Aaron Cresswell
DOB: 15/12/1989
Age: 24
Position: Fullback
Previous Club: Ipswich Town
Previous Division: SkyBet Championship
Transfer Date: 03/07/2014
Reported Fee: £4.0m
Analysis
In a move that came completely out of the blue, Ipswich Town left back Aaron Cresswell joined West Ham yesterday for a fee of around £4m.
Yesterday morning, it appeared that we were about to sign Timothée Kolodziejczak from OGC Nice, then we were linked with Andrew Robertson of Dundee United, and we supposedly also bid for Martin Olsson of Norwich City, before the news that Cresswell was mid-medical suddenly broke.
With a transfer coming from left field like that, it's possible that not many Hammers know much about the 24 year old. Well, fear not, I'm going to tell you all you need to know.
Comparison
Left back has been a problem area for West Ham for as long as I can remember now. Stop gaps like Pablo Armero and Rǎzvan Raţ have been and gone, as have longer term signings like George McCartney (twice, in fact). As a result, the club will be hoping that Cresswell can make the step up to the Premier League comfortably and really make that left back slot his own for the coming years.
If we look at his performances for Ipswich last year in comparison to the collection of left backs that West Ham utilised, we can see that the Englishman is a bit of a mixture between the more conservative McCartney and Joey O'Brien, and the adventurous Armero and Raţ.
Cresswell enjoyed a tackle success rate of 59% last season, equal best of the comparator group. However, he did make significantly less tackles per game than any of his rivals, with just 1.75 attempted tackles per 90 minutes. All of Raţ, McCartney and O'Brien attempted more than 2 tackles per 90, whilst Armero put in move than 4 per 90 minutes.
An area where Cresswell completely outstrips West Ham's last cohort of left backs is in the offensive side of the game. Between them, O'Brien, Armero, Raţ and McCartney created a combined 27 chances in 4,536 minutes of football. Cresswell, on the other hand, created 68 chances in his 3,653 minutes. Just for a bit more illumination on this, Stewart Downing was West Ham's most creative player, making 62 goalscoring opportunities.
Cresswell also attempted 0.99 take ons per 90 (only Armero can better that, with 1.67 per 90), scored 2 goals, and attempted 38 shots on goal. As you can clearly see below, none of the other left backs got close to that, attempting a combined 12 shots between them. And Cresswell also had the best shot accuracy of the lot, with 40% of his attempts hitting the target.
Strengths
I've already touched on Cresswell's main strength - his attacking prowess.
It has not been unusual in recent years to see the Liverpool-born fullback bombing on down the left flank like a flying winger, creating chances and putting in cross after cross. The image below shows an example of a typical Cresswell performance.
This heatmap is taken from Ipswich's 1-0 win over Birmingham City back in March. Cresswell was up and down the touchline relentlessly, putting a shift in all over the park. During the game, he created 3 chances for his team mates, made one interception, and got back to make five clearances.
http://championship.squawka.com/ipswich-town-vs-birmingham-city
The attacking side to Cresswell's game paid dividend for Ipswich over the course of last season, with the young fullback registering 12 assists. And, as you can see from the graphic below, only three players managed more assists than Cresswell, and two of those were attacking midfielders Craig Conway and Craig Bryson.
http://www.squawka.com/
Weaknesses
Despite the obvious positives of this signing, there remain some potential question marks.
Firstly, Cresswell's ball retention leaves a little to be desired. Last season he managed a pass completion rate of just 68%, worse than Armero (75%), McCartney (79%) and O'Brien (83%). He also attempted more long balls than most of his comparators, with 20% of his attempted passes going long.
The image below shows his attempted passes in the 4-4 draw against Derby County in October. As you can see, he completed just 68% of his 47 passes, and 12 (26%) of these were also long balls.
So despite the the fact that Cresswell will undoubtedly provide West Ham with another string to their bow by adding an extremely competent attacking fullback to the side, his previous record suggests he may struggle to positively influence the side in an area that we have previously had issues.
http://championship.squawka.com/derby-county-vs-ipswich-town/
The other area where Cresswell will need to improve slightly, is his discipline.
Whilst he doesn't have an horrific disciplinary record, the fullback received both yellow and red card as a result of verbally abusing referees last season.
According to the BBC Match Report from the game against Barnsley in November:
"Cresswell was sent off on the final whistle for foul and abusive language... The match ended with Cresswell sent off on the final whistle when he confronted the referee."
To be fair to him, this is the only red card he has received in his career, but when James Tomkins talked himself into a red card against Cardiff last season, there was a huge amount of frustration and anger directed toward him from the West Ham faithful, so Cresswell should be advised to steer clear of any future indiscretions.
Conclusion
On the whole, this is a very exciting signing for West Ham.
Cresswell is regarded as one of the brightest prospects outside of the Premier League, and some Ipswich fans have described him as the closest thing to Leighton Baines.
