It would be fair to say that the 2018/19 Championship season was less than auspicious for Ipswich Town. The Tractor Boys finished bottom of the pile with just 31 points having only accrued five wins across the entire season. However, it shouldnt be considered total doom and gloom for Ipswich. Throughout the season given budgetary constraints compared to their rivals in the division, Ipswich were able to give established first-team roles to some of their academy graduates. Myles Kenlock continued his footballing development as he earned over 1600 minutes on the field. England U20 international Andre Dozzell was handed around 900 first team minutes in midfield. However, the academy graduate who played the most minutes for Ipswich last season was 20-year-old Flynn Downes who played over 1800 minutes in midfield.
In this tactical analysis, we will look at Flynn Downes style of play both with the ball and without and with the help of statistics, we will aim to provide a comprehensive analysis and scout report on the player.
On the ball
Flynn Downes, more often than not, operated on the left or right-hand side of a central midfield three for Ipswich this season. His role tended to be that of a box-to-box midfielder as he was required to not only positively affect the game in the final third, but was tasked with tracking back and helping out the defensive midfielder Trevoh Chalobah and the Ipswich defence.
In a struggling team that only managed 36 goals last season, it can be difficult to stand out offensively. However, the signs that Flynn Downes has an impressive creative ability are there. He averaged 37 passes per 90 minutes with a commendable accuracy of 81.9%. Downes played 5.26 progressive passes per 90 minutes which is the 77th most of players in a similar position in the Championship with at least 1500 minutes. Whilst 77th may seem low, he ranks above the likes of Jay Fulton, who plays for possession-hungry Swansea and only marginally behind the likes of Jack Grealish, John McGinn and Mason Mount. In addition to this, Flynn Downes made 0.5 deep completions per 90 last season ranking him 75th in this metric. Again 75th seems a low total but he ranks just above his teammate Chalobah, who is tipped to have a bright future, as well as above the likes of Trybull and Tettey of Norwich and Kalvin Phillips of Leeds. He is incredibly accurate with his deep completions as he makes 90% of these which ranks him as 31st in the division. This ranks Downes ahead of the likes of Mateusz Klich of Leeds, Mark Duffy of Sheffield United and Connor Hourihane of Aston Villa. These statistics are reflected in Flynn Downes game.
Flynn Downes tends to be most effective when looking to play passes into the channels for onrushing teammates.
He often combines effectively with a wide-man with one-twos to free his teammate down the wing and into space to cross.
In the example
