Why West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus Could Be The Signing Of The Season
They might be out of the Carabao Cup, but West Ham's Premier League and Europa League seasons are starting to look quietly exciting. There's a number of reasons for that, but chief amongst them is Mohammed Kudus, who's making a claim to not only be the signing of the season, but West Ham's most perfect one in years.
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00:00 *Intro*
00:03 Hello there everybody, Adam Cleary from 442 here for you
00:06 and Mohammed Kudos, or Mohammed Kudos, as I like to call him,
00:11 'cause he's, 'cause he's doing well.
00:13 Shut up.
00:14 Anyway, thanks to him and his brilliance, West Ham are very quietly starting to have quite a good season.
00:20 Ooh, look how high they are in at the Premier League table,
00:23 and all the plaudits are falling at this man's feet.
00:26 Now, obviously that's because he's a really, really good footballer, which we're going to look at,
00:30 but more importantly, in terms of how West Ham are setting themselves up and how they want to play this season,
00:35 they could not have gone out and bought a more perfect player if they tried.
00:41 Which I presume they did.
00:42 *Ding*
00:44 Alright, so, first things first, is this how West Ham play?
00:48 I kind of think it's how West Ham play.
00:50 Sometimes it's a 4-2-3-1, and sometimes it's kind of just more like a 4-3-3,
00:55 and sometimes Lucas Paquette is here, but mostly he's over there,
00:59 and sometimes Sochek's there, but sometimes he's here,
01:02 and sometimes Ward-Prouse is there.
01:04 It's kind of really messy how they're setting up this season.
01:06 It's very inconsistent, but the one thing that is consistent is this man, Kudas.
01:11 He doesn't just play on the right in sort of a wide sense,
01:14 he pretty much plays the entire right-hand side of the pitch,
01:17 drifting inside to get involved when needed, tracking back to do his defensive duties,
01:21 and then just being the focal point of most of their attacks.
01:24 He's also not afraid to just go and swap with whoever's on the left-hand side,
01:27 because he is left-footed, and also whisper this one,
01:30 but he quite likes just setting himself up in the middle, because there was some talk,
01:34 he would ultimately be a false nine.
01:36 Now, he hasn't been for West Ham much yet, but that could happen.
01:40 Like, this is his total heat map in the Premier League this season,
01:43 and you can see, yes, predominantly on the right, but also can just go anywhere.
01:48 Now, West Ham this season are primarily looking to do one of two things in attack,
01:52 and one is working quite well, and the other is not.
01:55 What isn't working as well as it could be is this--
01:58 - Right, okay, sorry, I've got to stop this, because you've noticed it.
02:02 Of course you've noticed it. There's a big stain on my sleeve here.
02:06 It's the last filming day before Christmas.
02:09 We decide to order KFC as a nice treat. I don't know if that's gravy,
02:13 I don't know if that's beans, could be zinger sauce, could be anything.
02:16 Not sure, but someone has slopped it on the table, not me,
02:18 and then I've got to put my arm in it, and I didn't notice until I sat down to edit the thing.
02:24 By which point, too late, isn't it? It's just there.
02:26 So it is there, and it is there for the entire video, and I just wanted to come on
02:31 and apologize for being such a scruff, but it is what it is.
02:35 I'm afraid we'll just try and not look at it, okay?
02:39 Just try and ignore it. The rest of the video is really good,
02:42 so just focus on that, okay?
02:45 Thanks. Bye.
02:48 What isn't working as well as it could be is their set pieces.
02:51 They got James Ward-Prouse in the summer, wherever he is on this,
02:54 so they inherited this wonderful array of set piece options.
02:57 Corners, free kicks, the lot, they are targeting those.
03:00 And as a result, out of all the chances they've created this season,
03:03 they have the second highest percentage of those being set pieces.
03:07 Only Everton, Deich's Everton, have a higher percentage of set piece chances,
03:12 but they're not really converting them as well as they should be.
03:15 If you care about xG, then their xG from set pieces is like 8,
03:19 but they've only scored 5 goals, so they are underperforming.
03:23 Just by measure of comparison, Arsenal's set piece xG is like 6,
03:27 and they've scored 10, so bad, bad, bad, bad.
03:31 Now West Ham will be hoping that improves as the season goes on,
03:34 because clearly Ward-Prouse and everybody else, they are creating good chances
03:37 from set pieces, they're just not converting them yet.
03:39 But what is currently working for them though, is their other main approach,
03:42 which is to sit really deep like this and be compact and hard to break down,
03:46 be very moist, and then go direct and quick into the space that leaves.
03:51 And we can see this in the numbers this season, because West Ham have some of
03:54 the lowest possession in the Premier League this season.
