Timothy Weah Scout Report At Lille 2021/2022: How USMNT Int’l Is Taking His Game ‘Up Another Notch’ – Player Analysis

Lille’s Timothy Weah (185cm/6’1”, 66kg/145lbs) entered the 2021/22 campaign intending to take his game “up another notch”, as he declared in an October interview with CBS Sports.

In that same interview, Weah explained that he envisioned “an unselfish season this year” for himself, in which he’d provide “more assists” for his club.

That much has materialised already for the 22-year-old, with Weah providing a total of four assists for his club so far this term — all in Ligue 1 — more than he’d provided in any prior campaign, while he’s also been a low-volume shooter this season, typically acting solely as a creator rather than as a finisher.

The US Men’s National Team (USMNT) international also scored just his second goal and made his second assist for his country in late 2021, while delivering some impressive performances in US colours to put the cherry on top of what has been a positive campaign for the Lille man thus far.

Ahead of his side’s UEFA Champions League Round of 16 clash with defending UCL champions Chelsea this past week, former coach of Bundesliga side RB Leipzig and Weah’s compatriot, Jesse Marsch, likened Weah to a USMNT player who lined up opposite his team on Tuesday — Christian Pulisic — stating “you see him at his best” when “in space and he can run at players and he can be creative 1v1”.

I’ll provide some analysis of that assessment and Weah operating in the kind of situations that Marsch discussed, along with plenty of other talking points in this tactical analysis piece.

This tactical analysis and scout report aims to highlight the role Weah has played within Lille’s strategy and tactics this season and how his interpretation of this role has helped him to be more creative and improve his output on that front.

Throughout his career, Weah has played plenty of games all across the forward line — some at left-wing, some at centre-forward and some at right-wing.

However, in 2021/22, Weah has primarily played as a right-winger and while he’s a young, malleable player with the potential to end up in any one of the aforementioned positions, I feel he’s been a very good fit on the right both for club and country.

This scout report will highlight Weah’s development as a right-winger this term and hopefully provide some insight into how the PSG academy product and former Celtic loanee has developed since moving to Lille from the French capital for €10m in 2019.

Positioning And Movement

The first section of this analysis will focus on Weah’s positioning and movement.

These are important parts of his game as it pertains to analysing his role within Lille’s overall tactical setup and how he increases the level of threat his side poses.

Again, as mentioned in the intro to this scout report, Weah has primarily played as a right-winger this term, and he’s found a comfortable home for himself in this position, in which he’s managed to demonstrate some of his greatest skills and assets to a high level.

Firstly, as figure 1 shows, Weah likes to position himself very wide, getting chalk on his heels during the chance creation phase to make his team’s attacking shape wider, with the aim of also either 1.

Stretching the opposition’s defensive shape, thus creating more space for his central teammates to play through them centrally or 2.