Trent Alexander-Arnold is one of the finest Liverpool academy products in recent years, and his success can already be compared to that of Michael Owen, Steve McManaman, Jamie Carragher, and many others who also made their way through the ranks of the Liverpool academy.
However, Trent didn’t have a proper back-up last season and seemingly this season as well, and many Liverpool fans were worried about the potential consequences of losing him because of injury.
Especially this season, after a great start, it looked as if Trent was out, then the big part of Liverpool’s creative force would be eliminated.
Fortunately for them, it didn’t happen and Liverpool are marching the league with a 22-point gap (at the time of writing), the biggest in competition history.
Even more than that, this season gave us another promising Liverpool youngster for the right-back spot – Neco Williams.
The 18-year-old Welsh full-back, whom Ryan Giggs is likely to approach for the national team call-up this March, has shown excellent form in both English cups, proving that Jürgen Klopp probably doesn’t have to worry about a back-up right-back this summer.
Before Neco was seen in the public eye, Joe Gomez and James Milner were the candidates for that position, now the Welshman can cement that spot for the next season.
Having begun to train with the first team at Melwood, Williams himself says that he learns as much as he can from his forerunner, Alexander-Arnold.
In this Neco Williams’ scout report, we will look at the Welsh’s best qualities and compare them to Trent’s, to understand if he is ready to step into the first team and compete with TAA, what future role can he play in this Liverpool squad, and also will dive into some areas where the 18-year-old needs to improve.
Neco Williams Statistical Overview
Neco Williams has been putting up solid numbers this season.
Despite the statistics being available only for English cups and Youth League matches (plus some U19 international games), we can still draw some conclusions about his overall performance from these games.
Beginning with his defensive stats, Neco Williams makes 5.78 interceptions per game, which is very important for a full-back, as he has to prevent through balls behind the backline; this also tells you that he understands the game on a decent level already.
Along with that, Williams is making 8.34 recoveries per game, and 31.3% of those take place in the opposition half.
Considering his headers and aerial duels, he averages around three headers in every game, winning 54.5% of them, which is a good number.
Sadly, there is little data on tackles and other defensive statistics, but hopefully, the stats listed above gave you a sense of Williams’ defensive output.
As we will see in the following section, Williams is a good defender, which is important for Klopp and any other manager, even though in Jürgen‘s football, the full-backs are not tasked with many defensive responsibilities.
Moving on to his attacking statistics, Williams averages 5.45 dribbles per game, with a success rate of 61.2%.
In terms of his passing, he hits on average 8.12 long balls with 43.8% accuracy and makes 4.95 crosses with 31.5% of them actually leading to a shot; these are really good numbers for a full-back with great attacking involvement.
The good completion percentage of all those actions on the pitch shows that he has the ability to produce scoring opportunities on a continuous basis, switch play, and always be a threat from the wing, among other things.
If we look at his xG and xA metrics, his combined expected goals and assists (xG+xA) equal 0.24 per game.
Of course, it is important to take into account that he mostly played in Premier League 2 (U21) and in U23 competitions, but he is only 18 and can improve to perform like this on a higher level, and matches with Arsenal and Everton in the Carabao and FA cups show that.
Next, we will look at his positioning during the match.
First of all, this is a heatmap of Alexander-Arnold for this season.
Trent Alexander-Arnold Heat Map
In comparison, this is Neco’s heatmap this season:
Neco Williams Heat Map
Even though Williams doesn’t spend as much time on the ball as Trent does, his positioning is pretty identical and he covers the same areas on the pitch.
Just like Trent, he is a very attacking full-back, and his stats prove that he has a similar playing style and possesses all the attributes necessary for further development.
Neco Williams Passing
The keynote of this Neco Williams’ scout report/tactical analysis will be around the Welsh’s comparison to Alexander-Arnold.
Not only does he possess the skill set required, but Liverpool’s tactics and current style of football also demand such qualities from a full-back, as Trent has demonstrated.
Additionally, Neco has already shown his class and ability in some big games for the Liverpool first team.
However, in this section, we will delve into his passing patterns.
The main point I’ve observed from watching these two play is that Neco is not taking as many risks as his 21-year-old teammate does.
He opts to pass the ball to the nearest central defender or a central midfielder much more, especially if he is receiving the ball in his own half.
Trent is playing on the dominant side that is arguably the best football side in the world at the moment, and he is one of the most creative players, which has a significant influence.
I believe that will most definitely change when Williams finally makes his way to the first team on a continuous basis, and with time, we surely will be able to see Williams play in a more creative manner.
Currently, Williams’ passing approach is a little more conservative than that of TAA.
Considering his passing play at the beginning of the attack, during the build-up play, Williams tends to play to one of his nearest teammates and keep the ball for his team.
It helps to turn the attack in the other direction and to keep possession.
However, that doesn’t mean that Williams doesn’t play dangerous passes to help his team break the opponent’s press.
On the contrary, he can play forward passes and help his team move the ball forward, like in the image below.
There to pick up the ball on the right flank, he sees one of the attackers opening himself up and freeing from the defender, and makes an accurate pass to him.
As we saw in the statistical section, he makes around four long passes per game.
Most of them are vertically-oriented balls behind the defence or in the penalty area, which accounts for approximately 74% of all his long passes.
He can also switch the play, making passes to the other full-back or winger, even though this does not happen as often.
In the last paragraph of this section, let’s look at the passing map of some of his matches.
This image helps to highlight the main patterns of his passing play (the blue arrows mean completed passes, the grey ones represent unsuccessful ones).