03:57 Like it's only really the teams that are struggling, and Everton,
04:00 Deich's Everton, who do it on purpose, who see the ball as little as they do.
04:04 But then when we look at the number of long balls attempted,
04:07 then whoosh, would you look at that, they jump right back to the top of the league.
04:11 Now if that makes it sound like I'm describing them as some kind of boring,
04:14 negative, like, route one side, then not, because it's not Mikhail Antonio
04:18 this season that's been excelling in this role, it's Jared Bowen,
04:21 who I think I'm right in saying is 3 foot 2.
04:24 So the idea isn't to be really negative and then just lump it up to a big man
04:28 who will put his foot on it and bring everyone else into play,
04:31 it is genuinely to create loads of space in behind, hit that,
04:34 and allow your Bowens and your Kudases to run through and score.
04:38 And you can tell it's that and not the other thing because West Ham also
04:41 lead the league by miles for the number of switches of play.
04:45 And what that tells you is they're still trying to create these pockets of space
04:49 in behind the defence, even when they've got possession and they are pushed up the pitch.
04:53 Just to show you what I mean, if you imagine this is West Ham and they've got
04:56 the other team penned in, Bowen's not going to run in behind now,
04:59 but he can certainly do a lot of movement that will give the defenders
05:02 a bit of space to run into the goal.
05:04 So what they do is they take the ball out to the side,
05:07 they move the ball out to that side, the full-back joins in to provide the width.
05:10 You've got, let's say it's Paqueta, he kind of floats inside,
05:13 there's a lot going on over here and they move the defence,
05:16 hopefully this works, over and across to sort of congest this area.
05:21 And by doing that, you can see that if this is Kudas,
05:23 he hasn't now got a lot of space to run into,
05:25 it's not like 30 yards in a straight line to the goal,
05:28 but they have manufactured him more space than he would otherwise have.
05:31 If you've seen it, the ball would then go slowly back across
05:34 as they probe and try to find an option.
05:36 But the reason West Ham ranks so high for completed switches of play
05:40 is because this space here is what they're trying to create
05:43 specifically so they can go long into it.
05:46 And the goal they scored against Arsenal was just a brilliant example of this
05:49 because just look at the situation here, they've not made loads of room,
05:52 they've not created loads of space, but they have pulled Arsenal over to this side.
05:56 There's not what you would call a chance on here,
05:58 but if they can hit a really long, perfectly accurate pass into this position,
06:02 Kudas can get into it.
06:04 And he does, he controls the ball brilliantly,
06:06 comes inside his defender, that sounds really weird,
06:09 and then he finishes.
06:11 Football's really dirty, isn't it?
06:14 So that's what West Ham are currently trying to do,
06:16 and obviously for Kudas in particular, he's getting loads of goals,
06:19 it's working really well for him.
06:21 But why?
06:22 Well, to be the perfect player in this system, what do you need?
06:25 You need blistering pace, which obviously he's got,
06:27 you don't need me to show you that.
06:28 You've got to be a great finisher as well.
06:30 He's good with his left foot, he's good with his right foot,
06:32 he's deadly in front of the goal, from range, from close,
06:34 like the guy is genuinely lethal.
06:37 But also, you're going to be doing a lot of running with the ball.
06:40 Like West Ham might be sitting deep, they're going to go straight into you
06:43 once they turn that ball over.
06:44 You might be receiving it in this part of the pitch here
06:47 and have to know exactly how you're going to get it from there
06:50 to a goal-scoring chance.
06:52 And maybe there's only one defender in your way,
06:54 but maybe there's three or four.
06:56 You need to be as comfortable taking one man on
06:59 as you are dribbling between a bunch of them.
07:01 He's absolutely out of this world, this kid.
07:04 Like this is just this season in the Premier League as well,
07:06 so there's no stat padding from six months in the Eredivisie.
07:10 This is how he has adapted to the "hardest league to play in on the planet".
07:14 There is only really Jeremy Doku, who is even attempting to go past him
07:18 more times in a game.
07:19 And in terms of how successful he is as a percentage,
07:22 Kudas is fractionally better.
07:24 When on the one hand you look at those numbers,
07:26 and on the other hand you look at these,
07:28 that red one is bad.
07:29 He's not getting very many shots away per game
07:31 because West Ham aren't creating that many chances.
07:34 And yet he scores really high for actual goals,
07:37 which means if that number is low and that number is high,
07:40 he is f***ing lethal.
07:42 So when West Ham are able to create these pockets of space
07:44 and they get Kudas into them,
07:46 that is just like nightmare fuel for defenders.
07:50 Statistically, he's going to go past you.
07:52 And if he does, he's probably going to score.
07:54 But that is not what we're here to praise him for today.
