Junior Flemmings is a core part of Phoenix Rising’s electric, free-flowing attack in the USL. Last year, with Flemmings and Solomon Asanté on the left and right-wing, Rising led the league with 90 goals on their way to easily winning the Western Conference by a total of 18 points. Flemmings’ contributions to the teams success both last season and this season will be outlined in this scout report.
This tactical analysis will examine how Flemmings fits into manager Rick Schantz’s tactics at Phoenix Rising. The analysis will focus on how he contributes to Rising’s press as well as their fluid attack.
Player Overview
Flemmings was a key contributor to Phoenix’s high-scoring attack last season and continues to do so this year. In 28 games last season, Flemmings scored 15 goals and registered a total of nine assists. Flemmings would have contributed more to Rising, but he was away on international duty for six matches. This still put him in the top 10 for goals and top 20 for assists in the entire league. This output was just three goals and one assist short of his offensive output for the rest of his USL career: a total of 83 matches for NY Red Bulls II and Tampa Bay Rowdies. While this season has just recently restarted after Rising played one match in March, Flemmings has already scored three goals and provided two assists in the process, as well as winning a penalty against Orange County which helped secure a 1-1 draw.
Flemmings’ role in the press
One of the more important parts of Rising’s game is their ability to press opponents. They use their front three effectively to force opponents to either play the ball long up the pitch or to have them try and loft passes into players. The lofted pass is ideal because Rising’s wingers, Solomon Asanté and Junior Flemmings, are so quick that they can often pressure the ball as it’s arriving. This gives Phoenix the opportunity to win the ball higher up the pitch, allowing them to exploit transitions more, as they did against LA Galaxy II.
Flemmings’ role in the press is two-fold. The first thing he is responsible for is cutting off the pass to the right centre-back. When he and Asanté do this, it makes it incredibly challenging for opponents to progress the ball. This move occurs in conjunction with Rufat Dadashov using his cover shadow to prevent the opponent’s defensive midfielder from receiving the ball. If Flemmings executes his role effectively, he can then press the keeper, as he is doing above. The key here is that his pressure also utilises his cover shadow to still eliminate the centre-back, forcing the goalkeeper into one of the two aforementioned decisions that Phoenix likes opponents to make.
