Adama Traore failed to score or assist again in the Manchester City vs Wolverhampton Wanderers match. That failure extended his negative record in terms of goal involvement. As of March 3, 2021, he has gone through 45 Premier League matches without scoring and 33 games without assists.
His last goal in the Premier League was scored when he silenced Manchester City on 27 December 2019. This means that the Spanish winger has gone through 432 days or one year, two months and four days without a goal in the EPL. While his last assist was made against Bournemouth, 24 June 2020, 252 days ago.
This decline in performance is surprising considering how fierce Adama Traore is in the 2019/20 Premier League. Back then, his blazing speed and dribbling skills were matched by consistent finishes. Traore scored four goals and nine assists in 2019/20. No Wolves player has scored more assists than him.
So, what caused the Traore attack’s final product statistics to drop dramatically? If observed, this La Masia academy graduate still looks explosive on the right side of Wolves. His running was not overtaken, his physical strength was also difficult to match. If a winger is only judged by speed, physical agility, and dribbling ability, Adama Traore is a superhuman.
This season, no one has come close to the 1996-born player in terms of dribbles. He recorded 147 dribbles with a 76.9% success rate. Traore has made 113 dribbles the most successful in the EPL. In number two, there is Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa from Fulham, “only” recorded 72 successful dribbles, far adrift of Traore.
The former Middlesbrough player also often occupies a familiar role as the right winger. On an individual basis, he has had no problems other than the brief hamstring injury he sustained in January. The problem that most influenced Traore’s drop in goals / assists was a situational one. Raul Jimenez’s absence due to a head injury since last November was a factor. Of Traore’s nine assistants in 2019/20, seven were made for Jimenez. Three of Traore’s four goals last season were the creations of the Mexican striker.
Jimenez’s absence means the 25-year-old winger has to make new connections with Fabio Silva or Willian Jose. So far, the connection has not shown satisfactory results. Silva is still too green and Willian Jose has not shown sufficient capacity to spearhead Wolves.
Losing a close partner on the pitch was accompanied by a decrease in the quality of opportunities that Traore created. The player’s key bait statistics and expected assists (xA) are not much different from last season. According to StatsBomb data (via FBRef), Traore has averaged 1.97 key passes per game this season, compared to 1.73 last season. The increased number of key passes shows that Traore is still consistently creating shooting opportunities for his team-mates.
Meanwhile, the average xA decreased slightly from 0.23 (2019/20) to 0.19 per match. This decrease was insignificant. Traore’s passes still find his team-mates in quite a good position. The decline that is quite obvious is Traore’s ability to send the ball into the penalty box. As a winger, he often combed the right side of the attack and made opportunities from the edge area. From this position, Traore often sends crosses. He has recorded 78 crosses so far. However, only 15 of them hit the mark.
Adama Traore rarely sends the ball into the penalty box and this affects the number of assists. On the other hand, after an impressive 2019/20 performance, opposing defenders realized Traore’s destructive power and paid more attention to him. This season, when they have entered the outside of the penalty box, the defenders have effectively closed Traore’s bait line.
Traore has yet to score or assist, but that doesn’t necessarily make him a bad player. The former Aston Villa player is still quite well involved in the Wolves build-up. Even without assists, Traore averaged 4.20 shots tipping, the highest among a Wolves squad with over 1,000 minutes played.
The shot-tipped action is useful for measuring the player’s involvement in the attack sequence. The action in question could be a pass, a dribble, or winning a foul that doesn’t require more than two other actions to produce a shot. The statistics above show that, despite not producing assists, Traore still plays a prominent role in Wolves’ creation opportunities.
This season, Traore has also been directly involved in goals twice. He won a penalty when Wolves drew against Brighton in January. The penalty was converted perfectly by Ruben Neves. When facing Leeds United, 19 February 2021, Traore’s hard shot hit the post and goalkeeper Illan Meslier led to an own goal.
There are many ways to take advantage of Traore’s talents. Wolves coach, Nuno Espirito Santo showed it against Manchester City. In that match, Nuno installed Traore as a center forward. Traore is expected to be the key to Wolves’ counter-attack, taking advantage of his immense speed and dribbling abilities. But, unfortunately, the City defense was too capable of closing the gap for the visitors’ attack. Wolves ended the match with just one shot on target and six touches in the opponent’s penalty box.
Traore is still sharp and capable of scoring goals or assisting officially. Wolves are facing tougher competition than last season and Traore’s contribution is welcome.
ASL