07:58 You did not click on this video just needing me to tell you
08:00 that Kudas is good in front of goal and can run past players.
08:03 That is not the thing I think is most interesting.
08:06 Because we're here to talk about why he's perfect for this particular system,
08:10 not why he's just like broadly amazing.
08:13 If you are going to sit deep and invite pressure on
08:15 to create the kind of space you need for these opportunities,
08:18 then you need to be really good and really disciplined defensively.
08:22 And that's why this West Ham system works quite well,
08:25 because Alvarez and Socek, very, very different players,
08:28 but both dogged and determined.
08:30 They don't give the ball up.
08:31 James Ward-Prouse and Lucas Paquette are like primarily creators.
08:35 You think of them for what they can do with the ball at their feet,
08:37 but they're also great in a tackle and they're great at covering space.
08:41 And Bowen as well, now that he's moved into the centre of the pitch,
08:43 has become this amazing pressing forward.
08:46 The defenders don't get a minute's peace,
08:48 but none of them are carrying Kudas.
08:51 You would forgive West Ham for being set up in this way,
08:53 of having all this sort of discipline and just sort of like
08:56 steely mind David Moyes-ness,
08:58 and then you just throw some spectacular young lad out on the wing
09:02 and just hope he can do something with it.
09:03 But no, he is as much a part of this system as the rest of them.
09:07 If I ever show you any stats that are likely to surprise you,
09:10 it should be these.
09:12 Comparative to all the other attacking midfielders
09:14 and wingers in the Premier League,
09:16 Kudas might genuinely be the best one defensively.
09:20 Like he's legitimately top number one.
09:22 Nobody else is doing more in the Premier League
09:24 for the number of tackles and for the number of tackles won.
09:27 And unlike a lot of other players who are just winning the ball back loads
09:30 because they're part of a high pressing team,
09:31 he's doing it all over the pitch.
09:33 Like when West Ham press high, he's good at winning the ball back.
09:36 When they're defending deep, he's good at winning the ball back.
09:38 When it's just loose in the middle, he can win the ball back.
09:41 But this is the best one though, he's top for ball recoveries.
09:43 And if you're not entirely sure what that means,
09:45 it's just if the ball is ever loose, if someone loses control of it,
09:48 if it's just sort of there to be got,
09:50 nobody is getting it more than he is.
09:53 And that's really important because it means you just switched on all the time.
09:57 It means you react faster than other people.
09:59 It means you read the game really well.
10:01 It displays a really high level of on-field intelligence.
10:04 And this will really please West Ham fans.
10:06 If you just purely look at the combined number of tackles and interceptions,
10:09 basically how many times you go and take the ball off the opposition,
10:12 he scores really, really highly.
10:15 But you want to know who is at the very top of that particular stat,
10:18 who he's trailing behind?
10:20 Lucas Paqueta.
10:22 It's a system that this whole West Ham team have bought into,
10:25 and it's one that as the season goes on,
10:27 could potentially mean they have a really, really good campaign.
10:30 And do you know what? Actually, since he's just come up,
10:32 Paqueta, Paquetar, I can never decide which one it is.
10:35 He is as important to this West Ham team as anybody else.
10:39 He is so good on the ball. He sets the tempo.
10:42 He's dogging in the tackle, and he creates so many of these chances for Kudus.
10:47 In fact, it's part of the reason he's found himself out on the left this season,
10:50 to just relieve him of some of the congestion of the centre of the pitch,
10:53 relieve him of some of that responsibility.
10:55 So if he does get on the ball, his first thought can be,
10:57 "Can I get that lad in?"
10:59 And as we've seen in this video, he does, frequently.
11:01 So, yeah, too long, didn't read.
11:03 Mohamed Kudus is fantastic.
11:05 And if you were one of the sporting directors at one of the "big clubs",
11:08 you should sack yourself right now for having missed him.
11:11 38 million. 38 million.
11:14 He could legitimately go for, like, treble that at the end of this season, if he wants to.
11:18 Anyway, it's practically Christmas now, isn't it?
11:20 And I've got a dog to pet, so West Ham fans and everybody else,
11:23 please do let us know what you make of Kudus in the comments below.
11:26 We do dearly love to hear from you.
11:28 And if you enjoyed this video, hey, why wouldn't you?
11:30 Why not subscribe to us here at 442 on YouTube?
11:32 You can make that my Christmas present, if you really want to.
11:35 Get me on Twitter, socials, I forget which ones I'm on, @adamcleary,
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11:46 Ooh, Mary Earp's, didn't we time that one well?
11:49 That's it, yeah.
11:50 This is the last video you'll watch this Christmas.
11:52 Have a nice time, and I'll see you soon.
11:55 That's kind of an outro, isn't it?