St. Mirren have added centre-forward Tony Watt to strengthen their squad and add more quality while going forward to attack. The 29-year-old joins his new Scottish Premiership club on loan from Dundee United, where he has played since 2022, making 40 appearances and scoring five goals in all competitions. The Scotsman has proven to be a consistent player at the front end of the pitch, thanks to his vast experience in European football. Even though his main role is being a goal-scorer, he has shown versatility in his gameplay with his passing and defensive capabilities. With his addition, St. Mirren will hope to improve their current position in the Scottish Premiership and finish the season strongly. Below, we look at some stats for the player from the current season.
Tony Watt mainly features as a centre-forward but can also play as a second striker or a winger. The viz above shows the percentile rank of the player’s stats compared to other centre-forwards in the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. He has played in 19 matches thus far, starting 12 of them and averaging 56 minutes per game. Besides doing well going forward, Watt also has good stats in the possession and defence departments. He ranks highly with his ability to find and receive passes as well as make progressive passes. He also contributes defensively, which is highlighted by his high rank for defensive duels, aerial duels, and positioning.
Contributions and creativity in attack
As a centre-forward, Tony Watt’s primary role is to be the goal-scorer. The above viz shows the player’s shot map from the current season of the Scottish Premiership. He has scored four goals thus far with a total xG value of 3.32. He attempted 21 shots, with most of them coming from inside the penalty area, and also scored most of his goals from inside the box like a true centre-forward. Currently, Watt scores at the rate of 0.32 goals per game while taking an average of 1.66 shots per game with 43% accuracy.
The Scotsman achieved his best goal-scoring figures during the 2021–22 Scottish Premiership season with Dundee United. He scored ten league goals in 36 league appearances. He scored all but two of his goals from inside the box, as shown in the viz above, and he also attempted several long-range shots. He scored at the rate of 0.3 goals per game with an xG rate of 0.27 per 90. Additionally, he averaged 1.57 shots per match with 49.1% accuracy.
In addition to adding goals, Tony Watt also has the ability to set up scoring opportunities for his teammates. The 29-year-old’s sound passing ability has contributed well to his one assist this season, and he had two assists last season. The above viz shows the shot assists delivered by the player combined in the 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons. It can be observed that a few of the passes are directed into the penalty box, while most of them have been cutbacks that the player has made in the advanced attacking positions. Last season he averaged 0.74 shot assists per 90, and this season the average has dipped to 0.32.
The 29-year-old operates as a mobile forward in the advanced attacking areas. He possesses the ability to move the ball into dangerous positions by performing attacking actions deep in the final third. He often occupies spaces in wide areas and tries to dribble players or cross the ball into the penalty box. The above viz shows the winger actions performed by the player this season. Currently, Tony Watt attempts 4.2 dribbles per match with 37.7% accuracy and delivers 2.45 crosses with 25.8% accuracy.
What will be Watt’s role at St. Mirren?
The addition of the Scotsman will add more depth and quality to St. Mirren’s offensive department. He will offer the team a different attacking threat while going forward and inside the opposition penalty box. Watt can provide an experienced backup option and competition for a starting role for 23-year-old Alex Grieve, who is also a striker by trade. The above viz is a comparison between both players. It can be seen that Tony Watt brings much more contributions to the passing and defence departments compared to his counterpart, who possesses better stats in the attack. Notably, Watt has better stats for progressive and dangerous passes, along with defensive and aerial duels per 90 minutes. Overall, Tony Watt will provide St. Mirren with the necessary reinforcements for the attack.
St. Mirren will hope that their new signing adjusts quickly to his new club for the remainder of the season. He will slot into the forward positions on the team and bring his crucial contributions in the form of goals and assists. He will also bring his physical and hard-working presence when without the ball and help link up play when in possession. For now, it remains to be seen how he performs in a St. Mirren shirt, but the player arrives with high expectations.
Visuals via TFA data viz engine
