of the Month for February, is given in central midfield under Pearson allows him to roam anywhere, which makes him more difficult for opponents to pick up. The graphic below shows Scott’s forward carries of 10-plus yards distance in the league this season, where he is averaging 3.2 carries of over 10 yards per 90 minutes as well as carrying the ball into the final third 1.6 times per game. Defensively he is just as strong, with only 13 Championship players having made more tackles than Scott at an average of 2.3 per game as of the weekend’s fixtures. He ranks in the 95th percentile for tackles in the defensive, middle and attacking thirds, again showing how active he is all across the pitch. His ability with the ball at his feet has led to him being nicknamed the ‘Guernsey Grealish’, with the England international labelling Scott a “top, top talent” following that recent meeting in the FA Cup. Scott identified Grealish as his favourite player as a youngster, at a time when training with the academies at Southampton and Bournemouth required flights from his home in the Channel Islands to the mainland every weekend. His release by Southampton as a 12-year-old led to him signing for hometown club Guernsey FC in the Isthmian League’s South Central Division (the eighth tier of English football), where he became their youngest-ever player aged 16, before signing for Bristol City on a pre-contract agreement in 2020. ADVERTISEMENT “Guernsey is very unique; it’s a small island so we generally know every player and you see them grow up,” says Guernsey FC manager Tony Vance. “I’ve known Alex since he was probably four or five; you tend to know the ones that look really promising at a very early age. “He was at Southampton for a few years and they’re probably frustrated now that they released him and he came back to Guernsey. When he was back over here he was a little bit disillusioned with football at around 15. “In terms of playing for your island, there is definitely a sense of pride and ownership because we all care so much about it. What’s been interesting about his journey is while he wasn’t at a club as an academy player from very early, he never had a proper sort of apprenticeship. He got his apprenticeship by flying over and playing in men’s football in non-League (with Guernsey). That can have a real positive impact on players over being in an academy where everything is safe and results don’t matter as much. “It’s no surprise that his statistical information is backing up what people are seeing, because his numbers were always good for us. There are things he does that can’t be measured at our level, like the way he can drive through players and break lines. The other thing he’s exceptionally good at is winning fouls — the way he puts his body between players to gain the advantage for such a young age, it’s very impressive.” Scott playing for Guernsey in the eighth tier of English football (Photo: Guernsey FC) Nic Legg, one of Guernsey’s directors, says: “I remember the first training session he (Scott) came along to because Tony actually said to me that it might be worth getting some footage done of the session and do some media around it, because he thought Alex could be that good, and a friend of mine came along and filmed the training session. “And some of our senior players were kind of looking at Alex and they knew how good he was. We knew he was different, we knew he was really special. “Obviously the challenge as a 16-year-old was it’s OK to be good in training but when you go into a physical league like we play in, it’s a completely different environment. And then Alex had an opportunity to travel away with us, he was on the bench and he came on to make his first appearance away from home. He didn’t score but he hit the crossbar with what must have been his second touch. He did a few bits of skill and there were probably about 100 people at that game but you could see people saying, ‘Who is this?!’ ADVERTISEMENT “The fans loved watching him. It was really exciting and it became apparent very quickly that if we could give him an opportunity to move on, that’s exactly what we needed to do. The first thing that struck me about Alex and also his family when he came to us was, as a 16-year-old, how polite, humble and grounded he was. I always knew when he went to Bristol City, however well he did, he’d settle in and make a really good impression. For the football club in terms of losing his talent it was obviously disappointing for the fans, but incredibly pleasing to show the platform that the football club can give.” Guernsey are an amateur side so won’t receive any development fee or sell-on clause should Scott land that big-money move to the Premier League — the club are a registered charity who have to pay for the flights and accommodation for every team who travel south from the mainland to their island around 50km (30 miles) off the French coast for games at the 5,000-capacity Footes Lane stadium. But Bristol City are increasingly taking note of what they are doing. Scott’s fellow teenagers Ben Acey and Tim Ap-Sion have also signed for them from Guernsey FC and City sent now-first-team full-back Cameron Pring on loan in the other direction when he was coming through their academy. As things stand, Scott remains an integral part of Pearson’s side as they look to improve on a 17th-place finish last season. Should his future lie in the Premier League — and any length of time watching him play suggests such a move is inevitable — then the data based on this season is encouraging. The smarterscout pizza chart below, which employs advanced analytics to break down elements of a footballer’s game into different performance, skill and style metrics, shows Scott’s strengths (carry and dribble volume, defending intensity, disrupting opposition moves) when adjusted to Premier League standard. Scores are generated to show how often a player completes a specific action and how effective they are at them compared to peers in the same position, which is encouraging for Scott given his age. Premier League interest in Scott, who has 16 England caps from under-18s to under-20s, is justified given his progress but teams need to be prepared to pay big money for one of the EFL’s brightest young talents. ADVERTISEMENT “It wouldn’t surprise me that clubs are interested in him, but there have been no bids,” Pearson said after the Blackpool game. “Whoever makes a proper bid at some point will have to put in a really big bid. He has to be more than £25million, he shouldn’t go for less than that. Since he made his debut, he’s played upmost of 80 games for us. Some people talk about playing in a second season you can get a drop-off, but I don’t think we have seen that at all. “I don’t really spend a lot of time thinking about it, I’m aware of speculation but that’s all it is. There’s no doubt in my mind we’ll have to deal with bids this summer.” 