In this scout report, we will analyse Jorge Grant, who is playing for Lincoln City. Grant has contributed to the good start to the season for the League One side, with four goals in five matches for his team. In this analysis, we will see how the current Lincoln City manager, Michael Appleton, who played in EPL clubs like Manchester United and West Bromwich Albion, is using Grant to help the team’s tactics, both offensively and defensively.
His role in the team
Jorge Grant is a medium height player. His height is 1.75 metres. He is an athletic player with good pace, who plays in the wide areas and is a right-footed player. He has patience in his game and knows when he must go for an offensive challenge and when he needs to wait for support. Grant is a player with good stamina, which allows him to support the full-back defensively. We can see Grant defending in the last third of the field, and then going forward at a quick pace to take advantage of the counter-attack.
Jorge Grant when his team has the ball
Grant prefers to move wide on the field and close to the touchline, but, occasionally, he moves inside and gives space to the full-back. He likes to receive the ball wide and high. For a winger, it is important to know how to stretch the opponent’s lines. By taking a wide position, a player contributes to stretching the lines of the opponents.
In that way, the opposition will have more space between the channels, which will give more opportunities to the team in possession of the ball.
Below, we can see Grant moving inside on the field. In this way, he creates free space for the full-back, who is moving higher up. That will allow him to receive the ball in an advantageous position in the field, and the team will have an extra player in attack.
Moreover, Grant shows that he is a player that knows where to position himself, and who to pass to before receiving the ball. In that way, he helps his team to get away from the opponent’s instant pressure.
Furthermore, in the picture below, we can see Grant taking up a good position in the channel: it is important for a player to read the game and take good positions in-between the opponents, as this will help his teammates to break lines with their passes and play the ball forward.
Grant is the type of player that tries to exploit the free space in-behind his marker by passing the ball and instantly moving forward in-behind his opponent. By doing so, Grant is looking to take advantage of his speed: when he is moving with the ball against his marker, he is probably moving with more speed, while his opponent is looking at him.
Therefore, Grant, by giving the ball to a teammate running next to him, will take advantage of his opponent’s position, and will try to move behind him to receive the ball without dribbling. Below, we can see an example of how Grant tries to take advantage of these situations.
Higher up the field, Grant has a good vision when he has the ball. A player needs to have creativity and vision, especially if he is a midfielder or a winger. Those players in possession of the ball have more time when the ball is at their feet, so they need to be creative and know how to break lines and create chances for the forwards.
In the picture below, we can see Grant reading the game and choosing to pass wide to his teammate, and not delivering the ball into the box. By analysing this picture, we can see that Grant had the vision and creativity to see his teammate’s movement and choose the best possible option, as his teammates were outnumbered in the box.
Additionally, Grant has the ability to read the game when he is in the wide areas, too. When he has the ball at his feet, if he thinks that he is not in a position to go for the challenge, he will wait for a teammate to support him. In this way, Grant makes sure that he will not lose the ball.
Moreover, if he is not able to go for the offensive challenge, he has the patience to give time to his teammates to get higher in the pitch. In that way, Grant gives time to his teammates to attack the opponent with more players.
When the ball is on the other side of the pitch, he takes a position in the box, at the far post. In that way, he gives an extra option for the carrier of the ball for delivery. It is important for a winger to take up a position in the box in situations like this because the striker will not be in the right position every time.
Therefore, the balls that the striker is not able to finish will probably reach the winger, who has already taken a position at the far post.
Grant when his team does not have the ball
Grant has good communication and organisation skills, both with and without the ball. These skills are important for a football player on the field, as the game demands good communication and organisation skills between every player in every area of the field. These skills help the team to organise while attacking and defending.
Moreover, a player that has these skills could be the leader in the team, as he could organise his teammates. Football teams need to have players like these within the squad, as this will help the team in many different aspects of the game while defending and attacking. In the pictures below, we can see Grant organising his teammates while defending.
Grant is a winger that puts pressure on opponents high up the field. By doing so, he is helping his team to restrict the opponent’s play out of the back. In modern football, wingers and forwards are the first line of defence and are important players when the team does not have the ball. Here, we can see Grant waiting for the right moment to start pressuring his opponent.
Moreover, Grant showed that he knows how to position his body when defending. In this way, he manipulates the opposing players into passing the ball where his team wants, and not where they want. This is a great way for a team to defend, as the players are trying to set traps for the opposition, manipulating them into passing the ball into an area where they will have the disadvantage.
Here, we can see Grant taking up such a position, restricting the pass into the wide area. It is obvious that he is trying to manipulate his opponent into driving or passing the ball into the midfield area, where his team has the advantage because of their formation, as they have three midfielders there.
Grant is supporting his team and the full-back behind by moving up and down the wing as needed. He might go behind and communicate well, taking a position where the full-back will be out of position. Grant is a hardworking player with good stamina and tries to support his partner who is behind him.
As we mentioned before, modern football requires players to contribute when the team is attacking and defending, and this is what Grant does.
Areas for improvement
From this analysis, we can say that Grant firstly needs to improve his confidence when he has the ball in wide areas and try to dribble more and go for the offensive 1vs1 challenge. This will make him a bit more unpredictable and give his team more chances.
A second thing that Grant could improve on is while defending: despite his positioning, awareness, and his ability to read the movements of his opponent behind him, he does not have the ability to intercept the opponent’s passes. This will give him an extra boost while defending and will help him to regain possession of the ball high up the field, and in the midfield area. Here we can see two pictures of Grant with two passes coming next which he could have intercepted if he had quicker reactions.
Conclusion
Grant’s tactical analysis showed that he is a hardworking player who contributes to many different areas in Lincoln City’s style of play. Overall, he is a good technical player, with good vision and creativity in the final third of the field. He is consistent while defending, and knows how to manipulate the opposing players. Like every player, Grant needs to keep working and improve on his weaknesses.
Some possible weaknesses of his could be his confidence when he has the ball in wide areas: he needs to engage in offensive 1vs1 challenges more. Defensively, he could work on his interceptions: for a player so consistent in his defensive duties, it is a pity that he does not make interceptions that often throughout a game.
