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Post by stokebill on Mar 4, 2008 7:28:30 GMT
...by, erm, Steve Claridge.
Scouting report: Ryan Shawcross, Stoke City
The Stoke defender is a born leader who organises his defence well and has excellent distribution
Steve Claridge
March 4, 2008 12:56 AM
The first thing you notice about this boy is that he is a leader. Constantly talking and organising his colleagues and the situation around him, he demands the best from team-mates. I was under the impression he was still on loan from Manchester United - he has now made a permanent switch to Stoke - but I thought, watching him against QPR recently, "this boy's made for this team and this division". It was in the way he applied himself.
Not a complicated player, he has his limits with the ball and for the main he sticks within them, though once or twice he got caught on the ball, dwelling too long and letting the centre-forward close him down. I liked his choice of ball out from the back - when to play a little five-yard pass to his unmarked midfielder and when to play the ball long - which was a very strong feature of his game. His ability to drop the ball to his centre-forward was very good, even when under pressure. He was very aware of his opponent, even when he was back-pedaling, and he was always thinking about his distances in regard to the man he was marking.
I liked his enthusiasm for the game, which was summed up in one moment when he ran past almost his whole side to get back into defence after going up for a corner that broke down. Such was his enthusiasm to get goal-side of the ball.
At 6ft 3in he is decent in the air and although he is not yet at his physical peak his judgment of when to get tight and when to drop off was excellent. For a big lad he has quick feet, which meant he rarely went to ground when I watched him. Primarily right-footed, he is more than capable with his left which is handy because that was the side he played, of the two centre-halves, against QPR. He takes deep free-kicks, which tells you he is a nice striker of the ball, and against QPR he hit the right areas, although given the size of this Stoke side that wasn't as difficult as it might have been.
His concentration was good, always assessing the play in front of him, and he was very aware of the goalkeeper's positioning, particularly when he had to use him. He got good length on his clearances and his positioning when QPR had the ball was excellent. Stoke were well beaten but none of QPR's strikers scored, which suggested there was little Shawcross could have done to prevent the goals.
Stoke were his second loan club; his first was Royal Antwerp in Belgium, where he played 22 times and scored three goals, helping them into the play-offs. He has a good scoring record for a centre-half and has six goals in 26 games at Stoke. In January he won his first call-up to England's Under-21 team, for a European qualifier against the Republic of Ireland.
Ability-wise he is no world-beater - as very few centre-halves are - but he does his job well and the move to Stoke was clearly the correct one for him, so comfortable does he look in this side. The way Stoke are going at the moment he might get the chance to play a Premier League game at Old Trafford, something he never achieved with Manchester United.
How he rates
Age 20
Born Chester
Position Defender
Height 6ft 3in
Weight 12st
From Manchester United trainee
Awareness 8/10
Heading 9/10
Pace 8/10
Tackling 9/10
Passing 8/10
Team responsibility 8/10
Valuation £1.5m
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Post by vodkastoke on Mar 4, 2008 7:47:36 GMT
The ratings seem a bit high, although he is a very very promising player
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Post by mikeyb99 on Mar 4, 2008 7:52:51 GMT
With those ratings he is only worth £1.5m? *Scratches head*
A good defender, but not a leader IMO, and has a long way to go before being the finished article.
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Post by vodkastoke on Mar 4, 2008 8:02:25 GMT
That makes him sound like Jonathan Woodgate
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Post by Stick It On Cort's Head on Mar 4, 2008 8:04:41 GMT
How can claridge rate him after one game.
Imagine what sort of ratings he would've gave him if he would've been watching a match where he played well... ;D
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