I read very contrasting opinions on Jose Baxter following our 2-0 home win against Blackpool on Saturday. Some said he bossed midfield, others claimed he didn't do enough, and some even said his distribution was awful.
I decided to have a close look at his performance. At first I thought about counting every single pass, but after three minutes I realised that would be far too much work, as he was very involved and surely made far more passes than any other player on the pitch.
Instead I skipped the
neutral passes. These are the "easy" ones, short, often sideways and backwards to an unmarked teammate and when under little pressure.
There were loads of these as he's been given a very central role in Nigel Adkins' team, he's a
holding, or deep-lying, playmaker. He comes short for the ball, trying to always be an option when the defenders start building an attack. When our players are well closed down they often look to pass it back to Baxter in support. Very rarely did Baxter make off the ball runs forward, and this isn't because he's unable to do it. It is clearly his
instruction to not venture too far forward. Defensively he's got to be in a position to protect the back four if the opposition counters. His job is to start off moves, to get us playing, to keep things ticking, to up and dictate the pace of the game.
I think we must learn to accept that this is his current role. Those expecting Baxter to be a goal threat, make runs into the box, regularly getting beyond the strikers, will be frustrated if Adkins' keeps his current set up. He may not even get many assists as it's difficult to get a lot of them from such a deep, restricted, position.
Our wide men (JCR and Adams) against Blackpool were more attacking than what's the norm in modern 4-4-2 formations. When that's the case it becomes even more important for the central midfield duo to hold back more. Basham was also restricted, and only when we looked to get crosses in, did he try to get into the box and get on the end of things.
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* With Blackpool packing midfield it was hard for Baxter to be too adventurous with his passing from his deep position, and he had to go short most of the time.
Anyway, back to the analysis of Baxter. I noted all his
- great passes
- misplaced passes
Great passes
7' Penetrating pass, finds JCR centrally
8' Good pass out to Adams 1on1 with full back
21' Picked up clearence, directly set up JCR with a 1 on 1 with his full back
40' Loses two men and finds K.Wallace in space out wide
41' Superb pass, finding K.Wallace running in behind into box (Sammon shot over, first time JB found space in an advanced position)
2nd half:
20' Excellent threaded pass to McNulty, who found Sharp, who passed backwards
25' Clever pass up to Sharp
28' Got involved a bit higher up, set up J.W with a 1 on 1 out wide
Misplaced passes
5' Looked an easy pass to JCR, but it went straight out for a throw in
7' Ambitious pass to JCR in middle, lacked accuracy
9' Forward pass blocked, bit sloppy
14' Tried lifting ball out to wing, went out for goal kick, run wasn't there
32' Tried forward pass, intercepted. Think he lost patience, as we really struggled to penetrate at this stage.
*43' Mishit pass to Freeman in a wide position, loss of concentration. Set up chance to break, but Baxter actually stopped it with a strong tackle
45' Tried long pass to Sammon, went out of play
2nd half:
19' Hopeful ball over the top to McNulty, but overhit, gk got it
With the amount of passes he made (probably 100+?) I think his pass completion must have been pretty good. There was also just one occasion (
*) where he lost the ball dangerously.
The 'easy' playmaking part, touch, turn and passing it on, he does quite well and it's easy to see he's got natural ability and a lot of composure on the ball. His partner Basham lacks this ability usually just gave it to Baxter. This slows us down at times. Adams had an off game and Sharp and Sammon also struggled to get involved, which meant we created very little until JCR started beating his man. I think this made Baxter a bit impatient and tried a couple of hopeful passes.
Defensively Baxter has improved after finally getting fit enough for this level of football. He back tracks, chases and holds his position much better, although he lets Basham do more of this when it's possible. Baxter also won a lot of headers and made a couple of strong tackles too. Blackpool didn't attack too much, but I didn't feel Baxter was the defensive liability he was last season.
There were some decent passes, but there must be better movement in front of him for him to have even more attacking impact.
Summary
If you accept Baxter's role for what it is, playmaking from deep, he did a decent job. Blackpool dropped deep and our forwards/wide men really struggled to find space. When games are like that, people may start to look for other people to contribute more and maybe that's why some people didn't rate Baxter's performance.
I think Adkins' substitutions also suggest that he, too, saw the performances of the front players as our biggest problem on the day, and credit to him, he changed it and we got the win in the end, although the team's performance was far from convincing. Baxter?
7/10 from me.