13 10 1 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curr Avon Posted March 16 Report Share Posted March 16 How about a Scooby Doo ending? Nancy Frostick and Thom Harris? Hah! Lets see who you really are! I knew it! Its Old Man @Davefevs who runs the Amazing Stats "And I would have gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for you postin' kids!" 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atyeo's lift Posted March 16 Report Share Posted March 16 Impressive article highlighting how special a player he is. Just think, with 10-12 years ahead of him earning Premiership wages , he might just be able to afford a house on Guernsey 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoystonFoote'snephew Posted March 16 Report Share Posted March 16 30 minutes ago, Atyeo's lift said: Impressive article highlighting how special a player he is. Just think, with 10-12 years ahead of him earning Premiership wages , he might just be able to afford a house on Guernsey I don't know what the average price of a house on Guernsey is but at least he doesn't need x millions in the bank for the right to buy as he has a birthright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
22A Posted March 16 Report Share Posted March 16 32 minutes ago, Atyeo's lift said: Just think, with 10-12 years ahead of him earning Premiership wages , he might just be able to afford a house on Guernsey Joking aside; he's a local. In Guernsey there are two house price lists; one for locals and a higher one for us outsiders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atyeo's lift Posted March 16 Report Share Posted March 16 OK, OK, it was just a joke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P'head Red Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 Does anyone know if he's starting for the U20s tonight against Germany? Can't find any team news. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornacix the Druid Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 15 minutes ago, P'head Red said: Does anyone know if he's starting for the U20s tonight against Germany? Can't find any team news. According to flash score he's starting wearing no. 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLRed Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 Is there any stream anywhere to watch it? Struggling to find anything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P'head Red Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 Found a team sheet from someone at the game for anyone interested 6 minutes ago, BLRed said: Is there any stream anywhere to watch it? Struggling to find anything I don't think there is one unfortunately 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davefevs Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 Not on bet365 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Port Said Red Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 (edited) I have a stream of the ROI game, Sykes is on the bench, CoD scored his forst international goal after 6 minutes. Young Ferguson from BHA has just scored a 2nd. Edited March 22 by Port Said Red Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BS3City Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 I notice that Rovers loanee Quansah is starting too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loosey Boy Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 6 minutes ago, Port Said Red said: I have a stream of the ROI game, Sykes is on the bench, CoD scored his forst international goal after 6 minutes. Young Ferguson from BHA has just scored a 2nd. Latvia looking a really poor side 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Port Said Red Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 2 minutes ago, BS3City said: I notice that Rovers loanee Quansah is starting too... How do the rules work that then? The Rovers called off their game this weekend because they had three international call ups' but Quansah wouldn't have been able to play anyway, because he was sent off in their last game. 1 minute ago, Loosey Boy said: Latvia looking a really poor side Making ROI look like Man City right now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon bristol Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 7 minutes ago, Port Said Red said: How do the rules work that then? The Rovers called off their game this weekend because they had three international call ups' but Quansah wouldn't have been able to play anyway, because he was sent off in their last game. Making ROI look like Man City right now. Does that make odowda the haaland equivalent? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Port Said Red Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 1 minute ago, Simon bristol said: Does that make odowda the haaland equivalent? No, Ferguson might be though. O'Dowda is more like Grealish 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Port Said Red Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 24 minutes ago, Loosey Boy said: Latvia looking a really poor side Haha, I turned off because it was so one sided and now it's 2-2! