Young players watch
- Thread starter rurikbird
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Not half as many rolls as he’d be doing after Luke Ayling’s wiped him out.
Forgot about that part of the game...
View: https://x.com/OptaAnalyst/status/1859214881599221984
There’s a wonderful certainty about players like Ben Doak. When they get the ball on the wing, you know a full-back is about to have their backtracking ability and balance tested.
Doak terrorised left-backs with regularity at youth level for Celtic before making the move to Liverpool in 2022. He has seen some first-team football at Anfield already, but was sent to Middlesbrough this summer by Arne Slot for some regular senior games, and it’s paying off.
He has a goal and three assists for Michael Carrick’s men in the Championship, while only five players in the division have created more than his 20 chances from open play. Of players to have played at least 540 minutes, Doak has the most attacking sequence involvements per 90 of anyone in England’s second tier (7.3), while nobody can match his 2.8 chances created per 90.
The 19-year-old also starred for Scotland in the last week, having more touches in the opposition box and creating more chances than any of his teammates in both UEFA Nations League wins over Croatia and Poland, also providing an assist for John McGinn against the latter.
Slot has already semi-joked about bringing him back from Middlesbrough early. With question marks about Mohamed Salah’s future, who knows? Next season could be an even bigger one for Doak back on Merseyside.
