Motherwell are one of the best-performing sides in the Scottish Premiership now, sitting on fourth currently in the table and have won three of their last five matches.
The team has been playing very impressive football under Graham Alexander and have a real chance to push for the Champions League qualification places.
The team boasts a set of really great talents at various positions and one of them is the 27 year old Scottish forward, Tony Watt. Watt is currently the joint second-highest goalscorer in the league and has been one of the main driving forces behind Motherwell’s attack.
We look at his attacking stats so far.
Watt has played as the number nine in the 4-3-3 system at the club. Naturally, he has spent most of his time on the pitch in the opposition half. The above image shows that the majority of his movement and positioning has been in the attacking third outside the box – the red and orange areas. Watt has covered a vast part of the ground drifting towards the right and left wings time and again, which certainly makes him harder to mark. The Scot has spent a considerable amount of time on the left flank trying to attack the goal mostly from this side as well.
The 27-year-old has not played a lot of passes in the eight matches he has featured in. He has attempted a total of 128 passes with an accuracy of 60%, which is not very precise, averaging 18 passes and 38 touches on the ball per 90. He has played passes from his defensive third to the opposition penalty area, everywhere. However, most of them are near the final third and maximum have been in forward progression trying to create something. He has also tried to play through balls into the box and delivered crosses into the box at times, however, failing to register any assist yet.
Almost all of his shots are taken inside the box. Watt has scored four goals averaging a goal every 159 minutes in the league. He has been really clinical in front of goal with a shot accuracy of 71%, forcing the keeper to make a save most of the time. The Scottish forward has been a real threat in the air as well scoring two goals from headers. His finishing has been really top-notch this season.
His positioning in the box has been extremely good as he has accumulated a very high xG from his shots ranking 86th percentile in the league for xG per shots. In one of his best goal-scoring forms, he ranks 90th percentile in the league for goal scored per 90 while ranking 83rd percentile in the league for xG per 90. These higher ranks among all his other counter-parts showcase his understanding of the game, off the ball positioning as well as needless to say clinical finishing in the box.
Entering the prime of his career now, Tony Watt has really impressed fans and critics alike with his performances in the league this season. If he can keep on performing consistently and improve his goal to game ratio, Motherwell will be a strong contender for the qualification spots. Watt might even get a national team call-up with Scotland actually in need of a good clinical striker for long.