Really, this is exactly the sort of signing we should be making. We haven't broken the bank here, but we've finally got a left back who, all being well, has time and ability on his side in order to make the position his own for the coming years, not just for the next few months.
Welcome to West Ham United, Aaron Cresswell.
In a move that came completely out of the blue, Ipswich Town left back Aaron Cresswell joined West Ham yesterday for a fee of around £4m.
Yesterday morning, it appeared that we were about to sign Timothée Kolodziejczak from OGC Nice, then we were linked with Andrew Robertson of Dundee United, and we supposedly also bid for Martin Olsson of Norwich City, before the news that Cresswell was mid-medical suddenly broke.
With a transfer coming from left field like that, it's possible that not many Hammers know much about the 24 year old. Well, fear not, I'm going to tell you all you need to know.
Comparison
Left back has been a problem area for West Ham for as long as I can remember now. Stop gaps like Pablo Armero and Rǎzvan Raţ have been and gone, as have longer term signings like George McCartney (twice, in fact). As a result, the club will be hoping that Cresswell can make the step up to the Premier League comfortably and really make that left back slot his own for the coming years.
If we look at his performances for Ipswich last year in comparison to the collection of left backs that West Ham utilised, we can see that the Englishman is a bit of a mixture between the more conservative McCartney and Joey O'Brien, and the adventurous Armero and Raţ.
Cresswell enjoyed a tackle success rate of 59% last season, equal best of the comparator group. However, he did make significantly less tackles per game than any of his rivals, with just 1.75 attempted tackles per 90 minutes. All of Raţ, McCartney and O'Brien attempted more than 2 tackles per 90, whilst Armero put in move than 4 per 90 minutes.
An area where Cresswell completely outstrips West Ham's last cohort of left backs is in the offensive side of the game. Between them, O'Brien, Armero, Raţ and McCartney created a combined 27 chances in 4,536 minutes of football. Cresswell, on the other hand, created 68 chances in his 3,653 minutes. Just for a bit more illumination on this, Stewart Downing was West Ham's most creative player, making 62 goalscoring opportunities.
Cresswell also attempted 0.99 take ons per 90 (only Armero can better that, with 1.67 per 90), scored 2 goals, and attempted 38 shots on goal. As you can clearly see below, none of the other left backs got close to that, attempting a combined 12 shots between them. And Cresswell also had the best shot accuracy of the lot, with 40% of his attempts hitting the target.
Strengths
I've already touched on Cresswell's main strength - his attacking prowess.
It has not been unusual in recent years to see the Liverpool-born fullback bombing on down the left flank like a flying winger, creating chances and putting in cross after cross. The image below shows an example of a typical Cresswell performance.
This heatmap is taken from Ipswich's 1-0 win over Birmingham City back in March. Cresswell was up and down the touchline relentlessly, putting a shift in all over the park. During the game, he created 3 chances for his team mates, made one interception, and got back to make five clearances.
The attacking side to Cresswell's game paid dividend for Ipswich over the course of last season, with the young fullback registering 12 assists. And, as you can see from the graphic below, only three players managed more assists than Cresswell, and two of those were attacking midfielders Craig Conway and Craig Bryson.
Weaknesses
Despite the obvious positives of this signing, there remain some potential question marks.
Firstly, Cresswell's ball retention leaves a little to be desired. Last season he managed a pass completion rate of just 68%, worse than Armero (75%), McCartney (79%) and O'Brien (83%). He also attempted more long balls than most of his comparators, with 20% of his attempted passes going long.
The image below shows his attempted passes in the 4-4 draw against Derby County in October. As you can see, he completed just 68% of his 47 passes, and 12 (26%) of these were also long balls.
So despite the the fact that Cresswell will undoubtedly provide West Ham with another string to their bow by adding an extremely competent attacking fullback to the side, his previous record suggests he may struggle to positively influence the side in an area that we have previously had issues.
The other area where Cresswell will need to improve slightly, is his discipline.
Whilst he doesn't have an horrific disciplinary record, the fullback received both yellow and red card as a result of verbally abusing referees last season.
According to the BBC Match Report from the game against Barnsley in November:
"Cresswell was sent off on the final whistle for foul and abusive language... The match ended with Cresswell sent off on the final whistle when he confronted the referee."
To be fair to him, this is the only red card he has received in his career, but when James Tomkins talked himself into a red card against Cardiff last season, there was a huge amount of frustration and anger directed toward him from the West Ham faithful, so Cresswell should be advised to steer clear of any future indiscretions.
Conclusion
On the whole, this is a very exciting signing for West Ham.
Cresswell is regarded as one of the brightest prospects outside of the Premier League, and some Ipswich fans have described him as the closest thing to Leighton Baines.
Really, this is exactly the sort of signing we should be making. We haven't broken the bank here, but we've finally got a left back who, all being well, has time and ability on his side in order to make the position his own for the coming years, not just for the next few months.
Welcome to West Ham United, Aaron Cresswell.