As I wrote at the beginning, the majority of his passes are short or middle passes to the centre or backwards.
Also, you can see a couple of long passes to the other side of the pitch.
However, the main takeaway is his forward vertical passes to the final third or the penalty area.
He does them a lot, and a handful of them are unsuccessful.
My main impression is that even though he plays more conservative passes than Alexander-Arnold, he manages to produce a lot of aggressive passes.
If he plays in the first team, that number will only increase, which suggests that Neco Williams’ style of play is similar to TAA, and it is great both for the player and for Jürgen Klopp.
Neco Williams Passes Map
With Liverpool’s full-backs being the main force of the creative play, this is a massive benefit for Neco, as he can continue to evolve under the same circumstances, principles, and patterns of play.
He needs to hone his skills, and if he does, he will surely thrive at Liverpool.
Neco Williams Crossing
Alexander-Arnold’s famous crossing ability demands at least fit crossing techniques from the potential contender, and Williams possesses that.
Many of his crosses made a massive difference for Liverpool in advancing to the Round of 16 of the FA Cup and to the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup.
His assist against Arsenal in the extra-time, his two crosses against Shrewsbury that led to two own goals, one of which was the match-winner.
All of this happened only in a couple of cup games, which tells you how productive and involved he is in the attacking department.
The 18-year-old Welsh full-back can perform all kinds of crosses: low-driven and over the defence.
Below, you can see the area where he puts his crosses.
Neco Williams Crosses Map
He is a good crosser of the ball, and many people, when they saw him play, immediately started comparing him to Trent.
Even though all the praise and comparison are well-deserved, Williams still has to improve in terms of his crossing.
Crossing is unsuccessful more often than not, but when everything works out, the attacking team ends up with a goal.
But, even considering that, I believe that Neco hits too many crosses wide.
The majority of the crosses are either overhit, causing the ball to go out of play, or the opposition intercepts them because they were too low.
For example, in the image below, you can see that Williams is about to cross, and he has at least three players in the box to aim for.
Either a pass to Harvey Elliott, who is right around the edge of the penalty area, or to cross to three players who are running toward the six-yard box.
Williams tries to make the second variant happen, but fails, hitting the ball so it ends up on the roof of the goal, above the keeper.
He has already demonstrated his abilities this season, and if he continues to improve, he will be a valuable asset to have on that right flank.
Neco Williams Defending
I am going to start this section of this analysis by saying that Williams is very good at defending, especially for a right-back.
He is great at many things that are important for any defender: reading the game, winning aerial duels, right positioning, tackling and so on.
As we discussed earlier, his aerial duels’ win percentage is slightly above 50%, but in-game, it seems that he is winning much more.
As full-backs at Liverpool tend to push up during attacks, or even when defending, opponents often try to target the area behind the full-backs with long balls.
For example, in the game against Arsenal, there were episodes when Bukayo Saka, who was playing as a left-winger, was running in behind Williams, and Arsenal’s defenders and midfielders tried to exploit that space behind Liverpool’s defensive line.
However, for the most part, it didn’t work out for them as Williams was controlling the air and not letting Saka get behind him.
Usually, when the ball is in the air and his opponent is staying still, Williams tends to get in front of him and prevent any danger by clearing the ball.
He is 6’0” feet tall, and that helps him tremendously; it is very hard to beat him in the air.
In terms of interceptions and reading the game, the Welsh is good at that too.
He sometimes employs a similar strategy to that used with aerial balls, getting in front of the attacker to intercept the ball.
The 18-year-old is checking the positioning of the opponents behind him, and thus he can cut the passing lanes.
In the image below, Calum Chambers is trying to make a through ball to Willock, but Williams sees that run, intercepts and gets the ball.
Below, you can see the map showing the pitch distribution of Neco Williams’ interceptions, which are occurring primarily on the right side of the pitch.
His reading of the game, combined with his height, speed, and quick decision-making, helps him defensively, especially in terms of interceptions.
Neco Williams Interceptions Map
When he has to follow his opponent or tackle them, Williams shows himself to be a very tenacious player.
The Welsh usually runs after his opponent until he loses the ball himself or has to tackle him.
In the image below, an Arsenal player receives the ball on the right flank, and he puts his back against Williams to protect the ball.
Williams puts pressure on him and eventually tackles him.
Neco Williams is taller, has nearly the same pace, is great with tackles and interceptions, and is excellent at aerial duels.
From a defensive standpoint, he is a great player, but, of course, he can continue to improve in the future.
Conclusion
The future of Neco Williams at Liverpool seems bright, but it will be fascinating to see how everything unfolds for him.
Having been in the Liverpool system since he was six years old, making it through the ranks of the Liverpool academy, and already conquering the hearts of Liverpool supporters, the circumstances can hardly be any better.
If Williams follows Trent’s footsteps in terms of progress, accommodating these two players on the pitch will not be an easy task for Jürgen Klopp to solve.
With Nathaniel Clyne most definitely leaving in the summer and Gomez cementing his spot as a first-choice centre-back, the Welsh’s candidacy for the back-up right-back seems the most obvious.
However, the 18-year-old has experience playing further forward, as a right midfielder or winger, so that is another option.
There is potential for Trent Alexander-Arnold to switch positions, moving to the midfield and filling Steven Gerrard‘s shoes.
Even though Trent is happy where he plays and Williams is currently content with his role, Klopp’s problem of finding the back-up full-back solved itself, but caused other questions.
How will it play out?
Only time will tell.