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLRed Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 Mad in this day and age of televised football that even when there is Bugger all else on, we can’t even watch our national u-20’s team play 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcfctim Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 https://www.sofascore.com/england-u20-germany-u20/yZispjo 2-0. Samuel Iling-Junior who scored both goals is at Juventus interestingly enough 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lrrr Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 1 hour ago, Port Said Red said: How do the rules work that then? The Rovers called off their game this weekend because they had three international call ups' but Quansah wouldn't have been able to play anyway, because he was sent off in their last game. Well Ipswich got theirs called off early with a third player in a provisional squad who then didn't make the full squad so should have only been without 2 players and unable to call the game off 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoystonFoote'snephew Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 1 hour ago, bcfctim said: https://www.sofascore.com/england-u20-germany-u20/yZispjo 2-0. Samuel Iling-Junior who scored both goals is at Juventus interestingly enough I see Scott played for 70 minutes before being replaced by Villa's eebagum, on loan at QPR. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davefevs Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 Since when was Gary Windass, German? 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvio Dante Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 With the acknowledgment that one persons opinion isn’t necessarily gospel, interesting to see this tweet from a Man City fan at the game last night. One of the comments has it spot on - if other clubs fans are specifically watching your players then there’s something special there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davefevs Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 2 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said: With the acknowledgment that one persons opinion isn’t necessarily gospel, interesting to see this tweet from a Man City fan at the game last night. One of the comments has it spot on - if other clubs fans are specifically watching your players then there’s something special there. It’s quite normal to have a bit of home club bias on your players, but as you say, it’s not just us lot who are singing his praises…and that was happening pre the Man City game too. He really is a gem. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TV Tom Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 4 minutes ago, Davefevs said: It’s quite normal to have a bit of home club bias on your players, but as you say, it’s not just us lot who are singing his praises…and that was happening pre the Man City game too. He really is a gem. We’ve had yet another poor and disappointing season and would of lost our two best players in Semenyo and Scott come August, the summer transfer window is going to be our biggest in living memory, hopefully NP can pull it off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Port Said Red Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 9 minutes ago, harrys said: We’ve had yet another poor and disappointing season and would of lost our two best players in Semenyo and Scott come August, the summer transfer window is going to be our biggest in living memory, hopefully NP can pull it off I think that's overstating it, we have had an inconsistent season, but with the number of youngsters and players inexperienced at this level we have introduced, that is almost a given. I think we have had an excellent season off the pitch and have positioned ourselves well for the future. 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cidered abroad Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 Having just read the Wikipedia of Dele Alli and his childhood, I see why Alex Scott may never be a superstar, but how lucky he is to be a sensible, hard working and respectful person with a real talent for football. His parents, Guernsey FC and City have benefited from this young man's manner and so will he as he goes through his career and life. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Aurelius Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 21 minutes ago, harrys said: We’ve had yet another poor and disappointing season and would of lost our two best players in Semenyo and Scott come August, the summer transfer window is going to be our biggest in living memory, hopefully NP can pull it off I think we’ve had a pretty good season, the biggest negative for me is the fitness department re amount of injuries, but a lot have been impact (unsure how much can be attributed to bad luck). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davefevs Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 1 hour ago, Port Said Red said: I think that's overstating it, we have had an inconsistent season, but with the number of youngsters and players inexperienced at this level we have introduced, that is almost a given. I think we have had an excellent season off the pitch and have positioned ourselves well for the future. For me, we’ve proved that with most of our key players available we are competitive in this league, hell, we’ve had an 8 game unbeaten run and a 13 game one this season. That doesn’t smack of poor or disappointing to me, but that’s me. But it’s pretty evident when the likes of James or Naismith (or both) are out, we find it harder to get points. Not just those two, that’s far too simplistic a reason, include Atkinson too, Pring having to play CB, etc, etc. So the gist of it for me is that we need to improve depth…and that doesn’t mean hoarding players, just a few more true first team options rather than debutants and 34 year old CMs (no dissing of Andy King). 7 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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